The First Public Working Draft (FPWD) of the Securing Verifiable Credentials using JSON Web Tokens (VC-JWT) specification has been published. The FPWD milestone is described in the W3C Process document. This draft is another step on the way to a Native JWT Representation for Verifiable Credentials.
Please review the First Public Working Draft of VC-JWT. Thanks especially to Orie Steele for making this happen!
For the first time, there is now a native JSON Web Token (JWT) representation for Verifiable Credentials. This representation uses IANA-registered JWT claims whenever applicable. Among other improvements and simplifications, this means that we finally have a Verifiable Credentials representation that doesn’t require the use of JSON-LD.
The native JWT representation explicitly isn’t a mapping from the VC Data Model. This mapping in the VC 1.1 specification resulted in ambiguities about whether to duplicate VC Data Model claims in the VC-JWT representation (the “in addition to” option) or whether to delete them from the VC Data Model representation (the “instead of” option). These ambiguities harmed interoperability. Rather, the 2.0 VC-JWT representation is its own simpler native JWT data structure.
See the new native JWT VC representation in the Version 2 section of the “Securing Verifiable Credentials using JSON Web Tokens” specification. You can also compare it there to the Version 1.1 representation, which is a mapping from the VC Data Model with the “in addition to” and “instead of” choices.
This accomplishment is the product of the vision, passion, and perseverance of many advocates of simplifying Verifiable Credentials. Foremost among them is Orie Steele – my co-editor for the VC-JWT specification. I’ll also observe that the pull request creating this functionality had an unprecedented fifteen approvers – an indication of the broad support for this direction for Verifiable Credentials. I am proud to have played a role in making it happen.
I’ve defined an Authentication Method Reference (AMR) value called “pop” to indicate that Proof-of-possession of a key was performed. Unlike the existing “hwk” (hardware key) and “swk” (software key) methods, it is intentionally unspecified whether the proof-of-possession key is hardware-secured or software-secured. Among other use cases, this AMR method is applicable whenever a WebAuthn or FIDO authenticator are used.
The specification is available at these locations:
Thanks to Christiaan Brand for suggesting this.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published this Recommendation for the Web Authentication (WebAuthn) Level 2 specification, meaning that it now a completed standard. While remaining compatible with the original standard, this second version adds additional features, among them for user verification enhancements, manageability, enterprise features, and an Apple attestation format. The companion second FIDO2 Client to Authenticator Protocol (CTAP) specification is also approaching becoming a completed standard.
See the W3C announcement of this achievement. Also, see Tim Cappalli‘s summary of the changes in the second versions of WebAuthn and FIDO2.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published this Proposed Recommendation (PR) for the Web Authentication (WebAuthn) Level 2 specification, bringing the second version of WebAuthn one step closer to becoming a completed standard. While remaining compatible with the original standard, this second version adds additional features, among them for user verification enhancements, manageability, enterprise features, and an Apple attestation format.
The W3C WebAuthn and FIDO2 working groups have been busy this year preparing to finish second versions of the W3C Web Authentication (WebAuthn) and FIDO2 Client to Authenticator Protocol (CTAP) specifications. While remaining compatible with the original standards, these second versions add additional features, among them for user verification enhancements, manageability, enterprise features, and an Apple attestation format. Near-final review drafts of both have been published:
Expect these to become approved standards in early 2021. Happy New Year!
The W3C Web Authentication (WebAuthn) working group and the IETF COSE working group created “CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE) and JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE) Registrations for Web Authentication (WebAuthn) Algorithms” to make some algorithms and elliptic curves used by WebAuthn and FIDO2 officially part of COSE and JOSE. The RSA algorithms are used by TPMs. The “secp256k1” curve registered (a.k.a., the Bitcoin curve) is also used in some decentralized identity applications. The completed specification has now been published as RFC 8812.
As described when the registrations recently occurred, the algorithms registered are:
RS256 — RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 using SHA-256 — new for COSERS384 — RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 using SHA-384 — new for COSERS512 — RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 using SHA-512 — new for COSERS1 — RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 using SHA-1 — new for COSEES256K — ECDSA using secp256k1 curve and SHA-256 — new for COSE and JOSEThe elliptic curves registered are:
secp256k1 — SECG secp256k1 curve — new for COSE and JOSESee them in the IANA COSE Registry and the IANA JOSE Registry.
The W3C Web Authentication (WebAuthn) working group created the IETF specification “Registries for Web Authentication (WebAuthn)” to establish registries needed for WebAuthn extension points. These IANA registries were populated in June 2020. Now the specification creating them has been published as RFC 8809.
Thanks again to Kathleen Moriarty and Benjamin Kaduk for their Area Director sponsorships of the specification and to Jeff Hodges and Giridhar Mandyam for their work on it.
We wrote the specification COSE and JOSE Registrations for WebAuthn Algorithms to create and register COSE and JOSE algorithm and elliptic curve identifiers for algorithms used by WebAuthn and CTAP2 that didn’t yet exist. I’m happy to report that all these registrations are now complete and the specification has progressed to the RFC Editor. Thanks to the COSE working group for supporting this work.
Search for WebAuthn in the IANA COSE Registry and the IANA JOSE Registry to see the registrations. These are now stable and can be used by applications, both in the WebAuthn/FIDO2 space and for other application areas, including decentralized identity (where the secp256k1 “bitcoin curve” is in widespread use).
The algorithms registered are:
RS256 — RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 using SHA-256 — new for COSERS384 — RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 using SHA-384 — new for COSERS512 — RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 using SHA-512 — new for COSERS1 — RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 using SHA-1 — new for COSEES256K — ECDSA using secp256k1 curve and SHA-256 — new for COSE and JOSEThe elliptic curves registered are:
secp256k1 — SECG secp256k1 curve — new for COSE and JOSEIANA has registered the “secp256k1” elliptic curve in the JSON Web Key Elliptic Curve registry and the corresponding “ES256K” signing algorithm in the JSON Web Signature and Encryption Algorithms registry. This curve is widely used among blockchain and decentralized identity implementations.
The registrations were specified by the COSE and JOSE Registrations for WebAuthn Algorithms specification, which was created by the W3C Web Authentication working group and the IETF COSE working group because WebAuthn also allows the use of secp256k1. This specification is now in IETF Last Call. The corresponding COSE registrations will occur after the specification becomes an RFC.
This week we published updates to two IETF specifications that support the WebAuthn/FIDO2 ecosystem, as well as other uses, such as decentralized identity.
One is COSE and JOSE Registrations for WebAuthn Algorithms. It registers algorithm and elliptic curve identifiers for algorithms used by WebAuthn and FIDO2. The “secp256k1” curve being registered is also used for signing in some decentralized identity applications. The specification has completed the Area Director review and has been submitted to the IESG for publication.
The other is Registries for Web Authentication (WebAuthn). This creates IANA registries enabling multiple kinds of extensions to W3C Web Authentication (WebAuthn) implementations to be registered. This specification has completed IETF last call and is scheduled for review by the IESG.
Thanks to the COSE working group for their adoption of the algorithms specification, and to Ivaylo Petrov and Murray Kucherawy for their reviews of it. Thanks to Kathleen Moriarty and Benjamin Kaduk for their Area Director sponsorships of the registries specification and to Jeff Hodges for being primary author of it.
The specifications are available at:
The “COSE and JOSE Registrations for WebAuthn Algorithms” specification has been updated to add explanatory comments on design decisions made that were discussed on the mailing list that Jim Schaad requested be added to the draft.
The specification is available at:
An HTML-formatted version is also available at:
The “COSE and JOSE Registrations for WebAuthn Algorithms” specification has been updated to address working group last call (WGLC) feedback received. Thanks to J.C. Jones, Kevin Jacobs, Jim Schaad, Neil Madden, and Benjamin Kaduk for their useful reviews.
The specification is available at:
An HTML-formatted version is also available at:
My co-authors and I recently competed the paper Using OpenID Connect Self-Issued to Achieve DID Auth, which was created as a result of discussions at the eighth Rebooting the Web of Trust workshop. The paper’s abstract is:
Proving control of a DID requires proving ownership of a private key corresponding to a public key for the DID. Of course, this could be done with a new DID-specific protocol. However, standard protocols for proving ownership of a public/private key pair already exist.
This paper describes how to reuse the Self-Issued OpenID Connect (SIOP) specification and related protocol messages to prove control of a DID. It describes both why and how to do this. Related topics, such as release of claims, are also touched upon.
Several people came to the workshop wanting to explore how to use the OpenID Connect Self-Issued OpenID Provider functionality to prove control of a Decentralized Identifier (DID), including myself. The paper describes the approach being taken by a number of groups using DIDs, including Microsoft. The paper’s publication is timely, as the W3C DID Working Group has just formed to create a DID standard. Microsoft is an active member of the working group.
Special thanks to Dmitri Zagidulin for getting the paper over the finish line!
The “COSE and JOSE Registrations for WebAuthn Algorithms” specification has been updated to address feedback received since working group adoption. The one breaking change is changing the secp256k1 curve identifier for JOSE from “P-256K” to “secp256k1“, for reasons described by John Mattsson. The draft now also specifies that the SHA-256 hash function is to be used with “ES256K” signatures – a clarification due to Matt Palmer.
The specification is available at:
An HTML-formatted version is also available at:
The W3C WebAuthn and FIDO 2.0 standards have won the 2019 European Identity and Cloud Award for Best Future Technology / Standard Project at the European Identity and Cloud (EIC) conference. This award recognizes the significance of these recently-approved standards, which enable password-less sign-in with platform authenticators, mobile devices, and security keys. They provide a huge step forward for online security, privacy, and convenience.
Thanks to Kuppinger Cole for recognizing the importance and impact of these important new standards!
I’m pleased to report that the IETF COSE Working Group has adopted the specification “COSE and JOSE Registrations for WebAuthn Algorithms”. An abstract of what it does is:
This specification defines how to use several algorithms with COSE [RFC8152] that are used by implementations of the W3C Web Authentication (WebAuthn) [WebAuthn] and FIDO2 Client to Authenticator Protocol (CTAP) [CTAP] specifications. These algorithms are to be registered in the IANA “COSE Algorithms” registry [IANA.COSE.Algorithms] and also in the IANA “JSON Web Signature and Encryption Algorithms” registry [IANA.JOSE.Algorithms], when not already registered there.
The algorithms registered are RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 with four different hash functions and signing with the secp256k1 curve. Note that there was consensus in the working group meeting not to work on registrations for the Elliptic Curve Direct Anonymous Attestation (ECDAA) algorithms “ED256” and “ED512“, both because of issues that have been raised with them and because they are not in widespread use.
The -01 version will address the review comments received on the mailing list from Jim Schaad and John Mattsson.
The specification is available at:
An HTML-formatted version is also available at:
The new COSE working group charter includes this deliverable:
4. Define the algorithms needed for W3C Web Authentication for COSE using draft-jones-webauthn-cose-algorithms and draft-jones-webauthn-secp256k1 as a starting point (Informational).
I have written draft-jones-cose-additional-algorithms, which combines these starting points into a single draft, which registers these algorithms in the IANA COSE registries. When not already registered, this draft also registers these algorithms for use with JOSE in the IANA JOSE registries. I believe that this draft is ready for working group adoption to satisfy this deliverable.
The specification is available at:
An HTML-formatted version is also available at:
I’m thrilled to report that the FIDO2 Client to Authenticator Protocol (CTAP) is now a published FIDO Alliance standard! Together with the now-standard Web Authentication (WebAuthn) specification, this completes standardization of the APIs and protocols needed to enable password-less logins on the Web, on PCs, and on and mobile devices. This is a huge step forward for online security, privacy, and convenience!
The FIDO2 CTAP standard is available in HTML and PDF versions at these locations:
I’m thrilled to report that the Web Authentication (WebAuthn) specification is now a W3C standard! See the W3C press release describing this major advance in Web security and convenience, which enables logging in without passwords. Alex Simons, Microsoft Vice President of Identity Program Management is quoted in the release, saying:
“Our work with W3C and FIDO Alliance, and contributions to FIDO2 standards have been a critical piece of Microsoft’s commitment to a world without passwords, which started in 2015. Today, Windows 10 with Microsoft Edge fully supports the WebAuthn standard and millions of users can log in to their Microsoft account without using a password.”
The release also describes commitments to the standard by Google, Mozilla, and Apple, among others. Thanks to all who worked on the standard and who built implementations as we developed the standard — ensuring that that the standard can be used for a broad set of use cases, including password-less sign-in with platform authenticators, mobile devices, and security keys.
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