3 NETWORK WORKING GROUP L. Zhu
4 Internet-Draft P. Leach
5 Updates: 4120 (if approved) K. Jaganathan
6 Intended status: Standards Track Microsoft Corporation
7 Expires: September 3, 2007 March 2, 2007
10 Anonymity Support for Kerberos
11 draft-ietf-krb-wg-anon-03
15 By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
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17 have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
18 aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.
20 Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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30 The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
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36 This Internet-Draft will expire on September 3, 2007.
40 Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).
44 This document defines extensions to the Kerberos protocol for the
45 Kerberos client to authenticate the Kerberos Key Distribution Center
46 and the Kerberos server, without revealing the client's identity.
47 These extensions can be used to secure communication between the
48 anonymous client and the server.
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61 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
62 2. Conventions Used in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
63 3. Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
64 4. Protocol Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
65 5. GSS-API Implementation Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
66 6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
67 7. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
68 8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
69 9. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
70 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
71 Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 11
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117 In certain situations, the Kerberos [RFC4120] client may wish to
118 authenticate a server and/or protect communications without revealing
119 its own identity. For example, consider an application which
120 provides read access to a research database, and which permits
121 queries by arbitrary requestors. A client of such a service might
122 wish to authenticate the service, to establish trust in the
123 information received from it, but might not wish to disclose its
124 identity to the service for privacy reasons.
126 Extensions to [RFC4120] are specified in this document by which a
127 client can authenticate the Key Distribution Center (KDC) and request
128 an anonymous ticket. The client can use the anonymous ticket to
129 authenticate the server and protect subsequent client-server
130 communications. These extensions provide Kerberos with functional
131 equivalence to Transport Layer Security (TLS) [RFC4346].
133 By using the extensions defined in this specification, the client may
134 reveal its identity in its initial request to its own KDC, but it can
135 remain anonymous thereafter to KDCs on the cross-realm authentication
136 path, and to the server with which it communicates.
139 2. Conventions Used in This Document
141 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
142 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
143 document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
148 The anonymous Kerberos realm name is defined as a well-known realm
149 name based on [KRBNAM]. The value is the literal "WELLKNOWN:
150 ANONYMOUS". An anonymous Kerberos realm name MUST NOT be present in
151 the transited field [RFC4120] of a ticket.
153 The anonymous Kerberos principal name is defined as a well-known
154 Kerberos principal name based on [KRBNAM]. The value of the name-
155 type field [RFC4120] is KRB_NT_RESRVED [KRBNAM], and the value of the
156 name-string field [RFC4120] is a sequence of two KerberosString
157 components: "WELLKNOWN", "ANONYMOUS".
159 Note that in this specification, the anonymous principal name and
160 realm are only applicable to the client in Kerberos messages, the
161 server MUST NOT be anonymous in any Kerberos message.
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171 The anonymous ticket flag is defined as bit TBA (with the first bit
172 being bit 0) in the TicketFlags:
174 TicketFlags ::= KerberosFlags
176 -- TicketFlags and KerberosFlags are defined in [RFC4120]
178 An anonymous ticket is a ticket that has all of the following
181 o The cname field [RFC4120] contains the anonymous Kerberos
184 o The crealm field [RFC4120] contains the client's realm name, or
185 the name of the realm that issued the initial ticket for the
186 client principal, or the anonymous realm name.
188 o The anonymous ticket contains no information that can reveal the
189 client's identity. However the ticket may contain the client
190 realm, intermediate realms on the client's authentication path,
191 and authorization data that may provide information related to the
192 client's identity. For example, an anonymous principal that is
193 identifiable only within a particular group of users can be
194 implemented using authorization data and such authorization data,
195 if included in the anonymous ticket, shall disclose the client's
196 membership of that group.
198 o The anonymous ticket flag is set.
200 The request-anonymous KDC option is defined as bit TBA (with the
201 first bit being bit 0) in the KDCOptions:
203 KDCOptions ::= KerberosFlags
204 -- request-anonymous(TBA)
205 -- KDCOptions and KerberosFlags are defined in [RFC4120]
207 As described in Section 4, the request-anonymous KDC option is set to
208 request an anonymous ticket.
211 4. Protocol Description
213 In order to request an anonymous ticket, the client sets the request-
214 anonymous KDC option in an Authentication Exchange (AS) or Ticket
215 Granting Service (TGS) request [RFC4120]. The client can request an
216 anonymous Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT) based on a normal TGT. Unless
217 otherwise specified, the client can obtain an anonymous ticket with
218 the anonymous realm name only by requesting an anonymous ticket in an
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227 AS exchange with the client realm set as anonymous in the request.
229 If the client wishes to authenticate the KDC anonymously, it sets the
230 client name as anonymous in the AS exchange and provides a
231 PA_PK_AS_REQ pre-authentication data [RFC4556] where both the
232 signerInfos field and the certificates field of the SignedData
233 [RFC3852] of the PA_PK_AS_REQ are empty. Because the anonymous
234 client does not have an associated asymmetric key pair, the client
235 MUST choose the Diffie-Hellman key agreement method by filling in the
236 Diffie-Hellman domain parameters in the clientPublicValue [RFC4556].
238 If the ticket in the PA-TGS-REQ [RFC4120] of the TGS request is
239 anonymous, or if the client in the AS request is anonymous, the
240 request-anonymous KDC option MUST be set in the request. Otherwise,
241 the KDC MUST return a KRB-ERROR message with the code
242 KDC_ERR_BADOPTION [RFC4120], and there is no accompanying e-data
243 defined in this document.
245 Upon receiving the AS request with a PA_PK_AS_REQ [RFC4556] from the
246 anonymous client, the KDC processes the request according to Section
247 3.1.2 of [RFC4120]. The KDC skips the checks for the client's
248 signature and the client's public key (such as the verification of
249 the binding between the client's public key and the client name), but
250 performs otherwise-applicable checks, and proceeds as normal
251 according to [RFC4556]. For example, the AS MUST check if the
252 client's Diffie-Hellman domain parameters are acceptable. The
253 Diffie-Hellman key agreement method MUST be used and the reply key is
254 derived according to Section 3.2.3.1 of [RFC4556]. If the
255 clientPublicValue is not present in the request, the KDC MUST return
256 a KRB-ERROR [RFC4120] with the code
257 KDC_ERR_PUBLIC_KEY_ENCRYPTION_NOT_SUPPORTED [RFC4556] and there is no
258 accompanying e-data. If all goes well, an anonymous ticket is
259 generated according to Section 3.1.3 of [RFC4120] and a PA_PK_AS_REP
260 [RFC4556] pre-authentication data is included in the KDC reply
261 according to [RFC4556]. If the KDC does not have an asymmetric key
262 pair, it MAY reply anonymously or reject the authentication attempt.
263 If the KDC replies anonymously, both the signerInfos field and the
264 certificates field of the SignedData [RFC3852] of PA_PK_AS_REP in the
265 reply are empty. The server name in the anonymous KDC reply contains
268 Upon receipt of the KDC reply that contains an anonymous ticket and a
269 PA_PK_AS_REP [RFC4556] pre-authentication data, the client can then
270 authenticate the KDC based on the KDC's signature in the
271 PA_PK_AS_REP. If the KDC's signature is missing in the KDC reply
272 (the reply is anonymous), the client MUST reject the returned ticket
273 if it cannot authenticate the KDC otherwise.
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283 The client can use the client keys to mutually authenticate with the
284 KDC, request an anonymous TGT in the AS request. And in that case,
285 the reply key is selected as normal according to Section 3.1.3 of
288 For the TGS exchange, the reply key is selected as normal according
289 to Section 3.3.3 of [RFC4120].
291 When policy allows, the KDC issues an anonymous ticket. Based on
292 local policy, the client realm in the anonymous ticket can be the
293 anonymous realm name or the realm of the KDC. However, in all cases,
294 the client name and the client realm in the EncKDCRepPart of the
295 reply [RFC4120] MUST match with the corresponding client name and the
296 client realm of the anonymous ticket in the reply. The client MUST
297 use the client name and the client realm returned in the
298 EncKDCRepPart in subsequent message exchanges when using the obtained
301 During the TGS request, when propagating authorization data, care
302 MUST be taken by the TGS to ensure that the client confidentiality is
303 not violated. If a anonymous ticket is returned, any authorization
304 element that may reveal the client's identity MUST be removed. The
305 authentication attempt MUST be rejected if there is an authorization
306 element that is intended to restrict the use of the ticket thus
307 cannot be removed or the local policy prevents the removal of an
308 authorization element, and this rule MUST be applied to all critical
309 and optional authorization data. An optional authorization element
310 unknown by the TGS MUST be removed if it does not potentially convey
311 any rights or limit the rights otherwise conveyed in the ticket. If
312 there is a critical unknown authorization element, unless this
313 element is encapsulated in a known authorization data element
314 amending the criticality of the elements it contains, authentication
315 MUST fail according to [RFC4120]. If it is inappropriate to remove
316 an authorization element from the TGS request in order to produce an
317 anonymous ticket, the KDC MUST return an error message with the code
318 KDC_ERR_POLICY [RFC4120], and there is no accompanying e-data defined
321 The TGS MUST add the name of the previous realm according to Section
322 3.3.3.2 of [RFC4120]. If the client's realm is the anonymous realm,
323 the abbreviation forms [RFC4120] that build on the preceding name
324 cannot be used at the start of the transited encoding. The null-
325 subfield form (e.g., encoding ending with ",") [RFC4120] could not be
326 used next to the anonymous realm that can potentially be at the
327 beginning where the client realm is filled in.
329 The KDC fills out the authtime field of the anonymous ticket in the
330 reply as follows: If the anonymous ticket is returned in an AS
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339 exchange, the authtime field of the ticket contains the request time.
340 If the anonymous ticket is returned in a TGS exchange, the authtime
341 field contains the authtime of the ticket in the PA-TGS-REQ pre-
342 authentication data [RFC4120]. An anonymous ticket can be renewed,
343 and the authtime field of a renewed ticket is the authtime in the
344 anonymous ticket on which the renewed ticket was based.
346 If the client is anonymous and the KDC does not have a key to encrypt
347 the reply (this can happen when, for example, the KDC does not
348 support PKINIT [RFC4556]), the KDC MUST return an error message with
349 the code KDC_ERR_NULL_KEY [RFC4120] and there is no accompanying
350 e-data defined in this document.
352 If a client requires anonymous communication then the client MUST
353 check to make sure that the ticket in the reply is actually anonymous
354 by checking the presence of the anonymous ticket flag. This is
355 because KDCs ignore unknown KDC options. A KDC that does not
356 understand the request-anonymous KDC option will not return an error,
357 but will instead return a normal ticket.
359 The subsequent client and server communications then proceed as
360 described in [RFC4120].
362 A server accepting an anonymous service ticket may assume that
363 subsequent requests using the same ticket originate from the same
364 client. Requests with different tickets are likely to originate from
368 5. GSS-API Implementation Notes
370 At the GSS-API [RFC2743] level, the use of an anonymous principal by
371 the initiator/client requires the initiator/client to assert the
372 "anonymous" flag when calling GSS_Init_Sec_Context().
374 GSS-API does not know or define "anonymous credentials", so the
375 (printable) name of the anonymous principal will rarely be used by or
376 relevant for the initiator/client. The printable name is relevant
377 for the acceptor/server when performing an authorization decision
378 based on the initiator name that is returned from the acceptor side
379 upon the successful security context establishment.
381 A GSS-API initiator MUST carefully check the resulting context
382 attributes from the initial call to GSS_Init_Sec_Context() when
383 requesting anonymity, because (as in the GSS-API tradition and for
384 backwards compatibility) anonymity is just another optional context
385 attribute. It could be that the mechanism doesn't recognize the
386 attribute at all or that anonymity is not available for some other
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392 Internet-Draft Kerberos Anonymity Support March 2007
395 reasons -- and in that case the initiator must NOT send the initial
396 security context token to the acceptor, because it will likely reveal
397 the initiators identity to the acceptor, something that can rarely be
400 GSS-API defines the name_type GSS_C_NT_ANONYMOUS [RFC2743] to
401 represent the anonymous identity. In addition, Section 2.1.1 of
402 [RFC1964] defines the single string representation of a Kerberos
403 principal name with the name_type GSS_KRB5_NT_PRINCIPAL_NAME. For
404 the anonymous principals, the name component within the exportable
405 name as defined in Section 2.1.3 of [RFC1964] MUST signify the realm
406 name according to Section 2.1.1 of [RFC1964]. Note that in this
407 specification only the client/initiator can be anonymous.
409 Portable initiators are RECOMMENDED to use default credentials
410 whenever possible, and request anonymity only through the input
411 anon_req_flag [RFC2743] to GSS_Init_Sec_Context().
414 6. Security Considerations
416 Since KDCs ignore unknown options [RFC4120], a client requiring
417 anonymous communication needs to make sure that the ticket is
418 actually anonymous. This is because a KDC that that does not
419 understand the anonymous option would not return an anonymous ticket.
421 By using the mechanism defined in this specification, the client does
422 not reveal its identity to the server but its identity may be
423 revealed to the KDC of the server principal (when the server
424 principal is in a different realm than that of the client), and any
425 KDC on the cross-realm authentication path. The Kerberos client MUST
426 verify the ticket being used is indeed anonymous before communicating
427 with the server, otherwise the client's identity may be revealed
430 In cases where specific server principals must not have access to the
431 client's identity (for example, an anonymous poll service), the KDC
432 can define server principal specific policy that insure any normal
433 service ticket can NEVER be issued to any of these server principals.
435 If the KDC that issued an anonymous ticket were to maintain records
436 of the association of identities to an anonymous ticket, then someone
437 obtaining such records could breach the anonymity. Additionally, the
438 implementations of most (for now all) KDC's respond to requests at
439 the time that they are received. Traffic analysis on the connection
440 to the KDC will allow an attacker to match client identities to
441 anonymous tickets issued. Because there are plaintext parts of the
442 tickets that are exposed on the wire, such matching by a third party
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451 observer is relatively straightforward.
456 Clifford Neuman contributed the core notions of this document.
458 Ken Raeburn reviewed the document and provided suggestions for
461 Martin Rex wrote the text for GSS-API considerations.
463 Nicolas Williams reviewed the GSS-API considerations section and
464 suggested ideas for improvements.
466 Sam Hartman and Nicolas Williams were great champions of this work.
468 In addition, the following individuals made significant
469 contributions: Jeffery Altman, Tom Yu, Chaskiel M Grundman, Love
470 Hoernquist Aestrand, and Jeffery Hutzelman.
473 8. IANA Considerations
475 Section 3 defines the anonymous Kerberos name and the anonymous
476 Kerberos realm based on [KRBNAM]. The IANA registry for [KRBNAM]
477 need to be updated to add references to this document.
480 9. Normative References
482 [KRBNAM] Zhu, L., "Additonal Kerberos Naming Contraints",
483 draft-ietf-krb-wg-naming, work in progress.
485 [RFC1964] Linn, J., "The Kerberos Version 5 GSS-API Mechanism",
488 [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
489 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
491 [RFC2743] Linn, J., "Generic Security Service Application Program
492 Interface Version 2, Update 1", RFC 2743, January 2000.
494 [RFC3852] Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)",
497 [RFC4120] Neuman, C., Yu, T., Hartman, S., and K. Raeburn, "The
498 Kerberos Network Authentication Service (V5)", RFC 4120,
503 Zhu, et al. Expires September 3, 2007 [Page 9]
505 Internet-Draft Kerberos Anonymity Support March 2007
508 [RFC4346] Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
509 (TLS) Protocol Version 1.1", RFC 4346, April 2006.
511 [RFC4556] Zhu, L. and B. Tung, "Public Key Cryptography for Initial
512 Authentication in Kerberos (PKINIT)", RFC 4556, June 2006.
518 Microsoft Corporation
523 Email: lzhu@microsoft.com
527 Microsoft Corporation
532 Email: paulle@microsoft.com
536 Microsoft Corporation
541 Email: karthikj@microsoft.com
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564 Full Copyright Statement
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