Hey Ryan,

 

The way I read the ballot is that using domain approver email addresses from 
SOA records is being removed since that’s part of 3.2.2.4.2.   Should we add a 
new method specifically for that, or was the intent to remove that as a valid 
location to obtain domain approver email addresses?


Doug

 

From: Servercert-wg <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Ryan 
Dickson via Servercert-wg
Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2024 12:59 PM
To: ServerCert CA/BF <[email protected]>
Subject: [Servercert-wg] Discussion Period Begins - Ballot SC-080 V2: "Sunset 
the use of WHOIS to identify Domain Contacts and relying DCV Methods”

 

Purpose of Ballot SC-080 V2:
This ballot proposes updates to the Baseline Requirements for the Issuance and 
Management of Publicly-Trusted TLS Server Certificates (TLS BRs) to address 
concerns regarding the use of WHOIS and HTTPS websites for identifying Domain 
Contacts.

Background:
This ballot intends to accomplish two objectives, originally described in [1].

Objective 1: Enhance WHOIS/RDAP validation of gTLDs with comparable security 
properties to DNS-based validation and sunset WHOIS/RDAP for ccTLDs.

Justification:

*       A recent disclosure [2] demonstrated how threat actors could exploit 
deficiencies in the WHOIS protocol and WHOIS tools served via HTTPS websites to 
obtain fraudulent TLS certificates.
*       Discussions within the Mozilla Dev Security Policy (MDSP) community [3] 
further expressed corresponding risks related to WHOIS, while also noting that 
ccTLDs may not maintain accurate or up-to-date WHOIS server records. Several 
examples of inoperative WHOIS servers for ccTLDs were identified.
*       Discussion in [4] further called into question the reliability of ccTLD 
WHOIS servers given, per IANA, there is no global policy requirement for ccTLD 
managers to operate a WHOIS server, and if they do, what kind of information is 
provided.
*       Solutions to strengthen existing WHOIS lookup methods were proposed in 
[5] and are considered in this ballot.

 

Objective 2: Sunset Methods 3.2.2.4.2 (“Email, Fax, SMS, or Postal Mail to 
Domain Contact”) and 3.2.2.4.15 (“Phone Contact with Domain Contact”).

Justification:

*       While solutions to strengthen WHOIS-relying DCV methods are considered 
in this ballot (see above), there is limited public evidence of significant 
reliance on these methods, including in response to [3] and [6].
*       Instead, discussion has identified at least one CA Owner has already 
sunset reliance on WHOIS [7], and another that has changed its approach [8] for 
relying on WHOIS since disclosure of [2].
*       More modern and heavily relied-upon DCV methods offer advantages over 
the existing WHOIS-based methods, including greater opportunity for seamless 
certificate lifecycle management automation (e.g., [9] and [10]), while also 
benefiting from recently improved security practices [11]. These methods can 
also more effectively align subscriber capabilities with agility and resilience 
expectations necessary to respond to the revocation timelines described in the 
TLS BRs [12].
*       Beyond the above, previous discussions within the CA/Browser Forum have 
raised concerns about the perceived value (e.g., [13]) and security (e.g., 
[14]) of the DCV methods relying on WHOIS, further supporting the rationale for 
their gradual sunset.


Benefits of adoption:

*       Enhanced Security: Eliminates reliance on outdated and vulnerable DCV 
methods that cannot consistently provide the security required by the TLS BRs, 
or benefit from recent DCV security enhancements (i.e., Multi-Perspective 
Issuance Corroboration [11]).  
*       Increased Agility: Encourages site owners to transition to modern DCV 
methods, creating opportunities for faster, more efficient, and less 
error-prone certificate lifecycle management.  
*       Opportunity for Innovation: Promotes the development of new and/or 
improved DCV methods, fostering innovation that may enhance the overall 
security and agility of the ecosystem.


Proposed Key Dates:

The effective dates considered in this update are intended to 1) address the 
immediate concerns identified by [2], and 2) offer near-term and longer-term 
transition periods for subscribers and CA Owners relying on existing 
implementations of these methods.

*       January 15, 2025: (1) Prohibit the use of RFC 3912 (WHOIS) and HTTPS 
websites to identify Domain Contact information. (2) Prohibit the reuse of DCV 
relying on information obtained using these technologies. (3) Prohibit 
WHOIS-based DCV methods for Subscriber Certificates containing ccTLDs. (4) CAs 
MUST NOT rely on cached WHOIS/RDAP data more than 48 hours old.  
*       July 15, 2025: (1) Sunset DCV Methods 3.2.2.4.2 ("Email, Fax, SMS, or 
Postal Mail to Domain Contact") and 3.2.2.4.15 ("Phone Contact with Domain 
Contact"). (2) Prior validations using these methods and validation data 
gathered therein MUST NOT be used to issue new Subscriber Certificates.


Proposal Revision History:

*       Pre-Ballot Version #1 [4]
*       Ballot Version #1 [7]
*       Version #2 Pre-Release [17] and discussion [18]
*       Version #2 (this version) [19]


The following motion has been proposed by Ryan Dickson and Chris Clements of 
Google (Chrome Root Program) and endorsed by Arvid Vermote (GlobalSign) and 
Pedro Fuentes (OISTE).


— Motion Begins —

This ballot modifies the “Baseline Requirements for the Issuance and Management 
of Publicly-Trusted TLS Server Certificates” (“Baseline Requirements”), based 
on Version 2.0.7.

MODIFY the Baseline Requirements as specified in the following Redline:

https://github.com/cabforum/servercert/compare/ba28d04894d69c8fac62850b9d0de5061658c7c5..7f2b54cfa5b89f41458a88211566ce508c464804
 

— Motion Ends —

This ballot proposes a Final Maintenance Guideline. The procedure for approval 
of this ballot is as follows:

Discussion (no less than 7 days)

*       Start: 2024-10-01 17:00:00 UTC
*       End no earlier than: 2024-10-08 17:00:00 UTC


Vote for approval (7 days)

*       Start: TBD
*       End: TBD

 

Comments are welcome either on-list or with suggested edits via GitHub 
(preferred) at [19].

 

Thanks,

Ryan

 

 

References:

[1] 
https://archive.cabforum.org/pipermail/servercert-wg/2024-September/004900.html
[2] 
https://labs.watchtowr.com/we-spent-20-to-achieve-rce-and-accidentally-became-the-admins-of-mobi/
[3] 
https://groups.google.com/a/mozilla.org/g/dev-security-policy/c/FuOi_uhQB6U/m/hKJOz3XzAAAJ
[4] 
https://groups.google.com/a/mozilla.org/g/dev-security-policy/c/mAl9XjieSkA/m/oDNWxtPwAQAJ
[5] 
https://archive.cabforum.org/pipermail/servercert-wg/2024-September/004839.html
[6] 
https://archive.cabforum.org/pipermail/servercert-wg/2024-September/004844.html
[7] 
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/aws-certificate-manager-will-discontinue-whois-lookup-for-email-validated-certificates/
[8] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1917896
[9] 
https://cabforum.org/working-groups/server/baseline-requirements/requirements/#32247-dns-change
[10] 
https://cabforum.org/working-groups/server/baseline-requirements/requirements/#322419-agreed-upon-change-to-website---acme
[11] 
https://cabforum.org/working-groups/server/baseline-requirements/requirements/#3229-multi-perspective-issuance-corroboration
[12] 
https://cabforum.org/working-groups/server/baseline-requirements/requirements/#491-circumstances-for-revocation
[13] 
https://archive.cabforum.org/pipermail/servercert-wg/2018-August/000113.html
[14] https://lists.cabforum.org/pipermail/validation/2024-July/001995.html
[15] 
https://archive.cabforum.org/pipermail/servercert-wg/2024-September/004825.html
[16] 
https://github.com/ryancdickson/staging/compare/356799f0dcfe11deb0a375a11233403236ab72c9..7a2ea7b33611bebf006a99a9a82729f183143eac
[17] 
https://github.com/ryancdickson/staging/compare/ba28d04894d69c8fac62850b9d0de5061658c7c5..7a2ea7b33611bebf006a99a9a82729f183143eac
[18] https://github.com/ryancdickson/staging/pull/9
[19] https://github.com/cabforum/servercert/pull/551

 

Attachment: smime.p7s
Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature

_______________________________________________
Servercert-wg mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.cabforum.org/mailman/listinfo/servercert-wg

Reply via email to