Request for Comments: 3075 Motorola
Category: Standards Track J. Reagle
W3C/MIT
D. Solo
Citigroup
March 2001
XML-Signature Syntax and Processing
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2001 The Internet Society & W3C (MIT, INRIA, Keio), All
Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document specifies XML (Extensible Markup Language) digital
signature processing rules and syntax. XML Signatures provide
integrity, message authentication, and/or signer authentication
services for data of any type, whether located within the XML that
includes the signature or elsewhere.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ................................................ 3
1. Editorial Conventions .................................. 3
2. Design Philosophy ...................................... 4
3. Versions, Namespaces and Identifiers ................... 4
4. Acknowledgements ....................................... 5
2. Signature Overview and Examples ............................. 6
1. Simple Example (Signature, SignedInfo, Methods, and
References) ............................................ 7
1. More on Reference ................................. 9
2. Extended Example (Object and SignatureProperty) ........ 10
3. Extended Example (Object and Manifest) ................. 11
3. Processing Rules ............................................ 13
1. Core Generation .... ................................... 13
1. Reference Generation .............................. 13
2. Signature Generation .............................. 13
2. Core Validation ........................................ 13
1. Reference Validation .............................. 14
2. Signature Validation .............................. 14
4. Core Signature Syntax ....................................... 14
1. The Signature element .................................. 15
2. The SignatureValue Element ............................. 16
3. The SignedInfo Element ................................. 16
1. The CanonicalizationMethod Element ................ 17
2. The SignatureMethod Element ....................... 18
3. The Reference Element ............................. 19
1. The URI Attribute ............................ 19
2. The Reference Processing Model ............... 21
3. Same-Document URI-References ................. 23
4. The Transforms Element ....................... 24
5. The DigestMethod Element ..................... 25
6. The DigestValue Element ...................... 26
4. The KeyInfo Element .................................... 26
1. The KeyName Element ............................... 27
2. The KeyValue Element .............................. 28
3. The RetrievalMethod Element ....................... 28
4. The X509Data Element .............................. 29
5. The PGPData Element ............................... 31
6. The SPKIData Element .............................. 32
7. The MgmtData Element .............................. 32
5. The Object Element ..................................... 33
5. Additional Signature Syntax ................................. 34
1. The Manifest Element ................................... 34
2. The SignatureProperties Element ........................ 35
3. Processing Instructions ................................ 36
4. Comments in dsig Elements .............................. 36
6. Algorithms .................................................. 36
1. Algorithm Identifiers and Implementation Requirements .. 36
2. Message Digests ........................................ 38
1. SHA-1 ............................................. 38
3. Message Authentication Codes ........................... 38
1. HMAC .............................................. 38
4. Signature Algorithms ................................... 39
1. DSA ............................................... 39
2. PKCS1 ............................................. 40
5. Canonicalization Algorithms ............................ 42
1. Minimal Canonicalization .......................... 43
2. Canonical XML ..................................... 43
6. Transform Algorithms ................................... 44
1. Canonicalization .................................. 44
2. Base64 ............................................ 44
3. XPath Filtering ................................... 45
4. Enveloped Signature Transform ..................... 48
5. XSLT Transform .................................... 48
7. XML Canonicalization and Syntax Constraint Considerations ... 49
1. XML 1.0, Syntax Constraints, and Canonicalization ..... 50
2. DOM/SAX Processing and Canonicalization ................ 51
8. Security Considerations ..................................... 52
1. Transforms ............................................. 52
1. Only What is Signed is Secure ..................... 52
2. Only What is "Seen" Should be Signed .............. 53
3. "See" What is Signed .............................. 53
2. Check the Security Model ............................... 54
3. Algorithms, Key Lengths, Etc. .......................... 54
9. Schema, DTD, Data Model,and Valid Examples .................. 55
10. Definitions ................................................. 56
11. References .................................................. 58
12. Authors' Addresses .......................................... 63
13. Full Copyright Statement .................................... 64
1.0 Introduction
This document specifies XML syntax and processing rules for creating
and representing digital signatures. XML Signatures can be applied to
any digital content (data object), including XML. An XML Signature
may be applied to the content of one or more resources. Enveloped or
enveloping signatures are over data within the same XML document as
the signature; detached signatures are over data external to the
signature element. More specifically, this specification defines an
XML signature element type and an XML signature application;
conformance requirements for each are specified by way of schema
definitions and prose respectively. This specification also includes
other useful types that identify methods for referencing collections
of resources, algorithms, and keying and management information.
The XML Signature is a method of associating a key with referenced
data (octets); it does not normatively specify how keys are
associated with persons or institutions, nor the meaning of the data
being referenced and signed. Consequently, while this specification
is an important component of secure XML applications, it itself is
not sufficient to address all application security/trust concerns,
particularly with respect to using signed XML (or other data formats)
as a basis of human-to-human communication and agreement. Such an
application must specify additional key, algorithm, processing and
rendering requirements. For further information, please see Security
Considerations (section 8).
1.1 Editorial and Conformance Conventions
For readability, brevity, and historic reasons this document uses the
term "signature" to generally refer to digital authentication values
of all types.Obviously, the term is also strictly used to refer to
authentication values that are based on public keys and that provide
signer authentication. When specifically discussing authentication
values based on symmetric secret key codes we use the terms
authenticators or authentication codes. (See Check the Security
Model, section 8.3.)
This specification uses both XML Schemas [XML-schema] and DTDs [XML].
(Readers unfamiliar with DTD syntax may wish to refer to Ron
Bourret's "Declaring Elements and Attributes in an XML DTD"
[Bourret].) The schema definition is presently normative.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
specification are to be interpreted as described in RFC2119
[KEYWORDS]:
"they MUST only be used where it is actually required for
interoperation or to limit behavior which has potential for
causing harm (e.g., limiting retransmissions)"
Consequently, we use these capitalized keywords to unambiguously
specify requirements over protocol and application features and
behavior that affect the interoperability and security of
implementations. These key words are not used (capitalized) to
describe XML grammar; schema definitions unambiguously describe such
requirements and we wish to reserve the prominence of these terms for
the natural language descriptions of protocols and features. For
instance, an XML attribute might be described as being "optional."
Compliance with the XML-namespace specification [XML-ns] is described
as "REQUIRED."
1.2 Design Philosophy
The design philosophy and requirements of this specification are
addressed in the XML-Signature Requirements document [XML-Signature-
RD].
1.3 Versions, Namespaces and Identifiers
No provision is made for an explicit version number in this syntax.
If a future version is needed, it will use a different namespace The
XML namespace [XML-ns] URI that MUST be used by implementations of
this (dated) specification is:
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"
This namespace is also used as the prefix for algorithm identifiers
used by this specification. While applications MUST support XML and
XML-namespaces, the use of internal entities [XML] or our "dsig" XML
namespace prefix and defaulting/scoping conventions are OPTIONAL; we
use these facilities to provide compact and readable examples.
This specification uses Uniform Resource Identifiers [URI] to
identify resources, algorithms, and semantics. The URI in the
namespace declaration above is also used as a prefix for URIs under
the control of this specification. For resources not under the
control of this specification, we use the designated Uniform Resource
Names [URN] or Uniform Resource Locators [URL] defined by its
normative external specification. If an external specification has
not allocated itself a Uniform Resource Identifier we allocate an
identifier under our own namespace. For instance:
SignatureProperties is identified and defined by this specification's
namespace
http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#SignatureProperties
XSLT is identified and defined by an external URI
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/PR-xslt-19991008
SHA1 is identified via this specification's namespace and defined via
a normative reference
http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1
FIPS PUB 180-1. Secure Hash Standard. U.S. Department of
Commerce/National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Finally, in order to provide for terse namespace declarations we
sometimes use XML internal entities [XML] within URIs. For instance:
<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE Signature SYSTEM
"xmldsig-core-schema.dtd" [ <!ENTITY dsig
"http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"> ]>
<Signature xmlns="&dsig;" Id="MyFirstSignature">
<SignedInfo>
...
1.4 Acknowledgements
The contributions of the following working group members to this
specification are gratefully acknowledged:
* Mark Bartel, JetForm Corporation (Author)
* John Boyer, PureEdge (Author)
* Mariano P. Consens, University of Waterloo
* John Cowan, Reuters Health
* Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola (Chair, Author/Editor)
* Barb Fox, Microsoft (Author)
* Christian Geuer-Pollmann, University Siegen
* Tom Gindin, IBM
* Phillip Hallam-Baker, VeriSign Inc
* Richard Himes, US Courts
* Merlin Hughes, Baltimore
* Gregor Karlinger, IAIK TU Graz
* Brian LaMacchia, Microsoft
* Peter Lipp, IAIK TU Graz
* Joseph Reagle, W3C (Chair, Author/Editor)
* Ed Simon, Entrust Technologies Inc. (Author)
* David Solo, Citigroup (Author/Editor)
* Petteri Stenius, DONE Information, Ltd
* Raghavan Srinivas, Sun
* Kent Tamura, IBM
* Winchel Todd Vincent III, GSU
* Carl Wallace, Corsec Security, Inc.
* Greg Whitehead, Signio Inc.
As are the last call comments from the following:
* Dan Connolly, W3C
* Paul Biron, Kaiser Permanente, on behalf of the XML Schema WG.
* Martin J. Duerst, W3C; and Masahiro Sekiguchi, Fujitsu; on
behalf of the Internationalization WG/IG.
* Jonathan Marsh, Microsoft, on behalf of the Extensible
Stylesheet Language WG.
2.0 Signature Overview and Examples
This section provides an overview and examples of XML digital
signature syntax. The specific processing is given in Processing
Rules (section 3). The formal syntax is found in Core Signature
Syntax (section 4) and Additional Signature Syntax (section 5).
In this section, an informal representation and examples are used to
describe the structure of the XML signature syntax. This
representation and examples may omit attributes, details and
potential features that are fully explained later.
XML Signatures are applied to arbitrary digital content (data
objects) via an indirection. Data objects are digested, the
resulting value is placed in an element (with other information) and
that element is then digested and cryptographically signed. XML
digital signatures are represented by the Signature element which has
the following structure (where "?" denotes zero or one occurrence;
"+" denotes one or more occurrences; and "*" denotes zero or more
occurrences):
<Signature>
<SignedInfo>
(CanonicalizationMethod)
(SignatureMethod)
(<Reference (URI=)? >
(Transforms)?
(DigestMethod)
(DigestValue)
</Reference>)+
</SignedInfo>
(SignatureValue)
(KeyInfo)?
(Object)*
</Signature>
Signatures are related to data objects via URIs [URI]. Within an XML
document, signatures are related to local data objects via fragment
identifiers. Such local data can be included within an enveloping
signature or can enclose an enveloped signature. Detached signatures
are over external network resources or local data objects that
resides within the same XML document as sibling elements; in this
case, the signature is neither enveloping (signature is parent) nor
enveloped (signature is child). Since a Signature element (and its
Id attribute value/name) may co-exist or be combined with other
elements (and their IDs) within a single XML document, care should be
taken in choosing names such that there are no subsequent collisions
that violate the ID uniqueness validity constraint [XML].
2.1 Simple Example (Signature, SignedInfo, Methods, and References)
The following example is a detached signature of the content of the
HTML4 in XML specification.
[s01] <Signature Id="MyFirstSignature"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">
[s02] <SignedInfo>
[s03] <CanonicalizationMethod
Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/CR-xml-c14n-20001026"/>
[s04] <SignatureMethod
Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#dsa-sha1"/>
[s05] <Reference URI="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xhtml1-20000126/">
[s06] <Transforms>
[s07] <Transform Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/
CR-xml-c14n-20001026"/>
[s08] </Transforms>
[s09] <DigestMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/
xmldsig#sha1"/>
[s10] <DigestValue>j6lwx3rvEPO0vKtMup4NbeVu8nk=</DigestValue>
[s11] </Reference>
[s12] </SignedInfo>
[s13] <SignatureValue>MC0CFFrVLtRlk=...</SignatureValue>
[s14] <KeyInfo>
[s15a] <KeyValue>
[s15b] <DSAKeyValue>
[s15c] <P>...</P><Q>...</Q><G>...</G><Y>...</Y>
[s15d] </DSAKeyValue>
[s15e] </KeyValue>
[s16] </KeyInfo>
[s17] </Signature>
[s02-12] The required SignedInfo element is the information that is
actually signed. Core validation of SignedInfo consists of two
mandatory processes: validation of the signature over SignedInfo and
validation of each Reference digest within SignedInfo. Note that the
algorithms used in calculating the SignatureValue are also included
in the signed information while the SignatureValue element is outside
SignedInfo.
[s03] The CanonicalizationMethod is the algorithm that is used to
canonicalize the SignedInfo element before it is digested as part of
the signature operation.
[s04] The SignatureMethod is the algorithm that is used to convert
the canonicalized SignedInfo into the SignatureValue. It is a
combination of a digest algorithm and a key dependent algorithm and
possibly other algorithms such as padding, for example RSA-SHA1. The
algorithm names are signed to resist attacks based on substituting a
weaker algorithm. To promote application interoperability we specify
a set of signature algorithms that MUST be implemented, though their
use is at the discretion of the signature creator. We specify
additional algorithms as RECOMMENDED or OPTIONAL for implementation
and the signature design permits arbitrary user algorithm
specification.
[s05-11] Each Reference element includes the digest method and
resulting digest value calculated over the identified data object.
It also may include transformations that produced the input to the
digest operation. A data object is signed by computing its digest
value and a signature over that value. The signature is later
checked via reference and signature validation.
[s14-16] KeyInfo indicates the key to be used to validate the
signature. Possible forms for identification include certificates,
key names, and key agreement algorithms and information -- we define
only a few. KeyInfo is optional for two reasons. First, the signer
may not wish to reveal key information to all document processing
parties. Second, the information may be known within the
application's context and need not be represented explicitly. Since
KeyInfo is outside of SignedInfo, if the signer wishes to bind the
keying information to the signature, a Reference can easily identify
and include the KeyInfo as part of the signature.
2.1.1 More on Reference
[s05] <Reference URI="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xhtml1-20000126/">
[s06] <Transforms>
[s07] <Transform
Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/
CR-xml-c14n-20001026"/>
[s08] </Transforms>
[s09] <DigestMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/
xmldsig#sha1"/>
[s10] <DigestValue>j6lwx3rvEPO0vKtMup4NbeVu8nk=</DigestValue>
[s11] </Reference>
[s05] The optional URI attribute of Reference identifies the data
object to be signed. This attribute may be omitted on at most one
Reference in a Signature. (This limitation is imposed in order to
ensure that references and objects may be matched unambiguously.)
[s05-08] This identification, along with the transforms, is a
description provided by the signer on how they obtained the signed
data object in the form it was digested (i.e., the digested content).
The verifier may obtain the digested content in another method so
long as the digest verifies. In particular, the verifier may obtain
the content from a different location such as a local store than that
specified in the URI.
[s06-08] Transforms is an optional ordered list of processing steps
that were applied to the resource's content before it was digested.
Transforms can include operations such as canonicalization,
encoding/decoding (including compression/inflation), XSLT and XPath.
XPath transforms permit the signer to derive an XML document that
omits portions of the source document. Consequently those excluded
portions can change without affecting signature validity. For
example, if the resource being signed encloses the signature itself,
such a transform must be used to exclude the signature value from its
own computation. If no Transforms element is present, the resource's
content is digested directly. While we specify mandatory (and
optional) canonicalization and decoding algorithms, user specified
transforms are permitted.
[s09-10] DigestMethod is the algorithm applied to the data after
Transforms is applied (if specified) to yield the DigestValue. The
signing of the DigestValue is what binds a resources content to the
signer's key.
2.2 Extended Example (Object and SignatureProperty)
This specification does not address mechanisms for making statements
or assertions. Instead, this document defines what it means for
something to be signed by an XML Signature (message authentication,
integrity, and/or signer authentication). Applications that wish to
represent other semantics must rely upon other technologies, such as
[XML, RDF]. For instance, an application might use a foo:assuredby
attribute within its own markup to reference a Signature element.
Consequently, it's the application that must understand and know how
to make trust decisions given the validity of the signature and the
meaning of assuredby syntax. We also define a SignatureProperties
element type for the inclusion of assertions about the signature
itself (e.g., signature semantics, the time of signing or the serial
number of hardware used in cryptographic processes). Such assertions
may be signed by including a Reference for the SignatureProperties in
SignedInfo. While the signing application should be very careful
about what it signs (it should understand what is in the
SignatureProperty) a receiving application has no obligation to
understand that semantic (though its parent trust engine may wish
to). Any content about the signature generation may be located
within the SignatureProperty element. The mandatory Target attribute
references the Signature element to which the property applies.
Consider the preceding example with an additional reference to a
local Object that includes a SignatureProperty element. (Such a
signature would not only be detached [p02] but enveloping [p03].)
[ ] <Signature Id="MySecondSignature" ...>
[p01] <SignedInfo>
[ ] ...
[p02] <Reference URI="http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-stylesheet/">
[ ] ...
[p03] <Reference URI="#AMadeUpTimeStamp"
[p04] Type="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/
xmldsig#SignatureProperties">
[p05] <DigestMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/
xmldsig#sha1"/>
[p06] <DigestValue>k3453rvEPO0vKtMup4NbeVu8nk=</DigestValue>
[p07] </Reference>
[p08] </SignedInfo>
[p09] ...
[p10] <Object>
[p11] <SignatureProperties>
[p12] <SignatureProperty Id="AMadeUpTimeStamp"
Target="#MySecondSignature">
[p13] <timestamp xmlns="http://www.ietf.org/rfc3075.txt">
[p14] <date>19990908</date>
[p15] <time>14:34:34:34</time>
[p16] </timestamp>
[p17] </SignatureProperty>
[p18] </SignatureProperties>
[p19] </Object>
[p20]</Signature>
[p04] The optional Type attribute of Reference provides information
about the resource identified by the URI. In particular, it can
indicate that it is an Object, SignatureProperty, or Manifest
element. This can be used by applications to initiate special
processing of some Reference elements. References to an XML data
element within an Object element SHOULD identify the actual element
pointed to. Where the element content is not XML (perhaps it is
binary or encoded data) the reference should identify the Object and
the Reference Type, if given, SHOULD indicate Object. Note that Type
is advisory and no action based on it or checking of its correctness
is required by core behavior.
[p10] Object is an optional element for including data objects within
the signature element or elsewhere. The Object can be optionally
typed and/or encoded.
[p11-18] Signature properties, such as time of signing, can be
optionally signed by identifying them from within a Reference.
(These properties are traditionally called signature "attributes"
although that term has no relationship to the XML term "attribute".)
2.3 Extended Example (Object and Manifest)
The Manifest element is provided to meet additional requirements not
directly addressed by the mandatory parts of this specification. Two
requirements and the way the Manifest satisfies them follows.
First, applications frequently need to efficiently sign multiple data
objects even where the signature operation itself is an expensive
public key signature. This requirement can be met by including
multiple Reference elements within SignedInfo since the inclusion of
each digest secures the data digested. However, some applications
may not want the core validation behavior associated with this
approach because it requires every Reference within SignedInfo to
undergo reference validation -- the DigestValue elements are checked.
These applications may wish to reserve reference validation decision
logic to themselves. For example, an application might receive a
signature valid SignedInfo element that includes three Reference
elements. If a single Reference fails (the identified data object
when digested does not yield the specified DigestValue) the signature
would fail core validation. However, the application may wish to
treat the signature over the two valid Reference elements as valid or
take different actions depending on which fails. To accomplish this,
SignedInfo would reference a Manifest element that contains one or
more Reference elements (with the same structure as those in
SignedInfo). Then, reference validation of the Manifest is under
application control.
Second, consider an application where many signatures (using
different keys) are applied to a large number of documents. An
inefficient solution is to have a separate signature (per key)
repeatedly applied to a large SignedInfo element (with many
References); this is wasteful and redundant. A more efficient
solution is to include many references in a single Manifest that is
then referenced from multiple Signature elements.
The example below includes a Reference that signs a Manifest found
within the Object element.
[ ] ...
[m01] <Reference URI="#MyFirstManifest"
[m02] Type="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#Manifest">
[m03] <DigestMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/
xmldsig#sha1"/>
[m04] <DigestValue>345x3rvEPO0vKtMup4NbeVu8nk=</DigestValue>
[m05] </Reference>
[ ] ...
[m06] <Object>
[m07] <Manifest Id="MyFirstManifest">
[m08] <Reference>
[m09] ...
[m10] </Reference>
[m11] <Reference>
[m12] ...
[m13] </Reference>
[m14] </Manifest>
[m15] </Object>
3.0 Processing Rules
The sections below describe the operations to be performed as part of
signature generation and validation.
3.1 Core Generation
The REQUIRED steps include the generation of Reference elements and
the SignatureValue over SignedInfo.
3.1.1 Reference Generation
For each data object being signed:
1. Apply the Transforms, as determined by the application, to the
data object.
2. Calculate the digest value over the resulting data object.
3. Create a Reference element, including the (optional)
identification of the data object, any (optional) transform
elements, the digest algorithm and the DigestValue.
3.1.2 Signature Generation
1. Create SignedInfo element with SignatureMethod,
CanonicalizationMethod and Reference(s).
2. Canonicalize and then calculate the SignatureValue over SignedInfo
based on algorithms specified in SignedInfo.
3. Construct the Signature element that includes SignedInfo,
Object(s) (if desired, encoding may be different than that used
for signing), KeyInfo (if required), and SignatureValue.
3.2 Core Validation
The REQUIRED steps of core validation include (1) reference
validation, the verification of the digest contained in each
Reference in SignedInfo, and (2) the cryptographic signature
validation of the signature calculated over SignedInfo.
Note, there may be valid signatures that some signature applications
are unable to validate. Reasons for this include failure to
implement optional parts of this specification, inability or
unwillingness to execute specified algorithms, or inability or
unwillingness to dereference specified URIs (some URI schemes may
cause undesirable side effects), etc.
3.2.1 Reference Validation
For each Reference in SignedInfo:
1. Canonicalize the SignedInfo element based on the
CanonicalizationMethod in SignedInfo.
2. Obtain the data object to be digested. (The signature application
may rely upon the identification (URI) and Transforms provided by
the signer in the Reference element, or it may obtain the content
through other means such as a local cache.)
3. Digest the resulting data object using the DigestMethod specified
in its Reference specification.
4. Compare the generated digest value against DigestValue in the
SignedInfo Reference; if there is any mismatch, validation fails.
Note, SignedInfo is canonicalized in step 1 to ensure the application
Sees What is Signed, which is the canonical form. For instance, if
the CanonicalizationMethod rewrote the URIs (e.g., absolutizing
relative URIs) the signature processing must be cognizant of this.
3.2.2 Signature Validation
1. Obtain the keying information from KeyInfo or from an external
source.
2. Obtain the canonical form of the SignatureMethod using the
CanonicalizationMethod and use the result (and previously obtained
KeyInfo) to validate the SignatureValue over the SignedInfo
element.
Note, KeyInfo (or some transformed version thereof) may be signed via
a Reference element. Transformation and validation of this reference
(3.2.1) is orthogonal to Signature Validation which uses the KeyInfo
as parsed.
Additionally, the SignatureMethod URI may have been altered by the
canonicalization of SignedInfo (e.g., absolutization of relative
URIs) and it is the canonical form that MUST be used. However, the
required canonicalization [XML-C14N] of this specification does not
change URIs.
4.0 Core Signature Syntax
The general structure of an XML signature is described in Signature
Overview (section 2). This section provides detailed syntax of the
core signature features. Features described in this section are
mandatory to implement unless otherwise indicated. The syntax is
defined via DTDs and [XML-Schema] with the following XML preamble,
declaration, internal entity, and simpleType:
Schema Definition:
<!DOCTYPE schema
PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XMLSCHEMA 200010//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/2000/10/XMLSchema.dtd"
[
<!ATTLIST schema
xmlns:ds CDATA #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">
<!ENTITY dsig 'http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#'>
]>
<schema xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/10/XMLSchema"
xmlns:ds="&dsig;"
targetNamespace="&dsig;"
version="0.1"
elementFormDefault="qualified">
<!-- Basic Types Defined for Signatures -->
<simpleType name="CryptoBinary">
<restriction base="binary">
<encoding value="base64"/>
</restriction>
</simpleType>
DTD:
<!-- These entity declarations permit the flexible parts of Signature
content model to be easily expanded -->
<!ENTITY % Object.ANY '(#PCDATA|Signature|SignatureProperties|
Manifest)*'>
<!ENTITY % Method.ANY '(#PCDATA|HMACOutputLength)*'>
<!ENTITY % Transform.ANY '(#PCDATA|XPath|XSLT)'>
<!ENTITY % SignatureProperty.ANY '(#PCDATA)*'>
<!ENTITY % Key.ANY '(#PCDATA|KeyName|KeyValue|RetrievalMethod|
X509Data|PGPData|MgmtData|DSAKeyValue|RSAKeyValue)*'>
4.1 The Signature element
The Signature element is the root element of an XML Signature.
Signature elements MUST be laxly schema valid [XML-schema] with
respect to the following schema definition:
Schema Definition:
<element name="Signature">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element ref="ds:SignedInfo"/>
<element ref="ds:SignatureValue"/>
<element ref="ds:KeyInfo" minOccurs="0"/>
<element ref="ds:Object" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
</sequence>
<attribute name="Id" type="ID" use="optional"/>
</complexType>
</element>
DTD:
<!ELEMENT Signature (SignedInfo, SignatureValue, KeyInfo?, Object*) >
<!ATTLIST Signature
xmlns CDATA #FIXED 'http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#'
Id ID #IMPLIED >
4.2 The SignatureValue Element
The SignatureValue element contains the actual value of the digital
signature; it is always encoded using base64 [MIME]. While we
specify a mandatory and optional to implement SignatureMethod
algorithms, user specified algorithms are permitted. Schema
Definition:
<element name="SignatureValue" type="ds:CryptoBinary"/>
DTD:
<!ELEMENT SignatureValue (#PCDATA) >
4.3 The SignedInfo Element
The structure of SignedInfo includes the canonicalization algorithm,
a signature algorithm, and one or more references. The SignedInfo
element may contain an optional ID attribute that will allow it to be
referenced by other signatures and objects.
SignedInfo does not include explicit signature or digest properties
(such as calculation time, cryptographic device serial number, etc.).
If an application needs to associate properties with the signature or
digest, it may include such information in a SignatureProperties
element within an Object element.
Schema Definition:
<element name="SignedInfo">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element ref="ds:CanonicalizationMethod"/>
<element ref="ds:SignatureMethod"/>
<element ref="ds:Reference" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
</sequence>
<attribute name="Id" type="ID" use="optional"/>
</complexType>
</element>
DTD:
<!ELEMENT SignedInfo (CanonicalizationMethod,
SignatureMethod, Reference+) >
<!ATTLIST SignedInfo
Id ID #IMPLIED>
4.3.1 The CanonicalizationMethod Element
CanonicalizationMethod is a required element that specifies the
canonicalization algorithm applied to the SignedInfo element prior to
performing signature calculations. This element uses the general
structure for algorithms described in Algorithm Identifiers and
Implementation Requirements (section 6.1). Implementations MUST
support the REQUIRED Canonical XML [XML-C14N] method.
Alternatives to the REQUIRED Canonical XML algorithm (section 6.5.2),
such as Canonical XML with Comments (section 6.5.2) and Minimal
Canonicalization (the CRLF and charset normalization specified in
section 6.5.1), may be explicitly specified but are NOT REQUIRED.
Consequently, their use may not interoperate with other applications
that do no support the specified algorithm (see XML Canonicalization
and Syntax Constraint Considerations, section 7). Security issues
may also arise in the treatment of entity processing and comments if
minimal or other non-XML aware canonicalization algorithms are not
properly constrained (see section 8.2: Only What is "Seen" Should be
Signed).
The way in which the SignedInfo element is presented to the
canonicalization method is dependent on that method. The following
applies to the two types of algorithms specified by this document:
* Canonical XML [XML-C14N] (with or without comments)
implementation MUST be provided with an XPath node-set
originally formed from the document containing the SignedInfo
and currently indicating the SignedInfo, its descendants, and
the attribute and namespace nodes of SignedInfo and its
descendant elements (such that the namespace context and
similar ancestor information of the SignedInfo is preserved).
* Minimal canonicalization implementations MUST be provided with
the octets that represent the well-formed SignedInfo element,
from the first character to the last character of the XML
representation, inclusive. This includes the entire text of
the start and end tags of the SignedInfo element as well as all
descendant markup and character data (i.e., the text) between
those tags.
We RECOMMEND that resource constrained applications that do not
implement the Canonical XML [XML-C14N] algorithm and instead choose
minimal canonicalization (or some other form) be implemented to
generate Canonical XML as their output serialization so as to easily
mitigate some of these interoperability and security concerns.
(While a result might not be the canonical form of the original, it
can still be in canonical form.) For instance, such an
implementation SHOULD (at least) generate standalone XML instances
[XML].
Schema Definition:
<element name="CanonicalizationMethod">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<any namespace="##any" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
</sequence>
<attribute name="Algorithm" type="uriReference" use="required"/>
</complexType>
</element>
DTD:
<!ELEMENT CanonicalizationMethod %Method.ANY; >
<!ATTLIST CanonicalizationMethod
Algorithm CDATA #REQUIRED >
4.3.2 The SignatureMethod Element
SignatureMethod is a required element that specifies the algorithm
used for signature generation and validation. This algorithm
identifies all cryptographic functions involved in the signature
operation (e.g., hashing, public key algorithms, MACs, padding,
etc.). This element uses the general structure here for algorithms
described in section 6.1: Algorithm Identifiers and Implementation
Requirements. While there is a single identifier, that identifier
may specify a format containing multiple distinct signature values.
Schema Definition:
<element name="SignatureMethod">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<any namespace="##any" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
</sequence>
<attribute name="Algorithm" type="uriReference" use="required"/>
</complexType>
</element>
DTD:
<!ELEMENT SignatureMethod %Method.ANY; >
<!ATTLIST SignatureMethod
Algorithm CDATA #REQUIRED >
4.3.3 The Reference Element
Reference is an element that may occur one or more times. It
specifies a digest algorithm and digest value, and optionally an
identifier of the object being signed, the type of the object, and/or
a list of transforms to be applied prior to digesting. The
identification (URI) and transforms describe how the digested content
(i.e., the input to the digest method) was created. The Type
attribute facilitates the processing of referenced data. For
example, while this specification makes no requirements over external
data, an application may wish to signal that the referent is a
Manifest. An optional ID attribute permits a Reference to be
referenced from elsewhere.
Schema Definition:
<element name="Reference">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element ref="ds:Transforms" minOccurs="0"/>
<element ref="ds:DigestMethod"/>
<element ref="ds:DigestValue"/>
</sequence>
<attribute name="Id" type="ID" use="optional"/>
<attribute name="URI" type="uriReference" use="optional"/>
<attribute name="Type" type="uriReference" use="optional"/>
</complexType>
</element>
DTD:
<!ELEMENT Reference (Transforms?, DigestMethod, DigestValue) >
<!ATTLIST Reference
Id ID #IMPLIED
URI CDATA #IMPLIED
Type CDATA #IMPLIED >
4.3.3.1 The URI Attribute
The URI attribute identifies a data object using a URI-Reference, as
specified by RFC2396 [URI]. The set of allowed characters for URI
attributes is the same as for XML, namely [Unicode]. However, some
Unicode characters are disallowed from URI references including all
non-ASCII characters and the excluded characters listed in RFC2396
[URI, section 2.4]. However, the number sign (#), percent sign (%),
and square bracket characters re-allowed in RFC2732 [URI-Literal]
are permitted. Disallowed characters must be escaped as follows:
1. Each disallowed character is converted to [UTF-8] as one or more
bytes.
2. Any octets corresponding to a disallowed character are escaped
with the URI escaping mechanism (that is, converted to %HH, where
HH is the hexadecimal notation of the byte value).
3. The original character is replaced by the resulting character
sequence.
XML signature applications MUST be able to parse URI syntax. We
RECOMMEND they be able to dereference URIs in the HTTP scheme.
Dereferencing a URI in the HTTP scheme MUST comply with the Status
Code Definitions of [HTTP] (e.g., 302, 305 and 307 redirects are
followed to obtain the entity-body of a 200 status code response).
Applications should also be cognizant of the fact that protocol
parameter and state information, (such as a HTTP cookies, HTML device
profiles or content negotiation), may affect the content yielded by
dereferencing a URI.
If a resource is identified by more than one URI, the most specific
should be used (e.g. http://www.w3.org/2000/06/interop-
pressrelease.html.en instead of http://www.w3.org/2000/06/interop-
pressrelease). (See the Reference Validation (section 3.2.1) for a
further information on reference processing.)
If the URI attribute is omitted altogether, the receiving application
is expected to know the identity of the object. For example, a
lightweight data protocol might omit this attribute given the
identity of the object is part of the application context. This
attribute may be omitted from at most one Reference in any particular
SignedInfo, or Manifest.
The optional Type attribute contains information about the type of
object being signed. This is represented as a URI. For example:
Type="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#Object"
Type="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#Manifest"
The Type attribute applies to the item being pointed at, not its
contents. For example, a reference that identifies an Object element
containing a SignatureProperties element is still of type #Object.
The type attribute is advisory. No validation of the type
information is required by this specification.
4.3.3.2 The Reference Processing Model
Note: XPath is RECOMMENDED. Signature applications need not conform
to [XPath] specification in order to conform to this specification.
However, the XPath data model, definitions (e.g., node-sets) and
syntax is used within this document in order to describe
functionality for those that want to process XML-as-XML (instead of
octets) as part of signature generation. For those that want to use
these features, a conformant [XPath] implementation is one way to
implement these features, but it is not required. Such applications
could use a sufficiently functional replacement to a node-set and
implement only those XPath expression behaviors REQUIRED by this
specification. However, for simplicity we generally will use XPath
terminology without including this qualification on every point.
Requirements over "XPath nodesets" can include a node-set functional
equivalent. Requirements over XPath processing can include
application behaviors that are equivalent to the corresponding XPath
behavior.
The data-type of the result of URI dereferencing or subsequent
Transforms is either an octet stream or an XPath node-set.
The Transforms specified in this document are defined with respect to
the input they require. The following is the default signature
application behavior:
* If the data object is a an octet stream and the next
transformrequires a node-set, the signature application MUST
attempt to parse the octets.
* If the data object is a node-set and the next transformrequires
octets, the signature application MUST attempt to convert the
node-set to an octet stream using the REQUIRED canonicalization
algorithm [XML-C14N].
Users may specify alternative transforms that over-ride these
defaults in transitions between Transforms that expect different
inputs. The final octet stream contains the data octets being
secured. The digest algorithm specified by DigestMethod is then
applied to these data octets, resulting in the DigestValue.
Unless the URI-Reference is a 'same-document' reference as defined in
[URI, Section 4.2], the result of dereferencing the URI-Reference
MUST be an octet stream. In particular, an XML document identified
by URI is not parsed by the signature application unless the URI is a
same-document reference or unless a transformthat requires XML
parsing is applied (See Transforms (section 4.3.3.1).)
When a fragment is preceded by an absolute or relative URI in the
URI-Reference, the meaning of the fragment is defined by the
resource's MIME type. Even for XML documents, URI dereferencing
(including the fragment processing) might be done for the signature
application by a proxy. Therefore, reference validation might fail
if fragment processing is not performed in a standard way (as defined
in the following section for same-document references).
Consequently, we RECOMMEND that the URI attribute not include
fragment identifiers and that such processing be specified as an
additional XPath Transform.
When a fragment is not preceded by a URI in the URI-Reference, XML
signature applications MUST support the null URI and barename
XPointer. We RECOMMEND support for the same-document XPointers
'#xpointer(/)' and '#xpointer(id("ID"))' if the application also