[db-wg] Signature expiration check proposal

Thu Jul 21 14:49:34 CEST 2005

Dear Colleagues,

This is a proposal about changes to how the whois database software checks 
PGP and X.509 signatures on incoming updates.

Currently the software checks that the PGP signature is valid by using Gnu 
Privacy Guard (GnuPG). It verifies X.509 signatures with an OpenSSL (Secure 
Sockets Layer) tool.

We propose to change the software, so that it also checks the signature 
creation date. If the signature is older than one week, it will be rejected 
and the update will fail.

This is to prevent replay attacks on database objects. We became 
aware of this potential threat when we designed the DNSSEC provisioning 
system.

-- 
Katie Petrusha
RIPE NCC