xref: /freebsd/lib/libgssapi/gssapi.3 (revision 2e3f49888ec8851bafb22011533217487764fdb0)
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27.Dd January 26, 2010
28.Dt GSSAPI 3
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm gssapi
32.Nd "Generic Security Services API"
33.Sh LIBRARY
34GSS-API Library (libgssapi, -lgssapi)
35.Sh SYNOPSIS
36.In gssapi/gssapi.h
37.Sh DESCRIPTION
38The Generic Security Service Application Programming Interface
39provides security services to its callers,
40and is intended for implementation atop a variety of underlying
41cryptographic mechanisms.
42Typically, GSS-API callers will be application protocols into which
43security enhancements are integrated through invocation of services
44provided by the GSS-API.
45The GSS-API allows a caller application to authenticate a principal
46identity associated with a peer application, to delegate rights to a
47peer,
48and to apply security services such as confidentiality and integrity
49on a per-message basis.
50.Pp
51There are four stages to using the GSS-API:
52.Bl -tag -width "a)"
53.It a)
54The application acquires a set of credentials with which it may prove
55its identity to other processes.
56The application's credentials vouch for its global identity,
57which may or may not be related to any local username under which it
58may be running.
59.It b)
60A pair of communicating applications establish a joint security
61context using their credentials.
62The security context is a pair of GSS-API data structures that contain
63shared state information, which is required in order that per-message
64security services may be provided.
65Examples of state that might be shared between applications as part of
66a security context are cryptographic keys,
67and message sequence numbers.
68As part of the establishment of a security context,
69the context initiator is authenticated to the responder,
70and may require that the responder is authenticated in turn.
71The initiator may optionally give the responder the right to initiate
72further security contexts,
73acting as an agent or delegate of the initiator.
74This transfer of rights is termed delegation,
75and is achieved by creating a set of credentials,
76similar to those used by the initiating application,
77but which may be used by the responder.
78.Pp
79To establish and maintain the shared information that makes up the
80security context,
81certain GSS-API calls will return a token data structure,
82which is an opaque data type that may contain cryptographically
83protected data.
84The caller of such a GSS-API routine is responsible for transferring
85the token to the peer application,
86encapsulated if necessary in an application protocol.
87On receipt of such a token, the peer application should pass it to a
88corresponding GSS-API routine which will decode the token and extract
89the information,
90updating the security context state information accordingly.
91.It c)
92Per-message services are invoked to apply either:
93.Pp
94integrity and data origin authentication, or confidentiality,
95integrity and data origin authentication to application data,
96which are treated by GSS-API as arbitrary octet-strings.
97An application transmitting a message that it wishes to protect will
98call the appropriate GSS-API routine (gss_get_mic or gss_wrap) to
99apply protection,
100specifying the appropriate security context,
101and send the resulting token to the receiving application.
102The receiver will pass the received token (and, in the case of data
103protected by gss_get_mic, the accompanying message-data) to the
104corresponding decoding routine (gss_verify_mic or gss_unwrap) to
105remove the protection and validate the data.
106.It d)
107At the completion of a communications session (which may extend across
108several transport connections),
109each application calls a GSS-API routine to delete the security
110context.
111Multiple contexts may also be used (either successively or
112simultaneously) within a single communications association, at the
113option of the applications.
114.El
115.Sh GSS-API ROUTINES
116This section lists the routines that make up the GSS-API,
117and offers a brief description of the purpose of each routine.
118.Pp
119GSS-API Credential-management Routines:
120.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
121.It gss_acquire_cred
122Assume a global identity; Obtain a GSS-API credential handle for
123pre-existing credentials.
124.It gss_add_cred
125Construct credentials incrementally
126.It gss_inquire_cred
127Obtain information about a credential
128.It gss_inquire_cred_by_mech
129Obtain per-mechanism information about a credential.
130.It gss_release_cred
131Discard a credential handle.
132.El
133.Pp
134GSS-API Context-Level Routines:
135.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
136.It gss_init_sec_context
137Initiate a security context with a peer application
138.It gss_accept_sec_context
139Accept a security context initiated by a peer application
140.It gss_delete_sec_context
141Discard a security context
142.It gss_process_context_token
143Process a token on a security context from a peer application
144.It gss_context_time
145Determine for how long a context will remain valid
146.It gss_inquire_context
147Obtain information about a security context
148.It gss_wrap_size_limit
149Determine token-size limit for
150.Xr gss_wrap 3
151on a context
152.It gss_export_sec_context
153Transfer a security context to another process
154.It gss_import_sec_context
155Import a transferred context
156.El
157.Pp
158GSS-API Per-message Routines:
159.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
160.It gss_get_mic
161Calculate a cryptographic message integrity code (MIC) for a message;
162integrity service
163.It gss_verify_mic
164Check a MIC against a message;
165verify integrity of a received message
166.It gss_wrap
167Attach a MIC to a message, and optionally encrypt the message content;
168confidentiality service
169.It gss_unwrap
170Verify a message with attached MIC, and decrypt message content if
171necessary.
172.El
173.Pp
174GSS-API Name manipulation Routines:
175.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
176.It gss_import_name
177Convert a contiguous string name to internal-form
178.It gss_display_name
179Convert internal-form name to text
180.It gss_compare_name
181Compare two internal-form names
182.It gss_release_name
183Discard an internal-form name
184.It gss_inquire_names_for_mech
185List the name-types supported by the specified mechanism
186.It gss_inquire_mechs_for_name
187List mechanisms that support the specified name-type
188.It gss_canonicalize_name
189Convert an internal name to an MN
190.It gss_export_name
191Convert an MN to export form
192.It gss_duplicate_name
193Create a copy of an internal name
194.El
195.Pp
196GSS-API Miscellaneous Routines
197.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
198.It gss_add_oid_set_member
199Add an object identifier to a set
200.It gss_display_status
201Convert a GSS-API status code to text
202.It gss_indicate_mechs
203Determine available underlying authentication mechanisms
204.It gss_release_buffer
205Discard a buffer
206.It gss_release_oid_set
207Discard a set of object identifiers
208.It gss_create_empty_oid_set
209Create a set containing no object identifiers
210.It gss_test_oid_set_member
211Determines whether an object identifier is a member of a set.
212.El
213.Pp
214Individual GSS-API implementations may augment these routines by
215providing additional mechanism-specific routines if required
216functionality is not available from the generic forms.
217Applications are encouraged to use the generic routines wherever
218possible on portability grounds.
219.Sh STANDARDS
220.Bl -tag -width ".It RFC 2743"
221.It RFC 2743
222Generic Security Service Application Program Interface Version 2, Update 1
223.It RFC 2744
224Generic Security Service API Version 2 : C-bindings
225.El
226.Sh HISTORY
227The
228.Nm
229library first appeared in
230.Fx 7.0 .
231.Sh AUTHORS
232John Wray, Iris Associates
233.Sh COPYRIGHT
234Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.
235.Pp
236This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
237others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
238or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
239and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
240kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
241included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
242document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
243the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
244Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
245developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
246copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
247followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
248English.
249.Pp
250The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
251revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
252.Pp
253This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
254"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
255TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
256BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
257HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
258MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
259