xref: /freebsd/lib/libgssapi/gssapi.3 (revision 4f29da19bd44f0e99f021510460a81bf754c21d2)
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29.Dd November 30, 2005
30.Dt GSSAPI 3
31.Os
32.Sh NAME
33.Nm gssapi
34.Nd "Generic Security Services API"
35.Sh LIBRARY
36GSS-API Library (libgssapi, -lgssapi)
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38.In gssapi/gssapi.h
39.Sh DESCRIPTION
40The Generic Security Service Application Programming Interface
41provides security services to its callers,
42and is intended for implementation atop a variety of underlying
43cryptographic mechanisms.
44Typically, GSS-API callers will be application protocols into which
45security enhancements are integrated through invocation of services
46provided by the GSS-API.
47The GSS-API allows a caller application to authenticate a principal
48identity associated with a peer application, to delegate rights to a
49peer,
50and to apply security services such as confidentiality and integrity
51on a per-message basis.
52.Pp
53There are four stages to using the GSS-API:
54.Pp
55.Bl -tag -width "a)"
56.It a)
57The application acquires a set of credentials with which it may prove
58its identity to other processes.
59The application's credentials vouch for its global identity,
60which may or may not be related to any local username under which it
61may be running.
62.It b)
63A pair of communicating applications establish a joint security
64context using their credentials.
65The security context is a pair of GSS-API data structures that contain
66shared state information, which is required in order that per-message
67security services may be provided.
68Examples of state that might be shared between applications as part of
69a security context are cryptographic keys,
70and message sequence numbers.
71As part of the establishment of a security context,
72the context initiator is authenticated to the responder,
73and may require that the responder is authenticated in turn.
74The initiator may optionally give the responder the right to initiate
75further security contexts,
76acting as an agent or delegate of the initiator.
77This transfer of rights is termed delegation,
78and is achieved by creating a set of credentials,
79similar to those used by the initiating application,
80but which may be used by the responder.
81.Pp
82To establish and maintain the shared information that makes up the
83security context,
84certain GSS-API calls will return a token data structure,
85which is an opaque data type that may contain cryptographically
86protected data.
87The caller of such a GSS-API routine is responsible for transferring
88the token to the peer application,
89encapsulated if necessary in an application protocol.
90On receipt of such a token, the peer application should pass it to a
91corresponding GSS-API routine which will decode the token and extract
92the information,
93updating the security context state information accordingly.
94.It c)
95Per-message services are invoked to apply either:
96.Pp
97integrity and data origin authentication, or confidentiality,
98integrity and data origin authentication to application data,
99which are treated by GSS-API as arbitrary octet-strings.
100An application transmitting a message that it wishes to protect will
101call the appropriate GSS-API routine (gss_get_mic or gss_wrap) to
102apply protection,
103specifying the appropriate security context,
104and send the resulting token to the receiving application.
105The receiver will pass the received token (and, in the case of data
106protected by gss_get_mic, the accompanying message-data) to the
107corresponding decoding routine (gss_verify_mic or gss_unwrap) to
108remove the protection and validate the data.
109.It d)
110At the completion of a communications session (which may extend across
111several transport connections),
112each application calls a GSS-API routine to delete the security
113context.
114Multiple contexts may also be used (either successively or
115simultaneously) within a single communications association, at the
116option of the applications.
117.El
118.Sh GSS-API ROUTINES
119This section lists the routines that make up the GSS-API,
120and offers a brief description of the purpose of each routine.
121.Pp
122GSS-API Credential-management Routines:
123.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
124.It gss_acquire_cred
125Assume a global identity; Obtain a GSS-API credential handle for
126pre-existing credentials.
127.It gss_add_cred
128Construct credentials incrementally
129.It gss_inquire_cred
130Obtain information about a credential
131.It gss_inquire_cred_by_mech
132Obtain per-mechanism information about a credential.
133.It gss_release_cred
134Discard a credential handle.
135.El
136.Pp
137GSS-API Context-Level Routines:
138.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
139.It gss_init_sec_context
140Initiate a security context with a peer application
141.It gss_accept_sec_context
142 Accept a security context initiated by a peer application
143.It gss_delete_sec_context
144Discard a security context
145.It gss_process_context_token
146Process a token on a security context from a peer application
147.It gss_context_time
148Determine for how long a context will remain valid
149.It gss_inquire_context
150Obtain information about a security context
151.It gss_wrap_size_limit
152Determine token-size limit for
153.Xr gss_wrap 3
154on a context
155.It gss_export_sec_context
156Transfer a security context to another process
157.It gss_import_sec_context
158Import a transferred context
159.El
160.Pp
161GSS-API Per-message Routines:
162.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
163.It gss_get_mic
164Calculate a cryptographic message integrity code (MIC) for a message;
165integrity service
166.It gss_verify_mic
167Check a MIC against a message;
168verify integrity of a received message
169.It gss_wrap
170Attach a MIC to a message, and optionally encrypt the message content;
171confidentiality service
172.It gss_unwrap
173Verify a message with attached MIC, and decrypt message content if
174necessary.
175.El
176.Pp
177GSS-API Name manipulation Routines:
178.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
179.It gss_import_name
180Convert a contiguous string name to internal-form
181.It gss_display_name
182Convert internal-form name to text
183.It gss_compare_name
184Compare two internal-form names
185.It gss_release_name
186Discard an internal-form name
187.It gss_inquire_names_for_mech
188List the name-types supported by the specified mechanism
189.It gss_inquire_mechs_for_name
190List mechanisms that support the specified name-type
191.It gss_canonicalize_name
192Convert an internal name to an MN
193.It gss_export_name
194Convert an MN to export form
195.It gss_duplicate_name
196Create a copy of an internal name
197.El
198.Pp
199GSS-API Miscellaneous Routines
200.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
201.It gss_add_oid_set_member
202Add an object identifier to a set
203.It gss_display_status
204Convert a GSS-API status code to text
205.It gss_indicate_mechs
206Determine available underlying authentication mechanisms
207.It gss_release_buffer
208Discard a buffer
209.It gss_release_oid_set
210Discard a set of object identifiers
211.It gss_create_empty_oid_set
212Create a set containing no object identifiers
213.It gss_test_oid_set_member
214Determines whether an object identifier is a member of a set.
215.El
216.Pp
217Individual GSS-API implementations may augment these routines by
218providing additional mechanism-specific routines if required
219functionality is not available from the generic forms.
220Applications are encouraged to use the generic routines wherever
221possible on portability grounds.
222.Sh STANDARDS
223.Bl -tag
224.It RFC 2743
225Generic Security Service Application Program Interface Version 2, Update 1
226.It RFC 2744
227Generic Security Service API Version 2 : C-bindings
228.El
229.Sh HISTORY
230The
231.Nm
232manual page first appeared in
233.Fx 7.0 .
234.Sh AUTHORS
235John Wray, Iris Associates
236.Sh COPYRIGHT
237Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.
238.Pp
239This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
240others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
241or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
242and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
243kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
244included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
245document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
246the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
247Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
248developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
249copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
250followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
251English.
252.Pp
253The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
254revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
255.Pp
256This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
257"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
258TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
259BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
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262