Internet Draft Author: Blake Ramsdell,
draft-ramsdell-smime31-msg-00.txt Tumbleweed Communications
July 14, 2000
Expires January 14, 2001
S/MIME Version 3.1 Message Specification Addendum
Status of this memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all
provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
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1. Introduction
In light of the expiration of the primary RSA patent, it is proposed
that the RSA algorithm replace the DSS and Diffie-Hellman as the MUST
implement algorithms in the S/MIME profile. This draft will describe
only the proposed changes to the S/MIME Version 3 Message
Specification RFC [SMIMEV3MSG], and the rest of that RFC will remain
identical.
1.1 Terminology
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 [MUSTSHOULD].
1.2 Discussion of This Draft
This draft is being discussed on the "ietf-smime" mailing list. To
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2. Changes to the S/MIME Version 3 Message Specification RFC
The following changes are proposed to [SMIMEV3MSG]:
1. Section 2.2 is replaced with the following:
2.2 SignatureAlgorithmIdentifier
Sending and receiving agents MUST support rsaEncryption,
defined in [PKCS-1].
Sending and receiving agents MAY support id-dsa defined in
[DSS]. The algorithm parameters MUST be absent (not encoded
as NULL).
Note that S/MIME v3 clients might only implement signing or
signature verification using DSS. Also note that S/MIME v2
clients are only capable of verifying digital signatures
using the rsaEncryption algorithm.
2. Section 2.3 is replaced with the following:
2.3 KeyEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier
Sending and receiving agents MUST support rsaEncryption,
defined in [PKCS-1].
Sending and receiving agents MAY support Diffie-Hellman
defined in [DH].
Note that S/MIME v3 clients might only implement key
encryption and decryption using the Diffie-Hellman
algorithm. Also note that S/MIME v2 clients are only
capable of decrypting content encryption keys using the
rsaEncryption algorithm.
3. Security Considerations
The security considerations are the same as for [SMIMEV3MSG].
A. References
[DH] "Diffie-Hellman Key Agreement Method", RFC 2631
[DSS] NIST FIPS PUB 186, "Digital Signature Standard", 18 May 1994.
[MUSTSHOULD] "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Levels", RFC 2119
[PKCS-1] "PKCS #1: RSA Encryption Version 1.5", RFC 2313
[SMIMEV3MSG] "S/MIME Version 3 Message Specification", RFC 2633.
B. Acknowledgements
C. Changes from last draft
Initial revision.
D. AuthorĘs address
Blake Ramsdell
Tumbleweed Communications
17720 NE 65th St Ste 201
Redmond, WA 98052
+1 425 376 0225
blake.ramsdell@tumbleweed.com