I think the question at hand is:  If a server says it wants to do bearer
tokens and no TLS, is a client obligated to interop in order to claim spec
compliance?

--
John Panzer / Google
[email protected] / abstractioneer.org / @jpanzer



On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Hurliman, John <[email protected]>wrote:

> +1 to this as well. Any implementation is free to deviate from the spec, at
> the risk of breaking interoperability.
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
> John Panzer
> Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 8:43 AM
> To: Eve Maler
> Cc: OAuth WG
> Subject: Re: [OAUTH-WG] Allowing Secrets in the Clear Over Insecure
> Channels
>
> +1 to MUST implement TLS on both sides.
>
> I thought we were only discussing whether the server could decide to
> skip TLS for a particular use case.  No?
>
> On Friday, January 15, 2010, Eve Maler <[email protected]> wrote:
> > The points about matching security to use case are excellent.  This is
> why I think we're maybe misinterpreting Eran's argument for MUST.  It's not
> an argument from security alone ("we must always have highest security all
> the time"); it's an argument from interoperability of security features at
> Internet scale ("in the general/at-scale case, we should not accept deployed
> instances that do not support this important security feature").
> >
> > On this basis, it's reasonable to argue for MUST for implementing TLS
> (with no weasel words about "or equivalent", since this isn't a testable
> protocol clause), for the broad ecosystem benefits.
> >
> >         Eve
> >
> > On 15 Jan 2010, at 8:06 AM, John Kemp wrote:
> >
> >> On Jan 14, 2010, at 7:39 PM, Richard L. Barnes wrote:
> >>
> >>>> As such, I can't see how *not* requiring SSL for unsigned requests
> >>>> could pass muster at an IETF security review.
> >>>
> >>> Speaking as someone who does IETF security reviews ...  :)
> >>>
> >>> If I were reviewing a document that defines an optional insecure mode
> of operation (in this case, operating without TLS), I would be looking for
> basically two things: (1) A discussion of the risks if the insecure mode is
> used, and (2) a motivation for why these risks might be acceptable in
> certain cases.  This is in the spirit of "MUST=SHOULD+exception" -- if it's
> a SHOULD, you need to explain the exception.  In this case, the risks (1)
> are pretty obvious: A passive observer can steal your password and use it to
> authenticate as you.  The motivations (2) are what this thread is about.
> >>>
> >>> I would also observe that "MUST use TLS or equivalent" is actually the
> same as "SHOULD use TLS", since the "or equivalent" isn't really specified.
> >>
> >> Right. Which is why I'm currently OK with Eran's text either way as I
> think it allows bearer tokens with *any* other security protections, unless
> we specify exactly which security properties should be provided by the
> channel, vs. via other mechanisms.
> >>
> >> SAML's "confirmation method" is sort of the equivalent idea to what
> we've been talking about here (where the method could be "holder-of-key+a
> signature algorithm", "bearer" or something else) but we also haven't
> separated out security properties such as integrity or confidentiality for
> the purposes of this discussion.
> >>
> >>> (This is really obvious when you think about it from the perspective of
> an implementor: If you're going to cover the "or equivalent" cases, then you
> have to have be able to operate in non-TLS mode.)  The "or equivalent" cases
> are the ones where not using TLS might be acceptable, i.e., the ones that
> should be cited as motivations (2) for allowing the non-secure mode.
> >>>
> >>> Taking the SECDIR hat off, it seems to me that there are some
> motivations appearing in this thread:
> >>> -- Appropriate key management (frequent key refresh)
> >>> -- Private trusted networks
> >>> -- John's observation that "URL+token" == "private URL"
> >>> So ISTM that "SHOULD use TLS" could be motivated here.
> >>>
> >>> (Now, all that said, it probably wouldn't hurt to have TLS as a "MUST
> implement" so that it's there if people want to use it.)
> >>
> >> +1
> >>
> >> - johnk
> >
> >
> > Eve Maler
> > [email protected]
> > http://www.xmlgrrl.com/blog
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > OAuth mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/oauth
> >
>
> --
> --
> John Panzer / Google
> [email protected] / abstractioneer.org / @jpanzer
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