[ISN] CRYPTO-GRAM, July 15, 1998

From: mea culpa (jerichot_private)
Date: Mon Jul 20 1998 - 17:15:18 PDT

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                     CRYPTO-GRAM
    
                    July 15, 1998
    
                  by Bruce Schneier
                      President
                 Counterpane Systems
               schneiert_private
              http://www.counterpane.com
    
    
    A free monthly newsletter providing summaries, analyses, insights, and 
    commentaries on cryptography and computer security.
    
    
    Copyright (c) 1998 by Bruce Schneier
    
    ** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
    
    In this issue:
    
       Breaking RSA in PKCS1
       Declassifying Skipjack
       Research:  Secure Audit Logs
       News
       WIPO
       About "CRYPTO-GRAM"
    
    ** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
    
                Breaking RSA in PKCS1
    
    
    
    Reports of RSA's death have been greatly exaggerated.  There is a new 
    attack on RSA implementations that can, in some circumstances, can be 
    pretty devastating.  Fortunately, the attack does not apply to RSA in 
    general. Unfortunately, the "circumstances" aren't all that uncommon.
    
    The attack is simple to explain.  I am the attacker, and I want to know the 
    plaintext for a particular ciphertext encrypted with RSA.  (Generally, this 
    is a session key used for something else.)  I send my victim a bunch of 
    related messages (about one million of them) and watch his reaction.  By 
    learning which of those messages conform to particular data formats (PKCS1 
    in the paper), I can do some straightforward mathematical analysis and 
    break the message I started with.
    
    Point 1: the attacker does not recover the secret key, only the plaintext 
    to a particular message.  That means that after I send the victim one 
    million messages and watch the reactions to each, I only get to read one 
    secret message.  If I want to read another secret message, it takes another 
    million related messages.
    
    Point 2: the attacker is relying on some information from the victim.  In 
    this case, he needs to know if the related messages he sends decrypt in a 
    certain way.  I like to call this general class of attack a "reaction 
    attack," since it uses the victim's reaction as input.  This is an old and 
    powerful idea, but unfortunately in the age of computers it is easy to 
    implement.  Computer systems are good at automatically reacting to things, 
    and then broadcasting those reactions to the world.  Error messages, status 
    messages, health information: it's all there if an attacker wants it.
    
    Point 3: the attacker has to send the victim a whole lot of related 
    messages to break one message.  The general attack requires one billion 
    messages.  This number can be reduced somewhat--the experiments against SSL 
    required anywhere from 300,000 to 2 million related messages--but that's 
    still a lot of messages.  Still, computers are good at dealing with a lot 
    of messages, and automated systems are likely to process those kind of 
    message quantities without even noticing.  Smart cards that the attacker 
    can put in his own test setup are also vulnerable.
    
    Daniel Bleichenbacher's attack (he's at Bell Labs) will be presented in 
    August at the Crypto '98 conference.  His paper has been circulating around 
    the community for a while, and RSADSI and the various SSL vendors spent 
    some time getting their ducks in a row before making a press announcement.
    
    There were several fixes announced.  (Obvious fix: don't tell the attacker 
    if the message was valid or not.)  The quick ones increase the number of 
    related messages required to break one message.  These fixes make it much 
    harder to mount this attack against on-line systems--the message volume 
    will clog the system--and moderately harder against off-line systems like 
    smart cards.  Better fixes are to change the PKCS1 protocol, which 
    specifies how the bits of plaintext are packed into a data structure that 
    RSA can then encrypt.  The RSA message packaging scheme in SET, for 
    example, is not vulnerable to this attack.
    
    The attack has ramifications outside PKCS1.  Many protocols will have to be 
    corrected and many systems will have to be changed.  Many people will have 
    no idea that this attack exists and will design insecure implementations of 
    RSA.
    
    Many years ago there was a string of theoretical cryptographic results that 
    proved that every bit of RSA is as secure as the whole message.  All of us 
    cryptographers read the papers and decided that the results weren't 
    terribly useful: if the entire RSA-encrypted message is secure, then each 
    individual bit is secure.  This piece of work turns that result on its 
    head: if you can break single bit of an RSA message, then you can break the 
    whole message.
    
    Nice attack.
    
    http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/13281.html
    
    
    
    ** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
    
               Declassifying Skipjack
    
    
    
    The NSA has declassified Fortezza.  Specifically, they declassified 
    Skipjack (a symmetric block cipher) and KEA (a public-key key-exchange 
    algorithm).  SHA-1 (hash function) and DSA (digital signature algorithm) 
    are also part of Fortezza, but they were already public.
    
    They didn't do this to help industry, or to help cryptographers, or to help 
    anyone.  They did it to help themselves; they did it because they had to 
    cover for a mistake.
    
    DMS (Defense Messaging System) is a classified system for computer 
    messaging; e-mail, more or less.  DMS uses Fortezza PCMCIA cards for 
    security.  Since some of the Fortezza algorithms were classified, Fortezza 
    cards have all the physical controls and tamper-resistance features needed 
    to protect classified algorithms.
    
    Within the DMS protocols there is no way to have multiple cipher suites.  
    S/MIME, for example, defines multiple algorithm suites.  There is a flag in 
    the S/MIME message that tells the recipient which algorithms were used to 
    encrypt that particular message.  DMS has no such feature; only the 
    Fortezza algorithms work in DMS.
    
    The problem arose because the NSA couldn't install Fortezza cards and 
    readers fast enough.  I don't know if they were too expensive (they are 
    expensive), if they couldn't ramp production up fast enough, or if 
    installing the infrastructure (PCMCIA card readers and etc.) was too big a 
    problem.  I'm sure they counted on PCMCIA readers being ubiquitous in 
    computers.
    
    Whatever the cause, most people who needed to be on DMS did not have 
    working hardware.  If they could set up an alternate algorithm suite within 
    DMS, then they could have released a software-only version with 
    unclassified algorithms: triple-DES, Diffie-Hellman, etc.  Each endpoint 
    would know whether it was communicating with a Fortezza-enabled DMS system 
    or a software-only DMS system, and the problem would go away.  But DMS 
    could not support this; it's Skipjack/KEA or nothing.  So they had to 
    either turn off encryption, or put the classified algorithms into software.
    
    Once you do that, you might as well declassify.  The government's public 
    rationale is simply making a virtue out of necessity.
    
    So, what's Skipjack?
    
    Skipjack is a 64-bit symmetric block cipher with an 80-bit key.  It was 
    used in the Clipper program, but it has not built-in key escrow.  (Key 
    escrow was part of the key exchange mechanism, not the data encryption.)  
    It's a high-risk algorithm, meaning that there was a high risk of 
    compromise.  Hence, the NSA is unlikely to put its most secret (or clever) 
    design elements in the algorithm.
    
    Its performance is good.  Slower than Blowfish and some of the AES 
    submissions, it's still about twice as fast as DES on 32-bit 
    microprocessors.  It's fast on smart cards, and efficient in hardware.  It 
    also has no key setup time.  If it weren't for the small 80-bit key, I'd 
    consider Skipjack for my own applications.
    
    Skipjack is interesting primarily for its design.  This is the first 
    NSA-developed algorithm we've ever seen.  Cryptography is an adversarial 
    science.  Someone designs an algorithm; I break it.  I design one; someone 
    else breaks it.  This is how we learn.  Skipjack is a good target; it is an 
    algorithm designed using secret methodologies by an organization we 
    respect.  (Think of it as the cryptographic equivalent of a piece of alien 
    technology.)  It's a worthy target.
    
    Skipjack is an unbalanced Feistel network (specifically, an incomplete 
    construction), but it is obviously a product of military cryptography.  
    Academic cryptography is mostly based on Feistel's work in the mid-1970s at 
    IBM: SP-networks and Feistel networks.  Military cryptography started with 
    rotor machines, and then generalized into shift registers.  The block 
    diagram and description of Skipjack clearly shows its shift-register roots.  
    I find it fascinating the that the two different design paths are 
    converging.
    
    The first thing you notice about Skipjack is its simplicity.  There are few 
    design elements, and after some thought you can point to each one and 
    explain why it is there.  There are no weird constants.  There are 32 
    rounds, and 32 rounds can hide a lot of faults, but the design seems sound.
    
    And very fragile.  Some algorithms are strong because they are of a strong 
    type of algorithm.  Similar algorithms will also be strong.  Skipjack isn't 
    like that; it's a single strong algorithm around a sea of mediocrity.  Make 
    almost any modification to Skipjack, even a small one, and the result can 
    be broken.  I predict that the most interesting cryptanalysis work will 
    come cryptanalyzing Skipjack variants.
    
    People are already attempting to cryptanalyze Skipjack.  Mostly we've seen 
    breaks of modified versions of the algorithm, together with explanations of 
    why the attack won't work against Skipjack itself.  And Skipjack with fewer 
    rounds can be broken, but that's expected.
    
    And finally, Skipjack is not a submission to AES.  It does not meet the 
    criteria.  AES will be a 128-bit block cipher; Skipjack is a 64-bit cipher.  
    AES will support key lengths of 128-, 192-, and 256-bits; Skipjack has an 
    80-bit key.  I believe I can increase Skipjack's block size without 
    affecting security, but there is no obvious way to increase the key length 
    of the algorithm.
    
    Next month: KEA.
    
    
    http://csrc.nist.gov/encryption/skipjack-kea.htm
    
    Source code:
    ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/crypt/cryptography/symmetric/skipjack/
    
    
    ** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
    
    Counterpane Systems -- Featured Research
    
    
    
    "Cryptographic Support for Secure Logs on Untrusted Machines" 
    
    B. Schneier and J. Kelsey, The Seventh USENIX Security Symposium 
    Proceedings, USENIX Press, January 1998, pp. 53-62.
    
    In many real-world applications, sensitive information must be kept in log 
    files on an untrusted machine.  In the event that an attacker captures this 
    machine, we would like to guarantee that he will gain little or no 
    information from the log files and limit his ability to corrupt the log 
    files.  This paper describes an efficient method for making all log entries 
    generated prior to the logging machine's compromise impossible for the 
    attacker to read, and also impossible to undetectably modify or destroy.
    
    
    http://www.counterpane.com/secure-logs.html
    
    
    ** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
    
                           News
    
    
    
    The International Computer Security Association (despite the name, it's a 
    for-profit company) will insure companies against hackers, but the company 
    has to pay ICSA a lot of money first.
    http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/06/biztech/articles/15briefs.html
    
    More government propaganda: "The spread of strong encryption is going to 
    mean that lives are going to be lost."  Sure, so will the spread of kitchen 
    knives, the Interstate highway system, and ladders.
    http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/12830.html
    
    More on differential power analysis: 
    http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/06/biztech/articles/22card.html
    
    New virus spreads within Microsoft Word documents, randomly posts files to 
    Internet newsgroups.  I don't know whether to be disgusted with yet another 
    computer virus, or impressed with the cleverness of the idea. 
    http://www.isr.net/NETNEWS/netnewsmain.html
    
    Some people panicked when Microsoft received a patent for an anonymous cash 
    system.  There's no big deal here.  The research was presented at a crypto 
    conference years ago, and the patent isn't blocking.  My guess is that 
    Microsoft is starting to patent the random things their researchers do. 
    http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/13277.html
    
    There's a new key escrow scheme, called "Private Doorbell."  The idea is that the routers will handle the key-escrow so the applications don't have to.  Since like most other key-escrow schemes, any idiot with an application-level encryption program can b
    
    ypass the key-escrow, it only works against honest users.  This is being touted as a comopromise, but I can't figure out where the compromise part is.
    http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,24110,00.html
    
    
    ** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
    
                         WIPO
    
    
    
    WIPO is the World Intellectual Property Organization.  There is something 
    called the WIPO Treaty, designed to protect copyright in a world of digital 
    works.  This article is not about the futility of copy protection and 
    watermarking schemes, or the artificial distinction between the owner of a 
    work and the owner of a copy of the work.  This article is about an obscure 
    sentence in the U.S. Senate bill that implements the WIPO Treaty: "No 
    person shall circumvent a technological protection measure that effectively 
    controls access to a work protected under this title."
    
    Or, in other words, applied cryptanalysis would become illegal.
    
    The bill passed 99-0 in the Senate (I don't know who was napping during the 
    vote) before anyone started paying attention.  Groups concerned with 
    cryptography research didn't start lobbying until the bill got to the House 
    Commerce Committee.
    
    I spent a lot of time on this issue: meeting with Congresspeople, writing 
    letters, alerting reporters.  The backers of this provision are companies 
    like Disney and Microsoft (two of the major lobbyists here), who seem more 
    concerned with copies of The Little Mermaid than with strong cryptography 
    to protect our critical infrastructure.
    
    It was difficult.  The other side was saying things like: "you can always 
    test algorithms theoretically, just not in actual products" and "cracking 
    contests are still legal" and "researchers can just ask for permission 
    first" and "if they research but don't publish it would be okay."
    
    Basically, there are two ways to deal with the problem.  One, companies can 
    design and implement strong security solutions to protect copyright.  Or 
    two, they can deploy weak solutions and try to hide the fact with a law.  I 
    don't see why the security industry should be exempt from 
    Consumer-Reports-style reviews of their products.  It would be like the 
    meat industry passing a low prohibiting anyone from determining whether 
    there was rat hair in hamburger.
    
    Two other illustrations.  Under the law, I could create a virus that uses 
    cryptography to protect itself.  Removing it would be illegal, since it 
    would entail circumventing a cryptographic protection measure.
    
    Under the law, I could not test the security of firewalls.  If a major bank 
    came to me and asked me which firewall was secure, it would be illegal for 
    me to answer the question.  Banks would have to rely on the marketing 
    claims of security companies, and we all know how reliable they are.
    
    When security breaks become public, companies lose face.  The cellphone 
    industry didn't like it when David Wagner and Ian Goldberg broke the GSM 
    encryption algorithm.  Microsoft didn't like it when I broke Microsoft 
    PPTP.  But the cellphone industry said that they will fix the problem.  And 
    Microsoft, who has known about their problems for a long time, announced 
    that they too would fix the problem.  If researchers are not allowed to 
    publish, then no one knows there are problems and companies don't bother 
    fixing them.
    
    Right now there is a compromise amendment to the bill.  Encryption research 
    is allowed, publication is allowed, but you are going to have to prove you 
    are a legitimate researcher and not a slimy hacker.  Researchers have to 
    lawfully obtain the thing they are going to break, make a good faith 
    attempt to obtain authorization, and show that breaking the system was 
    necessary to conduct research.  They will have to disseminate the research 
    results in "a manner reasonably calculated to advance the state of 
    knowledge of development of encryption technology" (presumably hacker 
    bulletin boards don't count), and be "engaged in a legitimate course of 
    study" or be employed and "appropriately trained or experienced in the 
    field of encryption technology" (so no amateurs can try this).
    
    This may not look like a compromise, but it is.  I saw the iterations 
    before the compromise; they were significantly worse.
    
    My real fear is that this will have a great chilling effect on cryptography 
    research.  Companies like Microsoft and Disney will sue researchers who 
    break their stuff.  Even if the researchers are eventually vindicated, they 
    will not have anywhere near the financial power that the companies will 
    have.  Just the mere threat of legal action might dissuade researchers.  
    Right now security is far too important to sacrifice for a few less pirated 
    copies of The Little Mermaid.
    
    http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/zdnn_display/0,3440,2114186,00.html 
    http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0622/22wipo.html 
    http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/inwk/0523/326948.html
    
    
    ** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
    
    CRYPTO-GRAM is a free monthly newsletter providing summaries, analyses, 
    insights, and commentaries on cryptography and computer security.
    
    To subscribe, visit http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram.html or send a 
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    Please feel free to forward CRYPTO-GRAM to colleagues and friends who will 
    find it valuable.  Permission is granted to reprint CRYPTO-GRAM, as long as 
    it is reprinted in its entirety.
    
    CRYPTO-GRAM is written by Bruce Schneier.  Schneier is president of 
    Counterpane Systems, the author of Applied Cryptography, and an inventor of 
    the Blowfish, Twofish, and Yarrow algorithms.  He served on the board of 
    the International Association for Cryptologic Research, EPIC, and VTW.  He 
    is a frequent writer and lecturer on cryptography.
    
    Counterpane Systems is a five-person consulting firm specializing in 
    cryptography and computer security.  Counterpane provides expert consulting 
    in, design and analysis, implementation and testing, threat modeling, 
    product research and forecasting, classes and training, intellectual 
    property, and export consulting.  Contracts range from short-term design 
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    http://www.counterpane.com/
    
    Copyright (c) 1998 by Bruce Schneier
    **********************************************************************
    Bruce Schneier, President, Counterpane Systems     Phone: 612-823-1098
    101 E Minnehaha Parkway, Minneapolis, MN  55419      Fax: 612-823-1590
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