[jose] Re: Selecting Key Type for PQC KEMs

[Neil Madden]

Option 1, definitely.  On 13 Nov 2025, at 07:50, tirumal reddy <kond...@gmail.com> wrote:  Hi WG members, Following the presentation at IETF 124 in Montreal (slides), we would like to seek the WG input on the choice of key type for representing PQC KEM keys in COSE and JOSE for https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-jose-pqc-kem/. Listing the three options below: AKP (Asymmetric Key Pair) Defined in ietf-cose-dilithium. Requires the “alg” parameter and enforces strict one-algorithm usage, in line with NIST SP 800-57 guidance. This becomes restrictive since a key cannot be reused across direct key agreement and KEM with key wrapping modes. For PQ/T HPKE, it leads to multiple keys per AEAD. OKP (Octet Key Pair) Defined in RFC 8037 and allows reuse of the same key in both modes. However, the use of “crv” for PQC KEMs is semantically confusing, as the construct is tied to elliptic-curve terminology. New “KEM” Key Type Proposed in PR #20. Purpose-built for PQC KEMs with the structure: "kty": "KEM" "kem_param": <PQC KEM algorithm> "pub": <public key> "priv": <private key, optional> "alg": <optional JOSE algorithm> This approach avoids the semantic overload of OKP and the restrictive coupling of AKP, while maintaining flexibility by making "alg" optional and clear PQC alignment. We invite the WG to review the above options and share opinions on which direction to pursue. Reaching consensus on this will allow us to finalize the key representation and progress the draft. -Tiru _______________________________________________ jose mailing list -- jose@ietf.org To unsubscribe send an email to jose-le...@ietf.org

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