JOSE Working Group M.B. Jones
Internet-Draft Microsoft
Intended status: Standards Track J. Bradley
Expires: January 15, 2013 Ping Identity
N. Sakimura
NRI
July 16, 2012

JSON Web Signature (JWS)
draft-ietf-jose-json-web-signature-04

Abstract

JSON Web Signature (JWS) is a means of representing content secured with digital signatures or Message Authentication Codes (MACs) using JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data structures. Cryptographic algorithms and identifiers for use with this specification are described in the separate JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) specification. Related encryption capabilities are described in the separate JSON Web Encryption (JWE) specification.

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 http:/⁠/⁠datatracker.ietf.org/⁠drafts/⁠current/⁠.

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This Internet-Draft will expire on January 15, 2013.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

JSON Web Signature (JWS) is a compact format for representing content secured with digital signatures or Message Authentication Codes (MACs) intended for space constrained environments such as HTTP Authorization headers and URI query parameters. It represents this content using JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) [RFC4627] based data structures. The JWS cryptographic mechanisms provide integrity protection for arbitrary sequences of bytes.

Cryptographic algorithms and identifiers for use with this specification are described in the separate JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) [JWA] specification. Related encryption capabilities are described in the separate JSON Web Encryption (JWE) [JWE] specification.

1.1. Notational Conventions

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels [RFC2119].

2. Terminology

JSON Web Signature (JWS)
A data structure cryptographically securing a JWS Header and a JWS Payload with a JWS Signature value.
JWS Header
A string representing a JSON object that describes the digital signature or MAC operation applied to create the JWS Signature value.
JWS Payload
The bytes to be secured - a.k.a., the message. The payload can contain an arbitrary sequence of bytes.
JWS Signature
A byte array containing the cryptographic material that secures the JWS Header and the JWS Payload.
Base64url Encoding
The URL- and filename-safe Base64 encoding described in RFC 4648 [RFC4648], Section 5, with the (non URL-safe) '=' padding characters omitted, as permitted by Section 3.2. (See Appendix Appendix C for notes on implementing base64url encoding without padding.)
Encoded JWS Header
Base64url encoding of the bytes of the UTF-8 [RFC3629] representation of the JWS Header.
Encoded JWS Payload
Base64url encoding of the JWS Payload.
Encoded JWS Signature
Base64url encoding of the JWS Signature.
JWS Secured Input
The concatenation of the Encoded JWS Header, a period ('.') character, and the Encoded JWS Payload.
Header Parameter Name
The name of a member of the JSON object representing a JWS Header.
Header Parameter Value
The value of a member of the JSON object representing a JWS Header.
JWS Compact Serialization
A representation of the JWS as the concatenation of the Encoded JWS Header, the Encoded JWS Payload, and the Encoded JWS Signature in that order, with the three strings being separated by period ('.') characters.
Collision Resistant Namespace
A namespace that allows names to be allocated in a manner such that they are highly unlikely to collide with other names. For instance, collision resistance can be achieved through administrative delegation of portions of the namespace or through use of collision-resistant name allocation functions. Examples of Collision Resistant Namespaces include: Domain Names, Object Identifiers (OIDs) as defined in the ITU-T X.660 and X.670 Recommendation series, and Universally Unique IDentifiers (UUIDs) [RFC4122]. When using an administratively delegated namespace, the definer of a name needs to take reasonable precautions to ensure they are in control of the portion of the namespace they use to define the name.
StringOrURI
A JSON string value, with the additional requirement that while arbitrary string values MAY be used, any value containing a ":" character MUST be a URI [RFC3986].

3. JSON Web Signature (JWS) Overview

JWS represents digitally signed or MACed content using JSON data structures and base64url encoding. The representation consists of three parts: the JWS Header, the JWS Payload, and the JWS Signature. In the Compact Serialization, the three parts are base64url-encoded for transmission, and represented as the concatenation of the encoded strings in that order, with the three strings being separated by period ('.') characters. (A JSON Serialization for this information is defined in the separate JSON Web Signature JSON Serialization (JWS-JS) [JWS-JS] specification.)

The JWS Header describes the signature or MAC method and parameters employed. The JWS Payload is the message content to be secured. The JWS Signature ensures the integrity of both the JWS Header and the JWS Payload.

3.1. Example JWS

The following example JWS Header declares that the encoded object is a JSON Web Token (JWT) [JWT] and the JWS Header and the JWS Payload are secured using the HMAC SHA-256 algorithm:

{"typ":"JWT",
 "alg":"HS256"}

Base64url encoding the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header yields this Encoded JWS Header value:

eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLA0KICJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9

The following is an example of a JSON object that can be used as a JWS Payload. (Note that the payload can be any content, and need not be a representation of a JSON object.)

{"iss":"joe",
 "exp":1300819380,
 "http://example.com/is_root":true}

Base64url encoding the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of the JSON object yields the following Encoded JWS Payload (with line breaks for display purposes only):

eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ

Computing the HMAC of the bytes of the ASCII [USASCII] representation of the JWS Secured Input (the concatenation of the Encoded JWS Header, a period ('.') character, and the Encoded JWS Payload) with the HMAC SHA-256 algorithm using the key specified in Appendix Appendix A.1 and base64url encoding the result yields this Encoded JWS Signature value:

dBjftJeZ4CVP-mB92K27uhbUJU1p1r_wW1gFWFOEjXk

Concatenating these parts in the order Header.Payload.Signature with period characters between the parts yields this complete JWS representation (with line breaks for display purposes only):

eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLA0KICJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9
.
eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ
.
dBjftJeZ4CVP-mB92K27uhbUJU1p1r_wW1gFWFOEjXk

This computation is illustrated in more detail in Appendix Appendix A.1.

4. JWS Header

The members of the JSON object represented by the JWS Header describe the digital signature or MAC applied to the Encoded JWS Header and the Encoded JWS Payload and optionally additional properties of the JWS. The Header Parameter Names within this object MUST be unique; JWSs with duplicate Header Parameter Names MUST be rejected. Implementations MUST understand the entire contents of the header; otherwise, the JWS MUST be rejected.

There are three classes of Header Parameter Names: Reserved Header Parameter Names, Public Header Parameter Names, and Private Header Parameter Names.

4.1. Reserved Header Parameter Names

The following header parameter names are reserved with meanings as defined below. All the names are short because a core goal of JWSs is for the representations to be compact.

Additional reserved header parameter names MAY be defined via the IANA JSON Web Signature and Encryption Header Parameters registry Section 7.1. As indicated by the common registry, JWSs and JWEs share a common header parameter space; when a parameter is used by both specifications, its usage must be compatible between the specifications.

4.1.1. "alg" (Algorithm) Header Parameter

The alg (algorithm) header parameter identifies the cryptographic algorithm used to secure the JWS. The algorithm specified by the alg value MUST be supported by the implementation and there MUST be a key for use with that algorithm associated with the party that digitally signed or MACed the content or the JWS MUST be rejected. alg values SHOULD either be registered in the IANA JSON Web Signature and Encryption Algorithms registry [JWA] or be a URI that contains a Collision Resistant Namespace. The alg value is a case sensitive string containing a StringOrURI value. This header parameter is REQUIRED.

A list of defined alg values can be found in the IANA JSON Web Signature and Encryption Algorithms registry [JWA]; the initial contents of this registry is the values defined in Section 3.1 of the JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) [JWA] specification.

4.1.2. "jku" (JWK Set URL) Header Parameter

The jku (JWK Set URL) header parameter is a URI [RFC3986] that refers to a resource for a set of JSON-encoded public keys, one of which corresponds to the key used to digitally sign the JWS. The keys MUST be encoded as a JSON Web Key Set (JWK Set) [JWK]. The protocol used to acquire the resource MUST provide integrity protection; an HTTP GET request to retrieve the certificate MUST use TLS [RFC2818] [RFC5246]; the identity of the server MUST be validated, as per Section 3.1 of HTTP Over TLS [RFC2818]. This header parameter is OPTIONAL.

4.1.3. "jwk" (JSON Web Key) Header Parameter

The jwk (JSON Web Key) header parameter is a public key that corresponds to the key used to digitally sign the JWS. This key is represented as a JSON Web Key [JWK]. This header parameter is OPTIONAL.

4.1.4. "x5u" (X.509 URL) Header Parameter

The x5u (X.509 URL) header parameter is a URI [RFC3986] that refers to a resource for the X.509 public key certificate or certificate chain [RFC5280] corresponding to the key used to digitally sign the JWS. The identified resource MUST provide a representation of the certificate or certificate chain that conforms to RFC 5280 [RFC5280] in PEM encoded form [RFC1421]. The certificate containing the public key of the entity that digitally signed the JWS MUST be the first certificate. This MAY be followed by additional certificates, with each subsequent certificate being the one used to certify the previous one. The protocol used to acquire the resource MUST provide integrity protection; an HTTP GET request to retrieve the certificate MUST use TLS [RFC2818] [RFC5246]; the identity of the server MUST be validated, as per Section 3.1 of HTTP Over TLS [RFC2818]. This header parameter is OPTIONAL.

4.1.5. "x5t" (X.509 Certificate Thumbprint) Header Parameter

The x5t (X.509 Certificate Thumbprint) header parameter provides a base64url encoded SHA-1 thumbprint (a.k.a. digest) of the DER encoding of the X.509 certificate [RFC5280] corresponding to the key used to digitally sign the JWS. This header parameter is OPTIONAL.

If, in the future, certificate thumbprints need to be computed using hash functions other than SHA-1, it is suggested that additional related header parameters be defined for that purpose. For example, it is suggested that a new x5t#S256 (X.509 Certificate Thumbprint using SHA-256) header parameter could be defined by registering it in the IANA JSON Web Signature and Encryption Header Parameters registry Section 7.1.

4.1.6. "x5c" (X.509 Certificate Chain) Header Parameter

The x5c (X.509 Certificate Chain) header parameter contains the X.509 public key certificate or certificate chain [RFC5280] corresponding to the key used to digitally sign the JWS. The certificate or certificate chain is represented as an array of certificate values. Each value is a base64 encoded ([RFC4648] Section 4 - not base64url encoded) DER [ITU.X690.1994] PKIX certificate value. The certificate containing the public key of the entity that digitally signed the JWS MUST be the first certificate. This MAY be followed by additional certificates, with each subsequent certificate being the one used to certify the previous one. The recipient MUST verify the certificate chain according to [RFC5280] and reject the JWS if any validation failure occurs. This header parameter is OPTIONAL.

See Appendix Appendix B for an example x5c value.

4.1.7. "kid" (Key ID) Header Parameter

The kid (key ID) header parameter is a hint indicating which key was used to secure the JWS. This parameter allows originators to explicitly signal a change of key to recipients. Should the recipient be unable to locate a key corresponding to the kid value, they SHOULD treat that condition as an error. The interpretation of the kid value is unspecified. Its value MUST be a string. This header parameter is OPTIONAL.

When used with a JWK, the kid value MAY be used to match a JWK kid parameter value.

4.1.8. "typ" (Type) Header Parameter

The typ (type) header parameter is used to declare the type of this object. The type value JWS MAY be used to indicate that this object is a JWS. The typ value is a case sensitive string. This header parameter is OPTIONAL.

MIME Media Type [RFC2046] values MAY be used as typ values.

typ values SHOULD either be registered in the IANA JSON Web Signature and Encryption Type Values registry Section 7.2 or be a URI that contains a Collision Resistant Namespace.

4.1.9. "cty" (Content Type) Header Parameter

The cty (content type) header parameter is used to declare the type of the secured content (the Payload). The cty value is a case sensitive string. This header parameter is OPTIONAL.

The values used for the cty header parameter come from the same value space as the typ header parameter, with the same rules applying.

4.2. Public Header Parameter Names

Additional header parameter names can be defined by those using JWSs. However, in order to prevent collisions, any new header parameter name SHOULD either be registered in the IANA JSON Web Signature and Encryption Header Parameters registry Section 7.1 or be a URI that contains a Collision Resistant Namespace. In each case, the definer of the name or value needs to take reasonable precautions to make sure they are in control of the part of the namespace they use to define the header parameter name.

New header parameters should be introduced sparingly, as they can result in non-interoperable JWSs.

4.3. Private Header Parameter Names

A producer and consumer of a JWS may agree to any header parameter name that is not a Reserved Name Section 4.1 or a Public Name Section 4.2. Unlike Public Names, these private names are subject to collision and should be used with caution.

5. Rules for Creating and Validating a JWS

To create a JWS, one MUST perform these steps. The order of the steps is not significant in cases where there are no dependencies between the inputs and outputs of the steps.

  1. Create the content to be used as the JWS Payload.
  2. Base64url encode the bytes of the JWS Payload. This encoding becomes the Encoded JWS Payload.
  3. Create a JWS Header containing the desired set of header parameters. Note that white space is explicitly allowed in the representation and no canonicalization need be performed before encoding.
  4. Base64url encode the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header to create the Encoded JWS Header.
  5. Compute the JWS Signature in the manner defined for the particular algorithm being used. The JWS Secured Input is always the concatenation of the Encoded JWS Header, a period ('.') character, and the Encoded JWS Payload. The alg (algorithm) header parameter MUST be present in the JSON Header, with the algorithm value accurately representing the algorithm used to construct the JWS Signature.
  6. Base64url encode the representation of the JWS Signature to create the Encoded JWS Signature.
  7. The three encoded parts, taken together, are the result. The Compact Serialization of this result is the concatenation of the Encoded JWS Header, the Encoded JWS Payload, and the Encoded JWS Signature in that order, with the three strings being separated by period ('.') characters.

When validating a JWS, the following steps MUST be taken. The order of the steps is not significant in cases where there are no dependencies between the inputs and outputs of the steps. If any of the listed steps fails, then the JWS MUST be rejected.

  1. Parse the three parts of the input (which are separated by period characters when using the JWS Compact Serialization) into the Encoded JWS Header, the Encoded JWS Payload, and the Encoded JWS Signature.
  2. The Encoded JWS Header MUST be successfully base64url decoded following the restriction given in this specification that no padding characters have been used.
  3. The resulting JWS Header MUST be completely valid JSON syntax conforming to RFC 4627 [RFC4627].
  4. The resulting JWS Header MUST be validated to only include parameters and values whose syntax and semantics are both understood and supported.
  5. The Encoded JWS Payload MUST be successfully base64url decoded following the restriction given in this specification that no padding characters have been used.
  6. The Encoded JWS Signature MUST be successfully base64url decoded following the restriction given in this specification that no padding characters have been used.
  7. The JWS Signature MUST be successfully validated against the JWS Secured Input (the concatenation of the Encoded JWS Header, a period ('.') character, and the Encoded JWS Payload) in the manner defined for the algorithm being used, which MUST be accurately represented by the value of the alg (algorithm) header parameter, which MUST be present.

Processing a JWS inevitably requires comparing known strings to values in the header. For example, in checking what the algorithm is, the Unicode string encoding alg will be checked against the member names in the JWS Header to see if there is a matching header parameter name. A similar process occurs when determining if the value of the alg header parameter represents a supported algorithm.

Comparisons between JSON strings and other Unicode strings MUST be performed as specified below:

  1. Remove any JSON applied escaping to produce an array of Unicode code points.
  2. Unicode Normalization [USA15] MUST NOT be applied at any point to either the JSON string or to the string it is to be compared against.
  3. Comparisons between the two strings MUST be performed as a Unicode code point to code point equality comparison.

6. Securing JWSs with Cryptographic Algorithms

JWS uses cryptographic algorithms to digitally sign or MAC the JWS Header and the JWS Payload. The JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) [JWA] specification describes a set of cryptographic algorithms and identifiers to be used with this specification. Specifically, Section 3.1 specifies a set of alg (algorithm) header parameter values intended for use this specification. It also describes the semantics and operations that are specific to these algorithms and algorithm families.

Public keys employed for digital signing can be identified using the Header Parameter methods described in Section 4.1 or can be distributed using methods that are outside the scope of this specification.

7. IANA Considerations

The following registration procedure is used for all the registries established by this specification.

Values are registered with a Specification Required [RFC5226] after a two week review period on the [TBD]@ietf.org mailing list, on the advice of one or more Designated Experts. However, to allow for the allocation of values prior to publication, the Designated Expert(s) may approve registration once they are satisfied that such a specification will be published.

Registration requests must be sent to the [TBD]@ietf.org mailing list for review and comment, with an appropriate subject (e.g., "Request for access token type: example"). [[ Note to RFC-EDITOR: The name of the mailing list should be determined in consultation with the IESG and IANA. Suggested name: jose-reg-review. ]]

Within the review period, the Designated Expert(s) will either approve or deny the registration request, communicating this decision to the review list and IANA. Denials should include an explanation and, if applicable, suggestions as to how to make the request successful.

IANA must only accept registry updates from the Designated Expert(s), and should direct all requests for registration to the review mailing list.

7.1. JSON Web Signature and Encryption Header Parameters Registry

This specification establishes the IANA JSON Web Signature and Encryption Header Parameters registry for reserved JWS and JWE header parameter names. The registry records the reserved header parameter name and a reference to the specification that defines it. The same Header Parameter Name may be registered multiple times, provided that the parameter usage is compatible between the specifications.

7.1.1. Registration Template

Header Parameter Name:

The name requested (e.g., "example"). This name is case sensitive. Names that match other registered names in a case insensitive manner SHOULD NOT be accepted.
Change Controller:

For standards-track RFCs, state "IETF". For others, give the name of the responsible party. Other details (e.g., postal address, e-mail address, home page URI) may also be included.
Specification Document(s):

Reference to the document that specifies the parameter, preferably including a URI that can be used to retrieve a copy of the document. An indication of the relevant sections may also be included, but is not required.

7.1.2. Initial Registry Contents

This specification registers the Header Parameter Names defined in Section 4.1 in this registry.

7.2. JSON Web Signature and Encryption Type Values Registry

This specification establishes the IANA JSON Web Signature and Encryption Type Values registry for values of the JWS and JWE typ (type) header parameter. It is RECOMMENDED that all registered typ values also include a MIME Media Type [RFC2046] value that the registered value is a short name for. The registry records the typ value, the MIME type value that it is an abbreviation for (if any), and a reference to the specification that defines it.

MIME Media Type [RFC2046] values MUST NOT be directly registered as new typ values; rather, new typ values MAY be registered as short names for MIME types.

7.2.1. Registration Template

"typ" Header Parameter Value:

The name requested (e.g., "example"). This name is case sensitive. Names that match other registered names in a case insensitive manner SHOULD NOT be accepted.
Abbreviation for MIME Type:

The MIME type that this name is an abbreviation for (e.g., "application/example").
Change Controller:

For standards-track RFCs, state "IETF". For others, give the name of the responsible party. Other details (e.g., postal address, e-mail address, home page URI) may also be included.
Specification Document(s):

Reference to the document that specifies the parameter, preferably including a URI that can be used to retrieve a copy of the document. An indication of the relevant sections may also be included, but is not required.

7.2.2. Initial Registry Contents

This specification registers the JWS type value in this registry:

7.3. Media Type Registration

7.3.1. Registry Contents

This specification registers the application/jws Media Type [RFC2046] in the MIME Media Type registry [RFC4288] to indicate that the content is a JWS using the Compact Serialization.

8. Security Considerations

8.1. Cryptographic Security Considerations

All of the security issues faced by any cryptographic application must be faced by a JWS/JWE/JWK agent. Among these issues are protecting the user's private key, preventing various attacks, and helping the user avoid mistakes such as inadvertently encrypting a message for the wrong recipient. The entire list of security considerations is beyond the scope of this document, but some significant concerns are listed here.

All the security considerations in XML DSIG 2.0 [W3C.CR-xmldsig-core2-20120124], also apply to this specification, other than those that are XML specific. Likewise, many of the best practices documented in XML Signature Best Practices [W3C.WD-xmldsig-bestpractices-20110809] also apply to this specification, other than those that are XML specific.

Keys are only as strong as the amount of entropy used to generate them. A minimum of 128 bits of entropy should be used for all keys, and depending upon the application context, more may be required. In particular, it may be difficult to generate sufficiently random values in some browsers and application environments.

When utilizing TLS to retrieve information, the authority providing the resource MUST be authenticated and the information retrieved MUST be free from modification.

When cryptographic algorithms are implemented in such a way that successful operations take a different amount of time than unsuccessful operations, attackers may be able to use the time difference to obtain information about the keys employed. Therefore, such timing differences must be avoided.

A SHA-1 hash is used when computing x5t (x.509 certificate thumbprint) values, for compatibility reasons. Should an effective means of producing SHA-1 hash collisions be developed, and should an attacker wish to interfere with the use of a known certificate on a given system, this could be accomplished by creating another certificate whose SHA-1 hash value is the same and adding it to the certificate store used by the intended victim. A prerequisite to this attack succeeding is the attacker having write access to the intended victim's certificate store.

If, in the future, certificate thumbprints need to be computed using hash functions other than SHA-1, it is suggested that additional related header parameters be defined for that purpose. For example, it is suggested that a new x5t#S256 (X.509 Certificate Thumbprint using SHA-256) header parameter could be defined and used.

8.2. JSON Security Considerations

Strict JSON validation is a security requirement. If malformed JSON is received, then the intent of the sender is impossible to reliably discern. Ambiguous and potentially exploitable situations could arise if the JSON parser used does not reject malformed JSON syntax.

Section 2.2 of the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) specification [RFC4627] states "The names within an object SHOULD be unique", whereas this specification states that "Header Parameter Names within this object MUST be unique; JWSs with duplicate Header Parameter Names MUST be rejected". Thus, this specification requires that the Section 2.2 "SHOULD" be treated as a "MUST". Ambiguous and potentially exploitable situations could arise if the JSON parser used does not enforce the uniqueness of member names.

8.3. Unicode Comparison Security Considerations

Header parameter names and algorithm names are Unicode strings. For security reasons, the representations of these names must be compared verbatim after performing any escape processing (as per RFC 4627 [RFC4627], Section 2.5). This means, for instance, that these JSON strings must compare as being equal ("sig", "\u0073ig"), whereas these must all compare as being not equal to the first set or to each other ("SIG", "Sig", "si\u0047").

JSON strings MAY contain characters outside the Unicode Basic Multilingual Plane. For instance, the G clef character (U+1D11E) may be represented in a JSON string as "\uD834\uDD1E". Ideally, JWS implementations SHOULD ensure that characters outside the Basic Multilingual Plane are preserved and compared correctly; alternatively, if this is not possible due to these characters exercising limitations present in the underlying JSON implementation, then input containing them MUST be rejected.

9. Open Issues

[[ to be removed by the RFC editor before publication as an RFC ]]

The following items remain to be considered or done in this draft:

10. References

10.1. Normative References

[RFC1421] Linn, J., "Privacy Enhancement for Internet Electronic Mail: Part I: Message Encryption and Authentication Procedures", RFC 1421, February 1993.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC2046] Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types", RFC 2046, November 1996.
[RFC2818] Rescorla, E., "HTTP Over TLS", RFC 2818, May 2000.
[RFC3629] Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003.
[RFC3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC 3986, January 2005.
[RFC4288] Freed, N. and J. Klensin, "Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures", BCP 13, RFC 4288, December 2005.
[RFC4627] Crockford, D., "The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)", RFC 4627, July 2006.
[RFC4648] Josefsson, S., "The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings", RFC 4648, October 2006.
[RFC5226] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226, May 2008.
[RFC5246] Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246, August 2008.
[RFC5280] Cooper, D., Santesson, S., Farrell, S., Boeyen, S., Housley, R. and W. Polk, "Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile", RFC 5280, May 2008.
[ITU.X690.1994] International Telecommunications Union, "Information Technology - ASN.1 encoding rules: Specification of Basic Encoding Rules (BER), Canonical Encoding Rules (CER) and Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER)", ITU-T Recommendation X.690, 1994.
[W3C.WD-xmldsig-bestpractices-20110809] Datta, P. and F. Hirsch, "XML Signature Best Practices", World Wide Web Consortium WD WD-xmldsig-bestpractices-20110809, August 2011.
[USA15] Davis, M., Whistler, K. and M. Dürst, "Unicode Normalization Forms", Unicode Standard Annex 15, 09 2009.
[JWK] Jones, M.B., "JSON Web Key (JWK)", July 2012.
[JWA] Jones, M.B., "JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)", July 2012.
[USASCII] American National Standards Institute, "Coded Character Set -- 7-bit American Standard Code for Information Interchange", ANSI X3.4, 1986.

10.2. Informative References

[RFC4122] Leach, P., Mealling, M. and R. Salz, "A Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) URN Namespace", RFC 4122, July 2005.
[W3C.CR-xmldsig-core2-20120124] Reagle, J., Solo, D., Datta, P., Hirsch, F., Eastlake, D., Roessler, T., Cantor, S. and K. Yiu, "XML Signature Syntax and Processing Version 2.0", World Wide Web Consortium CR CR-xmldsig-core2-20120124, January 2012.
[JWT] Jones, M.B., Bradley, J. and N. Sakimura, "JSON Web Token (JWT)", July 2012.
[JWS-JS] Jones, M.B., Bradley, J. and N. Sakimura, "JSON Web Signature JSON Serialization (JWS-JS)", July 2012.
[MagicSignatures] Panzer (editor), J., Laurie, B. and D. Balfanz, "Magic Signatures", January 2011.
[JSS] Bradley, J. and N. Sakimura (editor), "JSON Simple Sign", September 2010.
[CanvasApp] Facebook, , "Canvas Applications", 2010.
[JWE] Jones, M.B., Rescorla, E. and J. Hildebrand, "JSON Web Encryption (JWE)", July 2012.

Appendix A. JWS Examples

This section provides several examples of JWSs. While these examples all represent JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) [JWT], the payload can be any base64url encoded content.

Appendix A.1. JWS using HMAC SHA-256

Appendix A.1.1. Encoding

The following example JWS Header declares that the data structure is a JSON Web Token (JWT) [JWT] and the JWS Secured Input is secured using the HMAC SHA-256 algorithm.

{"typ":"JWT",
 "alg":"HS256"}

The following byte array contains the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header:

[123, 34, 116, 121, 112, 34, 58, 34, 74, 87, 84, 34, 44, 13, 10, 32, 34, 97, 108, 103, 34, 58, 34, 72, 83, 50, 53, 54, 34, 125]

Base64url encoding these bytes yields this Encoded JWS Header value:

eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLA0KICJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9

The JWS Payload used in this example is the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of the JSON object below. (Note that the payload can be any base64url encoded sequence of bytes, and need not be a base64url encoded JSON object.)

{"iss":"joe",
 "exp":1300819380,
 "http://example.com/is_root":true}

The following byte array, which is the UTF-8 representation of the JSON object above, is the JWS Payload:

[123, 34, 105, 115, 115, 34, 58, 34, 106, 111, 101, 34, 44, 13, 10, 32, 34, 101, 120, 112, 34, 58, 49, 51, 48, 48, 56, 49, 57, 51, 56, 48, 44, 13, 10, 32, 34, 104, 116, 116, 112, 58, 47, 47, 101, 120, 97, 109, 112, 108, 101, 46, 99, 111, 109, 47, 105, 115, 95, 114, 111, 111, 116, 34, 58, 116, 114, 117, 101, 125]

Base64url encoding the above yields the Encoded JWS Payload value (with line breaks for display purposes only):

eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ

Concatenating the Encoded JWS Header, a period character, and the Encoded JWS Payload yields this JWS Secured Input value (with line breaks for display purposes only):

eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLA0KICJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9
.
eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ

The ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input is the following byte array:

[101, 121, 74, 48, 101, 88, 65, 105, 79, 105, 74, 75, 86, 49, 81, 105, 76, 65, 48, 75, 73, 67, 74, 104, 98, 71, 99, 105, 79, 105, 74, 73, 85, 122, 73, 49, 78, 105, 74, 57, 46, 101, 121, 74, 112, 99, 51, 77, 105, 79, 105, 74, 113, 98, 50, 85, 105, 76, 65, 48, 75, 73, 67, 74, 108, 101, 72, 65, 105, 79, 106, 69, 122, 77, 68, 65, 52, 77, 84, 107, 122, 79, 68, 65, 115, 68, 81, 111, 103, 73, 109, 104, 48, 100, 72, 65, 54, 76, 121, 57, 108, 101, 71, 70, 116, 99, 71, 120, 108, 76, 109, 78, 118, 98, 83, 57, 112, 99, 49, 57, 121, 98, 50, 57, 48, 73, 106, 112, 48, 99, 110, 86, 108, 102, 81]

HMACs are generated using keys. This example uses the key represented by the following byte array:

[3, 35, 53, 75, 43, 15, 165, 188, 131, 126, 6, 101, 119, 123, 166, 143, 90, 179, 40, 230, 240, 84, 201, 40, 169, 15, 132, 178, 210, 80, 46, 191, 211, 251, 90, 146, 210, 6, 71, 239, 150, 138, 180, 195, 119, 98, 61, 34, 61, 46, 33, 114, 5, 46, 79, 8, 192, 205, 154, 245, 103, 208, 128, 163]

Running the HMAC SHA-256 algorithm on the bytes of the ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input with this key yields the following byte array:

[116, 24, 223, 180, 151, 153, 224, 37, 79, 250, 96, 125, 216, 173, 187, 186, 22, 212, 37, 77, 105, 214, 191, 240, 91, 88, 5, 88, 83, 132, 141, 121]

Base64url encoding the above HMAC output yields the Encoded JWS Signature value:

dBjftJeZ4CVP-mB92K27uhbUJU1p1r_wW1gFWFOEjXk

Appendix A.1.2. Decoding

Decoding the JWS requires base64url decoding the Encoded JWS Header, Encoded JWS Payload, and Encoded JWS Signature to produce the JWS Header, JWS Payload, and JWS Signature byte arrays. The byte array containing the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header is decoded into the JWS Header string.

Appendix A.1.3. Validating

Next we validate the decoded results. Since the alg parameter in the header is "HS256", we validate the HMAC SHA-256 value contained in the JWS Signature. If any of the validation steps fail, the JWS MUST be rejected.

First, we validate that the JWS Header string is legal JSON.

To validate the HMAC value, we repeat the previous process of using the correct key and the ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input as input to the HMAC SHA-256 function and then taking the output and determining if it matches the JWS Signature. If it matches exactly, the HMAC has been validated.

Appendix A.2. JWS using RSA SHA-256

Appendix A.2.1. Encoding

The JWS Header in this example is different from the previous example in two ways: First, because a different algorithm is being used, the alg value is different. Second, for illustration purposes only, the optional "typ" parameter is not used. (This difference is not related to the algorithm employed.) The JWS Header used is:

{"alg":"RS256"}

The following byte array contains the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header:

[123, 34, 97, 108, 103, 34, 58, 34, 82, 83, 50, 53, 54, 34, 125]

Base64url encoding these bytes yields this Encoded JWS Header value:

eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiJ9

The JWS Payload used in this example, which follows, is the same as in the previous example. Since the Encoded JWS Payload will therefore be the same, its computation is not repeated here.

{"iss":"joe",
 "exp":1300819380,
 "http://example.com/is_root":true}

Concatenating the Encoded JWS Header, a period character, and the Encoded JWS Payload yields this JWS Secured Input value (with line breaks for display purposes only):

eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiJ9
.
eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ

The ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input is the following byte array:

[101, 121, 74, 104, 98, 71, 99, 105, 79, 105, 74, 83, 85, 122, 73, 49, 78, 105, 74, 57, 46, 101, 121, 74, 112, 99, 51, 77, 105, 79, 105, 74, 113, 98, 50, 85, 105, 76, 65, 48, 75, 73, 67, 74, 108, 101, 72, 65, 105, 79, 106, 69, 122, 77, 68, 65, 52, 77, 84, 107, 122, 79, 68, 65, 115, 68, 81, 111, 103, 73, 109, 104, 48, 100, 72, 65, 54, 76, 121, 57, 108, 101, 71, 70, 116, 99, 71, 120, 108, 76, 109, 78, 118, 98, 83, 57, 112, 99, 49, 57, 121, 98, 50, 57, 48, 73, 106, 112, 48, 99, 110, 86, 108, 102, 81]

The RSA key consists of a public part (Modulus, Exponent), and a Private Exponent. The values of the RSA key used in this example, presented as the byte arrays representing big endian integers are:

Parameter Name Value
Modulus [161, 248, 22, 10, 226, 227, 201, 180, 101, 206, 141, 45, 101, 98, 99, 54, 43, 146, 125, 190, 41, 225, 240, 36, 119, 252, 22, 37, 204, 144, 161, 54, 227, 139, 217, 52, 151, 197, 182, 234, 99, 221, 119, 17, 230, 124, 116, 41, 249, 86, 176, 251, 138, 143, 8, 154, 220, 75, 105, 137, 60, 193, 51, 63, 83, 237, 208, 25, 184, 119, 132, 37, 47, 236, 145, 79, 228, 133, 119, 105, 89, 75, 234, 66, 128, 211, 44, 15, 85, 191, 98, 148, 79, 19, 3, 150, 188, 110, 155, 223, 110, 189, 210, 189, 163, 103, 142, 236, 160, 198, 104, 247, 1, 179, 141, 191, 251, 56, 200, 52, 44, 226, 254, 109, 39, 250, 222, 74, 90, 72, 116, 151, 157, 212, 185, 207, 154, 222, 196, 199, 91, 5, 133, 44, 44, 15, 94, 248, 165, 193, 117, 3, 146, 249, 68, 232, 237, 100, 193, 16, 198, 182, 71, 96, 154, 164, 120, 58, 235, 156, 108, 154, 215, 85, 49, 48, 80, 99, 139, 131, 102, 92, 111, 111, 122, 130, 163, 150, 112, 42, 31, 100, 27, 130, 211, 235, 242, 57, 34, 25, 73, 31, 182, 134, 135, 44, 87, 22, 245, 10, 248, 53, 141, 154, 139, 157, 23, 195, 64, 114, 143, 127, 135, 216, 154, 24, 216, 252, 171, 103, 173, 132, 89, 12, 46, 207, 117, 147, 57, 54, 60, 7, 3, 77, 111, 96, 111, 158, 33, 224, 84, 86, 202, 229, 233, 161]
Exponent [1, 0, 1]
Private Exponent [18, 174, 113, 164, 105, 205, 10, 43, 195, 126, 82, 108, 69, 0, 87, 31, 29, 97, 117, 29, 100, 233, 73, 112, 123, 98, 89, 15, 157, 11, 165, 124, 150, 60, 64, 30, 63, 207, 47, 44, 211, 189, 236, 136, 229, 3, 191, 198, 67, 155, 11, 40, 200, 47, 125, 55, 151, 103, 31, 82, 19, 238, 216, 193, 90, 37, 216, 213, 206, 160, 2, 94, 227, 171, 46, 139, 127, 121, 33, 111, 198, 59, 234, 86, 39, 83, 180, 6, 68, 198, 161, 81, 39, 217, 178, 149, 69, 64, 160, 187, 225, 163, 5, 86, 152, 45, 78, 159, 222, 95, 100, 37, 241, 77, 75, 113, 52, 65, 181, 93, 199, 59, 155, 74, 237, 204, 146, 172, 227, 146, 126, 55, 245, 125, 12, 253, 94, 117, 129, 250, 81, 44, 143, 73, 97, 169, 235, 11, 128, 248, 168, 7, 70, 114, 138, 85, 255, 70, 71, 31, 52, 37, 6, 59, 157, 83, 100, 47, 94, 222, 30, 132, 214, 19, 8, 26, 250, 92, 34, 208, 81, 40, 91, 214, 59, 148, 59, 86, 93, 137, 138, 5, 104, 84, 19, 229, 60, 60, 108, 101, 37, 255, 31, 227, 78, 61, 220, 112, 240, 213, 100, 80, 253, 164, 139, 161, 46, 16, 78, 157, 235, 159, 184, 24, 129, 225, 196, 189, 242, 93, 146, 71, 244, 80, 200, 101, 146, 121, 104, 231, 115, 52, 244, 65, 79, 117, 167, 80, 225, 57, 84, 110, 58, 138, 115, 157]

The RSA private key (Modulus, Private Exponent) is then passed to the RSA signing function, which also takes the hash type, SHA-256, and the bytes of the ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input as inputs. The result of the digital signature is a byte array, which represents a big endian integer. In this example, it is:

[112, 46, 33, 137, 67, 232, 143, 209, 30, 181, 216, 45, 191, 120, 69, 243, 65, 6, 174, 27, 129, 255, 247, 115, 17, 22, 173, 209, 113, 125, 131, 101, 109, 66, 10, 253, 60, 150, 238, 221, 115, 162, 102, 62, 81, 102, 104, 123, 0, 11, 135, 34, 110, 1, 135, 237, 16, 115, 249, 69, 229, 130, 173, 252, 239, 22, 216, 90, 121, 142, 232, 198, 109, 219, 61, 184, 151, 91, 23, 208, 148, 2, 190, 237, 213, 217, 217, 112, 7, 16, 141, 178, 129, 96, 213, 248, 4, 12, 167, 68, 87, 98, 184, 31, 190, 127, 249, 217, 46, 10, 231, 111, 36, 242, 91, 51, 187, 230, 244, 74, 230, 30, 177, 4, 10, 203, 32, 4, 77, 62, 249, 18, 142, 212, 1, 48, 121, 91, 212, 189, 59, 65, 238, 202, 208, 102, 171, 101, 25, 129, 253, 228, 141, 247, 127, 55, 45, 195, 139, 159, 175, 221, 59, 239, 177, 139, 93, 163, 204, 60, 46, 176, 47, 158, 58, 65, 214, 18, 202, 173, 21, 145, 18, 115, 160, 95, 35, 185, 232, 56, 250, 175, 132, 157, 105, 132, 41, 239, 90, 30, 136, 121, 130, 54, 195, 212, 14, 96, 69, 34, 165, 68, 200, 242, 122, 122, 45, 184, 6, 99, 209, 108, 247, 202, 234, 86, 222, 64, 92, 178, 33, 90, 69, 178, 194, 85, 102, 181, 90, 193, 167, 72, 160, 112, 223, 200, 163, 42, 70, 149, 67, 208, 25, 238, 251, 71]

Base64url encoding the digital signature produces this value for the Encoded JWS Signature (with line breaks for display purposes only):

cC4hiUPoj9Eetdgtv3hF80EGrhuB__dzERat0XF9g2VtQgr9PJbu3XOiZj5RZmh7
AAuHIm4Bh-0Qc_lF5YKt_O8W2Fp5jujGbds9uJdbF9CUAr7t1dnZcAcQjbKBYNX4
BAynRFdiuB--f_nZLgrnbyTyWzO75vRK5h6xBArLIARNPvkSjtQBMHlb1L07Qe7K
0GarZRmB_eSN9383LcOLn6_dO--xi12jzDwusC-eOkHWEsqtFZESc6BfI7noOPqv
hJ1phCnvWh6IeYI2w9QOYEUipUTI8np6LbgGY9Fs98rqVt5AXLIhWkWywlVmtVrB
p0igcN_IoypGlUPQGe77Rw

Appendix A.2.2. Decoding

Decoding the JWS requires base64url decoding the Encoded JWS Header, Encoded JWS Payload, and Encoded JWS Signature to produce the JWS Header, JWS Payload, and JWS Signature byte arrays. The byte array containing the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header is decoded into the JWS Header string.

Appendix A.2.3. Validating

Since the alg parameter in the header is "RS256", we validate the RSA SHA-256 digital signature contained in the JWS Signature. If any of the validation steps fail, the JWS MUST be rejected.

First, we validate that the JWS Header string is legal JSON.

Validating the JWS Signature is a little different from the previous example. First, we base64url decode the Encoded JWS Signature to produce a digital signature S to check. We then pass (n, e), S and the bytes of the ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input to an RSA signature verifier that has been configured to use the SHA-256 hash function.

Appendix A.3. JWS using ECDSA P-256 SHA-256

Appendix A.3.1. Encoding

The JWS Header for this example differs from the previous example because a different algorithm is being used. The JWS Header used is:

{"alg":"ES256"}

The following byte array contains the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header:

[123, 34, 97, 108, 103, 34, 58, 34, 69, 83, 50, 53, 54, 34, 125]

Base64url encoding these bytes yields this Encoded JWS Header value:

eyJhbGciOiJFUzI1NiJ9

The JWS Payload used in this example, which follows, is the same as in the previous examples. Since the Encoded JWS Payload will therefore be the same, its computation is not repeated here.

{"iss":"joe",
 "exp":1300819380,
 "http://example.com/is_root":true}

Concatenating the Encoded JWS Header, a period character, and the Encoded JWS Payload yields this JWS Secured Input value (with line breaks for display purposes only):

eyJhbGciOiJFUzI1NiJ9
.
eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ

The ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input is the following byte array:

[101, 121, 74, 104, 98, 71, 99, 105, 79, 105, 74, 70, 85, 122, 73, 49, 78, 105, 74, 57, 46, 101, 121, 74, 112, 99, 51, 77, 105, 79, 105, 74, 113, 98, 50, 85, 105, 76, 65, 48, 75, 73, 67, 74, 108, 101, 72, 65, 105, 79, 106, 69, 122, 77, 68, 65, 52, 77, 84, 107, 122, 79, 68, 65, 115, 68, 81, 111, 103, 73, 109, 104, 48, 100, 72, 65, 54, 76, 121, 57, 108, 101, 71, 70, 116, 99, 71, 120, 108, 76, 109, 78, 118, 98, 83, 57, 112, 99, 49, 57, 121, 98, 50, 57, 48, 73, 106, 112, 48, 99, 110, 86, 108, 102, 81]

The ECDSA key consists of a public part, the EC point (x, y), and a private part d. The values of the ECDSA key used in this example, presented as the byte arrays representing three 256 bit big endian integers are:

Parameter Name Value
x [127, 205, 206, 39, 112, 246, 196, 93, 65, 131, 203, 238, 111, 219, 75, 123, 88, 7, 51, 53, 123, 233, 239, 19, 186, 207, 110, 60, 123, 209, 84, 69]
y [199, 241, 68, 205, 27, 189, 155, 126, 135, 44, 223, 237, 185, 238, 185, 244, 179, 105, 93, 110, 169, 11, 36, 173, 138, 70, 35, 40, 133, 136, 229, 173]
d [142, 155, 16, 158, 113, 144, 152, 191, 152, 4, 135, 223, 31, 93, 119, 233, 203, 41, 96, 110, 190, 210, 38, 59, 95, 87, 194, 19, 223, 132, 244, 178]

The ECDSA private part d is then passed to an ECDSA signing function, which also takes the curve type, P-256, the hash type, SHA-256, and the bytes of the ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input as inputs. The result of the digital signature is the EC point (R, S), where R and S are unsigned integers. In this example, the R and S values, given as byte arrays representing big endian integers are:

Result Name Value
R [14, 209, 33, 83, 121, 99, 108, 72, 60, 47, 127, 21, 88, 7, 212, 2, 163, 178, 40, 3, 58, 249, 124, 126, 23, 129, 154, 195, 22, 158, 166, 101]
S [197, 10, 7, 211, 140, 60, 112, 229, 216, 241, 45, 175, 8, 74, 84, 128, 166, 101, 144, 197, 242, 147, 80, 154, 143, 63, 127, 138, 131, 163, 84, 213]

Concatenating the S array to the end of the R array and base64url encoding the result produces this value for the Encoded JWS Signature (with line breaks for display purposes only):

DtEhU3ljbEg8L38VWAfUAqOyKAM6-Xx-F4GawxaepmXFCgfTjDxw5djxLa8ISlSA
pmWQxfKTUJqPP3-Kg6NU1Q

Appendix A.3.2. Decoding

Decoding the JWS requires base64url decoding the Encoded JWS Header, Encoded JWS Payload, and Encoded JWS Signature to produce the JWS Header, JWS Payload, and JWS Signature byte arrays. The byte array containing the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header is decoded into the JWS Header string.

Appendix A.3.3. Validating

Since the alg parameter in the header is "ES256", we validate the ECDSA P-256 SHA-256 digital signature contained in the JWS Signature. If any of the validation steps fail, the JWS MUST be rejected.

First, we validate that the JWS Header string is legal JSON.

Validating the JWS Signature is a little different from the first example. First, we base64url decode the Encoded JWS Signature as in the previous examples but we then need to split the 64 member byte array that must result into two 32 byte arrays, the first R and the second S. We then pass (x, y), (R, S) and the bytes of the ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input to an ECDSA signature verifier that has been configured to use the P-256 curve with the SHA-256 hash function.

As explained in Section 3.4 of the JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) [JWA] specification, the use of the K value in ECDSA means that we cannot validate the correctness of the digital signature in the same way we validated the correctness of the HMAC. Instead, implementations MUST use an ECDSA validator to validate the digital signature.

Appendix A.4. JWS using ECDSA P-521 SHA-512

Appendix A.4.1. Encoding

The JWS Header for this example differs from the previous example because a different ECDSA curve and hash function are used. The JWS Header used is:

{"alg":"ES512"}

The following byte array contains the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header:

[123, 34, 97, 108, 103, 34, 58, 34, 69, 83, 53, 49, 50, 34, 125]

Base64url encoding these bytes yields this Encoded JWS Header value:

eyJhbGciOiJFUzUxMiJ9

The JWS Payload used in this example, is the ASCII string "Payload". The representation of this string is the byte array:

[80, 97, 121, 108, 111, 97, 100]

Base64url encoding these bytes yields the Encoded JWS Payload value:

UGF5bG9hZA

Concatenating the Encoded JWS Header, a period character, and the Encoded JWS Payload yields this JWS Secured Input value:

eyJhbGciOiJFUzUxMiJ9.UGF5bG9hZA

The ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input is the following byte array:

[101, 121, 74, 104, 98, 71, 99, 105, 79, 105, 74, 70, 85, 122, 85, 120, 77, 105, 74, 57, 46, 85, 71, 70, 53, 98, 71, 57, 104, 90, 65]

The ECDSA key consists of a public part, the EC point (x, y), and a private part d. The values of the ECDSA key used in this example, presented as the byte arrays representing three 521 bit big endian integers are:

Parameter Name Value
x [1, 233, 41, 5, 15, 18, 79, 198, 188, 85, 199, 213, 57, 51, 101, 223, 157, 239, 74, 176, 194, 44, 178, 87, 152, 249, 52, 235, 4, 227, 198, 186, 227, 112, 26, 87, 167, 145, 14, 157, 129, 191, 54, 49, 89, 232, 235, 203, 21, 93, 99, 73, 244, 189, 182, 204, 248, 169, 76, 92, 89, 199, 170, 193, 1, 164]
y [0, 52, 166, 68, 14, 55, 103, 80, 210, 55, 31, 209, 189, 194, 200, 243, 183, 29, 47, 78, 229, 234, 52, 50, 200, 21, 204, 163, 21, 96, 254, 93, 147, 135, 236, 119, 75, 85, 131, 134, 48, 229, 203, 191, 90, 140, 190, 10, 145, 221, 0, 100, 198, 153, 154, 31, 110, 110, 103, 250, 221, 237, 228, 200, 200, 246]
d [1, 142, 105, 111, 176, 52, 80, 88, 129, 221, 17, 11, 72, 62, 184, 125, 50, 206, 73, 95, 227, 107, 55, 69, 237, 242, 216, 202, 228, 240, 242, 83, 159, 70, 21, 160, 233, 142, 171, 82, 179, 192, 197, 234, 196, 206, 7, 81, 133, 168, 231, 187, 71, 222, 172, 29, 29, 231, 123, 204, 246, 97, 53, 230, 61, 130]

The ECDSA private part d is then passed to an ECDSA signing function, which also takes the curve type, P-521, the hash type, SHA-512, and the bytes of the ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input as inputs. The result of the digital signature is the EC point (R, S), where R and S are unsigned integers. In this example, the R and S values, given as byte arrays representing big endian integers are:

Result Name Value
R [1, 220, 12, 129, 231, 171, 194, 209, 232, 135, 233, 117, 247, 105, 122, 210, 26, 125, 192, 1, 217, 21, 82, 91, 45, 240, 255, 83, 19, 34, 239, 71, 48, 157, 147, 152, 105, 18, 53, 108, 163, 214, 68, 231, 62, 153, 150, 106, 194, 164, 246, 72, 143, 138, 24, 50, 129, 223, 133, 206, 209, 172, 63, 237, 119, 109]
S [0, 111, 6, 105, 44, 5, 41, 208, 128, 61, 152, 40, 92, 61, 152, 4, 150, 66, 60, 69, 247, 196, 170, 81, 193, 199, 78, 59, 194, 169, 16, 124, 9, 143, 42, 142, 131, 48, 206, 238, 34, 175, 83, 203, 220, 159, 3, 107, 155, 22, 27, 73, 111, 68, 68, 21, 238, 144, 229, 232, 148, 188, 222, 59, 242, 103]

Concatenating the S array to the end of the R array and base64url encoding the result produces this value for the Encoded JWS Signature (with line breaks for display purposes only):

AdwMgeerwtHoh-l192l60hp9wAHZFVJbLfD_UxMi70cwnZOYaRI1bKPWROc-mZZq
wqT2SI-KGDKB34XO0aw_7XdtAG8GaSwFKdCAPZgoXD2YBJZCPEX3xKpRwcdOO8Kp
EHwJjyqOgzDO7iKvU8vcnwNrmxYbSW9ERBXukOXolLzeO_Jn

Appendix A.4.2. Decoding

Decoding the JWS requires base64url decoding the Encoded JWS Header, Encoded JWS Payload, and Encoded JWS Signature to produce the JWS Header, JWS Payload, and JWS Signature byte arrays. The byte array containing the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header is decoded into the JWS Header string.

Appendix A.4.3. Validating

Since the alg parameter in the header is "ES512", we validate the ECDSA P-521 SHA-512 digital signature contained in the JWS Signature. If any of the validation steps fail, the JWS MUST be rejected.

First, we validate that the JWS Header string is legal JSON.

Validating the JWS Signature is similar to the previous example. First, we base64url decode the Encoded JWS Signature as in the previous examples but we then need to split the 132 member byte array that must result into two 66 byte arrays, the first R and the second S. We then pass (x, y), (R, S) and the bytes of the ASCII representation of the JWS Secured Input to an ECDSA signature verifier that has been configured to use the P-521 curve with the SHA-512 hash function.

As explained in Section 3.4 of the JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) [JWA] specification, the use of the K value in ECDSA means that we cannot validate the correctness of the digital signature in the same way we validated the correctness of the HMAC. Instead, implementations MUST use an ECDSA validator to validate the digital signature.

Appendix A.5. Example Plaintext JWS

The following example JWS Header declares that the encoded object is a Plaintext JWS:

{"alg":"none"}

Base64url encoding the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of the JWS Header yields this Encoded JWS Header:

eyJhbGciOiJub25lIn0

The JWS Payload used in this example, which follows, is the same as in the previous examples. Since the Encoded JWS Payload will therefore be the same, its computation is not repeated here.

{"iss":"joe",
 "exp":1300819380,
 "http://example.com/is_root":true}

The Encoded JWS Signature is the empty string.

Concatenating these parts in the order Header.Payload.Signature with period characters between the parts yields this complete JWS (with line breaks for display purposes only):

eyJhbGciOiJub25lIn0
.
eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ
.

Appendix B. "x5c" (X.509 Certificate Chain) Example

The string below is an example of a certificate chain that could be used as the value of an x5c (X.509 Certificate Chain) header parameter, per Section 4.1.6.

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIE3jCCA8agAwIBAgICAwEwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEFBQAwYzELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVM
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Appendix C. Notes on implementing base64url encoding without padding

This appendix describes how to implement base64url encoding and decoding functions without padding based upon standard base64 encoding and decoding functions that do use padding.

To be concrete, example C# code implementing these functions is shown below. Similar code could be used in other languages.

static string base64urlencode(byte [] arg)
{
  string s = Convert.ToBase64String(arg); // Standard base64 encoder
  s = s.Split('=')[0]; // Remove any trailing '='s
  s = s.Replace('+', '-'); // 62nd char of encoding
  s = s.Replace('/', '_'); // 63rd char of encoding
  return s;
}

static byte [] base64urldecode(string arg)
{
  string s = arg;
  s = s.Replace('-', '+'); // 62nd char of encoding
  s = s.Replace('_', '/'); // 63rd char of encoding
  switch (s.Length % 4) // Pad with trailing '='s
  {
    case 0: break; // No pad chars in this case
    case 2: s += "=="; break; // Two pad chars
    case 3: s += "="; break; // One pad char
    default: throw new System.Exception(
      "Illegal base64url string!");
  }
  return Convert.FromBase64String(s); // Standard base64 decoder
}

As per the example code above, the number of '=' padding characters that needs to be added to the end of a base64url encoded string without padding to turn it into one with padding is a deterministic function of the length of the encoded string. Specifically, if the length mod 4 is 0, no padding is added; if the length mod 4 is 2, two '=' padding characters are added; if the length mod 4 is 3, one '=' padding character is added; if the length mod 4 is 1, the input is malformed.

An example correspondence between unencoded and encoded values follows. The byte sequence below encodes into the string below, which when decoded, reproduces the byte sequence.

3 236 255 224 193
A-z_4ME

Appendix D. Acknowledgements

Solutions for signing JSON content were previously explored by Magic Signatures [MagicSignatures], JSON Simple Sign [JSS], and Canvas Applications [CanvasApp], all of which influenced this draft. Dirk Balfanz, Yaron Y. Goland, John Panzer, and Paul Tarjan all made significant contributions to the design of this specification.

Thanks to Axel Nennker for his early implementation and feedback on the JWS and JWE specifications.

Appendix E. Document History

[[ to be removed by the RFC editor before publication as an RFC ]]

-04

-03

-02

-01

-00

Authors' Addresses

Michael B. Jones Microsoft EMail: mbj@microsoft.com URI: http://self-issued.info/
John Bradley Ping Identity EMail: ve7jtb@ve7jtb.com
Nat Sakimura Nomura Research Institute EMail: n-sakimura@nri.co.jp