X.
509 Certificate
Directory
Compiled & Prepared by
Dr. Sambhaji Sarode
CSE, MIT ADT University Pune
http://mercury.webster.edu/aleshunas/COSC%205130/ch14.ppt
z
part of CCITT X.500 directory service
X.509 standards
Authentication • distributed servers maintaining user info database
Service 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
• have 3 versions
z
z
X.509
Certificate
Use
z
X.509 Certificates
§ issued by a Certification Authority (CA), containing:
§ version V (1, 2, or 3)
§ serial number SN (unique within CA) identifying certificate
§ signature algorithm identifier AI
§ issuer X.500 name CA)
§ period of validity TA (from - to dates)
§ subject X.500 name A (name of owner)
§ subject public-key info Ap (algorithm, parameters, key)
§ issuer unique identifier (v2+)
§ subject unique identifier (v2+)
§ extension fields (v3)
§ signature (of hash of all fields in certificate)
§ notation CA<<A>> denotes certificate for A signed by CA
z
z
X.509
Certificates
z
Obtaining a any user with access to CA
Certificate 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
z
CA Hierarchy if both users share a common CA then they
are assumed to know its public key
otherwise 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
z
z
CA Hierarchy
Use
z
Certificate Revocation
certificates have a may need to revoke CA’s maintain list of users should check
period of validity before expiry, eg: revoked certificates certificates with
CA’s CRL
user's private key is the Certificate Revocation
compromised List (CRL)
user is no longer certified by
this CA
CA's certificate is
compromised
z
§ has been recognised that additional information is
needed in a certificate
§ email/URL, policy details, usage constraints
§ rather than explicitly naming new fields defined a
X.509 general extension method
Version 3 § extensions consist of:
§ extension identifier
§ criticality indicator
§ extension value
z
Certificate Extensions
§ key and policy information
§ convey info about subject & issuer keys, plus indicators of
certificate policy
§ certificate subject and issuer attributes
§ support alternative names, in alternative formats for certificate
subject and/or issuer
§ certificate path constraints
§ allow constraints on use of certificates by other CA’s
z
Public Key Infrastructure
PKIX Management
z
Ø functions:
l registration
l initialization
l certification
l key pair recovery
l key pair update
l revocation request
l cross certification
Ø protocols: CMP, CMC
z
Summary
§ have considered:
§ symmetric key distribution using symmetric encryption
§ symmetric key distribution using public-key encryption
§ distribution of public keys
§ announcement, directory, authrority, CA
§ X.509 authentication and certificates
§ public key infrastructure (PKIX)
