Dear all,
Thank you for a productive meeting @ IETF 105. We had discussed the new charter
text during the working group session in Montreal. Please find the same text
below. This text builds upon our current charter. Feel free to suggest changes.
RFC 2418 section 2.2 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2418#section-2.2 says the
following about a working group charter:
2. Specifies the direction or objectives of the working group and
describes the approach that will be taken to achieve the goals;
Please keep this in mind when suggesting changes. Once the text is ready, we
will send it to the IESG for review.
Joe and Mohit
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The Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) [RFC 3748] is a network access
authentication framework used, for instance, in VPN and mobile networks. EAP
itself is a simple protocol and actual authentication happens in EAP methods.
Several EAP methods have been developed at the IETF and support for EAP exists
in a broad set of devices. Previous larger EAP-related efforts at the IETF
included rewriting the base EAP protocol specification and the development of
several standards track EAP methods.
EAP methods are generally based on existing security technologies such as TLS
and SIM cards. Our understanding of security threats is continuously evolving.
This has driven the evolution of several of these underlying technologies. As
an example, IETF has standardized a new and improved version of TLS in RFC
8446. The group will therefore provide guidance and update EAP method
specifications where necessary to enable the use of new versions of these
underlying technologies.
At the same time, some new use cases for EAP have been identified. EAP is now
more broadly in mobile network authentication. The group will update existing
EAP methods such as EAP-AKA' to stay in sync with updates to the referenced
3GPP specifications. RFC 7258 notes that pervasive monitoring is an attack.
Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) is an important security property for modern
protocols to thwart pervasive monitoring. The group will therefore work on an
extension to EAP-AKA' for providing Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS).
Out-of-band (OOB) refers to a separate communication channel independent of the
primary in-band channel over which the actual network communication takes
place. OOB channels are now used for authentication in a variety of protocols
and devices (draft-ietf-oauth-device-flow-13, WhatsApp Web, etc.). Many users
are accustomed to tapping NFC or scanning QR codes. However, EAP currently does
not have any standard methods that support authentication based on OOB
channels. The group will therefore work on an EAP method where authentication
is based on an out-of-band channel between the peer and the server.
EAP authentication is based on credentials available on the peer and the
server. However, some EAP methods use credentials that are time or domain
limited (such as EAP-POTP), and there may be a need for creating long term
credentials for re-authenticating the peer in a more general context. The group
will investigate minimal mechanisms with which limited-use EAP authentication
credentials can be used for creating general-use long-term credentials.
In summary, the working group shall produce the following documents:
- An update to enable the use of TLS 1.3 in the context of EAP-TLS (RFC 5216).
This document will pdate the security considerations relating to EAP-TLS,
document the implications of using new vs. old TLS versions, add any recently
gained new knowledge on vulnerabilities, and discuss the possible implications
of pervasive surveillance.
- Several EAP methods such EAP-TTLS and EAP-FAST use an outer TLS tunnel.
Provide guidance or update the relevant specifications explaining how those EAP
methods (PEAP/TTLS/TEAP) will work with TLS 1.3. This will also involve
maintenance work based on erratas found in published specifications (such as
EAP-TEAP).
- Define session identifiers for fast re-authentication for EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA,
and EAP-AKA’. The lack of this definition is a recently discovered bug in the
original RFCs.
- Update the EAP-AKA' specification (RFC 5448) to ensure that its capability to
provide a cryptographic binding to network context stays in sync with updates
to the referenced 3GPP specifications. The document will also contain any
recently gained new knowledge on vulnerabilities or the possible implications
of pervasive surveillance.
- Develop an extension to EAP-AKA' such that Perfect Forward Secrecy can be
provided. There may also be privacy improvements that have become feasible with
the introduction of recent identity privacy improvements in 3GPP networks.
- Gather experience regarding the use of large certificates and long
certificate chains in the context of EAP-TLS (all versions), as some
implementations and access networks may limit the number of EAP packet
exchanges that can be handled. Document operational recommendations or other
mitigation strategies to avoid issues.
- Define a standard EAP method for mutual authentication between a peer and a
server that is based on an out-of-band channel. The method itself shall be
independent of the underlying OOB channel and shall support a variety of OOB
channels such as NFC, dynamically generated QR codes, audio, and visible light.
- Define mechanisms by which EAP methods can support creation of long-term
credentials for the peer based on initial limited-use credentials.
The working group is expected to stay in close collaboration with the EAP
deployment community, the TLS working group (for EAP-TLS work), and the 3GPP
security architecture group (for EAP-AKA' work)
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