On Thu, 10 Jul 2025 at 12:52, Filip Skokan <[email protected]> wrote:

> I'm aware of the implications and what may or may not be possible. PQ-KEM
> isn't in any way special that it shouldn't follow suit and accept the AKP
> type with its restrictions. We do not *need* a singular key
> representation instance to allow for this flexibility.
>

If such a restriction does not exist for traditional asymmetric algorithms,
imposing it for PQC KEMs alone would represent an unwarranted change in
behavior. I don't see any such restricted behavior defined in JWK.


>
> FWIW your PR refers to "crv" as (curve) instead of (the subtype of key
> pair) which is what the parameter was registered as for OKP.
>

Thanks, fixed.

Cheers,
-Tiru


>
> S pozdravem,
> *Filip Skokan*
>
>
> On Thu, 10 Jul 2025 at 08:48, tirumal reddy <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> A single PQ KEM key pair might be used with both Direct Key Agreement and
>> Key Agreement with Key Wrap modes. Since the AKP key type requires
>> specifying a single, fixed alg, this introduces rigidity when the same key
>> is valid for use with multiple modes. This kind of restriction does not
>> exist for traditional asymmetric algorithms (e.g., X25519 or ECDH), where
>> the key representation remains agnostic of the specific mode used.
>> Introducing such a restriction specifically for PQ KEMs would reduce
>> flexibility.
>>
>> RFC8037, explicitly states that it does not assume that there is an
>> underlying elliptic curve, despite the existence of the 'crv' and 'x'
>> parameters.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> -Tiru
>>
>> On Wed, 9 Jul 2025 at 18:03, Filip Skokan <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> AKP should still be used despite having to have an alg that says
>>> whether this key is for MLKEM512 or MLKEM512-AES128KW.
>>>
>>> Not having the ability to have the same representation for a key usable
>>> for both is in my opinion not a good reason to use OKP and in so the
>>> continued awkwardness of use of crv and x.
>>>
>>> - Filip
>>>
>>> 9. 7. 2025 v 13:16, tirumal reddy <[email protected]>:
>>>
>>> 
>>> Thanks Illari for the detailed explanation, updated PR
>>> https://github.com/tireddy2/PQC_JOSE_COSE/pull/11, please have a look.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> -Tiru
>>>
>>> On Wed, 9 Jul 2025 at 12:48, Ilari Liusvaara <[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Mon, Jul 07, 2025 at 12:44:47PM +0530, tirumal reddy wrote:
>>>> > On Fri, 4 Jul 2025 at 21:13, Ilari Liusvaara <
>>>> [email protected]>
>>>> > wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> > Got it, "OKP" won't work either, since RFC8037 mandates that "crv"
>>>> must
>>>> > come from the "JSON Web Elliptic Curve" registry. Since ML-KEM is not
>>>> an
>>>> > elliptic curve, it seems defining a new "kty" is necessary.
>>>>
>>>> RFC8037 explicitly allows things that are not elliptic curves — and
>>>> technically neither x25519 nor x448 is an elliptic curve. Then COSE
>>>> explicitly inherits that.
>>>>
>>>> OKP was designed to support stuff other than elliptic curves from the
>>>> very beginning — There even was early version that had different name
>>>> for what is now "crv".
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> (It might be useful to fix the fixable — pretty much all except the
>>>> "crv" name in JOSE — issues with OKP.)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> > > JOSE/COSE HPKE has absolutely nothing to do with how key agreement
>>>> > > works in JOSE/COSE. There is no "similar", only is or is not.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > And COSE-HPKE does explicitly use protected via the structures
>>>> passed as
>>>> > > HPKE aad.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Then RFC 9052 explicitly requires protected in context info for Key
>>>> > > Agreement with Key Wrap, and impiles that protected is required for
>>>> > > Direct Key Agreement.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Then Direct Key Agreement is a privileged mode in both JOSE and COSE
>>>> > > with properties no other mode can have. Thus using KEM for deriving
>>>> > > CEK has to be Direct Key Agreement, it can not be anything else.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Key Agreement with Key Wrapping is also privileged mode in JOSE.
>>>> > > However, Key Agreement with Key Wrap is not privileged in COSE, but
>>>> > > what KEM followed by Key Wrap does fits perfectly in that mode.
>>>> > >
>>>> >
>>>> > Thanks for the clarification. What would be the security
>>>> justification for
>>>> > excluding PartyUInfo and PartyVInfo in both COSE and JOSE ?
>>>>
>>>> Lack of sender keys — building authenticated post-quantum KEM is an
>>>> open problem — renders PartyUInfo/PartyVInfo moot:
>>>>
>>>> - Sender/receiver symmetry inherently can not exist.
>>>> - The ephemeral key inherently provides per-kex entropy.
>>>> - There is nothing to prevent attacker from putting whatever that causes
>>>>   the most damage into PartyUInfo/PartyVInfo.
>>>>
>>>> These do apply to ECDH-ES as well — I think the reason why JOSE has
>>>> PartyUInfo/PartyVInfo at all is that it copied the NIST spec without
>>>> thinking why the stuff is there.
>>>>
>>>> COSE has ECDH-SS, which has sender keys, and thus needs a
>>>> mechanism to break the symmetry and inject per-kex entropy —
>>>> PartyUInfo/PartyVInfo can be used for this purpose.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -Ilari
>>>>
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