Internet-Draft jose-cose-sphincs-plus October 2024
Prorock, et al. Expires 23 April 2025 [Page]
Workgroup:
CBOR Object Signing and Encryption
Internet-Draft:
draft-ietf-cose-sphincs-plus-05
Published:
Intended Status:
Standards Track
Expires:
Authors:
M. Prorock
mesur.io
O. Steele
Transmute
R. Misoczki
Google
M. Osborne
IBM
C. Cloostermans
NXP

SLH-DSA for JOSE and COSE

Abstract

This document describes JOSE and COSE serializations for SLH-DSA, which was derived from SPHINCS+, a Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) based digital signature scheme. This document does not define any new cryptography, only seralizations of existing cryptographic systems described in [FIPS-205]. Note to RFC Editor: This document should not proceed to AUTH48 until NIST completes paramater tuning and selection as a part of the PQC standardization process.

About This Document

This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

The latest revision of this draft can be found at https://cose-wg.github.io/draft-ietf-cose-sphincs-plus/draft-ietf-cose-sphincs-plus.html. Status information for this document may be found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-cose-sphincs-plus/.

Discussion of this document takes place on the CBOR Object Signing and Encryption Working Group mailing list (mailto:cose@ietf.org), which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/cose/. Subscribe at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/cose/.

Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at https://github.com/cose-wg/draft-ietf-cose-sphincs-plus.

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

This Internet-Draft will expire on 23 April 2025.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

This document describes JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE) and CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE) serializations for the Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Standard (SLH-DSA), which was derived from Version 3.1 of SPHINCS+, a Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) based digital signature scheme.

This document does not define any new cryptography, only serializations of existing cryptographic systems described in [FIPS-205].

This document builds on the Algorithm Key Pair (AKP) type as defined in [I-D.draft-ietf-cose-dilithium]. The AKP type enables flexible representation of keys used across different post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, including SLH-DSA.

2. Terminology

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

3. The SLH-DSA Algorithm Family

The SLH-DSA Signature Scheme is parameterized to support different security levels.

This document requests the registration of the following algorithms in [IANA.jose]:

Table 1: JOSE algorithms for SLH-DSA
Name alg Description
SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s JSON Web Signature Algorithm for SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s
SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s JSON Web Signature Algorithm for SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s
SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f JSON Web Signature Algorithm for SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f

This document requests the registration of the following algorithms in [IANA.cose]:

Table 2: COSE algorithms for SLH-DSA
Name alg Description
SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s TBD (requested assignment -51) CBOR Object Signing Algorithm for SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s
SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s TBD (requested assignment -52) CBOR Object Signing Algorithm for SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s
SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f TBD (requested assignment -53) CBOR Object Signing Algorithm for SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f

4. SLH-DSA Keys

Private and Public Keys are produced to enable the sign and verify operations for each of the SLH-DSA Algorithms. The SLH-DSA Algorithm Family uses the Algorithm Key Pair (AKP) key type, as defined in [I-D.draft-ietf-cose-dilithium]. This ensures compatibility across different cryptographic algorithms that use AKP for key representation.

The specific algorithms for SLH-DSA, such as SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s, SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s, and SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f, are defined in this document and are used in the alg value of an AKP key representation to specify the algorithm that corresponds to the key. Like ML-DSA keys, SLH-DSA keys use the AKP Key Type.

The thumbprints for SLH-DSA keys are also computed according to the process described in [I-D.draft-ietf-cose-dilithium]

5. Security Considerations

The security considerations of [RFC7515], [RFC7517] and [RFC9053] applies to this specification as well.

A detailed security analysis of SLH-DSA is beyond the scope of this specification, see [FIPS-205] for additional details.

The following considerations apply to all parameter sets described in this specification.

5.1. Validating public keys

All algorithms in that operate on public keys require first validating those keys. For the sign, verify and proof schemes, the use of KeyValidate is REQUIRED.

5.2. Side channel attacks

Implementations of the signing algorithm SHOULD protect the secret key from side-channel attacks. Multiple best practices exist to protect against side-channel attacks. Any implementation of the SLH-DSA signing algorithms SHOULD utilize the following best practices at a minimum:

  • Constant timing - the implementation should ensure that constant time is utilized in operations

  • Sequence and memory access persistance - the implementation SHOULD execute the exact same sequence of instructions (at a machine level) with the exact same memory access independent of which polynomial is being operated on.

  • Uniform sampling - care should be given in implementations to preserve the property of uniform sampling in implementation and to prevent information leakage.

5.3. Randomness considerations

It is recommended that the all nonces are from a trusted source of randomness.

6. IANA Considerations

6.1. Additions to Existing Registries

6.1.1. New COSE Algorithms

IANA is requested to add the following entries to the COSE Algorithms Registry. The following completed registration templates are provided as described in RFC9053 and RFC9054.

6.1.1.1. SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s
  • Name: SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s

  • Value: TBD (requested assignment -51)

  • Description: CBOR Object Signing Algorithm for SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s

  • Capabilities: [kty]

  • Reference: RFC XXXX

  • Recommended: Yes

6.1.1.2. SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s
  • Name: SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s

  • Value: TBD (requested assignment -52)

  • Description: CBOR Object Signing Algorithm for SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s

  • Capabilities: [kty]

  • Reference: RFC XXXX

  • Recommended: Yes

6.1.1.3. SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f
  • Name: SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f

  • Value: TBD (requested assignment -53)

  • Description: CBOR Object Signing Algorithm for SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f

  • Capabilities: [kty]

  • Reference: RFC XXXX

  • Recommended: Yes

6.1.2. New JOSE Algorithms

IANA is requested to add the following entries to the JSON Web Signature and Encryption Algorithms Registry. The following completed registration templates are provided as described in RFC7518.

6.1.2.1. SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s
  • Algorithm Name: SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s

  • Algorithm Description: SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s as described in FIPS 205.

  • Algorithm Usage Location(s): alg

  • JOSE Implementation Requirements: Optional

  • Change Controller: IETF

  • Value registry: [IANA.jose] Algorithms

  • Specification Document(s): RFC XXXX

  • Algorithm Analysis Documents(s): [FIPS-205]

6.1.2.2. SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s
  • Algorithm Name: SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s

  • Algorithm Description: SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s as described in FIPS 205.

  • Algorithm Usage Location(s): alg

  • JOSE Implementation Requirements: Optional

  • Change Controller: IETF

  • Value registry: [IANA.jose] Algorithms

  • Specification Document(s): RFC XXXX

  • Algorithm Analysis Documents(s): [FIPS-205]

6.1.2.3. SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f
  • Algorithm Name: SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f

  • Algorithm Description: SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f as described in FIPS 205.

  • Algorithm Usage Location(s): alg

  • JOSE Implementation Requirements: Optional

  • Change Controller: IETF

  • Value registry: [IANA.jose] Algorithms

  • Specification Document(s): RFC XXXX

  • Algorithm Analysis Documents(s): [FIPS-205]

7. References

7.1. Normative References

[I-D.draft-ietf-cose-dilithium]
Prorock, M., Steele, O., Misoczki, R., Osborne, M., and C. Cloostermans, "ML-DSA for JOSE and COSE", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-cose-dilithium-04, , <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-cose-dilithium-04>.
[IANA.cose]
IANA, "CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE)", <https://www.iana.org/assignments/cose>.
[IANA.jose]
IANA, "JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE)", <https://www.iana.org/assignments/jose>.
[RFC2119]
Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.
[RFC7515]
Jones, M., Bradley, J., and N. Sakimura, "JSON Web Signature (JWS)", RFC 7515, DOI 10.17487/RFC7515, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7515>.
[RFC7517]
Jones, M., "JSON Web Key (JWK)", RFC 7517, DOI 10.17487/RFC7517, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7517>.
[RFC8174]
Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.
[RFC9053]
Schaad, J., "CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE): Initial Algorithms", RFC 9053, DOI 10.17487/RFC9053, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9053>.

7.2. Informative References

[FIPS-205]
"Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Standard", n.d., <https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.FIPS.205>.
[NIST-PQC-2022]
"Selected Algorithms 2022", n.d., <https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/post-quantum-cryptography/selected-algorithms-2022>.

Appendix A. Examples

A.1. JOSE

A.1.1. Key Pair

{
  "kty": "AKP",
  "alg": "SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s",
  "pub": "V53SIdVF...uvw2nuCQ",
  "priv": "V53SIdVF...cDKLbsBY"
}
Figure 1: Example SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s Private JSON Web Key
{
  "kty": "AKP",
  "alg": "SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s",
  "pub": "V53SIdVF...uvw2nuCQ"
}
Figure 2: Example SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s Public JSON Web Key

A.1.2. Thumbprint

The thumbprint is computed as described in

A.1.3. JSON Web Signature

eyJhbGciOiJ...LCJraWQiOiI0MiJ9\
.\
eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46d...XVpZDo0NTYifQ\
.\
5MSEgQ0dZB4SeLC...AAAAAABIhMUE
Figure 4: Example SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s Compact JSON Web Signature

A.2. COSE

A.2.1. Key Pair

{                                   / COSE Key                    /
  1: 7,                             / AKP Key Type                /
  3: -51,                           / SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s Algorithm /
  -1: h'7803c0f9...3f6e2c70',       / AKP Private Key             /
  -2: h'7803c0f9...3bba7abd',       / AKP Public Key              /
}
~~~
{: #SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s-private-cose-key title="Example SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s Private COSE Key"}

~~~~ cbor-diag
{                                   / COSE Key                    /
  1: 7,                             / AKP Key Type                /
  3: -51,                           / SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s Algorithm /
  -2: h'7803c0f9...3bba7abd',       / AKP Public Key              /
}
Figure 5: Example SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s Public COSE Key

A.2.3. COSE Sign 1

/ cose-sign1 / 18(
  [
    / protected / <<{
      / algorithm / 1 : -51 / SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s /
    }>>
    / unprotected / {},
    / payload / h'66616b65',
    / signature / h'53e855e8...0f263549'
  ]
)
Figure 6: Example SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s COSE Sign 1

Acknowledgments

TODO acknowledge.

Authors' Addresses

Michael Prorock
mesur.io
Orie Steele
Transmute
Rafael Misoczki
Google
Michael Osborne
IBM
Christine Cloostermans
NXP