ietf-dkim
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Re: [ietf-dkim] Lists "BCP" draft available

2010-05-17 05:54:39
On 05/11/2010 07:48 PM, Douglas Otis wrote:
On 5/11/10 7:37 AM, Serge Aumont wrote:
Serge,
  
  -Sympa include DKIM signature verification and use DKIM signature 
status in the process of message submission and email commands
  -it remove broken pre-existing DKIM signature and keep others as is 
(not all messages are processed in way that brake signature)
  -it reject message comming from  author ADSP record is discardable 
and if the process of message by the MLM brakes signature. This 
prevent brodcasting of a message that should be discarded by final 
recipients.
  -it add it's own signature (on per list configuration parameter)
  -it sign MLM services messages and digest.
  - etc
    
Why limit rejection to ADSP "discardable" and not include ADSP "all"?
  
"ADSP = discardable" means  : "the domain encourages the recipient(s) to
discard it.". So a pretty MLM should discard thoses messages unless it
is able to brodcast it to subscribers without DKIM signature alteration.
"ADSP = all" does not recommend to drop thoses messages.

If think it would be an error to recommend that MLM handles  "ADSP =
all" in the same way as they handle email with "discardable" domain. If
so "ADSP = all" will have a very poor difference with  "ADSP =
discardable" a very very low number of domaines will use such ADSP policy.

Why would it be okay to accept messages having ADSP "all" that lack a 
valid Author Domain Signature?

BTW, ADSP "discardable" does not imply the desire to have messages 
rejected, especially from a MLM application running post acceptance.
  
I notice a good idea :  as Sympa verify incomming DKIM signature it 
should add a [AUTH-RESULTS] header field ; this header should be part 
of the DKIM signature added by the MLM engine. I will add this feature 
in Sympa in a near future.
    
In respect to Auth-Results, when is it safe to assume MLM applications 
ensure compliance with ADSP?
  
It can be useful to add an header that prove the  MLM as verified the
DKIM signature and ADSP compliance of the incomming message. This can be
done in a safe way adding an [AUTH-RESULT] header included in the new
DKIM signature.

The "l=" tag is one of the worth idea of DKIM if introduced because of 
message body footer added by some MLM. MLM must not add anything after 
the end of a message because this break Mime content. When adding a 
footer, MLM should add an extra mime part, and this often require to 
modify mime headers. So "l=" tag should not ne considered as an 
efficient way to protect DKIM signature.

I known that the problem is comming from rfc-4871 but I  propose to 
remove this sentence from this draft.
    
Would you also suggest a practice of not altering the Subject line, or 
of not providing uniform message formats?

It seems unlikely there is a desire to have these features removed from 
most mailing-lists.

Would you be interested in an alternative mechanism requiring the same 
overhead as for ADSP, that eliminates a need to change any MLM handling?

If ADSP is worth doing, why is it not worth doing in a way that 
increases security?
  
The "l=" seems to be ignored by every DKIM users. It's interest is
really limited. My opinion is that we should not recommend its usage
because it is not MIME compatible. MIME is an very old standard
implemented by almost every mail products. "l=" tag is an hack in DKIM
introduced only for dirty MLM software that still ignore MIME and will
probably ignore DKIM for a long time ;-). It should be forgotten !

Serge 
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