Web Services Security
Rights Expression Language (REL) Token Profile 1.1

Public Review Draft: 28 June 2005

Document Location:

http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/wss-v1.1-spec-pr-RELTokenProfile.pdf

Errata Location:

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/wss

Technical Commitee:

Web Services Security (WSS)

Chairs:

Kelvin Lawrence, IBM

Chris Kaler, Microsoft

Editors:

Thomas DeMartini, ContentGuard, Inc.

Anthony Nadalin, IBM

Chris Kaler, Microsoft

Ronald Monzillo, Sun

Phillip Hallam-Baker, Verisign

Abstract:

This document describes how to use ISO/IEC 21000-5 Rights Expressions with the Web Services Security (WSS) specification.

Status:

The status of this document is Public Review Draft. Please send comments to the editors.

If you are on the wss@lists.oasis-open.org list for committee members, send comments there. If you are not on that list, subscribe to the wss-comment@lists.oasis-open.org list and send comments there. To subscribe, send an email message to wss-comment-request@lists.oasis-open.org with the word "subscribe" as the body of the message.

For patent disclosure information that may be essential to the implementation of this specification, and any offers of licensing terms, refer to the Intellectual Property Rights section of the OASIS Web Services Security Technical Committee (WSS TC) web page at http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/wss/ipr.php.  General OASIS IPR information can be found at http://www.oasis-open.org/who/intellectualproperty.shtml.


Notices

OASIS takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it has made any effort to identify any such rights. Information on OASIS's procedures with respect to rights in OASIS specifications can be found at the OASIS website. Copies of claims of rights made available for publication and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementors or users of this specification, can be obtained from the OASIS Executive Director.

OASIS invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights which may cover technology that may be required to implement this specification. Please address the information to the OASIS Executive Director.

Copyright  © The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards [OASIS] 2002-2005. 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 does not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to OASIS, except as needed for the purpose of developing OASIS specifications, in which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights document 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 OASIS or its successors or assigns.

This document and the information contained herein is provided on an “AS IS” basis and OASIS 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.


Table of Contents

1      Introduction (Informative) 3

2      Notations and Terminology (Normative) 3

2.1        Notational Conventions. 3

2.2        Namespaces. 3

2.3        Terminology. 3

3      Usage (Normative) 3

3.1        Token Types. 3

3.2        Processing Model 3

3.3        Attaching Security Tokens. 3

3.4        Identifying and Referencing Security Tokens. 3

3.5        Authentication. 3

3.5.1     <r:keyHolder> Principal 3

3.6        Confidentiality. 3

3.6.1     <r:keyHolder> Principal 3

3.7        Error Codes. 3

4      Types of Licenses (Informative) 3

4.1        Attribute Licenses. 3

4.2        Sender Authorization. 3

4.3        Issuer Authorization. 3

5      Threat Model and Countermeasures (Informative) 3

5.1        Eavesdropping. 3

5.2        Replay. 3

5.3        Message Insertion. 3

5.4        Message Deletion. 3

5.5        Message Modification. 3

5.6        Man-in-the-Middle. 3

6      References. 3

Appendix A: Acknowledgements. 3

Appendix B: Revision History. 3

 

1        Introduction (Informative)

The Web Services Security: SOAP Message Security [WS-Security] specification proposes a standard set of SOAP extensions that can be used when building secure Web services to implement message level integrity and confidentiality.  This specification describes the use of ISO/IEC 21000-5 Rights Expressions with respect to the WS-Security specification.

2        Notations and Terminology (Normative)

This section specifies the notations, namespaces, and terminology used in this specification.

2.1      Notational Conventions

The keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [KEYWORDS].

Namespace URIs (of the general form "some-URI") represent some application-dependent or context-dependent URI as defined in [URI].

This specification is designed to work with the general SOAP message structure and message processing model, and should be applicable to any version of SOAP. The current SOAP 1.2 namespace URI is used herein to provide detailed examples, but there is no intention to limit the applicability of this specification to a single version of SOAP.

2.2      Namespaces

The following namespaces are used in this document:

 

Prefix

Namespace

S

http://www.w3.org/2001/12/soap-envelope

ds

http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#

xenc

http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#

wsse

http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd

wsse11

http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2005/xx/oasis-2005xx-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.1.xsd

wsu

http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd

r

urn:mpeg:mpeg21:2003:01-REL-R-NS

sx

urn:mpeg:mpeg21:2003:01-REL-SX-NS

Table 1 Namespace Prefixes

 

2.3      Terminology

This specification employs the terminology defined in the Web Services Security: SOAP Message Security [WS-Security] Specification.

Defined below are the basic definitions for additional terminology used in this specification.

License – ISO/IEC 21000-5 Rights Expression

3        Usage (Normative)

This section describes the syntax and processing rules for the use of licenses with the Web Services Security: Soap Message Security specification [WS-Security].

3.1      Token Types

When a URI value is used to indicate a license according to this profile, its value MUST be http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/oasis-wss-rel-token-profile-1.0.pdf#license.

3.2      Processing Model

The processing model for WS-Security with licenses is no different from that of WS-Security with other token formats as described in Web Services Security: SOAP Message Security [WS-Security].

At the token level, a processor of licenses MUST conform to the required validation and processing rules defined in ISO/IEC 21000-5 [REL].

3.3      Attaching Security Tokens

Licenses are attached to SOAP messages using WS-Security by placing the license element inside the <wsse:Security> header.  The following example illustrates a SOAP message with a license.

<S:Envelope xmlns:S="...">

    <S:Header>

        <wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="...">

            <r:license xmlns:r="...">

                ...

            </r:license>

            ...

        </wsse:Security>

    </S:Header>

    <S:Body>

        ...

    </S:Body>

</S:Envelope>

3.4      Identifying and Referencing Security Tokens

The Web Services Security: SOAP Message Security [WS-Security] specification defines the wsu:Id attribute as the common mechanism for identifying security tokens (the specification describes the reasons for this). Licenses have an additional identification mechanism available: their licenseId attribute, the value of which is a URI.  The following example shows a license that uses both mechanisms:

<r:license xmlns:r="..." xmlns:wsu="..."

  licenseId="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268"

  wsu:Id="SecurityToken-ef375268">

  ...

</r:license>

Licenses can be referenced either according to their location or their licenseId.  Location references are dependent on location and can be either local or remote.  LicenseId references are not dependent on location.

Local location references are RECOMMENDED when they can be used.  Remote location references are OPTIONAL for cases where it is not feasible to transmit licenses with the SOAP message.  LicenseId references are OPTIONAL for cases where location is unknown or cannot be indicated.

WS-Security specifies that tokens are referenced using the <wsse:SecurityTokenReference> element.

Implementations compliant with this profile SHOULD set the /wsse:SecurityTokenReference/wsse:Reference/@ValueType attribute to http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/oasis-wss-rel-token-profile-1.0.pdf#license when using wsse:SecurityTokenReference to refer to a license by licenseId. This is OPTIONAL when referring to a license by location.

The following table demonstrates the use of the <wsse:SecurityTokenReference> element to refer to licenses.

By Location

Local

<wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

  <wsse:Reference

    URI="#SecurityToken-ef375268"

  />

</wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

Remote

<wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

  <wsse:Reference

    URI="http://www.foo.com/ef375268.xml"

  />

</wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

By licenseId

<wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

  <wsse:Reference

    URI="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268"

    ValueType="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/oasis-wss-rel-token-profile-1.0.pdf#license"

  />

</wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

Table 2. <wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

The following example demonstrates how a <wsse:SecurityTokenReference> can be used to indicate that the message parts specified inside the <ds:SignedInfo> element were signed using a key from the license referenced by licenseId in the <ds:KeyInfo> element.

<S:Envelope xmlns:S="...">

  <S:Header>

    <wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="...">

      <r:license xmlns:r="..." licenseId="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268" xmlns:wsu="..." wsu:Id="SecurityToken-ef375268">

        ...

      </r:license>

      ...

      <ds:Signature>

        <ds:SignedInfo>

          ...

        </ds:SignedInfo>

        <ds:SignatureValue>...</ds:SignatureValue>

        <ds:KeyInfo>

          <wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

            <wsse:Reference

              URI="#SecurityToken-ef375268"

            />

          </wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

        </ds:KeyInfo>

      </ds:Signature>

    </wsse:Security>

  </S:Header>

  <S:Body>

    ...

  </S:Body>

</S:Envelope>

The following example shows a signature over a local license using a location reference to that license. The example demonstrates how the integrity of an (unsigned) license can be preserved by signing it in the <wsse:Security> header.

<S:Envelope xmlns:S="...">

  <S:Header>

    <wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="...">

      <r:license xmlns:r="..." xmlns:wsu="..." wsu:Id="SecurityToken-ef375268">

        ...

      </r:license>

      ...

      <wsse:SecurityTokenReference wsu:Id="Str1">

        <wsse:Reference

          URI="#SecurityToken-ef375268"

        />

      </wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

      ...

      <ds:Signature>

        <ds:SignedInfo>

          ...

          <Reference URI="#Str1">

            <Transforms>

              <ds:Transform

                Algorithm="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/2003/06/STR-Transform">

                <ds:CanonicalizationMethod

                  Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xml-c14n-20010315"/>

              </ds:Transform>

            </ds:Transforms>

            <ds:DigestMethod

              Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1"

            />

            <ds:DigestValue>...</ds:DigestValue>

          </ds:Reference>

        </ds:SignedInfo>

        <ds:SignatureValue>...</ds:SignatureValue>

        <ds:KeyInfo>...</ds:KeyInfo>

      </ds:Signature>

    </wsse:Security>

  </S:Header>

  <S:Body>

    ...

  </S:Body>

</S:Envelope>

Note: since licenses allow the use of the wsu:Id attribute, it is usually not necessary to use the STR-Transform because the license can be referred to directly in the ds:SignedInfo as shown in the following example:

<S:Envelope xmlns:S="...">

  <S:Header>

    <wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="...">

      <r:license xmlns:r="..." xmlns:wsu="..." wsu:Id="SecurityToken-ef375268">

        ...

      </r:license>

      ...

      <ds:Signature>

        <ds:SignedInfo>

          ...

          <ds:Reference URI="#SecurityToken-ef375268">

            <ds:DigestMethod

              Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1"

            />

            <ds:DigestValue>...</ds:DigestValue>

          </ds:Reference>

        </ds:SignedInfo>

        <ds:SignatureValue>...</ds:SignatureValue>

        <ds:KeyInfo>...</ds:KeyInfo>

      </ds:Signature>

    </wsse:Security>

  </S:Header>

  <S:Body>

    ...

  </S:Body>

</S:Envelope>

3.5      Authentication

The Web Services Security: SOAP Message Security [WS-Security] specification does not dictate how claim confirmation must be performed. As well, the REL allows for multiple types of confirmation. This profile of WS-Security REQUIRES that message senders and receivers support claim confirmation for <r:keyHolder> principals.  It is RECOMMENDED that an XML Signature be used to establish the relationship between the message sender and the claims. This is especially RECOMMENDED whenever the SOAP message exchange is conducted over an unprotected transport.

The following table enumerates the mandatory principals to be supported by claim confirmation and summarizes their associated processing models. It should be noted that this table is not all-encompassing, and it is envisioned that future specifications may expand this table over time.

Principal

RECOMMENDED Processing Rules

<r:keyHolder>

The message sender adds (to the security header) an XML Signature that can be verified with the key information specified in the <r:keyHolder> of the referenced license.

Table 3. Processing Rules for Claim Confirmation

Note that the high-level processing model described in the following sections does not differentiate between message author and message sender as would be necessary to guard against replay attacks. The high-level processing model also does not take into account requirements for authentication of receiver by sender or for message or token confidentiality. These concerns must be addressed by means other than those described in the high-level processing model.  If confidentiality of the token in the message is important, then use the approach defined by [WS-Security] to encrypt the token.

3.5.1      <r:keyHolder> Principal

The following sections describe the <r:keyHolder> method of establishing the correspondence between a SOAP message sender and the claims within a license.

Sender

The message sender MUST include within the <wsse:Security> header element a <r:license> containing at least one <r:grant> to an <r:keyHolder> identifying the key to be used to confirm the claims.  If the message sender includes an <r:license> containing more than one <r:grant> to an <r:keyHolder>, then all of those <r:keyHolder> elements MUST be equal.

In order for the receiver to perform claim confirmation, the sender MUST demonstrate knowledge of the confirmation key. The sender MAY accomplish this by using the confirmation key to sign content from within the message and by including the resulting <ds:Signature> element in the <wsse:Security> header element. <ds:Signature> elements produced for this purpose MUST conform to the canonicalization and token inclusion rules defined in the core WS-Security specification and this profile specification.

Licenses that contain at least one <r:grant> to an <r:keyHolder> SHOULD contain an <r:issuer> with a <ds:Signature> element that identifies the license issuer to the relying party and protects the integrity of the confirmation key established by the license issuer.

Receiver

If the receiver determines that the sender has demonstrated knowledge of a confirmation key as specified in an <r:keyHolder>, then the claims (found in the licenses) pertaining to that <r:keyHolder> MAY be attributed to the sender.  If one of these claims is an identity and if the conditions of that claim are satisfied, then any elements of the message whose integrity is protected by the confirmation key MAY be considered to have been authored by that identity.

Example

The following example illustrates how a license security token having an <r:keyHolder> principal can be used with a <ds:Signature> to establish that John Doe is requesting a stock report on FOO.

<S:Envelope xmlns:S="...">

 

  <S:Header>

    <wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="...">

 

      <r:license xmlns:r="..." licenseId="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268">

        <r:grant>

          <r:keyHolder>

            <r:info>

              <ds:KeyValue>...</ds:KeyValue>

            </r:info>

          </r:keyHolder>

          <r:possessProperty/>

          <sx:commonName xmlns:sx="...">John Doe</sx:commonName>

        </r:grant>

        <r:issuer>

          <ds:Signature>...</ds:Signature>

        </r:issuer>

      </r:license>

 

      <ds:Signature>

        <ds:SignedInfo>

          ...

          <ds:Reference URI="#MsgBody">

            <ds:DigestMethod

              Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1"

            />

            <ds:DigestValue>...</ds:DigestValue>

          </ds:Reference>

        </ds:SignedInfo>

        <ds:SignatureValue>...</ds:SignatureValue>

        <ds:KeyInfo>

          <wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

            <wsse:Reference

              URI="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268"

              ValueType="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/oasis-wss-rel-token-profile-1.0.pdf#license"

            />

          </wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

        </ds:KeyInfo>

      </ds:Signature>

 

    </wsse:Security>

  </S:Header>

 

  <S:Body @wsu:Id="MsgBody" xmlns:wsu="...">

    <ReportRequest>

      <TickerSymbol>FOO</TickerSymbol>

    </ReportRequest>

  </S:Body>

 

</S:Envelope>

3.6      Confidentiality

This section details how licenses may be used to protect the confidentiality of a SOAP message within WS-Security.  The Web Services Security: SOAP Message Security [WS-Security] specification does not dictate how confidentiality must be performed. As well, the REL allows for multiple types of confidentiality. This profile of WS-Security REQUIRES that message senders and receivers support confidentiality for <r:keyHolder> principals.  It is RECOMMENDED that XML Encryption be used to ensure confidentiality. This is especially RECOMMENDED whenever the SOAP message exchange is conducted over an unprotected transport.

The following table enumerates the mandatory principals to be supported for confidentiality and summarizes their associated processing models. It should be noted that this table is not all-encompassing, and it is envisioned that future specifications may expand this table over time.

Principal

RECOMMENDED Processing Rules

<r:keyHolder>

The message sender adds (to the security header) either 1) an <xenc:ReferenceList> that points to one or more <xenc:EncryptedData> elements that can be decrypted with a key which can be determined from information specified in the <r:keyHolder> of the referenced license or 2) an <xenc:EncryptedKey> that can be decrypted with a key determined from information specified in the <r:keyHolder> of the referenced license.

Table 4. Processing Rules for Confidentiality

Note that this section deals only with Confidentiality.  Details of authentication of the sender by the receiver must be addressed by means other than those described in this section (see the previous section).

3.6.1      <r:keyHolder> Principal

The following sections describe the <r:keyHolder> method of establishing confidentiality using a license.

Sender

The message sender MUST include within the <wsse:Security> header element a <r:license> containing at least one <r:grant> to an <r:keyHolder> identifying the key used to encrypt some data or key.  If the message sender includes an <r:license> containing more than one <r:grant> to an <r:keyHolder>, then all of those <r:keyHolder> elements MUST be equal.

In order for the receiver to know when to decrypt the data or key, the sender MUST indicate the encryption in the message. The sender MAY accomplish this by placing an <xenc:EncryptedData> or <xenc:EncryptedKey> in the appropriate place in the message and by including the resulting <xenc:ReferenceList> or <xenc:EncryptedKey> element in the <wsse:Security> header element. <xenc:ReferenceList> or <xenc:EncryptedKey> elements produced for this purpose MUST conform to the rules defined in the core WS-Security specification and this profile specification.

Receiver

If the receiver determines that he has knowledge of a decryption key as specified in an <r:keyHolder>, then he MAY decrypt the associated data or key.  In the case of decrypting a key, he may then recursively decrypt any data or key that that key can decrypt.

 

Example

The following example illustrates how a license containing a <r:keyHolder> principal can be used with XML encryption schema elements to protect the confidentiality of a message using a separate encryption key given in the <xenc:EncryptedKey> in the security header.

In this example, the r:license element provides information about the recipient's RSA public key (i.e., KeyValue in keyHolder) used to encrypt the symmetric key carried in the EncryptedKey element. The recipient uses this information to determine the correct private key to use in decrypting the symmetric key. The symmetric key is then used to decrypt the EncryptedData child of the Body element.

 

<S:Envelope xmlns:S="...">

  <S:Header>

   <wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="...">

      <r:license xmlns:r="..." licenseId="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268">

          <r:grant>

            <r:keyHolder>

                <r:info>

                  <ds:KeyValue>...</ds:KeyValue>

                 </r:info>

            </r:keyHolder>

            <r:possessProperty/>

            <sx:commonName xmlns:sx="...”>SOME COMPANY</sx:commonName>

          </r:grant>

          <r:issuer>

                <ds:Signature>...</ds:Signature>

          </r:issuer>

      </r:license>

      <xenc:EncryptedKey xmlns:xenc="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#">

        <xenc:EncryptionMethod          

            Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#rsa-1_5"/>

        <KeyInfo xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">

          <wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

                <wsse:Reference URI="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268"/>

          </wsse:SecurityTokenReference>

        </KeyInfo>

        <xenc:CipherData>

          <xenc:CipherValue>dNYS...fQ=</xenc:CipherValue>

        </xenc:CipherData>

        <xenc:ReferenceList>

          <xenc:DataReference URI="#enc"/>

        </xenc:ReferenceList>

      </xenc:EncryptedKey>

   </wsse:Security>

  </S:Header>

   <S:Body wsu:Id="body"  

        xmlns:wsu="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2003/06/utility">

      <xenc:EncryptedData Id="enc"  

           Type="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#Content"

           xmlns:xenc="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#">

         <xenc:EncryptionMethod  

           Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#tripledes-cbc"/>

         <xenc:CipherData>

             <xenc:CipherValue>d2s...GQ=</xenc:CipherValue>

         </xenc:CipherData>

      </xenc:EncryptedData>

   </S:Body>

</S:Envelope>

3.7      Error Codes

It is RECOMMENDED that the error codes defined in the Web Services Security: SOAP Message Security [WS-Security] specification are used.  However, implementations MAY use custom errors, defined in private namespaces if they desire.  Care should be taken not to introduce security vulnerabilities in the errors returned.

4        Types of Licenses (Informative)

4.1      Attribute Licenses

In addition to key information, licenses can carry information about attributes of those keys.  Examples of such information on a client are e-mail address or common name.  A service's key, on the other hand, might be associated with a DNS name and common name.

The following is an example client attribute license.

   <r:license xmlns:r="..."licenseId="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268">

          <r:inventory>

            <r:keyHolder licensePartId="client">

               <r:info>

                 <ds:KeyValue>FDFEWEFF…</ds:KeyValue>

               </r:info>

            </r:keyHolder>

          </r:inventory>

          <r:grant>

            <r:keyHolder licensePartIdRef="client"/>

            <r:possessProperty/>

            <sx:commonName>John Doe</sx:commonName>

          </r:grant>

          <r:grant>

            <r:keyHolder licensePartIdRef="client"/>

            <r:possessProperty/>

            <sx:emailName>jd@foo.com</sx:emailName>

          </r:grant>

           <r:issuer>

              <ds:Signature>...</ds:Signature>

           </r:issuer>

   </r:license>

The following is an example service attribute license.

   <r:license xmlns:r="..."licenseId="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268">

          <r:inventory>

            <r:keyHolder licensePartId="service">

               <r:info>

                 <ds:KeyValue>FDFEWEFF…</ds:KeyValue>

               </r:info>

            </r:keyHolder>

          </r:inventory>

          <r:grant>

            <r:keyHolder licensePartIdRef="service"/>

            <r:possessProperty/>

            <sx:commonName>MyService Company</sx:commonName>

          </r:grant>

          <r:grant>

            <r:keyHolder licensePartIdRef="service"/>

            <r:possessProperty/>

            <sx:dnsName>www.myservice.com</sx:dnsName>

          </r:grant>

           <r:issuer>

              <ds:Signature>...</ds:Signature>

           </r:issuer>

   </r:license>

Additional examples of and processing rules for the use of attribute licenses can be found in the above sections on Authentication and Confidentiality.

4.2      Sender Authorization

Licenses may be used by a sender as proof of authorization to perform a certain action on a particular resource. This WS-Security specification does not describe how authorization must be performed. In the context of web services, a sender can send to a receiver an authorization license in the security header as proof of authorization to call the sender. Typically, this authorization license is signed by a trusted authority and conforms to the syntax pattern specified below.

<r:license xmlns:r="..."licenseId="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268">

          <r:grant>

            <r:keyHolder>

               <r:info>

                 <ds:KeyValue>FDFEWEFF…</ds:KeyValue>

               </r:info>

            </r:keyHolder>

            <sx:rightUri definition=’...’/>

            <x:someResource/>

            <x:someCondition/>

           </r:grant>

           <r:issuer>

              <ds:Signature>...</ds:Signature>

           </r:issuer>

   </r:license>

The above license contains an authorization grant authorizing the keyholder (sender’s public key), the right to exercise the right identified in the <sx:rightUri> element. The resource in the license typically corresponds to the semantics of the URI given in the definition attribute of the <sx:rightUri> element. The entire license along with the <ds:Signature> element in the <r:issuer> certifies the fact that the principal (<keyholder>) is granted the authorization to exercise the right in the <sx:rightUri> element over the specified resource. The integrity of the license is usually protected with a digital signature contained within the <ds:Signature>.

4.3      Issuer Authorization

To enunciate that a particular issuer is allowed to issue particular types of licenses, one can use the kind of license described here. Issuer authorization licenses can accompany other licenses in the security header such as those used for authentication, sender authorization, or other issuer authorizations. These issuer authorization licenses might help complete the authorization proof that is required for authorizing or authenticating a particular sender.

 

The following license is an example issuer authorization license for authorizing an issuer to issue a simple attribute license.

<r:license xmlns:r="..."licenseId="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268">

          <r:grant>

             <r:forAll varName=’K’/>

             <r:forAll varName=’P’/>

            <r:keyHolder>

               <r:info>

                 <ds:KeyValue>FDFEWEFF…</ds:KeyValue>

               </r:info>

            </r:keyHolder>

            <r:issue/>

            <r:grant>

              <r:keyHolder varRef=’K’/>

              <r:possessProperty/>

              <r:propertyAbstract varRef=’P’/>

            </r:grant>

           </r:grant>

           <r:issuer>

              <ds:Signature>...</ds:Signature>

           </r:issuer>

   </r:license>

The following license is an example issuer authorization license for authorizing an issuer to issue sender authorization licenses.

<r:license xmlns:r="..."licenseId="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268">

          <r:grant>

             <r:forAll varName=’K’/>

             <r:forAll varName=’R’/>

            <r:keyHolder>

               <r:info>

                 <ds:KeyValue>FDFEWEFF…</ds:KeyValue>

               </r:info>

            </r:keyHolder>

            <r:issue/>

            <r:grant>

              <r:keyHolder varRef=’K’/>

              <sx:rightUri definition=’...’/>

              <r:resource varRef=’R’/>

            </r:grant>

           </r:grant>

           <r:issuer>

              <ds:Signature>...</ds:Signature>

           </r:issuer>

   </r:license>

The following license is an example issuer authorization license for authorizing an issuer to issue (to other issuers) issuer authorization licenses allowing those other issuers to issue simple attribute licenses, such as those that can be used for authentication or confidentiality.

<r:license xmlns:r="..."licenseId="urn:foo:SecurityToken:ef375268">

      <r:grant>

         <r:forAll varName=’I’/>

         <r:keyHolder>

            <r:info>

               <ds:KeyValue>FDFEWEFF…</ds:KeyValue>

            </r:info>

         </r:keyHolder>

         <r:issue/>

         <r:grant>

            <r:forAll varName=’K’/>

            <r:forAll varName=’P’/>

            <r:keyHolder varRef=’I’/>

            <r:issue/>

            <r:grant>

              <r:keyHolder varRef=’K’/>

              <r:possessProperty/>

              <r:propertyAbstract varRef=’P’/>

            </r:grant>

         </r:grant>

      </r:grant>

      <r:issuer>

         <ds:Signature>...</ds:Signature>

      </r:issuer>

   </r:license>

 

5        Threat Model and Countermeasures (Informative)

This section addresses the potential threats that a SOAP message may encounter and the countermeasures that may be taken to thwart such threats. A SOAP message containing licenses may face threats in various contexts. This includes the cases where the message is in transit, being routed through a number of intermediaries, or during the period when the message is in storage.

The use of licenses with WS-Security introduces no new threats beyond those identified for the REL or WS-Security with other types of security tokens. Message alteration and eavesdropping can be addressed by using the integrity and confidentiality mechanisms described in WS-Security. Replay attacks can be addressed by using of message timestamps and caching, as well as other application-specific tracking mechanisms. For licenses, ownership is verified by the use of keys; man-in-the-middle attacks are generally mitigated. It is strongly RECOMMENDED that all relevant and immutable message data be signed. It should be noted that transport-level security MAY be used to protect the message and the security token. In order to trust licenses, they SHOULD be signed natively and/or using the mechanisms outlined in WS-Security. This allows readers of the licenses to be certain that the licenses have not been forged or altered in any way. It is strongly RECOMMENDED that the <r:license> elements be signed (either within the token, as part of the message, or both).

The following few sections elaborate on the afore-mentioned threats and suggest countermeasures.

5.1      Eavesdropping

Eavesdropping is a threat to the confidentiality of the message, and is common to all types of network protocols. The routing of SOAP messages through intermediaries increases the potential incidences of eavesdropping. Additional opportunities for eavesdropping exist when SOAP messages are persisted.

To provide maximum protection from eavesdropping, licenses, license references, and sensitive message content SHOULD be encrypted such that only the intended audiences can view their content.  This removes threats of eavesdropping in transit, but does not remove risks associated with storage or poor handling by the receiver.

Transport-layer security MAY be used to protect the message from eavesdropping while in transport, but message content must be encrypted above the transport if it is to be protected from eavesdropping by intermediaries.

5.2      Replay

The reliance on authority protected (e.g. signed) licenses to <r:keyHolder> principals precludes all but the key holder from binding the licenses to a SOAP message. Although this mechanism effectively restricts message authorship to the holder of the confirmation key, it does not preclude the capture and resubmission of the message by other parties.

Replay attacks can be addressed by using message timestamps and caching, as well as other application-specific tracking mechanisms.

5.3      Message Insertion

This profile of WS-Security is not vulnerable to message insertion attacks. Higher-level protocols built on top of SOAP and WS-Security should avoid introducing message insertion threats and provide proper countermeasures for any they do introduce.

5.4      Message Deletion

This profile of WS-Security is not vulnerable to message deletion attacks other than denial of service. Higher-level protocols built on top of SOAP and WS-Security should avoid introducing message deletion threats and provide proper countermeasures for any they do introduce.

5.5      Message Modification

Message Modification poses a threat to the integrity of a message. The threat of message modification can be thwarted by signing the relevant and immutable content by the key holder. The receivers SHOULD only trust the integrity of those segments of the message that are signed by the key holder.

To ensure that message receivers can have confidence that received licenses have not been forged or altered since their issuance, licenses appearing in <wsse:Security> header elements SHOULD be integrity protected (e.g. signed) by their issuing authority. It is strongly RECOMMENDED that a message sender sign any <r:license> elements that it is confirming and that are not signed by their issuing authority.

Transport-layer security MAY be used to protect the message and contained licenses and/or license references from modification while in transport, but signatures are required to extend such protection through intermediaries.

5.6      Man-in-the-Middle

This profile of WS-Security is not vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. Higher-level protocols built on top of SOAP and WS-Security should avoid introducing Man-in-the-Middle threats and provide proper countermeasures for any they do introduce.

 

6        References

[KEYWORDS]         S. Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels," RFC 2119, Harvard University, March 1997, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt

[REL]                      ISO/IEC 21000-5:2004, "Information technology -- Multimedia framework (MPEG-21) -- Part 5: Rights Expression Language," http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=36095&ICS1=35&ICS2=40&ICS3=

[SOAP]                   D. Box, D Ehnebuske, G. Kakivaya, A. Layman, N. Mendelsohn, H. Frystyk Nielsen, S Thatte, D. Winer. Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) 1.1, W3C Note 08 May 2000, http://www.w3.org/TR/SOAP/

W3C Recommendation, "SOAP Version 1.2 Part 1: Messaging Framework", 23 June 2003

[URI]                       T. Berners-Lee, R. Fielding, L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax," RFC 2396, MIT/LCS, U.C. Irvine, Xerox Corporation, August 1998, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt

T. Berners-Lee, R. Fielding, L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax," RFC 3986, MIT/LCS, Day Software, Adobe Systems, January 2005, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt.

[WS-Security]         OASIS Standard 200401, "Web Services Security: Soap Message Security 1.0 (WS-Security 2004)," March 2004, http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-soap-message-security-1.0.pdf

OASIS Standard, "Web Services Security: Soap Message Security 1.1 (WS-Security 2005)," TBD 2005, http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2005/xx/oasis-2005xx-wss-soap-message-security-1.1.pdf

[XML-ns]                T. Bray, D. Hollander, A. Layman. Namespaces in XML. W3C Recommendation. January 1999, http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xml-names-19990114

[XML Signature]     D. Eastlake, J. R., D. Solo, M. Bartel, J. Boyer , B. Fox , E. Simon. XML-Signature Syntax and Processing, W3C Recommendation, 12 February 2002, http://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-core/

 

Appendix A: Acknowledgements

Contributors:

Maneesh

Sahu

Actional Corporation

Gene

Thurston

AmberPoint

Frank

Siebenlist

Argonne National Laboratory

Hal

Lockhart

BEA Systems, Inc.

Corinna

Witt

BEA Systems, Inc.

Steve

Anderson

BMC

Richard

Levinson

Computer Associates

Davanum

Srinivas

Computer Associates

Thomas

DeMartini

ContentGuard, Inc.

Guillermo

Lao

ContentGuard, Inc.

TJ

Pannu

ContentGuard, Inc.

Xin

Wang

ContentGuard, Inc.

Merlin

Hughes

Cybertrust

Sam

Wei

Documentum

Tim

Moses

Entrust

Carolina

Canales-Valenzuela

Ericsson

Dana

Kaufman

Forum Systems, Inc.

Toshihiro

Nishimura

Fujitsu Limited

Kefeng

Chen

GeoTrust

Irving

Reid

Hewlett-Packard

Kojiro

Nakayama

Hitachi

Paula

Austel

IBM

Derek

Fu

IBM

Maryann

Hondo

IBM

Kelvin

Lawrence

IBM

Hiroshi

Maruyama

IBM

Michael

McIntosh

IBM

Anthony

Nadalin

IBM

Nataraj

Nagaratnam

IBM

Ron

Williams

IBM

Don

Flinn

Individual

Bob

Morgan

Internet2

Kate

Cherry

Lockheed Martin

Paul

Cotton

Microsoft Corporation

Vijay

Gajjala

Microsoft Corporation

Alan

Geller

Microsoft Corporation

Martin

Gudgin

Microsoft Corporation

Chris

Kaler

Microsoft Corporation

John

Shewchuk

Microsoft Corporation

Jeff

Hodges

Neustar, Inc.

Frederick

Hirsch

Nokia

Senthil

Sengodan

Nokia

Abbie

Barbir

Nortel Networks

Lloyd

Burch

Novell

Charles

Knouse

Oblix

Vamsi

Motukuru

Oracle

Ramana

Turlapati

Oracle

Prateek

Mishra

Principal Identity

Andrew

Nash

Reactivity

Ben

Hammond

RSA Security

Rob

Philpott

RSA Security

Martijn

de Boer

SAP

Blake

Dournaee

Sarvega

Coumara

Radja

Sarvega

Pete

Wenzel

SeeBeyond Technology Corporation

Ronald

Monzillo

Sun Microsystems

Jan

Alexander

Systinet

Symon

Chang

Tibco Software Inc.

John

Weiland

US Dept of the Navy

Hans

Granqvist

VeriSign

Phillip

Hallam-Baker

VeriSign

Hemma

Prafullchandra

Verisign

 

Appendix B: Revision History

Rev

Date

What

01

27-May-2005

Initial draft based on REL Token Profile 1.0, updated for 1.1.

02

14-Jun-2005

Marked as Committee Draft.

03

28-Jun-2005

Marked as Public Review Draft.