5803
INFORMATIONAL
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Schema for Storing Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism (SCRAM) Secrets
Authors: A. Melnikov
Date: July 2010
Working Group: NON WORKING GROUP
Stream: IETF
Abstract
This memo describes how the "authPassword" Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) attribute can be used for storing secrets used by the Salted Challenge Response Authentication Message (SCRAM) mechanism in the Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) framework. This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.
RFC 5803
INFORMATIONAL
Errata Exist
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) A. Melnikov
Request for Comments: 5803 Isode Limited
Category: Informational July 2010
ISSN: 2070-1721
<span class="h1">Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Schema for Storing Salted</span>
<span class="h1">Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism (SCRAM) Secrets</span>
Abstract
This memo describes how the "authPassword" Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (LDAP) attribute can be used for storing secrets used
by the Salted Challenge Response Authentication Message (SCRAM)
mechanism in the Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL)
framework.
Status of This Memo
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents
approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
Standard; see <a href="./rfc5741#section-2">Section 2 of RFC 5741</a>.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
<a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5803">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5803</a>.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp78">BCP 78</a> and the IETF Trust's Legal
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described in the Simplified BSD License.
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Table of Contents
<a href="#section-1">1</a>. Overview ........................................................<a href="#page-2">2</a>
<a href="#section-2">2</a>. Conventions Used in This Document ...............................<a href="#page-3">3</a>
<a href="#section-3">3</a>. Security Considerations .........................................<a href="#page-3">3</a>
<a href="#section-4">4</a>. Acknowledgements ................................................<a href="#page-4">4</a>
<a href="#section-5">5</a>. Normative References ............................................<a href="#page-4">4</a>
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-1" href="#section-1">1</a>. Overview</span>
This document describes how the authPassword LDAP attribute
[<a href="#ref-AUTHPASS" title=""LDAP Authentication Password Schema"">AUTHPASS</a>] can be used for storing secrets used by [<a href="#ref-SCRAM" title=""Salted Challenge Response Authentication Message (SCRAM) SASL Mechanisms"">SCRAM</a>] Simple
Authentication and Security Layer [<a href="./rfc4422" title=""Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL)"">RFC4422</a>] Mechanisms.
The "scheme" part of the authPassword attribute is the SCRAM
mechanism name (always without the "-PLUS" suffix), e.g., "SCRAM-
SHA-1". See [<a href="#ref-SCRAM" title=""Salted Challenge Response Authentication Message (SCRAM) SASL Mechanisms"">SCRAM</a>] for the exact syntax of SCRAM mechanism
names.
The "authInfo" part of the authPassword attribute is the iteration
count (iter-count in the ABNF below), followed by ":" and base64-
encoded [<a href="#ref-BASE64" title=""The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings"">BASE64</a>] salt.
The "authValue" part of the authPassword attribute is the base64-
encoded [<a href="#ref-BASE64" title=""The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings"">BASE64</a>] StoredKey [<a href="#ref-SCRAM" title=""Salted Challenge Response Authentication Message (SCRAM) SASL Mechanisms"">SCRAM</a>], followed by ":" and base64-
encoded [<a href="#ref-BASE64" title=""The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings"">BASE64</a>] ServerKey [<a href="#ref-SCRAM" title=""Salted Challenge Response Authentication Message (SCRAM) SASL Mechanisms"">SCRAM</a>].
Syntax of the attribute can be expressed using ABNF [<a href="./rfc5234" title=""Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF"">RFC5234</a>]. Non-
terminal references in the following ABNF are defined in either
[<a href="#ref-AUTHPASS" title=""LDAP Authentication Password Schema"">AUTHPASS</a>], [<a href="./rfc4422" title=""Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL)"">RFC4422</a>], or [<a href="./rfc5234" title=""Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF"">RFC5234</a>].
scram-mech = "SCRAM-SHA-1" / scram-mech-ext
; Complies with ABNF for <scheme>
; defined in [<a href="#ref-AUTHPASS" title=""LDAP Authentication Password Schema"">AUTHPASS</a>].
scram-authInfo = iter-count ":" salt
; Complies with ABNF for <authInfo>
; defined in [<a href="#ref-AUTHPASS" title=""LDAP Authentication Password Schema"">AUTHPASS</a>].
scram-authValue = stored-key ":" server-key
; Complies with ABNF for <authValue>
; defined in [<a href="#ref-AUTHPASS" title=""LDAP Authentication Password Schema"">AUTHPASS</a>].
iter-count = %x31-39 *DIGIT
; SCRAM iteration count.
; A positive number without leading zeros.
salt = <base64-encoded value>
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stored-key = <base64-encoded value>
; See definition in [<a href="#ref-SCRAM" title=""Salted Challenge Response Authentication Message (SCRAM) SASL Mechanisms"">SCRAM</a>].
server-key = <base64-encoded value>
; See definition in [<a href="#ref-SCRAM" title=""Salted Challenge Response Authentication Message (SCRAM) SASL Mechanisms"">SCRAM</a>].
scram-mech-ext = "SCRAM-" 1*9mech-char
; Other SCRAM mechanisms registered
; in the IANA registry for SASL
; mechanism names.
mech-char = <Defined in <a href="./rfc4422">RFC 4422</a>>
Note that the authPassword attribute is multivalued. For example, it
may contain multiple SCRAM hashes for different hashing algorithms.
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-2" href="#section-2">2</a>. Conventions Used in This Document</span>
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 [<a href="./rfc2119" title=""Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels"">RFC2119</a>].
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-3" href="#section-3">3</a>. Security Considerations</span>
This document defines how the authPassword attribute can be used to
store SCRAM secrets. Therefore, security considerations relevant to
[<a href="#ref-SCRAM" title=""Salted Challenge Response Authentication Message (SCRAM) SASL Mechanisms"">SCRAM</a>] and hash functions used with it are also relevant to this
document.
General security considerations related to the authPassword attribute
(as specified in [<a href="#ref-AUTHPASS" title=""LDAP Authentication Password Schema"">AUTHPASS</a>]) also apply to the use of authPassword as
specified in this document. In particular, the values of
authPassword SHOULD be protected as if they were cleartext passwords.
A read operation on this attribute that is not protected by a privacy
layer (such as IPsec or TLS) can expose this attribute to an attacker
who a) would be able to use the intercepted value to impersonate the
user to all servers providing SCRAM access using the same hash
function, password, iteration count, and salt or b) would be able to
perform an offline dictionary or brute-force attack in order to
recover the user's password.
Servers MUST validate the format of the authPassword attribute before
using it for performing a SCRAM authentication exchange. It is
possible that an attacker compromised the LDAP server or got access
to the entry containing the attribute in order to exploit a
vulnerability in the subsystem performing the SCRAM authentication
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exchange. Big iteration counts and invalid base64 encoding are two
possible (but not the only) exploits in the format specified in the
document.
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-4" href="#section-4">4</a>. Acknowledgements</span>
The author gratefully acknowledges the feedback provided by Chris
Newman, Kurt Zeilenga, Chris Lonvick, Peter Saint-Andre, Barry Leiba,
and Chris Ridd.
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-5" href="#section-5">5</a>. Normative References</span>
[<a id="ref-AUTHPASS">AUTHPASS</a>] Zeilenga, K., "LDAP Authentication Password Schema",
<a href="./rfc3112">RFC 3112</a>, May 2001.
[<a id="ref-BASE64">BASE64</a>] Josefsson, S., "The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data
Encodings", <a href="./rfc4648">RFC 4648</a>, October 2006.
[<a id="ref-RFC2119">RFC2119</a>] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp14">BCP 14</a>, <a href="./rfc2119">RFC 2119</a>, March 1997.
[<a id="ref-RFC4422">RFC4422</a>] Melnikov, A. and K. Zeilenga, "Simple Authentication and
Security Layer (SASL)", <a href="./rfc4422">RFC 4422</a>, June 2006.
[<a id="ref-RFC5234">RFC5234</a>] Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, <a href="./rfc5234">RFC 5234</a>, January 2008.
[<a id="ref-SCRAM">SCRAM</a>] Menon-Sen, A., Newman, C., Melnikov, A., and N. Williams,
"Salted Challenge Response Authentication Message (SCRAM)
SASL Mechanisms", <a href="./rfc5802">RFC 5802</a>, July 2010.
Author's Address
Alexey Melnikov
Isode Limited
5 Castle Business Village
36 Station Road
Hampton, Middlesex TW12 2BX
UK
EMail: [email protected]
URI: <a href="http://www.melnikov.ca/">http://www.melnikov.ca/</a>
Melnikov Informational [Page 4]
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