Chapter 14 Authentication Applications

1
Chapter 14 Authentication Applications

• Fourth Edition
• by William Stallings
• Lecture slides by Lawrie Brown
• (modified by Prof. M. Singhal, U of Kentucky)

2
Authentication Applications

• developed to support application-level
  authentication digital signatures
• will discuss Kerberos a private-key
  authentication service
• discuss X.509 - a public-key directory
  authentication service

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Kerberos

• Authentication service developed as a part of
  MITs Athena project
• provides centralized private-key third-party
  authentication in a distributed network
• allows users access to services distributed
  through network
• without needing to trust all workstations
• rather all trust a central authentication server
• two versions in use 4 5

4
Athena

• An open distributed environment
• Any user can access services from any workstation
• Several security threats exists in such an
  environment
• A user impersonate another user
• A user may change the network address of a w/s
  and may make it look as another w/s
• A user may eavesdrop on a session and mount a
  replay attak later

5
Kerberos Requirements

• its first report identified requirements as
• secure
• reliable
• transparent
• scalable
• implemented using an authentication protocol
  based on Needham-Schroeder

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Kerberos v4 Overview

• a basic third-party authentication scheme
• have an Authentication Server (AS)
• users initially negotiate with AS to identify
  self
• AS provides a non-corruptible authentication
  credential (ticket granting ticket TGT)
• have a Ticket Granting server (TGS)
• users subsequently request access to other
  services from TGS on basis of users TGT

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Kerberos v4 Dialogue

• obtain ticket granting ticket from AS
• once per session
• obtain service granting ticket from TGT
• for each distinct service required
• client/server exchange to obtain service
• on every service request

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Kerberos 4 Overview
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Kerberos Realms

• a Kerberos environment consists of
• a Kerberos server
• a number of clients, all registered with server
• application servers, sharing keys with server
• this is termed a realm
• typically a single administrative domain
• if have multiple realms, Kerberos servers must
  share keys and trust each other

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Kerberos Realms
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Kerberos Version 5

• developed in mid 1990s to address the
  deficiencies of v4
• provides improvements over v4
• encryption algorithm DES is weak and vulnerable
  to attacks. V5 allows a suit of encryption
  algorithms.
• V5 breaks away from IP only networks
• V4 uses 8bit ticket lifetime.V5 uses start time
  and end time.

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X.509 Authentication Service

• part of CCITT X.500 directory service standards
• distributed servers maintaining user info
  database
• defines framework for authentication services
• directory may store public-key certificates
• with public key of user signed by certification
  authority
• also defines authentication protocols
• uses public-key crypto digital signatures
• algorithms not standardised, but RSA recommended
• X.509 certificates are widely used

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X.509 Certificates

• issued by a Certification Authority (CA),
  containing
• version (1, 2, or 3)
• serial number (unique within CA) identifying
  certificate
• signature algorithm identifier
• issuer X.500 name (CA)
• period of validity (from - to dates)
• subject X.500 name (name of owner)
• subject public-key info (algorithm, parameters,
  key)
• issuer unique identifier (v2)
• subject unique identifier (v2)
• extension fields (v3)
• signature (of hash of all fields in certificate)
• notation CAltltAgtgt denotes certificate for A signed
  by CA

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X.509 Certificates
15
Obtaining a Certificate

• any user with access to CA can get any
  certificate from it
• only the CA can modify a certificate
• because cannot be forged, certificates can be
  placed in a public directory
• If there are a large number of users, one CA may
  not be able to handle the load
• Also it is difficult to propagate the public key
  of the CA securely.

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Certificate Chaining

• if both users share a common CA then they are
  assumed to know its public key
• What if both users have their certificates issued
  by two different CAs? (and one does not know the
  public key of the other CA)
• Suppose As certificate is issued by X1 and Bs
  by X2
• And A does not know the public key of X2.
• (A can not verify the public key of B).

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Certificate chaining

• Suppose X1 and X2 have securely exchanged their
  public keys.
• X1 can prepare a certificate for X2 and sends it
  to A.
• A can request this certificate from X1, obtain
  the public key of X2, and then verify Bs
  certificate.
• Notationally,
• X1ltltX2gtgtX2ltltBgtgt
• --Chain of two certficates.
• --need not be limited to two certificates.

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CA Hierarchy

• CAs can certify each other.
• CAs are linked by this relation.
• CAs can be organized in several structures
• X.509 suggests CA's must form a hierarchy
• use certificates linking members of hierarchy to
  validate other CA's
• each CA has certificates for clients (forward)
  and parent (backward)
• each client trusts parents certificates
• enable verification of any certificate from one
  CA by users of all other CAs in hierarchy

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A CA Hierarchy
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CA Hierarchy

• A can verify Bs certificate using the following
  certificate chain
• XltltWgtgtWltltVgtgtVltltYgtgtYltltZgtgtZltltBgtgt
• -- There is chain of trust also.
• Likewise, B can verify As public key using the
  following certificate chain
• ZltltYgtgtYltltVgtgtVltltWgtgtWltltXgtgtXltltAgtgt
• --can obtain these certificates from the
  directory.

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Certificate Revocation

• certificates have a period of validity
• may need to revoke before expiry, e.g.
• user's private key is compromised
• user is no longer certified by this CA
• CA's certificate is compromised
• CAs maintain list of revoked certificates
• the Certificate Revocation List (CRL)
• CRL is advertised widely through directory.
• users should check certificates with CAs CRL

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Authentication Procedures

• X.509 includes three alternative authentication
  procedures
• One-Way Authentication
• Two-Way Authentication
• Three-Way Authentication
• all use public-key signatures
• It is assumed that the two parties know each
  others public key.

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One-Way Authentication

• 1 message ( A-gtB) used to establish
• the identity of A and that message is from A
• message was intended for B
• integrity originality of message
• message must include timestamp, nonce, B's
  identity and is signed by A
• may include additional info for B
• E.g., session key

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Two-Way Authentication

• 2 messages (A-gtB, B-gtA) which also establishes in
  addition
• the identity of B and that reply is from B
• that reply is intended for A
• integrity originality of reply
• reply includes original nonce from A, also
  timestamp and nonce from B
• may include additional info for A

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Three-Way Authentication

• 3 messages (A-gtB, B-gtA, A-gtB) which enables above
  authentication without synchronized clocks
• has reply from A back to B containing signed copy
  of nonce from B
• means that timestamps need not be checked or
  relied upon

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Summary

• have considered
• Kerberos trusted key server system
• X.509 authentication and certificates