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Re: DES-CBC "interface" shim



> From: Stephen Kent <kent@bbn.com>
> A couple of comments on your DES-CBC "shim" document (which we're calling
> "algorithm" documents in the AH and ESP I-Ds):
>
Please change your terminology; that makes no sense.  The "algorithm"
document describes the actual algorithm (for example, RFC-2144).

If you read the draft, I call it the "transform interface".  It's less
than a transform.

Perhaps other folks can come up with a better term.  Shim is good enough
for the vernacular for now.


>       - I'd suggest rewording the IV section to make it clear that the
> IVs used here are not carried explicitly in the ESP packet, but are
> constructed from values elsewhere in the ESP packet format, what the ESP
> I-D refers to as an "implicit" IV.

Sure.


> Also, I hope your insistance on always
> including the sequence number field, wasting 4 bytes in the IPv4 context if
> anti-replay was not enabled, was not motivated by your desire to use it for
> IV computation here.
>
The implementors decided to keep the field, as the sender has no idea
whether the receiver has implemented anti-replay.

Of course, if they had dropped it, I would just keep the current
RFC-1829 text having a 32-bit number in that location, which can be
either a counter or pseudo-random.


> 	-I don't see a need to include section 7, on the authentication
> data field.
>
I'm sorry, I don't understand why not?  The DES-CBC shim needs to talk
about the need for integrity.  That's algorithm dependent.

WSimpson@UMich.edu
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BSimpson@MorningStar.com
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