RE: SO login into non-initialized token

[Johnson Darren <darren.johnson@gemalto.com>]

Hi,

We do the same here… we return CKR_USER_PIN_NOT_INITIALIZED in this case.

 

That is unfortunate that the error code is described that way.  In hind sight, I would have preferred if the description was so that it applies to the whichever role (CKU_SO or CKU_USER) is attempting to login via C_Login.

Should we consider modifying the description as such?

 

I agree, none of the existing error codes seem to fit this scenario.  Should we introduce CKR_SO_PIN_NOT_INITIALIZED?

 

I don’t have a strong opinion either way, but if I was forced to pick one, I think I prefer modifying the description.  Most of the other CKR_USER_XXX error codes apply to both roles (CKU_SO and CKU_USER).  I think this one probably should as well.

 

Thanks

DJ

 

From: pkcs11@lists.oasis-open.org [mailto:pkcs11@lists.oasis-open.org] On Behalf Of Daniel Minder
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 9:09 AM
To: pkcs11@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: [pkcs11] SO login into non-initialized token

 

All,

 

maybe you’ve also seen this new question on StackExchange (https://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/61822/what-is-the-proper-return-code-for-c-login-when-a-cku-so-attempts-to-log-into-a):

 

Looking at the PKCS#11 2.4 spec, C_Login returns CKR_USER_PIN_NOT_INITIALIZED when a "normal user's PIN has not yet been initialized with C_InitPIN". However, I can not find anything that would be analogous to a situation when a user calls C_Login for a CKU_SO user on a token that has not been initialized using C_InitToken.

 

That’s actually a good question IMO.

 

We simply return CKR_USER_PIN_NOT_INITIALIZED also in this case, but thinking about it now this doesn’t seem to be correct according to the description of this error code in the standard. But all other return values do not fit either.

 

Any opinions?

 

Thanks,

Daniel

 

 

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