Hi Georg,

2017-04-27 18:46 GMT+02:00 Georg Lukas <[email protected]>:

> > The 2 byte expiration date is encrypted using AES256-GCM using the 32
> > byte key and the 16 byte IV.
>
> What would be wrong with a truncated HMAC-SHA256(timestamp)?
>
> I don't see the need to add an IV to invitation links, and I'd rather
> use an HMAC than something semi-hand-crafted.
>

As stated in MUC I'm fine with an HMAC. I guess I just didn't think this
through and just wrote down what I implemented last night.
This will also shorten the token I guess?!



>
> > * A server which is also in possession of the secret key (due to it being
> > in the PEP node) can 'decrypt' the tokens and check if the expiration
> date
> > is >= NOW() and authenticate a subscription request on the users behalf.
>
> That's a very elegant idea!
>
> > * A server which can do that should probably announce the pars namespace
> on
> > the account.
>
> Is there a specific need for that, except than to boost its compliance
> ranking? ;-)
>

I think it might be useful for a client to know if they can rely on the
server to dealwith the authentication or if they will have to do that
themselves.


> I see the UX problems, but I'm not sure if this is a good idea
> security-wise. I'd like to hear other opinions on this.
>
> The pros of this approach are:
>  - a lifetime (24-72h) is a useful mitigation
>  - it doesn't matter if an attacker who got your token can subscribe to
>    your presence once or a thousand times
>  - pending subscriptions are a similar DoS in most clients as completed
>    subscriptions.
>
> The cons currently boil down to my gut feeling that limiting tokens to
> "once" or "N times" with a small N is useful.
>

I guess in theory 'approving entities' can still do a rate limiting on the
tokens? However I would find it very hard to come up with a good N that
both works (me showing my QR code at a party to a bunch of people standing
around me) and also prevents annoying DOS attacks.

In any case i don't think N should be configurable by the user.

cheers
Daniel
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