Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                         J. Herzog
Request for Comments: 6278                                     R. Khazan
Category: Informational                           MIT Lincoln Laboratory
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                June 2011


 Use of Static-Static Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Key Agreement in
                     Cryptographic Message Syntax

Abstract

  This document describes how to use the 'static-static Elliptic Curve
  Diffie-Hellman key-agreement scheme (i.e., Elliptic Curve Diffie-
  Hellman where both participants use static Diffie-Hellman values)
  with the Cryptographic Message Syntax.  In this form of key
  agreement, the Diffie-Hellman values of both the sender and receiver
  are long-term values contained in certificates.

Status of This Memo

  This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
  published for informational purposes.

  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).  Not all documents
  approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
  Standard; see 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/rfc6278.


















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Copyright Notice

  Copyright (c) 2011 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
  publication of this document.  Please review these documents
  carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
  to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
  include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
  the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
  described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction ....................................................2
     1.1. Requirements Terminology ...................................5
  2. EnvelopedData Using Static-Static ECDH ..........................5
     2.1. Fields of the KeyAgreeRecipientInfo ........................5
     2.2. Actions of the Sending Agent ...............................6
     2.3. Actions of the Receiving Agent .............................7
  3. AuthenticatedData Using Static-Static ECDH ......................8
     3.1. Fields of the KeyAgreeRecipientInfo ........................8
     3.2. Actions of the Sending Agent ...............................8
     3.3. Actions of the Receiving Agent .............................9
  4. AuthEnvelopedData Using Static-Static ECDH ......................9
     4.1. Fields of the KeyAgreeRecipientInfo ........................9
     4.2. Actions of the Sending Agent ...............................9
     4.3. Actions of the Receiving Agent .............................9
  5. Comparison to RFC 5753 ..........................................9
  6. Requirements and Recommendations ...............................10
  7. Security Considerations ........................................12
  8. Acknowledgements ...............................................14
  9. References .....................................................14
     9.1. Normative References ......................................14
     9.2. Informative References ....................................15

1.  Introduction

  This document describes how to use the static-static Elliptic Curve
  Diffie-Hellman key-agreement scheme (i.e., Elliptic Curve Diffie-
  Hellman [RFC6090] where both participants use static Diffie-Hellman
  values) in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) [RFC5652].  The CMS
  is a standard notation and representation for cryptographic messages.
  The CMS uses ASN.1 notation [X.680] [X.681] [X.682] [X.683] to define



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  a number of structures that carry both cryptographically protected
  information and key-management information regarding the keys used.
  Of particular interest here are three structures:

  o  EnvelopedData, which holds encrypted (but not necessarily
     authenticated) information [RFC5652],

  o  AuthenticatedData, which holds authenticated (MACed) information
     [RFC5652], and

  o  AuthEnvelopedData, which holds information protected by
     authenticated encryption: a cryptographic scheme that combines
     encryption and authentication [RFC5083].

  All three of these types share the same basic structure.  First, a
  fresh symmetric key is generated.  This symmetric key has a different
  name that reflects its usage in each of the three structures.
  EnvelopedData uses a content-encryption key (CEK); AuthenticatedData
  uses an authentication key; AuthEnvelopedData uses a content-
  authenticated-encryption key.  The originator uses the symmetric key
  to cryptographically protect the content.  The symmetric key is then
  wrapped for each recipient; only the intended recipient has access to
  the private keying material necessary to unwrap the symmetric key.
  Once unwrapped, the recipient uses the symmetric key to decrypt the
  content, check the authenticity of the content, or both.  The CMS
  supports several different approaches to symmetric key wrapping,
  including:

  o  key transport: the symmetric key is encrypted using the public
     encryption key of some recipient,

  o  key-encryption key: the symmetric key is encrypted using a
     previously distributed symmetric key, and

  o  key agreement: the symmetric key is encrypted using a key-
     encryption key (KEK) created using a key-agreement scheme and a
     key-derivation function (KDF).

  One such key-agreement scheme is the Diffie-Hellman algorithm
  [RFC2631], which uses group theory to produce a value known only to
  its two participants.  In this case, the participants are the
  originator and one of the recipients.  Each participant produces a
  private value and a public value, and each participant can produce
  the shared secret value from their own private value and their
  counterpart's public value.  There are some variations on the basic
  algorithm:





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  o  The basic algorithm typically uses the group 'Z mod p', meaning
     the set of integers modulo some prime p.  One can also use an
     elliptic curve group, which allows for shorter messages.

  o  Over elliptic curve groups, the standard algorithm can be extended
     to incorporate the 'cofactor' of the group.  This method, called
     'cofactor Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman' [SP800-56A] can prevent
     certain attacks possible in the elliptic curve group.

  o  The participants can generate fresh new public/private values
     (called ephemeral values) for each run of the algorithm, or they
     can re-use long-term values (called static values).  Ephemeral
     values add randomness to the resulting private value, while static
     values can be embedded in certificates.  The two participants do
     not need to use the same kind of value: either participant can use
     either type.  In 'ephemeral-static' Diffie-Hellman, for example,
     the sender uses an ephemeral public/private pair value while the
     receiver uses a static pair.  In 'static-static' Diffie-Hellman,
     on the other hand, both participants use static pairs.  (Receivers
     cannot use ephemeral values in this setting, and so we ignore
     ephemeral-ephemeral and static-ephemeral Diffie-Hellman in this
     document.)

  Several of these variations are already described in existing CMS
  standards; for example, [RFC3370] contains the conventions for using
  ephemeral-static and static-static Diffie-Hellman over the 'basic' (Z
  mod p) group.  [RFC5753] contains the conventions for using
  ephemeral-static Diffie-Hellman over elliptic curves (both standard
  and cofactor methods).  It does not, however, contain conventions for
  using either method of static-static Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman,
  preferring to discuss the Elliptic Curve Menezes-Qu-Vanstone (ECMQV)
  algorithm instead.

  In this document, we specify the conventions for using static-static
  Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) for both standard and cofactor
  methods.  Our motivation stems from the fact that ECMQV has been
  removed from the National Security Agency's Suite B of cryptographic
  algorithms and will therefore be unavailable to some participants.
  These participants can use ephemeral-static Elliptic Curve Diffie-
  Hellman, of course, but ephemeral-static Diffie-Hellman does not
  provide source authentication.  The CMS does allow the application of
  digital signatures for source authentication, but this alternative is
  available only to those participants with certified signature keys.
  By specifying conventions for static-static Elliptic Curve Diffie-
  Hellman in this document, we present a third alternative for source
  authentication, available to those participants with certified
  Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman keys.




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  We note that like ephemeral-static ECDH, static-static ECDH creates a
  secret key shared by the sender and receiver.  Unlike ephemeral-
  static ECDH, however, static-static ECDH uses a static key pair for
  the sender.  Each of the three CMS structures discussed in this
  document (EnvelopedData, AuthenticatedData, and AuthEnvelopedData)
  uses static-static ECDH to achieve different goals:

  o  EnvelopedData uses static-static ECDH to provide data
     confidentiality.  It will not necessarily, however, provide data
     authenticity.

  o  AuthenticatedData uses static-static ECDH to provide data
     authenticity.  It will not provide data confidentiality.

  o  AuthEnvelopedData uses static-static ECDH to provide both
     confidentiality and data authenticity.

1.1.  Requirements Terminology

  The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
  "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
  document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

2.  EnvelopedData Using Static-Static ECDH

  If an implementation uses static-static ECDH with the CMS
  EnvelopedData, then the following techniques and formats MUST be
  used.  The fields of EnvelopedData are as in [RFC5652]; as static-
  static ECDH is a key-agreement algorithm, the RecipientInfo 'kari'
  choice is used.  When using static-static ECDH, the EnvelopedData
  originatorInfo field MAY include the certificate(s) for the EC public
  key(s) used in the formation of the pairwise key.

2.1.  Fields of the KeyAgreeRecipientInfo

  When using static-static ECDH with EnvelopedData, the fields of
  KeyAgreeRecipientInfo [RFC5652] are as follows:

  o  version MUST be 3.

  o  originator identifies the static EC public key of the sender.  It
     MUST be either issuerAndSerialNumber or subjectKeyIdentifier, and
     it MUST point to one of the sending agent's certificates.

  o  ukm MAY be present or absent.  However, message originators SHOULD
     include the ukm and SHOULD ensure that the value of ukm is unique
     to the message being sent.  As specified in [RFC5652],
     implementations MUST support ukm message recipient processing, so



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     interoperability is not a concern if the ukm is present or absent.
     The use of a fresh value for ukm will ensure that a different key
     is generated for each message between the same sender and
     receiver.  The ukm, if present, is placed in the entityUInfo field
     of the ECC-CMS-SharedInfo structure [RFC5753] and therefore used
     as an input to the key-derivation function.

  o  keyEncryptionAlgorithm MUST contain the object identifier of the
     key-encryption algorithm, which in this case is a key-agreement
     algorithm (see Section 5).  The parameters field contains
     KeyWrapAlgorithm.  The KeyWrapAlgorithm is the algorithm
     identifier that indicates the symmetric encryption algorithm used
     to encrypt the content-encryption key (CEK) with the key-
     encryption key (KEK) and any associated parameters (see
     Section 5).

  o  recipientEncryptedKeys contains an identifier and an encrypted CEK
     for each recipient.  The RecipientEncryptedKey
     KeyAgreeRecipientIdentifier MUST contain either the
     issuerAndSerialNumber identifying the recipient's certificate or
     the RecipientKeyIdentifier containing the subject key identifier
     from the recipient's certificate.  In both cases, the recipient's
     certificate contains the recipient's static ECDH public key.
     RecipientEncryptedKey EncryptedKey MUST contain the content-
     encryption key encrypted with the static-static ECDH-generated
     pairwise key-encryption key using the algorithm specified by the
     KeyWrapAlgorithm.

2.2.  Actions of the Sending Agent

  When using static-static ECDH with EnvelopedData, the sending agent
  first obtains the EC public key(s) and domain parameters contained in
  the recipient's certificate.  It MUST confirm the following at least
  once per recipient-certificate:

  o  that both certificates (the recipient's certificate and its own)
     contain public-key values with the same curve parameters, and

  o  that both of these public-key values are marked as appropriate for
     ECDH (that is, marked with algorithm identifiers id-ecPublicKey or
     id-ecDH [RFC5480]).

  The sender then determines whether to use standard or cofactor
  Diffie-Hellman.  After doing so, the sender then determines which
  hash algorithms to use for the key-derivation function.  It then
  chooses the keyEncryptionAlgorithm value that reflects these choices.
  It then determines:




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  o  an integer "keydatalen", which is the KeyWrapAlgorithm symmetric
     key size in bits, and

  o  the value of ukm, if used.

  The sender then determines a bit string "SharedInfo", which is the
  DER encoding of ECC-CMS-SharedInfo (see Section 7.2 of [RFC5753]).
  The sending agent then performs either the Elliptic Curve Diffie-
  Hellman operation of [RFC6090] (for standard Diffie-Hellman) or the
  Elliptic Curve Cryptography Cofactor Diffie-Hellman (ECC CDH)
  Primitive of [SP800-56A] (for cofactor Diffie-Hellman).  The sending
  agent then applies the simple hash-function construct of [X963]
  (using the hash algorithm identified in the key-agreement algorithm)
  to the results of the Diffie-Hellman operation and the SharedInfo
  string.  (This construct is also described in Section 3.6.1 of
  [SEC1].)  As a result, the sending agent obtains a shared secret bit
  string "K", which is used as the pairwise key-encryption key (KEK) to
  wrap the CEK for that recipient, as specified in [RFC5652].

2.3.  Actions of the Receiving Agent

  When using static-static ECDH with EnvelopedData, the receiving agent
  retrieves keyEncryptionAlgorithm to determine the key-agreement
  algorithm chosen by the sender, which will identify:

  o  the domain parameters of the curve used,

  o  whether standard or cofactor Diffie-Hellman was used, and

  o  which hash function was used for the KDF.

  The receiver then retrieves the sender's certificate identified in
  the rid field and extracts the EC public key(s) and domain parameters
  contained therein.  It MUST confirm the following at least once per
  sender certificate:

  o  that both certificates (the sender's certificate and its own)
     contain public-key values with the same curve parameters, and

  o  that both of these public-key values are marked as appropriate for
     ECDH (that is, marked with algorithm identifiers id-ecPublicKey or
     id-ecDH [RFC5480]).

  The receiver then determines whether standard or cofactor Diffie-
  Hellman was used.  The receiver then determines a bit string
  "SharedInfo", which is the DER encoding of ECC-CMS-SharedInfo (see
  Section 7.2 of [RFC5753]).  The receiving agent then performs either
  the Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman operation of [RFC6090] (for



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  standard Diffie-Hellman) or the Elliptic Curve Cryptography Cofactor
  Diffie-Hellman (ECC CDH) Primitive of [SP800-56A] (for cofactor
  Diffie-Hellman).  The receiving agent then applies the simple hash-
  function construct of [X963] (using the hash algorithm identified in
  the key-agreement algorithm) to the results of the Diffie-Hellman
  operation and the SharedInfo string.  (This construct is also
  described in Section 3.6.1 of [SEC1].)  As a result, the receiving
  agent obtains a shared secret bit string "K", which it uses as the
  pairwise key-encryption key to unwrap the CEK.

3.  AuthenticatedData Using Static-Static ECDH

  This section describes how to use the static-static ECDH key-
  agreement algorithm with AuthenticatedData.  When using static-static
  ECDH with AuthenticatedData, the fields of AuthenticatedData are as
  in [RFC5652], but with the following restrictions:

  o  macAlgorithm MUST contain the algorithm identifier of the message
     authentication code (MAC) algorithm.  This algorithm SHOULD be one
     of the following -- id-hmacWITHSHA224, id-hmacWITHSHA256,
     id-hmacWITHSHA384, or id-hmacWITHSHA512 -- and SHOULD NOT be
     hmac-SHA1.  (See Section 5.)

  o  digestAlgorithm MUST contain the algorithm identifier of the hash
     algorithm.  This algorithm SHOULD be one of the following --
     id-sha224, id-sha256, id-sha384, or id-sha512 -- and SHOULD NOT be
     id-sha1.  (See Section 5.)

  As static-static ECDH is a key-agreement algorithm, the RecipientInfo
  kari choice is used in the AuthenticatedData.  When using static-
  static ECDH, the AuthenticatedData originatorInfo field MAY include
  the certificate(s) for the EC public key(s) used in the formation of
  the pairwise key.

3.1.  Fields of the KeyAgreeRecipientInfo

  The AuthenticatedData KeyAgreeRecipientInfo fields are used in the
  same manner as the fields for the corresponding EnvelopedData
  KeyAgreeRecipientInfo fields of Section 2.1 of this document.  The
  authentication key is wrapped in the same manner as is described
  there for the content-encryption key.

3.2.  Actions of the Sending Agent

  The sending agent uses the same actions as for EnvelopedData with
  static-static ECDH, as specified in Section 2.2 of this document.





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3.3.  Actions of the Receiving Agent

  The receiving agent uses the same actions as for EnvelopedData with
  static-static ECDH, as specified in Section 2.3 of this document.

4.  AuthEnvelopedData Using Static-Static ECDH

  When using static-static ECDH with AuthEnvelopedData, the fields of
  AuthEnvelopedData are as in [RFC5083].  As static-static ECDH is a
  key-agreement algorithm, the RecipientInfo kari choice is used.  When
  using static-static ECDH, the AuthEnvelopedData originatorInfo field
  MAY include the certificate(s) for the EC public key used in the
  formation of the pairwise key.

4.1.  Fields of the KeyAgreeRecipientInfo

  The AuthEnvelopedData KeyAgreeRecipientInfo fields are used in the
  same manner as the fields for the corresponding EnvelopedData
  KeyAgreeRecipientInfo fields of Section 2.1 of this document.  The
  content-authenticated-encryption key is wrapped in the same manner as
  is described there for the content-encryption key.

4.2.  Actions of the Sending Agent

  The sending agent uses the same actions as for EnvelopedData with
  static-static ECDH, as specified in Section 2.2 of this document.

4.3.  Actions of the Receiving Agent

  The receiving agent uses the same actions as for EnvelopedData with
  static-static ECDH, as specified in Section 2.3 of this document.

5.  Comparison to RFC 5753

  This document defines the use of static-static ECDH for
  EnvelopedData, AuthenticatedData, and AuthEnvelopedData.  [RFC5753]
  defines ephemeral-static ECDH for EnvelopedData only.

  With regard to EnvelopedData, this document and [RFC5753] greatly
  parallel each other.  Both specify how to apply Elliptic Curve
  Diffie-Hellman and differ only on how the sender's public value is to
  be communicated to the recipient.  In [RFC5753], the sender provides
  the public value explicitly by including an OriginatorPublicKey value
  in the originator field of KeyAgreeRecipientInfo.  In this document,
  the sender includes a reference to a (certified) public value by
  including either an IssuerAndSerialNumber or SubjectKeyIdentifier
  value in the same field.  Put another way, [RFC5753] provides an
  interpretation of a KeyAgreeRecipientInfo structure where:



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  o  the keyEncryptionAlgorithm value indicates Elliptic Curve Diffie-
     Hellman, and

  o  the originator field contains an OriginatorPublicKey value.

  This document, on the other hand, provides an interpretation of a
  KeyAgreeRecipientInfo structure where:

  o  the keyEncryptionAlgorithm value indicates Elliptic Curve Diffie-
     Hellman, and

  o  the originator field contains either an IssuerAndSerialNumber
     value or a SubjectKeyIdentifier value.

  AuthenticatedData or AuthEnvelopedData messages, on the other hand,
  are not given any form of ECDH by [RFC5753].  This is appropriate:
  that document only defines ephemeral-static Diffie-Hellman, and this
  form of Diffie-Hellman does not (inherently) provide any form of data
  authentication or data-origin authentication.  This document, on the
  other hand, requires that the sender use a certified public value.
  Thus, this form of key agreement provides implicit key authentication
  and, under some limited circumstances, data-origin authentication.
  (See Section 7.)

  This document does not define any new ASN.1 structures or algorithm
  identifiers.  It provides new ways to interpret structures from
  [RFC5652] and [RFC5753], and it allows previously defined algorithms
  to be used under these new interpretations.  Specifically:

  o  The ECDH key-agreement algorithm identifiers from [RFC5753] define
     only how Diffie-Hellman values are processed, and not where these
     values are created.  Therefore, they can be used for static-static
     ECDH with no changes.

  o  The key-wrap, MAC, and digest algorithms referenced in [RFC5753]
     describe how the secret key is to be used but not created.
     Therefore, they can be used with keys from static-static ECDH
     without modification.

6.  Requirements and Recommendations

  It is RECOMMENDED that implementations of this specification support
  AuthenticatedData and EnvelopedData.  Support for AuthEnvelopedData
  is OPTIONAL.

  Implementations that support this specification MUST support standard
  Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman, and these implementations MAY also
  support cofactor Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman.



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  In order to encourage interoperability, implementations SHOULD use
  the elliptic curve domain parameters specified by [RFC5480].

  Implementations that support standard static-static Elliptic Curve
  Diffie-Hellman:

  o  MUST support the dhSinglePass-stdDH-sha256kdf-scheme key-
     agreement algorithm;

  o  MAY support the dhSinglePass-stdDH-sha224kdf-scheme,
     dhSinglePass-stdDH-sha384kdf-scheme, and
     dhSinglePass-stdDH-sha512kdf-scheme key-agreement algorithms; and

  o  SHOULD NOT support the dhSinglePass-stdDH-sha1kdf-scheme
     algorithm.

  Other algorithms MAY also be supported.

  Implementations that support cofactor static-static Elliptic Curve
  Diffie-Hellman:

  o  MUST support the dhSinglePass-cofactorDH-sha256kdf-scheme key-
     agreement algorithm;

  o  MAY support the dhSinglePass-cofactorDH-sha224kdf-scheme,
     dhSinglePass-cofactorDH-sha384kdf-scheme, and
     dhSinglePass-cofactorDH-sha512kdf-scheme key-agreement algorithms;
     and

  o  SHOULD NOT support the dhSinglePass-cofactorDH-sha1kdf-scheme
     algorithm.

  In addition, all implementations:

  o  MUST support the id-aes128-wrap key-wrap algorithm and the
     id-aes128-cbc content-encryption algorithm;

  o  MAY support:

     *  the id-aes192-wrap and id-aes256-wrap key-wrap algorithms;

     *  the id-aes128-CCM, id-aes192-CCM, id-aes256-CCM, id-aes128-GCM,
        id-aes192-GCM, and id-aes256-GCM authenticated-encryption
        algorithms; and

     *  the id-aes192-cbc and id-aes256-cbc content-encryption
        algorithms.




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  o  SHOULD NOT support the id-alg-CMS3DESwrap key-wrap algorithm or
     the des-ede3-cbc content-encryption algorithms.

  (All algorithms above are defined in [RFC3370], [RFC3565], [RFC5084],
  and [RFC5753].)  Unless otherwise noted above, other algorithms MAY
  also be supported.

7.  Security Considerations

  All security considerations in Section 9 of [RFC5753] apply.

  Extreme care must be used when using static-static Diffie-Hellman
  (either standard or cofactor) without the use of some per-message
  value in the ukm.  As described in [RFC5753], the ukm value (if
  present) will be embedded in an ECC-CMS-SharedInfo structure, and the
  DER encoding of this structure will be used as the 'SharedInfo' input
  to the key-derivation function of [X963].  The purpose of this input
  is to add a message-unique value to the key-distribution function so
  that two different sessions of static-static ECDH between a given
  pair of agents result in independent keys.  If the ukm value is not
  used or is re-used, on the other hand, then the ECC-CMS-SharedInfo
  structure (and 'SharedInfo' input) will likely not vary from message
  to message.  In this case, the two agents will re-use the same keying
  material across multiple messages.  This is considered to be bad
  cryptographic practice and may open the sender to attacks on Diffie-
  Hellman (e.g., the 'small subgroup' attack [MenezesUstaoglu] or
  other, yet-undiscovered attacks).

  It is for these reasons that Section 2.1 states that message senders
  SHOULD include the ukm and SHOULD ensure that the value of ukm is
  unique to the message being sent.  One way to ensure the uniqueness
  of the ukm is for the message sender to choose a 'sufficiently long'
  random string for each message (where, as a rule of thumb, a
  'sufficiently long' string is one at least as long as the keys used
  by the key-wrap algorithm identified in the keyEncryptionAlgorithm
  field of the KeyAgreeRecipientInfo structure).  However, other
  methods (such as a counter) are possible.  Also, applications that
  cannot tolerate the inclusion of per-message information in the ukm
  (due to bandwidth requirements, for example) SHOULD NOT use static-
  static ECDH for a recipient without ascertaining that the recipient
  knows the private value associated with their certified Diffie-
  Hellman value.

  Static-static Diffie-Hellman, when used as described in this
  document, does not necessarily provide data-origin authentication.
  Consider, for example, the following sequence of events:





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  o  Alice sends an AuthEnvelopedData message to both Bob and Mallory.
     Furthermore, Alice uses a static-static DH method to transport the
     content-authenticated-encryption key to Bob, and some arbitrary
     method to transport the same key to Mallory.

  o  Mallory intercepts the message and prevents Bob from receiving it.

  o  Mallory recovers the content-authenticated-encryption key from the
     message received from Alice.  Mallory then creates new plaintext
     of her choice, and encrypts it using the same authenticated-
     encryption algorithm and the same content-authenticated-encryption
     key used by Alice.

  o  Mallory then replaces the EncryptedContentInfo and
     MessageAuthenticationCode fields of Alice's message with the
     values Mallory just generated.  She may additionally remove her
     RecipientInfo value from Alice's message.

  o  Mallory sends the modified message to Bob.

  o  Bob receives the message, validates the static-static DH values,
     and decrypts/authenticates the message.

  At this point, Bob has received and validated a message that appears
  to have been sent by Alice, but whose content was chosen by Mallory.
  Mallory may not even be an apparent receiver of the modified message.
  Thus, this use of static-static Diffie-Hellman does not necessarily
  provide data-origin authentication.  (We note that this example does
  not also contradict either confidentiality or data authentication:
  Alice's message was not received by anyone not intended by Alice, and
  Mallory's message was not modified before reaching Bob.)

  More generally, the data origin may not be authenticated unless:

  o  it is a priori guaranteed that the message in question was sent to
     exactly one recipient, or

  o  data-origin authentication is provided by some other mechanism
     (such as digital signatures).

  However, we also note that this lack of authentication is not a
  product of static-static ECDH per se, but is inherent in the way key-
  agreement schemes are used in the AuthenticatedData and
  AuthEnvelopedData structures of the CMS.

  When two parties are communicating using static-static ECDH as
  described in this document, and either party's asymmetric keys have
  been centrally generated, it is possible for that party's central



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  infrastructure to decrypt the communication (for application-layer
  network monitoring or filtering, for example).  By way of contrast:
  were ephemeral-static ECDH to be used instead, such decryption by the
  sender's infrastructure would not be possible (though it would remain
  possible for the infrastructure of any recipient).

8.  Acknowledgements and Disclaimer

  This work is sponsored by the United States Air Force under Air Force
  Contract FA8721-05-C-0002.  Opinions, interpretations, conclusions
  and recommendations are those of the authors and are not necessarily
  endorsed by the United States Government.

  The authors would like to thank Jim Schaad, Russ Housley, Sean
  Turner, Brian Weis, Rene Struik, Brian Carpenter, David McGrew, and
  Stephen Farrell for their helpful comments and suggestions.  We would
  also like to thank Jim Schaad for describing to us the attack
  described in Section 7.

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

  [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
             Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

  [RFC3370]  Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
             Algorithms", RFC 3370, August 2002.

  [RFC3565]  Schaad, J., "Use of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
             Encryption Algorithm in Cryptographic Message Syntax
             (CMS)", RFC 3565, July 2003.

  [RFC5083]  Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
             Authenticated-Enveloped-Data Content Type", RFC 5083,
             November 2007.

  [RFC5084]  Housley, R., "Using AES-CCM and AES-GCM Authenticated
             Encryption in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)",
             RFC 5084, November 2007.

  [RFC5480]  Turner, S., Brown, D., Yiu, K., Housley, R., and T. Polk,
             "Elliptic Curve Cryptography Subject Public Key
             Information", RFC 5480, March 2009.

  [RFC5652]  Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", STD 70,
             RFC 5652, September 2009.




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  [RFC5753]  Turner, S. and D. Brown, "Use of Elliptic Curve
             Cryptography (ECC) Algorithms in Cryptographic Message
             Syntax (CMS)", RFC 5753, January 2010.

  [RFC6090]  McGrew, D., Igoe, K., and M. Salter, "Fundamental Elliptic
             Curve Cryptography Algorithms", RFC 6090, February 2011.

  [SP800-56A]
             Barker, E., Johnson, D., and M. Smid, "Recommendation for
             Pair-Wise Key Establishment Schemes Using Discrete
             Logarithm Cryptography (Revised)", NIST Special
             Publication (SP) 800-56A, March 2007.

  [X963]     "Public Key Cryptography for the Financial Services
             Industry, Key Agreement and Key Transport Using Elliptic
             Curve Cryptography", ANSI X9.63, 2001.

9.2.  Informative References

  [MenezesUstaoglu]
             Menezes, A. and B. Ustaoglu, "On Reusing Ephemeral Keys in
             Diffie-Hellman Key Agreement Protocols", International
             Journal of Applied Cryptography, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 154-
             158, 2010.

  [RFC2631]  Rescorla, E., "Diffie-Hellman Key Agreement Method",
             RFC 2631, June 1999.

  [SEC1]     Standards for Efficient Cryptography Group (SECG), "SEC 1:
             Elliptic Curve Cryptography", Version 2.0, May 2009.

  [X.680]    ITU-T, "Information Technology - Abstract Syntax Notation
             One: Specification of Basic Notation",
             Recommendation X.680, ISO/IEC 8824-1:2002, 2002.

  [X.681]    ITU-T, "Information Technology - Abstract Syntax Notation
             One: Information Object Specification",
             Recommendation X.681, ISO/IEC 8824-2:2002, 2002.

  [X.682]    ITU-T, "Information Technology - Abstract Syntax Notation
             One: Constraint Specification", Recommendation X.682, ISO/
             IEC 8824-3:2002, 2002.

  [X.683]    ITU-T, "Information Technology - Abstract Syntax Notation
             One: Parameterization of ASN.1 Specifications",
             Recommendation X.683, ISO/IEC 8824-4:2002, 2002.





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Authors' Addresses

  Jonathan C. Herzog
  MIT Lincoln Laboratory
  244 Wood St.
  Lexington, MA  02144
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]


  Roger Khazan
  MIT Lincoln Laboratory
  244 Wood St.
  Lexington, MA  02144
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]

































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