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rfc:rfc2559

Network Working Group S. Boeyen Request for Comments: 2559 Entrust Updates: 1778 T. Howes Category: Standards Track Netscape

                                                        P. Richard
                                                             Xcert
                                                        April 1999
              Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure
                   Operational Protocols - LDAPv2

Status of this Memo

 This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
 Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
 improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
 Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
 and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  All Rights Reserved.

1. Abstract

 The protocol described in this document is designed to satisfy some
 of the operational requirements within the Internet X.509 Public Key
 Infrastructure (IPKI).  Specifically, this document addresses
 requirements to provide access to Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
 repositories for the purposes of retrieving PKI information and
 managing that same information.  The mechanism described in this
 document is based on the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
 v2, defined in RFC 1777, defining a profile of that protocol for use
 within the IPKI and updates encodings for certificates and revocation
 lists from RFC 1778. Additional mechanisms addressing PKIX
 operational requirements are specified in separate documents.
 The key words 'MUST', 'REQUIRED', 'SHOULD', 'RECOMMENDED', and 'MAY'
 in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.

2. Introduction

 This specification is part of a multi-part standard for development
 of a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for the Internet. This
 specification addresses requirements to provide retrieval of X.509
 PKI information, including certificates and CRLs from a repository.
 This specification also addresses requirements to add, delete and

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

 modify PKI information in a repository. A profile based on the LDAP
 version 2 protocol is provided to satisfy these requirements.

3. Model

 The PKI components, as defined in PKIX Part 1, which are involved in
 PKIX operational protocol interactions include:
  1. End Entities
  2. Certification Authorities (CA)
  3. Repository
 End entities and CAs using LDAPv2, retrieve PKI information from the
 repository using a subset of the LDAPv2 protocol.
 CAs populate the repository with PKI information using a subset of
 the LDAPv2 protocol.

4. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

 The following sections examine the retrieval of PKI information from
 a repository and management of PKI information in a repository. A
 profile of the LDAPv2 protocol is defined for providing these
 services.
 Section 5 satisfies the requirement to retrieve PKI information (a
 certificate, CRL, or other information of interest) from an entry in
 the repository, where the retrieving entity (either an end entity or
 a CA) has knowledge of the name of the entry. This is termed
 "repository read".
 Section 6 satisfies the same requirement as 5 for the situation where
 the name of the entry is not known, but some other related
 information which may optionally be used as a filter against
 candidate entries in the repository, is known.  This is termed
 "repository search".
 Section 7 satisfies the requirement of CAs to add, delete and modify
 PKI information information (a certificate, CRL, or other information
 of interest)in the repository. This is termed "repository modify".
 The subset of LDAPv2 needed to support each of these functions is
 described below.  Note that the repository search service is a
 superset of the repository read service in terms of the LDAPv2
 functionality needed.
 Note that all tags are implicit by default in the ASN.1 definitions
 that follow.

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

5. LDAP Repository Read

 To retrieve information from an entry corresponding to the subject or
 issuer name of a certificate, requires a subset of the following
 three LDAP operations:
   BindRequest (and BindResponse)
   SearchRequest (and SearchResponse)
   UnbindRequest
 The subset of each REQUIRED operation is given below.

5.1. Bind

5.1.1. Bind Request

 The full LDAP v2 Bind Request is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository read service MUST
 implement the following subset of this operation:
    BindRequest ::=
      [APPLICATION 0] SEQUENCE {
         version      INTEGER (2),
         name         LDAPDN, -- MUST accept NULL LDAPDN
         simpleauth [0] OCTET STRING  -- MUST accept NULL simple
         }
 An application providing a LDAP repository read service MAY implement
 other aspects of the BindRequest as well.
 Different services may have different security requirements.  Some
 services may allow anonymous search, others may require
 authentication. Those services allowing anonymous search may choose
 only to allow search based on certain criteria and not others.
 A LDAP repository read service SHOULD implement some level of
 anonymous search access. A LDAP repository read service MAY implement
 authenticated search access.

5.1.2. Bind Response

 The full LDAPv2 BindResponse is described in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository read service MUST
 implement this entire protocol element, though only the following
 error codes may be returned from a Bind operation:

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 3] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

     success                      (0),
     operationsError              (1),
     protocolError                (2),
     authMethodNotSupported       (7),
     noSuchObject                 (32),
     invalidDNSyntax              (34),
     inappropriateAuthentication  (48),
     invalidCredentials           (49),
     busy                         (51),
     unavailable                  (52),
     unwillingToPerform           (53),
     other                        (80)

5.2. Search

5.2.1. Search Request

 The full LDAPv2 SearchRequest is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository read service MUST
 implement the following subset of the SearchRequest.
    SearchRequest ::=
      [APPLICATION 3] SEQUENCE {
         baseObject     LDAPDN,
         scope             ENUMERATED {
                           baseObject   (0),
                                      },
         derefAliases   ENUMERATED {
                           neverDerefAliases   (0),
                                   },
         sizeLimit      INTEGER (0),
         timeLimit      INTEGER (0),
         attrsOnly      BOOLEAN, -- FALSE only
         filter         Filter,
         attributes     SEQUENCE OF AttributeType
                             }
    Filter ::=
      CHOICE {
        present        [7] AttributeType, -- "objectclass" only
               }
 This subset of the LDAPv2 SearchRequest allows the LDAPv2 "read"
 operation: a base object search with a filter testing for the
 existence of the objectClass attribute.

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 4] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

 An application providing a LDAP repository read service MAY implement
 other aspects of the SearchRequest as well.

5.2.2.

 The full LDAPv2 SearchResponse is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository read service over LDAPv2
 MUST implement the full SearchResponse.
 Note that in the case of multivalued attributes such as
 userCertificate a SearchResponse containing this attribute will
 include all values, assuming the requester has sufficient access
 permissions.  The application/relying party may need to select an
 appropriate value to be used. Also note that retrieval of a
 certificate from a named entry does not guarantee that the
 certificate will include that same Distinguished Name (DN) and in
 some cases the subject DN in the certificate may be NULL.

5.3. Unbind

 The full LDAPv2 UnbindRequest is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository read service MUST
 implement the full UnbindRequest.

6. LDAP Repository Search

 To search, using arbitrary criteria, for an entry in a repository
 containing a certificate, CRL, or other information of interest,
 requires a subset of the following three LDAP operations:
   BindRequest (and BindResponse)
   SearchRequest (and SearchResponse)
   UnbindRequest
 The subset of each operation REQUIRED is given below.

6.1. Bind

 The BindRequest and BindResponse subsets needed are the same as those
 described in Section 5.1.
 The full LDAP v2 Bind Request is defined in RFC 1777.

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 5] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

6.2. Search

6.2.1. Search Request

 The full LDAPv2 SearchRequest is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository search service MUST
 implement the following subset of the SearchRequest protocol unit.
    SearchRequest ::=
      [APPLICATION 3] SEQUENCE {
         baseObject     LDAPDN,
         scope          ENUMERATED {
                             baseObject     (0),
                             singleLevel    (1),
                             wholeSubtree   (2)
                                   },
         derefAliases   ENUMERATED {
                             neverDerefAliases     (0),
                                   },
         sizeLimit      INTEGER (0 .. maxInt),
         timeLimit      INTEGER (0 .. maxInt),
         attrsOnly      BOOLEAN,  -- FALSE only
         filter         Filter,
         attributes     SEQUENCE OF AttributeType
                              }
 All aspects of the SearchRequest MUST be supported, except for the
 following:
  1. Only the neverDerefAliases value of derefAliases needs to be

supported

  1. Only the FALSE value for attrsOnly needs to be supported
 This subset provides a more general search capability.  It is a
 superset of the SearchRequest subset defined in Section 5.2.1. The
 elements added to this service are:
  1. singleLevel and wholeSubtree scope needs to be supported
  1. sizeLimit is included
  1. timeLimit is included
  1. Enhanced filter capability

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 6] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

 An application providing a LDAP repository search service MAY
 implement other aspects of the SearchRequest as well.

6.2.2. Search Response

 The full LDAPv2 SearchResponse is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository search service over LDAPv2
 MUST implement the full SearchResponse.

6.3. Unbind

 An application providing a LDAP repository search service MUST
 implement the full UnbindRequest.

7. LDAP Repository Modify

 To add, delete and modify PKI information in a repository  requires a
 subset of the following LDAP operations:
   BindRequest (and BindResponse)
   ModifyRequest (and ModifyResponse)
   AddRequest (and AddResponse)
   DelRequest (and DelResponse
   UnbindRequest
 The subset of each operation REQUIRED is given below.

7.1. Bind

 The full LDAP v2 Bind Request is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository modify service MUST
 implement the following subset of this operation:
    BindRequest ::=
      [APPLICATION 0] SEQUENCE {
         version      INTEGER (2),
         name         LDAPDN,
         simpleauth [0] OCTET STRING
         }
 A LDAP repository modify service MUST implement authenticated access.
 The BindResponse subsets needed are the same as those described in
 Section 5.1.2.

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 7] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

7.2. Modify

7.2.1. Modify Request

 The full LDAPv2 ModifyRequest is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository modify service MUST
 implement the following subset of the ModifyRequest protocol unit.
    ModifyRequest ::=
      [APPLICATION 6] SEQUENCE {
     object         LDAPDN,
     modification   SEQUENCE OF SEQUENCE {
                      operation     ENUMERATED {
                                      add     (0),
                                      delete  (1)
                                    },
                      modification  SEQUENCE {
                                    type   AttributeType,
                                    values SET OF
                                           AttributeValue
                                    }
                    }
      }
 All aspects of the ModifyRequest MUST be supported, except for the
 following:
  1. Only the add and delete values of operation need to be supported

7.2.2. Modify Response

 The full LDAPv2 ModifyResponse is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository modify service MUST
 implement the full ModifyResponse.

7.3. Add

7.3.1. Add Request

 The full LDAPv2 AddRequest is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository modify service MUST
 implement the full AddRequest.

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 8] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

7.3.2. Add Response

 The full LDAPv2 AddResponse is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository modify service MUST
 implement the full AddResponse.

7.4. Delete

7.4.1. Delete Request

 The full LDAPv2 DelRequest is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository modify service MUST
 implement the full DelRequest.

7.4.2. Delete Response

 The full LDAPv2 DelResponse is defined in RFC 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository modify service MUST
 implement the full DelResponse.

7.5. Unbind

 An application providing a LDAP repository modify service MUST
 implement the full UnbindRequest.

8. Non-standard attribute value encodings

 When conveyed in LDAP requests and results, attributes defined in
 X.500 are to be encoded using string representations defined in RFC
 1778, The String Representation of Standard Attribute Syntaxes.
 These string encodings were based on the attribute definitions from
 X.500(1988).  Thus, the string representations of the PKI information
 elements are for version 1 certificates and version 1 revocation
 lists.  Since this specification uses version 3 certificates and
 version 2 revocation lists, as defined in X.509(1997), the RFC 1778
 string encoding of these attributes is inappropriate.
 For this reason, these attributes MUST be encoded using a syntax
 similar to the syntax "Undefined" from section 2.1 of RFC 1778:
 values of these attributes are encoded as if they were values of type
 "OCTET STRING", with the string value of the encoding being the DER-
 encoding of the value itself.  For example, when writing a
 userCertificate to the repository, the CA generates a DER-encoding of
 the certificate and uses that encoding as the value of the
 userCertificate attribute in the LDAP Modify request.This encoding

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 9] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

 style is consistent with the encoding scheme proposed for LDAPv3,
 which is now being defined within the IETF.
 Note that certificates and revocation lists will be transferred using
 this mechanism rather than the string encodings in RFC 1778 and
 client systems which do not understand this encoding may experience
 problems with these attributes.

9. Transport

 An application providing a LDAP repository read service, LDAP
 repository search service, or LDAP repository modify service MUST
 support LDAPv2 transport over TCP, as defined in Section 3.1 of RFC
 1777.
 An application providing a LDAP repository read service, LDAP
 repository search service, or LDAP repository modify service MAY
 support LDAPv2 transport over other reliable transports as well.

10. Security Considerations

 Since the elements of information which are key to the PKI service
 (certificates and CRLs) are both digitally signed pieces of
 information, additional integrity service is NOT REQUIRED.  As
 neither information element need be kept secret and anonymous access
 to such information, for retrieval purposes is generally acceptable,
 privacy service is NOT REQUIRED for information retrieval requests.
 CAs have additional requirements, including modification of PKI
 information.  Simple authentication alone is not sufficient for these
 purposes. It is RECOMMENDED that some stronger means of
 authentication and/or (if simple authentication is used) some means
 of protecting the privacy of the password is used, (e.g.  accept
 modifications only via physically secure networks, use IPsec, use SSH
 or TLS or SSL tunnel). Without such authentication, it is possible
 that a denial-of-service attack could occur where the attacker
 replaces valid certificates with bogus ones.
 For the LDAP repository modify service, profiled in section 7, there
 are some specific security considerations with respect to access
 control. These controls apply to a repository which is under the same
 management control as the CA. Organizations operating directories are
 NOT REQUIRED to provide external CAs access permission to their
 directories.

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 10] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

 The CA MUST have access control permissions allowing it to:
    For CA entries:
       - add, modify and delete all PKI attributes for its own
         directory entry;
       - add, modify and delete all values of these attributes.
    For CRL distribution point entries (if used):
       - create, modify and delete entries of object class
         cRLDistributionPoint immediately subordinate to its own
         entry;
       - add, modify and delete all attributes, and all values of
         these attributes for these entries.
    For subscriber (end-entity) entries:
       - add, modify and delete the attribute userCertificate and all
         values of that attribute, issued by this CA to/from these
         entries.
 The CA is the ONLY entity with these permissions.
 An application providing LDAP repository read, LDAP repository
 search, or LDAP repository modify service as defined in this
 specification is NOT REQUIRED to implement any additional security
 features other than those described herein, however an implementation
 SHOULD do so.

11. References

 [1]  Yeong, Y., Howes, T. and S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory Access
      Protocol", RFC 1777, March 1995.
 [2]  Howes, T., Kille, S., Yeong, W. and C. Robbins, "The String
      Representation of Standard Attribute Syntaxes", RFC 1778, March
      1995.
 [3]  Bradner, S., "Key Words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
      Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 11] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

12. Authors' Addresses

 Sharon Boeyen
 Entrust Technologies Limited
 750 Heron Road
 Ottawa, Ontario
 Canada K1V 1A7
 EMail: sharon.boeyen@entrust.com
 Tim Howes
 Netscape Communications Corp.
 501 E. Middlefield Rd.
 Mountain View, CA 94043
 USA
 EMail: howes@netscape.com
 Patrick Richard
 Xcert Software Inc.
 Suite 1001, 701 W. Georgia Street
 P.O. Box 10145
 Pacific Centre
 Vancouver, B.C.
 Canada V7Y 1C6
 EMail: patr@xcert.com

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 12] RFC 2559 PKIX Operational Protocols - LDAPv2 April 1999

13. Full Copyright Statement

 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  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
 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
 BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
 HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
 MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Boeyen, et al. Standards Track [Page 13]

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