RFC 4253 possible errata
"Mark D. Baushke" <[email protected]> Wed, 21 Jun 2017 11:20:05 -0700
| Newsgroups | gmane.ietf.secsh,gmane.ietf.curdle |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Hi Folks, While working with the IETF AD Eric Rescorla <[email protected]> doing the AD review of draft-ietf-curdle-ssh-modp-dh-sha2, the topic came up of validation of the Diffie-Hellman public key on both client and server (peers). The RFC 4253 Section 8 writes: |8. Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange | | The Diffie-Hellman (DH) key exchange provides a shared secret that | cannot be determined by either party alone. The key exchange is | combined with a signature with the host key to provide host | authentication. This key exchange method provides explicit server | authentication as defined in Section 7. | | The following steps are used to exchange a key. In this, C is the | client; S is the server; p is a large safe prime; g is a generator | for a subgroup of GF(p); q is the order of the subgroup; V_S is S's | identification string; V_C is C's identification string; K_S is S's | public host key; I_C is C's SSH_MSG_KEXINIT message and I_S is S's | SSH_MSG_KEXINIT message that have been exchanged before this part | begins. | | 1. C generates a random number x (1 < x < q) and computes | e = g^x mod p. C sends e to S. | ...elided... | Values of 'e' or 'f' that are not in the range [1, p-1] MUST NOT be | sent or accepted by either side. If this condition is violated, the | key exchange fails. ...elided... The z in range [1, p-1] notation, specifies a closed interval which includes the end points which is equivant to 1 <= z <= p-1. The (1, p-1) notation specifies an open interval which excludes the endpoints 1 < z < p-2. Eric noted that https://tools.ietf.org/rfcmarkup?rfc=7919#section-5.1 uses open endpoints. Eric suggested that my draft should include text that is similar to the ext in the RFC 7919 to correct this errata. Before I make such a change, I wish understand if what folks have been using for the test in their implementations and get a consensus on such a change. Thank you, -- Mark