Subject: Protocol Action: 'S/MIME Version 3.1 Certificate Handling' to Proposed Standard

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 15:59:50 -0400

The IESG has approved the following document:

- 'S/MIME Version 3.1 Certificate Handling '
   <draft-ietf-smime-rfc2632bis-07.txt> as a Proposed Standard

This document is the product of the S/MIME Mail Security Working Group. 

The IESG contact persons are Russ Housley and Steve Bellovin.

Technical Summary

  This document specifies conventions for X.509 certificate usage by
  S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) agents.  S/MIME
  provides a method to send and receive secure MIME messages, and
  certificates are an integral part of S/MIME agent processing.  S/MIME
  agents validate certificates as described in RFC 3280, the Internet
  X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and CRL Profile.  S/MIME
  agents must meet the certificate processing requirements in this
  document as well as those in RFC 3280.

Working Group Summary

  The S/MIME Working Group came to rough consensus on this document.

Protocol Quality

  This document was reviewed by Russ Housley for the IESG.

RFC Editor Note

  Please make the following changes in order to insert an appropriate
  reference to the ASN.1 specification.  Also, the definitions of BER
  and DER are deleted since they are not used in the body of the text.
  Finally, the [SMIME-MSG] reference is changed to point to the most
  current specification, which is already in the RFC Editor queue.

  1.  Please add a reference to the definition of ASN.1.

  OLD:

  ASN.1: Abstract Syntax Notation One, as defined in ITU-T X.208.

  NEW:

  ASN.1: Abstract Syntax Notation One, as defined in ITU-T X.208
  [X.208-88].

  2.  Please delete the definition of BER and DER.

  OLD:

  BER: Basic Encoding Rules for ASN.1, as defined in ITU-T X.209.

  Certificate: A type that binds an entity's name to a public key with a
  digital signature. This type is defined in the Internet X.509 Public
  Key Infrastructure (PKIX) Certificate and CRL Profile [KEYM]. This
  type also contains the distinguished name of the certificate issuer
  (the signer), an issuer-specific serial number, the issuer's signature
  algorithm identifier, a validity period, and extensions also defined
  in that document.

  Certificate Revocation List (CRL): A type that contains information
  about certificates whose validity an issuer has prematurely revoked.
  The information consists of an issuer name, the time of issue, the
  next scheduled time of issue, a list of certificate serial numbers and
  their associated revocation times, and extensions as defined in
  [KEYM]. The CRL is signed by the issuer. The type intended by this
  specification is the one defined in [KEYM].

  DER: Distinguished Encoding Rules for ASN.1, as defined in ITU-T
  X.690.

  NEW:

  Certificate: A type that binds an entity's name to a public key with a
  digital signature. This type is defined in the Internet X.509 Public
  Key Infrastructure (PKIX) Certificate and CRL Profile [KEYM]. This
  type also contains the distinguished name of the certificate issuer
  (the signer), an issuer-specific serial number, the issuer's signature
  algorithm identifier, a validity period, and extensions also defined
  in that document.

  Certificate Revocation List (CRL): A type that contains information
  about certificates whose validity an issuer has prematurely revoked.
  The information consists of an issuer name, the time of issue, the
  next scheduled time of issue, a list of certificate serial numbers and
  their associated revocation times, and extensions as defined in
  [KEYM]. The CRL is signed by the issuer. The type intended by this
  specification is the one defined in [KEYM].

  3.  Please insert a normative reference to the ASN.1 specification.

  OLD:

  [SMIME-MSG] "S/MIME Version 3 Message Specification ", Internet Draft
  draft-ietf-smime-msg

  NEW:

  [SMIME-MSG] "S/MIME Version 3.1 Message Specification ", Internet Draft
  draft-ietf-smime-rfc2633bis-09

  [X.208-88] ITU-T. Recommendation X.208: Specification of Abstract 
  Syntax Notation One (ASN.1). 1988.