Include <com_err.h>

[heimdal.git] / doc / standardisation / draft-williams-gssapi-store-deleg-creds-01.txt

INTERNET-DRAFT                                          Nicolas Williams
                                                        Sun Microsystems
                                                          September 2003



           GSS-APIv2 Extension for Storing Delegated Credentials
             <draft-williams-gssapi-store-deleg-creds-01.txt>




Status of this Memo

   This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
   all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026 [RFC2026].

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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   This draft expires on January 30th, 2004. Please send comments to
   the authors.


Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document defines a new function for the GSS-API which allows
   applications to store delegated (and other) credentials in the
   implicit GSS-API credential store.  This is needed for GSS-API
   applications to use delegated credentials as they would use other
   credentials.

Conventions used in this document

   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 [RFC2119].

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Table of Contents

   1  Introduction
   2  GSS_Store_cred()
   2.1  C-Bindings for GSS_Store_cred()
   3  Examples
   4  Security Considerations
   5  References
   5.1  Normative References
   6  Author's Address

1  Introduction

   The GSS-API [RFC2743] clearly assumes that credentials exist in an
   implicit store whence they can be acquired using GSS_Acquire_cred()
   and GSS_Add_cred() or through use of the default credential.
   Multiple credential stores may exist on a given host, but only one
   store may be accessed by GSS_Acquire_cred() and GSS_Add_cred() at any
   given time.

   [NOTE:  This assumption can be seen in sections 1.1.1.2 and 1.1.1.3
           of RFC2743 as well as in section 3.5 of RFC2744.

           Note to the RFC editor: please remove this note before
           publication.]

   Applications may be able to change the credential store from which
   credentials can be acquired, either by changing user contexts (where
   the applications have the privilege to do so) or by other means
   (where a user may have multiple credential stores).

   Some GSS-API acceptor applications always change user contexts, after
   accepting a GSS-API security context and making appropriate
   authorization checks, to the user context corresponding to the
   initiator principal name or to a context requested by the initiator.
   The means by which credential stores are managed are generally beyond
   the scope of the GSS-API.

   In the case of delegated credential handles however, such credentials
   do not exist in the acceptor's credential store or in the credential
   stores of the user contexts to which the acceptor application might
   change - which is precisely the raison d'etre of credential
   delegation.  But the GSS-API provides no mechanism by which delegated
   credential handles can be made available for acquisition through
   GSS_Acquire_cred()/GSS_Add_cred().  The GSS-API also does not provide
   any credential import/export interfaces like the GSS-API context
   import/export interfaces.

   Thus acceptors are limited to making only direct use of delegated
   credential handles and only with GSS_Init_sec_context(),
   GSS_Inquire_cred*() and GSS_Release_cred().  This limitation is
   particularly onerous on Unix systems where a call to exec() to

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   replace the process image obliterates the delegated credentials
   handle.  

   [NOTE:  Delegated credentials are practically unusable on Unix
           implementations of Secure Shell (SSHv2) servers, except where
           there are extended interfaces for dealing with delegated
           credentials, which to date have always been
           mechanism-specific interfaces.

           Note to the RFC editor: please remove this note before
           publication.]

   In order to make delegated credentials generally as useful as
   credentials that can be acquired with GSS_Acquire_cred() and
   GSS_Add_cred() a primitive is needed which allows storing of
   credentials in the implicit credential store.  This primitive we call
   "GSS_Store_cred()."

   [NOTE:  Simon Wilkinson's patches to OpenSSH for GSS-API sport a
           simple internal interface for storing delegated credentials
           in users' credential store - this internal interface wraps
           around two mechanism specific internal interfaces for storing
           GSI and Kerberos V credentials.

           Simon's code shows that:

           a) a generic method is needed for making delegated
              credentials available for indirect use through acquisition
              (as opposed to just using the actual delegated cred
              handle)

           b) it is possible to design and implement such a generic
              method for storing delegated credentials.

           No new concepts are added to the GSS-API by this document,
           but the implicit existence of a credential store in the
           background is made explicit, and a deficiency of the GSS-API
           is corrected.

           Compare this to the GGF proposal which includes a credential
           import/export facility (like the existing context import/
           export facility), but with an option to export as
           "environment variables," meaning something like "store these
           input creds in some new credential store and then tell me the
           name of that credential store through some output environment
           variable"[*].  Thus, the GGF export-cred-to-environment-
           variable proposal adds knowledge of environment variables to
           the GSS-API, which this proposal does not.  Note that a
           credential import/export facility along the lines of the
           existing context import/export facility may be useful and
           complements the GSS_Store_cred() interface; in fact, with
           GSS_Store_cred() it should be possible to remove the
           'option_req' input parameter and export-to-env-var features

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           of the GGF's GSS_Export_cred() credential export proposal.

           [*]  For the exact semantics see section 1.2, paragraph 6 of
                draft-engert-ggf-gss-extensions-00.txt

           One side effect of GSS_Store_cred(), however, is that it
           allows applications that can switch their current credential
           store to move credentials from one store to the other; this
           is a direct result of making it possible to store a
           credential given a GSS-API credential handle.  Perhaps there
           should be some text allowing, or recommending, that
           implementations of GSS_Store_cred() allow only the storage of
           credentials acquired through credential delegation.

           Note to the RFC editor: please remove this note before
           publication.]

2  GSS_Store_cred()

   Inputs:

   o  input_cred_handle CREDENTIAL HANDLE, -- credential to store; MUST
   -- NOT be GSS_C_NO_CREDENTIAL

   o  cred_usage INTEGER -- 0=INITIATE-AND-ACCEPT, 1=INITIATE-ONLY,
   -- 2=ACCEPT-ONLY

   o  desired_mech_element OBJECT IDENTIFIER, -- if GSS_C_NULL_OID
   -- then store all the elements of the input_cred_handle, otherwise
   -- store only the element of the corresponding mechanism

   o  overwrite_cred BOOLEAN, -- if TRUE replace any credential for the
   -- same principal in the credential store

   o  default_cred BOOLEAN -- if TRUE make the stored credential
   -- available as the default credential (for acquisition with
   -- GSS_C_NO_NAME as the desired name or for use as
   -- GSS_C_NO_CREDENTIAL)

   Outputs:

   o  major_status INTEGER,

   o  minor_status INTEGER,

   o  mech_elements_stored SET OF OBJECT IDENTIFIER, -- the set of
   -- mechanism OIDs for which credential elements were successfully
   -- stored

   o  cred_usage_stored INTEGER -- like cred_usage, but indicates what
   -- kind of credential was stored (useful when the cred_usage input
   -- parameter is set to INITIATE-AND-ACCEPT)


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   Return major_status codes:

   o  GSS_S_COMPLETE indicates that the credentials were successfully
   stored.

   o  GSS_S_CREDENTIALS_EXPIRED indicates that the input credentials
   had expired or expired before they could be stored.

   o  GSS_S_NO_CRED indicates that no input credentials were given.

   o  GSS_S_UNAVAILABLE indicates that the credential store is not
   available.

   o  GSS_S_DUPLICATE_ELEMENT indicates that an element of the input
   credential could not be stored because a credential for the same
   principal exists in the current credential store and the
   overwrite_cred input argument was FALSE.

   o  GSS_S_FAILURE indicates that the credential could not be stored
   for some other reason.  The minor status code may provide more
   information if a non-GSS_C_NULL_OID desired_mech_element was given.

   GSS_Store_cred() is used to store, in the current credential store, a
   given credential that has either been acquired from a different
   credential store or been accepted as a delegated credential.

   Specific mechanism elements of a credential can be stored one at a
   time by specifying a non-GSS_C_NULL_OID mechanism OID as the
   desired_mech_element input argument, in which case the minor status
   output SHOULD have a mechanism-specific value when the major status
   is not GSS_S_COMPLETE.

   The initiator, acceptor or both usages of the input credential may be
   stored as per the cred_usage input argument.

   The credential elements that were actually stored, when the major
   status is GSS_S_COMPLETE, are indicated through the cred_usage_stored
   and mech_elements_stored function outputs.

   If credentials already exist in the current store for the principal
   of the input_cred_handle, then those credentials are not replaced
   with the input credentials unless the overwrite_cred input argument
   is TRUE.

   Finally, if the current credential store has no default credential
   (that is, no credential that could be acquired for GSS_C_NO_NAME) or
   if the default_cred input argument is TRUE, and the input credential
   can be successfully stored, then the input credential will be
   available for acquisition with GSS_C_NO_NAME as the desired name
   input to GSS_Acquire_cred() or GSS_Add_cred() as well as for use as
   GSS_C_NO_CREDENTIAL for the cred_handle inputs to GSS_Inquire_cred(),
   GSS_Inquire_cred_by_mech(), GSS_Init_sec_context() and
   GSS_Accept_sec_context().

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2.1  C-Bindings for GSS_Store_cred()

   The C-bindings for GSS_Store_cred() make use of types from and are
   designed based on the style of the GSS-APIv2 C-Bindings [RFC2744].

   OM_uint32 gss_store_cred(
      OM_uint32         *minor_status,
      gss_cred_id_t     input_cred,
      gss_cred_usage_t  cred_usage,
      const gss_OID     desired_mech,
      OM_uint32         overwrite_cred,
      OM_uint32         default_cred,
      gss_OID_set       *elements_stored,
      gss_cred_usage_t  *cred_usage_stored)

   The two boolean arguments, 'overwrite_cred' and 'default_cred' are
   typed as OM_uint32; 0 corresponds to FALSE, non-zero values
   correspond to TRUE.

3  Examples

   The intended usage of GSS_Store_cred() is to make delegated
   credentials available to child processes of GSS-API acceptor
   applications.  Example pseudo-code:

   /*
    * <GSS_Accept_sec_context() loop resulting in GSS_S_COMPLETE, an
    * initiator name (hereafter, "src_name") and a delegated credential
    * handle (hereafter "deleg_cred").>
    *
    * <"requested_username" is a username derived from the initiator
    * name or explicitly requested by the initiator application.>
    */
   ...

   if (authorize_gss_client(src_name, requested_username)) {
      /*
       * For Unix-type platforms this may mean calling setuid() and it
       * may or may not also mean setting/unsetting such environment
       * variables as KRB5CCNAME and what not.
       */
      if (change_user_context(requested_username))
         (void) gss_store_creds(&minor_status, deleg_cred,
                                GSS_C_INITIATE, actual_mech,
                                0, 1, NULL, NULL);
      }
      else ...
   }
   else ...

4  Security Considerations


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   Acceptor applications MUST only store delegated credentials into
   appropriate credential stores and only after proper authorization of
   the authenticated initiator principal to the requested service(s).

   Acceptor applications that have no use for delegated credentials MUST
   release them (such acceptor applications that use the GSS-API
   C-Bindings may simply provide a NULL value for the
   delegated_cred_handle argument to gss_accept_sec_context()).

5  References

5.1  Normative References

   [RFC2026]
      S. Bradner, RFC2026:  "The Internet Standard Process - Revision
      3," October 1996, Obsoletes - RFC 1602, Status: Best Current
      Practice.

   [RFC2119]
      S. Bradner, RFC2119 (BCP14):  "Key words for use in RFCs to
      Indicate Requirement Levels," March 1997, Status: Best Current
      Practice.

   [RFC2743]
      J. Linn, RFC2743: "Generic Security Service Application Program
      Interface Version 2, Update 1," January 2000, Status: Proposed
      Standard.

   [RFC2744]
      J. Wray, RFC2744: "Generic Security Service API Version 2 :
      C-bindings," January 2000, Status: Proposed Standard.

6  Author's Address

   Nicolas Williams
   Sun Microsystems
   5300 Riata Trace Ct
   Austin, TX 78727
   Email: Nicolas.Williams@sun.com

Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003).  All Rights Reserved.

   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
   or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
   kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
   document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
   the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
   Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of

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   developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
   copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
   English.

   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
   revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
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   HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
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Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.






































N. Williams                                                     [Page 8]