Network Working Group P. Hallam-Baker
Internet-Draft Comodo Group Inc.
Intended status: Informational August 18, 2017
Expires: February 19, 2018
Mathematical Mesh: Web Application Binding
draft-hallambaker-mesh-app-web-01
Abstract
The Mathematical Mesh ?The Mesh? is an end-to-end secure
infrastructure that facilitates the exchange of configuration and
credential data between multiple user devices. This document
describes the use of the Mesh to store Web application information.
This document is also available online at
http://prismproof.org/Documents/draft-hallambaker-mesh-app-web.html .
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Table of Contents
1. Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2. Related Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3. Defined Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4. Implementation Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Password Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.1. Bookmark Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Application Schema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Web Password Application Profile Objects . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.1. Subsection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.1.1. Structure: PasswordProfile . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.1.2. Structure: PasswordProfilePrivate . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.1.3. Structure: PasswordEntry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6. Demonstration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. Definitions
This section presents the related specifications and standard, the
terms that are used as terms of art within the documents and the
terms used as requirements language.
1.1. Requirements Language
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119] [RFC2119] .
1.2. Related Specifications
The related specifications are described in the Mesh Architecture
specification [draft-hallambaker-mesh-architecture]
[draft-hallambaker-mesh-architecture]
1.3. Defined Terms
No terms of art are defined.
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1.4. Implementation Status
The implementation status of the reference code base is described in
the companion document [draft-hallambaker-mesh-developer]
[draft-hallambaker-mesh-developer] .
2. Introduction
The Mathematical Mesh is a personal PKI that permits a user to
connect multiple devices to a ?personal profile? through which
application information is shared between the connected devices. All
Mesh communications are secured through a combination of end-to-end
security to protect confidentiality and integrity and transport
security to provide protection against traffic analysis.
A full description of the Mathematical Mesh architecture is to be
found in [draft-hallambaker-mesh-architecture]
[draft-hallambaker-mesh-architecture]
This document describes a proposed design for a demonstration of
using the Mesh to provide a cloud based password manager for
connected Web browsers. The approach may be readily extended to
support management of Web bookmarks.
3. Password Management
Alice decides to use the Mesh to manage her Web usernames and
passwords.
She creates two accounts:
o example.com: username 'alice', password 'secret'
o cnn.com: username 'alice1', password 'secret'
The JSON encoding of the password data is as follows:
{
"PasswordProfilePrivate": {
"Entries": [{
"Sites": ["example.com"],
"Username": "alice",
"Password": "password2"}]}}
Figure 1
The JSON encoded password data is then encrypted and stored in an
application profile as follows:
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{
"PasswordProfile": {
"Identifier": "MBMBD-JYUK7-3BQG2-NZKFE-CMW5J-IUSRB-A"}}
Figure 2
As we saw earlier, Alice really needs to start using stronger
passwords. Fortunately, having access to a password manager means
that Alice doesn't need to remember different passwords for every
site she uses any more.
In addition to offering to use the Mesh to remember passwords, a Web
browser can offer to automatically generate a password for a site.
This can be a much stronger password than the user would normally
want to choose if they had to remember it.
Alice chooses to use password generation. Her password manager
profile is updated to reflect this new choice.
{
"PasswordProfilePrivate": {
"Entries": [{
"Sites": ["example.com"],
"Username": "alice",
"Password": "password2"}]}}
Figure 3
Alice is happy to use the password manager for her general Web sites
but not for the password she uses to log in to her bank account.
When asked if the password should be stored in the Mesh, Alice
declines and asks not to be asked in the future.
{
"PasswordProfilePrivate": {
"Entries": [{
"Sites": ["example.com"],
"Username": "alice",
"Password": "password2"}]}}
Figure 4
3.1. Bookmark Management
The use of the Mesh to store bookmarks is an obvious extension to use
of the Mesh as a password manage. The principal differences being
that the privacy concerns are somewhat less critical than storing
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credentials and a bookmark file is likely to be considerably longer
than a password file.
The principal design challenge in adding bookmarks is working out how
to provide a convenient interface to help the user manage their
bookmarks. A hierarchical list of folders quickly becomes cluttered.
4. Application Schema
5. Web Password Application Profile Objects
5.1. Subsection
5.1.1. Structure: PasswordProfile
o Inherits: ApplicationProfile
Stores usernames and passwords
[None]
5.1.2. Structure: PasswordProfilePrivate
o Inherits: ApplicationProfilePrivate
Private part of the profile.
Boolean (Optional)
If true, a client MAY offer to automatically generate strong (i.e.
not memorable) passwords for a user. A user would not normally want
to use this feature unless they have access to Mesh password
management on every device they use to browse the Web
PasswordEntry [0..Many]
A list of password credential entries.
String [0..Many]
A list of domain names of sites for which clients MUST NOT ask to
store passwords for.
5.1.3. Structure: PasswordEntry
Username password entry for a single site
String [0..Many]
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DNS name of site *.example.com matches www.example.com etc.
String (Optional)
Case sensitive username
String (Optional)
Case sensitive password.
6. Demonstration
A demonstration of using the Mesh to manage Web browser passwords is
described.
The end goal in developing the Mesh application protocols is to
encourage application providers to provide native support for the
Mesh rendering extensions obsolete. Such implementation is likely to
be best encouraged through provision of a reference library in C.
I propose implementation of a demonstration as follows:
Platform Windows
Browser: Chrome
Approach:
Integration to browser features to be supported by platform
independent extension module
Mesh integration to be provided by a platform specific executable
written in C.
For initial testing / canned demo purposes, the Mesh integration
module will be a ?stub? that access a data file at a defined location
on disk that contains the PasswordProfilePrivate data structure. The
task of synchronizing data with the Mesh will be performed using the
Mesh profile management client.
Further development:
Implementation of the production extension by modifying the platform
specific executable.
Support for macOS by implementing a Mac specific platform executable
Support for Linux by implementing a Mac specific platform executable
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This approach allows the platform specific extensions to be tailored
to the cryptographic key management capabilities offered by each
platform. For example, the use of a TPM to protect private keys on
Windows or the Keyring mechanism on macOS.
7. References
7.1. Normative References
[draft-hallambaker-mesh-architecture]
Hallam-Baker, P., "Mathematical Mesh: Architecture",
draft-hallambaker-mesh-architecture-03 (work in progress),
May 2017.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997.
7.2. Informative References
[draft-hallambaker-mesh-developer]
Hallam-Baker, P., "Mathematical Mesh: Developer's Guide",
draft-hallambaker-mesh-developer-02 (work in progress),
September 2016.
Author's Address
Phillip Hallam-Baker
Comodo Group Inc.
Email: philliph@comodo.com
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