CoRE Working Group M. Tiloca
Internet-Draft RISE SICS
Intended status: Standards Track G. Selander
Expires: December 30, 2018 F. Palombini
Ericsson AB
J. Park
Universitaet Duisburg-Essen
June 28, 2018

Secure group communication for CoAP
draft-ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm-02

Abstract

This document describes a mode for protecting group communication over the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP). The proposed mode relies on Object Security for Constrained RESTful Environments (OSCORE) and the CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE) format. In particular, it is defined how OSCORE should be used in a group communication setting, while fulfilling the same security requirements for request messages and related response messages. Source authentication of all messages exchanged within the group is ensured, by means of digital signatures produced through private keys of sender endpoints and embedded in the protected CoAP messages.

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

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This Internet-Draft will expire on December 30, 2018.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) [RFC7252] is a web transfer protocol specifically designed for constrained devices and networks [RFC7228].

Group communication for CoAP [RFC7390] addresses use cases where deployed devices benefit from a group communication model, for example to reduce latencies and improve performance. Use cases include lighting control, integrated building control, software and firmware updates, parameter and configuration updates, commissioning of constrained networks, and emergency multicast (see Appendix B). Furthermore, [RFC7390] recognizes the importance to introduce a secure mode for CoAP group communication. This specification defines such a mode.

Object Security for Constrained RESTful Environments (OSCORE)[I-D.ietf-core-object-security] describes a security protocol based on the exchange of protected CoAP messages. OSCORE builds on CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE) [RFC8152] and provides end-to-end encryption, integrity, and replay protection between a sending endpoint and a receiving endpoint possibly involving intermediary endpoints. To this end, a CoAP message is protected by including its payload (if any), certain options, and header fields in a COSE object, which finally replaces the authenticated and encrypted fields in the protected message.

This document describes group OSCORE, providing end-to-end security of CoAP messages exchanged between members of a group. In particular, the described approach defines how OSCORE should be used in a group communication setting, so that end-to-end security is assured by using the same security method. That is, end-to-end security is assured for (multicast) CoAP requests sent by client endpoints to the group and for related CoAP responses sent as reply by multiple server endpoints. Group OSCORE provides source authentication of all CoAP messages exchanged within the group, by means of digital signatures produced through private keys of sender devices and embedded in the protected CoAP messages. As in OSCORE, it is still possible to simultaneously rely on DTLS to protect hop-by-hop communication between a sender endpoint and a proxy (and vice versa), and between a proxy and a recipient endpoint (and vice versa).

1.1. Terminology

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

Readers are expected to be familiar with the terms and concepts described in CoAP [RFC7252] including "endpoint", "client", "server", "sender" and "recipient"; group communication for CoAP [RFC7390]; COSE and counter signatures [RFC8152].

Readers are also expected to be familiar with the terms and concepts for protection and processing of CoAP messages through OSCORE, such as "Security Context" and "Master Secret", defined in [I-D.ietf-core-object-security].

Terminology for constrained environments, such as "constrained device", "constrained-node network", is defined in [RFC7228].

This document refers also to the following terminology.

2. OSCORE Security Context

To support group communication secured with OSCORE, each endpoint registered as member of a group maintains a Security Context as defined in Section 3 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security]. Each endpoint in a group stores:

  1. one Common Context, shared by all the endpoints in the group. In particular:
  2. one Sender Context, unless the endpoint is configured exclusively as silent server. The Sender Context is used to secure outgoing group messages and is initialized according to Section 3 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security], once the endpoint has joined the group. In practice, the symmetric keying material in the Sender Context of the sender endpoint is shared with all the recipient endpoints that have received group messages from that same sender endpoint. Besides, in addition to what is defined in [I-D.ietf-core-object-security], the Sender Context stores also the endpoint's public-private key pair.
  3. one Recipient Context for each distinct endpoint from which group messages are received, used to process such incoming messages. The recipient endpoint creates a new Recipient Context upon receiving an incoming message from another endpoint in the group for the first time (see Section 4.2 and Section 4.4). In practice, the symmetric keying material in a given Recipient Context of the recipient endpoint is shared with the associated sender endpoint from which group messages are received. Besides, in addition to what is defined in [I-D.ietf-core-object-security], each Recipient Context stores also the public key of the associated other endpoint from which group messages are received.

The table in Figure 1 overviews the new information included in the OSCORE Security Context, with respect to what defined in Section 3 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security].

   +---------------------------+-----------------------------+
   |      Context portion      |       New information       |
   +---------------------------+-----------------------------+
   |                           |                             |
   |      Common Context       | Counter signature algorithm |
   |                           |                             |
   |      Sender Context       | Endpoint's own private key  |
   |                           |                             |
   |      Sender Context       | Endpoint's own public key   |
   |                           |                             |
   |  Each Recipient Context   | Public key of the           |
   |                           | associated other endpoint   |
   |                           |                             |
   +---------------------------+-----------------------------+

Figure 1: Additions to the OSCORE Security Context

Upon receiving a secure CoAP message, a recipient endpoint relies on the sender endpoint's public key, in order to verify the counter signature conveyed in the COSE Object.

If not already stored in the Recipient Context associated to the sender endpoint, the recipient endpoint retrieves the public key from a trusted key repository. In such a case, the correct binding between the sender endpoint and the retrieved public key must be assured, for instance by means of public key certificates. Further discussion about how public keys can be handled and retrieved in the group is provided in Appendix D.2.

The Sender Key/IV stored in the Sender Context and the Recipient Keys/IVs stored in the Recipient Contexts are derived according to the same scheme defined in Section 3.2 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security].

2.1. Management of Group Keying Material

The approach described in this specification should take into account the risk of compromise of group members. In particular, the adoption of key management schemes for secure revocation and renewal of Security Contexts and group keying material should be considered.

Consistently with the security assumptions in Appendix A.1, it is RECOMMENDED to adopt a group key management scheme, and securely distribute a new value for the Master Secret parameter of the group's Security Context, before a new joining endpoint is added to the group or after a currently present endpoint leaves the group. This is necessary in order to preserve backward security and forward security in the group.

In particular, a new Group Identifier (Gid) for that group and a new value for the Master Secret parameter must also be distributed. An example of Group Identifier format supporting this operation is provided in Appendix C. Then, each group member re-derives the keying material stored in its own Sender Context and Recipient Contexts as described in Section 2, using the updated Group Identifier.

Especially in dynamic, large-scale, groups where endpoints can join and leave at any time, it is important that the considered group key management scheme is efficient and highly scalable with the group size, in order to limit the impact on performance due to the Security Context and keying material update.

3. The COSE Object

When creating a protected CoAP message, an endpoint in the group computes the COSE object using the untagged COSE_Encrypt0 structure [RFC8152] as defined in Section 5 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security], with the following modifications.

external_aad = [
   ...
   algorithms : [alg_aead : int / tstr , alg_countersign : int / tstr],
   ...
]

 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 <----------- n bytes -----------> <-- 1 byte -->
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+---------------------------------+--------------+
|0 0|1|h|1|  n  |       Partial IV (if any)       |  s (if any)  |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+---------------------------------+--------------+

<------ s bytes ------> <--------- q bytes --------->
-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------+
   kid context = Gid   |      CounterSignature0      |    kid    |
-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------+

Figure 2: OSCORE Option Value

3.1. Example: Request

Request with kid = 0x25, Partial IV = 5 and kid context = 0x44616c, assuming the label for the new kid context defined in [I-D.ietf-core-object-security] has value 10. COUNTERSIGN is the CounterSignature0 byte string as described in Section 3 and is 64 bytes long in this example. The ciphertext in this example is 14 bytes long.

Before compression (96 bytes):

[
h'',
{ 4:h'25', 6:h'05', 10:h'44616c', 9:COUNTERSIGN },
h'aea0155667924dff8a24e4cb35b9'
]

After compression (85 bytes):

Flag byte: 0b00111001 = 0x39

Option Value: 39 05 03 44 61 6c COUNTERSIGN 25 (7 bytes + size of
 COUNTERSIGN)

Payload: ae a0 15 56 67 92 4d ff 8a 24 e4 cb 35 b9 (14 bytes)

3.2. Example: Response

Response with kid = 0x52. COUNTERSIGN is the CounterSignature0 byte string as described in Section 3 and is 64 bytes long in this example. The ciphertext in this example is 14 bytes long.

Before compression (88 bytes):

[
h'',
{ 4:h'52', 9:COUNTERSIGN },
h'60b035059d9ef5667c5a0710823b'
]

After compression (80 bytes):

Flag byte: 0b00101000 = 0x28

Option Value: 28 COUNTERSIGN 52 (2 bytes + size of COUNTERSIGN)

Payload: 60 b0 35 05 9d 9e f5 66 7c 5a 07 10 82 3b (14 bytes)

4. Message Processing

Each request message and response message is protected and processed as specified in [I-D.ietf-core-object-security], with the modifications described in the following sections. The following security objectives are fulfilled, as further discussed in Appendix A.2: data replay protection, group-level data confidentiality, source authentication, message integrity, and message ordering.

Furthermore, endpoints in the group locally perform error handling and processing of invalid messages according to the same principles adopted in [I-D.ietf-core-object-security]. However, a receiver endpoint MUST stop processing and silently reject any message which is malformed and does not follow the format specified in Section 3, without sending back any error message. This prevents servers from replying with multiple error messages to a client sending a group request, so avoiding the risk of flooding and possibly congesting the group.

4.1. Protecting the Request

A client transmits a secure group request as described in Section 8.1 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security], with the following modifications.

4.2. Verifying the Request

Upon receiving a secure group request, a server proceeds as described in Section 8.2 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security], with the following modifications.

4.3. Protecting the Response

A server that has received a secure group request may reply with a secure response, which is protected as described in Section 8.3 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security], with the following modifications.

4.4. Verifying the Response

Upon receiving a secure response message, the client proceeds as described in Section 8.4 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security], with the following modifications.

5. Synchronization of Sequence Numbers

Upon joining the group, new servers are not aware of the sequence number values currently used by different clients to transmit group requests. This means that, when such servers receive a secure group request from a given client for the first time, they are not able to verify if that request is fresh and has not been replayed. The same holds when a server loses synchronization with sequence numbers of clients, for instance after a device reboot.

The exact way to address this issue depends on the specific use case and its synchronization requirements. The list of methods to handle synchronization of sequence numbers is part of the group communication policy, and different servers can use different methods. Appendix E describes three possible approaches that can be considered.

6. Responsibilities of the Group Manager

The Group Manager is responsible for performing the following tasks:

The Group Manager may additionally be responsible for the following tasks:

7. Security Considerations

The same security considerations from OSCORE (Section 11 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security]) apply to this specification. Additional security aspects to be taken into account are discussed below.

7.1. Group-level Security

The approach described in this document relies on commonly shared group keying material to protect communication within a group. This means that messages are encrypted at a group level (group-level data confidentiality), i.e. they can be decrypted by any member of the group, but not by an external adversary or other external entities.

In addition, it is required that all group members are trusted, i.e. they do not forward the content of group messages to unauthorized entities. However, in many use cases, the devices in the group belong to a common authority and are configured by a commissioner (see Appendix B).

7.2. Uniqueness of (key, nonce)

The proof for uniqueness of (key, nonce) pairs in Appendix D.3 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security] is also valid in group communication scenarios. That is, given an OSCORE group:

It follows that each message encrypted/decrypted with the same Sender Key is processed by using a different (ID_PIV, PIV) pair. This means that nonces used by any fixed encrypting endpoint are unique. Thus, each message is processed with a different (key, nonce) pair.

7.3. Collision of Group Identifiers

In case endpoints are deployed in multiple groups managed by different non-synchronized Group Managers, it is possible for Group Identifiers of different groups to coincide. However, this does not impair the security of the AEAD algorithm.

In fact, as long as the Master Secret is different for different groups and this condition holds over time, and as long as the Sender IDs within a group are unique, it follows that AEAD keys and nonces are different among different groups.

8. IANA Considerations

This document has no actions for IANA.

9. Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank Stefan Beck, Rolf Blom, Carsten Bormann, Esko Dijk, Klaus Hartke, Richard Kelsey, John Mattsson, Jim Schaad, Ludwig Seitz and Peter van der Stok for their feedback and comments.

The work on this document has been partly supported by the EIT-Digital High Impact Initiative ACTIVE.

10. References

10.1. Normative References

[I-D.ietf-core-object-security] Selander, G., Mattsson, J., Palombini, F. and L. Seitz, "Object Security for Constrained RESTful Environments (OSCORE)", Internet-Draft draft-ietf-core-object-security-13, June 2018.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997.
[RFC7252] Shelby, Z., Hartke, K. and C. Bormann, "The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP)", RFC 7252, DOI 10.17487/RFC7252, June 2014.
[RFC8032] Josefsson, S. and I. Liusvaara, "Edwards-Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA)", RFC 8032, DOI 10.17487/RFC8032, January 2017.
[RFC8152] Schaad, J., "CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE)", RFC 8152, DOI 10.17487/RFC8152, July 2017.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, May 2017.

10.2. Informative References

[I-D.ietf-ace-dtls-authorize] Gerdes, S., Bergmann, O., Bormann, C., Selander, G. and L. Seitz, "Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) Profile for Authentication and Authorization for Constrained Environments (ACE)", Internet-Draft draft-ietf-ace-dtls-authorize-03, March 2018.
[I-D.ietf-ace-oauth-authz] Seitz, L., Selander, G., Wahlstroem, E., Erdtman, S. and H. Tschofenig, "Authentication and Authorization for Constrained Environments (ACE) using the OAuth 2.0 Framework (ACE-OAuth)", Internet-Draft draft-ietf-ace-oauth-authz-12, May 2018.
[I-D.ietf-ace-oscore-profile] Seitz, L., Palombini, F., Gunnarsson, M. and G. Selander, "OSCORE profile of the Authentication and Authorization for Constrained Environments Framework", Internet-Draft draft-ietf-ace-oscore-profile-01, March 2018.
[I-D.ietf-core-echo-request-tag] Amsuess, C., Mattsson, J. and G. Selander, "Echo and Request-Tag", Internet-Draft draft-ietf-core-echo-request-tag-01, March 2018.
[I-D.palombini-ace-key-groupcomm] Palombini, F. and M. Tiloca, "Key Provisioning for Group Communication using ACE", Internet-Draft draft-palombini-ace-key-groupcomm-01, June 2018.
[I-D.somaraju-ace-multicast] Somaraju, A., Kumar, S., Tschofenig, H. and W. Werner, "Security for Low-Latency Group Communication", Internet-Draft draft-somaraju-ace-multicast-02, October 2016.
[I-D.tiloca-ace-oscoap-joining] Tiloca, M. and J. Park, "Joining OSCORE groups in ACE", Internet-Draft draft-tiloca-ace-oscoap-joining-03, March 2018.
[RFC2093] Harney, H. and C. Muckenhirn, "Group Key Management Protocol (GKMP) Specification", RFC 2093, DOI 10.17487/RFC2093, July 1997.
[RFC2094] Harney, H. and C. Muckenhirn, "Group Key Management Protocol (GKMP) Architecture", RFC 2094, DOI 10.17487/RFC2094, July 1997.
[RFC2627] Wallner, D., Harder, E. and R. Agee, "Key Management for Multicast: Issues and Architectures", RFC 2627, DOI 10.17487/RFC2627, June 1999.
[RFC3376] Cain, B., Deering, S., Kouvelas, I., Fenner, B. and A. Thyagarajan, "Internet Group Management Protocol, Version 3", RFC 3376, DOI 10.17487/RFC3376, October 2002.
[RFC3740] Hardjono, T. and B. Weis, "The Multicast Group Security Architecture", RFC 3740, DOI 10.17487/RFC3740, March 2004.
[RFC3810] Vida, R. and L. Costa, "Multicast Listener Discovery Version 2 (MLDv2) for IPv6", RFC 3810, DOI 10.17487/RFC3810, June 2004.
[RFC4046] Baugher, M., Canetti, R., Dondeti, L. and F. Lindholm, "Multicast Security (MSEC) Group Key Management Architecture", RFC 4046, DOI 10.17487/RFC4046, April 2005.
[RFC4301] Kent, S. and K. Seo, "Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol", RFC 4301, DOI 10.17487/RFC4301, December 2005.
[RFC4535] Harney, H., Meth, U., Colegrove, A. and G. Gross, "GSAKMP: Group Secure Association Key Management Protocol", RFC 4535, DOI 10.17487/RFC4535, June 2006.
[RFC4944] Montenegro, G., Kushalnagar, N., Hui, J. and D. Culler, "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over IEEE 802.15.4 Networks", RFC 4944, DOI 10.17487/RFC4944, September 2007.
[RFC4949] Shirey, R., "Internet Security Glossary, Version 2", FYI 36, RFC 4949, DOI 10.17487/RFC4949, August 2007.
[RFC6282] Hui, J. and P. Thubert, "Compression Format for IPv6 Datagrams over IEEE 802.15.4-Based Networks", RFC 6282, DOI 10.17487/RFC6282, September 2011.
[RFC6347] Rescorla, E. and N. Modadugu, "Datagram Transport Layer Security Version 1.2", RFC 6347, DOI 10.17487/RFC6347, January 2012.
[RFC6749] Hardt, D., "The OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework", RFC 6749, DOI 10.17487/RFC6749, October 2012.
[RFC7228] Bormann, C., Ersue, M. and A. Keranen, "Terminology for Constrained-Node Networks", RFC 7228, DOI 10.17487/RFC7228, May 2014.
[RFC7390] Rahman, A. and E. Dijk, "Group Communication for the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP)", RFC 7390, DOI 10.17487/RFC7390, October 2014.

Appendix A. Assumptions and Security Objectives

This section presents a set of assumptions and security objectives for the approach described in this document.

A.1. Assumptions

The following assumptions are assumed to be already addressed and are out of the scope of this document.

A.2. Security Objectives

The approach described in this document aims at fulfilling the following security objectives:

Appendix B. List of Use Cases

Group Communication for CoAP [RFC7390] provides the necessary background for multicast-based CoAP communication, with particular reference to low-power and lossy networks (LLNs) and resource constrained environments. The interested reader is encouraged to first read [RFC7390] to understand the non-security related details. This section discusses a number of use cases that benefit from secure group communication. Specific security requirements for these use cases are discussed in Appendix A.

Appendix C. Example of Group Identifier Format

This section provides an example of how the Group Identifier (Gid) can be specifically formatted. That is, the Gid can be composed of two parts, namely a Group Prefix and a Group Epoch.

The Group Prefix is constant over time and is uniquely defined in the set of all the groups associated to the same Group Manager. The choice of the Group Prefix for a given group's Security Context is application specific. The size of the Group Prefix directly impact on the maximum number of distinct groups under the same Group Manager.

The Group Epoch is set to 0 upon the group's initialization, and is incremented by 1 upon completing each renewal of the Security Context and keying material in the group (see Section 2.1). In particular, once a new Master Secret has been distributed to the group, all the group members increment by 1 the Group Epoch in the Group Identifier of that group.

As an example, a 3-byte Group Identifier can be composed of: i) a 1-byte Group Prefix '0xb1' interpreted as a raw byte string; and ii) a 2-byte Group Epoch interpreted as an unsigned integer ranging from 0 to 65535. Then, after having established the Security Common Context 61532 times in the group, its Group Identifier will assume value '0xb1f05c'.

As discussed in Section 7.3, if endpoints are deployed in multiple groups managed by different non-synchronized Group Managers, it is possible that Group Identifiers of different groups coincide at some point in time. In this case, a recipient endpoint has to handle coinciding Group Identifiers, and has to try using different OSCORE Security Contexts to process an incoming message, until the right one is found and the message is correctly verified. Therefore, it is favourable that Group Idenfiers from different Group Managers have a size that result in a small probability of collision. How small this probability should be is up to system designers.

Appendix D. Set-up of New Endpoints

An endpoint joins a group by explicitly interacting with the responsible Group Manager. Communications between a joining endpoint and the Group Manager rely on the CoAP protocol and must be secured. Specific details on how to secure communications between joining endpoints and a Group Manager are out of scope.

In order to receive multicast messages sent to the group, a joining endpoint has to register with a network router device [RFC3376][RFC3810], signaling its intent to receive packets sent to the multicast IP address of that group. As a particular case, the Group Manager can also act as such a network router device. Upon joining the group, endpoints are not required to know how many and what endpoints are active in the same group.

Furthermore, in order to participate in the secure group communication, an endpoint needs to be properly initialized upon joining the group. In particular, the Group Manager provides keying material and parameters to a joining endpoint, which can then initialize its own Security Context (see Section 2).

The following Appendix D.1 provides an example describing how such information can be provided to an endpoint upon joining a group through the responsible Group Manager. Then, Appendix D.2 discusses how public keys of group members can be handled and made available to group members. Finally, Appendix D.3 overviews how the ACE framework for Authentication and Authorization in constrained environments [I-D.ietf-ace-oauth-authz] can be possibly used to support such a join process.

D.1. Join Process

An endpoint requests to join a group by sending a confirmable CoAP POST request to the Group Manager responsible for that group. This join request can reflect the format of the Key Distribution Request message defined in Section 4.1 of [I-D.palombini-ace-key-groupcomm]. Besides, it can be addressed to a CoAP resource associated to that group and carries the following information.

The Group Manager must be able to verify that the joining endpoint is authorized to become a member of the group. To this end, the Group Manager can directly authorize the joining endpoint, or expect it to provide authorization evidence previously obtained from a trusted entity. Appendix D.3 describes how this can be achieved by leveraging the ACE framework for Authentication and Authorization in constrained environments [I-D.ietf-ace-oauth-authz].

In case of successful authorization check, the Group Manager generates an Endpoint ID assigned to the joining endpoint, before proceeding with the rest of the join process. Instead, in case the authorization check fails, the Group Manager aborts the join process. Further details about the authorization of joining endpoint are out of scope.

As discussed in Section 2.1, it is recommended that the Security Context is renewed before the joining endpoint receives the group keying material and becomes a new active member of the group. This is achieved by securely distributing a new Master Secret and a new Group Identifier to the endpoints currently present in the same group.

Once renewed the Security Context in the group, the Group Manager replies to the joining endpoint with a CoAP response carrying the following information. This join response can reflect the format of the Key Distribution Response message defined in Section 4.2 of [I-D.palombini-ace-key-groupcomm].

D.2. Provisioning and Retrieval of Public Keys

As mentioned in Section 6, it is recommended that the Group Manager acts as trusted key repository, so storing public keys of group members and providing them to other members of the same group upon request. In such a case, a joining endpoint provides its own public key to the Group Manager, as 'Identity credentials' of the join request, when joining the group (see Appendix D.1).

After that, the Group Manager should verify that the joining endpoint actually owns the associated private key, for instance by performing a proof-of-possession challenge-response, whose details are out of scope. In case of failure, the Group Manager performs up to a pre-defined maximum number of retries, after which it aborts the join process.

In case of successful challenge-response, the Group Manager stores the received public key as associated to the joining endpoint and its Endpoint ID. From then on, that public key will be available for secure and trusted delivery to other endpoints in the group. A possible approach for a group member to retrieve the public key of other group members is described in Section 7 of [I-D.palombini-ace-key-groupcomm].

Finally, the Group Manager sends the join response to the joining endpoint, as described in Appendix D.1.

The joining endpoint does not have to provide its own public key if that already occurred upon previously joining the same or a different group under the same Group Manager. However, separately for each group under its control, the Group Manager maintains an updated list of active Endpoint IDs associated to the respective endpoint's public key.

Instead, in case the Group Manager does not act as trusted key repository, the following exchange with the Group Manager can occur during the join process.

  1. The joining endpoint signs its own certificate by using its own private key. The certificate includes also the identifier of the issuer Certification Authority (CA). There is no restriction on the Certificate Subject included in the joining endpoint's certificate.
  2. The joining endpoint specifies the signed certificate as 'Identity credentials' in the join request (Appendix D.1). The joining endpoint can optionally specify also a list of public key repositories storing its own certificate. In such a case, this information can be mapped to the 'pub_keys_repos' parameter of the Key Distribution Request message defined in Section 4.1 of [I-D.palombini-ace-key-groupcomm].
  3. When processing the join request, the Group Manager first validates the certificate by verifying the signature of the issuer CA, and then verifies the signature of the joining endpoint.
  4. The Group Manager stores the association between the Certificate Subject of the joining endpoint's certificate and the pair {Group ID, Endpoint ID of the joining endpoint}. If received from the joining endpoint, the Group Manager also stores the list of public key repositories storing the certificate of the joining endpoint.

When a group member X wants to retrieve the public key of another group member Y in the same group, the endpoint X proceeds as follows.

  1. The endpoint X contacts the Group Manager, specifying the pair {Group ID, Endpoint ID of the endpoint Y}.
  2. The Group Manager provides the endpoint X with the Certificate Subject CS from the certificate of endpoint Y. If available, the Group Manager provides the endpoint X also with the list of public key repositories storing the certificate of the endpoint Y.
  3. The endpoint X retrieves the certificate of the endpoint X from a key repository storing it, by using the Certificate Subject CS.

D.3. Group Joining Based on the ACE Framework

The join process to register an endpoint as a new member of a group can be based on the ACE framework for Authentication and Authorization in constrained environments [I-D.ietf-ace-oauth-authz], built on re-use of OAuth 2.0 [RFC6749].

In particular, the approach described in [I-D.tiloca-ace-oscoap-joining] uses the ACE framework to delegate the authentication and authorization of joining endpoints to an Authorization Server in a trust relation with the Group Manager. At the same time, it allows a joining endpoint to establish a secure channel with the Group Manager, by leveraging protocol-specific profiles of ACE, such as [I-D.ietf-ace-oscore-profile] and [I-D.ietf-ace-dtls-authorize], to achieve communication security, proof-of-possession and server authentication.

More specifically and with reference to the terminology defined in OAuth 2.0:

Messages exchanged among the participants follow the formats defined in [I-D.palombini-ace-key-groupcomm]. Both the joining endpoint and the Group Manager have to adopt secure communication also for any message exchange with the Authorization Server. To this end, different alternatives are possible, such as OSCORE, DTLS [RFC6347] or IPsec [RFC4301].

Appendix E. Examples of Synchronization Approaches

This section describes three possible approaches that can be considered by server endpoints to synchronize with sequence numbers of client endpoints sending group requests.

E.1. Best-Effort Synchronization

Upon receiving a group request from a client, a server does not take any action to synchonize with the sequence number of that client. This provides no assurance at all as to message freshness, which can be acceptable in non-critical use cases.

E.2. Baseline Synchronization

Upon receiving a group request from a given client for the first time, a server initializes its last-seen sequence number in its Recipient Context associated to that client. However, the server drops the group request without delivering it to the application layer. This provides a reference point to identify if future group requests from the same client are fresher than the last one received.

A replay time interval exists, between when a possibly replayed message is originally transmitted by a given client and the first authentic fresh message from that same client is received. This can be acceptable for use cases where servers admit such a trade-off between performance and assurance of message freshness.

E.3. Challenge-Response Synchronization

A server performs a challenge-response exchange with a client, by using the Echo Option for CoAP described in Section 2 of [I-D.ietf-core-echo-request-tag] and consistently with what specified in Section 7.5.2 of [I-D.ietf-core-object-security].

That is, upon receiving a group request from a particular client for the first time, the server processes the message as described in Section 4.2 of this specification, but, even if valid, does not deliver it to the application. Instead, the server replies to the client with a 4.03 Forbidden response message including an Echo Option, and stores the option value included therein.

Upon receiving a 4.03 Forbidden response that includes an Echo Option and originates from a verified group member, a client sends a request as a unicast message addressed to the same server, echoing the Echo Option value. In particular, the client does not necessarily resend the same group request, but can instead send a more recent one, if the application permits it. This makes it possible for the client to not retain previously sent group requests for full retransmission, unless the application explicitly requires otherwise. In either case, the client uses the sequence number value currently stored in its own Sender Context. If the client stores group requests for possible retransmission with the Echo Option, it should not store a given request for longer than a pre-configured time interval. Note that the unicast request echoing the Echo Option is correctly treated and processed as a group message, since the 'kid context' field including the Group Identifier of the OSCORE group is still present in the OSCORE Option as part of the COSE object (see Section 3).

Upon receiving the unicast request including the Echo Option, the server verifies that the option value equals the stored and previously sent value; otherwise, the request is silently discarded. Then, the server verifies that the unicast request has been received within a pre-configured time interval, as described in [I-D.ietf-core-echo-request-tag]. In such a case, the request is further processed and verified; otherwise, it is silently discarded. Finally, the server updates the Recipient Context associated to that client, by setting the Replay Window according to the Sequence Number from the unicast request conveying the Echo Option. The server either delivers the request to the application if it is an actual retransmission of the original one, or discards it otherwise. Mechanisms to signal whether the resent request is a full retransmission of the original one are out of the scope of this specification.

In case it does not receive a valid unicast request including the Echo Option within the configured time interval, the server endpoint should perform the same challenge-response upon receiving the next group request from that same client.

A server should not deliver group requests from a given client to the application until one valid request from that same client has been verified as fresh, as conveying an echoed Echo Option [I-D.ietf-core-echo-request-tag]. Also, a server may perform the challenge-response described above at any time, if synchronization with sequence numbers of clients is (believed to be) lost, for instance after a device reboot. It is the role of the application to define under what circumstances sequence numbers lose synchronization. This can include a minimum gap between the sequence number of the latest accepted group request from a client and the sequence number of a group request just received from the same client. A client has to be always ready to perform the challenge-response based on the Echo Option in case a server starts it.

Note that endpoints configured as silent servers are not able to perform the challenge-response described above, as they do not store a Sender Context to secure the 4.03 Forbidden response to the client. Therefore, silent servers should adopt alternative approaches to achieve and maintain synchronization with sequence numbers of clients.

This approach provides an assurance of absolute message freshness. However, it can result in an impact on performance which is undesirable or unbearable, especially in large groups where many endpoints at the same time might join as new members or lose synchronization.

Appendix F. No Verification of Signatures

There are some application scenarios using group communication that have particularly strict requirements. One example of this is the requirement of low message latency in non-emergency lighting applications [I-D.somaraju-ace-multicast]. For those applications which have tight performance constraints and relaxed security requirements, it can be inconvenient for some endpoints to verify digital signatures in order to assert source authenticity of received group messages. In other cases, the signature verification can be deferred or only checked for specific actions. For instance, a command to turn a bulb on where the bulb is already on does not need the signature to be checked. In such situations, the counter signature needs to be included anyway as part of the group message, so that an endpoint that needs to validate the signature for any reason has the ability to do so.

In this specification, it is NOT RECOMMENDED that endpoints do not verify the counter signature of received group messages. However, it is recognized that there may be situations where it is not always required. The consequence of not doing the signature validation is that security in the group is based only on the group-authenticity of the shared keying material used for encryption. That is, endpoints in the group have evidence that a received message has been originated by a group member, although not specifically identifiable in a secure way. This can violate a number of security requirements, as the compromise of any element in the group means that the attacker has the ability to control the entire group. Even worse, the group may not be limited in scope, and hence the same keying material might be used not only for light bulbs but for locks as well. Therefore, extreme care must be taken in situations where the security requirements are relaxed, so that deployment of the system will always be done safely.

Appendix G. Document Updates

RFC EDITOR: PLEASE REMOVE THIS SECTION.

G.1. Version -01 to -02

G.2. Version -00 to -01

Authors' Addresses

Marco Tiloca RISE SICS Isafjordsgatan 22 Kista, SE-16440 Stockholm Sweden EMail: marco.tiloca@ri.se
Goeran Selander Ericsson AB Torshamnsgatan 23 Kista, SE-16440 Stockholm Sweden EMail: goran.selander@ericsson.com
Francesca Palombini Ericsson AB Torshamnsgatan 23 Kista, SE-16440 Stockholm Sweden EMail: francesca.palombini@ericsson.com
Jiye Park Universitaet Duisburg-Essen Schuetzenbahn 70 Essen, 45127 Germany EMail: ji-ye.park@uni-due.de