CMS HKDF-SHA256: Encryption Key Derivation in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Using HKDF with SHA-256
Mixing the algorithm identifier into the CMS encryption key so an attacker cannot swap the cipher and read the message.
Housley, R., "Encryption Key Derivation in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Using HKDF with SHA-256", RFC 9709, DOI 10.17487/RFC9709, January 2025, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9709>.
@misc{rfc9709,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 9709,
howpublished = {RFC 9709},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC9709},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9709},
author = {R. Housley},
title = {{Encryption Key Derivation in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Using HKDF with SHA-256}},
pagetotal = 13,
year = 2025,
month = jan,
} RFC text
Contents
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) R. Housley
Request for Comments: 9709 Vigil Security
Category: Standards Track January 2025
ISSN: 2070-1721
Encryption Key Derivation in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
Using HKDF with SHA-256
Abstract
This document specifies the derivation of the content-encryption key
or the content-authenticated-encryption key in the Cryptographic
Message Syntax (CMS) using the HMAC-based Extract-and-Expand Key
Derivation Function (HKDF) with SHA-256. The use of this mechanism
provides protection against an attacker that manipulates the content-
encryption algorithm identifier or the content-authenticated-
encryption algorithm identifier.
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 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9709.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2025 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
(https://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 Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the
Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described
in the Revised BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. ASN.1
1.2. Terminology
1.3. Cryptographic Algorithm Agility Considerations
2. Use of HKDF with SHA-256 to Derive Encryption Keys
3. The id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 Algorithm Identifier
4. SMIMECapabilities Attribute Conventions
5. Use of HKDF with SHA-256 with CMS
5.1. Enveloped-Data Content Type
5.2. Encrypted-Data Content Type
5.3. Authenticated-Enveloped-Data Content Type
6. Security Considerations
7. Privacy Considerations
8. Operational Considerations
9. IANA Considerations
10. References
10.1. Normative References
10.2. Informative References
Appendix A. ASN.1 Module
Appendix B. CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256 Function Examples
B.1. CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256 with AES-128-GCM
B.2. CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256 with AES-128-CBC
Acknowledgements
Author's Address
1. Introduction
This document specifies the derivation of the content-encryption key
for the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) enveloped-data content
type [RFC5652], the content-encryption key for the CMS encrypted-data
content type [RFC5652], or the content-authenticated-encryption key
for the authenticated-enveloped-data content type [RFC5083].
The use of this mechanism provides protection against an attacker
that manipulates the content-encryption algorithm identifier or the
content-authenticated-encryption algorithm identifier. Johannes Roth
and Falko Strenzke presented such an attack at IETF 118 [RS2023],
where:
1. The attacker intercepts a CMS authenticated-enveloped-data
content [RFC5083] that uses either AES-CCM or AES-GCM [RFC5084].
2. The attacker turns the intercepted content into a "garbage" CMS
enveloped-data content (Section 6 of [RFC5652]) that is composed
of AES-CBC guess blocks.
3. The attacker sends the "garbage" message to the victim, and the
victim reveals the result of the decryption to the attacker.
4. If any of the transformed plaintext blocks match the guess for
that block, then the attacker learns the plaintext for that
block.
With highly structured messages, one block can reveal the only
sensitive part of the original message.
This attack is thwarted if the encryption key depends upon the
delivery of the unmodified algorithm identifier.
The mitigation for this attack has three parts:
1. Potential recipients include the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm
identifier (with no parameters) in S/MIME Capabilities to
indicate support for this mitigation.
2. As a flag to the recipient that this mitigation is being used,
carry the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm identifier as the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm in the EncryptedContentInfo structure.
This structure is used in the enveloped-data content type, the
encrypted-data content type, and the authenticated-enveloped-data
content type. The parameters field of the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256
algorithm identifier identifies the content-encryption algorithm
or the content-authenticated-encryption algorithm and any
associated parameters.
3. Perform encryption with a derived content-encryption key or
content-authenticated-encryption key:
CEK' = HKDF(CEK, AlgorithmIdentifier)
1.1. ASN.1
CMS values are generated using ASN.1 [X680], using the Basic Encoding
Rules (BER) and the Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER) [X690].
1.2. Terminology
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
1.3. Cryptographic Algorithm Agility Considerations
There is no provision for key derivation functions other than HKDF,
and there is no provision for hash functions other than SHA-256. If
there is ever a need to support another key derivation function or
another hash function, it will be very straightforward to assign a
new object identifier. At this point, keeping the design very simple
seems most important.
2. Use of HKDF with SHA-256 to Derive Encryption Keys
The mitigation uses the HMAC-based Extract-and-Expand Key Derivation
Function (HKDF) [RFC5869] to derive output keying material (OKM) from
input keying material (IKM). HKDF is used with the SHA-256 hash
function [FIPS180]. The derivation includes the DER-encoded
AlgorithmIdentifier as the optional info input value. The encoded
value includes the ASN.1 tag for SEQUENCE (0x30), the length, and the
value. This AlgorithmIdentifier is carried as the parameter to the
id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm identifier. If an attacker were to
change the originator-provided AlgorithmIdentifier, then the
recipient will derive a different content-encryption key or content-
authenticated-encryption key.
The CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256 function uses the HKDF-Extract and HKDF-
Expand functions to derive the OKM from the IKM:
Inputs:
IKM input keying material
info DER-encoded AlgorithmIdentifier
Output:
OKM output keying material (same size as IKM)
The output OKM is calculated as follows:
OKM_SIZE = len(IKM) /* length in octets */
IF OKM_SIZE > 8160 THEN raise error
salt = "The Cryptographic Message Syntax"
PRK = HKDF-Extract(salt, IKM)
OKM = HKDF-Expand(PRK, info, OKM_SIZE)
3. The id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 Algorithm Identifier
The id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm identifier indicates that the
CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256 function defined in Section 2 is used to derive
the content-encryption key or the content-authenticated-encryption
key.
The following object identifier identifies the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256
algorithm:
id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { iso(1)
member-body(2) us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs-9(9)
id-smime(16) alg(3) 31 }
The id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 parameters field has an ASN.1 type of
AlgorithmIdentifier.
Using the conventions from [RFC5911], the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256
algorithm identifier is defined as:
ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier ::=
AlgorithmIdentifier{CONTENT-ENCRYPTION, { ... } }
cea-CEKHKDFSHA256 CONTENT-ENCRYPTION ::= {
IDENTIFIER id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256
PARAMS TYPE ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier ARE required
SMIME-CAPS { IDENTIFIED BY id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 } }
4. SMIMECapabilities Attribute Conventions
The SMIMECapabilities attribute is defined in Section 2.5.2 of
[RFC8551]. An S/MIME client announces the set of cryptographic
functions it supports using the SMIMECapabilities attribute.
If an S/MIME client supports the mechanism in this document, the id-
alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 object identifier SHOULD be included in the set
of cryptographic functions. The parameter with this encoding MUST be
absent.
The encoding for id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256, in hexadecimal, is:
30 0d 06 0b 2a 86 48 86 f7 0d 01 09 10 03 1f
5. Use of HKDF with SHA-256 with CMS
This section describes the originator and recipient processing to
implement this mitigation for each of the CMS encrypting content
types.
5.1. Enveloped-Data Content Type
The fourth step of constructing an enveloped-data content type is
repeated below from Section 6 of [RFC5652]:
| 4. The content is encrypted with the content-encryption key.
| Content encryption may require that the content be padded to a
| multiple of some block size; see Section 6.3.
To implement this mitigation, the originator expands this step as
follows:
* Include the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm identifier in the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm field of the
EncryptedContentInfo structure, and set the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm.parameters field to the
AlgorithmIdentifier for the content-encryption algorithm that will
be used to encrypt the content, including both the algorithm and
optional parameters.
* Derive the new content-encryption key (CEK') from the original
content-encryption key (CEK) and the
ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier, which is carried in the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm.parameters field:
CEK' = CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256(CEK, ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier)
* The content is encrypted with the new content-encryption key
(CEK'). Content encryption may require that the content be padded
to a multiple of some block size; see Section 6.3 of [RFC5652].
The presence of the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm identifier in
the contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm field of the
EncryptedContentInfo structure tells the recipient to derive the new
content-encryption key (CEK') as shown above, and then use it for
decryption of the EncryptedContent. If the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256
algorithm identifier is not present in the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm field of the
EncryptedContentInfo structure, then the recipient uses the original
content-encryption key (CEK) for decryption of the EncryptedContent.
5.2. Encrypted-Data Content Type
As specified in Section 8 of [RFC5652], the content-encryption key is
managed by other means.
To implement this mitigation, the originator performs the following:
* Include the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm identifier in the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm field of the
EncryptedContentInfo structure, and set the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm.parameters field to the
AlgorithmIdentifier for the content-encryption algorithm that will
be used to encrypt the content, including both the algorithm and
optional parameters.
* Derive the new content-encryption key (CEK') from the original
content-encryption key (CEK) and the
ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier, which is carried in the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm.parameters field:
CEK' = CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256(CEK, ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier)
* The content is encrypted with the new content-encryption key
(CEK'). Content encryption may require that the content be padded
to a multiple of some block size; see Section 6.3 of [RFC5652].
The presence of the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm identifier in
the contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm field of the
EncryptedContentInfo structure tells the recipient to derive the new
content-encryption key (CEK') as shown above, and then use it for
decryption of the EncryptedContent. If the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256
algorithm identifier is not present in the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm field of the
EncryptedContentInfo structure, then the recipient uses the original
content-encryption key (CEK) for decryption of the EncryptedContent.
5.3. Authenticated-Enveloped-Data Content Type
The fifth step of constructing an authenticated-enveloped-data
content type is repeated below from Section 2 of [RFC5083]:
| 5. The attributes collected in step 4 are authenticated and the
| CMS content is authenticated and encrypted with the content-
| authenticated-encryption key. If the authenticated encryption
| algorithm requires either the additional authenticated data
| (AAD) or the content to be padded to a multiple of some block
| size, then the padding is added as described in Section 6.3 of
| [CMS].
| Note that [CMS] refers to [RFC3852], which has been obsoleted
| by [RFC5652], but the text in Section 6.3 was unchanged in RFC
| 5652.
To implement this mitigation, the originator expands this step as
follows:
* Include the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm identifier in the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm field of the
EncryptedContentInfo structure, and set the
contentEncryptionAlgorithm.parameters field to the
AlgorithmIdentifier for the content-authenticated-encryption
algorithm that will be used for authenticated encryption of the
content, including both the algorithm and optional parameters.
* Derive the new content-authenticated-encryption key (CEK') from
the original content-authenticated-encryption key (CEK) and the
ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier:
CEK' = CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256(CEK, ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier)
* The attributes collected in step 4 are authenticated and the CMS
content is authenticated and encrypted with the new content-
authenticated-encryption key (CEK'). If the authenticated
encryption algorithm requires either the additional authenticated
data (AAD) or the content to be padded to a multiple of some block
size, then the padding is added as described in Section 6.3 of
[RFC5652].
The presence of the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm identifier in
the contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm field of the
EncryptedContentInfo structure tells the recipient to derive the new
content-authenticated-encryption key (CEK') as shown above, and then
use it for authenticated decryption of the EncryptedContent and the
authentication of the AAD. If the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm
identifier is not present in the contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm
field of the EncryptedContentInfo structure, then the recipient uses
the original content-authenticated-encryption (CEK) for decryption
and authentication of the EncryptedContent and the authentication of
the AAD.
6. Security Considerations
This mitigation always uses HKDF with SHA-256. One KDF algorithm was
selected to avoid the need for negotiation. In the future, if a
weakness is found in the KDF algorithm, a new attribute will need to
be assigned for use with an alternative KDF algorithm.
If the attacker removes the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 object identifier
from the contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm field of the
EncryptedContentInfo structure prior to delivery to the recipient,
then the recipient will not attempt to derive CEK', which will deny
the recipient access to the content but will not assist the attacker
in recovering the plaintext content.
If the attacker changes contentEncryptionAlgorithm.parameters field
of the EncryptedContentInfo structure prior to delivery to the
recipient, then the recipient will derive a different CEK', which
will not assist the attacker in recovering the plaintext content.
Providing the object identifier as an input to the key derivation
function is sufficient to mitigate the attack described in [RS2023],
but this mitigation includes both the object identifier and the
parameters to protect against some yet-to-be-discovered attack that
only manipulates the parameters.
Implementations MUST protect the content-encryption keys and content-
authenticated-encryption keys, including the CEK and CEK'.
Compromise of a content-encryption key may result in disclosure of
the associated encrypted content. Compromise of a content-
authenticated-encryption key may result in disclosure of the
associated encrypted content or allow modification of the
authenticated content and the AAD.
Implementations MUST randomly generate content-encryption keys and
content-authenticated-encryption keys. Using an inadequate
pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) to generate cryptographic keys
can result in little or no security. An attacker may find it much
easier to reproduce the PRNG environment that produced the keys and
then search the resulting small set of possibilities, rather than
brute-force searching the whole key space. The generation of quality
random numbers is difficult. [RFC4086] offers important guidance on
this topic.
7. Privacy Considerations
If the message-digest attribute is included in the AuthAttributes,
then the attribute value will contain the unencrypted one-way hash
value of the plaintext of the content. Disclosure of this hash value
enables content tracking, and it can be used to determine if the
content matches one or more candidates. For these reasons, the
AuthAttributes SHOULD NOT contain the message-digest attribute.
8. Operational Considerations
CMS is often used to provide encryption in messaging environments,
where various forms of unsolicited messages (such as spam and
phishing) represent a significant volume of unwanted traffic.
Mitigation strategies for unwanted message traffic involve analysis
of plaintext message content. When recipients accept unsolicited
encrypted messages, they become even more vulnerable to unwanted
traffic since many mitigation strategies will be unable to access the
plaintext message content. Therefore, software that receives
messages that have been encrypted using CMS ought to provide
alternate mechanisms to handle the unwanted message traffic. One
approach that does not require disclosure of keying material to a
server is to reject or discard encrypted messages unless they purport
to come from a member of a previously approved originator list.
9. IANA Considerations
For the ASN.1 module in Appendix A of this document, IANA has
assigned the following object identifier (OID) in the "SMI Security
for S/MIME Module Identifier (1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.0)" registry:
+=========+=================================+============+
| Decimal | Description | References |
+=========+=================================+============+
| 80 | id-mod-CMS-CEK-HKDF-SHA256-2023 | RFC 9709 |
+---------+---------------------------------+------------+
Table 1
IANA has allocated the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 algorithm identifier as
specified in Section 3 in the "SMI Security for S/MIME Algorithms
(1.2.840.113549.1.9.16.3)" registry as follows:
+=========+========================+============+
| Decimal | Description | References |
+=========+========================+============+
| 31 | id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 | RFC 9709 |
+---------+------------------------+------------+
Table 2
10. References
10.1. Normative References
[FIPS180] National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
"Secure Hash Standard (SHS)", FIPS PUB 180-4,
DOI 10.6028/NIST.FIPS.180-4, August 2015,
<https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/FIPS/
NIST.FIPS.180-4.pdf>.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC5083] Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
Authenticated-Enveloped-Data Content Type", RFC 5083,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5083, November 2007,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5083>.
[RFC5652] Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", STD 70,
RFC 5652, DOI 10.17487/RFC5652, September 2009,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5652>.
[RFC5869] Krawczyk, H. and P. Eronen, "HMAC-based Extract-and-Expand
Key Derivation Function (HKDF)", RFC 5869,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5869, May 2010,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5869>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
[RFC8551] Schaad, J., Ramsdell, B., and S. Turner, "Secure/
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 4.0
Message Specification", RFC 8551, DOI 10.17487/RFC8551,
April 2019, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8551>.
[X680] ITU-T, "Information technology -- Abstract Syntax Notation
One (ASN.1): Specification of basic notation", ITU-T
Recommendation X.680, ISO/IEC 8824-1:2021, February 2021,
<https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-X.680>.
[X690] ITU-T, "Information technology -- ASN.1 encoding rules:
Specification of Basic Encoding Rules (BER), Canonical
Encoding Rules (CER) and Distinguished Encoding Rules
(DER)", ITU-T Recommendation X.690, ISO/IEC 8825-1-2021,
February 2021, <https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-X.690>.
10.2. Informative References
[RFC3852] Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)",
RFC 3852, DOI 10.17487/RFC3852, July 2004,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3852>.
[RFC4086] Eastlake 3rd, D., Schiller, J., and S. Crocker,
"Randomness Requirements for Security", BCP 106, RFC 4086,
DOI 10.17487/RFC4086, June 2005,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4086>.
[RFC5084] Housley, R., "Using AES-CCM and AES-GCM Authenticated
Encryption in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)",
RFC 5084, DOI 10.17487/RFC5084, November 2007,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5084>.
[RFC5911] Hoffman, P. and J. Schaad, "New ASN.1 Modules for
Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) and S/MIME", RFC 5911,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5911, June 2010,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5911>.
[RS2023] Roth, J. and F. Strenzke, "AEAD-to-CBC Downgrade Attacks
on CMS", IETF 118 Proceedings, 8 November 2023,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/118/materials/
slides-118-lamps-attack-against-aead-in-cms>.
Appendix A. ASN.1 Module
This ASN.1 module builds upon the conventions established in
[RFC5911].
<CODE BEGINS>
CMS-CEK-HKDF-SHA256-Module-2023
{ iso(1) member-body(2) us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs-9(9)
id-smime(16) id-mod(0) id-mod-CMS-CEK-HKDF-SHA256-2023(80) }
DEFINITIONS IMPLICIT TAGS ::= BEGIN
EXPORTS ALL;
IMPORTS
AlgorithmIdentifier{}, CONTENT-ENCRYPTION, SMIME-CAPS
FROM AlgorithmInformation-2009 -- in RFC 5911
{ iso(1) identified-organization(3) dod(6) internet(1)
security(5) mechanisms(5) pkix(7) id-mod(0)
id-mod-algorithmInformation-02(58) } ;
--
-- CEK-HKDF-SHA256 Algorithm
--
id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { iso(1) member-body(2)
us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs-9(9) id-smime(16) alg(3) 31 }
ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier ::=
AlgorithmIdentifier{CONTENT-ENCRYPTION, { ... } }
cea-CEKHKDFSHA256 CONTENT-ENCRYPTION ::= {
IDENTIFIER id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256
PARAMS TYPE ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier ARE required
SMIME-CAPS { IDENTIFIED BY id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 } }
--
-- S/MIME Capability for CEK-HKDF-SHA256 Algorithm
--
SMimeCaps SMIME-CAPS ::= { cap-CMSCEKHKDFSHA256, ... }
cap-CMSCEKHKDFSHA256 SMIME-CAPS ::=
{ -- No value -- IDENTIFIED BY id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 }
END
<CODE ENDS>
Appendix B. CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256 Function Examples
This appendix provides two test vectors for the CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256
function.
B.1. CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256 with AES-128-GCM
This test vector includes an AlgorithmIdentifier for AES-128-GCM.
IKM = c702e7d0a9e064b09ba55245fb733cf3
The AES-128-GCM AlgorithmIdentifier:
algorithm=2.16.840.1.101.3.4.1.6
parameters=GCMParameters:
aes-nonce=0x5c79058ba2f43447639d29e2
aes-ICVlen is omitted; it indicates the DEFAULT of 12
DER-encoded AlgorithmIdentifier:
301b0609608648016503040106300e040c5c79058ba2f43447639d29e2
OKM = 2124ffb29fac4e0fbbc7d5d87492bff3
B.2. CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256 with AES-128-CBC
This test vector uses includes an AlgorithmIdentifier for AES-
128-CBC.
IKM = c702e7d0a9e064b09ba55245fb733cf3
The AES-128-CBC AlgorithmIdentifier:
algorithm=2.16.840.1.101.3.4.1.2
parameters=AES-IV=0x651f722ffd512c52fe072e507d72b377
DER-encoded AlgorithmIdentifier:
301d06096086480165030401020410651f722ffd512c52fe072e507d72b377
OKM = 9cd102c52f1e19ece8729b35bfeceb50
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Mike Ounsworth, Carl Wallace, and Joe Mandel their careful
review and constructive comments.
Author's Address
Russ Housley
Vigil Security, LLC
Herndon, VA
United States of America
Email: housley@vigilsec.com
AI ELI5
On this page
§1The Attack and the Mitigation
The Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) carries encrypted content in three content types: enveloped-data and encrypted-data (RFC 5652) and authenticated-enveloped-data (RFC 5083). Each names its encryption algorithm in an algorithm identifier that is not itself protected by the content key.
The RFC describes an attack presented at IETF 118. The attacker intercepts a message that uses AES-CCM or AES-GCM, rewrites it as a "garbage" enveloped-data message made of AES-CBC guess blocks, and sends it to the victim. If the victim reveals the decryption result, any block that matches the attacker's guess exposes that plaintext block. With highly structured messages, one block can be the only sensitive part.
The fix is to make the encryption key depend on the unmodified algorithm identifier. The mitigation has three parts: recipients advertise support in S/MIME Capabilities, senders carry the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 identifier as the contentEncryptionAlgorithm as a flag, and encryption uses a derived key, CEK' = HKDF(CEK, AlgorithmIdentifier).
A trickster could swap the instructions on a locked message so it gets opened a different way. The fix ties the key to the instructions, so swapping them breaks the key.
- AdvertiseRecipients list id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256, with no parameters, in S/MIME Capabilities.
- FlagSenders carry the identifier as contentEncryptionAlgorithm, with the real cipher in its parameters.
- DeriveEncryption uses CEK' = HKDF(CEK, AlgorithmIdentifier).
§2The CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256 Function
The derivation uses the HMAC-based Extract-and-Expand Key Derivation Function (HKDF, RFC 5869) with the SHA-256 hash. The input keying material (IKM) is the original key. The optional info input is the DER-encoded AlgorithmIdentifier, including its SEQUENCE tag (0x30), length and value. The output keying material (OKM) is the same size as the IKM.
The function first checks that the IKM length in octets is no more than 8160, and raises an error otherwise. It then uses the fixed salt The Cryptographic Message Syntax to run HKDF-Extract and produce a pseudorandom key (PRK), and HKDF-Expand over that PRK with the info and the original key length.
If an attacker changes the originator-provided AlgorithmIdentifier, the recipient derives a different key. The RFC deliberately allows only HKDF and only SHA-256. A new object identifier could be assigned later for another function, but keeping the design very simple is the stated priority.
The key goes into a blender along with the instructions note and a fixed secret word. Change one ingredient and a completely different key comes out.
OKM_SIZE = len(IKM) /* length in octets */
IF OKM_SIZE > 8160 THEN raise error
salt = "The Cryptographic Message Syntax"
PRK = HKDF-Extract(salt, IKM)
OKM = HKDF-Expand(PRK, info, OKM_SIZE)§3The Algorithm Identifier and S/MIME Capabilities
The id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 object identifier is { iso(1) member-body(2) us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs-9(9) id-smime(16) alg(3) 31 }. Its parameters field is required and has the ASN.1 type AlgorithmIdentifier. That parameter names the real content-encryption or content-authenticated-encryption algorithm and its own parameters.
An S/MIME client announces what it supports in the SMIMECapabilities attribute (RFC 8551). A client that supports this mechanism SHOULD include the identifier in that set, and the parameter MUST be absent. The encoding in hexadecimal is 30 0d 06 0b 2a 86 48 86 f7 0d 01 09 10 03 1f.
The ASN.1 definitions follow the conventions of RFC 5911, and the full module is in Appendix A.
The new label on the box says "my real lock type is written inside the label." People can also say ahead of time that they understand this new kind of label.
§5Using It with the Three CMS Content Types
The originator does the same three things for each content type. It puts id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 in contentEncryptionAlgorithm.algorithm of the EncryptedContentInfo structure. It sets the parameters field to the AlgorithmIdentifier of the cipher that will really be used. It then derives CEK' = CMS_CEK_HKDF_SHA256(CEK, ContentEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier) and encrypts with CEK'.
For enveloped-data this expands step 4 of the construction in RFC 5652. For encrypted-data, where the key is managed by other means, the same steps apply. For authenticated-enveloped-data it expands step 5 of RFC 5083, so the attributes are authenticated and the content is authenticated and encrypted with CEK'.
The recipient sees the identifier in the algorithm field and derives CEK' before decrypting. If the identifier is absent, the recipient uses the original key CEK.
Whoever packs the message mixes the key with the instructions first and locks with that mixed key. Whoever opens it does the same mixing before trying to open.
§6Security Considerations
The RFC picks one KDF to avoid negotiation. If a weakness is later found in it, a new attribute will have to be assigned for an alternative.
If the attacker removes the identifier, the recipient will not derive CEK', so the recipient is denied the content but the attacker learns nothing. If the attacker changes the parameters, the recipient derives a different CEK', which again does not help recover plaintext. The object identifier alone would be enough against the attack described, but including the parameters guards against a yet-to-be-discovered attack that manipulates only the parameters.
Implementations MUST protect the CEK and CEK', and MUST randomly generate content-encryption keys, since a weak pseudorandom number generator can leave little or no security. RFC 4086 gives guidance.
The privacy section adds that the message-digest attribute exposes an unencrypted hash of the plaintext, so the authenticated attributes SHOULD NOT contain it.
If a trickster erases or changes the note, the receiver either cannot open the box or opens it with a wrong key, and the trickster still learns nothing.
§8Operational and IANA Notes
CMS often protects messages in settings with spam and phishing. Recipients who accept unsolicited encrypted messages become more exposed because many defenses need the plaintext. The RFC suggests software provide other ways to handle unwanted traffic, such as rejecting or discarding encrypted messages unless they appear to come from a previously approved originator list.
IANA assigned decimal 80, id-mod-CMS-CEK-HKDF-SHA256-2023, in the SMI Security for S/MIME Module Identifier registry, and decimal 31, id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256, in the SMI Security for S/MIME Algorithms registry.
Because nobody can peek inside sealed boxes, it helps to accept boxes only from people on your approved list.
§7Test Vectors
Appendix B gives two checks for the function, both with the same 16-byte input key c702e7d0a9e064b09ba55245fb733cf3. One uses an AES-128-GCM identifier with a 12-byte nonce and yields 2124ffb29fac4e0fbbc7d5d87492bff3. The other uses an AES-128-CBC identifier with a 16-byte IV and yields 9cd102c52f1e19ece8729b35bfeceb50.
The same key produces different outputs because the DER-encoded identifier differs, which shows the binding between the key and the algorithm description.
The same starting key gives two different results because the two instruction notes differ.