OASIS Mailing List ArchivesView the OASIS mailing list archive below
or browse/search using MarkMail.

 


Help: OASIS Mailing Lists Help | MarkMail Help

ebxml-msg message

[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [Elist Home]


Subject: RE: [ebxml-msg] security problem with ebXML MS


Yes, I am not sure either.  Somehow we would have to have something which knows
to parse beginning at the boundary down to the first blank line -- leaving out
CTE.

However, Suresh pointed out that the dSig tools want you to give it the entire
ds:Signature element.  If we have a foreign ConnonicalizationAlgorithm, is it
going to choke?  I think these things may be hard coded.  I suppose we could
recognize the ConnonicalizationAlgorithm value before it goes to the dSig tool
and perform the functions at that point.  I am not sure how this works.

Regards,

David.

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Ferris [mailto:chris.ferris@sun.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 1:36 PM
To: David Fischer
Cc: ebxml-msg@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [ebxml-msg] security problem with ebXML MS


David,

This idea should be explored further. The problem I am having
is: how do you reference the MIME headers as a URI? I don't
think that the same URI (whether cid or content-location URI)
can be used...

If we can solve that conundrum, then we may have something.

Cheers,

Chris

David Fischer wrote:

> I would like to suggest a variation on Suresh's idea.
>
> What if we add a second Reference in the ds:Signature for 'each' payload so
that
> there would be two references to the same cid, for each payload.  I looked in
> the dSig spec and there doesn't seem to be any prohibition on this.
>
> The first reference would be to the payload as it has always been with
whatever
> canonicalization or transforms are required.  The second reference would be to
> the MIME headers.  Suresh's canonicalization of the MIME headers would still
be
> required but we wouldn't have to copy the MIME headers into the Manifest
> (minimal change to the spec).  We would still have to define that
> Canonicalization Algorithm that Suresh described.
>
> I don't know if this is better or worse but it is another option.
>
> I'll confess, this is actually Rik's idea but I kind of like it.
>
> Regards,
>
> David Fischer
> Drummond Group.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christopher Ferris [mailto:chris.ferris@sun.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 10:03 AM
> To: David Fischer
> Cc: ebxml-msg@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: Re: [ebxml-msg] security problem with ebXML MS
>
>
> David,
>
> Agreed, but even if the "dispatching" was performed from
> the Manifest (by some new processor), then there still needs
> to be MIME parsing (although possibly not dispatching) to
> resolve the attachments.
>
> What this seems to be suggesting is a whole lot more work
> and I'm not convinced that it is really necessary or even
> that it solves the problem.
>
> I wasn't suggesting that there were any changes to the existing
> MIME headers, what I was commenting on was the need (for digest
> calculation) to specify canonicalization of MIME headers which
> is clearly (IMO) outside our scope, responsibility and ownership.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris
>
> David Fischer wrote:
>
>
>>Chris,
>>
>>I didn't take this to mean NOT have MIME headers on the payloads but just to
>>copy them (Suresh used the word 'Repeat').  This presents two possibilities,
>>either the ebXML signature verification must compare the signed MIME headers
>>
> in
>
>>the Manifest to the ones on the payloads to make sure they have not changed,
>>
> OR,
>
>>I suppose the ebXML processor could dispatch off of the headers in the
>>
> Manifest
>
>>(except that some headers might not be there - like CTE headers).
>>
>>I didn't understand this as any change to the existing payload MIME headers.
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>David Fischer
>>Drummond Group.
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Christopher Ferris [mailto:chris.ferris@sun.com]
>>Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 8:57 AM
>>To: David Fischer
>>Cc: Ian. C. Jones (E-mail); ebxml-msg@lists.oasis-open.org
>>Subject: Re: [ebxml-msg] security problem with ebXML MS
>>
>>
>>It is interesting, and we should put it on the
>>f2f agenda for discussion, but I have some comments.
>>
>>This proposal seems to imply that MIME processing/parsing
>>of the message is limited exclusively to the first body
>>part of the multipart/related MIME object (the SOAP Envelope)
>>and that all subsequent processing of the multipart/related
>>object is driven by the contents of the MIME header info
>>contained within the Manifest.
>>
>>No MIME processor/parser of which I am aware works in this
>>manner. Thus, it would seem that this proposal is suggesting
>>that in order to process a message, a new parser would be
>>required. I'm not sure that this is desireable. In addition,
>>the issue raised suggests that ALL MIME headers, including
>>those that comprise the multipart/related "envelope" and
>>those of the start object (the SOAP Envelope) would need
>>to be protected, or maybe I'm missing something. I don't see
>>how this proposal addresses the potential that these MIME
>>headers might also become compromised.
>>
>>Further, I don't think that it is the responsibility of
>>the OASIS ebXML Messaging TC to specify MIME header C14N. I would
>>think that if this s to be done at all that the ownership
>>and responsibility for this would belong squarely in the IETF camp.
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>Chris
>>
>>David Fischer wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>This is very good and we should include it on the F2F agenda.
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>
>>>David Fischer
>>>Drummond Group.
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Damodaran, Suresh [mailto:Suresh_Damodaran@stercomm.com]
>>>Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 5:44 PM
>>>To: 'James M Galvin'; Christopher Ferris
>>>Cc: ebxml-msg@lists.oasis-open.org
>>>Subject: RE: [ebxml-msg] security problem with ebXML MS
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Attached is a proposal to address the issues that Jim is bringing up.
>>>The proposal discusses a processing model when signatures are involved.
>>>I believe it would serve us best to include the specifics in 1.1 version
>>>of MSG, since not addressing MIME headers is a hole that we need to cover.
>>>Comments are most welcome.
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>-Suresh
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: James M Galvin [mailto:galvin@drummondgroup.com]
>>>Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 9:08 PM
>>>To: Christopher Ferris
>>>Cc: ebxml-msg@lists.oasis-open.org
>>>Subject: Re: [ebxml-msg] security problem with ebXML MS
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, Christopher Ferris wrote:
>>>
>>>   Transient security mechanisms (on-the-wire confidentiality,
>>>   integrity and authentication) by means of technologies such as
>>>   SSL, TLS or IPSEC can be used as countermeasures for MITM
>>>   attacks, especially when combined with the persistent mechanisms
>>>   described.
>>>
>>>SSL and TLS are transport level mechanisms suitable for protecting
>>>against MITM attacks in a peer-to-peer environment.  IPSec is a network
>>>level mechanism that may or may not satisfy transport security
>>>requirements depending on how cognizant the transport level is of the
>>>network level activities.  In particular, IPSec would typically be
>>>deployed firewall to firewall, which may or may not be the endpoints of
>>>the transport layer connection.  There's a lot of if's in there for an
>>>application.
>>>
>>>In any case, ebMS is intended to be transport independent.  Thus, while
>>>the transport and below mechanisms may be suitable for non-persistent
>>>services they are unsuitable *in general* in the persistent case.  The
>>>architecture document to which you referred makes this clear.
>>>
>>> SIDEBAR: It turns out that "persistent security" is never actually
>>> defined anywhere that I can find (not even in the architecture
>>> document).  Since non-persistent makes specific reference to transport
>>> level services, I made the obvious inference that persistent means
>>> "survives end-to-end", i.e., between trading partners.  It would be
>>> interesting, I think, to understand if others have a different
>>> understanding, or perhaps I've overlooked the definition.
>>>
>>>Specifically, if SMTP is used as the transport, the persistent services
>>>do not adequately protect against MITM attacks.
>>>
>>>   Because certain portions of the message are meant to be mutable
>>>   it is not possible to apply a persistent signature over the entire
>>>stream
>>>   unless it is known that the message will never (need to) be changed.
>>>   If intermediaries are not involved, then it is possible to ensure
>>>   message integrity by means of transient mechanisms between
>>>   the two adjacent nodes providing an assurance that the message
>>>   has not been tampered by a MITM.
>>>
>>>You seem to be suggesting that if the communication path between the
>>>trading partners is not peer-to-peer, it must be assumed that the
>>>message will probably need to be changed while in transit?  Do you mean
>>>this in general or are you referring specifically to the various "trace"
>>>information that might appear in a message?
>>>
>>>If the latter, the fact that certain portions of the message are mutable
>>>is irrelevant to the requirement to properly make use of the security
>>>service to achieve the desired goal.  If the desired goal is persistent
>>>authentication, then the MIME headers must be protected while
>>>in-transit.  In the SMTP transport case this means the headers must be
>>>protected at each hop along the path.
>>>
>>>The fact that certain portions of the message are mutable *is* relevant
>>>to how the digital signature is calculated and what is included when the
>>>message is encrypted.  But that is an implementation detail one level
>>>past the issue of agreeing to achieve the desired goal.
>>>
>>>Do we agree on the goal?
>>>
>>>Jim
>>>
>>>
>>>----------------------------------------------------------------
>>>To subscribe or unsubscribe from this elist use the subscription
>>>manager: <http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>----------------------------------------------------------------
>>>To subscribe or unsubscribe from this elist use the subscription
>>>manager: <http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl>
>>>
>>
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------------------
>>To subscribe or unsubscribe from this elist use the subscription
>>manager: <http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl>
>>
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------------------
>>To subscribe or unsubscribe from this elist use the subscription
>>manager: <http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl>
>>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> To subscribe or unsubscribe from this elist use the subscription
> manager: <http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> To subscribe or unsubscribe from this elist use the subscription
> manager: <http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl>
>



----------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe or unsubscribe from this elist use the subscription
manager: <http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl>



[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [Elist Home]


Powered by eList eXpress LLC