Patent Application
20080086635
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the inventive subject matter can be practiced. It is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the inventive subject matter. The leading digit(s) of reference numbers appearing in the Figures generally corresponds to the Figure number in which that component is first introduced, such that the same reference number is used throughout to refer to an identical component which appears in multiple Figures. Signals and connections may be referred to by the same reference number or label, and the actual meaning will be clear from its use in the context of the description.
According to one example embodiment, the inventive subject matter disclosed herein provides for the use of Attribute Certificates (ACs), as for example but not limited to, those of the type or kind defined in RFC 3281, to modify Public Key Certificates (PKCs) so that PKCs can be made conformant to one or more rules of a standard. Accordingly, an otherwise non-conformant PKI engine may process all PKCs in accordance with the applicable rules or the standard without encountering exceptions. Thus, the need for manual configuration of a PKI engine is avoided.
Referring now to
The one or more client systems 110, which include a hardware computing platform such as a workstation, personal computer, server system, or other computing system, include a client PKI engine 112. In one embodiment, a PKC 108 or 109, signed by the CA 104, is distributed from a CA server, such as server 102-2, to a client system 110, for example 110-1. Client system 110-1 may hold the private key 115 corresponding to the PKC 108 or 109. In the event the PKC is a conforming PKC 108, system 110-1 may use it, for example, in order to assist in establishing a secure communication or exchange of information between system 110-1 and system 110-2, pursuant to one or more currently known or later developed PKI modes of operation, without encountering exceptions. For example, the PKC 108 may be sent to system 110-2, and using the public key provided by the certificate authority 104-1, be validated and opened to obtain public key 106 for user entity 121.
In one example embodiment, the public key 105 for the CA entity 104 may be kept in a secure key list on the client system 110. Once the public key 106 associated with the user entity 121 is verified by the trusted relationship with CA 104, the public key 106 can be used in combination with the private key 115 also held by user entity 121 to establish secure communications or data exchange. The public key 106 may be used, for example, to authenticate and open a file signed with private key 115. File 118 may use, for example, the portable document format (PDF) established by Adobe Systems, Inc. The public key 106 may also be used by system 110-2 to sign files or transmissions such that such files or transmissions may only be opened using the associated private key 115. PKC 108 may further include additional information, policies or permissions associated with the public key 106 and entity 121. This information may be used by a PKI engine 112 to control how the public key 106 is used or for other purposes.
According to one example embodiment, system 110-1 may also receive a non-conforming PKC 109 that, if used by the system 110-1 for signing, may be unverifiable by a receiving entity such as system 110-2 due to PKC 109's non-compliance with a standard. Accordingly, in one example embodiment, system 110-2 may use one or more ACs 130 to conform a PKC 109 received from a signor system 110-1. Client system 110-2 may use the ACs 130 to conform the PKC 109 to one or more rules of the standard. For this purpose, engine 112 of client system 110-2 may retrieve one or more Attribute Certificates (ACs) 130 issued from a trusted CA. An AC 130, in one example embodiment, may be issued by a CA server 134. The CA server 134 may issue AC 130 with a pointer to the PKC 109. Such pointer, for example, may be provided as described in a standard, such as but not limited to the standard defined in RFC 3281. According to one example embodiment, as described in more detail below, the AC 130 is used by the PKI engine 112 to modify the associated non-conforming PKC 109 to create a modified PKC 111 that conforms entirely or at least in part to a desired rule or standard. The conforming PKC 111 may then be used by the engine 112 of system 110-1 without modification and/or configuration of the engine 112, allowing it to accommodate the non-conforming aspects of PKC 109
According to still another example embodiment, the required ACs 130 may be embedded in the PKI engine 112 or an application containing the engine 112 in a local storage location in the client system 110, so that they do not need to be distributed by a CA. Such an application may be a document reader or authoring client, Such a client application may be, for example selected from Adobe Acrobat® line of programs, available from Adobe Systems, Inc. According to still another example embodiment, an AC 130 may be distributed or embedded by the publisher or distributor of an application, wherein the application includes a PKI engine that requires compliance with one, several, or all rules of a standard that PKCs within the PKI do not conform to. Accordingly, the publisher or distributor may enable or assure that their application will be capable of working properly in the PKI without requiring manual configuration of the application.
According to another example embodiment, the engine 112 of system 110-1 obtains, as part of the signing process, all the PKCs, for example PKC 109 and any other PKCs in the chain above PKC 109, that are required to build a validation chain from the end entity certificate to a trusted CA. According to one example embodiment, some the other PKCs in the chain may be conforming PKCs and some may be non-conforming. These PKCs may be obtained, for example, using any acceptable process, for example using an Authority Information Access extension, or fetching them from an Address book for the PKI. In addition, the PKI engine 112 may also obtain all the associated ACs 130, for example in the same way the PKCs are obtained. Or, as noted above, the ACs 130 may be embedded in a client application including the engine 112, or in the engine 112 proper. As described further below, all of the source PKCs in the certificate chain and associated ACs used to conform the nonconforming PKC 109, may be embedded in any file signed by the engine 112 using the PKC 109, allowing the any system receiving the signed document to validate the PKCs and any associated ACs. Once verified, the compliant PKC 111 created by the engine 112 in system 110-2 may be used, or example in order to establish secure exchange of information with a system 110-1.
According to one example embodiment, system 110-1 may also first conform PKC 109 to one or more rules of a standard using one or more ACs 130, prior to using the PKC 109 or any modified PKC 111 it may produce using the ACs 130. In one example embodiment, the conforming PKC 111 may then be used by system 110-1 for signing.
Referring now to
Referring now to
According to one example embodiment, if a PKC 111 meets all the applicable rules for validation a system 110 may use 310 the PKC 111. In one embodiment, system 110 may sign 312 a file 118 using PKC 111 and the associated private or public key, depending on the situation. In one embodiment, all the PKCs in the validation chain and associated ACs may be embedded in the signature and in turn embedded in the data or file 118. The file 118 may be sent 314, received 316 by another system signed with the PKC 111. The other system thereafter obtains the PKCs packaged with the file 118 or if not packaged retrieves them, and performs 318 verification steps against the modified PKC 111, for example checking the signature of the PKCs, including PKC 109 against a list of trusted CAs, and/or by checking for a valid certificate chain of PKCs between the PKC 109 and the root PKC. In addition, the validity of all ACs 130 may be checked, or retrieved from the local application or engine 112 they may be embedded in. If all the checks are successful, the signature is considered valid 320.
According to still another example embodiment, an AC 130 may be used by an engine 112 not to conform a non-conforming PKC, but instead to modify a conforming PKC 108 to provide a non-conforming PKC that may include characteristics to provide a mode of operation that is different than a standard. As such, the AC 130 is used to create a non-standard PKI mode of operation or data structure. Thus, a standard-compliant PKC may be deliberately made non-compliant using an AC 130 as described herein. Further, according to another example embodiment, the CA 132 issuing an AC 130 may be the same as or different from the CA 104 that issues the PKC 109. According to still another example embodiment, the issuing authority for the AC 130 is or must be, by way of example but not by way of limitation, trusted by the PKI engine 112 to issue ACs 130. According to another example embodiment, the AC 130 may take the form of a PKC or a CA.
According to one example embodiment, the inventive subject matter disclosed herein may be employed as illustrated in
The example computer system 500 includes a processor 502 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) or both), a main memory 504, and a static memory 506, which communicate with each other via a bus 508. The computer system 500 may further include a video display unit 510 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system 500 also includes an alphanumeric input device 512 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 514 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 516, a signal generation device 518 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interface device 520. The disk drive unit 516 includes a machine-readable medium 522 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures (e.g., software) 524 embodying or utilized by any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 524 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 504 and/or within the processor 502 during execution thereof by the computer system 500, the main memory 504 and the processor 502 also constituting machine-readable media. The instructions 524 may further be transmitted or received over a network 526 via the network interface device 520 utilizing any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols, for example the hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP).
While the machine-readable medium 522 is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present invention, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures utilized by, or associated with, such a set of instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, and carrier wave signals.
According to one example embodiment, the systems and methods described herein may use any form of public key certificate (such as PKC 108, 109) so long as it uses a digital signature to bind together a public key with an identity and is used to establish a trust relationship in a PKI. Similarly, any form of certificate can be used for the Attribute Certificate so long as it also uses a digital signature to bind together a public key with an identity and is used to establish a trust relationship in a PKI, and provides information that may be used to modify a characteristic of a public key certificate. Accordingly, these terms should not be interpreted to require any specific characteristics dictated by a standard unless explicitly enumerated. Further, the rules of a standard for a PKI, which may be set for the purpose of guaranteeing interoperability, may be public or proprietary, and may be established by either a private or public body. According to one example embodiment, the rules of the standard for a PKI may be set by the X509 specifications, or by rules established by the ITEF PKIX-WG.
In this description, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits, software, structures, and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the understanding of this description. Note that in this description, references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” mean that the feature being referred to is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. Further, separate references to “one embodiment” in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment; however, neither are such embodiments mutually exclusive, unless so stated and except as will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the inventive subject matter can include any variety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments described herein. Each claim, as may be amended, constitutes an embodiment of the invention, incorporated by reference into the detailed description. Moreover, in this description, the phrase “exemplary embodiment” means that the embodiment being referred to serves as an example or illustration. Further, block diagrams illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention. Also herein, flow diagrams illustrate operations of the exemplary embodiments of the invention. The operations of the flow diagrams are described with reference to the exemplary embodiments shown in the block diagrams. However, it should be understood that the operations of the flow diagrams could be performed by embodiments of the invention other than those discussed with reference to the block diagrams, and embodiments discussed with reference to the block diagrams could perform operations different than those discussed with reference to the flow diagrams. Additionally, some embodiments may not perform all the operations shown in a flow diagram. Moreover, it should be understood that although the flow diagrams depict serial operations, certain embodiments could perform certain of those operations in parallel.
