[kmip] Revoke operation: Ambiguity w.r.t. Compromise, Compromise Occurrence Date

["Featherstone, David" <David.Featherstone@safenet-inc.com>]

Greetings

 

Possibly two ambiguities exist in the KMIP 1.2 specification’s description of the Revoke attribute. The ambiguities arise from the text in Table 185: Revoke Request Payload, saying that the Compromise Occurrence Date “SHALL be specified if the Revocation Reason is ‘key compromise’”:

 

a)      Is a Compromise Occurrence Date permitted/optional when the Revocation Reason is not ‘Key Compromise’?

b)      Is a Compromise Occurrence Date not also required when the Revocation Reason is ‘CA Compromise’?

 

Here is the current description:

 

4.20 Revoke

This operation requests the server to revoke a Managed Cryptographic Object or an Opaque Object. The

request SHALL NOT specify a Template object. The request contains a reason for the revocation (e.g.,

“key compromise”, “cessation of operation”, etc.). Special authentication and authorization SHOULD be

enforced to perform this request (see [KMIP-UG]). Only the object owner or an authorized security officer

SHOULD be allowed to issue this request. The operation has one of two effects. If the revocation reason

is “key compromise”, then the object is placed into the “compromised” state, and the Compromise Date

attribute is set to the current date and time. Otherwise, the object is placed into the “deactivated” state,

and the Deactivation Date attribute is set to the current date and time.

 

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

|                              R E Q U E S T   P A Y L O A D                                      |

+---------------------------------+---------------------+-----------------------------------------+

|           O b j e c t           |   R E Q U I R E D   |          D E S C R I P T I O N          |

+---------------------------------+---------------------+-----------------------------------------+

| Unique Identifier               | No                  | Determines the object being revoked. If |

|                                 |                     | omitted, then the ID Placeholder value  |

|                                 |                     | is used by the server as the Unique     |

|                                 |                     | Identifier                              |

+---------------------------------+---------------------+-----------------------------------------+

| Revocation Reason, see 3.31     | Yes                 | Specifies the reason for revocation.    |

|                                 |                     |                                         |

+---------------------------------+---------------------+-----------------------------------------+

| Compromise Occurrence Date, see | No                  | SHALL be specified if the Revocation    |

| 3.29                            |                     | Reason is 'key compromise'.             |

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Table 185: Revoke Request Payload

 

 

The ambiguity could be eliminated with the following alterations:

 

4.20 Revoke

This operation requests the server to revoke a Managed Cryptographic Object or an Opaque Object. The

request SHALL NOT specify a Template object. The request contains a reason for the revocation (e.g.,

“key compromise”, “cessation of operation”, etc.). Special authentication and authorization SHOULD be

enforced to perform this request (see [KMIP-UG]). Only the object owner or an authorized security officer

SHOULD be allowed to issue this request. The operation has one of two effects. If the revocation reason

is “key compromise” or “CA compromise”, then the object is placed into the “compromised” state, and the

Compromise Date attribute is set to the current date and time. Otherwise, the object is placed into the

“deactivated” state, and the Deactivation Date attribute is set to the current date and time.

 

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

|                              R E Q U E S T   P A Y L O A D                                      |

+---------------------------------+---------------------+-----------------------------------------+

|           O b j e c t           |   R E Q U I R E D   |          D E S C R I P T I O N          |

+---------------------------------+---------------------+-----------------------------------------+

| Unique Identifier               | No                  | Determines the object being revoked. If |

|                                 |                     | omitted, then the ID Placeholder value  |

|                                 |                     | is used by the server as the Unique     |

|                                 |                     | Identifier                              |

+---------------------------------+---------------------+-----------------------------------------+

| Revocation Reason, see 3.31     | Yes                 | Specifies the reason for revocation.    |

|                                 |                     |                                         |

+---------------------------------+---------------------+-----------------------------------------+

| Compromise Occurrence Date, see | No                  | SHALL be specified if and only if the   |

| 3.29                            |                     | Revocation Reason is 'key compromise'   |

|                                 |                     | or 'CA compromise'.                     |

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Table 185: Revoke Request Payload

 

Cheers,

… Dave

 

 

 

 

 

 

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