OAuth Working Group R. Shekh-Yusef
Internet-Draft Auth0
Intended status: Standards Track March 10, 2021
Expires: September 11, 2021
Multi-Subject JSON Web Token (JWT)
draft-yusef-oauth-nested-jwt-04
Abstract
This specification defines a mechanism for including multiple
subjects in a JWT. A primary subject in an enclosing JWT with its
own claims, and a related subject in a nested JWT with its own
claims.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on September 11, 2021.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2021 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Shekh-Yusef Expires September 11, 2021 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft Nested JWT March 2021
This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
Contributions published or made publicly available before November
10, 2008. The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this
material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow
modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process.
Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
the copyright in such materials, this document may not be modified
outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may
not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
than English.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. Primary Subject with Secondary Authority Subject . . . . 3
2.2. Multiple Primary Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3. Delegation of Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.4. Replaced Primary Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.4.1. STIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.4.2. Network Service Mesh (NSM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. JWT Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. Introduction
JSON Web Token (JWT) [RFC7519] is a mechanism that is used to
transfer claims between two parties across security domains. Nested
JWT is a JWT in which the payload is another JWT. The current
specification does not define a means by which the enclosing JWT
could have its own Claims Set, only the enclosed JWT would have
claims.
There are a number of use cases where there is a need to represent
multiple related subjects in one JWT; a primary subject and a related
secondary subject.
This specification defines a mechanism for including multiple
subjects in a JWT. A primary subject in an enclosing JWT with its
Shekh-Yusef Expires September 11, 2021 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft Nested JWT March 2021
own claims, and a related subject in a nested JWT with its own
claims.
1.1. Terminology
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 [RFC8174].
2. Use Cases
The following are few categories of use cases that might benefit from
such a concept:
2.1. Primary Subject with Secondary Authority Subject
A primary subject with a related secondary subject that has authority
over the primary subject, e.g. Child/Parent, Pet/Owner.
The secondary user (e.g., parent) logs in to an application (e.g.,
pharmacy application), gets redirected to the authorization server,
authenticates, and asks for permission to access resources (e.g.,
medication) for the primary subject (e.g., child). The authorization
server then issues a JWT with the primary subject in the enclosing
JWT and the secondary subject in the nested JWT.
In this case, both JWTs are issued by the same issuer.
2.2. Multiple Primary Subjects
Two or more primary related subjects e.g. a married couple. The
authorization server is setup to provide one of the subjects with
permissions to access the other related subject resources.
One user (e.g., wife) logs in to a application (e.g., pharmacy
application), gets redirected to the authorization server,
authenticates, and asks for permission to access resources (e.g.,
medication) for the other primary subject (e.g., husband). The
authorization server then issues a JWT with the primary subject in
the enclosing JWT and the other primary subject in the nested JWT.
In this case, both JWTs are issued by the same issuer.
2.3. Delegation of Authority
A primary subject delegates authority over a resource to a secondary
subject who acts on behalf of the primary subject, as defined in
[RFC8693].
Shekh-Yusef Expires September 11, 2021 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft Nested JWT March 2021
In this case, both JWTs are issued by the same issuer.
2.4. Replaced Primary Subjects
A primary subject is replaced with a new primary subject, and the
original primary subject included in the new issued JWT as a nested
JWT.
2.4.1. STIR
[RFC8225] defines a PASSporT, which is a JWT, that is used to verify
the identity of a caller in an incoming call.
The PASSporT Extension for Diverted Calls draft [STIR] uses a nested
PASSporT to deliver the details of an incoming call that get
redirected. An authentication service acting for a retargeting
entity generates new PASSporT and embeds the original PASSporT inside
the new one. When the new target receives the nested PASSporT it
will be able to validate the enclosing PASSporT and use the details
of the enclosed PASSporT to identify the origianl target.
In this case, the original JWT is issued by the calling service, and
the new enclosing JWT is issued by the retargeting service.
2.4.2. Network Service Mesh (NSM)
Network Service Mesh [NSM] is a mechanism that maps the concept of a
service mesh in Kubernetes to L2/L3 payloads.
NSM GRPS messages may pass throught multiple intermediaries, each of
which may transform the message. Each intermediary is expected to
create its own JWT token, and include a claim that conains the JWT it
received with the message it has transformed.
In this case, the original JWT is issued by the entity sending the
initial message, and the new enclosing JWT is issued by the
intermediate entity.
3. JWT Content
The payload of the enclosing JWT is JSON object that contains the
Claims Set of the primary subject, and one new claim that is used to
hold the enclosed JWT and its relation to the primary subject.
This document defines a new claim, "rsub" (Related Subject) Claim,
that is used to contain the enclosed JWT and its relation to the
primary subject.
Shekh-Yusef Expires September 11, 2021 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft Nested JWT March 2021
4. Example
{
"alg": "HS256",
"typ": "JWT",
}
{
"sub": "1234567890",
"name": "John Doe",
"iat": 1516239022,
"rsub": {
"rel" : urn:ietf:params:oauth:subject-type:authority |
urn:ietf:params:oauth:subject-type:primary |
urn:ietf:params:oauth:subject-type:actor |
urn:ietf:params:oauth:subject-type:original
"jwt" : "<jwt>"
}
}
5. Security Considerations
TODO
6. IANA Considerations
TODO
7. Acknowledgments
TODO
8. References
8.1. Normative References
[RFC7519] Jones, M., Bradley, J., and N. Sakimura, "JSON Web Token
(JWT)", RFC 7519, DOI 10.17487/RFC7519, May 2015,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7519>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
Shekh-Yusef Expires September 11, 2021 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft Nested JWT March 2021
8.2. Informative References
[RFC8225] Wendt, C. and J. Peterson, "PASSporT: Personal Assertion
Token", RFC 8225, DOI 10.17487/RFC8225, February 2018,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8225>.
[RFC8693] Jpnes, M., Nadalin, A., Campbell, B., Bradley, J., and C.
Mortimore, "OAuth 2.0 Token Exchange", October 2018.
[STIR] Peterson, J., "PASSporT Extension for Diverted Calls",
October 2018.
Author's Address
Rifaat Shekh-Yusef
Auth0
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Email: rifaat.s.ietf@gmail.com
Shekh-Yusef Expires September 11, 2021 [Page 6]