-.pl 10.0i
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-.ll 7.2i
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-.nr LT 7.2i
-.ds LF Riikonen
-.ds RF FORMFEED[Page %]
-.ds CF
-.ds LH Internet Draft
-.ds RH 2 December 2003
-.ds CH
-.na
-.hy 0
-.in 0
-.nf
-Network Working Group P. Riikonen
-Internet-Draft
-draft-riikonen-flags-payloads-04.txt 2 December 2003
-Expires: 2 June 2004
-
-.in 3
-
-.ce 2
-SILC Message Flag Payloads
-<draft-riikonen-flags-payloads-04.txt>
-
-.ti 0
-Status of this Draft
-
-By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
-applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
-have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
-aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.
-
-Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
-Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that
-other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
-Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of
-six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other
-documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as
-reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress".
-
-The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
-http://www.ietf.org/1id-abstracts.html
-The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
-http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
-
-
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-Abstract
-
-This memo describes the data payloads associated with the SILC Message
-Flags, as defined in the SILC Packet Protocol specification [SILC2]. The
-purpose of the Message Flags is to augment the function of the Message
-Payload used to send both private and channel messages, by allowing the
-sender to tell the receiver what type of data the payload includes, and
-how the data should be processed. Some of the Message Flags may define
-additional payloads to be associated with the flag, and this memo
-describes these payloads.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-Table of Contents
-
-.nf
-1 Introduction .................................................. 2
- 1.1 Requirements Terminology .................................. 2
-2 SILC Message Flags ............................................ 3
-3 SILC Message Flag Payloads .................................... 3
- 3.1 SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_REQUEST ................................. 3
- 3.2 SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_REPLY ................................... 4
- 3.3 SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_SIGNED .................................. 4
- 3.4 SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_DATA .................................... 7
- 3.5 SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_ACK ..................................... 8
-4 Security Considerations ....................................... 9
-5 References .................................................... 9
-6 Author's Address .............................................. 10
-7 Full Copyright Statement ...................................... 10
-
-
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-1. Introduction
-
-The Secure Internet Live Conferencing [SILC1] supports sending binary
-messages between users in the network. To make the data sending, and
-processing at the receiver's end as simple as possible the SILC defines
-Message Flags to the Message Payload [SILC2] that is used to send private
-and channel messages, which can help the receiver to decide how the data
-is encoded, and how it should be interpreted. Some of the Message Flags
-may define additional payloads to be associated with the flag, but the
-[SILC2] does not define them. This memo defines the payloads for those
-Message Flags that was marked to include additional payloads in [SILC2].
-
-By defining the payloads for the Message Flags the Message Payload
-can be augmented to support any kind of data, which can be easily
-interpreted at the receiver end. For example, it would be possible to
-send audio stream, video stream, image files and HTML pages as messages,
-and the receiver can either choose to ignore the message or to process
-it, or to perhaps pass the message to some application for processing.
-Without specific payloads for Message Flags it is almost impossible for
-the receiver to interpret binary data from the payload.
-
-
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-1.1 Requirements Terminology
-
-The keywords MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED,
-MAY, and OPTIONAL, when they appear in this document, are to be
-interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
-
-
-
-
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-2 SILC Message Flags
-
-The Message Flags was added to the SILC protocol for the reason that SILC
-provides sending binary data as messages between users, and entities in
-the network, and interpreting pure binary data is almost impossible.
-With the Message Flags the purpose, the reason, and the method for how
-the message must be interpreted can be told to the recipient. Other
-conferencing protocols which are usually ASCII based protocols do not have
-such problems since they do not generally support sending of binary data
-at all, or require specific encoding of the data before it can be sent
-over the network.
-
-The Message Payload in SILC can have flags that can augment the function
-of the payload. The flags can tell for example that the message is a
-request, or a reply to an earlier received request. They can tell that
-the message is some action that the sender is performing, or they can tell
-that the message is an auto reply, or that it is explicitly digitally
-signed by the sender.
-
-The problem of Message Flags is that the space for flags mask is only 16
-bits, so there is a limited number of flags available. For this reason
-having a flag that defines a generic way of sending any kind of data as
-a message, and can be easily interpreted at the receiver's end is important.
-For this reason the flag SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_DATA was added to the protocol
-which can represent any data. This memo describe how this flag is used
-and how the associated payload is constructed and processed. This memo
-also describes payloads for all the other flags that can have associated
-payloads.
-
-
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-3 SILC Message Flag Payloads
-
-The [SILC2] defines the flags which may have associated payloads. This
-section will list these flags and define the payloads.
-
-
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-3.1 SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_REQUEST
-
-Currently this flag can be used in the context of application specific,
-service specific or vendor specific requests, and the data payload type is
-dependent of this context. Therefore, payload is not defined for this
-flag in this memo. This flag may also be masked with some other flag in
-the message payload, including with some other flag that defines
-additional payload.
-
-
-
-
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-3.2 SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_REPLY
-
-Currently this flag can be used in the context of application specific,
-service specific or vendor specific replies, and the data payload type is
-dependent of this context. Therefore, payload is not defined for this
-flag in this memo. This flag may also be masked with some other flag in
-the message payload, including with some other flag that defines
-additional payload.
-
-
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-3.3 SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_SIGNED
-
-This flag is used to tell the recipient that the sent message is
-digitally signed by the sender, and that the recipient should verify
-the signature to verify the true authenticity of the received message.
-All message payloads in SILC provides message authentication code (MAC)
-which can be used to verify that the sender produced and sent the message.
-Even so, signing messages digitally can be used to verify the authenticity
-of the message when recipient trusts the sender and to provide
-non-repudiation.
-
-This flag defines a payload which is used to deliver the actual message,
-sender's public key and the digital signature. The payload for
-SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_SIGNED is as follows:
-
-(*) indicates that the field is not encrypted.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-.in 5
-.nf
- 1 2 3
- 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-| |
-~ Start of Message Payload ~
-| |
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-| |
-~ Public Key Payload * ~
-| |
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-| Signature Data Length * | |
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
-| |
-~ Signature Data * ~
-| |
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-| |
-~ Initial Vector * ~
-| |
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-| |
-~ MAC * ~
-| |
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-.in 3
-
-.ce
-Figure 1: SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_SIGNED Payload
-
-
-.in 6
-o Start of Message Payload (variable length) - This is the
- start of the Message Payload without the IV and MAC fields,
- since those fields are appended at the end of this payload.
-
-o Public Key Payload (variable length) - This includes the
- Public Key Payload [SILC2] which can be used to deliver the
- sender's public key (or certificate). It also indicates the
- type of the public key (or certificate) which the recipient
- use to identify how the signature must be verified. This
- payload must always be present but it is not required to
- include the public key data. The Public Key Type field in
- the Public Key Payload MUST be set to the correct type of
- the key, even if the actual public key data is not included.
- This field is not encrypted but is authenticated.
-
-o Signature Data Length (2 bytes) - Indicates the length of
- the Signature Data field not including any other field.
- This field is not encrypted but is authenticated.
-
-o Signature Data (variable length) - Includes the actual
- signature data. The signature computation and encoding
- is key type specific. See [SILC3] for all key types, and
- their respective references for how to compute and encode
- the signature. This field is not encrypted but is
- authenticated.
-
-o Initial Vector (variable length) - the IV of the Message
- Payload as defined in [SILC2]. This field is not encrypted
- but is authenticated.
-
-o MAC (variable length) - the MAC of the Message Payload as
- defined in [SILC2]. The MAC is computed after encryption
- and after signature computation. All data in the Message
- Payload and this payload, including the IV field are
- included in the MAC computation. This field is not
- encrypted.
-.in 3
-
-How the data is processed before it is signed is key type specific.
-The actual data that to be signed MUST be the plaintext message
-payload before encryption. The data to be signed is concatenation
-of the Start of Message Payload field and the Public Key Payload,
-in that order. Any other fields are not included for signature data.
-Before signing, the data is always processed, usually hashed. The
-hash function to be used is defined in the key type specific
-definitions. See the key type specific references in [SILC3].
-
-If the public key of the sender is included in the payload the
-recipient SHOULD verify it before accepting the public key. Recipient
-SHOULD verify the signature before accepting and caching the public key.
-With certificates the certificate verification may be done before
-verifying the signature. If the signature verification fails the
-message should still be displayed. The end user should also be
-notified about the result of the signature verification.
-
-To make the packet size smaller implementations may not want to
-include the actual public key in all signed messages. Sending the
-public key in the first message is usually sufficient. Subsequent
-messages may include empty Public Key Payload with an indication of
-the public key type.
-
-Implementations that do not support this flag can still process the
-message payload in normal manner. These implementations merely parse
-the decrypted payload in normal manner and ignore the extra data in
-the payload. They can do this by extracting the MAC and the IV from
-the end of the data buffer and thus ignoring the data between start of
-the Message Payload and the Initial Vector field.
-
-This flag MAY be masked with any other Message Flag including those that
-define additional payloads. As long as the defined payload resides in
-the data area of the message payload this flag may be masked with the
-other flags.
-
-
-.ti 0
-3.4 SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_DATA
-
-This flag is used to represent any data as a message in the way that it
-can be easily interpreted by the recipient. This flag is used to send
-MIME objects as messages from the sender to the receiver. The MIME as
-defined in [RFC2045], [RFC2046], [RFC2047], [RFC2048] and [RFC2049] is
-well established protocol for sending different kind of data with many
-applications and protocols. It support dozens of different media types
-and encodings, and for this reason is ideal for sending data in SILC
-message payloads as well.
-
-When the receiver has checked that the message payload includes the
-SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_DATA flag, it may then start parsing the MIME header.
-It would also be possible to pass the message to some application which
-can already interpret MIME objects. If the receiver does not support the
-media type received in the MIME header, it SHOULD be treated as
-"application/octet-stream". The receiver MAY also ignore and discard
-messages that it does not support.
-
-The MIME header MUST be at the start of the data area of the Message
-Payload. The MIME header received in the data area of the payload SHOULD
-have the MIME-Version field at first and then Content-Type field. The
-MIME-Version field is not required to be present in each body part of
-multipart entity. Additionally the header MAY also include any other
-MIME compliant headers. The character encoding for the MIME Header
-strings inside the message payload is US-ASCII, as defined in [RFC2045].
-The actual MIME object may define additional character sets or encodings
-for the data it delivers.
-
-Hence, the MIME Header in the message payload may be as follows:
-
-.in 8
-.nf
-MIME-Version: 1.0\\r\\n
-Content-Type: discrete/composite\\r\\n
-Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary\\r\\n
-\\r\\n
-.in 3
-
-The Content-Transfer-Encoding field behaves as defined in [RFC2045] and
-defines the encoding of the data in the MIME object. The preferred data
-encoding with SILC is "binary". However, many MIME media types defines
-their preferred encoding and they may be used if binary encoding is not
-suitable.
-
-When sending large amounts of traffic or large files as MIME objects the
-limits of the SILC Packet needs to be taken into consideration. The
-maximum length of SILC Packet is 2^16 bytes, and larger messages would
-need to be fragmented. MIME provides way of fragmenting and reassembling
-messages, and it is to be done with SILC as defined in [RFC2046]. The
-MIME fragmentation is defined for gateway usage, but in case of SILC the
-sender (for example, a client) may also start sending fragmented MIME
-objects.
-
-This flag SHOULD NOT be masked with some other Message Flag that defines
-payloads for message data. Generally this sort of setting would be
-impossible for the receiver to interpret. However, flags that does not
-define any specific payloads MAY be masked with this flag as well. For
-example, this flag could be masked also with SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_REQUEST flag.
-It also can be masked with SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_SIGNED flag since it does not
-define data specific payload.
-
-
-.ti 0
-3.5 SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_ACK
-
-This flag is used to send acknowledgement messages. When sender of a
-message requires the recipient to acknowledge the received message, the
-sender MUST set the SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_ACK and MUST NOT set the
-SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_NOREPLY. When a message with this flag set is received
-an acknowledgement message MUST be sent back. In the acknowledgement
-message the sender MUST set the SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_ACK,
-SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_AUTOREPLY and SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_NOREPLY flags. The
-receiver MUST NOT acknowledge the acknowledgement message. This flag
-MUST NOT be used with channel messages, and MUST be ignored if received
-in a channel message.
-
-The construction of the acknowledgement reply message is normal Message
-Payload where the Message Data field includes a computed MAC of the
-original received Message Payload MAC. Hence, the MAC is computed as
-follows:
-
-.in 8
-ack_mac = mac(key, MAC);
-.in 3
-
-Where the 'key' is the MAC key used to compute MACs for the Message
-Payload, and the 'MAC' is the MAC taken from the received Message Payload.
-The 'ack_mac' is placed in the Message Data field in a new Message
-Payload, and the payload is encrypted in normal manner. After this the
-message is sent back to the original sender of the message.
-
-The receiver of the acknowledgement reply message SHOULD verify the MAC
-from the Message Data field to assure that acknowledgement was received to
-an earlier sent message. Implementation needs to keep the old message
-MACs stored until acknowledgement is received. It is left for
-implementation to decide any possible retransmission strategy if
-acknowledgement messages are not received.
-
-
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-4 Security Considerations
-
-In case of SILC_MESSAGE_FLAG_DATA the implementors should pay special
-attention to the security implications of any media type that can cause
-the remote execution of any actions in the receiver's environment. The
-[RFC2046] and [RFC2048] discusses more MIME specific security
-considerations. Even though SILC provides secured messages, in case of
-MIME which can be used to transfer files and documents which are stored in
-the receiver's local environment, securing separately the MIME object may
-be desired. For example, augmenting the MIME support in SILC messages to
-support S/MIME may be desired in some implementations.
-
-
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-5 References
-
-[SILC1] Riikonen, P., "Secure Internet Live Conferencing (SILC),
- Protocol Specification", Internet Draft, June 2003.
-
-[SILC2] Riikonen, P., "SILC Packet Protocol", Internet Draft,
- June 2003.
-
-[SILC3] Riikonen, P., "SILC Key Exchange and Authentication
- Protocols", Internet Draft, June 2003.
-
-[RFC2045] Freed, N., et al., "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
- (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies",
- Standards Track, RFC 2045, November 1996.
-
-[RFC2046] Freed, N., et al., "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
- (MIME) Part Two: Media Types", Standards Track, RFC 2045,
- November 1996.
-
-[RFC2047] Moore K., "MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
- Part Three: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text"
- Standards Track, RFC 2047, November 1996.
-
-[RFC2048] Freed, N., et al., "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
- (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures", Standards
- Track, RFC 2048, November 1996.
-
-[RFC2049] Freed, N., et al., "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
- (MIME) Part Five: Conformance Criteria and Examples",
- Standards Track, RFC 2049, November 1996.
-
-[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key Words for use in RFCs to Indicate
- Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
-
-
-
-.ti 0
-6 Author's Address
-
-Pekka Riikonen
-Snellmaninkatu 34 A 15
-70100 Kuopio
-Finland
-
-EMail: priikone@iki.fi
-
-
-
-.ti 0
-7 Full Copyright Statement
-
-Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2007).
-
-This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
-contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
-retain all their rights.
-
-This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
-"AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
-OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
-ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
-INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
-INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
-WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.