Re: draft-ietf-ipsec-pki-profile-01.txt

[Brian Korver <briank@xythos.com>]

On Friday, November 15, 2002, at 08:54 AM, Housley, Russ wrote:
> Brian:
>
>>>>> Please adjust the example description in section 3.3.11.3.  There 
>>>>> is no requirement that a trust anchor be specified by a 
>>>>> self-signed certificate.  The peer should never be asked to 
>>>>> provide a certificate associated with a trust anchor.
>>>>
>>>> 3.3.11.3 doesn't state that R is a self-signed certificate.  I'm
>>>> also not sure that Trust Anchor is what most people will think of
>>>> when they think of certificates for which they have cached the
>>>> validity status.  I see what you're saying, but I'm not sure
>>>> how best to say it.
>>>
>>> The example should refer to an intermediate certificate (like CA1), 
>>> not the trust anchor (R).
>>
>> I'll change R to CA3 and add ", which can be a self-signed root
>> or any other trust anchor".
>
> The example should not discuss the self-signed certificate!  The 
> example should discuss an intermediate certificate (like CA1) which is 
> clearly part of the certification path.  The trust anchor, regardless 
> of how it is represented, is not part of the certification path that 
> an implementation sends to its peer.
>

Russ,

If trust anchors can be self-signed, what is wrong with
pointing this out?  IMHO it makes the example clearer,
as I'm pointing out that CA3 may actually NOT be
self-signed.

-brian
briank@xythos.com