INTERNET-DRAFT                                                R. Housley
Intended Status: Proposed Standard                        Vigil Security
Expires: 21 September 2016                                 21 March 22 June 2017                                   19 December 2016

      Use of the Hash-based Merkle Tree Signature (MTS) Algorithm
               in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
                  <draft-housley-cms-mts-hash-sig-04>
                  <draft-housley-cms-mts-hash-sig-05>

Abstract

   This document specifies the conventions for using the Merkle Tree
   Signatures (MTS) digital signature algorithm with the Cryptographic
   Message Syntax (CMS).  The MTS algorithm is one form of hash-based
   digital signature.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.1.  MTS Digital Signature Algorithm  ASN.1  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.2.  LM-OTS One-time  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  MTS Digital Signature Algorithm Overview . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     1.3.  Terminology  3
     2.1.  Hierarchical Signature System (HSS)  . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     2.2.  Leighton-Micali Signature (LMS)  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2.
     2.3.  Leighton-Micali One-time Signature Algorithm (LM-OTS)  . .  5
   3.  Algorithm Identifiers and Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  6
   4.  Signed-data Conventions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   4.  6
   5.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     4.1.  7
     5.1.  Implementation Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . .  6
     4.2.  7
     5.2.  Algorithm Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   5.  7
   6.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   6.  8
   7.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   7.  8
   8.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7  8
   Appendix: ASN.1 Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8 10
   Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 11

1.  Introduction

   This document specifies the conventions for using the Merkle Tree
   Signatures (MTS) digital signature algorithm with the Cryptographic
   Message Syntax (CMS) [CMS] signed-data content type.  The MTS
   algorithm is one form of hash-based digital signature that can only
   be used for a fixed number of signatures.  The MTS algorithm is
   described in [HASHSIG].  The MTS algorithm uses small private and
   public keys, and it has low computational cost; however, the
   signatures are quite large.

1.1.  ASN.1

   CMS values are generated using ASN.1 [ASN1-02], [ASN1-B], using the Basic
   Encoding Rules (BER) and the Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER).

1.1. (DER)
   [ASN1-E].

1.2.  Terminology

   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 RFC 2119 [KEYWORDS].

2.  MTS Digital Signature Algorithm Overview

   Merkle Tree Signatures (MTS) are a method for signing a large but
   fixed number of messages.  An MTS system depends on a one-time
   signature method and a collision-resistant hash function.  An MTS
   system is an N-time signature system, meaning that the private key
   can be used to generate at most N signatures.

   An MTS system uses two cryptographic components: a one-time signature
   method and a collision-resistant hash function.  Each MTS
   public/private key pair is associated with a k-way tree.  Each leaf
   of the tree can be used to generate a one-time signature (OTS), which
   can be used to securely sign exactly one message, but cannot securely
   sign more than one.

   This specification makes use of the MTS algorithm specified in
   [HASHSIG], which is the Leighton and Micali adaptation [LM] of the
   original Lamport-Diffie-Winternitz-Merkle one-time signature system
   [M1979][M1987][M1989a][M1989b].  It makes use of the LM-OTS one-time
   signature scheme and the SHA-256 [SHS] one-way hash function. function [SHS].

2.1.  Hierarchical Signature System (HSS)

   The MTS system specified in [HASHSIG] uses a hierarchy of trees.  The
   Hierarchical N-time Signature System (HSS) allows subordinate trees
   to be generated when they are needed by the signer.  Otherwise,
   generation of the entire tree might take weeks or longer.

   An HSS signature as specified in specified in [HASHSIG] carries the
   number of levels minus one, followed by that number of signed public
   keys, followed by the LMS signature as described in Section 2.2.
   Each signed public key is represented by the hash value at the root
   of the tree, and the signature over that public key is an LMS
   signature as described in Section 2.2.

   The elements of the HSS signature value for a stand-alone tree can be
   summarized as:

      u32str(0) ||
      lms_signature_on_message

   The elements of the HSS signature value for a tree with L levels can
   be summarized as:

      u32str(L-1) ||
      lms_signature_on_public_key[0] || public_key[1] ||
      lms_signature_on_public_key[1] || public_key[2] ||
         ...
      lms_signature_on_public_key[L-2] || public_key[L-1] ||
      lms_signature_on_message

2.2.  Leighton-Micali Signature (LMS)

   Each tree in the system has specified in [HASHSIG] uses the Leighton-
   Micali Signature (LMS) system.  LMS systems have two parameters.  The
   first parameter is the height of the tree, h, which is the number of
   levels in the tree minus one.  The [HASHSIG] specification supports three
   four values for this parameter: h=20; h=15; h=10; and h=5.  Note that
   there are 2^h leaves in the tree.  The second parameter is the number
   of bytes output by the hash function, n, which the amount of data
   associated with each node in the tree,
   n, is defined by the hash function. tree.  The [HASHSIG] specification
   supports two hash functions: SHA-256 [SHS], with n=32; and
   SHA-256-16, which is the same as SHA-256, except that only the SHA-256 hash result
   is truncated to 16 bytes, function [SHS], with n=16.  Note that there are 2^h leaves
   in the tree.

   Six n=32.

   Four tree sizes are specified in [HASHSIG]:
      lms_sha256_n32_h20;
      lms_sha256_n32_h10;
      lms_sha256_n32_h5;
      lms_sha256_n16_h20;
      lms_sha256_n16_h10;

      LMS_SHA256_M32_H20;
      LMS_SHA256_M32_H15
      LMS_SHA256_M32_H10; and
      lms_sha256_n16_h5.
      LMS_SHA256_M32_H5.

   An LMS signature consists of three things: four elements: a typecode indicating the
   particular LMS algorithm, an the number of the leaf associated with the
   LM-OTS signature, an LM-OTS signature as described in Section 2.3,
   and an array of values that is associated with the path through the
   tree from the leaf associated with the LM-OTS signature to the root.
   The array of values contains the siblings of the nodes on the path
   from the leaf to the root but does not contain the nodes on the path
   itself.  The array for a tree with height h will have h values.  The
   first value is the sibling of the leaf, the next value is the sibling
   of the parent of the leaf, and so on up the path to the root.

1.2.  LM-OTS

   The four elements of the LMS signature value can be summarized as:

      u32str(type) ||
      u32str(q) ||
      ots_signature ||
      path[0] || path[1] || ... || path[h-1]

2.3.  Leighton-Micali One-time Signature Algorithm (LM-OTS)

   Merkle Tree Signatures (MTS) depend on a LM-OTS one-time signature
   method.  An LM-OTS has four parameters.

      n -  The number of bytes associated with the hash function, which
           is the same as the LMS parameter.  The [HASHSIG]
           specification supports two only one hash functions: function: SHA-256 [SHS],
           with n=32; and SHA-256-16, with n=16. n=32.

      w -  The width in bits of the Winternitz parameter. coefficients.  The
           [HASHSIG] specification supports four values for this
           parameter: w=1; w=2; w=4; and w=8.

      p -  The number of n-byte string elements that make up the LM-OTS
           signature.

      ls - The number of left-shift bits used in the checksum function.

   The values of p and ls are dependent on the choices of the parameters
   n and w, as described in Appendix A of [HASHSIG].

   Eight

   Four LM-OTS variants are defined in [HASHSIG]:

      LMOTS_SHA256_N32_W1;
      LMOTS_SHA256_N32_W2;
      LMOTS_SHA256_N32_W4;
      LMOTS_SHA256_N32_W8;
      LMOTS_SHA256_N16_W1;
      LMOTS_SHA256_N16_W2;
      LMOTS_SHA256_N16_W4; and
      LMOTS_SHA256_N16_W8.

1.3.  Terminology
      LMOTS_SHA256_N32_W8.

   Signing involves the generation of C, an n-byte random value.

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to LM-OTS signature value can be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [KEYWORDS].

2. summarized as:

      u32str(type) || C || y[0] || ... || y[p-1]

3.  Algorithm Identifiers and Parameters

   The algorithm identifier for an MTS signature is id-alg-mts-hashsig:

      id-smime

      id-alg-mts-hashsig  OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { iso(1) member-body(2)
            us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs9(9) 16 }

      id-alg  OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-smime  3 }

      id-alg-mts-hashsig  OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-alg smime(16) alg(3) 17 }

   When the id-alg-mts-hashsig algorithm identifier is used for a
   signature, the AlgorithmIdentifier parameters field MUST be absent.

   The signature values is a large OCTET STRING.  The signature format
   is designed for easy parsing.  Each format includes a counter and
   type codes that indirectly providing all of the information that is
   needed to parse the value during signature validation.  The first 4 bytes
   octets of the signature value contains the
   mls_algorithm_type as defined a count of levels minus one in Section 5.5
   the HSS.  The first 4 octets of [HASHSIG].  This each LMS signature value contains
   type code, which tells how to parse the remaining parts of the
   signature value, which
   is composed of an LM-OTS signature and an array of values that is
   associated with the path through the tree from the leaf associated
   with the LM-OTS signature to the root. value.  The first 4 bytes octets of the each LM-OTS signature value
   contains the
   ots_algorithm_type as defined in Section 4.10 of [HASHSIG].  This type is followed by n*p bytes of signature value.

   The signature format is designed for easy parsing.  Each format
   starts with a 4-byte enumeration value that indicates all of the
   details of the signature algorithm, indirectly providing all of the
   information that is needed code, which tells how to parse the value during remaining parts of
   the signature
   validation.

3. value.

4.  Signed-data Conventions

   digestAlgorithms SHOULD contain the one-way hash function used to
   compute the message digest on the eContent value.  Since the hash-
   based signature algorithms all depend on SHA-256, it is strongly
   RECOMMENDED that SHA-256 also be used to compute the message digest
   on the content.

   Further, the same one-way hash function SHOULD be used to compute the
   message digest on both the eContent and the signedAttributes value if
   signedAttributes exist. are present.  Again, since the hash-based signature
   algorithms all depend on SHA-256, it is strongly RECOMMENDED that
   SHA-256 be used.

   signatureAlgorithm MUST contain id-alg-mts-hashsig.  The algorithm
   parameters field MUST be absent.

   signature contains the single HSS signature value resulting from the
   signing operation as specified in [HASHSIG].

4.

5.  Security Considerations

4.1.

5.1.  Implementation Security Considerations

   Implementations must protect the private keys.  Compromise of the
   private keys may result in the ability to forge signatures.  Along
   with the private key, the implementation must maintain a counter
   value that indicates keep track of which
   leaf nodes in the tree have been used.  Loss of integrity of this counter
   tracking data can cause an one-time key to be used more than once.
   As a result, when a private key and an
   associated counter value the tracking data are stored on
   non-volatile media or stored in a virtual machine environment, care
   must be taken to preserve
   these properties. confidentiality and integrity.

   An implementation must ensure that a LDWM LM-OTS private key is used to
   generate a signature only one time, and ensure that the LDWM private key it cannot be used
   for any other purpose.

   The generation of private keys relies on random numbers.  The use of
   inadequate pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) to generate these
   values can result in little or no security.  An attacker may find it
   much easier to reproduce the PRNG environment that produced the keys,
   searching the resulting small set of possibilities, rather than brute
   force searching the whole key space.  The generation of quality
   random numbers is difficult.  RFC 4086 [RANDOM] offers important
   guidance in this area.

   When computing signatures, the same hash function SHOULD be used for
   all operations.  This  In this specification, only SHA-256 is used.  Using
   only SHA-256 reduces the number of possible failure points in the
   signature process.

4.2.

5.2.  Algorithm Security Considerations

   At Black Hat USA 2013, some researchers gave a presentation on the
   current sate of public key cryptography.  They said: "Current
   cryptosystems depend on discrete logarithm and factoring which has
   seen some major new developments in the past 6 months" [BH2013].
   They encouraged preparation for a day when RSA and DSA cannot be
   depended upon.

   A post-quantum cryptosystem is a system that is secure against
   quantum computers that have more than a trivial number of quantum
   bits.  It is open to conjecture whether when it is will be feasible to build
   such a machine.  RSA, DSA, and ECDSA are not post-quantum secure.

   The LM-OTP one-time signature signature, LMS, and LMS HSS do not depend on discrete
   logarithm or factoring, and as a result these algorithms are considered
   to be post-quantum secure.

   Today, RSA is often used to digitally sign software updates.  This
   means that the distribution of software updates could be compromised
   if a significant advance is made in factoring or a quantum computer
   is invented.  The use of MTS signatures to protect software update
   distribution, perhaps using the format described in [FWPROT], will
   allow the deployment of software that implements new cryptosystems.

5.

6.  IANA Considerations

   {{ RFC Editor: Please remove this section prior to publication. }}

   This document has no actions for IANA.

6.

7.  Normative References

   [ASN1-02]

   [ASN1-B]  ITU-T, "ITU-T "Information technology -- Abstract Syntax Notation
              One (ASN.1): Specification of basic notation", ITU-T
              Recommendation X.680, X.681, X.682, 2015.

   [ASN1-E]     ITU-T, "Information technology -- ASN.1 encoding rules:
              Specification of Basic Encoding Rules (BER), Canonical
              Encoding Rules (CER) and
              X.683", Distinguished Encoding Rules
              (DER)", ITU-T X.680, X.681, X.682, and X.683, 2002. Recommendation X.690, 2015.

   [CMS]      Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", STD 70,
              RFC 5652, DOI 10.17487/RFC5652, September 2009,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5652>.

   [HASHSIG]  McGrew, D., and M. Curcio, and S. Fluhrer, "Hash-Based
              Signatures", Work in progress. <draft-mcgrew-hash-sigs-03>  <draft-mcgrew-hash-
              sigs-05>

   [KEYWORDS] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI
              10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997, <http://www.rfc-
              editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [SHS]      National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
              FIPS Publication 180-3: Secure Hash Standard, October
              2008.

7.

8.  Informative References

   [BH2013]   Ptacek, T., T. Ritter, J. Samuel, and A. Stamos, "The
              Factoring Dead: Preparing for the Cryptopocalypse", August
              2013.  <https://media.blackhat.com/us-13/us-13-Stamos-The-
              Factoring-Dead.pdf>

   [CMSASN1]  Hoffman, P. and J. Schaad, "New ASN.1 Modules for
              Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) and S/MIME", RFC 5911,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5911, June 2010, <http://www.rfc-
              editor.org/info/rfc5911>.

   [FWPROT]   Housley, R., "Using Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) to
              Protect Firmware Packages", RFC 4108, DOI
              10.17487/RFC4108, August 2005, <http://www.rfc-
              editor.org/info/rfc4108>.

   [LM]       Leighton, T. and S. Micali, "Large provably fast and
              secure digital signature schemes from secure hash
              functions", U.S. Patent 5,432,852, July 1995.

   [M1979]    Merkle, R., "Secrecy, Authentication, and Public Key
              Systems", Stanford University Information Systems
              Laboratory Technical Report 1979-1, 1979.

   [M1987]    Merkle, R., "A Digital Signature Based on a Conventional
              Encryption Function", Lecture Notes in Computer Science
              crypto87, 1988.

   [M1989a]   Merkle, R., "A Certified Digital Signature", Lecture Notes
              in Computer Science crypto89, 1990.

   [M1989b]  Merkle, R., "One Way Hash Functions and DES", Lecture Notes
              in Computer Science crypto89, 1990.

   [PKIXASN1] Hoffman, P. and J. Schaad, "New ASN.1 Modules for the
              Public Key Infrastructure Using X.509 (PKIX)", RFC 5912,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5912, June 2010, <http://www.rfc-
              editor.org/info/rfc5912>.

   [PQC]      Bernstein, D., "Introduction to post-quantum
              cryptography", 2009.
              <http://www.pqcrypto.org/www.springer.com/cda/content/
              document/cda_downloaddocument/9783540887010-c1.pdf>

   [RANDOM]   Eastlake 3rd, D., Schiller, J., and S. Crocker,
              "Randomness Requirements for Security", BCP 106, RFC 4086,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4086, June 2005, <http://www.rfc-
              editor.org/info/rfc4086>.

Appendix: ASN.1 Module

   MTS-HashSig-2013
     { iso(1) member-body(2) us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs9(9)
       id-smime(16) id-mod(0) id-mod-mts-hashsig-2013(64) }

   DEFINITIONS EXPLICIT IMPLICIT TAGS ::= BEGIN

   EXPORTS ALL;

   IMPORTS
     SIGNATURE-ALGORITHM PUBLIC-KEY
       FROM AlgorithmInformation-2009  -- RFC 5911 [CMSASN1]
         { iso(1) identified-organization(3) dod(6) internet(1)
           security(5) mechanisms(5) pkix(7) id-mod(0)
           id-mod-algorithmInformation-02(58) }
     mda-sha256
       FROM PKIX1-PSS-OAEP-Algorithms-2009  -- RFC 5912 [PKIXASN1]
         { iso(1) identified-organization(3) dod(6)
           internet(1) security(5) mechanisms(5) pkix(7) id-mod(0)
           id-mod-pkix1-rsa-pkalgs-02(54) } ;

   --
   -- Object Identifiers
   --

   id-smime

   id-alg-mts-hashsig  OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { iso(1) member-body(2)
         us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs9(9) 16 }

   id-alg  OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-smime  3 }

   id-alg-mts-hashsig  OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-alg smime(16) alg(3) 17 }

   --
   -- Signature Algorithm and Public Key
   --

   sa-MTS-HashSig SIGNATURE-ALGORITHM ::= {
        IDENTIFIER id-alg-mts-hashsig
        HASHES { mda-sha256, ... }
        PUBLIC-KEYS { pk-MTS-HashSig } }

   pk-MTS-HashSig PUBLIC-KEY ::= {
       IDENTIFIER id-alg-mts-hashsig
       KEY MTS-HashSig-PublicKey }

   MTS-HashSig-PublicKey ::= OCTET STRING

   HashSignatureAlgs SIGNATURE-ALGORITHM ::= {
       sa-MTS-HashSig, ... }

   END

Author's Address

   Russ Housley
   Vigil Security, LLC
   918 Spring Knoll Drive
   Herndon, VA 20170
   USA

   EMail: housley@vigilsec.com