WG,

In reviewing existing symmetric keyed algorithms defined in RFC 9053, it
seems like there is an implicit constraint on input key length which is not
actually required anywhere. I'm not sure that this constraint actually
matters in practice, because I expect that using an alternate input key
value would fail verification/decryption but it seems like something that
would be a useful check for an implementation to make (rather than wasting
the time to verify / decrypt and then discover the failure).

 

The algorithms are in Section 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 6.1.1, 6.1.2, and
6.2.1 all with the constraint:

The "kty" field MUST be present, and it MUST be "Symmetric".

 

The definition in Sections 3.1 actually does add a constraint that the
others appear to not have:

Implementations creating and validating MAC values MUST validate that the
key type, key length, and algorithm are correct and appropriate for the
entities involved.

 

It seems like a helpful errata to indicate alongside the
kty-must-be-symmetric requirement an explicit statement similar to:

The "k" field byte string length MUST match the input key length of the
algorithm being used.

 

Or maybe the general requirement in Section 3.1 actually is meant to apply
to all MAC algorithms and not just the ones in that subsection..?

 

Brian S.

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