Should we recommend that return_to url is always HTTPS? What about realm?

Luke Shepard lshepard at facebook.com
Thu May 14 16:38:26 UTC 2009


Thanks for your feedback John.

> From a URI point of view the two URI are different and it can't be considered steeping up security.
> I understand that is what would normally happen but it violates some basic principals.

I'd like to see if we can find a compromise between the core principals and how those are actually applied in the real world. Frankly, this rule of protocol matching has been a royal pain when coding my OpenID relying party, making it more difficult than it needs to be.

For Facebook apps, we configure apps based on their domain, and don't care about the protocol. Similarly, I'd like to enable RPs that just don't care to be able to say "I just don't care - either protocol is fine".

What are the attack vectors that you worry would be exposed with this rule change, that aren't allowed in the current spec?

> It also compromises RP discovery.

How come? The OP can still perform discovery against the realm, the return_to doesn't really matter.

> A wildcard in the realm may be the better solution.  Though you may not want to include matching all protocols.

Maybe the spec could declare that a wildcard only applies to HTTP and HTTPS. Are there others we care about?

> PPID like identifiers.

I'm not familiar with PPID, do you mind explaining how this affects the proposal?



On 5/14/09 9:29 AM, "John Bradley" <jbradley at mac.com> wrote:

Luke,

>From a URI point of view the two URI are different and it can't be considered steeping up security.

I understand that is what would normally happen but it violates some basic principals.

It also compromises RP discovery.

A wijldcard in the realm may be the better solution.  Though you may not want to include matching all protocols.

In the other thread we are discussing PPID like identifiers.   If they are based on the realm as people are discussing,  introducing wildcards etc introduces the question of realm normalization on that side.

John Bradley


On 14-May-09, at 11:25 AM, Luke Shepard wrote:

So, RP delegation sounds like a very general solution to the problem, and seems okay to push for. But I think there's a much simpler solution that solves the specific problem I described below:

 RULE:
   If the realm is http, then the return_to can be either http or https.

 So this would be legal:

 realm: http://open.lukeshepard.com/
 return_to: https://open.lukeshepard.com/openid/receiver.php

 This would NOT be legal - you can't go the other way.

 realm: https://open.lukeshepard.com/
 return_to: http://open.lukeshepard.com/openid/receiver.php

 So, the receiver should be allowed to INCREASE its security level from the realm, but not decrease.

 This is analogous to wildcards for the protocol instead of just subdomain. Another alternative would be to have explicit wildcards for the protocol, or to allow realms with relative protocols, like:

 explicit wildcard: *://open.lukeshepard.com
 relative protocol: //open.lukeshepard.com



 On 5/14/09 7:19 AM, "John Bradley" <jbradley at mac.com> wrote:


I agree that RP delegation should be possible and even desirable.

 To do that safely the OP needs to do RP discovery over SSL or discover a XRD with detached sig for the RP.

 Otherwise you open up Man in the Middle attacks.

 My point was that in the existing spec to prevent interception of tokens and attributes,  the Realm that is displayed by the OP to the user needs to match where the assertion is sent.

 I agree that this is something that should be addressed in openID 2.1 ether for XRD with dsig or via XRDS with TLS.

 John B.

 On 14-May-09, at 12:24 AM, Dirk Balfanz wrote:


I don't see why a realm shouldn't be able to delegate to a return_to URL the same way that a user id can delegate to an OP endpoint. This includes delegating from http to https, or even to a different domain altogether. Over on the XRI TC we've been talking about how to do this securely, e.g., by signing the XRD that does the delegation: http://wiki.oasis-open.org/xri/XrdOne/XmlDsigProfile

 Dirk.

 On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 7:43 PM, John Bradley <jbradley at mac.com> wrote:
 > Luke,
 > Realm was called trust_root in 1.1, and is a bit like audience restriction
  > in SAML.
 > It is the display version of the return_to, and also used for RP discovery
 > by the OP.
 > I am not certain what the problem is with it being https: if the return_to
 > is https:.
  > There is explicitly no connection to be inferred by DNS authority between
 > URI differing in scheme.
 > Differentiating TLS by its own scheme is a decision we have to live with.
 > The user should consent to authentication for the site they are logging
  > into.
 > http://open.lukesheppard.com and https://open.lukesheppard.com could
 > be different sites.
 > If the RP has both HTTP and HTTPS the best practice would be to always use
  > the https: version for realm so that RP discovery cant be spoofed via DNS.
 > Regards
 > John B.
 > On 13-May-09, at 2:10 AM, specs-request at openid.net wrote:
  >
 > Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 23:10:38 -0700
 > From: Luke Shepard <lshepard at facebook.com>
 > Subject: Should we recommend that return_to url is always HTTPS? What
  > about realm?
 > To: OpenID Specs Mailing List <specs at openid.net>
 > Message-ID: <C62FB26E.BCE7%lshepard at facebook.com <mailto:C62FB26E.BCE7%25lshepard at facebook.com> >
  > Content-Type: multipart/related;
 > boundary="_004_C62FB26EBCE7lshepardfacebookcom_";
 > type="multipart/alternative"
 >
 > --_004_C62FB26EBCE7lshepardfacebookcom_
 > Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
  > boundary="_000_C62FB26EBCE7lshepardfacebookcom_"
 >
 > --_000_C62FB26EBCE7lshepardfacebookcom_
 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
 > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
  >
 > In testing my relying party, it seems clear that the return_to url SHOULD a=
 > lways be HTTPS. Therefore, then, the realm will always need to be HTTPS as =
 > well.
 >
 > If the return_to is HTTP, then if the response comes in the form of a POST =
  > from a provider that supports SSL, then the user will see a browser warning=
 > for posting to an insecure form.
 >
 > Here's an example:
 >
 > - realm: http://open.lukeshepard.com/
  > - return_to: http://open.lukeshepard.com/openid/receiver.php
 > - provider endpoint: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/ud
  >
 > Let's suppose that the response is too long for a GET redirect, so the prov=
 > ider chooses to POST (as Google and others sometimes do).
 >
 > The user would see a warning like this:
 >
  > [cid:3325014638_6495490]
 >
 > To preserve the user experience and avoid that popup, relying parties would=
 > want to make sure their receiver is HTTPS.
 >
 > Alternative
 >
 > What do you think about loosening the realm/return_to protocol/domain match=
  > requirements?
 >
 > This kinda sucks though, since it means the REALM also must be HTTPS, even =
 > though the HTTP version would seem to be "canonical". I wonder, would we al=
 > low an HTTPS return_to if the realm was HTTP? It seems that the HTTP versio=
  > n of the realm would be better, and should be able to mean "accept either p=
 > rotocol". Or better yet, you should be able to specify a realm without a pr=
 > otocol at all.
 >
 > Thoughts?
  >
 > _______________________________________________
 > specs mailing list
 > specs at openid.net
 > http://openid.net/mailman/listinfo/specs
  >
 >









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