Thanks.  I’ll rework this with the language suggested and re-circulate.

Ben

 

From: Ryan Sleevi [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 11:36 AM
To: CA/Browser Forum Public Discussion List <[email protected]>
Cc: Ben Wilson <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [cabfpub] Pre-Ballot: Underscore Characters in SANs

 

 

 

On Thu, Apr 20, 2017 at 1:07 PM, Ben Wilson via Public <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:

All,

 

I’m looking for two endorsers for a proposed amendment to section 7.1.4.2.1 of 
the Baseline Requirements--to be modified to allow the underscore character 
(“_”) in SANs and to remove the sunset language in that section related to 
internal names and reserved IP addresses.  The revised section 7.1.4.2.1 would 
read as follows:

 

7.1.4.2.1.             Subject Alternative Name Extension

Certificate Field: extensions:subjectAltName

Required/Optional:  Required

Contents:  This extension MUST contain at least one entry.  Each entry MUST be 
either a dNSName containing the Fully-Qualified Domain Name or an iPAddress 
containing the IP address of a server.  The CA MUST confirm that the Applicant 
controls the Fully-Qualified Domain Name or IP address or has been granted the 
right to use it by the Domain Name Registrant or IP address assignee, as 
appropriate.

Wildcard FQDNs and underscores in FQDNs (encoded as IA5 strings) are permitted. 
 

CAs SHALL NOT issue a certificate with a subjectAlternativeName extension or 
Subject commonName field containing a Reserved IP Address or Internal Name. 


Ben,

 

Some suggested edits that may help resolve any future ambiguities, capturing 
the discussions from the Raleigh F2F.

 

"""

7.1.4.2.1 Subject Alternative Name Extension

Certificate Field: extensions:subjectAltName

Required/Optional: Required

Contents: This extension MUST contain at least one entry. The entry MUST be 
either a dNSName or iPAddress name.

 

For entries of the type dNSName, the entry MUST contain the Fully-Qualified 
Domain Name that CA has validated the Applicant's control or ownership of. The 
Fully-Qualified Domain Name must comply with RFC 5280, Section 4.2.1.6, 
including that of requiring the name be in the "preferred name syntax," with 
the following exceptions: A single wildcard ('*') character may be present as 
the left-most, most subordinate label, if the CA has validated the name 
consistent with Section 3.2.2.6. One or more underscore ('_') characters may be 
present within the Fully-Qualified Domain Name, in deviation from the 
"preferred name syntax." The entry MUST NOT contain an Internal Name.

 

For entries of the type iPAddress, the entry MUST contain an IP address that 
the CA has validated the Applicant's control of. The entry MUST NOT contain a 
Reserved IP Address.

"""

 

Here's a bit of explanation for the edits and why I made them:

- Split the rules regarding dNSName and iPAddress into two separate sections, 
to make it unambiguous the contents they can contain

- Clarify that wildcards and underscores are NOT permitted for the type 
iPAddress

- Clarify that domain names MUST follow the rules of RFC 5280, particularly 
that of preferred name syntax. This includes the prohibition of the " " label 
or that of e-mail addresses in the domain form (both examples given in RFC 
5280). It clarifies that the exceptions to this rule are limited to the 
presence of wildcard characters and underscores.

  * There's one issue which I debated trying to tackle in this, which is that 
it's possible for an applicant to register the literal "*.domain.com 
<http://domain.com> " (e.g. the actual wildcard character). The current and 
proposed wording fail to address this in 3.2.2.6, even though the intent is 
clearly that in the case of a *, the CA MUST validate the Applicant's control 
of the Domain Namespace indicated by removing the '*' label.

  * Happy to suggest wording if it's clear the concern here

- Reuse the language from 3.2.2.4 and 3.2.2.5, specifically the "Applicant's 
control or ownership of" a domain name and "control of" an IP address.

  - The existing wording, "granted the right to use", is ambiguous, because no 
process is defined within the BRs as to how an Applicant can demonstrate such a 
grant, or how the CA can verify such a grant.

  - I believe the intent is with respect to reusing the validation methods of 
3.2.2.4, but if CAs feel that this is an intentional loophole to permit some 
activity that would otherwise be prohibited or underspecified, I'm happy to see 
what we can figure out

- Lays out a framework for permitting additional name types in the future, as 
discussed. This section could be tightened up further to support that future 
growth, but I tried to keep it mostly minimal for now, so that we could 
incrementally improve.

 

Do let me know what you think of those edits, and whether they bring the 
necessary clarity of intent and execution.

 

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