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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Request for Comments: 7193
Category: Informational
ISSN: 2070-1721
S. Turner
IECA
R. Housley
Vigil Security
J. Schaad
Soaring Hawk Consulting
April 2014

The application/cms Media Type

Abstract

This document registers the application/cms media type for use with the corresponding CMS (Cryptographic Message Syntax) content types.

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 Section 2 of RFC 5741.

Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7193.

Copyright Notice

Copyright © 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.

1. Introduction

[RFC5751] registered the application/pkc7-mime media type. That document defined five optional smime-type parameters. The smime-type parameter originally conveyed details about the security applied to the data content type, indicating whether it was signed or enveloped, as well as the name of the data content; it was later expanded to indicate whether the data content is compressed and whether the data content contained a certs-only message. This document does not affect those registrations as this document places no requirements on S/MIME (Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) agents.

The registration done by the S/MIME documents was done assuming that there would be a MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) wrapping layer around each of the different enveloping contents; thus, there was no need to include more than one item in each smime- type. This is no longer the case with some of the more advanced enveloping types. Some protocols such as the CMC (Certificate Management over Cryptographic Message Syntax) [RFC5273] have defined additional S/MIME types. New protocols that intend to wrap MIME content should continue to define a smime-type string; however, new protocols that intend to wrap non-MIME types should use this mechanism instead. 

   CMS (Cryptographic Message Syntax) [RFC5652] associates a content
   type identifier (OID) with specific content; CMS content types have
   been widely used to define contents that can be enveloped using other
   CMS content types and to define enveloping content types some of
   which provide security services.  CMS protecting content types, those
   that provide security services, include: Signed-Data [RFC5652],
   Enveloped-Data [RFC5652], Digested-Data [RFC5652], Encrypted-Data
   [RFC5652], Authenticated-Data [RFC5652], Authenticated-Enveloped-Data
   [RFC5083], and Encrypted Key Package [RFC6032].  CMS non-protecting
   content types, those that provide no security services but
   encapsulate other CMS content types, include: Content Information
   [RFC5652], Compressed Data [RFC3274], Content Collection [RFC4073],
   and Content With Attributes [RFC4073].  Then, there are the innermost
   content types that include: Data [RFC5652], Asymmetric Key Package
   [RFC5958], Symmetric Key Package [RFC6031], Firmware Package
   [RFC4108], Firmware Package Load Receipt [RFC4108], Firmware Package
   Load Error [RFC4108], Trust Anchor List [RFC5914], TAMP Status Query,
   TAMP Status Response, TAMP Update, TAMP Update Confirm, TAMP Apex
   Update, TAMP Apex Update Confirmation, TAMP Community Update, TAMP
   Community Update Confirm, TAMP Sequence Adjust, TAMP Sequence Adjust
   Confirmation, TAMP Error [RFC5934], Key Package Error, and Key
   Package Receipt [RFC7191].

To support conveying CMS content types, this document defines a media type and parameters that indicate the enveloping and embedded CMS content types.

New CMS content types should be affirmative in defining the string that identifies the new content type and should additionally define if the new content type is expected to appear in the encapsulatedContent or innerContent parameter.

1.1. Requirements Terminology

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 [RFC2119].

2. CMS Media Type Registration Applications

This section provides the media type registration application for the application/cms media type (see [RFC6838], Section 5.6). 

   Type name: application
   
   Subtype name: cms

Required parameters: None.

Optional parameters:

encapsulatingContent=y; where y is one or more CMS ECT (Encapsulating Content Type) identifiers; multiple values are encapsulated in quotes and separated by a folding-whitespace, a comma, and folding-whitespace. ECT values are based on content types found in [RFC3274], [RFC4073], [RFC5083], [RFC5652], and [RFC6032]. This list can later be extended; see Section 4.

authData
compressedData
contentCollection
contentInfo
contentWithAttrs
authEnvelopedData
encryptedKeyPkg
digestData
encryptedData
envelopedData
signedData 

   innerContent=x; where x is one or more CMS ICT (Inner Content Type)
   identifiers; multiple values encapsulated in quotes and are separated
   by a folding-whitespace, a comma, and folding-whitespace.  ICT values
   are based on content types found in [RFC4108], [RFC5914], [RFC5934],
   [RFC5958], [RFC6031], and [RFC7191].  This list can later be
   extended; see Section 4.
   
         firmwarePackage
         firmwareLoadReceipt
         firmwareLoadError
         aKeyPackage
         sKeyPackage
         trustAnchorList
         TAMP-statusQuery
         TAMP-statusResponse
         TAMP-update
         TAMP-updateConfirm
         TAMP-apexUpdate
         TAMP-apexUpdateConfirm
         TAMP-communityUpdate
         TAMP-communityUpdateConfirm
         TAMP-seqNumAdjust
         TAMP-seqNumAdjustConfirm
         TAMP-error
         keyPackageReceipt
         keyPackageError

The optional parameters are case sensitive.

Encoding considerations:

Binary.

[RFC5652] requires that the outermost encapsulation be ContentInfo.

Security considerations:

The following security considerations apply: 

      RFC       | CMS Protecting Content Type and Algorithms
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC3370] | signedData, envelopedData,
      [RFC5652] | digestedData, encryptedData, and
      [RFC5753] | authData
      [RFC5754] |
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC5958] | aKeyPackage
      [RFC5959] |
      [RFC6162] |
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC6031] | sKeyPackage
      [RFC6160] |
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC6032] | encryptedKeyPkg
      [RFC6033] |
      [RFC6161] |
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC5914] | trustAnchorList
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC3274] | compressedData
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC5083] | authEnvelopedData
      [RFC5084] |
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC4073] | contentCollection and
                | contentWithAttrs
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC4108] | firmwarePackage,
                | firmwareLoadReceipt, and
                | firmwareLoadError
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC5934] | TAMP-statusQuery, TAMP-statusResponse,
                | TAMP-update, TAMP-updateConfirm,
                | TAMP-apexUpdate,
                | TAMP-apexUpdateConfirm,
                | TAMP-communityUpdate,
                | TAMP-communityUpdateConfirm,
                | TAMP-seqNumAdjust,
                | TAMP-seqNumAdjustConfirm, and
                | TAMP-error
      ----------+-------------------------------------------
      [RFC7191] |keyPackageReceipt and keyPackageError
      ----------+-------------------------------------------

In some circumstances, significant information can be leaked by disclosing what the innermost ASN.1 structure is. In these cases, it is acceptable to disclose the wrappers without disclosing the inner content type.

ASN.1 encoding rules (e.g., DER and BER) have a type-length-value structure, and it is easy to construct malicious content with invalid length fields that can cause buffer overrun conditions. ASN.1 encoding rules allows for arbitrary levels of nesting, which may make it possible to construct malicious content that will cause a stack overflow. Interpreters of ASN.1 structures should be aware of these issues and should take appropriate measures to guard against buffer overflows and stack overruns in particular and malicious content in general.

Interoperability considerations: 

      See [RFC3274], [RFC4073], [RFC4108], [RFC5083], [RFC5652],
      [RFC5914], [RFC5934], [RFC5958], [RFC6031], [RFC6032], and
      [RFC7191].

In all cases, CMS content types are encapsulated within ContentInfo structures [RFC5652]; that is the outermost enveloping structure is ContentInfo.

CMS [RFC5652] defines slightly different processing rules for SignedData than does PKCS #7 [RFC2315]. This media type employs the CMS processing rules.

The Content-Type header field of all application/cms objects SHOULD include the optional "encapsulatingContent" and "innerContent" parameters.

The Content-Disposition header field [RFC4021] can also be included along with Content-Type's optional name parameter.

Published specification: This specification.

Applications that use this media type:

Applications that support CMS (Cryptographic Message Syntax) content types.

Fragment identifier considerations: N/A

Additional information: 

      Magic number(s): None
      File extension(s): .cmsc
      Macintosh File Type Code(s):

Person & email address to contact for further information: 

      Sean Turner <turners@ieca.com>
   
   Intended usage: COMMON

Restrictions on usage: none

Author: 

           Sean Turner <turners@ieca.com>
   
   Change controller: The IESG <iesg@ietf.org>

3. Example

The following is an example encrypted status response message: 

      MIME-Version: 1.0
      Content-Type: application/cms; encapsulatingContent=encryptedData;
                    innerContent=TAMP-statusResponse; name=status.cmsc
      Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
      
      MIIFLQYJKoZIhvcNAQcDoIIFHjCCBRoCAQAxggFhMIIBXQIBADBFMEAxC
      zAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMR8wHQYDVQQKExZUZXN0IENlcnRpZmljYXRlcyAyMD
      ExMRAwDgYDVQQDEwdHb29kIENBAgEBMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUABIIBAEa
      uaXQeVsOyZ7gz0pJikRQ6Jqr64k2dbHBE4SDZL/uErP9FJUIja9LaJrc5
      S83EZ7wf3mODUBaDhGfQVKoPrNTsLmw98fE/O+wcdpI2XKaILOR62xDJR
      emQQST+EPfMwZmCwgsImmY3AxefAgzp8hVgK7SDiXGXfa9ux9PMdCSjHP
      IgcAUFHmTiqxYd72Gl08kLCMIXmn3g5RsYUggxooeFNHiFNR28TV5HctG
      i6Ay5++iKUGrUQyXD+GlwakFToGFmFj3FMyZi7+kYV/X00BiBP3kpIgVJ
      4jCj+nYtKWh6JXPoEqEsa39GmDEFGq4/58GEu70amWvW1DA++7kDP4gwg
      gOuBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHQYJYIZIAWUDBAECBBCH5yTQqZ4KYiTTeYdjoY
      4sgIIDgArSpOcengKnZS4SCjfuQkMxB5wfSaud1thlZ+gUFCgzbFtkfYM
      Qx/T7gnkneniyj2rwOmZxCQXpPlCDXH6mS83ngfrNN8ay3HrMPpVkEOmW
      UMc5jI6oNObwqi8a3ezzhYRxF06jzdD2R/6SAPALz3Q4NU8eX+PnuekgR
      oxo/INzhT4iGvokn9xVah6piSbjhPA+QZp1HgQrlWyyM3lG9jn4thchKl
      FQqZEy/EBaCWq+sJG7LLxqS5k29CiAVx0JSItqAPvX1ZvLMY2aq//MQMw
      0VFEx7Kt5aWNvKHTor9RUuuzwiZ5kwXt2vJt6bFiV7yS+EXofpFEmqyJP
      VJzyAFIXJRTv4k007n0M1UpXQpGjywECI6DbIhfBL8CsNskTCjrsfU+Tw
      RRkRKAbtJYughs9bDYkDu9UsKd/AE4zXk4prwo8/f1chpmzpHKOXiWzt+
      xaCj648I4rOjdI9s4JP8J0qwVKoLEMGeiZlf2UlaiyMzZYzTOxI03PHp1
      Whk6TXhnmMVPWGYjjelvE38gq/XynobbQRGEJdnnHzH7SrS27FmgRcnBO
      3QQUPJChVn7iBHmdui++GAxpHoGdS6nSo4kQ6d5u5rL/Ctcnwu0k+s0Xi
      ZMzOqp7L31xl1jvYUWIswLQYsIFoiejU3UTKzq/Cpd5MK+I8cwCM3aQ2c
      D08URTPgu+U92pnYqm3auptywyjGAU/hkZ13XN7YRhLk/kuX8QXo3tZdj
      dKA4f/uNf1DURpJK9004uCkxuAtu5HemMv7YPTTx9Ua2pZFW5O+k2Mf2Z
      F/geOvtNw7UV8wOT1nokXu9lnIZ9Xcs1cGGmRYE7jW15F07uGnMi1s2Gt
      LAST7t/PlTNZU6h0rVExErVa7T+VNidrgwGIke0YqYIwvTINRs+9VeJE3
      AJeatDlQs+01jrqqFWWmGmmsEBTTRuoDQHK7YBFFy4xIwQqZGW0EVre39
      OU5CL5LHIYiAVoV16YwiGd5WvFF8P1ZJK4ki8GFgYiMcPKmjQgP7DumqG
      n7eQtMD5tezTQeC07ntV3bi5pdznZHVcF2Kqg+qHjJQlhUdK7Pew3kq7k
      mfCdQV0BmQSYyjEAaTijaw4fAMxAbiw4OU0eNeU//zcpp04AuTFfJorIg
      oZ+iCTYei8HMUA9/ysLFXA64wdsuCj0zXmNiYwosisuNg3TXfoBOzohKq
      fkeXt

4. IANA Considerations

IANA has registered the media type application/cms in the Standards tree using the applications provided in Section 2 of this document.

IANA has established two subtype registries called "CMS Encapsulating Content Types" and "CMS Inner Content Types". Entries in these registries are allocated by Expert Review [RFC5226]. The Expert will determine whether the content is an ECT or an ICT, where the rule is that an ICT does not encapsulate another content type while an ECT does encapsulate another content type.

Initial values are as follows:

CMS Encapsulating Content Types 

   Name                        | Document | Object Identifier
   ----------------------------+----------+---------------------------
   authData                    |[RFC5652] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.2
   compressedData              |[RFC3274] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.9
   contentCollection           |[RFC4073] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.19
   contentInfo                 |[RFC5652] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.6
   contentWithAttrs            |[RFC4073] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.20
   authEnvelopedData           |[RFC5083] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.23
   encryptedKeyPkg             |[RFC6032] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.78.2
   digestData                  |[RFC5652] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.5
   encryptedData               |[RFC5652] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.6
   envelopedData               |[RFC5652] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.3
   signedData                  |[RFC5652] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.2

CMS Inner Content Types 

   Name                        | Document | Object Identifier
   ----------------------------+----------+---------------------------
   firmwarePackage             |[RFC4108] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.16
   firmwareLoadReceipt         |[RFC4108] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.17
   firmwareLoadError           |[RFC4108] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.18
   aKeyPackage                 |[RFC5958] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.78.5
   sKeyPackage                 |[RFC6031] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.25
   trustAnchorList             |[RFC5914] | 1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.1.34
   TAMP-statusQuery            |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.1
   TAMP-statusResponse         |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.2
   TAMP-update                 |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.3
   TAMP-updateConfirm          |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.4
   TAMP-apexUpdate             |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.5
   TAMP-apexUpdateConfirm      |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.6
   TAMP-communityUpdate        |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.7
   TAMP-communityUpdateConfirm |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.8
   TAMP-seqNumAdjust           |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.10
   TAMP-seqNumAdjustConfirm    |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.11
   TAMP-error                  |[RFC5934] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.77.9
   keyPackageReceipt           |[RFC7191] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.78.3
   keyPackageError             |[RFC7191] | 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.2.78.6

5. Security Considerations

See the answer to the Security Considerations template questions in Section 2.

6. Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Carl Wallace for generating the example in Section 3.

7. References

7.1. Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
   
   [RFC3274]  Gutmann, P., "Compressed Data Content Type for
              Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", RFC 3274, June 2002.
   
   [RFC3370]  Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
              Algorithms", RFC 3370, August 2002.
   
   [RFC4021]  Klyne, G. and J. Palme, "Registration of Mail and MIME
              Header Fields", RFC 4021, March 2005.
   
   [RFC4073]  Housley, R., "Protecting Multiple Contents with the
              Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", RFC 4073, May 2005.
   
   [RFC4108]  Housley, R., "Using Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) to
              Protect Firmware Packages", RFC 4108, August 2005.
   
   [RFC5083]  Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
              Authenticated-Enveloped-Data Content Type", RFC 5083,
              November 2007.
   
   [RFC5084]  Housley, R., "Using AES-CCM and AES-GCM Authenticated
              Encryption in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", RFC
              5084, November 2007.
   
   [RFC5226]  Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
              IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226,
              May 2008.
   
   [RFC5273]  Schaad, J. and M. Myers, "Certificate Management over CMS
              (CMC): Transport Protocols", RFC 5273, June 2008.
   
   [RFC5652]  Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", STD 70,
              RFC 5652, September 2009.
   
   [RFC5753]  Turner, S. and D. Brown, "Use of Elliptic Curve
              Cryptography (ECC) Algorithms in Cryptographic Message
              Syntax (CMS)", RFC 5753, January 2010.
   
   [RFC5754]  Turner, S., "Using SHA2 Algorithms with Cryptographic
              Message Syntax", RFC 5754, January 2010.
   
   [RFC5914]  Housley, R., Ashmore, S., and C. Wallace, "Trust Anchor
              Format", RFC 5914, June 2010.
   
   [RFC5934]  Housley, R., Ashmore, S., and C. Wallace, "Trust Anchor
              Management Protocol (TAMP)", RFC 5934, August 2010.
   
   [RFC5958]  Turner, S., "Asymmetric Key Packages", RFC 5958, August
              2010.
   
   [RFC5959]  Turner, S., "Algorithms for Asymmetric Key Package Content
              Type", RFC 5959, August 2010.
   
   [RFC6031]  Turner, S. and R. Housley, "Cryptographic Message Syntax
              (CMS) Symmetric Key Package Content Type", RFC 6031,
              December 2010.
   
   [RFC6032]  Turner, S. and R. Housley, "Cryptographic Message Syntax
              (CMS) Encrypted Key Package Content Type", RFC 6032,
              December 2010.
   
   [RFC6033]  Turner, S., "Algorithms for Cryptographic Message Syntax
              (CMS) Encrypted Key Package Content Type", RFC 6033,
              December 2010.
   
   [RFC6160]  Turner, S., "Algorithms for Cryptographic Message Syntax
              (CMS) Protection of Symmetric Key Package Content Types",
              RFC 6160, April 2011.
   
   [RFC6161]  Turner, S., "Elliptic Curve Algorithms for Cryptographic
              Message Syntax (CMS) Encrypted Key Package Content Type",
              RFC 6161, April 2011.
   
   [RFC6162]  Turner, S., "Elliptic Curve Algorithms for Cryptographic
              Message Syntax (CMS) Asymmetric Key Package Content Type",
              RFC 6162, April 2011.
   
   [RFC6838]  Freed, N., Klensin, J., and T. Hansen, "Media Type
              Specifications and Registration Procedures", BCP 13, RFC
              6838, January 2013.
   
   [RFC7191]  Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Key
              Package Receipt and Error Content Types", RFC 7191, April
              2014.

7.2. Informative References

   [RFC2315]  Kaliski, B., "PKCS #7: Cryptographic Message Syntax
              Version 1.5", RFC 2315, March 1998.
   
   [RFC5751]  Ramsdell, B. and S. Turner, "Secure/Multipurpose Internet
              Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 3.2 Message
              Specification", RFC 5751, January 2010.

Authors' Addresses

Sean Turner
IECA, Inc.
3057 Nutley Street, Suite 106
Fairfax, VA 22031
USA 

   EMail: turners@ieca.com
   Phone: +1.703.628.3180

Russell Housley
Vigil Security, LLC
918 Spring Knoll Drive
Herndon, VA 20170
USA

EMail: 

          housley@vigilsec.com

Jim Schaad
Soaring Hawk Consulting

EMail: 

          ietf@augustcellars.com