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Re: No new PKIs! (was: Re: [ietf-dkim] agenda item on upgrading hash algorithms?)

2006-02-22 18:13:52

On Feb 22, 2006, at 4:03 PM, Stephen Farrell wrote:


Douglas Otis wrote:
OID information would not be needed with DKIM public key information. Consider the DKIM public key cert isomorphic to that of OpenPGP.

So, regardless of whether or not we use TXT or some binary format, we will not go down the road of developing yet another PKI.

If that's not what you meant, sorry for jumping up and down but you can put my sensitivity down to the fact that I was involved in the start of PKIX, now more than a *decade* ago;-)

Using this #37 RR was not a suggestion for developing yet another PKI. This was suggesting the use of a DNS resource record defined by RFC2538.

This RR imposes this header:

 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |             type              |             key tag           |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |   algorithm   |                                               /
 +---------------+


Introduction

Public keys are frequently published in the form of a certificate and their authenticity is commonly demonstrated by certificates and related certificate revocation lists (CRLs). A certificate is a binding, through a cryptographic digital signature, of a public key, a validity interval and/or conditions, and identity, authorization, or other information.

This appears to be a rather open definition. For DKIM, this information would be an amalgam of that carried within the email message. While this #37 resource record can hold X.509 certificates, nothing appears to prevent this resource records from also holding a DKIM key in binary form. There is an IANA assigned Certificate Type which ensures the internal record structure is understood by the application.

DKIM already uses a unique label to locate the RR. The DKIM draft indicates an expectation of developing a binary RR for DKIM, which should be within the WG charter. Owing to difficulties created by a particular OS vendor for new RR types, utilizing an existing resource record likely represents the best opportunity at quickly establishing a binary RR, which is vitally needed.

IANA info

type:

9-252 Available for IANA assignment by IETF Standards action
      253   URI        URI private
      254   OID        OID private
      255              Reserved
256-65279              Available for IANA assignment by IETF Consensus
65280-65534            Experimental
    65535              Reserved

DK = 17,483  or 0x44, 0x4b  (only needs IETF Consensus.)


algorithm:

Currently defined in RFC4034.

   Value Algorithm [Mnemonic]
   ----- --------------------
     0   reserved
     1   RSA/MD5 [RSAMD5]
     2   Diffie-Hellman [DH]
     3   DSA/SHA-1 [DSA]
     4   Elliptic Curve [ECC]
     5   RSA/SHA-1 [RSASHA1]
   252   Indirect [INDIRECT]
   253   Private [PRIVATEDNS]
   254   Private [PRIVATEOID]
   255   reserved
   6 - 251  Available for assignment by IETF Standards Action.


key tag:

The key tag algorithm is the sum of the wire format of the DNSKEY RDATA broken into 2 octet groups. First, the RDATA (in wire format) is treated as a series of 2 octet groups. These groups are then added together, ignoring any carry bits.

-Doug














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