[ietf-privacy] "Opportunistic encryption" and a need for a definition

Stephane Bortzmeyer <bortzmeyer@nic.fr> Tue, 19 November 2013 09:34 UTC

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Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:33:43 +0100
From: Stephane Bortzmeyer <bortzmeyer@nic.fr>
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Subject: [ietf-privacy] "Opportunistic encryption" and a need for a definition
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[Long quiet time on this list, time to resume discussions.]

In draft-cooper-ietf-privacy-requirements-01, I find:

   "Opportunistic encryption" is defined as encryption without any pre-
   arrangement specific to the pair of systems involved (e.g., by using
   a Diffie-Hellman exchange).  See [RFC4322].

I find this definition confusing (specially the reference to DH)
because it does not match the rest of the text which says:

   Where both opportunistic and one-sided or mutually
   authenticated encryption are specified, protocols MUST also protect
   against downgrade attacks so that scenarios where authentication is
   required cannot easily be manipulated into using opportunistic
   encryption which will often be subject to man-in-the-middle
   attacks.

The second paragraph seems to use OE as meaning "encryption without
authentication" (which is indeed vulnerable to man-in-the-middle
attacks). This is also how "opportunistic" is used in RFC 5386.

The first paragraph (and RFC 4322) have a different meaning, OE being
"encryption without peer-specific setup" (and therefore being
authenticated, and not vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks).

The discussions in Vancouver were very confused as well. Everyone was
talking about OE but with a different definition in mind. I strongly
suggest that we need either to have one definition and to stick with
it (the current draft is self-contradictory). Or to give in and to
stop using the term OE, poorly defined, and too loaded.

Do not that Wikipedia has a third definition of OE (encryption with a
fallback to an unencrypted
mode) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunistic_encryption