Network Working Group J. Linn Request for Comments: 1421 IAB IRTF PSRG, IETF PEM WG Obsoletes: 1113 February 1993 Privacy Enhancement for Internet Electronic Mail: Part I: Message Encryption and Authentication Procedures Status of this Memo This RFC specifies an IAB standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "IAB Official Protocol Standards" for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Acknowledgements This document is the outgrowth of a series of meetings of the Privacy and Security Research Group (PSRG) of the IRTF and the PEM Working Group of the IETF. I would like to thank the members of the PSRG and the IETF PEM WG, as well as all participants in discussions on the "pem-dev@tis.com" mailing list, for their contributions to this document. 1. Executive Summary This document defines message encryption and authentication procedures, in order to provide privacy-enhanced mail (PEM) services for electronic mail transfer in the Internet. It is intended to become one member of a related set of four RFCs. The procedures defined in the current document are intended to be compatible with a wide range of key management approaches, including both symmetric (secret-key) and asymmetric (public-key) approaches for encryption of data encrypting keys. Use of symmetric cryptography for message text encryption and/or integrity check computation is anticipated. RFC 1422 specifies supporting key management mechanisms based on the use of public-key certificates. RFC 1423 specifies algorithms, modes, and associated identifiers relevant to the current RFC and to RFC 1422. RFC 1424 provides details of paper and electronic formats and procedures for the key management infrastructure being established in support of these services. Privacy enhancement services (confidentiality, authentication, message integrity assurance, and non-repudiation of origin) are offered through the use of end-to-end cryptography between originator and recipient processes at or above the User Agent level. No special processing requirements are imposed on the Message Transfer System at Linn [Page 1] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 endpoints or at intermediate relay sites. This approach allows privacy enhancement facilities to be incorporated selectively on a site-by-site or user-by-user basis without impact on other Internet entities. Interoperability among heterogeneous components and mail transport facilities is supported. The current specification's scope is confined to PEM processing procedures for the RFC-822 textual mail environment, and defines the Content-Domain indicator value "RFC822" to signify this usage. Follow-on work in integration of PEM capabilities with other messaging environments (e.g., MIME) is anticipated and will be addressed in separate and/or successor documents, at which point additional Content-Domain indicator values will be defined. 2. Terminology For descriptive purposes, this RFC uses some terms defined in the OSI X.400 Message Handling System Model per the CCITT Recommendations. This section replicates a portion of (1984) X.400's Section 2.2.1, "Description of the MHS Model: Overview" in order to make the terminology clear to readers who may not be familiar with the OSI MHS Model. In the [MHS] model, a user is a person or a computer application. A user is referred to as either an originator (when sending a message) or a recipient (when receiving one). MH Service elements define the set of message types and the capabilities that enable an originator to transfer messages of those types to one or more recipients. An originator prepares messages with the assistance of his or her User Agent (UA). A UA is an application process that interacts with the Message Transfer System (MTS) to submit messages. The MTS delivers to one or more recipient UAs the messages submitted to it. Functions performed solely by the UA and not standardized as part of the MH Service elements are called local UA functions. The MTS is composed of a number of Message Transfer Agents (MTAs). Operating together, the MTAs relay messages and deliver them to the intended recipient UAs, which then make the messages available to the intended recipients. The collection of UAs and MTAs is called the Message Handling System (MHS). The MHS and all of its users are collectively referred to as the Message Handling Environment. Linn [Page 2] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 3. Services, Constraints, and Implications This RFC defines mechanisms to enhance privacy for electronic mail transferred in the Internet. The facilities discussed in this RFC provide privacy enhancement services on an end-to-end basis between originator and recipient processes residing at the UA level or above. No privacy enhancements are offered for message fields which are added or transformed by intermediate relay points between PEM processing components. If an originator elects to perform PEM processing on an outbound message, all PEM-provided security services are applied to the PEM message's body in its entirety; selective application to portions of a PEM message is not supported. Authentication, integrity, and (when asymmetric key management is employed) non-repudiation of origin services are applied to all PEM messages; confidentiality services are optionally selectable. In keeping with the Internet's heterogeneous constituencies and usage modes, the measures defined here are applicable to a broad range of Internet hosts and usage paradigms. In particular, it is worth noting the following attributes: 1. The mechanisms defined in this RFC are not restricted to a particular host or operating system, but rather allow interoperability among a broad range of systems. All privacy enhancements are implemented at the application layer, and are not dependent on any privacy features at lower protocol layers. 2. The defined mechanisms are compatible with non-enhanced Internet components. Privacy enhancements are implemented in an end-to-end fashion which does not impact mail processing by intermediate relay hosts which do not incorporate privacy enhancement facilities. It is necessary, however, for a message's originator to be cognizant of whether a message's intended recipient implements privacy enhancements, in order that encoding and possible encryption will not be performed on a message whose destination is not equipped to perform corresponding inverse transformations. (Section 4.6.1.1.3 of this RFC describes a PEM message type ("MIC-CLEAR") which represents a signed, unencrypted PEM message in a form readable without PEM processing capabilities yet validatable by PEM-equipped recipients.) 3. The defined mechanisms are compatible with a range of mail transport facilities (MTAs). Within the Internet, Linn [Page 3] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 electronic mail transport is effected by a variety of SMTP [2] implementations. Certain sites, accessible via SMTP, forward mail into other mail processing environments (e.g., USENET, CSNET, BITNET). The privacy enhancements must be able to operate across the SMTP realm; it is desirable that they also be compatible with protection of electronic mail sent between the SMTP environment and other connected environments. 4. The defined mechanisms are compatible with a broad range of electronic mail user agents (UAs). A large variety of electronic mail user agent programs, with a corresponding broad range of user interface paradigms, is used in the Internet. In order that electronic mail privacy enhancements be available to the broadest possible user community, selected mechanisms should be usable with the widest possible variety of existing UA programs. For purposes of pilot implementation, it is desirable that privacy enhancement processing be incorporable into a separate program, applicable to a range of UAs, rather than requiring internal modifications to each UA with which PEM services are to be provided. 5. The defined mechanisms allow electronic mail privacy enhancement processing to be performed on personal computers (PCs) separate from the systems on which UA functions are implemented. Given the expanding use of PCs and the limited degree of trust which can be placed in UA implementations on many multi-user systems, this attribute can allow many users to process PEM with a higher assurance level than a strictly UA-integrated approach would allow. 6. The defined mechanisms support privacy protection of electronic mail addressed to mailing lists (distribution lists, in ISO parlance). 7. The mechanisms defined within this RFC are compatible with a variety of supporting key management approaches, including (but not limited to) manual pre-distribution, centralized key distribution based on symmetric cryptography, and the use of public-key certificates per RFC 1422. Different key management mechanisms may be used for different recipients of a multicast message. For two PEM implementations to interoperate, they must share a common key management mechanism; support for the mechanism defined in RFC 1422 is strongly encouraged. Linn [Page 4] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 In order to achieve applicability to the broadest possible range of Internet hosts and mail systems, and to facilitate pilot implementation and testing without the need for prior and pervasive modifications throughout the Internet, the following design principles were applied in selecting the set of features specified in this RFC: 1. This RFC's measures are restricted to implementation at endpoints and are amenable to integration with existing Internet mail protocols at the user agent (UA) level or above, rather than necessitating modifications to existing mail protocols or integration into the message transport system (e.g., SMTP servers). 2. The set of supported measures enhances rather than restricts user capabilities. Trusted implementations, incorporating integrity features protecting software from subversion by local users, cannot be assumed in general. No mechanisms are assumed to prevent users from sending, at their discretion, messages to which no PEM processing has been applied. In the absence of such features, it appears more feasible to provide facilities which enhance user services (e.g., by protecting and authenticating inter-user traffic) than to enforce restrictions (e.g., inter-user access control) on user actions. 3. The set of supported measures focuses on a set of functional capabilities selected to provide significant and tangible benefits to a broad user community. By concentrating on the most critical set of services, we aim to maximize the added privacy value that can be provided with a modest level of implementation effort. Based on these principles, the following facilities are provided: 1. disclosure protection, 2. originator authenticity, 3. message integrity measures, and 4. (if asymmetric key management is used) non-repudiation of origin, but the following privacy-relevant concerns are not addressed: 1. access control, Linn [Page 5] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 2. traffic flow confidentiality, 3. address list accuracy, 4. routing control, 5. issues relating to the casual serial reuse of PCs by multiple users, 6. assurance of message receipt and non-deniability of receipt, 7. automatic association of acknowledgments with the messages to which they refer, and 8. message duplicate detection, replay prevention, or other stream-oriented services 4. Processing of Messages 4.1 Message Processing Overview This subsection provides a high-level overview of the components and processing steps involved in electronic mail privacy enhancement processing. Subsequent subsections will define the procedures in more detail. 4.1.1 Types of Keys A two-level keying hierarchy is used to support PEM transmission: 1. Data Encrypting Keys (DEKs) are used for encryption of message text and (with certain choices among a set of alternative algorithms) for computation of message integrity check (MIC) quantities. In the asymmetric key management environment, DEKs are also used to encrypt the signed representations of MICs in PEM messages to which confidentiality has been applied. DEKs are generated individually for each transmitted message; no predistribution of DEKs is needed to support PEM transmission. 2. Interchange Keys (IKs) are used to encrypt DEKs for transmission within messages. Ordinarily, the same IK will be used for all messages sent from a given originator to a given recipient over a period of time. Each transmitted message includes a representation of the DEK(s) used for message encryption and/or MIC computation, encrypted under an individual IK per named recipient. The representation is Linn [Page 6] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 associated with Originator-ID and Recipient-ID fields (defined in different forms so as to distinguish symmetric from asymmetric cases), which allow each individual recipient to identify the IK used to encrypt DEKs and/or MICs for that recipient's use. Given an appropriate IK, a recipient can decrypt the corresponding transmitted DEK representation, yielding the DEK required for message text decryption and/or MIC validation. The definition of an IK differs depending on whether symmetric or asymmetric cryptography is used for DEK encryption: 2a. When symmetric cryptography is used for DEK encryption, an IK is a single symmetric key shared between an originator and a recipient. In this case, the same IK is used to encrypt MICs as well as DEKs for transmission. Version/expiration information and IA identification associated with the originator and with the recipient must be concatenated in order to fully qualify a symmetric IK. 2b. When asymmetric cryptography is used, the IK component used for DEK encryption is the public component [8] of the recipient. The IK component used for MIC encryption is the private component of the originator, and therefore only one encrypted MIC representation need be included per message, rather than one per recipient. Each of these IK components can be fully qualified in a Recipient-ID or Originator-ID field, respectively. Alternatively, an originator's IK component may be determined from a certificate carried in an "Originator-Certificate:" field. 4.1.2 Processing Procedures When PEM processing is to be performed on an outgoing message, a DEK is generated [1] for use in message encryption and (if a chosen MIC algorithm requires a key) a variant of the DEK is formed for use in MIC computation. DEK generation can be omitted for the case of a message where confidentiality is not to be applied, unless a chosen MIC computation algorithm requires a DEK. Other parameters (e.g., Initialization Vectors (IVs)) as required by selected encryption algorithms are also generated. One or more Originator-ID and/or "Originator-Certificate:" fields are included in a PEM message's encapsulated header to provide recipients with an identification component for the IK(s) used for message Linn [Page 7] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 processing. All of a message's Originator-ID and/or "Originator- Certificate:" fields are assumed to correspond to the same principal; the facility for inclusion of multiple such fields accomodates the prospect that different keys, algorithms, and/or certification paths may be required for processing by different recipients. When a message includes recipients for which asymmetric key management is employed as well as recipients for which symmetric key management is employed, a separate Originator-ID or "Originator-Certificate:" field precedes each set of recipients. In the symmetric case, per-recipient IK components are applied for each individually named recipient in preparation of ENCRYPTED, MIC- ONLY, and MIC-CLEAR messages. A corresponding "Recipient-ID- Symmetric:" field, interpreted in the context of the most recent preceding "Originator-ID-Symmetric:" field, serves to identify each IK. In the asymmetric case, per-recipient IK components are applied only for ENCRYPTED messages, are independent of originator-oriented header elements, and are identified by "Recipient-ID-Asymmetric:" fields. Each Recipient-ID field is followed by a "Key-Info:" field, which transfers the message's DEK encrypted under the IK appropriate for the specified recipient. When symmetric key management is used for a given recipient, the "Key-Info:" field following the corresponding "Recipient-ID- Symmetric:" field also transfers the message's computed MIC, encrypted under the recipient's IK. When asymmetric key management is used, a "MIC-Info:" field associated with an "Originator-ID- Asymmetric:" or "Originator-Certificate:" field carries the message's MIC, asymmetrically signed using the private component of the originator. If the PEM message is of type ENCRYPTED (as defined in Section 4.6.1.1.1 of this RFC), the asymmetrically signed MIC is symmetrically encrypted using the same DEK, algorithm, encryption mode and other cryptographic parameters as used to encrypt the message text, prior to inclusion in the "MIC-Info:" field. 4.1.2.1 Processing Steps A four-phase transformation procedure is employed in order to represent encrypted message text in a universally transmissible form and to enable messages encrypted on one type of host computer to be decrypted on a different type of host computer. A plaintext message is accepted in local form, using the host's native character set and line representation. The local form is converted to a canonical message text representation, defined as equivalent to the inter-SMTP representation of message text. This canonical representation forms the input to the MIC computation step (applicable to ENCRYPTED, MIC- ONLY, and MIC-CLEAR messages) and the encryption process (applicable to ENCRYPTED messages only). Linn [Page 8] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 For ENCRYPTED PEM messages, the canonical representation is padded as required by the encryption algorithm, and this padded canonical representation is encrypted. The encrypted text (for an ENCRYPTED message) or the unpadded canonical form (for a MIC-ONLY message) is then encoded into a printable form. The printable form is composed of a restricted character set which is chosen to be universally representable across sites, and which will not be disrupted by processing within and between MTS entities. MIC-CLEAR PEM messages omit the printable encoding step. The output of the previous processing steps is combined with a set of header fields carrying cryptographic control information. The resulting PEM message is passed to the electronic mail system to be included within the text portion of a transmitted message. There is no requirement that a PEM message comprise the entirety of an MTS message's text portion; this allows PEM-protected information to be accompanied by (unprotected) annotations. It is also permissible for multiple PEM messages (and associated unprotected text, outside the PEM message boundaries) to be represented within the encapsulated text of a higher-level PEM message. PEM message signatures are forwardable when asymmetric key management is employed; an authorized recipient of a PEM message with confidentiality applied can reduce that message to a signed but unencrypted form for forwarding purposes or can re-encrypt that message for subsequent transmission. When a PEM message is received, the cryptographic control fields within its encapsulated header provide the information required for each authorized recipient to perform MIC validation and decryption of the received message text. For ENCRYPTED and MIC-ONLY messages, the printable encoding is converted to a bitstring. Encrypted portions of the transmitted message are decrypted. The MIC is validated. Then, the recipient PEM process converts the canonical representation to its appropriate local form. 4.1.2.2 Error Cases A variety of error cases may occur and be detected in the course of processing a received PEM message. The specific actions to be taken in response to such conditions are local matters, varying as functions of user preferences and the type of user interface provided by a particular PEM implementation, but certain general recommendations are appropriate. Syntactically invalid PEM messages should be flagged as such, preferably with collection of diagnostic information to support debugging of incompatibilities or other failures. RFC 1422 defines specific error processing requirements relevant to the certificate-based key management mechanisms defined therein. Linn [Page 9] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 Syntactically valid PEM messages which yield MIC failures raise special concern, as they may result from attempted attacks or forged messages. As such, it is unsuitable to display their contents to recipient users without first indicating the fact that the contents' authenticity and integrity cannot be guaranteed and then receiving positive user confirmation of such a warning. MIC-CLEAR messages (discussed in Section 4.6.1.1.3 of this RFC) raise special concerns, as MIC failures on such messages may occur for a broader range of benign causes than are applicable to other PEM message types. 4.2 Encryption Algorithms, Modes, and Parameters For use in conjunction with this RFC, RFC 1423 defines the appropriate algorithms, modes, and associated identifiers to be used for encryption of message text with DEKs. The mechanisms defined in this RFC incorporate facilities for transmission of cryptographic parameters (e.g., pseudorandom Initializing Vectors (IVs)) with PEM messages to which the confidentiality service is applied, when required by symmetric message encryption algorithms and modes specified in RFC 1423. Certain operations require encryption of DEKs, MICs, and digital signatures under an IK for purposes of transmission. A header facility indicates the mode in which the IK is used for encryption. RFC 1423 specifies encryption algorithm and mode identifiers and minimum essential support requirements for key encryption processing. RFC 1422 specifies asymmetric, certificate-based key management procedures based on CCITT Recommendation X.509 to support the message processing procedures defined in this document. Support for the key management approach defined in RFC 1422 is strongly recommended. The message processing procedures can also be used with symmetric key management, given prior distribution of suitable symmetric IKs, but no current RFCs specify key distribution procedures for such IKs. 4.3 Privacy Enhancement Message Transformations 4.3.1 Constraints An electronic mail encryption mechanism must be compatible with the transparency constraints of its underlying electronic mail facilities. These constraints are generally established based on expected user requirements and on the characteristics of anticipated endpoint and transport facilities. An encryption mechanism must also be compatible with the local conventions of the computer systems which it interconnects. Our approach uses a canonicalization step to abstract out local conventions and a subsequent encoding step to Linn [Page 10] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 conform to the characteristics of the underlying mail transport medium (SMTP). The encoding conforms to SMTP constraints. Section 4.5 of RFC 821 [2] details SMTP's transparency constraints. To prepare a message for SMTP transmission, the following requirements must be met: 1. All characters must be members of the 7-bit ASCII character set. 2. Text lines, delimited by the character pair , must be no more than 1000 characters long. 3. Since the string . indicates the end of a message, it must not occur in text prior to the end of a message. Although SMTP specifies a standard representation for line delimiters (ASCII ), numerous systems in the Internet use a different native representation to delimit lines. For example, the sequences delimiting lines in mail inbound to UNIX systems are transformed to single s as mail is written into local mailbox files. Lines in mail incoming to record-oriented systems (such as VAX VMS) may be converted to appropriate records by the destination SMTP server [3]. As a result, if the encryption process generated s or s, those characters might not be accessible to a recipient UA program at a destination which uses different line delimiting conventions. It is also possible that conversion between tabs and spaces may be performed in the course of mapping between inter-SMTP and local format; this is a matter of local option. If such transformations changed the form of transmitted ciphertext, decryption would fail to regenerate the transmitted plaintext, and a transmitted MIC would fail to compare with that computed at the destination. The conversion performed by an SMTP server at a system with EBCDIC as a native character set has even more severe impact, since the conversion from EBCDIC into ASCII is an information-losing transformation. In principle, the transformation function mapping between inter-SMTP canonical ASCII message representation and local format could be moved from the SMTP server up to the UA, given a means to direct that the SMTP server should no longer perform that transformation. This approach has a major disadvantage: internal file (e.g., mailbox) formats would be incompatible with the native forms used on the systems where they reside. Further, it would require modification to SMTP servers, as mail would be passed to SMTP in a different representation than it is passed at present. Linn [Page 11] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 4.3.2 Approach Our approach to supporting PEM across an environment in which intermediate conversions may occur defines an encoding for mail which is uniformly representable across the set of PEM UAs regardless of their systems' native character sets. This encoded form is used (for specified PEM message types) to represent mail text in transit from originator to recipient, but the encoding is not applied to enclosing MTS headers or to encapsulated headers inserted to carry control information between PEM UAs. The encoding's characteristics are such that the transformations anticipated between originator and recipient UAs will not prevent an encoded message from being decoded properly at its destination. Four transformation steps, described in the following four subsections, apply to outbound PEM message processing: 4.3.2.1 Step 1: Local Form This step is applicable to PEM message types ENCRYPTED, MIC-ONLY, and MIC-CLEAR. The message text is created in the system's native character set, with lines delimited in accordance with local convention. 4.3.2.2 Step 2: Canonical Form This step is applicable to PEM message types ENCRYPTED, MIC-ONLY, and MIC-CLEAR. The message text is converted to a universal canonical form, similar to the inter-SMTP representation [4] as defined in RFC 821 [2] and RFC 822 [5]. The procedures performed in order to accomplish this conversion are dependent on the characteristics of the local form and so are not specified in this RFC. PEM canonicalization assures that the message text is represented with the ASCII character set and "" line delimiters, but does not perform the dot-stuffing transformation discussed in RFC 821, Section 4.5.2. Since a message is converted to a standard character set and representation before encryption, a transferred PEM message can be decrypted and its MIC can be validated at any type of destination host computer. Decryption and MIC validation is performed before any conversions which may be necessary to transform the message into a destination-specific local form. 4.3.2.3 Step 3: Authentication and Encryption Authentication processing is applicable to PEM message types ENCRYPTED, MIC-ONLY, and MIC-CLEAR. The canonical form is input to the selected MIC computation algorithm in order to compute an Linn [Page 12] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 integrity check quantity for the message. No padding is added to the canonical form before submission to the MIC computation algorithm, although certain MIC algorithms will apply their own padding in the course of computing a MIC. Encryption processing is applicable only to PEM message type ENCRYPTED. RFC 1423 defines the padding technique used to support encryption of the canonically-encoded message text. 4.3.2.4 Step 4: Printable Encoding This printable encoding step is applicable to PEM message types ENCRYPTED and MIC-ONLY. The same processing is also employed in representation of certain specifically identified PEM encapsulated header field quantities as cited in Section 4.6. Proceeding from left to right, the bit string resulting from step 3 is encoded into characters which are universally representable at all sites, though not necessarily with the same bit patterns (e.g., although the character "E" is represented in an ASCII-based system as hexadecimal 45 and as hexadecimal C5 in an EBCDIC-based system, the local significance of the two representations is equivalent). A 64-character subset of International Alphabet IA5 is used, enabling 6 bits to be represented per printable character. (The proposed subset of characters is represented identically in IA5 and ASCII.) The character "=" signifies a special processing function used for padding within the printable encoding procedure. To represent the encapsulated text of a PEM message, the encoding function's output is delimited into text lines (using local conventions), with each line except the last containing exactly 64 printable characters and the final line containing 64 or fewer printable characters. (This line length is easily printable and is guaranteed to satisfy SMTP's 1000-character transmitted line length limit.) This folding requirement does not apply when the encoding procedure is used to represent PEM header field quantities; Section 4.6 discusses folding of PEM encapsulated header fields. The encoding process represents 24-bit groups of input bits as output strings of 4 encoded characters. Proceeding from left to right across a 24-bit input group extracted from the output of step 3, each 6-bit group is used as an index into an array of 64 printable characters. The character referenced by the index is placed in the output string. These characters, identified in Table 1, are selected so as to be universally representable, and the set excludes characters with particular significance to SMTP (e.g., ".", "", ""). Linn [Page 13] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 Special processing is performed if fewer than 24 bits are available in an input group at the end of a message. A full encoding quantum is always completed at the end of a message. When fewer than 24 input bits are available in an input group, zero bits are added (on the right) to form an integral number of 6-bit groups. Output character positions which are not required to represent actual input data are set to the character "=". Since all canonically encoded output is an integral number of octets, only the following cases can arise: (1) the final quantum of encoding input is an integral multiple of 24 bits; here, the final unit of encoded output will be an integral multiple of 4 characters with no "=" padding, (2) the final quantum of encoding input is exactly 8 bits; here, the final unit of encoded output will be two characters followed by two "=" padding characters, or (3) the final quantum of encoding input is exactly 16 bits; here, the final unit of encoded output will be three characters followed by one "=" padding character. Value Encoding Value Encoding Value Encoding Value Encoding 0 A 17 R 34 i 51 z 1 B 18 S 35 j 52 0 2 C 19 T 36 k 53 1 3 D 20 U 37 l 54 2 4 E 21 V 38 m 55 3 5 F 22 W 39 n 56 4 6 G 23 X 40 o 57 5 7 H 24 Y 41 p 58 6 8 I 25 Z 42 q 59 7 9 J 26 a 43 r 60 8 10 K 27 b 44 s 61 9 11 L 28 c 45 t 62 + 12 M 29 d 46 u 63 / 13 N 30 e 47 v 14 O 31 f 48 w (pad) = 15 P 32 g 49 x 16 Q 33 h 50 y Printable Encoding Characters Table 1 4.3.2.5 Summary of Transformations In summary, the outbound message is subjected to the following composition of transformations (or, for some PEM message types, a subset thereof): Transmit_Form = Encode(Encrypt(Canonicalize(Local_Form))) Linn [Page 14] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 The inverse transformations are performed, in reverse order, to process inbound PEM messages: Local_Form = DeCanonicalize(Decipher(Decode(Transmit_Form))) Note that the local form and the functions to transform messages to and from canonical form may vary between the originator and recipient systems without loss of information. 4.4 Encapsulation Mechanism The encapsulation techniques defined in RFC-934 [6] are adopted for encapsulation of PEM messages within separate enclosing MTS messages carrying associated MTS headers. This approach offers a number of advantages relative to a flat approach in which certain fields within a single header are encrypted and/or carry cryptographic control information. As far as the MTS is concerned, the entirety of a PEM message will reside in an MTS message's text portion, not the MTS message's header portion. Encapsulation provides generality and segregates fields with user-to-user significance from those transformed in transit. All fields inserted in the course of encryption/authentication processing are placed in the encapsulated header. This facilitates compatibility with mail handling programs which accept only text, not header fields, from input files or from other programs. The encapsulation techniques defined in RFC-934 are consistent with existing Internet mail forwarding and bursting mechanisms. These techniques are designed so that they may be used in a nested manner. The encapsulation techniques may be used to encapsulate one or more PEM messages for forwarding to a third party, possibly in conjunction with interspersed (non-PEM) text which serves to annotate the PEM messages. Two encapsulation boundaries (EB's) are defined for delimiting encapsulated PEM messages and for distinguishing encapsulated PEM messages from interspersed (non-PEM) text. The pre-EB is the string "-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE-----", indicating that an encapsulated PEM message follows. The post-EB is either (1) another pre-EB indicating that another encapsulated PEM message follows, or (2) the string "-----END PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE-----" indicating that any text that immediately follows is non-PEM text. A special point must be noted for the case of MIC-CLEAR messages, the text portions of which may contain lines which begin with the "-" character and which are therefore subject to special processing per RFC-934 forwarding procedures. When the string "- " must be prepended to such a line in the course of a forwarding operation in order to distinguish that line from an encapsulation boundary, MIC Linn [Page 15] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 computation is to be performed prior to prepending the "- " string. Figure 1 depicts the encapsulation of a single PEM message. This RFC places no a priori limits on the depth to which such encapsulation may be nested nor on the number of PEM messages which may be grouped in this fashion at a single nesting level for forwarding. A implementation compliant with this RFC must not preclude a user from submitting or receiving PEM messages which exploit this encapsulation capability. However, no specific requirements are levied upon implementations with regard to how this capability is made available to the user. Thus, for example, a compliant PEM implementation is not required to automatically detect and process encapsulated PEM messages. In using this encapsulation facility, it is important to note that it is inappropriate to forward directly to a third party a message that is ENCRYPTED because recipients of such a message would not have access to the DEK required to decrypt the message. Instead, the user forwarding the message must transform the ENCRYPTED message into a MIC-ONLY or MIC-CLEAR form prior to forwarding. Thus, in order to comply with this RFC, a PEM implementation must provide a facility to enable a user to perform this transformation, while preserving the MIC associated with the original message. If a user wishes PEM-provided confidentiality protection for transmitted information, such information must occur in the encapsulated text of an ENCRYPTED PEM message, not in the enclosing MTS header or PEM encapsulated header. If a user wishes to avoid Linn [Page 16] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 Encapsulated Message Pre-Encapsulation Boundary (Pre-EB) -----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Encapsulated Header Portion (Contains encryption control fields inserted in plaintext. Examples include "DEK-Info:" and "Key-Info:". Note that, although these control fields have line-oriented representations similar to RFC 822 header fields, the set of fields valid in this context is disjoint from those used in RFC 822 processing.) Blank Line (Separates Encapsulated Header from subsequent Encapsulated Text Portion) Encapsulated Text Portion (Contains message data encoded as specified in Section 4.3.) Post-Encapsulation Boundary (Post-EB) -----END PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Encapsulated Message Format Figure 1 disclosing the actual subject of a message to unintended parties, it is suggested that the enclosing MTS header contain a "Subject:" field indicating that "Encrypted Mail Follows". If an integrity-protected representation of information which occurs within an enclosing header (not necessarily in the same format as that in which it occurs within that header) is desired, that data can be included within the encapsulated text portion in addition to its inclusion in the enclosing MTS header. For example, an originator wishing to provide recipients with a protected indication of a message's position in a series of messages could include within the encapsulated text a copy of a timestamp or message counter value possessing end-to-end significance and extracted from an enclosing MTS header field. (Note: mailbox specifiers as entered by end users incorporate local conventions and are subject to modification at intermediaries, so inclusion of such specifiers within encapsulated text should not be regarded as a suitable alternative to the authentication semantics defined in RFC 1422 and based on X.500 Distinguished Names.) The set of header information (if any) included within the encapsulated text of messages is a local matter, and this Linn [Page 17] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 RFC does not specify formatting conventions to distinguish replicated header fields from other encapsulated text. 4.5 Mail for Mailing Lists When mail is addressed to mailing lists, two different methods of processing can be applicable: the IK-per-list method and the IK-per- recipient method. Hybrid approaches are also possible, as in the case of IK-per-list protection of a message on its path from an originator to a PEM-equipped mailing list exploder, followed by IK- per-recipient protection from the exploder to individual list recipients. If a message's originator is equipped to expand a destination mailing list into its individual constituents and elects to do so (IK-per- recipient), the message's DEK (and, in the symmetric key management case, MIC) will be encrypted under each per-recipient IK and all such encrypted representations will be incorporated into the transmitted message. Note that per-recipient encryption is required only for the relatively small DEK and MIC quantities carried in the "Key-Info:" field, not for the message text which is, in general, much larger. Although more IKs are involved in processing under the IK-per- recipient method, the pairwise IKs can be individually revoked and possession of one IK does not enable a successful masquerade of another user on the list. If a message's originator addresses a message to a list name or alias, use of an IK associated with that name or alias as a entity (IK-per-list), rather than resolution of the name or alias to its constituent destinations, is implied. Such an IK must, therefore, be available to all list members. Unfortunately, it implies an undesirable level of exposure for the shared IK, and makes its revocation difficult. Moreover, use of the IK-per-list method allows any holder of the list's IK to masquerade as another originator to the list for authentication purposes. Pure IK-per-list key management in the asymmetric case (with a common private key shared among multiple list members) is particularly disadvantageous in the asymmetric environment, as it fails to preserve the forwardable authentication and non-repudiation characteristics which are provided for other messages in this environment. Use of a hybrid approach with a PEM-capable exploder is therefore particularly recommended for protection of mailing list traffic when asymmetric key management is used; such an exploder would reduce (per discussion in Section 4.4 of this RFC) incoming ENCRYPTED messages to MIC-ONLY or MIC-CLEAR form before forwarding them (perhaps re-encrypted under individual, per-recipient keys) to list members. Linn [Page 18] RFC 1421 Privacy Enhancement for Electronic Mail February 1993 4.6 Summary of Encapsulated Header Fields This section defines the syntax and semantics of the encapsulated header fields to be added to messages in the course of privacy enhancement processing. The fields are presented in three groups. Normally, the groups will appear in encapsulated headers in the order in which they are shown, though not all fields in each group will appear in all messages. The following figures show the appearance of small example encapsulated messages. Figure 2 assumes the use of symmetric cryptography for key management. Figure 3 illustrates an example encapsulated ENCRYPTED message in which asymmetric key management is used. -----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED Content-Domain: RFC822 DEK-Info: DES-CBC,F8143EDE5960C597 Originator-ID-Symmetric: linn@zendia.enet.dec.com,, Recipient-ID-Symmetric: linn@zendia.enet.dec.com,ptf-kmc,3 Key-Info: DES-ECB,RSA-MD2,9FD3AAD2F2691B9A, B70665BB9BF7CBCDA60195DB94F727D3 Recipient-ID-Symmetric: pem-dev@tis.com,ptf-kmc,4 Key-Info: DES-ECB,RSA-MD2,161A3F75DC82EF26,