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Security Messaging Layer Security SemiPrivateMessage This document defines a SemiPrivateMessage for the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol. It allows members to share otherwise private commits and proposals with a designated list of external receivers rather than send these handshakes in a PublicMessage. About This Document The latest revision of this draft can be found at . Status information for this document may be found at . Discussion of this document takes place on the Messaging Layer Security Working Group mailing list (), which is archived at . Subscribe at . Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at .

Introduction This document defines two extensions of MLS . The first is the SemiPrivateMessage wire format, which allows an otherwise PrivateMessage to be shared with a predefined list of external receivers. It is restricted for use only with commits or proposals. The second is the external_receivers GroupContext extension that contains the list of external receivers and allows members to agree on that list. SemiPrivateMessages are expected to be useful in federated environments where messages routinely cross multiple administrative domains, but the MLS Distribution Service needs to see the content of commits and proposals where group members would otherwise send handshakes using PublicMessage.

Conventions and Definitions 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 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here. This document uses terminology extensively from MLS and the Safe Extensions framework, defined in . Whenever a hash function is mentioned, it refers to the hash function defined in the cipher suite in use for the relevant MLS group.

Syntax and Usage The external_receivers GroupContext extension is used for all members to agree on the list of external receivers in the current epoch. Its construction mirrors the syntax of the external_senders extension in . The mls_semiprivate_message wire format is advertised in the supported_wire_formats list in LeafNode.capabilities.extensions, (defined in ). For SemiPrivateMessage to be used in a group, mls_semiprivate_message needs to be in the required_wire_formats list in the GroupContext.extension_types of that group, and there needs to be at least one entry in the external_receivers GroupContext extension. SemiPrivateMessage substantially reuses the construction of PrivateMessage, but like a Welcome message also contains information (key_and_nonces) necessary to identify the sender leaf node and decrypt the SemiPrivateMessage struct's ciphertext. Note that the encrypted_sender_data cannot be decrypted by an external receiver, but the sender_leaf_index is included with key_and_nonces and is verified in another step. key_and_nonces is encrypted once for each external receiver in the external_receivers extension.

Encryption of a SemiPrivateMessage As with a PrivateMessage, the sending client chooses an unused generation in its own handshake ratchet and derives a key and nonce. It also generates a fresh random four-byte reuse_guard. The snippet below shows the syntax and encryption and decryption construction of keys_and_nonces into encrypted_keys_and_nonces for each external receiver. ; opaque nonce; opaque reuse_guard[4]; uint32 sender_leaf_index; } PerMessageKeyAndNonces; partial_context_hash = hash(sender_leaf_index || nonce) struct { opaque group_id; uint64 epoch; opaque partial_context_hash; } SemiPrivateMessageContext; PerMessageKeyAndNonces key_and_nonces; SemiPrivateMessageContext semi_private_message_context; encrypted_key_and_nonces = EncryptWithLabel( external_receiver_public_key, "SemiPrivateMessageReceiver", semi_private_message_context, /* context */ keys_and_nonces) key_and_nonces = DecryptWithLabel( external_receiver_private_key, "SemiPrivateMessageReceiver", semi_private_message_context, /* context */ encrypted_keys_and_nonces.kem_output, encrypted_keys_and_nonces.ciphertext) ]]> The KeyForExternalReceiver structure contains a hash of the ExternalReceiver as a reference and the encrypted_key_and_nonces. The SemiPrivateMessage struct extends the PrivateMessage struct, adding the keys_for_external_receivers list, the partial_context_hash needed for its decryption context, and the hash of the FramedContentTBS to insure that the sender cannot encrypt content to the external receivers that is different from the other members, without detection. The SemiPrivateContentAAD struct likewise extends the PrivateContentAAD struct, adding the keys_for_external_receivers list, the partial_context_hash and the framed_content_tbs_hash. The SemiPrivateMessageContent struct is the same as PrivateMessageContent except application messages are not included. ; uint64 epoch; ContentType content_type; opaque authenticated_data; opaque partial_context_hash; KeyForExternalReceiver keys_for_external_receivers; opaque framed_content_tbs_hash; opaque encrypted_sender_data; opaque ciphertext; } SemiPrivateMessage; struct { select (SemiPrivateMessage.content_type) { case proposal: Proposal proposal; case commit: Commit commit; }; FramedContentAuthData auth; opaque padding[length_of_padding]; } SemiPrivateMessageContent; struct { opaque group_id; uint64 epoch; ContentType content_type; opaque authenticated_data; opaque partial_context_hash; KeyForExternalReceiver keys_for_external_receivers; opaque framed_content_tbs_hash; } SemiPrivateContentAAD; struct { ProtocolVersion version = mls10; WireFormat wire_format; select (MLSMessage.wire_format) { case mls_public_message: PublicMessage public_message; case mls_private_message: PrivateMessage private_message; ... case mls_semiprivate_message_: SemiPrivateMessage semiprivate_message; }; } MLSMessage; ]]> Encryption of the ciphertext uses the cipher suite's AEAD algorithm using the key, nonce xored with the reuse_guard, the SemiPrivateMessageContent as the plaintext, and the SemiPrivateContentAAD as the authenticated data. Encryption of the encrypted_sender_data proceeds in the same way for SemiPrivateMessage as for PrivateMessage.

Decryption of SemiPrivateMessage as a member When receiving a SemiPrivateMessage, a member receiver derives the sender_data_key and sender_data_nonce and decrypts the encrypted_sender_data, just as for a PrivateMessage. The receiver uses the SenderData to lookup the key and nonce for the correct generation in the (non-blank) sender's handshake ratchet. The receiver verifies the partial_context_hash. After xoring the nonce with the reuse_guard, the member decrypts the ciphertext. It verifies the padding consists of the appropriate number of zero bytes, and verifies that the framed_content_tbs_hash is correct. Finally, it verifies that the signature in the FramedContentAuthData is valid.

Decryption of SemiPrivateMessage as an external receiver When receiving a SemiPrivateMessage, an external receiver looks in the keys_for_external_receivers field for its external_receiver_ref. It calculates the semi_private_message_context and uses HPKE to decrypt the encrypted_keys_and_nonces. Using the nonce and sender_leaf_node it verifies the partial_context_hash. After xoring the nonce with the reuse_guard, the member decrypts the ciphertext. It verifies the padding consists of the appropriate number of zero bytes, and verifies that the framed_content_tbs_hash is correct. If the external receiver has a copy of the GroupContext, it verifies that the signature in the FramedContentAuthData is valid.

Security Considerations These two extensions provide a privacy improvement over sending handshake messages using PublicMessage. The handshake is shared with a specific list of receivers, and that list is visible as part of the GroupContext. TODO More Security.

IANA Considerations

SemiPrivateMessage Wire Format

• Value: TBD1 (suggested value 0x0011)
• Name: mls_semiprivate_message
• Recommended: Y
• Reference: RFC XXXX

External Receivers MLS Component Type The external_receivers extension contains a list of external receivers targeted in a SemiPrivateMessage.

• Value: TBD2 (suggested value 0x0007)
• Name: external_receivers
• Message(s): GC. This extension may appear in GroupContext objects.
• Recommended: Y
• Reference: RFC XXXX

SemiPrivateMessageReceiver Public Key Encryption Label

• Label: "SemiPrivateMessageReceiver"
• Recommended: Y
• Reference: RFC XXXX

Normative References Messaging applications are increasingly making use of end-to-end security mechanisms to ensure that messages are only accessible to the communicating endpoints, and not to any servers involved in delivering messages. Establishing keys to provide such protections is challenging for group chat settings, in which more than two clients need to agree on a key but may not be online at the same time. In this document, we specify a key establishment protocol that provides efficient asynchronous group key establishment with forward secrecy (FS) and post-compromise security (PCS) for groups in size ranging from two to thousands. In many standards track documents several words are used to signify the requirements in the specification. These words are often capitalized. This document defines these words as they should be interpreted in IETF documents. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. RFC 2119 specifies common key words that may be used in protocol specifications. This document aims to reduce the ambiguity by clarifying that only UPPERCASE usage of the key words have the defined special meanings. Phoenix R&D The Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol is an asynchronous group authenticated key exchange protocol. MLS provides a number of capabilities to applications, as well as several extension points internal to the protocol. This document provides a consolidated application API, guidance for how the protocol's extension points should be used, and a few concrete examples of both core protocol extensions and uses of the application API.

Change log

Changes from draft-mahy-mls-semiprivatemessage-07 to -08

• updated suggested IANA values to prevent conflicts

Changes from draft-mahy-mls-semiprivatemessage-06 to -07 None

Changes from draft-mahy-mls-semiprivatemessage-05 to -06

• fix a typo in the change log
• refresh almost expired document

Changes from draft-mahy-mls-semiprivatemessage-04 to -05

• remove the "safe extension" wire format
• use the supported/required_wire_formats extensions in mls-extensions
• register SemiPrivateMessageReceiver Public Key Encryption Label

Changes from draft-mahy-mls-semiprivatemessage-03 to -04

• corrected a typo in SemiPrivateMessageContent

Changes from draft-mahy-mls-semiprivatemessage-02 to -03

• do not attempt to decrypt SenderData for external receivers; instead also encrypt the sender_leaf_index and reuse_guard.
• make the encrypted_key_and_nonces context include the group_id, epoch, and a the hash of the sender_leaf_index and nonce. include that partial_context_hash in the AAD.
• add a hash of the FramedContentTBS to the AAD to make sure the content encrypted to the external receiver is the same as that sent to members.
• add explicit instructions about encryption and decryption.