I took a little time today and wrote a short draft specifying a JWS-like object 
that uses key management for the MAC key used to integrity protect the payload. 
 We had considered doing this in JOSE issue 
#2<http://trac.tools.ietf.org/wg/jose/trac/ticket/2> but didn't do so at the 
time because of lack of demand.  However, I wanted to get this down now to 
demonstrate that it is easy to do and specify a way to do it, should demand 
develop in the future - possibly after the JOSE working 
group<http://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/jose/charter/> has been closed.  See 
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-jones-jose-key-managed-json-web-signature-00 
or 
http://self-issued.info/docs/draft-jones-jose-key-managed-json-web-signature-00.html.

This spec reuses key management functionality already present in the JWE 
spec<http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-jose-json-web-encryption> and MAC 
functionality already present in the JWS 
spec<http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-jose-json-web-signature>.  The 
result is essentially a JWS with an Encrypted Key value added, and a new "mac" 
Header Parameter value representing the MAC algorithm used.  (Like JWE, the key 
management algorithm is carried in the "alg" Header Parameter value.)

I also wrote this now as possible input into our thinking on options for 
creating a CBOR<http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7049> JOSE mapping.  If there are 
CBOR use cases needing managed MAC keys, this could help us reason about ways 
to structure the solution.

Yes, the spec name and abbreviation are far from catchy.  Better naming ideas 
would be great.

Feedback welcomed.

                                                            -- Mike

P.S.  This note was also posted at http://self-issued.info/?p=1344 and as 
@selfissued.

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