Extended Generic Security Service Mechanism Inquiry APIs
RFC 5587
Document | Type | RFC - Proposed Standard (July 2009; No errata) | |
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Author | Nicolás Williams | ||
Last updated | 2018-12-20 | ||
Stream | IETF | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
Reviews | |||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 5587 (Proposed Standard) | |
Action Holders |
(None)
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Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | Tim Polk | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group N. Williams Request for Comments: 5587 Sun Category: Standards Track July 2009 Extended Generic Security Service Mechanism Inquiry APIs Abstract This document introduces new application programming interfaces (APIs) to the Generic Security Services API (GSS-API) for extended mechanism attribute inquiry. These interfaces are primarily intended to reduce instances of hardcoding of mechanism identifiers in GSS applications. These interfaces include mechanism attributes and attribute sets, a function for inquiring the attributes of a mechanism, a function for indicating mechanisms that possess given attributes, and a function for displaying mechanism attributes. Status of This Memo This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2009 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 in effect on the date of publication of this document (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info). Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Williams Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 5587 Extended GSS Mech Inquiry July 2009 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....................................................2 2. Conventions Used in This Document ...............................2 3. New GSS-API Interfaces ..........................................3 3.1. Mechanism Attributes and Attribute Sets ....................3 3.2. List of Known Mechanism Attributes .........................4 3.3. Mechanism Attribute Sets of Existing Mechs .................6 3.4. New GSS-API Function Interfaces ............................8 3.4.1. Mechanism Attribute Criticality .....................8 3.4.2. GSS_Indicate_mechs_by_attrs() .......................9 3.4.3. GSS_Inquire_attrs_for_mech() .......................10 3.4.4. GSS_Display_mech_attr() ............................10 3.4.5. New Major Status Values ............................11 3.4.6. C-Bindings .........................................11 4. Requirements for Mechanism Designers ...........................13 5. IANA Considerations ............................................13 6. Security Considerations ........................................13 7. References .....................................................13 7.1. Normative References ......................................13 7.2. Informative References ....................................14 Appendix A. Typedefs and C Bindings ..................................15 1. Introduction GSS-API [RFC2743] mechanisms have a number of properties that may be of interest to applications. The lack of APIs for inquiring about available mechanisms' properties has meant that many GSS-API applications must hardcode mechanism Object Identifiers (OIDs). Ongoing work may result in a variety of new GSS-API mechanisms. Applications should not have to hardcode their OIDs. For example, the Secure Shell version 2 (SSHv2) protocol [RFC4251] supports the use of GSS-API mechanisms for authentication [RFC4462] but explicitly prohibits the use of Simple and Protected GSS-API Negotiation (SPNEGO) [RFC4178]. Future mechanisms that negotiate mechanisms would have to be forbidden as well, but there is no way to implement applications that inquire what mechanisms are available and then programmatically exclude mechanisms "like SPNEGO". 2. Conventions Used in This Document 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]. Williams Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 5587 Extended GSS Mech Inquiry July 2009 3. New GSS-API Interfaces We introduce a new concept -- that of mechanism attributes. By allowing applications to query the set of attributes associated with individual mechanisms and to find out which mechanisms support a given set of attributes, we allow applications to select mechanisms based on their attributes without having to hardcode mechanism OIDs.Show full document text