RFC 5754 PROPOSED STANDARD SECURITY · HASHING · SIGNATURES

Using SHA2 Algorithms with Cryptographic Message Syntax

Which identifiers and parameters to use when SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 appear in signed or digested CMS messages.

On rfc-editor.org ↗
PUBLISHED
January 2010
AUTHORS
S. Turner
STREAM
IETF
BUILDS ON
RFC 3370 — CMS algorithms
DIGEST ALGORITHMS
SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512
DSA HASHES
SHA-224 and SHA-256 only
DSA MAXIMUM P LENGTH (L)
3072 bits
DIGEST PARAMETERS GENERATED
Absent
RSA SIGNATURE PARAMETERS
NULL
DOI
10.17487/RFC5754
ERRATA
Reported errata

RFC text

Contents
Original text · RFC Editor View on rfc-editor.org ↗
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                         S. Turner
Request for Comments: 5754                                          IECA
Updates: 3370                                               January 2010
Category: Standards Track
ISSN: 2070-1721


        Using SHA2 Algorithms with Cryptographic Message Syntax

Abstract

   This document describes the conventions for using the Secure Hash
   Algorithm (SHA) message digest algorithms (SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384,
   SHA-512) with the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS).  It also
   describes the conventions for using these algorithms with the CMS and
   the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA), Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA),
   and Elliptic Curve DSA (ECDSA) signature algorithms.  Further, it
   provides SMIMECapabilities attribute values for each algorithm.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5754.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

   This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
   Contributions published or made publicly available before November
   10, 2008.  The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this
   material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow
   modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process.
   Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
   the copyright in such materials, this document may not be modified
   outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may
   not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
   it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
   than English.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
      1.1. Conventions Used in This Document ..........................3
   2. Message Digest Algorithms .......................................3
      2.1. SHA-224 ....................................................4
      2.2. SHA-256 ....................................................5
      2.3. SHA-384 ....................................................5
      2.4. SHA-512 ....................................................5
   3. Signature Algorithms ............................................6
      3.1. DSA ........................................................6
      3.2. RSA ........................................................7
      3.3. ECDSA ......................................................8
   4. Security Considerations .........................................9
   5. References ......................................................9
      5.1. Normative References .......................................9
      5.2. Informative References ....................................10

1.  Introduction

   This document specifies the algorithm identifiers and specifies
   parameters for the message digest algorithms SHA-224, SHA-256,
   SHA-384, and SHA-512 for use with the Cryptographic Message Syntax
   (CMS) [RFC5652].  The message digest algorithms are defined in [SHS]
   and reference code is provided in [RFC4634].

   This document also specifies the algorithm identifiers and parameters
   for use of SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512 with DSA [DSS], RSA
   (RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5) [RFC3447], and ECDSA [DSS].

   This document does not define new identifiers; they are taken from
   [RFC3874], [RFC4055], and [RFC5758].  Additionally, the parameters
   follow the conventions specified therein.  Therefore, there is no
   Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) module included in this
   document.

   Note that [RFC4231] specifies the conventions for the message
   authentication code (MAC) algorithms: Hashed MAC (HMAC) with SHA-224,
   HMAC with SHA-256, HMAC with SHA-384, and HMAC with SHA-512.

   In the CMS, the various algorithm identifiers use the
   AlgorithmIdentifier syntax, which is included here for convenience:

      AlgorithmIdentifier  ::=  SEQUENCE  {
        algorithm   OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
        parameters  ANY DEFINED BY algorithm OPTIONAL  }

   This document also specifies the SMIMECapabilities attribute values
   [RFC5751] for each algorithm.  The values provided are for the
   SMIMECapability field, which is included here for convenience:

      SMIMECapability ::= SEQUENCE {
        capabilityID  OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
        parameters    ANY DEFINED BY capabilityID OPTIONAL }

1.1.  Conventions Used in This Document

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

2.  Message Digest Algorithms

   Digest algorithm identifiers are located in the SignedData
   digestAlgorithms field, the SignerInfo digestAlgorithm field, the
   DigestedData digestAlgorithm field, and the AuthenticatedData
   digestAlgorithm field.  The object identifiers are taken from
   [RFC4055].

   Digest values are located in the DigestedData digest field and the
   Message Digest authenticated attribute.  In addition, digest values
   are input to signature algorithms.

   The digest algorithm identifiers use the AlgorithmIdentifier syntax
   elaborated upon in Section 1.

   The algorithm field and SMIMECapabilities attribute are discussed in
   Sections 2.1-2.4 for each message digest algorithm.  Section 3
   provides some signatures that use SHA2 algorithms.  Consult the
   signature algorithm definitions for the procedures to compute the
   digest values (i.e., DigestInfo).

   The AlgorithmIdentifier parameters field is OPTIONAL.
   Implementations MUST accept SHA2 AlgorithmIdentifiers with absent
   parameters.  Implementations MUST accept SHA2 AlgorithmIdentifiers
   with NULL parameters.  Implementations MUST generate SHA2
   AlgorithmIdentifiers with absent parameters.

   NOTE: There are two possible encodings for the AlgorithmIdentifier
   parameters field associated with these object identifiers.  The two
   alternatives arise from the loss of the OPTIONAL associated with the
   algorithm identifier parameters when the 1988 syntax for
   AlgorithmIdentifier was translated into the 1997 syntax.  Later, the
   OPTIONAL was recovered via a defect report, but by then many people
   thought that algorithm parameters were mandatory.  Because of this
   history, some implementations encode parameters as a NULL element
   while others omit them entirely.  The correct encoding is to omit the
   parameters field; however, when some uses of these algorithms were
   defined, it was done using the NULL parameters rather than absent
   parameters.  For example, PKCS#1 [RFC3447] requires that the padding
   used for RSA signatures (EMSA-PKCS1-v1_5) MUST use SHA2
   AlgorithmIdentifiers with NULL parameters (to clarify, the
   requirement "MUST generate SHA2 AlgorithmIdentifiers with absent
   parameters" in the previous paragraph does not apply to this
   padding).

2.1.  SHA-224

   The SHA-224 message digest algorithm is defined in [SHS].  The
   algorithm identifier for SHA-224 is:

     id-sha224 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= {
       joint-iso-itu-t(2) country(16) us(840) organization(1) gov(101)
       csor(3) nistalgorithm(4) hashalgs(2) 4 }

   The parameters are as specified in the beginning of Section 2.

   The SMIMECapabilities attribute value indicates support for SHA-224
   in a SEQUENCE with the capabilityID field containing the object
   identifier id-sha224 with absent parameters.  The DER encoding for
   this SMIMECapability is:

      id-sha224: 30 0b 06 09 60 86 48 01 65 03 04 02 04

2.2.  SHA-256

   The SHA-256 message digest algorithm is defined in [SHS].  The
   algorithm identifier for SHA-256 is:

      id-sha256 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= {
        joint-iso-itu-t(2) country(16) us(840) organization(1) gov(101)
        csor(3) nistalgorithm(4) hashalgs(2) 1 }

   The parameters are as specified in the beginning of Section 2.

   The SMIMECapabilities attribute value indicates support for SHA-256
   in a SEQUENCE with the capabilityID field containing the object
   identifier id-sha256 with absent parameters.  The DER encoding for
   this SMIMECapability value is:

      id-sha256: 30 0b 06 09 60 86 48 01 65 03 04 02 01

2.3.  SHA-384

   The SHA-384 message digest algorithm is defined in [SHS].  The
   algorithm identifier for SHA-384 is:

      id-sha384 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= {
        joint-iso-itu-t(2) country(16) us(840) organization(1) gov(101)
        csor(3) nistalgorithm(4) hashalgs(2) 2 }

   The parameters are as specified in the beginning of Section 2.

   The SMIMECapabilities attribute value indicates support for SHA-384
   in a SEQUENCE with the capabilityID field containing the object
   identifier id-sha384 with absent parameters.  The DER encoding for
   this SMIMECapability value is:

      id-sha384: 30 0b 06 09 60 86 48 01 65 03 04 02 02

2.4.  SHA-512

   The SHA-512 message digest algorithm is defined in [SHS].  The
   algorithm identifier for SHA-512 is:

      id-sha512 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= {
        joint-iso-itu-t(2) country(16) us(840) organization(1) gov(101)
        csor(3) nistalgorithm(4) hashalgs(2) 3 }

   The parameters are as specified in the beginning of Section 2.

   The SMIMECapabilities attribute value indicates support for SHA-384
   in a SEQUENCE with the capabilityID field containing the object
   identifier id-sha384 with absent parameters.  The DER encoding for
   this SMIMECapability value is:

      id-sha512: 30 0b 06 09 60 86 48 01 65 03 04 02 03

3.  Signature Algorithms

   This section specifies the conventions employed by CMS
   implementations that support DSA, RSA, and ECDSA with SHA2
   algorithms.

   Signature algorithm identifiers are located in the SignerInfo
   signatureAlgorithm field of SignedData.  Also, signature algorithm
   identifiers are located in the SignerInfo signatureAlgorithm field of
   countersignature attributes.

   Signature values are located in the SignerInfo signature field of
   SignedData.  Also, signature values are located in the SignerInfo
   signature field of countersignature attributes.

3.1.  DSA

   [RFC3370], Section 3.1, specifies the conventions for DSA with SHA-1
   public key algorithm identifiers, parameters, public keys, and
   signature values.  DSA with SHA2 algorithms uses the same conventions
   for these public key algorithm identifiers, parameters, public keys,
   and signature values.  DSA MAY be used with SHA-224 and SHA-256.  The
   object identifiers are taken from [RFC5758].

   DSA has not been specified with SHA-384 and SHA-512.  SHA-384 and
   SHA-512 are not supported because the maximum bit length of p
   (specified as L) is 3072 for DSA.  For consistent cryptographic
   strength, SHA-384 would be used with DSA where L is 7680, and SHA-512
   would be used with DSA where L is 15360.

   The algorithm identifier for DSA with SHA-224 signature values is:

      id-dsa-with-sha224 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::=  {
        joint-iso-ccitt(2) country(16) us(840) organization(1) gov(101)
        csor(3) algorithms(4) id-dsa-with-sha2(3) 1 }

   The algorithm identifier for DSA with SHA-256 signature values is:

      id-dsa-with-sha256 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::=  {
        joint-iso-ccitt(2) country(16) us(840) organization(1) gov(101)
        csor(3) algorithms(4) id-dsa-with-sha2(3) 2 }

   When either of these algorithm identifiers is used, the
   AlgorithmIdentifier parameters field MUST be absent.

   The SMIMECapabilities attribute value indicates support for one of
   the DSA signature algorithms in a SEQUENCE with the capabilityID
   field containing the object identifier id-dsa-with-sha* (where * is
   224 or 256) with absent parameters.  The DER encodings for these
   SMIMECapability values are:

      id-dsa-with-sha224: 30 0b 06 09 60 86 48 01 65 03 04 03 01

      id-dsa-with-sha256: 30 0b 06 09 60 86 48 01 65 03 04 03 02

3.2.  RSA

   [RFC3370], Section 3.2, specifies the conventions for RSA with SHA-1
   (RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5) public key algorithm identifiers, parameters,
   public keys, and signature values.  RSA with SHA2 algorithms uses the
   same conventions for these public key algorithm identifiers,
   parameters, public keys, and signature values.  RSA
   (RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5) [RFC3447] MAY be used with SHA-224, SHA-256,
   SHA-384, or SHA-512.  The object identifiers are taken from
   [RFC4055].

   The object identifier for RSA with SHA-224 signature values is:

      sha224WithRSAEncryption OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { iso(1)
        member-body(2) us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs-1(1) 14 }

   The object identifier for RSA with SHA-256 signature values is:

      sha256WithRSAEncryption  OBJECT IDENTIFIER  ::=  { iso(1)
        member-body(2) us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs-1(1) 11 }

   The object identifier for RSA with SHA-384 signature values is:

      sha384WithRSAEncryption  OBJECT IDENTIFIER  ::=  { iso(1)
        member-body(2) us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs-1(1) 12 }

   The object identifier for RSA with SHA-512 signature values is:

      sha512WithRSAEncryption  OBJECT IDENTIFIER  ::=  { iso(1)
        member-body(2) us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs-1(1) 13 }

   When any of these four object identifiers appears within an
   AlgorithmIdentifier, the parameters MUST be NULL.  Implementations
   MUST accept the parameters being absent as well as present.

   The SMIMECapabilities attribute value indicates support for one of
   the DSA signature algorithms in a SEQUENCE with the capabilityID
   field containing the object identifier sha*WithRSAEncryption (where *
   is 224, 256, 384, or 512) with NULL parameters.  The DER encodings
   for these SMIMECapability values are:

      sha224WithRSAEncryption: 30 0d 06 09 2a 86 48 86 f7 0d 01 01 0e
                               05 00

      sha256WithRSAEncryption: 30 0d 06 09 2a 86 48 86 f7 0d 01 01 0b
                               05 00

      sha384WithRSAEncryption: 30 0d 06 09 2a 86 48 86 f7 0d 01 01 Oc
                               05 00

      sha512WithRSAEncryption: 30 0d 06 09 2a 86 48 86 f7 0d 01 01 0d
                               05 00

3.3.  ECDSA

   [RFC5753], Section 2.1, specifies the conventions for ECDSA with
   SHA-* (where * is 1, 224, 256, 384, or 512) public key algorithm
   identifiers, parameters, public keys, and signature values.  The
   object identifiers, which are included below for convenience, are
   taken from [RFC5758].

   The algorithm identifier for ECDSA with SHA-224 signature values is:

      ecdsa-with-SHA224 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { iso(1) member-body(2)
        us(840) ansi-X9-62(10045) signatures(4) ecdsa-with-SHA2(3) 1 }

   The algorithm identifier for ECDSA with SHA-256 signature values is:

      ecdsa-with-SHA256 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { iso(1) member-body(2)
        us(840)ansi-X9-62(10045) signatures(4) ecdsa-with-SHA2(3) 2 }

   The algorithm identifier for ECDSA with SHA-384 signature values is:

      ecdsa-with-SHA384 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { iso(1) member-body(2)
        us(840) ansi-X9-62(10045) signatures(4) ecdsa-with-SHA2(3) 3 }

   The algorithm identifier for ECDSA with SHA-512 signature values is:

      ecdsa-with-SHA512 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { iso(1) member-body(2)
        us(840) ansi-X9-62(10045) signatures(4) ecdsa-with-SHA2(3) 4 }

   When any of these four object identifiers appears within an
   AlgorithmIdentifier, the parameters field MUST be absent.  That is,
   the AlgorithmIdentifier SHALL be a SEQUENCE of one component: the OID
   ecdsa-with-SHA224, ecdsa-with-SHA256, ecdsa-with-SHA384, or ecdsa-
   with-SHA512.

   The SMIMECapabilities attribute value indicates support for one of
   the ECDSA signature algorithms in a SEQUENCE with the capabilityID
   field containing the object identifier ecdsa-with-SHA1* (where * is
   224, 256, 384, or 512) with absent parameters.  The DER encodings for
   these SMIMECapability values are:

      ecdsa-with-SHA224: 30 0a 06 08 2a 86 48 ce 3d 04 03 01

      ecdsa-with-SHA256: 30 0a 06 08 2a 86 48 ce 3d 04 03 02

      ecdsa-with-SHA384: 30 0a 06 08 2a 86 48 ce 3d 04 03 03

      ecdsa-with-SHA512: 30 0a 06 08 2a 86 48 ce 3d 04 03 04

4.  Security Considerations

   The security considerations in [RFC3370], [RFC3874], [RFC4055],
   [RFC5753], and [RFC5758] apply.  No new security considerations are
   introduced as a result of this specification.

5.  References

5.1.  Normative References

   [DSS]       National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
               FIPS Publication 186-3: Digital Signature Standard, June
               2009.

   [RFC2119]   Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
               Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC3370]   Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
               Algorithms", RFC 3370, August 2002.

   [RFC3447]   Jonsson, J. and B. Kaliski, "Public-Key Cryptography
               Standards (PKCS) #1: RSA Cryptography Specifications
               Version 2.1", RFC 3447, February 2003.

   [RFC3874]   Housley, R., "A 224-bit One-way Hash Function: SHA-224",
               RFC 3874, September 2004.

   [RFC4055]   Schaad, J., Kaliski, B., and R. Housley, "Additional
               Algorithms and Identifiers for RSA Cryptography for use
               in the Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure
               Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL)
               Profile", RFC 4055, June 2005.

   [RFC5652]   Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", RFC
               5652, September 2009.

   [RFC5751]   Ramsdell, B. and S. Turner, "Secure/Multipurpose Internet
               Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 3.2 Message
               Specification", RFC 5751, January 2010.

   [RFC5753]   Turner, S. and D. Brown, "Use of Elliptic Curve
               Cryptography (ECC) Algorithms in Cryptographic Message
               Syntax (CMS)", RFC 5753, January 2010.

   [RFC5758]   Dang, Q., Santesson, S., Moriarty, K., Brown, D., and T.
               Polk, "Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure:
               Additional Algorithms and Identifiers for DSA and ECDSA",
               RFC 5758, January 2010.

   [SHS]       National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
               FIPS Publication 180-3: Secure Hash Standard, October
               2008.

5.2.  Informative References

   [RFC4231]   Nystrom, M., "Identifiers and Test Vectors for HMAC-
               SHA-224, HMAC-SHA-256, HMAC-SHA-384, and HMAC-SHA-512",
               RFC 4231, December 2005.

   [RFC4634]   Eastlake 3rd, D. and T. Hansen, "US Secure Hash
               Algorithms (SHA and HMAC-SHA)", RFC 4634, July 2006.

Author's Address

   Sean Turner
   IECA, Inc.
   3057 Nutley Street, Suite 106
   Fairfax, VA 22031
   USA

   EMail: turners@ieca.com

AI ELI5

On this page
PROBLEMThe Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) needed agreed identifiers and parameter rules for the SHA-2 family of hash algorithms and for signatures that use them.
MECHANISMThe RFC collects the existing object identifiers for SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 and for DSA, RSA and ECDSA signatures with them, says when parameters must be absent or NULL, and gives SMIMECapabilities values.
WHAT IT ADDSIt defines no new identifiers and adds no new security considerations. It is a Standards Track document that updates RFC 3370.

§1What the Document Covers

RFC 5754 specifies the algorithm identifiers and parameters for the message digest algorithms SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 when they are used with the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) from RFC 5652. The digest algorithms themselves are defined in the Secure Hash Standard, with reference code in RFC 4634.

It also covers using these digests with the DSA, RSA (RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5) and ECDSA signature algorithms, and it gives SMIMECapabilities attribute values for each algorithm.

The RFC creates no new identifiers. They come from RFC 3874, RFC 4055 and RFC 5758, so no ASN.1 module is included. Message authentication with HMAC and the same hashes is left to RFC 4231.

Many people already invented names for these fingerprint recipes. This document does not invent new names. It gathers the right ones in one place and says how to use them in signed messages.

§2The Four SHA-2 Digest Algorithms

Digest algorithm identifiers appear in the digestAlgorithms field of SignedData, and in the digestAlgorithm field of SignerInfo, DigestedData and AuthenticatedData. Digest values appear in the DigestedData digest field and in the Message Digest authenticated attribute, and they are also the input to signature algorithms.

Each identifier is an object identifier under the NIST hash algorithm arc: id-sha224 ends in 4, id-sha256 in 1, id-sha384 in 2 and id-sha512 in 3. Each is wrapped in the standard AlgorithmIdentifier structure, which holds an object identifier and optional parameters.

Each of the four fingerprint recipes gets its own long number-name. That name goes in a box in the message so the reader knows which recipe was used.

§2.1Absent or NULL Parameters

The AlgorithmIdentifier parameters field is optional. For the SHA-2 digest identifiers, implementations MUST accept absent parameters, MUST accept NULL parameters, and MUST generate absent parameters.

The RFC explains the history. Two encodings exist because the OPTIONAL marker was lost when the 1988 ASN.1 syntax for AlgorithmIdentifier was translated into the 1997 syntax. It was later restored by a defect report, but by then many people thought parameters were mandatory, so some implementations encode a NULL and others omit the field. The correct encoding is to omit it.

There is one exception. PKCS#1 (RFC 3447) requires the padding for RSA signatures to use SHA-2 identifiers with NULL parameters, so the rule to generate absent parameters does not apply to that padding.

Some programs leave a blank box on the label and others write the word NULL in it. Everyone has to understand both, but when you write a new label you should leave the box empty.

§3Signature Algorithms with SHA-2

Signature algorithm identifiers go in the SignerInfo signatureAlgorithm field of SignedData, and also in the same field of countersignature attributes. The signature itself goes in the SignerInfo signature field.

DSA follows the conventions of RFC 3370 for keys and values, and MAY be used with SHA-224 and SHA-256 only. SHA-384 and SHA-512 are not supported because the maximum bit length of p (called L) is 3072 for DSA. For matching strength, SHA-384 would need L of 7680 and SHA-512 would need L of 15360. The parameters field MUST be absent.

RSA (RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5) MAY be used with all four hashes through the identifiers sha224WithRSAEncryption, sha256WithRSAEncryption, sha384WithRSAEncryption and sha512WithRSAEncryption. Here the parameters MUST be NULL, but implementations MUST accept them absent as well as present.

ECDSA follows RFC 5753 and is defined for SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 as ecdsa-with-SHA224 through ecdsa-with-SHA512. The parameters field MUST be absent.

A signature is a fingerprint locked with a secret key. Each lock type works with certain fingerprint sizes, and for each pairing the label has to be written in a set way.

SIGNATURE ALGORITHMS AND SHA-2 HASHES (RFC 5754)
SignatureAllowed hashesAlgorithmIdentifier parameters
DSASHA-224, SHA-256MUST be absent
RSA (RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5)SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512MUST be NULL; accept absent too
ECDSASHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512MUST be absent

§4SMIMECapabilities Values

A program can advertise what it supports with the SMIMECapabilities attribute from RFC 5751. For each algorithm the RFC gives the exact DER bytes of the SMIMECapability, which is a SEQUENCE holding the algorithm's object identifier.

For the digests, the capability uses the identifier with absent parameters; for example id-sha256 is 30 0b 06 09 60 86 48 01 65 03 04 02 01. The DSA and ECDSA capabilities also use absent parameters, while the RSA ones carry NULL parameters (the trailing 05 00).

A program can hold up a card saying which fingerprint recipes it understands. The RFC spells out exactly what the card should look like, byte by byte.

§5Security Considerations

The RFC adds nothing of its own here. It says the security considerations in RFC 3370, RFC 3874, RFC 4055, RFC 5753 and RFC 5758 apply, and that no new security considerations are introduced by this specification.

This document only writes down labels, so it says to read the safety notes in the documents it borrowed the labels from.

§7References

[RFC3370]RFC 3370Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Algorithms", RFC 3370, August 2002.September 2002[RFC3447]RFC 3447Jonsson, J. and B. Kaliski, "Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) #1: RSA Cryptography Specifications Version 2.1", RFC 3447, February 2003.February 2003[RFC3874]RFC 3874Housley, R., "A 224-bit One-way Hash Function: SHA-224", RFC 3874, September 2004.September 2004[RFC4055]RFC 4055Schaad, J., Kaliski, B., and R. Housley, "Additional Algorithms and Identifiers for RSA Cryptography for use in the Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile", RFC 4055, June 2005.June 2005[RFC5652]RFC 5652Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", RFC 5652, September 2009.September 2009[RFC5751]RFC 5751Ramsdell, B. and S. Turner, "Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 3.2 Message Specification", RFC 5751, January 2010.January 2010[RFC5753]RFC 5753Turner, S. and D. Brown, "Use of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) Algorithms in Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", RFC 5753, January 2010.January 2010[RFC5758]RFC 5758Dang, Q., Santesson, S., Moriarty, K., Brown, D., and T. Polk, "Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure: Additional Algorithms and Identifiers for DSA and ECDSA", RFC 5758, January 2010.January 2010[RFC4231]RFC 4231Nystrom, M., "Identifiers and Test Vectors for HMAC-SHA-224, HMAC-SHA-256, HMAC-SHA-384, and HMAC-SHA-512", RFC 4231, December 2005.December 2005[RFC4634]RFC 4634Eastlake 3rd, D. and T. Hansen, "US Secure Hash Algorithms (SHA and HMAC-SHA)", RFC 4634, July 2006.August 2006