Re: Should wrapped keys always have extractable = false

On Mar 23, 2013, at 2:41 PM, Richard Barnes wrote:

> 
> On Mar 22, 2013, at 7:36 PM, Ryan Sleevi <sleevi@google.com> wrote:
>> 
>> On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 4:21 PM, Mark Watson <watsonm@netflix.com> wrote:
>> All,
>> 
>> It occurred to me that support for key wrapping could be simplified if we made a blanket assumption that when unwrapping a key the resulting Key object always has extractable = false.
>> 
>> This would avoid the need for a new JWK attribute indicating extractability.
>> It would avoid the need for the unwrapKey method to have an extractable parameter.
>> It would avoid the confusion that arises from having extractability defined both within the JWK and in the unwrapKey method.
>> It would be simpler.
>> 
>> I think this would make sense, because the act of wrapping a key and sending it to a script with access to WebCrypto is explicitly saying that you do not want the keying material to be visible except to whomever has the unwrapping key.
>> 
>> Does anyone have a use-case where a key needs to be unwrapped into a Key which is then extractable ?
>> 
>> …Mark
>> 
>> 
>> -1.
>> 
>> There are plenty of reasons to use key wrapping independent of extraction concerns. The most obvious one is key transport.
> 
> +1 to Ryan, so another -1 to Mark.

Ok, no problem. Just looking for opportunities for simplification, but this one obviously doesn't work.

…Mark

> 
> There's no guarantee that the thing you're sending the key to has any idea what "extractable" means, so it doesn't really make sense to require extractable=false.
> 
> Shouldn't the wrapped key just have whatever attributes the key had?  
> 
> --Richard

Received on Monday, 25 March 2013 14:50:49 UTC