Optimizing OCSP - Time for some spec work ?

Hi PKIX Gurus,

I am working on trying to optimize the OCSP protocol to better fit some 
of the use-cases we have. In particular, for very large PKIs (i.e., few 
hundreds million certificates valid at any given time), the OCSP 
protocol does not scale well. In fact, taking into consideration how we 
operate OCSP responders today, the larger the PKI is, the higher the 
costs of providing a good revocation infrastructure.

Our work is focusing on two considerations:

  * Optimizing for the common case (non-revoked certificate). In
    particular, for certificates that have no revocation information, we
    do not have to provide specific responses for each individual
    certificate (as we do in the revoked case), but we can provide
    responses for ranges of certificates where the status is not
    revoked. In a PKI with a population of 100M certificate and a
    revocation rate of 5%, using "range" response types reduces the need
    for calculating OCSP responses from 100M to 1M (i.e. 2N + 1 where N
    is the population of revoked certificates). This allows to
    pre-generate responses more quickly, allows for lower costs of
    running the revocation infrastructure, and it is better for the
    planet :D

  * Providing Full Chain responses. Although single OCSP responders can
    be authoritative for their own CA only, they can attach the
    responses for the full chain as additional data. If we add this
    possibility, then a single OCSP request can provide the
    client/server with the full chain of certificates up to the Root.
    This might be tricky in complex scenarios where cross-certification
    is used, but it would definitely work for the Web PKI and IoT use cases.

Given these considerations - and the fact that large PKIs are being 
deployed, today, for the IoT case - we would like to discuss the current 
status of OCSP and our proposal for moving forward with a more efficient 
protocol at the meeting in Singapore (IETF 106) - LAMPS WG. If you are 
interested in the topic and/or would like to contribute, we will be 
presenting there - come and join the discussion!

Cheers,
Max

-- 
Best Regards,
Massimiliano Pala, Ph.D.
OpenCA Labs Director
OpenCA Logo

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