All,
In PKCS#11 3.0 - 2.3.5 Edwards Elliptic curve public key objects, CKA_EC_POINT is defined as "DER-encoding of the b-bit public key value in little endian order as defined in RFC 8032".
Per PKCS11 3.1 Work Items
https://wiki.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/3.1WorkItems , section PKCS11 3.1 Action Items item #9, encoding of Edwards keys was discussed in May 2020, see meeting minutes
https://wiki.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/Meetingminutes/Minutes13052020 . A new action item #10 was created for Bob to check encoding in NSS. In July 2020, Bob ânoted that NSS is sending
a DER wrapped EC point unless an alternate variable has been set (in which case it get's changed accordingly). It should be wrapped.â See meeting minutes
https://wiki.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/Meetingminutes/Minutes22072020 .
Based on this finding, the definition for Edwards public keys was updated in PKCS#11 3.1 Working Draft 01
https://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/pkcs11/document.php?document_id=67981 (uploaded Nov 17, 2020) section 2.3.5 to the following: âDER-encoded octet value wrapped inside a DER-octet header of the b-bit public key value in little endian order as
defined in RFC 8032â.
In August/September 2021, we did again have emails and discussions about encoding of Edwards keys. In our meeting dd. September 29, 2021, this topic was discussed., see Meeting Minutes https://wiki.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/Meetingminutes/Minutes29092021
. As follow-up Tony submitted the âProposed item #13 resolution markupâ
https://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/pkcs11/document.php?document_id=69159 and PKCS#11 3.1 Working Draft 06
https://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/pkcs11/document.php?document_id=69175 (uploaded Oct 12 and 14, 2021, respectively). The definition was updated (now section 6.3.5) to âPublic key bytes in little endian order as defined in RFC 8032â, i.e. the
DER encoding has been removed. This is the wording that made it into the Committee Specification and Standard 3.1.
In this meeting dd. September 29, 2021, we already discussed the need for a PKCS#11 3.0 Errata that covers the encoding of Edwards keys. This Errata document has been postponed as long as the new PKCS#11 3.1 standard had not been signed
off.
It looks to me that we should solve this discrepancy between 3.0 and 3.1 standards by issuing such 3.0 Errata document, and by this make clear that the encoding should be as specified in PKCS#11 3.1 standard.
@Tony, Tim, Jonathan, as you are explicitly mentioned in these meeting minutes of September 2021, please review my recap and confirm or correct.
Best regards,
Dieter
From: pkcs11@lists.oasis-open.org <pkcs11@lists.oasis-open.org>
On Behalf Of Greg Scott
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2023 3:05 AM
To: pkcs11@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: [pkcs11] Fwd: [pkcs11-comment] Conflicting definitions of Edwards curve keypairs in 3.0 and 3.1...
Valerie has picked up a message on the comments list that I seem to have missed.
Must check my registration on the comments lists but I think Chet said that they had been having trouble with their mailing system recently.
Greg
Subject: [pkcs11-comment] Conflicting definitions of Edwards curve keypairs in 3.0 and 3.1...
Date:
September 4, 2023 at 2:47:08 PM PDT