Internet DRAFT - draft-harkins-eap-pwd-prime
draft-harkins-eap-pwd-prime
EMU D. Harkins
Internet-Draft HPE
Intended status: Informational July 24, 2019
Expires: January 25, 2020
Improved Extensible Authentication Protocol Using Only a Password
draft-harkins-eap-pwd-prime-00.txt
Abstract
Passwords are a popular form of credential for user authentication.
EAP-pwd (RFC 5931) is a popular method of performing secure password
authenticaiton. EAP-pwd requires a secret element in a finite cyclic
group, unfortunately the technique it uses to derive this secret is
open to timing and cache attacks. This improved version, EAP-pwd',
uses a different technique to derive the secret element which is
resistant to timing and cache attacks.
Requirements Language
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 RFC 2119 [1].
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
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This Internet-Draft will expire on January 25, 2020.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2019 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. EAP-pwd' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1. Secret Element Derivation for ECC . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Secret Element Derivation for FFC . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3. Fixing the Password Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5. Implementation Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1. Introduction
EAP-pwd is a popular EAP method due to the fact that it authenticates
without requiring certificates. Large federated networks sometimes
have latency issues with numerous fragmented packets going between
the EAP client and EAP server, a problem exacerbated by using EAP
methods that require certificate-based authentication. EAP-pwd
obviates this.
The technique used by EAP-pwd to obtain its secret element is
susceptible to timing attacks and cache attacks that can partition
the dictionary enough to successfully determine the password. Recent
work in the Crypto Forum Research Group on constant time techniques
to hash a string into a point on an elliptic curve in constant time
[2] provides an opportunity to address this.
2. EAP-pwd'
EAP-pwd' is an EAP method that follows the EAP-pwd specification
([3]) in all respects except for the following:
o It uses the Type code TBD-1, not 52 which is used by EAP-pwd.
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o It derives PWE/pwe as defined in Section 2.1 and Section 2.2 for
ECC and FFC groups, respectively, using a different technique than
the "hunting and pecking" loop defined in [3].
o it defines three new random functions using HKDF instantiated with
SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512.
EAP-pwd' MUST be used with one of the random functions defined in
this document.
The technique used by EAP-pwd' for deriving PWE/pwe can be
implemented in constant time and is resistant to the side channel and
timing attacks that the hunting-and-pecking loop of [3] is
susceptible to. Computing the password element in EAP-pwd' is a two-
step process. First, a secret element based on the password is
generated using one of the two new techniques, one for ECC and one
for FFC. Next the identities of the EAP server and EAP peer are
combined with the secret element to create the password element used
by the key exchange of [3].
The secret element can be generated at provisioning time or a run-
time. Either way, the EAP server will generate the password element
prior to generation of an EAP-pwd-Commit/Request and the EAP peer
will generate the password element prior to generation of an EAP-pwd-
Commit/Response.
2.1. Secret Element Derivation for ECC
The new technique to hash into an elliptic curve is the "Simplified
Shallue-van de Woestijne-Ulas Method" from [2]. The operations to
derive the secret element can be implemented in constant time.
The Simplified SWU method takes a password as input and generates 2
values-- x1 and x2-- at least one of which will be the abscissa of a
point on the curve. Since this method does not map its input to the
entire curve it is necessary to use a construct from [5] that uses
Simplified SWU with two functions that operate as random oracles to
produce two different points whose sum is the secret point S:
S := SSWU( h1(m) ) + SSWU( h2(m) )
Where m is the message to hash, h1() and h2() are random oracles
based on hash functions, '+' is point addition, and SSWU() is the
"Simplified SWU" hash-to-curve method.
EAP-pwd' uses HKDF ([4]) to instantiate the random oracles. The
password and a label is passed to HKDF() to produce a password-seed.
The password seed is then reduced modulo the prime to produce the
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input variable, u, for "Simplified SWU" which generates the first
intermediate point. This process is repeated with a different label
to produce the second intermediate point. Their sum is S.
The particular flavor of HKDF is the random function negotiated by
EAP-pwd'.
Algorithmically, the process looks like this:
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simplified_swu(password) {
pwd-seed = HKDF(0^n, password,
"EAP-pwd' Hash to Element P1", olen(p))
u = (pwd-seed modulo (p - 2)) + 2
t = inverse(z^2 * u^4 + z * u^2)
x1 = (-b/a) * (1 + t)
gx1 = x1^3 + a * x1 + b
x2 = z * u^2 * x1
gx2 = x2^3 + a * x2 + b
l = gx1 is a quadratic residue modulo p
v = CSEL(l, gx1, gx2)
x = CSEL(l, x1, x2)
y = sqrt(v)
l = CEQ(LSB(u), LSB(y))
P1 = CSEL(l, (x,y), (x, p-y))
pwd-seed = HKDF(0^n, password,
"EAP-pwd' Hash to Element P2", olen(p))
u = (pwd-seed modulo (p - 2)) + 2
t = inverse(z^2 * u^4 + z * u^2)
x1 = (-b/a) * (1 + t)
gx1 = x1^3 + a * x1 + b
x2 = z * u^2 * x1
gx2 = x2^3 + a * x2 + b
l = gx1 is a quadratic residue modulo p
v = CSEL(l, gx1, gx2)
x = CSEL(l, x1, x2)
y = sqrt(v)
l = CEQ(LSB(u), LSB(y))
P2 = CSEL(l, (x,y), (x, p-y))
S = P1 + P2
output S
}
Figure 1: Generation of the ECC Secret Point
Where:
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o 0^n is a salt of all zeros whose length equals the length of the
digest of the hash function that instantiates HKDF
o p is the prime, q is the order, a and b are part of the equation
of the curve, and all of these are defined in the domain parameter
set of the chosen curve
o z is a curve-specific parameter derived according to [2] for the
chosen curve
o LSB(x) returns the least significant bit of x
o CSEL(x,y,z) operates in constant time and returns y if x is true
and z otherwise
o CEQ(x,y) operates in constant time and returns true if x equals y
and false otherwise
2.2. Secret Element Derivation for FFC
The new technique to hash into an FFC group is similar to the
technique used in [3] but it does so without looping thereby
obviating a timing attack that can partition the dictionary.
EAP-pwd' uses HKDF ([4]) to produce a password value which is
exponentiated to produce a new element of the same order as the
generator of the group. This new element is output.
Algorithmically, the process looks like this:
hash_to_ffc(password) {
pwd-value = HKDF(0^n, password,
"EAP-pwd' Hash To Element",
olen(p))
pwd-value = (pwd-value modulo (p - 2)) + 2
s = pwd-value^((p-1)/q) modulo p
output s
}
Figure 2: Generation of the FFC Secret Point
Where:
o 0^n is a salt of all zeros whose length equals the length of the
digest of the hash function that instantiates HKDF
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o p is the prime, and q is the order and are defined in the domain
parameter set of the chosen group
The secret element, s, is guaranteed to have an order of either 1 or
q and the probability that it is 1 is remote enough to ignore.
2.3. Fixing the Password Element
The secret element derived in Section 2.1 or Section 2.2 is used to
fix EAP-pwd's Password Element prior to the generation of the EAP-
pwd-Commit/Request by the EAP server and prior to generation of the
EAP-pwd-Commit/Response by the EAP peer. To do this, they use the
negotiated random function to hash the anti-clogging token from [3]
and their identities to the length of the order of the negotiated
group. This is interpreted as an integer and reduced such that it is
between 1 and the order of the group, exclusive. The secret element
is then operated on by this value, point multiplication for ECC and
exponentiation for FFC, to produce the Password Element.
For ECC groups, this process looks like:
fix_PWE(S) {
val = HKDF(peer-ID | server-ID, token, "Fixing PWE", olen(p))
val = val modulo (q - 1) + 1
PWE = val * S
}
Figure 3: Generation of PWE
Where: p is the prime, and q is the order and are defined in the
domain parameter set of the chosen group.
For FFC groups, this process looks like:
fix_pwe(S) {
val = HKDF(peer-ID | server-ID, token, "Fixing pwe", olen(p))
val = val modulo (q - 1) + 1
pwe = s^val modulo p
}
Figure 4: Generation of pwe
Where: p is the prime, and q is the order and are defined in the
domain parameter set of the chosen group.
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3. Acknowledgements
The author thanks Hugo Krawczyk and Riad Wahby.
4. IANA Considerations
IANA is insructed to assign a new EAP method type to EAP-pwd' and
replace TBD-1 in this document with that value.
IANA is instructed to assign values from the Random Function registry
of [3] for the following:
o TBD-2: HKDF with SHA256 as defined in [4]
o TBD-3: HKDF with SHA384 as defined in [4]
o TBD-4: HKDF with SHA512 as defined in [4]
Replacing TBD-[2-4] with the assigned values.
5. Implementation Considerations
Implementations SHOULD generate the secret element from Section 2.1
and Section 2.2 when the password is provisioned and wait to generate
a session-specific password element when the EAP-pwd' protocol
begins.
Implementations SHOULD offer use a random function that provides
commensurate strength for the curve being negotiated. Guidance is as
follows based on the length of the curve's prime, len(p):
o HKDF-SHA256 when len(p) <= 256
o HKDF-SHA384 when 256 < len(p) <= 384
o HKDF-SHA512 when 384 < len(p)
The technique to generate the secret element on an elliptic curve
from Section 2.1 only works on Weierstrass curves with an equation of
y^2 = x^3 + a*x + b, with a != 0 and b != 0. A different hash-to-
curve technique implementable in constant time will have to be used
for other curves. [2] defines curve-specific techniques to obtain a
secret element for other curves. In the event that such a technique
is used, the random function negotiated SHALL be HKDF based on the
hash function defined in the ciphersuite of the particular hash to
curve technique.
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[2] describes useful utility functions that can be used to perform
the operations in Figure 1 in constant time. In addition, [7]
describes a useful blinding technique that can be used to determine
whether number is a quadratic residue modulo a prime in constant
time.
6. Security Considerations
The "hunting and pecking" loop done in [3] leaked information on how
many loops it took to determine the password element. This allows an
attacker to partition the dictionary by excluding possible passwords
which would take a different number of loops. After a frighteningly
few such partitionings it becomes possible for the attacker to
eliminate enough passwords to feasibly launch active attacks to learn
the password. [6] describes cache based attacks and timing attacks
that are possible against [3].
The Simplified SWU hash-to-curve method with the Brier construct
allows for the password element to be derived in constant time which
obviates these attacks.
For implementations that cannot become completely constant time (due
to, for instance, limitations in a crypto library) it is possible to
limit timing attacks by generating the secret element from
Section 2.1 and Section 2.2 when the password is provisioned and then
generating the password element at run time.
7. References
7.1. Normative References
[1] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997,
<http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/html/rfc2119.html>.
[2] Fax-Hernandez, A., Scott, S., Sullivan, N., Wahby, R., and
C. Wood, "Hashing to Elliptic Curves", draft-irtf-cfrg-
hash-to-curve A work in progress, July 2019.
[3] Harkins, D. and G. Zorn, "Extensible Authentication
Protocol (EAP) Authentication Using Only a Password", RFC
5931, August 2010.
[4] Krawczyk, H. and P. Eronen, "HMAC-based Extract-and-Expand
Key Derivation Function (HKDF)", RFC 5869, DOI 10.17487/
RFC5869, May 2010,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5869>.
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7.2. Informative References
[5] Brier, E., "Efficient Indifferentiable Hashing into
Ordinary Elliptic Curves", Advances in Cryptology-- Crypto
2010 Springer-Verlag, 2010.
[6] Vanhoef, M. and E. Ronen, "Dragonblood: A Security
Analysis of WPA3's SAE Handshake", Cryptology ePrint
Archive Report 2019, 2019.
[7] Harkins, D., Ed., "Dragonfly Key Exchange", RFC 7664, DOI
10.17487/RFC7664, November 2015,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7664>.
Author's Address
Dan Harkins
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
3333 Scott boulevard
Santa Clara
United States of America
Email: dharkins@lounge.org
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