RFC 9148 | EST-coaps | April 2022 |
van der Stok, et al. | Standards Track | [Page] |
Enrollment over Secure Transport (EST) is used as a certificate provisioning protocol over HTTPS. Low-resource devices often use the lightweight Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) for message exchanges. This document defines how to transport EST payloads over secure CoAP (EST-coaps), which allows constrained devices to use existing EST functionality for provisioning certificates.¶
This is an Internet Standards Track document.¶
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). Further information on Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.¶
Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained athttps://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9148.¶
Copyright (c) 2022 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 (https://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 Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.¶
"Classical" Enrollment over Secure Transport (EST)[RFC7030] is used for authenticated/authorized endpoint certificate enrollment (and optionally key provisioning) through a Certification Authority (CA) or Registration Authority (RA). EST transports messages over HTTPS.¶
This document defines a new transport for EST based on the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) since some Internet of Things (IoT) devices use CoAP instead of HTTP. Therefore, this specification utilizes DTLS[RFC6347] and CoAP[RFC7252] instead of TLS[RFC8446] and HTTP[RFC7230].¶
EST responses can be relatively large, and for this reason, this specification also uses CoAP Block-Wise Transfer[RFC7959] to offer a fragmentation mechanism of EST messages at the CoAP layer.¶
This document also profiles the use of EST to support certificate-based client authentication only. Neither HTTP Basic nor Digest authentication (as described inSection 3.2.3 of [RFC7030]) is supported.¶
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14[RFC2119][RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.¶
Many of the concepts in this document are taken from[RFC7030]. Consequently, much text is directly traceable to[RFC7030].¶
This section describes how EST-coaps conforms to the profiles of low-resource devices described in[RFC7925]. EST-coaps can transport certificates and private keys. Certificates are responses to (re-)enrollment requests or requests for a trusted certificate list. Private keys can be transported as responses to a server-side key generation request as described inSection 4.4 of [RFC7030] (and subsections) and discussed inSection 4.8 of this document.¶
EST-coaps depends on a secure transport mechanism that secures the exchanged CoAP messages. DTLS is one such secure protocol. No other changes are necessary regarding the secure transport of EST messages.¶
+------------------------------------------------+| EST request/response messages |+------------------------------------------------+| CoAP for message transfer and signaling |+------------------------------------------------+| Secure Transport |+------------------------------------------------+
In accordance with Sections3.3 and4.4 of[RFC7925], the mandatory cipher suite for DTLS in EST-coaps is TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CCM_8[RFC7251]. Curve secp256r1MUST be supported[RFC8422]; this curve is equivalent to the NIST P-256 curve. After the publication of[RFC7748], support for Curve25519 will likely be required in the future by (D)TLS profiles for the Internet of Things[RFC7925].¶
DTLS 1.2 implementations must use the Supported Elliptic Curves and Supported Point Formats Extensions in[RFC8422]. Uncompressed point format must also be supported. DTLS 1.3[RFC9147] implementations differ from DTLS 1.2 because they do not support point format negotiation in favor of a single point format for each curve. Thus, support for DTLS 1.3 does not mandate point format extensions and negotiation. In addition, in DTLS 1.3, the Supported Elliptic Curves extension has been renamed to Supported Groups.¶
CoAP was designed to avoid IP fragmentation. DTLS is used to secure CoAP messages. However, fragmentation is still possible at the DTLS layer during the DTLS handshake even when using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) cipher suites. If fragmentation is necessary, "DTLS provides a mechanism for fragmenting a handshake message over a number of records, each of which can be transmitted separately, thus avoiding IP fragmentation"[RFC6347].¶
The authentication of the EST-coaps server by the EST-coaps client is based on certificate authentication in the DTLS handshake. The EST-coaps clientMUST be configured with at least an Implicit Trust Anchor database, which will enable the authentication of the server the first time before updating its trust anchor (Explicit TA)[RFC7030].¶
The authentication of the EST-coaps clientMUST be with a client certificate in the DTLS handshake. This can either be:¶
EST-coaps supports the certificate types and TAs that are specified for EST inSection 3 of [RFC7030].¶
As described inSection 2.1 of [RFC5272], proof-of-identity refers to a value that can be used to prove that an end entity or client is in the possession of and can use the private key corresponding to the certified public key. Additionally, channel-binding information can link proof-of-identity with an established connection. Connection-based proof-of-possession isOPTIONAL for EST-coaps clients and servers. When proof-of-possession is desired, a set of actions are required regarding the use of tls-unique, described inSection 3.5 of [RFC7030]. The tls-unique information consists of the contents of the first Finished message in the (D)TLS handshake between server and client[RFC5929]. The client adds the Finished message as a challengePassword in the attributes section of the PKCS #10 CertificationRequest[RFC5967] to prove that the client is indeed in control of the private key at the time of the (D)TLS session establishment. In the case of handshake message fragmentation, if proof-of-possession is desired, the Finished message added as the challengePassword in the Certificate Signing Request (CSR) is calculated as specified by (D)TLS. We summarize it here for convenience. For DTLS 1.2, in the event of handshake message fragmentation, the hash of the handshake messages used in the Message Authentication Code (MAC) calculation of the Finished message must be computed on each reassembled message, as if each message had not been fragmented (Section 4.2.6 of [RFC6347]). The Finished message is calculated as shown inSection 7.4.9 of [RFC5246].¶
For (D)TLS 1.3,Appendix C.5 of [RFC8446] describes the lack of channel bindings similar to tls-unique.[TLS13-CHANNEL-BINDINGS] can be used instead to derive a 32-byte tls-exporter binding from the (D)TLS 1.3 master secret by using a PRF negotiated in the (D)TLS 1.3 handshake, "EXPORTER-Channel-Binding" with no terminating NUL as the label, the ClientHello.random and ServerHello.random, and a zero-length context string. When proof-of-possession is desired, the client adds the tls-exporter value as a challengePassword in the attributes section of the PKCS #10 CertificationRequest[RFC5967] to prove that the client is indeed in control of the private key at the time of the (D)TLS session establishment.¶
In a constrained CoAP environment, endpoints can't always afford to establish a DTLS connection for every EST transaction. An EST-coaps DTLS connectionMAY remain open for sequential EST transactions, which was not the case with[RFC7030]. For example, if a /crts request is followed by a /sen request, both can use the same authenticated DTLS connection. However, when a /crts request is included in the set of sequential EST transactions, some additional security considerations apply regarding the use of the Implicit and Explicit TA database as explained inSection 9.1.¶
Given that after a successful enrollment, it is more likely that a new EST transaction will not take place for a significant amount of time, the DTLS connectionsSHOULD only be kept alive for EST messages that are relatively close to each other. These could include a /sen immediately following a /crts when a device is getting bootstrapped. In some cases, like NAT rebinding, keeping the state of a connection is not possible when devices sleep for extended periods of time. In such occasions,[RFC9146] negotiates a connection ID that can eliminate the need for a new handshake and its additional cost; or, DTLS session resumption provides a less costly alternative than redoing a full DTLS handshake.¶
EST-coaps uses CoAP to transfer EST messages, aided by Block-Wise Transfer[RFC7959], to avoid IP fragmentation. The use of blocks for the transfer of larger EST messages is specified inSection 4.6.Figure 1 shows the layered EST-coaps architecture.¶
The EST-coaps protocol design follows closely the EST design. The supported message types in EST-coaps are:¶
While[RFC7030] permits a number of the EST functions to be used without authentication, this specification requires that the clientMUST be authenticated for all functions.¶
EST-coaps is targeted for low-resource networks with small packets. Two types of installations are possible: (1) a rigid one, where the address and the supported functions of the EST server(s) are known, and (2) a flexible one, where the EST server and its supported functions need to be discovered.¶
For both types of installations, saving header space is important and short EST-coaps URIs are specified in this document. These URIs are shorter than the ones in[RFC7030]. Two example EST-coaps resource path names are:¶
coaps://example.com:<port>/.well-known/est/<short-est>coaps://example.com:<port>/.well-known/est/ArbitraryLabel/<short-est>¶
The short-est strings are defined inTable 1. Arbitrary Labels are usually defined and used by EST CAs in order to route client requests to the appropriate certificate profile. Implementers should consider using short labels to minimize transmission overhead.¶
The EST-coaps server URIs, obtained through discovery of the EST-coaps resource(s) as shown below, are of the form:¶
coaps://example.com:<port>/<root-resource>/<short-est>coaps://example.com:<port>/<root-resource>/ArbitraryLabel/<short-est>¶
Figure 5 inSection 3.2.2 of [RFC7030] enumerates the operations and corresponding paths that are supported by EST.Table 1 provides the mapping from the EST URI path to the shorter EST-coaps URI path.¶
EST | EST-coaps |
---|---|
/cacerts | /crts |
/simpleenroll | /sen |
/simplereenroll | /sren |
/serverkeygen | /skg (PKCS #7) |
/serverkeygen | /skc (application/pkix-cert) |
/csrattrs | /att |
The /skg message is the EST /serverkeygen equivalent where the client requests a certificate in PKCS #7 format and a private key. If the client prefers a single application/pkix-cert certificate instead of PKCS #7, it will make an /skc request. In both cases (i.e., /skg, /skc), a private keyMUST be returned.¶
Clients and serversMUST support the short resource EST-coaps URIs.¶
In the context of CoAP, the presence and location of (path to) the EST resources are discovered by sending a GET request to "/.well-known/core" including a resource type (RT) parameter with the value "ace.est*"[RFC6690]. The example below shows the discovery over CoAPS of the presence and location of EST-coaps resources. Linefeeds are included only for readability.¶
REQ: GET /.well-known/core?rt=ace.est* RES: 2.05 Content</est/crts>;rt="ace.est.crts";ct="281 287",</est/sen>;rt="ace.est.sen";ct="281 287",</est/sren>;rt="ace.est.sren";ct="281 287",</est/att>;rt="ace.est.att";ct=285,</est/skg>;rt="ace.est.skg";ct=62,</est/skc>;rt="ace.est.skc";ct=62¶
The first three lines, describing ace.est.crts, ace.est.sen, and ace.est.sren, of the discovery response aboveMUST be returned if the server supports resource discovery. The last three lines are only included if the corresponding EST functions are implemented (seeTable 2). The Content-Formats in the response allow the client to request one that is supported by the server. These are the values that would be sent in the client request with an Accept Option.¶
Discoverable port numbers can be returned in the response payload. An example response payload for non-default CoAPS server port 61617 follows below. Linefeeds are included only for readability.¶
REQ: GET /.well-known/core?rt=ace.est* RES: 2.05 Content<coaps://[2001:db8:3::123]:61617/est/crts>;rt="ace.est.crts"; ct="281 287",<coaps://[2001:db8:3::123]:61617/est/sen>;rt="ace.est.sen"; ct="281 287",<coaps://[2001:db8:3::123]:61617/est/sren>;rt="ace.est.sren"; ct="281 287",<coaps://[2001:db8:3::123]:61617/est/att>;rt="ace.est.att"; ct=285,<coaps://[2001:db8:3::123]:61617/est/skg>;rt="ace.est.skg"; ct=62,<coaps://[2001:db8:3::123]:61617/est/skc>;rt="ace.est.skc"; ct=62¶
The serverMUST support the default /.well-known/est root resource. The serverSHOULD support resource discovery when it supports non-default URIs (like /est or /est/ArbitraryLabel) or ports. The clientSHOULD use resource discovery when it is unaware of the available EST-coaps resources.¶
Throughout this document, the example root resource of /est is used.¶
This specification contains a set of required-to-implement functions, optionalfunctions, and not-specified functions. The unspecified functions are deemedtoo expensive for low-resource devices in payload and calculation times.¶
Table 2 specifies the mandatory-to-implement or optional implementation of the EST-coaps functions. Discovery of the existence of optional functions is described inSection 4.1.¶
EST Functions | EST-coaps Implementation |
---|---|
/cacerts | MUST |
/simpleenroll | MUST |
/simplereenroll | MUST |
/fullcmc | Not specified |
/serverkeygen | OPTIONAL |
/csrattrs | OPTIONAL |
EST-coaps is designed for low-resource devices; hence, it does not need to send Base64-encoded data. Simple binary is more efficient (30% smaller payload for DER-encoded ASN.1) and well supported by CoAP. Thus, the payload for a given media type follows the ASN.1 structure of the media type and is transported in binary format.¶
The Content-Format (HTTP Content-Type equivalent) of the CoAP message determines which EST message is transported in the CoAP payload. The media types specified in the HTTP Content-Type header field (Section 3.2.4 of [RFC7030]) are specified by the Content-Format Option (12) of CoAP. The combination of URI-Path and Content-Format in EST-coapsMUST map to an allowed combination of URI and media type in EST. The required Content-Formats for these requests and response messages are defined inSection 8.1. The CoAP response codes are defined inSection 4.5.¶
Content-Format 287 can be used in place of 281 to carry a single certificate instead of a PKCS #7 container in a /crts, /sen, /sren, or /skg response. Content-Format 281MUST be supported by EST-coaps servers. ServersMAY also support Content-Format 287. It is up to the client to support only Content-Format 281, 287 or both. The client will use a CoAP Accept Option in the request to express the preferred response Content-Format. If an Accept Option is not included in the request, the client is not expressing any preference and the serverSHOULD choose format 281.¶
Content-Format 286 is used in /sen, /sren, and /skg requests and 285 in /att responses.¶
A representation with Content-Format identifier 62 contains a collection of representations along with their respective Content-Format. The Content-Format identifies the media type application/multipart-core specified in[RFC8710]. For example, a collection, containing two representations in response to an EST-coaps server-side key generation /skg request, could include a private key in PKCS #8[RFC5958] with Content-Format identifier 284 (0x011C) and a single certificate in a PKCS #7 container with Content-Format identifier 281 (0x0119). Such a collection would look like [284,h'0123456789abcdef', 281,h'fedcba9876543210'] in diagnostic Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) notation. The serialization of such CBOR content would be:¶
84 # array(4) 19 011C # unsigned(284) 48 # bytes(8) 0123456789ABCDEF # "\x01#Eg\x89\xAB\xCD\xEF" 19 0119 # unsigned(281) 48 # bytes(8) FEDCBA9876543210 # "\xFE\xDC\xBA\x98vT2\x10"
When the client makes an /skc request, the certificate returned with the private key is a single X.509 certificate (not a PKCS #7 container) with Content-Format identifier 287 (0x011F) instead of 281. In cases where the private key is encrypted with Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) (as explained inSection 4.8), the Content-Format identifier is 280 (0x0118) instead of 284. The Content-Format used in the response is summarized inTable 3.¶
Function | Response, Part 1 | Response, Part 2 |
---|---|---|
/skg | 284 | 281 |
/skc | 280 | 287 |
The key and certificate representations are DER-encoded ASN.1, in its binary form. An example is shown inAppendix A.3.¶
The general EST-coaps message characteristics are:¶
Table 1 provides the mapping from the EST URI path to the EST-coaps URI path.Appendix A includes some practical examples of EST messages translated to CoAP.¶
Section 5.9 of [RFC7252] andSection 7 of [RFC8075] specify the mapping of HTTP response codes to CoAP response codes. The success code in response to an EST-coaps GET request (/crts, /att) is 2.05. Similarly, 2.04 is used in successful response to EST-coaps POST requests (/sen, /sren, /skg, /skc).¶
EST makes use of HTTP 204 or 404 responses when a resource is not available for the client. In EST-coaps, 2.04 is used in response to a POST (/sen, /sren, /skg, /skc). 4.04 is used when the resource is not available for the client.¶
HTTP response code 202 with a Retry-After header field in[RFC7030] has no equivalent in CoAP. HTTP 202 with Retry-After is used in EST for delayed server responses.Section 4.7 specifies how EST-coaps handles delayed messages with 5.03 responses with a Max-Age Option.¶
Additionally, EST's HTTP 400, 401, 403, 404, and 503 status codes have their equivalent CoAP 4.00, 4.01, 4.03, 4.04, and 5.03 response codes in EST-coaps.Table 4 summarizes the EST-coaps response codes.¶
Operation | EST-coaps Response Code | Description |
---|---|---|
/crts, /att | 2.05 | Success. Certs included in the response payload. |
4.xx / 5.xx | Failure. | |
/sen, /skg, /sren, /skc | 2.04 | Success. Cert included in the response payload. |
5.03 | Retry in Max-Age Option time. | |
4.xx / 5.xx | Failure. |
DTLS defines fragmentation only for the handshake and not for secure data exchange (DTLS records).[RFC6347] states that to avoid using IP fragmentation, which involves error-prone datagram reconstitution, invokers of the DTLS record layer should size DTLS records so that they fit within any Path MTU estimates obtained from the record layer. In addition, invokers residing on 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks) over IEEE 802.15.4 networks[IEEE802.15.4] are recommended to size CoAP messages such that each DTLS record will fit within one or two IEEE 802.15.4 frames.¶
That is not always possible in EST-coaps. Even though ECC certificates are small in size, they can vary greatly based on signature algorithms, key sizes, and Object Identifier (OID) fields used. For 256-bit curves, common Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) cert sizes are 500-1000 bytes, which could fluctuate further based on the algorithms, OIDs, Subject Alternative Names (SANs), and cert fields. For 384-bit curves, ECDSA certificates increase in size and can sometimes reach 1.5KB. Additionally, there are times when the EST cacerts response from the server can include multiple certificates that amount to large payloads.Section 4.6 of [RFC7252] (CoAP) describes the possible payload sizes: "if nothing is known about the size of the headers, good upper bounds are 1152 bytes for the message size and 1024 bytes for the payload size".Section 4.6 of [RFC7252] also suggests that IPv4 implementations may want to limit themselves to more conservative IPv4 datagram sizes such as 576 bytes. Even with ECC, EST-coaps messages can still exceed MTU sizes on the Internet or 6LoWPAN[RFC4919] (Section 2 of [RFC7959]). EST-coaps needs to be able to fragment messages into multiple DTLS datagrams.¶
To perform fragmentation in CoAP,[RFC7959] specifies the Block1 Option for fragmentation of the request payload and the Block2 Option for fragmentation of the return payload of a CoAP flow. As explained inSection 1 of [RFC7959], block-wise transfers should be used in Confirmable CoAP messages to avoid the exacerbation of lost blocks. EST-coaps serversMUST implement Block1 and Block2. EST-coaps clientsMUST implement Block2. EST-coaps clientsMUST implement Block1 only if they are expecting to send EST-coaps requests with a packet size that exceeds the path MTU.¶
[RFC7959] also defines Size1 and Size2 Options to provide size information about the resource representation in a request and response. The EST-coaps client and serverMAY support Size1 and Size2 Options.¶
Examples of fragmented EST-coaps messages are shown inAppendix B.¶
Server responses can sometimes be delayed. According toSection 5.2.2 of [RFC7252], a slow server can acknowledge the request and respond later with the requested resource representation. In particular, a slow server can respond to an EST-coaps enrollment request with an empty ACK with code 0.00 before sending the certificate to the client after a short delay. If the certificate response is large, the server will need more than one Block2 block to transfer it.¶
This situation is shown inFigure 3. The client sends an enrollment request that uses N1+1 Block1 blocks. The server uses an empty 0.00 ACK to announce the delayed response, which is provided later with 2.04 messages containing N2+1 Block2 Options. The first 2.04 is a Confirmable message that is acknowledged by the client. Onwards, the client acknowledges all subsequent Block2 blocks. The notation ofFigure 3 is explained inAppendix B.1.¶
POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(1:0/1/256) {CSR (frag# 1)} --> <-- (ACK) (1:0/1/256) (2.31 Continue)POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(1:1/1/256) {CSR (frag# 2)} --> <-- (ACK) (1:1/1/256) (2.31 Continue) . . .POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen(CON)(1:N1/0/256) {CSR (frag# N1+1)}--> <-- (0.00 empty ACK) | ... Short delay before the certificate is ready ... | <-- (CON) (1:N1/0/256)(2:0/1/256)(2.04 Changed) {Cert resp (frag# 1)} (ACK) -->POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(2:1/0/256) --> <-- (ACK) (2:1/1/256) (2.04 Changed) {Cert resp (frag# 2)} . . .POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(2:N2/0/256) --> <-- (ACK) (2:N2/0/256) (2.04 Changed) {Cert resp (frag# N2+1)}
If the server is very slow (for example, manual intervention is required, which would take minutes), itSHOULD respond with an ACK containing response code 5.03 (Service unavailable) and a Max-Age Option to indicate the time the clientSHOULD wait before sending another request to obtain the content. After a delay of Max-Age, the clientSHOULD resend the identical CSR to the server. As long as the server continues to respond with response code 5.03 (Service Unavailable) with a Max-Age Option, the client will continue to delay for Max-Age and then resend the enrollment request until the server responds with the certificate or the client abandons the request due to policy or other reasons.¶
To demonstrate this scenario,Figure 4 shows a client sending an enrollment request that uses N1+1 Block1 blocks to send the CSR to the server. The server needs N2+1 Block2 blocks to respond but also needs to take a long delay (minutes) to provide the response. Consequently, the server uses a 5.03 ACK response with a Max-Age Option. The client waits for a period of Max-Age as many times as it receives the same 5.03 response and retransmits the enrollment request until it receives a certificate in a fragmented 2.04 response.¶
POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(1:0/1/256) {CSR (frag# 1)} --> <-- (ACK) (1:0/1/256) (2.31 Continue)POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(1:1/1/256) {CSR (frag# 2)} --> <-- (ACK) (1:1/1/256) (2.31 Continue) . . .POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen(CON)(1:N1/0/256) {CSR (frag# N1+1)}--> <-- (ACK) (1:N1/0/256) (5.03 Service Unavailable) (Max-Age) | | ... Client tries again after Max-Age with identical payload ... | |POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen(CON)(1:0/1/256) {CSR (frag# 1)}--> <-- (ACK) (1:0/1/256) (2.31 Continue)POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(1:1/1/256) {CSR (frag# 2)} --> <-- (ACK) (1:1/1/256) (2.31 Continue) . . .POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen(CON)(1:N1/0/256) {CSR (frag# N1+1)}--> | ... Immediate response when certificate is ready ... | <-- (ACK) (1:N1/0/256) (2:0/1/256) (2.04 Changed) {Cert resp (frag# 1)}POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(2:1/0/256) --> <-- (ACK) (2:1/1/256) (2.04 Changed) {Cert resp (frag# 2)} . . .POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(2:N2/0/256) --> <-- (ACK) (2:N2/0/256) (2.04 Changed) {Cert resp (frag# N2+1)}
Private keys can be generated on the server to support scenarios where server-side key generation is needed. Such scenarios include those where it is considered more secure to generate the long-lived, random private key that identifies the client at the server, or where the resources spent to generate a random private key at the client are considered scarce, or where the security policy requires that the certificate public and corresponding private keys are centrally generated and controlled. As always, it is necessary to use proper random numbers in various protocols such as (D)TLS (Section 9.1).¶
When requesting server-side key generation, the client asks for the server or proxy to generate the private key and the certificate, which are transferred back to the client in the server-side key generation response. In all respects, the server treats the CSR as it would treat any enroll or re-enroll CSR; the only distinction here is that the serverMUST ignore the public key values and signature in the CSR. These are included in the request only to allow reuse of existing codebases for generating and parsing such requests.¶
The client /skg request is for a certificate in a PKCS #7 container and private key in two application/multipart-core elements. Respectively, an /skc request is for a single application/pkix-cert certificate and a private key. The private key Content-Format requested by the client is indicated in the PKCS #10 CSR request. If the request contains SMIMECapabilities and DecryptKeyIdentifier or AsymmetricDecryptKeyIdentifier, the client is expecting Content-Format 280 for the private key. Then, this private key is encrypted symmetrically or asymmetrically per[RFC7030]. The symmetric key or the asymmetric keypair establishment method is out of scope of this specification. An /skg or /skc request with a CSR without SMIMECapabilities expects an application/multipart-core with an unencrypted PKCS #8 private key with Content-Format 284.¶
The EST-coaps server-side key generation response is returned with Content-Format application/multipart-core[RFC8710] containing a CBOR array with four items (Section 4.3). The two representations (each consisting of two CBOR array items) do not have to be in a particular order since each representation is preceded by its Content-Format ID. Depending on the request, the private key can be in unprotected PKCS #8 format[RFC5958] (Content-Format 284) or protected inside of CMS SignedData (Content-Format 280). The SignedData, placed in the outermost container, is signed by the party that generated the private key, which may be the EST server or the EST CA. SignedData placed within the Enveloped Data does not need additional signing as explained inSection 4.4.2 of [RFC7030]. In summary, the symmetrically encrypted key is included in the encryptedKey attribute in a KEKRecipientInfo structure. In the case where the asymmetric encryption key is suitable for transport key operations, the generated private key is encrypted with a symmetric key. The symmetric key itself is encrypted by the client-defined (in the CSR) asymmetric public key and is carried in an encryptedKey attribute in a KeyTransRecipientInfo structure. Finally, if the asymmetric encryption key is suitable for key agreement, the generated private key is encrypted with a symmetric key. The symmetric key itself is encrypted by the client defined (in the CSR) asymmetric public key and is carried in a recipientEncryptedKeys attribute in a KeyAgreeRecipientInfo.¶
[RFC7030] recommends the use of additional encryption of the returned private key. For the context of this specification, clients and servers that choose to support server-side key generationMUST support unprotected (PKCS #8) private keys (Content-Format 284). Symmetric or asymmetric encryption of the private key (CMS EnvelopedData, Content-Format 280)SHOULD be supported for deployments where end-to-end encryption is needed between the client and a server. Such cases could include architectures where an entity between the client and the CA terminates the DTLS connection (Registrar inFigure 5). Though[RFC7030] strongly recommends that clients request the use of CMS encryption on top of the TLS channel's protection, this document does not make such a recommendation; CMS encryption can still be used when mandated by the use case.¶
In real-world deployments, the EST server will not always reside within the CoAP boundary. The EST server can exist outside the constrained network, in which case it will support TLS/HTTP instead of CoAPS. In such environments, EST-coaps is used by the client within the CoAP boundary and TLS is used to transport the EST messages outside the CoAP boundary. A Registrar at the edge is required to operate between the CoAP environment and the external HTTP network as shown inFigure 5.¶
Constrained Network.------. .----------------------------.| CA | |.--------------------------.|'------' || || | || ||.------. HTTP .------------------. CoAPS .-----------. ||| EST |<------->|EST-coaps-to-HTTPS|<------->| EST Client| |||Server|over TLS | Registrar | '-----------' ||'------' '------------------' || || || |'--------------------------'| '----------------------------'
The EST-coaps-to-HTTPS RegistrarMUST terminate EST-coaps downstream and initiate EST connections over TLS upstream. The RegistrarMUST authenticate and optionally authorize the client requests while itMUST be authenticated by the EST server or CA. The trust relationship between the Registrar and the EST serverSHOULD be pre-established for the Registrar to proxy these connections on behalf of various clients.¶
When enforcing Proof-of-Possession (POP) linking, the tls-unique or tls-exporter value of the session for DTLS 1.2 and DTLS 1.3, respectively, is used to prove that the private key corresponding to the public key is in the possession of the client and was used to establish the connection as explained inSection 3. The POP linking information is lost between the EST-coaps client and the EST server when a Registrar is present. The EST server becomes aware of the presence of a Registrar from its TLS client certificate that includes the id-kp-cmcRA extended key usage (EKU) extension[RFC6402]. As explained inSection 3.7 of [RFC7030], the "EST serverSHOULD apply authorization policy consistent with an RA client ... the EST server could be configured to accept POP linking information that does not match the current TLS session because the authenticated EST client RA has verified this information when acting as an EST server".¶
Table 1 contains the URI mappings between EST-coaps and EST that the RegistrarMUST adhere to.Section 4.5 of this specification andSection 7 of [RFC8075] define the mappings between EST-coaps and HTTP response codes that determine how the RegistrarMUST translate CoAP response codes from/to HTTP status codes. The mapping from CoAP Content-Format to HTTP Content-Type is defined inSection 8.1. Additionally, a conversion from CBOR major type 2 to Base64 encodingMUST take place at the Registrar. If CMS end-to-end encryption is employed for the private key, the encrypted CMS EnvelopedData blobMUST be converted at the Registrar to binary CBOR type 2 downstream to the client. This is a format conversion that does not require decryption of the CMS EnvelopedData.¶
A deviation from the mappings inTable 1 could take place if clients that leverage server-side key generation preferred for the enrolled keys to be generated by the Registrar in the case the CA does not support server-side key generation. Such a Registrar is responsible for generating a new CSR signed by a new key that will be returned to the client along with the certificate from the CA. In these cases, the RegistrarMUST use random number generation with proper entropy.¶
Due to fragmentation of large messages into blocks, an EST-coaps-to-HTTP RegistrarMUST reassemble the blocks before translating the binary content to Base64 and consecutively relay the message upstream.¶
The EST-coaps-to-HTTP RegistrarMUST support resource discovery according to the rules inSection 4.1.¶
This section addresses transmission parameters described in Sections4.7 and4.8 of[RFC7252]. EST does not impose any unique values on the CoAP parameters in[RFC7252], but the setting of the CoAP parameter values may have consequence for the setting of the EST parameter values.¶
Implementations should follow the default CoAP configuration parameters[RFC7252]. However, depending on the implementation scenario, retransmissions and timeouts can also occur on other networking layers, governed by other configuration parameters. When a change in a server parameter has taken place, the parameter values in the communicating endpointsMUST be adjusted as necessary. Examples of how parameters could be adjusted include higher-layer congestion protocols, provisioning agents, and configurations included in firmware updates.¶
Some further comments about some specific parameters, mainly from Table 2 in[RFC7252], include the following:¶
Finally, the Table 3 parameters in[RFC7252] are mainly derived from Table 2. Directly changing parameters on one table would affect parameters on the other.¶
Although EST-coaps paves the way for the utilization of EST by constrained devices in constrained networks, some classes of devices[RFC7228] will not have enough resources to handle the payloads that come with EST-coaps. The specification of EST-coaps is intended to ensure that EST works for networks of constrained devices that choose to limit their communications stack to DTLS/CoAP. It is up to the network designer to decide which devices execute the EST protocol and which do not.¶
IANA has registered the following Content-Formats given inTable 5 in the "CoAP Content-Formats" subregistry within the "CoRE Parameters" registry[CORE-PARAMS]. These have been registered in the IETF Review or IESG Approval range (256-9999).¶
Media Type | ID | Reference |
---|---|---|
application/pkcs7-mime; smime-type=server-generated-key | 280 | [RFC7030][RFC8551] RFC 9148 |
application/pkcs7-mime; smime-type=certs-only | 281 | [RFC8551] RFC 9148 |
application/pkcs8 | 284 | [RFC5958][RFC8551] RFC 9148 |
application/csrattrs | 285 | [RFC7030] RFC 9148 |
application/pkcs10 | 286 | [RFC5967][RFC8551] RFC 9148 |
application/pkix-cert | 287 | [RFC2585] RFC 9148 |
IANA has registered the following Resource Type (rt=) Link Target Attributes given inTable 6 in the "Resource Type (rt=) Link Target Attribute Values" subregistry under the "Constrained RESTful Environments (CoRE) Parameters" registry.¶
Value | Description | Reference |
---|---|---|
ace.est.crts | This resource depicts the support of EST GET cacerts. | RFC 9148 |
ace.est.sen | This resource depicts the support of EST simple enroll. | RFC 9148 |
ace.est.sren | This resource depicts the support of EST simple reenroll. | RFC 9148 |
ace.est.att | This resource depicts the support of EST GET CSR attributes. | RFC 9148 |
ace.est.skg | This resource depicts the support of EST server-side key generation with the returned certificate in a PKCS #7 container. | RFC 9148 |
ace.est.skc | This resource depicts the support of EST server-side key generation with the returned certificate in application/pkix-cert format. | RFC 9148 |
The security considerations inSection 6 of [RFC7030] are only partially valid for the purposes of this document. As HTTP Basic Authentication is not supported, the considerations expressed for using passwords do not apply. The other portions of the security considerations in[RFC7030] continue to apply.¶
Modern security protocols require random numbers to be available during the protocol run, for example, for nonces and ephemeral (EC) Diffie-Hellman key generation. This capability to generate random numbers is also needed when the constrained device generates the private key (that corresponds to the public key enrolled in the CSR). When server-side key generation is used, the constrained device depends on the server to generate the private key randomly, but it still needs locally generated random numbers for use in security protocols, as explained inSection 12 of [RFC7925]. Additionally, the transport of keys generated at the server is inherently risky. For those deploying server-side key generation, analysisSHOULD be done to establish whether server-side key generation increases or decreases the probability of digital identity theft.¶
It is important to note that, as pointed out in[PsQs], sources contributing to the randomness pool used to generate random numbers on laptops or desktop PCs, such as mouse movement, timing of keystrokes, or air turbulence on the movement of hard drive heads, are not available on many constrained devices. Other sources have to be used or dedicated hardware has to be added. Selecting hardware for an IoT device that is capable of producing high-quality random numbers is therefore important[RSA-FACT].¶
As discussed inSection 6 of [RFC7030], it is¶
RECOMMENDED that the Implicit Trust Anchor database used forEST server authentication be carefully managed to reduce the chance of athird-party CA with poor certification practices from being trusted.Disabling the Implicit Trust Anchor database after successfully receiving theDistribution of CA certificates response ([RFC7030],Section 6)limits any vulnerability to the first TLS exchange.¶
Alternatively, in a case where a /sen request immediately follows a /crts, a clientMAY choose to keep the connection authenticated by the Implicit TA open for efficiency reasons (Section 3). A client that interleaves EST-coaps /crts request with other requests in the same DTLS connectionSHOULD revalidate the server certificate chain against the updated Explicit TA from the /crts response before proceeding with the subsequent requests. If the server certificate chain does not authenticate against the database, the clientSHOULD close the connection without completing the rest of the requests. The updated Explicit TAMUST continue to be used in new DTLS connections.¶
In cases where the Initial Device Identifier (IDevID) used to authenticate the client is expired, the serverMAY still authenticate the client because IDevIDs are expected to live as long as the device itself (Section 3). In such occasions, checking the certificate revocation status or authorizing the client using another method is important for the server to raise its confidence that the client can be trusted.¶
In accordance with[RFC7030], TLS cipher suites that include "_EXPORT_" and "_DES_" in their namesMUST NOT be used. More recommendations for secure use of TLS and DTLS are included in[BCP195].¶
As described in Certificate Management over CMS (CMC),Section 6.7 of [RFC5272], "For keys that can be used as signature keys, signing the certification request with the private key serves as a POP on that key pair". In (D)TLS 1.2, the inclusion of tls-unique in the certificate request links the proof-of-possession to the (D)TLS proof-of-identity. This implies but does not prove that only the authenticated client currently has access to the private key.¶
What's more, CMC POP linking uses tls-unique as it is defined in[RFC5929]. The 3SHAKE attack[TRIPLESHAKE] poses a risk by allowing an on-path active attacker to leverage session resumption and renegotiation to inject itself between a client and server even when channel binding is in use. Implementers should use the Extended Master Secret Extension in DTLS[RFC7627] to prevent such attacks. In the context of this specification, an attacker could invalidate the purpose of the POP linking challengePassword in the client request by resuming an EST-coaps connection. Even though the practical risk of such an attack to EST-coaps is not devastating, we would rather use a more secure channel-binding mechanism. In this specification, we still depend on the tls-unique mechanism defined in[RFC5929] for DTLS 1.2 because a 3SHAKE attack does not expose messages exchanged with EST-coaps. But for DTLS 1.3,[TLS13-CHANNEL-BINDINGS] is used instead to derive a 32-byte tls-exporter binding in place of the tls-unique value in the CSR. That would alleviate the risks from the 3SHAKE attack[TRIPLESHAKE].¶
Interpreters of ASN.1 structures should be aware of the use of invalid ASN.1 length fields and should take appropriate measures to guard against buffer overflows, stack overruns in particular, and malicious content in general.¶
The Registrar proposed inSection 5 must be deployed with care and only when direct client-server connections are not possible. When POP linking is used, the Registrar terminating the DTLS connection establishes a new TLS connection with the upstream CA. Thus, it is impossible for POP linking to be enforced end to end for the EST transaction. The EST server could be configured to accept POP linking information that does not match the current TLS session because the authenticated EST Registrar is assumed to have verified POP linking downstream to the client.¶
The introduction of an EST-coaps-to-HTTP Registrar assumes the client can authenticate the Registrar using its implicit or explicit TA database. It also assumes the Registrar has a trust relationship with the upstream EST server in order to act on behalf of the clients. When a client uses the Implicit TA database for certificate validation, itSHOULD confirm if the server is acting as an RA by the presence of the id-kp-cmcRA EKU[RFC6402] in the server certificate.¶
In a server-side key generation case, if no end-to-end encryption is used, the Registrar may be able see the private key as it acts as a man in the middle. Thus, the client puts its trust on the Registrar not exposing the private key.¶
Clients that leverage server-side key generation without end-to-end encryption of the private key (Section 4.8) have no knowledge as to whether the Registrar will be generating the private key and enrolling the certificates with the CA or if the CA will be responsible for generating the key. In such cases, the existence of a Registrar requires the client to put its trust on the Registrar when it is generating the private key.¶
This section shows similar examples to the ones presented inAppendix A of [RFC7030]. The payloads in the examples are the hex-encoded binary, generated with 'xxd -p', of the PKI certificates created following[PKI-GUIDE]. Hex is used for visualization purposes because a binary representation cannot be rendered well in text. The hexadecimal representations would not be transported in hex, but in binary. The payloads are shown unencrypted. In practice, the message content would be transferred over an encrypted DTLS channel.¶
The certificate responses included in the examples contain Content-Format 281 (application/pkcs7). If the client had requested Content-Format 287 (application/pkix-cert), the server would respond with a single DER binary certificate. That certificate would be in a multipart-core container specifically in the case of a response to a /est/skc query.¶
These examples assume a short resource path of "/est". Even though omitted from the examples for brevity, before making the EST-coaps requests, a client would learn about the server supported EST-coaps resources with a GET request for /.well-known/core?rt=ace.est* as explained inSection 4.1.¶
The corresponding CoAP headers are only shown inAppendix A.1. Creating CoAP headers is assumed to be generally understood.¶
The message content is presented in plain text inAppendix C.¶
In EST-coaps, a cacerts message can be the following:¶
GET example.com:9085/est/crts(Accept: 281)¶
The corresponding CoAP header fields are shown below. The use of block and DTLS are shown inAppendix B.¶
Ver = 1 T = 0 (CON) Code = 0x01 (0.01 is GET) Token = 0x9a (client generated) Options Option (Uri-Host) Option Delta = 0x3 (option# 3) Option Length = 0xB Option Value = "example.com" Option (Uri-Port) Option Delta = 0x4 (option# 3+4=7) Option Length = 0x2 Option Value = 9085 Option (Uri-Path) Option Delta = 0x4 (option# 7+4=11) Option Length = 0x3 Option Value = "est" Option (Uri-Path) Option Delta = 0x0 (option# 11+0=11) Option Length = 0x4 Option Value = "crts" Option (Accept) Option Delta = 0x6 (option# 11+6=17) Option Length = 0x2 Option Value = 281 Payload = [Empty]¶
As specified inSection 5.10.1 of [RFC7252], the Uri-Host and Uri-Port Options can be omitted if they coincide with the transport protocol destination address and port, respectively.¶
A 2.05 Content response with a cert in EST-coaps will then be the following:¶
2.05 Content (Content-Format: 281) {payload with certificate in binary format}¶
With the following CoAP fields:¶
Ver = 1 T = 2 (ACK) Code = 0x45 (2.05 Content) Token = 0x9a (copied from request by server) Options Option (Content-Format) Option Delta = 0xC (option# 12) Option Length = 0x2 Option Value = 281 [ The hexadecimal representation below would NOT be transported in hex, but in binary. Hex is used because a binary representation cannot be rendered well in text. ] Payload =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¶
The payload is shown in plain text inAppendix C.1.¶
During the (re-)enroll exchange, the EST-coaps client uses a CSR (Content-Format 286) request in the POST request payload. The Accept Option tells the server that the client is expecting Content-Format 281 (PKCS #7) in the response. As shown inAppendix C.2, the CSR contains a challengePassword, which is used for POP linking (Section 3).¶
POST [2001:db8::2:321]:61616/est/sen(Token: 0x45)(Accept: 281)(Content-Format: 286)[ The hexadecimal representation below would NOT be transportedin hex, but in binary. Hex is used because a binary representationcannot be rendered well in text. ]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¶
After verification of the CSR by the server, a 2.04 Changed response with the issued certificate will be returned to the client.¶
2.04 Changed(Token: 0x45)(Content-Format: 281)[ The hexadecimal representation below would NOT be transportedin hex, but in binary. Hex is used because a binary representationcannot be rendered well in text. ]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¶
The request and response is shown in plain text inAppendix C.2.¶
In a serverkeygen exchange, the CoAP POST request looks like the following:¶
POST 192.0.2.1:8085/est/skg(Token: 0xa5)(Accept: 62)(Content-Format: 286)[ The hexadecimal representation below would NOT be transportedin hex, but in binary. Hex is used because a binary representationcannot be rendered well in text. ]3081d03078020100301631143012060355040a0c0b736b67206578616d706c653059301306072a8648ce3d020106082a8648ce3d03010703420004c8b421f11c25e47e3ac57123bf2d9fdc494f028bc351cc80c03f150bf50cff958d75419d81a6a245dffae790be95cf75f602f9152618f816a2b23b5638e59fd9a000300a06082a8648ce3d040302034800304502207c553981b1fe349249d8a3f50a0346336b7dfaa099cf74e1ec7a37a0a76048590221008479295398774b2ff8e7e82abb0c17eaef344a5088fa69fd63ee611850c34b0a¶
The response would follow[RFC8710] and could look like the following:¶
2.04 Changed(Token: 0xa5)(Content-Format: 62)[ The hexadecimal representations below would NOT be transportedin hex, but in binary. Hex is used because a binary representationcannot be rendered well in text. ]84 # array(4)19 011C # unsigned(284)58 8A # bytes(138)308187020100301306072a8648ce3d020106082a8648ce3d030107046d306b020101042061336a86ac6e7af4a96f632830ad4e6aa0837679206094d7679a01ca8c6f0c37a14403420004c8b421f11c25e47e3ac57123bf2d9fdc494f028bc351cc80c03f150bf50cff958d75419d81a6a245dffae790be95cf75f602f9152618f816a2b23b5638e59fd919 0119 # unsigned(281)59 01D3 # bytes(467)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¶
The private key in the response above is without CMS EnvelopedData and has no additional encryption beyond DTLS (Section 4.8).¶
The request and response is shown in plain text inAppendix C.3.¶
The following is a csrattrs exchange:¶
REQ:GET example.com:61616/est/attRES:2.05 Content(Content-Format: 285)[ The hexadecimal representation below would NOT be transportedin hex, but in binary. Hex is used because a binary representationcannot be rendered well in text. ]307c06072b06010101011630220603883701311b131950617273652053455420617320322e3939392e31206461746106092a864886f70d010907302c0603883702312506038837030603883704131950617273652053455420617320322e3939392e32206461746106092b240303020801010b0609608648016503040202¶
A 2.05 Content response should contain attributes that are relevant for the authenticated client. This example is copied fromAppendix A.2 of [RFC7030], where the base64 representation is replaced with a hexadecimal representation of the equivalent binary format. The EST-coaps server returns attributes that the client can ignore if they are unknown to the client.¶
Two examples are presented in this section:¶
The payloads are shown unencrypted. In practice, the message contents would be binary formatted and transferred over an encrypted DTLS tunnel. The corresponding CoAP headers are only shown inAppendix B.1. Creating CoAP headers is assumed to be generally known.¶
This section provides a detailed example of the messages using DTLS and CoAP Option Block2. The example block length is taken as 64, which gives an SZX value of 2.¶
The following is an example of a cacerts exchange over DTLS. The content length of the cacerts response inAppendix A.1 of [RFC7030] contains 639 bytes in binary in this example. The CoAP message adds around 10 bytes in this example, and the DTLS record around 29 bytes. To avoid IP fragmentation, the CoAP Block Option is used and an MTU of 127 is assumed to stay within one IEEE 802.15.4 packet. To stay below the MTU of 127, the payload is split in 9 packets with a payload of 64 bytes each, followed by a last tenth packet of 63 bytes. The client sends an IPv6 packet containing a UDP datagram with DTLS record protection that encapsulates a CoAP request 10 times (one fragment of the request per block). The server returns an IPv6 packet containing a UDP datagram with the DTLS record that encapsulates the CoAP response. The CoAP request-response exchange with block option is shown below. Block Option is shown in a decomposed way (block-option:NUM/M/size) indicating the kind of Block Option (2 in this case) followed by a colon, and then the block number (NUM), the more bit (M = 0 in Block2 response means it is last block), and block size with exponent (2(SZX+4)) separated by slashes. The Length 64 is used with SZX=2. The CoAP Request is sent Confirmable (CON), and the Content-Format of the response, even though not shown, is 281 (application/pkcs7-mime; smime-type=certs-only). The transfer of the 10 blocks with partially filled block NUM=9 is shown below.¶
GET example.com:9085/est/crts (2:0/0/64) --> <-- (2:0/1/64) 2.05 Content GET example.com:9085/est/crts (2:1/0/64) --> <-- (2:1/1/64) 2.05 Content | | | GET example.com:9085/est/crts (2:9/0/64) --> <-- (2:9/0/64) 2.05 Content¶
The header of the GET request looks like the following:¶
Ver = 1 T = 0 (CON) Code = 0x01 (0.1 GET) Token = 0x9a (client generated) Options Option (Uri-Host) Option Delta = 0x3 (option# 3) Option Length = 0xB Option Value = "example.com" Option (Uri-Port) Option Delta = 0x4 (option# 3+4=7) Option Length = 0x2 Option Value = 9085 Option (Uri-Path) Option Delta = 0x4 (option# 7+4=11) Option Length = 0x3 Option Value = "est" Option (Uri-Path)Uri-Path) Option Delta = 0x0 (option# 11+0=11) Option Length = 0x4 Option Value = "crts" Option (Accept) Option Delta = 0x6 (option# 11+6=17) Option Length = 0x2 Option Value = 281 Payload = [Empty]¶
The Uri-Host and Uri-Port Options can be omitted if they coincide with the transport protocol destination address and port, respectively. Explicit Uri-Host and Uri-Port Options are typically used when an endpoint hosts multiple virtual servers and uses the Options to route the requests accordingly.¶
To provide further details on the CoAP headers, the first two and the last blocks are written out below. The header of the first Block2 response looks like the following:¶
Ver = 1 T = 2 (ACK) Code = 0x45 (2.05 Content) Token = 0x9a (copied from request by server) Options Option Option Delta = 0xC (option# 12 Content-Format) Option Length = 0x2 Option Value = 281 Option Option Delta = 0xB (option# 12+11=23 Block2) Option Length = 0x1 Option Value = 0x0A (block#=0, M=1, SZX=2) [ The hexadecimal representation below would NOT be transported in hex, but in binary. Hex is used because a binary representation cannot be rendered well in text. ] Payload =3082027b06092a864886f70d010702a082026c308202680201013100300b06092a864886f70d010701a082024e3082024a308201f0a0030201020209009189bc¶
The header of the second Block2 response looks like the following:¶
Ver = 1 T = 2 (means ACK) Code = 0x45 (2.05 Content) Token = 0x9a (copied from request by server) Options Option Option Delta = 0xC (option# 12 Content-Format) Option Length = 0x2 Option Value = 281 Option Option Delta = 0xB (option 12+11=23 Block2) Option Length = 0x1 Option Value = 0x1A (block#=1, M=1, SZX=2) [ The hexadecimal representation below would NOT be transported in hex, but in binary. Hex is used because a binary representation cannot be rendered well in text. ] Payload =df9c99244b300a06082a8648ce3d0403023067310b3009060355040613025553310b300906035504080c024341310b300906035504070c024c41311430120603¶
The header of the tenth and final Block2 response looks like the following:¶
Ver = 1 T = 2 (means ACK) Code = 0x45 (2.05 Content) Token = 0x9a (copied from request by server) Options Option Option Delta = 0xC (option# 12 Content-Format) Option Length = 0x2 Option Value = 281 Option Option Delta = 0xB (option# 12+11=23 Block2 ) Option Length = 0x1 Option Value = 0x92 (block#=9, M=0, SZX=2) [ The hexadecimal representation below would NOT be transported in hex, but in binary. Hex is used because a binary representation cannot be rendered well in text. ] Payload =2ec0b4af52d46f3b7ecc9687ddf267bcec368f7b7f1353272f022047a28ae5c7306163b3c3834bab3c103f743070594c089aaa0ac870cd13b902caa1003100¶
In this example, the requested Block2 size of 256 bytes, required by the client, is transferred to the server in the very first request message. The block size of 256 is equal to (2(SZX+4)), which gives SZX=4. The notation for block numbering is the same as inAppendix B.1. The header fields and the payload are omitted for brevity.¶
POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(1:0/1/256) {CSR (frag# 1)} --> <-- (ACK) (1:0/1/256) (2.31 Continue)POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(1:1/1/256) {CSR (frag# 2)} --> <-- (ACK) (1:1/1/256) (2.31 Continue) . . .POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(1:N1/0/256) {CSR(frag# N1+1)}--> | ...........Immediate response ......... | <-- (ACK) (1:N1/0/256)(2:0/1/256)(2.04 Changed) {Cert resp (frag# 1)}POST [2001:db8::2:1]:61616/est/sen (CON)(2:1/0/256) --> <-- (ACK) (2:1/1/256)(2.04 Changed) {Cert resp (frag# 2)} . . .POST [2001:db8::2:321]:61616/est/sen (CON)(2:N2/0/256) --> <-- (ACK) (2:N2/0/256) (2.04 Changed) {Cert resp (frag# N2+1)}
N1+1 blocks have been transferred from client to server, and N2+1 blocks have been transferred from server to client.¶
This appendix presents the hexadecimal dumps of the binary payloads in plain text shown inAppendix A.¶
The cacerts response containing one root CA certificate is presented in plain text in the following:¶
Certificate: Data: Version: 3 (0x2) Serial Number: 831953162763987486 (0xb8bb0fe604f6a1e) Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256 Issuer: C=US, ST=CA, L=LA, O=Example Inc, OU=certification, CN=Root CA Validity Not Before: Jan 31 11:27:03 2019 GMT Not After : Jan 26 11:27:03 2039 GMT Subject: C=US, ST=CA, L=LA, O=Example Inc, OU=certification, CN=Root CA Subject Public Key Info: Public Key Algorithm: id-ecPublicKey Public-Key: (256 bit) pub: 04:0c:1b:1e:82:ba:8c:c7:26:80:97:3f:97:ed:b8: a0:c7:2a:b0:d4:05:f0:5d:4f:e2:9b:99:7a:14:cc: ce:89:00:83:13:d0:96:66:b6:ce:37:5c:59:5f:cc: 8e:37:f8:e4:35:44:97:01:1b:e9:0e:56:79:4b:d9: 1a:d9:51:ab:45 ASN1 OID: prime256v1 NIST CURVE: P-256 X509v3 extensions: X509v3 Subject Key Identifier:1D:F1:20:89:44:D7:7B:5F:1D:9D:CB:51:EE:24:4A:52:3F:3E:F5:DE X509v3 Authority Key Identifier: keyid:1D:F1:20:89:44:D7:7B:5F:1D:9D:CB:51:EE:24:4A:52:3F:3E:F5:DE X509v3 Basic Constraints: critical CA:TRUE X509v3 Key Usage: critical Certificate Sign, CRL Sign X509v3 Subject Alternative Name: email:certify@example.com Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256 30:45:02:20:2b:89:1d:d4:11:d0:7a:6d:6f:62:19:47:63:5b: a4:c4:31:65:29:6b:3f:63:37:26:f0:2e:51:ec:f4:64:bd:40: 02:21:00:b4:be:8a:80:d0:86:75:f0:41:fb:c7:19:ac:f3:b3: 9d:ed:c8:5d:c9:2b:30:35:86:8c:b2:da:a8:f0:5d:b1:96¶
The enrollment request is presented in plain text in the following:¶
Certificate Request: Data: Version: 0 (0x0) Subject: C=US, ST=CA, L=LA, O=example Inc, OU=IoT/serialNumber=Wt1234 Subject Public Key Info: Public Key Algorithm: id-ecPublicKey Public-Key: (256 bit) pub: 04:c8:b4:21:f1:1c:25:e4:7e:3a:c5:71:23:bf:2d: 9f:dc:49:4f:02:8b:c3:51:cc:80:c0:3f:15:0b:f5: 0c:ff:95:8d:75:41:9d:81:a6:a2:45:df:fa:e7:90: be:95:cf:75:f6:02:f9:15:26:18:f8:16:a2:b2:3b: 56:38:e5:9f:d9 ASN1 OID: prime256v1 NIST CURVE: P-256 Attributes: challengePassword: <256-bit POP linking value> Requested Extensions: X509v3 Subject Alternative Name: othername:<unsupported> Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256 30:45:02:21:00:92:56:3a:54:64:63:bd:9e:cf:f1:70:d0:fd: 1f:2e:f0:d3:d0:12:16:0e:5e:e9:0c:ff:ed:ab:ec:9b:9a:38: 92:02:20:17:9f:10:a3:43:61:09:05:1a:ba:d1:75:90:a0:9b: c8:7c:4d:ce:54:53:a6:fc:11:35:a1:e8:4e:ed:75:43:77¶
The CSR contains a challengePassword, which is used for POP linking (Section 3). The CSR also contains an id-on-hardwareModuleName hardware identifier to customize the returned certificate to the requesting device (See[RFC7299] and[PKI-GUIDE]).¶
The issued certificate presented in plain text in the following:¶
Certificate: Data: Version: 3 (0x2) Serial Number: 9112578475118446130 (0x7e7661d7b54e4632) Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256 Issuer: C=US, ST=CA, O=Example Inc, OU=certification, CN=802.1AR CA Validity Not Before: Jan 31 11:29:16 2019 GMT Not After : Dec 31 23:59:59 9999 GMT Subject: C=US, ST=CA, L=LA, O=example Inc, OU=IoT/serialNumber=Wt1234 Subject Public Key Info: Public Key Algorithm: id-ecPublicKey Public-Key: (256 bit) pub: 04:c8:b4:21:f1:1c:25:e4:7e:3a:c5:71:23:bf:2d: 9f:dc:49:4f:02:8b:c3:51:cc:80:c0:3f:15:0b:f5: 0c:ff:95:8d:75:41:9d:81:a6:a2:45:df:fa:e7:90: be:95:cf:75:f6:02:f9:15:26:18:f8:16:a2:b2:3b: 56:38:e5:9f:d9 ASN1 OID: prime256v1 NIST CURVE: P-256 X509v3 extensions: X509v3 Basic Constraints: CA:FALSE X509v3 Subject Key Identifier:96:60:0D:87:16:BF:7F:D0:E7:52:D0:AC:76:07:77:AD:66:5D:02:A0 X509v3 Authority Key Identifier: keyid:68:D1:65:51:F9:51:BF:C8:2A:43:1D:0D:9F:08:BC:2D:20:5B:11:60 X509v3 Key Usage: critical Digital Signature, Key Encipherment X509v3 Subject Alternative Name: othername:<unsupported> Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256 30:46:02:21:00:c0:d8:19:96:d2:50:7d:69:3f:3c:48:ea:a5: ee:94:91:bd:a6:db:21:40:99:d9:81:17:c6:3b:36:13:74:cd: 86:02:21:00:a7:74:98:9f:4c:32:1a:5c:f2:5d:83:2a:4d:33: 6a:08:ad:67:df:20:f1:50:64:21:18:8a:0a:de:6d:34:92:36¶
The following is the server-side key generation request presented in plain text:¶
Certificate Request: Data: Version: 0 (0x0) Subject: O=skg example Subject Public Key Info: Public Key Algorithm: id-ecPublicKey Public-Key: (256 bit) pub: 04:c8:b4:21:f1:1c:25:e4:7e:3a:c5:71:23:bf:2d: 9f:dc:49:4f:02:8b:c3:51:cc:80:c0:3f:15:0b:f5: 0c:ff:95:8d:75:41:9d:81:a6:a2:45:df:fa:e7:90: be:95:cf:75:f6:02:f9:15:26:18:f8:16:a2:b2:3b: 56:38:e5:9f:d9 ASN1 OID: prime256v1 NIST CURVE: P-256 Attributes: a0:00 Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256 30:45:02:20:7c:55:39:81:b1:fe:34:92:49:d8:a3:f5:0a:03: 46:33:6b:7d:fa:a0:99:cf:74:e1:ec:7a:37:a0:a7:60:48:59: 02:21:00:84:79:29:53:98:77:4b:2f:f8:e7:e8:2a:bb:0c:17: ea:ef:34:4a:50:88:fa:69:fd:63:ee:61:18:50:c3:4b:0a¶
The following is the private key content of the server-side key generation response presented in plain text:¶
Private-Key: (256 bit)priv: 61:33:6a:86:ac:6e:7a:f4:a9:6f:63:28:30:ad:4e: 6a:a0:83:76:79:20:60:94:d7:67:9a:01:ca:8c:6f: 0c:37pub: 04:c8:b4:21:f1:1c:25:e4:7e:3a:c5:71:23:bf:2d: 9f:dc:49:4f:02:8b:c3:51:cc:80:c0:3f:15:0b:f5: 0c:ff:95:8d:75:41:9d:81:a6:a2:45:df:fa:e7:90: be:95:cf:75:f6:02:f9:15:26:18:f8:16:a2:b2:3b: 56:38:e5:9f:d9ASN1 OID: prime256v1NIST CURVE: P-256¶
The following is the certificate in the server-side key generation response payload presented in plain text:¶
Certificate: Data: Version: 3 (0x2) Serial Number: b3:31:3e:8f:3f:c9:53:8e Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256 Issuer: O=skg example Validity Not Before: Sep 4 07:44:03 2019 GMT Not After : Aug 30 07:44:03 2039 GMT Subject: O=skg example Subject Public Key Info: Public Key Algorithm: id-ecPublicKey Public-Key: (256 bit) pub: 04:c8:b4:21:f1:1c:25:e4:7e:3a:c5:71:23:bf:2d: 9f:dc:49:4f:02:8b:c3:51:cc:80:c0:3f:15:0b:f5: 0c:ff:95:8d:75:41:9d:81:a6:a2:45:df:fa:e7:90: be:95:cf:75:f6:02:f9:15:26:18:f8:16:a2:b2:3b: 56:38:e5:9f:d9 ASN1 OID: prime256v1 NIST CURVE: P-256 X509v3 extensions: X509v3 Basic Constraints: CA:FALSE Netscape Comment: OpenSSL Generated Certificate X509v3 Subject Key Identifier:96:60:0D:87:16:BF:7F:D0:E7:52:D0:AC:76:07:77:AD:66:5D:02:A0 X509v3 Authority Key Identifier: keyid:96:60:0D:87:16:BF:7F:D0:E7:52:D0:AC:76:07:77:AD:66:5D:02:A0 Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256 30:45:02:21:00:e9:5b:fa:25:a0:89:76:65:22:46:f2:d9:61: 43:da:39:fc:e0:dc:4c:9b:26:b9:cc:e1:f2:41:64:cc:2b:12: b6:02:20:13:51:fd:8e:ea:65:76:4e:34:59:d3:24:e4:34:5f: f5:b2:a9:15:38:c0:49:76:11:17:96:b3:69:8b:f6:37:9c¶
The authors are very grateful toKlaus Hartke for his detailed explanations on the use of Block with DTLS and his support for the Content-Format specification. The authors would like to thankEsko Dijk andMichael Verschoor for the valuable discussions that helped in shaping the solution. They would also like to thankPeter Panburana for his feedback on technical details of the solution. Constructive comments were received fromBenjamin Kaduk,Eliot Lear,Jim Schaad,Hannes Tschofenig,Julien Vermillard,John Manuel,Oliver Pfaff,Pete Beal, andCarsten Bormann.¶
Interop tests were done byOliver Pfaff,Thomas Werner,Oskar Camezind,Bjorn Elmers, andJoel Hoglund.¶
Robert Moskowitz provided code to create the examples.¶
Martin Furuhed contributed to the EST-coaps specification by providing feedback based on the Nexus EST-over-CoAPS server implementation that started in 2015.Sandeep Kumar kick-started this specification and was instrumental in drawing attention to the importance of the subject.¶