[cabfpub] [EXTERNAL]Re: Problems with Ballot 202

Adriano Santoni adriano.santoni at staff.aruba.it
Wed Jul 19 08:09:01 MST 2017


How about further specifying that the string '*' (that a Wildcard Domain 
Name starts with) is made up of one (1) ASCII character with code 0x2A ?

(that is, the Unicode "low asterisk" and "asterisk above" characters are 
not acceptable there :) )

If we are going to clarify things, better be super-clear!

Adriano


Il 19/07/2017 04:15, Wayne Thayer via Public ha scritto:
>
> Peter – I agree. Adding “starting with” to the new definition is 
> enough to resolve this concern.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Wayne
>
> *From: *Peter Bowen <pzb at amzn.com>
> *Date: *Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at 7:01 PM
> *To: *Wayne Thayer <wthayer at godaddy.com>, CA/Browser Forum Public 
> Discussion List <public at cabforum.org>
> *Subject: *Re: [cabfpub] [EXTERNAL]Re: Problems with Ballot 202
>
> Wayne,
>
> Based on Geoff’s recommendation, Ben, Ryan, and I were going to update 
> the definitions as follows:
>
> *Domain Label*: A label of a domain name, as defined in RFC 5890 
> section 2.2; for example, the domain name "www.example.com 
> <http://www.example.com>" is composed of three labels: "www", 
> "example", and "com".
>
> *Domain Name*: A string which is a ‘domain name’, as defined in RFC 
> 5890 section 2.2, with labels separated by dots, or a Wildcard Domain 
> Name.  For example “www.example.com <http://www.example.com>” and 
> “*.example.net <http://example.net>” are domain names.
>
> *Wildcard Domain Name*: The string ‘*.’ followed by a ‘domain name’ 
> with labels separated by dots, as defined in RFC 5890 section 2.2
>
> I think you make a good point.  How does this work for Wildcard Domain 
> Name?
>
> *Wildcard Domain Name*: A string starting with ‘*.’ followed by a 
> ‘domain name’ with labels separated by dots, as defined in RFC 5890 
> section 2.2
>
> I’m not quite sure how to fit “left” into the definition proposed by 
> Geoff, but I think “starting with” should make it clear that 
> “www.*.example.com <http://example.com>” is not acceptable, as it does 
> not start with “*.”.
>
> Do either of these definitions of Wildcard Domain Name work for you?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Peter
>
>     On Jul 18, 2017, at 6:49 PM, Wayne Thayer via Public
>     <public at cabforum.org <mailto:public at cabforum.org>> wrote:
>
>     Peter,
>
>     Would you consider adding ‘in the left most Domain Label’ to the
>     definition of Wildcard Domain Name? While the definition of
>     Authorization Domain Name contradicts this, it was pointed out to
>     me that someone unfamiliar with the history might misinterpret the
>     new definition to allow something like ‘www.*.example.com
>     <http://example.com>’.
>
>     *Wildcard Domain Name: *A Domain Name consisting of a single
>     asterisk character ("*") [/in the left most Domain Label/]
>     followed by a single full stop character (".") followed by a
>     Fully-Qualified Domain Name.
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     Wayne
>
>     *From: *Public <public-bounces at cabforum.org
>     <mailto:public-bounces at cabforum.org>> on behalf of Peter Bowen via
>     Public <public at cabforum.org <mailto:public at cabforum.org>>
>     *Reply-To: *Peter Bowen <pzb at amzn.com <mailto:pzb at amzn.com>>,
>     CA/Browser Forum Public Discussion List <public at cabforum.org
>     <mailto:public at cabforum.org>>
>     *Date: *Monday, July 17, 2017 at 6:48 PM
>     *To: *Kirk Hall <Kirk.Hall at entrustdatacard.com
>     <mailto:Kirk.Hall at entrustdatacard.com>>
>     *Cc: *CA/Browser Forum Public Discussion List <public at cabforum.org
>     <mailto:public at cabforum.org>>
>     *Subject: *Re: [cabfpub] [EXTERNAL]Re: Problems with Ballot 202
>
>     Kirk,
>
>     The only new definitions in ballot 202 are “Domain Label” and
>     “Wildcard Domain Name”.
>
>     “Domain Label” was defined so we could define the characters we
>     wanted to allow underscores in a label.
>
>     “Wildcard Domain Name” was defined to help make it very clear that
>     these are allowed.  One of the concerns that has been heard
>     multiple times is that it is not clear if “Fully-Qualified Domain
>     Name” includes names with wildcards.  This ballot resolves this
>     ambiguity by clearly stating that “Domain Name” means both
>     wildcard and fully-qualified domain names.
>
>     Geoff and my responses crossed.  Geoff suggested:
>
>     *Domain Label*: A label of a domain name, as defined in RFC 1034.
>
>     *Domain Name*: A string which is a ‘domain name’ as defined in RFC
>     1034 with labels separated by dots, or a Wildcard Domain Name.
>
>     *Domain Namespace *(of a domain): All domains which are subdomains
>     of the referenced domain, as described in RFC 1034.
>
>     *Fully Qualified Domain Name*: A domain name interpreted relative
>     to the root.  The Fully Qualified Domain Names used in this
>     document do not end with a period.
>
>     *Wildcard Domain Name*: The string ‘*.’ followed by a ‘domain
>     name’ with labels separated by dots as defined in RFC 1034.
>
>     I would suggest the following as slight updates, in order to
>     support Internationalized Domain Names:
>
>     *Domain Label*: A label of a domain name, as defined in RFC 5890
>     section 2.2; for example, the domain name "www.example.com
>     <http://www.example.com/>" is composed of three labels: "www",
>     "example", and "com".
>
>     *Domain Name*: A string which is a ‘domain name’, as defined in
>     RFC 5890 section 2.2, with labels separated by dots, or a Wildcard
>     Domain Name.  For example “www.example.com
>     <http://www.example.com/>” and “*.example.net
>     <http://example.net/>” are domain names.
>
>     *Wildcard Domain Name*: The string ‘*.’ followed by a ‘domain
>     name’ with labels separated by dots, as defined in RFC 5890
>     section 2.2
>
>     I suggest we hold any updates for Fully Qualified Domain Name and
>     Domain Namespace for ballot 190 and limit the changes to
>     Authorization Domain Name and Base Domain Name in this ballot to
>     only remove “Fully Qualified”.
>
>     Do you feel you could support this ballot if it had these
>     definitions instead?
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     Peter
>
>         On Jul 17, 2017, at 5:01 PM, Kirk Hall
>         <Kirk.Hall at entrustdatacard.com
>         <mailto:Kirk.Hall at entrustdatacard.com>> wrote:
>
>         I did know that some of the definitions were unchanged from
>         the past – but when you look at the body of definitions in 202
>         taken together (including the new ones that rely on the old,
>         unchanged, confusing ones) they seem open to multiple
>         interpretations and frankly get so complex that it’s hard to
>         describe the rules to another person – not good from a
>         standpoint of uniform applications and compliance.
>
>         I want to think a bit more about the simplified definitions
>         just posted by Geoff, but I much prefer that kind of approach
>         – short, simple sentences that mostly stand on their own, and
>         make reference to RFCs where appropriate – to a series of
>         “nesting”, ever widening definitions where each depends on the
>         other.
>
>         *From:*Peter Bowen [mailto:pzb at amzn.com]
>         *Sent:*Monday, July 17, 2017 4:56 PM
>         *To:*Kirk Hall <Kirk.Hall at entrustdatacard.com
>         <mailto:Kirk.Hall at entrustdatacard.com>>; CA/Browser Forum
>         Public Discussion List <public at cabforum.org
>         <mailto:public at cabforum.org>>
>         *Subject:*[EXTERNAL]Re: [cabfpub] Problems with Ballot 202
>
>             On Jul 17, 2017, at 3:28 PM, Kirk Hall via Public
>             <public at cabforum.org <mailto:public at cabforum.org>> wrote:
>
>             Here are the difficulties I’m having understanding the new
>             (very complex) Ballot 202 definitions shown below.  I
>             can’t imagine explaining this to our engineering and
>             vetting teams, and I think people will make mistakes.
>             Assuming these definitions parse out, at a bare minimum we
>             should give easy examples for each definition.  These are
>             arranged in a logical order, not alphabetically.
>
>         Kirk,
>
>         Thank you for the feedback.  I’ve added comments inline, but I
>         one overarching note is that many of the definitions you list
>         are unchanged in this ballot.  In several of the other cases
>         the portion of the definition that seems to be causing concern
>         is from the current BRs.  I tried hard to avoid changing
>         definitions and minimize changes to existing ones.
>
>             Also – we won’t really know if these definitions are good
>             and useful unless we compare them to the new text of BR
>             3.2.2.4, which defines how we are to do validation.  Last
>             week when we pulled back Ballot 190 it was to allow Peter
>             time to tune up the definition of Authorized Domain Name
>             in Ballot 190 the context of BR 3.2.2.4 (so we could
>             remove the Notes that had been added to Ballot 190), but
>             to my surprise, the new definitions have shown up in
>             Ballot 202 instead – I think that’s a mistake.
>
>         This ballot has been in discussion for months.  As noted
>         below, terms like “Authorization Domain Name” are not included
>         in this ballot; the text quoted is from the current BRs and is
>         unmodified.
>
>
>
>
>
>             As recently as July 4, Ben said this Ballot 202 would
>             cover the following four subjects: (1) adds dnQualifier as
>             an allowed attribute for all certificate types (including
>             DV), (2) adds ASN.1 info on the EV jurisdiction attribute
>             types, (3) adds language to the EV guidelines to clarify
>             that CAs may limit their aggregate liabilities, (4) allows
>             underscores in domain names and clarifies what can go in
>             common names.  Why did the authors decide to include
>             changes to crucial definitions applicable to domain
>             validation at the same time, but not allow discussion in a
>             pre-ballot?
>
>             At this point, Entrust is inclined to vote no – not
>             because we necessarily oppose the ballot’s aims, but
>             because there are some questions and no time to resolve
>             them before voting starts.
>
>         This ballot only covers (4).  I would ask that you please
>         double check the current BRs to confirm that many of the
>         definitions are already present and are not introduced in the
>         ballot.
>
>
>
>
>
>             Here are our concerns about the new definitions. Again, it
>             would be nice to have more time to discuss, and not start
>             voting on Wednesday.
>
>             *Domain Label:*An individual component of a Domain Name.
>
>             [What does this mean – “component”?  Is a period a Domain
>             Label?  A couple of letters?  This seems circular with the
>             Domain Name definition below.  Did you mean “node” and not
>             “component”?  At a minimum, give examples –
>             “Inmail.example.com <http://mail.example.com/>, the
>             components are “mail”, “example”, and “com”.  The period
>             “.” is not a component, nor are characters that are less
>             than a full node such as “exa”.]
>
>         This is the terminology from RFC 5890 section 2.2:
>         *DNS-Related Terminology.* It is the characters between
>         periods; the period itself is not included in the component.
>          See https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5890#section-2.2
>
>             **
>
>             *Domain Name: *A set of one or more Domain Labels, each
>             separated by a single full stop character (".").
>              Fully-Qualified Domain Names and Wildcard Domain Names
>             are Domain Names.
>
>             [Again, somewhat circular – Domain Label says it’s a
>             component of a Domain Name, and Domain Name says it’s made
>             up of Domain Labels… never fully defined.
>
>             Also, saying that FQDNs and Wildcard DNs are DNs might
>             work, but need to study the rest of the text.
>
>             Also, this definition does not require a domain name to
>             end in a gTLD or ccTLD, so server1.mail qualifies as a
>             Domain Name?  Might cause trouble with other definitions.]
>
>         You are correct, “server1.mail” is a Domain Name.  I’m open to
>         refining this definition to avoid the circular terminology.
>
>
>
>
>
>             *Domain Namespace:*  The set of all possible Domain Names
>             that are subordinate to a single node in the Domain Name
>             System.
>
>             [Unclear – “subordinate to a single node in the Domain
>             Name System”.  So forserver1.mail.example.com
>             <http://server1.mail.example.com/>, is “com” part of the
>             Domain Namespace, or only server1.mail.example?  Also, you
>             say in the definition of Domain Name that an FQDN is a
>             Domain Name, so under the Definition of Domain Namespace,
>             is the entire FQDN (including .com) meant to be
>             subordinate to a single node in the Domain Name System? 
>             Would that requireserver1.mail.example.com.
>             <http://server1.mail.example.com.com/>*com
>             <http://server1.mail.example.com.com/>*, with the second
>             “.com” being the single node?
>
>             In the exampleserver1.mail.example.com
>             <http://server1.mail.example.com/>, “server1” and “mail”
>             are subordinate to “example”, so does that mean
>             “server1.mail” is a Domain Namespace that is subordinate
>             to the node “example”?
>
>             Also – we never use Domain Namespace in the rest of the
>             definitions.  Where is it used, and does this definition
>             make sense there?]
>
>         This definition is from the current BRs and is unmodified in
>         this ballot.
>
>
>
>
>
>             *Fully-Qualified Domain Name: *A Domain Name that includes
>             the Domain Labels of all superior nodes in the Internet
>             Domain Name System.
>
>             [Again unclear. The reference to “all superior nodes” begs
>             the question – superior to what?  A gTLD or ccTLD?  In the
>             exampleserver1.mail.example.com
>             <http://server1.mail.example.com/>, is
>             “server1.mail.example” itself an FQDN, because it includes
>             all “superior nodes” to .com?  Or did you mean to include
>             .com as well to make it an FQDN?]
>
>         This definition is from the current BRs and is unmodified in
>         this ballot.
>
>
>
>
>
>             **
>
>             *Wildcard Domain Name:*A Domain Name consisting of a
>             single asterisk character ("*") followed by a single full
>             stop character (".") followed by a Fully-Qualified Domain
>             Name.
>
>             [This is confusing because it starts with Domain Name,
>             then talks about an FQDN – the “*” itself doesn’t turn a
>             Domain Name into an FQDN so why are you using both terms? ]
>
>         Yes, a Wildcard Domain Name is a type of Domain Name.  It is
>         made up of “*.” + a FQDN.  For example “*.blogspot.com
>         <http://blogspot.com/>” or “*.signin.aws.amazon.com
>         <http://signin.aws.amazon.com/>"
>
>             *Base Domain Name:*The portion of an applied-for Domain
>             Name that is the first domain name node left of a
>             registry-controlled or public suffix plus the
>             registry-controlled or public suffix (e.g. "example.co.uk
>             <http://example.co.uk/>" or "example.com
>             <http://example.com/>").
>
>             For Domain Names where the right-most domain name node is
>             a gTLD having ICANN Specification 13 in its registry
>             agreement, the gTLD itself may be used as the Base Domain
>             Name.
>
>             [Ballot 190 stripped out “requested” in front of FQDN
>             wherever it existed, as it seems to get into a CA’s
>             business processes – what the customer requests, as
>             opposed to a domain the CA decides to validate - and adds
>             nothing but confusion.  I recall discussion that used the
>             word “requested” to limit what a CA could do – e.g., using
>             “requested” might limit CA so they could only verify an
>             FQDN the customer “requested” (server1.mail.example.com
>             <http://server1.mail.example.com/>) and not the FQDN the
>             CA wanted to verify to fill the customer’s order
>             (example.com <http://example.com/>). Now we see the words
>             “applied for” – take it out, it’s not relevant and could
>             restrict what CAs can do.]
>
>         This definition is from the current BRs and is unmodified in
>         this ballot.  We can change it in Ballot 190, as you suggest,
>         but I don’t think modifying it in this ballot makes sense.
>
>
>
>
>
>             *Authorization Domain Name:*The Domain Name used to
>             obtainauthorizationfor certificate issuance for a given
>             Domain Name.
>
>             The CA may use the FQDN returned from a DNS CNAME lookup
>             as the Domain Name for the purposes of domain validation.
>
>             If the Domain Name is a Wildcard Domain Name, then the CA
>             MUST remove “*.” from the left most portion
>             ofrequestedDomain Name.
>
>             The CA may prune zero or more labels from left to right
>             until encountering a Base Domain Name and may use any one
>             of the intermediate values for the purpose of domain
>             validation.
>
>             [First, the word “authorization” does not seem correct –
>             validation (used in BR 3.2.2.4) might make more sense.  A
>             simple WhoIs lookup by itself doesn’t seem like
>             authorization, only validation of a request.
>
>             The first sentence is somewhat circular by using Domain
>             Name twice in one sentence.  The Domain Name used… for a
>             given Domain Name.  ??
>
>             Assuming that server1.mail is a Domain Name, can it be an
>             Authorization Domain Name for something?
>
>             The second sentence again goes from FQDN to Domain Name –
>             not clear why.
>
>             The third sentence again talks about the “requested Domain
>             Name” – requested by the customer?  Please remove
>             “requested”.  Also, why are you saying the * must be
>             removed – do you mean to add something at the end of the
>             sentence like “before the validation is obtained”, or
>             “before a certificate is issued”, or..?  I don’t
>             understand the purpose of this sentence in this definition.
>
>             The final sentence is unclear as to what domain name is
>             being pruned – the Authorization Domain Name?  (The
>             sentence is in that definition.) Or is the requested
>             domain name being pruned (probably).  This might be one
>             place where it makes sense to use “requested” simply to
>             show a CA can choose to prune and then validate what’s
>             left.  But why is this rule in the definition of
>             Authorization Domain Name? Shouldn’t it be in BR 3.2.2.4
>             itself?]
>
>         Authorization Domain Name is already defined in the current
>         BRs.  The current definition in the BRs is:
>
>         "The Domain Name used to obtain authorization for certificate
>         issuance for a given FQDN. The CA may use the FQDN returned
>         from a DNS CNAME lookup as the FQDN for the purposes of domain
>         validation. If the FQDN contains a wildcard character, then
>         the CA MUST remove all wildcard labels from the left most
>         portion of requested FQDN. The CA may prune zero or more
>         labels from left to right until encountering a Base Domain
>         Name and may use any one of the intermediate values for the
>         purpose of domain validation."
>
>         The term “authorization” is in the current BRs and is
>         unmodified.  The term “requested” is in the current BRs and is
>         unmodified. The third sentence is almost identical to the
>         existing language but says “*.” instead of “wildcard labels”.
>          The last sentence is unmodified from the current BRs.
>
>         I appreciate that some of the existing language is could use
>         improvement, but the objective of Ballot 202 is not to clean
>         up every issue in the BRs.  We still have Ballot 190 to go and
>         we can have further changes in future ballots.  I tried hard
>         to keep the scope of Ballot 202 constrained, and I hope the
>         above explanations help demonstrate the constrained nature.
>
>         Thanks,
>
>         Peter
>
>
>
>
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