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Security Javascript Object Signing and Encryption next generation unicorn sparkling distributed ledger This specification defines a JSON Web Algorithm for JOSE, that uses a combination of key agreement and MAC to construct a signature-like mechanism. About This Document The latest revision of this draft can be found at . Status information for this document may be found at . Discussion of this document takes place on the Javascript Object Signing and Encryption Working Group mailing list (), which is archived at . Subscribe at . Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at .

Introduction JWS defines cryptographic algorithms to digitally sign or create Message Authentication Codes (MAC) of the contents of the JWS Protected Header and the JWS Payload in Section-3 . JWS also offers ephemeral-static Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman key exchange in combination with a key derivation function ("ECDH-ES" and its variations) as a mechanism for key management in Section-4.6 , however these are only used for symmetric encryption. This specification describes a combination of an ECDH key exchange with a MAC, that enables a feature set that is similar to digital signatures with repudiation. This specification and all described algorithms should respect the efforts for Fully Specified Algorithms (https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-jones-jose-fully-specified-algorithms-00.html). This algorithm is intended for use with digital credentials ecosystems, including the Issuer-Holder-Verifier model described by W3C VCDM or IETF SD-JWT-VC.

Conventions and Definitions 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 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

Terminology

Generating Party:

The Party that performs the key agreement first and generates the MAC. Similar to a Signer.

Verifying Party:

The Party that performs the key agreement second, generates the MAC and compares it to a given value. Similar to a Verifier.

Parameters For the generation of an ECDH-based MAC the following parameters must be chosen:

1. the domain parameters for the ECDH "curve"
2. the key derivation algorithm "kd"
3. the MAC algorithm "mac"

In general, these parameters are chosen by the Generating Party. These parameters need to be communicated to the Verifying Party before the generation of an ECDH-based MAC.

Cryptographic Algorithm The generation of the ECDH-based MAC takes the private key of the Generating Party and the public key of the Verifying Party as inputs. The retrieval and communication of the Verifying Party's public key is out of scope of this specification and subject to the implementing protocols. The generation of ECDH-based MAC follows these steps:

1. Perform ECDH as defined as defined by "curve" - use the specified elliptic curve to generate a key pair and set the epk - use the Verifier's public key defined by kid to perform the key agreement - optionally provide a certificate chain defined by x5c
2. Derive symmetric key as defined by "kd" - use the output from the key agreement as an input for the key derivation algorithm - derive the MAC key
3. Generate a MAC as defined by "mac" - use the output from the key derivation algorithm as an input for the MAC algorithm - generate the MAC

The verification of ECDH-based MAC follows these steps:

1. Perform ECDH as defined as defined by "curve" - use the specified elliptic curve to generate an ephemeral key pair and set the kid - provide the public key kid to the Generating Party - use the Generating Party's public key defined by epk and perform the key agreement - optionally validate the certificate chain defined by x5c
2. Derive symmetric key as defined by "kd" - use the output from the key agreement as an input for the key derivation algorithm - derive the MAC key
3. Generate a MAC as defined by "mac" - use the output from the key derivation algorithm as an input for the MAC algorithm - generate the MAC - compare the generated MAC with the signature value

Header parameter "alg" The following values MUST be used for the "alg" header parameter: Other algorithms SHOULD follow the naming ECDH-<elliptic curve domain parameters>-<KD algorithm>-<MAC algorithm>.

Header parameter "epk" The "epk" (ephemeral public key) value is created by the Generating Party for the use in the key agreement algorithm. This header parameter MUST be present and MUST contain the Generating Party's public key represented as a JSON Web Key according to . It MUST contain only public key parameters and SHOULD contain only the minimum JWK parameters necessary to represent the key. Other JWK parameters included may be checked for consistency or may be ignored.

Header parameter "x5c" The "x5c" (X.509 certificate chain) value is created by the Generating Party for the trust management of the "epk". This header parameter is OPTIONAL and if present MUST contain the X.509 certificate chain with the JWK from "epk" being the public key of the leaf certificate. Alternatively, the Generating Party may use "x5t", x5t#S256" or "x5u".

Header parameter "kid" The "kid" (key identifier) value is created by the Generating Party for the use in the key agreement algorithm. This header parameter MUST be present and MUST contain the Verifying Party's public key ID user by the Generating Party for the ECDH.

Example JWT The JWT/JWS header: , "epk" : , "kid" : } ]]> The JWT/JWS payload: The JWT/JWS signature:

Security Considerations TODO Security

IANA Considerations This document has no IANA actions.

Normative References A JSON Web Key (JWK) is a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data structure that represents a cryptographic key. This specification also defines a JWK Set JSON data structure that represents a set of JWKs. Cryptographic algorithms and identifiers for use with this specification are described in the separate JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) specification and IANA registries established by that specification. This specification registers cryptographic algorithms and identifiers to be used with the JSON Web Signature (JWS), JSON Web Encryption (JWE), and JSON Web Key (JWK) specifications. It defines several IANA registries for these identifiers. In many standards track documents several words are used to signify the requirements in the specification. These words are often capitalized. This document defines these words as they should be interpreted in IETF documents. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. RFC 2119 specifies common key words that may be used in protocol specifications. This document aims to reduce the ambiguity by clarifying that only UPPERCASE usage of the key words have the defined special meanings.

Acknowledgments TODO acknowledge.