Subject: PKIFailureInfo : Internal Error

From: Jean-Marc Desperrier <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 16:56:23 +0100

Hi,

The PKIFailureInfo that is present is several pkix standards, rfc2510,
time-stamp, etc ... does not provide a way for the entity that sends the
response to signal that it has encountered an internal error that
prevents its from being able to answer succesfully to the request,
despite the fact there is nothing invalid in the request.

In case none of the suggested errors applies, there's no generic error
to send back.

If you are wondering, I was looking for the adequate error code that
should be returned if the entity detects a failure of the hardware token
it uses to sign data, but many other internal errors can be encountered
...

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From: Ari Kermaier <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 12:57:34 -0500

The PKIFailureInfo structure described in draft-ietf-pkix-rfc2510bis-02 
includes systemFailure(25) which, while not very descriptive, might fit the 
bill for hardware failure.

::Ari

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From: Jean-Marc Desperrier <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 20:29:36 +0100

> bill for hardware failure.

It didn't read that draft before posting.

It should be considered, whenever possible, to include this value into the list
of acceptables values for the other drafts that use a PKIFailureInfo.