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Re: [smime] CMS signed object algorithm selection question

2015-05-21 02:17:34
Hi,

Please see my responses inline.

Regards,
Bilal.

On 5/20/2015 10:49 PM, Richard Hansen wrote:
Hi all,

Is this the right place to ask a question about the Cryptographic
Message Syntax signed object spec (RFC5652 Section 5)?  (I'm interested
in understanding the RFC author's intentions, not what implementations
currently do.)

I am reviewing draft-ietf-sidr-rfc6485bis for the sidr working group and
am confused about SignerInfo algorithm selection, specifically the
relationship between the digestAlgorithm and signatureAlgorithm fields.

RFC3370 defines the digest algorithm OIDs sha-1 and md5.  It also
defines the signature algorithm OIDs rsaEncryption,
sha1WithRSAEncryption, and md5WithRSAEncryption.  This leads me to wonder:

   * Suppose digestAlgorithm contains sha-1. Is there any functional
     difference between choosing rsaEncryption vs. sha1WithRSAEncryption
     for the signatureAlgorithm field?
[Bilal] : If you look at RFC 2315 (PKCS#7) , the ASN.1 structure of signerInfo is :

SignerInfo ::= SEQUENCE {
     version Version,
     issuerAndSerialNumber IssuerAndSerialNumber,
     digestAlgorithm DigestAlgorithmIdentifier,
     authenticatedAttributes
       [0] IMPLICIT Attributes OPTIONAL,
     digestEncryptionAlgorithm
       DigestEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier,
     encryptedDigest EncryptedDigest,
     unauthenticatedAttributes
       [1] IMPLICIT Attributes OPTIONAL }

Here it is mentioned the "digestEncryptionAlgorithm" and it should be e.g. "rsaEncryption" while the "digestAlgorithm" should be like "sha-1".

In RFC 3852 (CMS) which maintains backward compatibility with PKCS#7, the ASN.1 structure of signerInfo is :

SignerInfo ::= SEQUENCE {
        version CMSVersion,
        sid SignerIdentifier,
        digestAlgorithm DigestAlgorithmIdentifier,
        signedAttrs [0] IMPLICIT SignedAttributes OPTIONAL,
        signatureAlgorithm SignatureAlgorithmIdentifier,
        signature SignatureValue,
        unsignedAttrs [1] IMPLICIT UnsignedAttributes OPTIONAL }

Here it is mentioned the "signatureAlgorithm" and it should be e.g. "sha1withrsaEncryption" while the "digestAlgorithm" should be like "sha-1". Here "signatureAlgorithm" alone can be be used to pick the digest algorithm but IMHO, "digestAlgorithm" remains there for backward compatibility with PKCS#7. "digestAlgorithm" must be compatible with the "signatureAlgorithm" otherwise tool kits that processes this structure will give an error.

CMS tool kits must be able to process both types of structures and tool kits that generates CMS should create as per new structure i.e. use "signatureAlgorithm" instead of "digestEncryptionAlgorithm" and "digestAlgorithm" remains as it is.

   * What happens if I put sha-1 in digestAlgorithm but choose
     md5WithRSAEncryption for signatureAlgorithm?
[Bilal] : See above.

   * In general, what is the relationship between the digest algorithm
     associated with the chosen signatureAlgorithm and the chosen
     digestAlgorithm?
[Bilal] : See above.

Thanks,
Richard

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