JSON Web Encryption (JWE)
RFC 7516
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) M. Jones
Request for Comments: 7516 Microsoft
Category: Standards Track J. Hildebrand
ISSN: 2070-1721 Cisco
May 2015
JSON Web Encryption (JWE)
Abstract
JSON Web Encryption (JWE) represents encrypted content using
JSON-based data structures. Cryptographic algorithms and identifiers
for use with this specification are described in the separate JSON
Web Algorithms (JWA) specification and IANA registries defined by
that specification. Related digital signature and Message
Authentication Code (MAC) capabilities are described in the separate
JSON Web Signature (JWS) specification.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7516.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2015 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
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
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described in the Simplified BSD License.
Jones & Hildebrand Standards Track [Page 1]
RFC 7516 JSON Web Encryption (JWE) May 2015
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1. Notational Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3. JSON Web Encryption (JWE) Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.1. JWE Compact Serialization Overview . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2. JWE JSON Serialization Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3. Example JWE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4. JOSE Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.1. Registered Header Parameter Names . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.1.1. "alg" (Algorithm) Header Parameter . . . . . . . . . 12
4.1.2. "enc" (Encryption Algorithm) Header Parameter . . . . 12
4.1.3. "zip" (Compression Algorithm) Header Parameter . . . 12
4.1.4. "jku" (JWK Set URL) Header Parameter . . . . . . . . 13
4.1.5. "jwk" (JSON Web Key) Header Parameter . . . . . . . . 13
4.1.6. "kid" (Key ID) Header Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1.7. "x5u" (X.509 URL) Header Parameter . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1.8. "x5c" (X.509 Certificate Chain) Header Parameter . . 13
4.1.9. "x5t" (X.509 Certificate SHA-1 Thumbprint) Header
Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.1.10. "x5t#S256" (X.509 Certificate SHA-256 Thumbprint)
Header Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.1.11. "typ" (Type) Header Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.1.12. "cty" (Content Type) Header Parameter . . . . . . . . 14
4.1.13. "crit" (Critical) Header Parameter . . . . . . . . . 14
4.2. Public Header Parameter Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.3. Private Header Parameter Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5. Producing and Consuming JWEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.1. Message Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.2. Message Decryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5.3. String Comparison Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6. Key Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7. Serializations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7.1. JWE Compact Serialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7.2. JWE JSON Serialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7.2.1. General JWE JSON Serialization Syntax . . . . . . . . 21
7.2.2. Flattened JWE JSON Serialization Syntax . . . . . . . 23
8. TLS Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
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