ietf-smime
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Re: S/MIME v3.2 IDs key size text

2008-03-19 14:32:02

Sean:

A receiving agent SHOULD be able to verify signatures with keys of any size
over 512 bits.

This is asking for denial of service attack. What if someone sends a certificate that contains a 64Kbit value claiming to be a public key and a blob of random bits claiming to be a signature? The amount of time to check the signature (and probably find that it is not valid) is onerous.

Today, I cannot imagine someone making use of a public key larger than 8192 bits. Double that it you want to be very future proof.

Russ