Network Working Group T. Ts'o
Request for Comments: 2953 VA Linux Systems
Category: Informational September 2000
Telnet Encryption: DES 64 bit Output Feedback
1. Command Names and Codes
Encryption Type
2. Command Meanings
IAC SB ENCRYPT IS DES_OFB64 OFB64_IV <initial vector> IAC SE
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RFC 2953 DES 64 bit Output Feedback September 2000 3. Implementation RulesOnce a OFB64_IV_OK command has been received, the WILL ENCRYPT side of the connection should do keyid negotiation using the ENC_KEYID command. Once the keyid negotiation has successfully identified a common keyid, then START and END commands may be sent by the side of the connection that is WILL ENCRYPT. Data will be encrypted using the DES 64 bit Output Feedback algorithm.
4. Algorithm
Given that V[i] is the initial 64 bit vector, V[n] is the nth 64 bit vector, D[n] is the nth chunk of 64 bits of data to encrypt (decrypt), and O[n] is the nth chunk of 64 bits of encrypted (decrypted) data, then: V[0] = DES(V[i], key) V[n+1] = DES(V[n], key) O[n] = D[n] <exclusive or> V[n]
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RFC 2953 DES 64 bit Output Feedback September 2000 5. Integration with the AUTHENTICATION telnet optionAs noted in the telnet ENCRYPTION option specifications, a keyid value of zero indicates the default encryption key, as might be derived from the telnet AUTHENTICATION option. If the default encryption key negotiated as a result of the telnet AUTHENTICATION option contains less than 8 bytes, then the DES_OFB64 option may not be offered or used as a valid telnet encryption option. If the encryption key negotiated as a result of the telnet AUTHENTICATION option is greater than 16 bytes the first 8 bytes of the key should be used as keyid 0 for data sent from the telnet server to the telnet client, and the second 8 bytes of the key should be used as keyid 0 for data sent by the telnet client to the telnet server. Otherwise, the first 8 bytes of the encryption key is used as keyid zero for the telnet ENCRYPTION option in both directions (with the client as WILL ENCRYPT and the server as WILL ENCRYPT).
6. Security Considerations
Encryption using Output Feedback does not ensure data integrity; an active attacker may be able to substitute text, if he can predict the clear-text that was being transmitted. For this reason, the Cipher Feedback encryption type should be used instead, since it provides limited detectability to data modification. Neither provides true data integrity, however. The tradeoff here is that adding a message authentication code (MAC) will significantly increase the number of bytes needed to send a single character in the telnet protocol, which will impact performance on slow (i.e. dialup) links.
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RFC 2953 DES 64 bit Output Feedback September 2000 7. AcknowledgmentsThis document was originally written by Dave Borman of Cray Research with the assistance of the IETF Telnet Working Group.
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RFC 2953 DES 64 bit Output Feedback September 2000
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