[Servercert-wg] [EXTERNAL] Re: SC-59 Weak Key Guidance
Dimitris Zacharopoulos (HARICA)
dzacharo at harica.gr
Thu Jun 1 16:30:33 UTC 2023
FWIW, I think Certificate Applicants have incredibly low probability of
using the old insecure Debian libraries to generate keys in 2023. In
recent cases, mostly security researchers attempted to submit vulnerable
keys to test if CAs followed the BRs in that regard.
However, a CA checking EVERY CSR submitted against a list of vulnerable
Debian keys seems to increase the cost of issuance (delays, etc). If a
CA wants to increase the size of RSA keys to -say- 6144bits, that CA
would need to pre-calculate the weak private keys of that size and the
related permutations, before being allowed to accept CSRs with keys of
that size.
The actual key lookup is not such a painful or CPU intensive process
because the comparison is usually done with hashes. The vulnerable key
generation of large key sizes is. I recall HARICA spending a lot of
resources to calculate the 4096 bit keys posted in
https://github.com/HARICA-official/debian-weak-keys.
This does not apply to more "modern" key attacks, like the Fermat
factorization method where CAs could play an important role protecting
unsuspecting Subscribers and Relying Parties.
Thanks,
Dimitris.
On 1/6/2023 5:31 μ.μ., Ryan Dickson wrote:
> Hi Bruce,
>
> Sorry for not being clear.
>
> I was using linting as an example of an automated check that would
> occur at roughly the same frequency as we observe necessary for
> weak-key checks (i.e., once for every certificate). While I can't
> easily quantify the difference in effort comparing linting versus
> weak-key checking, based on incident disclosures to Bugzilla - we
> often see issues that could have been prevented with linting, but
> rarely see incidents related to weak-keys. It's also not clear, on
> average, what % of certificate requests are rejected due to a
> violation of 6.1.1.3 (i.e., how prevalent is the "weak-keys problem"?)
>
> I didn't intend for us to shift the scope of this ballot to focus on
> linting, but instead, to understand whether CAs thought continued
> weak-key checking was considered valuable.
>
> Thanks,
> Ryan
>
> On Thu, Jun 1, 2023 at 10:09 AM Bruce Morton
> <Bruce.Morton at entrust.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Ryan,
>
> I like your direction, but I need some help understanding how
> “requiring pre-/post-issuance linting instead of weak-key checks”
> would reduce the effort by the CA? I’m assuming a CA can meet the
> proposed ballot by doing pre-issuance linting of the CSR?
>
> Thanks, Bruce.
>
> *From:* Servercert-wg <servercert-wg-bounces at cabforum.org> *On
> Behalf Of *Ryan Dickson via Servercert-wg
> *Sent:* Thursday, June 1, 2023 9:44 AM
> *To:* Dimitris Zacharopoulos (HARICA) <dzacharo at harica.gr>; CA/B
> Forum Server Certificate WG Public Discussion List
> <servercert-wg at cabforum.org>
> *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] Re: [Servercert-wg] SC-59 Weak Key Guidance
>
> WARNING: This email originated outside of Entrust.
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> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> [back to discussing the ballot]
>
> Hi all,
>
> I raised the following question during the January 19th
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/cabforum.org/2023/01/19/2023-01-19-minutes-of-the-server-certificate-working-group/__;!!FJ-Y8qCqXTj2!ZiS9e88ZglROzMqbZ57HX5kGTEoEo89sE6TPRs6_RvRCnQOeD9zdbxklqxVQD2dlDqEbV24CVdHmWw9BkoRWIEn9o8sx8A$>SCWG
> meeting, but I recognize only some group members can participate
> in our regularly scheduled meetings.
>
> Do participants in this Forum feel that weak-key checks should be
> removed from the scope of a CA’s set of mandatory responsibilities?
>
> While I appreciate the work carried out by ecosystem members to
> produce this ballot, primarily led by the SSL.com
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/ssl.com__;!!FJ-Y8qCqXTj2!ZiS9e88ZglROzMqbZ57HX5kGTEoEo89sE6TPRs6_RvRCnQOeD9zdbxklqxVQD2dlDqEbV24CVdHmWw9BkoRWIElUnEh06Q$>team,
> I struggle with the demonstrated security value of these checks
> compared to the overall effort they represent.
>
> In a recent Validation Subcommittee meeting where we focused on
> delegating parts of the domain validation process, we discussed
> that subscribers often make security decisions that can have
> considerable consequences but are ultimately beyond the CA’s scope
> of responsibility (for example, delegating domain validation to an
> insecure third-party service). Wouldn’t we consider using an
> outdated software application/library to generate key-pairs along
> the same lines?
>
> Beyond perceived security value, I also struggle with the
> opportunity cost of time spent evaluating weak keys and responding
> to weak key incidents. It seems to me that something like
> requiring pre-/post-issuance linting instead of weak-key checks is
> a better tradeoff and would be more valuable for the ecosystem
> (e.g., reducing the likelihood of unexpected customer impact due
> to prescribed revocations timelines in the BRs related to
> mis-issuance).
>
> As this is now in discussion, I wanted to again offer the
> perspective that maybe weak-key checks should not be in scope of a
> CA’s responsibilities in case others share the same opinion.
>
> - Ryan
>
> On Mon, May 29, 2023 at 1:18 AM Dimitris Zacharopoulos (HARICA)
> via Servercert-wg <servercert-wg at cabforum.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Clint,
>
> On 26/5/2023 6:45 μ.μ., Clint Wilson wrote:
>
> Hi Tom, Dimitris,
>
> I continue to be opposed to the SCWG trying to limit
> effective dates to 2 per year. I think it’s entirely
> reasonable to align on a day of the month (I think the
> 15th has broadly been the only one I’ve heard proposed). I
> think it’s reasonable to try to avoid January and
> December. I also think there may be value in trying to
> reduce the overall number of effective dates somewhat. The
> dates I’m personally in favor of aligning on are February,
> April, June, August, and October 15th.
>
> If there’s a particular penchant towards March and
> September, however, then I’d be unopposed to March, May,
> July, September, and November 15th.
>
> For this ballot in particular, I think October 15 or
> November 15 2023 are feasible targets for implementing
> these changes and would greatly prefer closing this issue
> (open now for _more than 3 years_) sooner than later,
> especially given the number of incidents we’ve seen in the
> last years related to weak key vulnerabilities and CAs
> issuing certificates with weak keys.
>
>
> It's fine for me also to close this issue sooner than later
> which is why I recommended even the September 15, 2023
> effective date.
>
> On the 2 document releases per year issue, this is a
> preliminary result after having long discussions. I was not
> aware of any opposition until now, but perhaps your opposition
> didn't consider the emergency options of the proposal? The
> "standardized release cycle for Guidelines" proposal addresses
> a series of concerns about the frequency and number of
> document updates, as highlighted in the presentation shared in
> my previous reply. If you recall, the proposal still allows
> the release of "Emergency Guidelines" that bypasses the
> 6-month regular release cycle. We still need to work on the
> details which I hope to make progress on after passing the
> first Bylaws updates that are already prepared, but I'm
> confident that all concerns will be addressed.
>
> If we use this ballot as an example for applying the
> "standardized release cycle for Guidelines", Apple would
> propose that this is an Emergency Guideline and specify an
> effective date that would not be one of March 15 or September
> 15. If there was no opposition, we would proceed with a ballot
> that would result in an emergency guideline release and the
> proposed effective date exactly as we normally do today.
>
> I plan to start a separate thread to continue this discussion
> at the Forum level after we make some progress with the
> recently proposed Bylaws changes.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Dimitris.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Clint
>
>
>
> On May 26, 2023, at 7:37 AM, Tom Zermeno via
> Servercert-wg <servercert-wg at cabforum.org>
> <mailto:servercert-wg at cabforum.org> wrote:
>
> Hello Dimitris,
>
> Thank you for the input. We feel that September 15^th
> does not provide enough time for CAs to implement
> these changes, but we are not against the March 15,
> ^2024 effective date, if there is consensus from the
> Community.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Tom
>
> SSL.com
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/ssl.com/__;!!FJ-Y8qCqXTj2!ZiS9e88ZglROzMqbZ57HX5kGTEoEo89sE6TPRs6_RvRCnQOeD9zdbxklqxVQD2dlDqEbV24CVdHmWw9BkoRWIEmQZfKH8A$>
>
> *From:* Servercert-wg
> <servercert-wg-bounces at cabforum.org> *On Behalf Of
> *Dimitris Zacharopoulos (HARICA) via Servercert-wg
> *Sent:* Friday, May 26, 2023 1:54 AM
> *To:* servercert-wg at cabforum.org
> *Subject:* Re: [Servercert-wg] SC-59 Weak Key Guidance
>
>
> Hi Tom,
>
> Historically, the SCWG has been trying to avoid
> effective dates during January or December. I
> recommend using September 15, 2023 or March 15, 2024
> as possible effective dates. These two dates seem to
> be more favorable
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oTGVYqggQpQMR4Lktbu_L6DhuBVJzeuiFGd9EAU1zsE__;!!FJ-Y8qCqXTj2!ZiS9e88ZglROzMqbZ57HX5kGTEoEo89sE6TPRs6_RvRCnQOeD9zdbxklqxVQD2dlDqEbV24CVdHmWw9BkoRWIEmlvDMTQg$> than
> others.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Dimitris.
>
> On 25/5/2023 10:51 μ.μ., Tom Zermeno via Servercert-wg
> wrote:
>
> Purpose of Ballot SC-059 V3
>
> Several events within the community have led to
> concerns that the Baseline Requirements for the
> Issuance and Management of Publicly-Trusted
> Certificates (BRs) lacked a specificity required
> to properly guide CAs on matters dealing with the
> identification and processing of digital
> certificates based on private keys considered
> weak, or easy to ascertain. In the hopes that
> elaboration and clarity on the subject would be
> beneficial to the community, we are presenting
> updates to §4.9.1.1(“Reasons for Revoking a
> Subscriber Certificate) and §6.1.1.3 (Subscriber
> Key Pair Generation) of the BRs.
>
> The first update is to §4.9.1.1 and is made to
> expand the scope of easily computable Private Keys
> from “Debian weak keys” to “those listed in
> section 6.1.1.3(5)”. While the initial language in
> the BRs did not exclude other concerns, the use of
> a single example could be interpreted to mean that
> other easily computable Private Keys are few and
> far between. The next update was to §6.1.1.3(5),
> wherein we added specific actions to be taken for
> ROCA vulnerability, Debian weak keys - both RSA
> and ECDSA – and Close Primes vulnerability. We
> also added a link to suggested tools to be used
> for checking weak keys. Finally, an implementation
> date of December 1, 2023 was added to allow CAs
> time to update processes to meet the requirements.
>
> The following motion has been proposed by Thomas
> Zermeno of SSL.com
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/ssl.com/__;!!FJ-Y8qCqXTj2!ZiS9e88ZglROzMqbZ57HX5kGTEoEo89sE6TPRs6_RvRCnQOeD9zdbxklqxVQD2dlDqEbV24CVdHmWw9BkoRWIEmQZfKH8A$> and
> endorsed by Ben Wilson of Mozilla and Martijn
> Katerbarg of Sectigo.
>
> --Motion Begins—
>
> This ballot is intended to clarify CA
> responsibilities regarding weak key
> vulnerabilities, including specific guidance for
> Debian weak key, ROCA and Close Primes attack
> vulnerabilities, and modifies the “Baseline
> Requirements for the Issuance and Management of
> Publicly-Trusted Certificates” as follows, based
> on Version 2.0.0.
>
> Notes: Upon beginning discussion for SC-59, the
> then-current version of the BRs was 1.8.4; since
> that time several ballots have been approved,
> leading to the increment of the version to 1.8.7
> and eventually 2.0.0, which is the latest approved
> version of the BRs. The changes introduced in
> SC-59 do not conflict with any of the recent
> ballots. As observed with other ballots in the
> past, minor administrative updates must be made to
> the proposed ballot text before publication such
> that the appropriate Version # and Change History
> are accurately represented (e.g., to indicate
> these changes will be represented in Version 2.0.1).
>
> MODIFY the Baseline Requirements as specified in
> the following Redline:
> https://github.com/cabforum/servercert/compare/a0360b61e73476959220dc328e3b68d0224fa0b3...SSLcom:servercert:3b0c6de32595d02fbd96762cda98cdc88addef00
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/github.com/cabforum/servercert/compare/a0360b61e73476959220dc328e3b68d0224fa0b3...SSLcom:servercert:3b0c6de32595d02fbd96762cda98cdc88addef00__;!!FJ-Y8qCqXTj2!ZiS9e88ZglROzMqbZ57HX5kGTEoEo89sE6TPRs6_RvRCnQOeD9zdbxklqxVQD2dlDqEbV24CVdHmWw9BkoRWIEkXOeodFw$>
>
>
> --Motion Ends—
>
> This ballot proposes a Final Maintenance
> Guideline. The procedure for approval of this
> ballot is as follows:
>
> Discussion (11+ days) • Start time: 2023-05-25
> 19:00:00 UTC • End time: 2023-06-08 18:59:00 UTC
> Vote for approval (7 days) • Start time: TBD • End
> time: TBD
>
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