HTTP Authentication Considerations
draft-hallambaker-httpauth-00

Abstract

This draft is input to the HTTP Working Group discussion of HTTP authentication schemes.

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at http:/⁠/⁠datatracker.ietf.org/⁠drafts/⁠current/⁠.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

This Internet-Draft will expire on April 03, 2013.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2012 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.

Table of Contents

• 1. What is Wrong in Web Authentication
• 1.1. Password Promiscuity
• 1.1.1. Password Recovery Schemes
• 1.1.2. Password Recovery
• 1.2. Provider Lock In
• 1.3. Strong Credentials Compromised by Weak Binding
• 1.3.1. Confirmation vs Authentication
• 2. User Authentication is Three Separate Problems
• 2.1. Registration
• 2.2. Credential Presentation
• 2.3. Message Authentication
• 3. Deployment Approach
• 3.1. Password Managers as Transition Path
• 3.2. Non-Transferable Credentials
• 4. Security Considerations
• 4.1. Impersonation
• 4.2. Credential Disclosure
• 4.3. Credential Oracle
• 4.4. Randomness of Secret Key
• 5. IANA Considerations
• 6. References
• Author's Address

1. What is Wrong in Web Authentication

1.1. Password Promiscuity

1.1.1. Password Recovery Schemes

1.1.2. Password Recovery

1.2. Provider Lock In

1.3. Strong Credentials Compromised by Weak Binding

1.3.1. Confirmation vs Authentication

2. User Authentication is Three Separate Problems

2.1. Registration

2.2. Credential Presentation

2.3. Message Authentication

3. Deployment Approach

3.1. Password Managers as Transition Path

3.2. Non-Transferable Credentials

4. Security Considerations

4.1. Impersonation

4.2. Credential Disclosure

4.3. Credential Oracle

4.4. Randomness of Secret Key

5. IANA Considerations

6. References

Author's Address