xref: /freebsd/lib/libgssapi/gssapi.3 (revision 73577bf01de5c4677dc54d97f93310286c254780)
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29.Dd January 26, 2010
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.Bl -tag -width "a)"
55.It a)
56The application acquires a set of credentials with which it may prove
57its identity to other processes.
58The application's credentials vouch for its global identity,
59which may or may not be related to any local username under which it
60may be running.
61.It b)
62A pair of communicating applications establish a joint security
63context using their credentials.
64The security context is a pair of GSS-API data structures that contain
65shared state information, which is required in order that per-message
66security services may be provided.
67Examples of state that might be shared between applications as part of
68a security context are cryptographic keys,
69and message sequence numbers.
70As part of the establishment of a security context,
71the context initiator is authenticated to the responder,
72and may require that the responder is authenticated in turn.
73The initiator may optionally give the responder the right to initiate
74further security contexts,
75acting as an agent or delegate of the initiator.
76This transfer of rights is termed delegation,
77and is achieved by creating a set of credentials,
78similar to those used by the initiating application,
79but which may be used by the responder.
80.Pp
81To establish and maintain the shared information that makes up the
82security context,
83certain GSS-API calls will return a token data structure,
84which is an opaque data type that may contain cryptographically
85protected data.
86The caller of such a GSS-API routine is responsible for transferring
87the token to the peer application,
88encapsulated if necessary in an application protocol.
89On receipt of such a token, the peer application should pass it to a
90corresponding GSS-API routine which will decode the token and extract
91the information,
92updating the security context state information accordingly.
93.It c)
94Per-message services are invoked to apply either:
95.Pp
96integrity and data origin authentication, or confidentiality,
97integrity and data origin authentication to application data,
98which are treated by GSS-API as arbitrary octet-strings.
99An application transmitting a message that it wishes to protect will
100call the appropriate GSS-API routine (gss_get_mic or gss_wrap) to
101apply protection,
102specifying the appropriate security context,
103and send the resulting token to the receiving application.
104The receiver will pass the received token (and, in the case of data
105protected by gss_get_mic, the accompanying message-data) to the
106corresponding decoding routine (gss_verify_mic or gss_unwrap) to
107remove the protection and validate the data.
108.It d)
109At the completion of a communications session (which may extend across
110several transport connections),
111each application calls a GSS-API routine to delete the security
112context.
113Multiple contexts may also be used (either successively or
114simultaneously) within a single communications association, at the
115option of the applications.
116.El
117.Sh GSS-API ROUTINES
118This section lists the routines that make up the GSS-API,
119and offers a brief description of the purpose of each routine.
120.Pp
121GSS-API Credential-management Routines:
122.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
123.It gss_acquire_cred
124Assume a global identity; Obtain a GSS-API credential handle for
125pre-existing credentials.
126.It gss_add_cred
127Construct credentials incrementally
128.It gss_inquire_cred
129Obtain information about a credential
130.It gss_inquire_cred_by_mech
131Obtain per-mechanism information about a credential.
132.It gss_release_cred
133Discard a credential handle.
134.El
135.Pp
136GSS-API Context-Level Routines:
137.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
138.It gss_init_sec_context
139Initiate a security context with a peer application
140.It gss_accept_sec_context
141Accept a security context initiated by a peer application
142.It gss_delete_sec_context
143Discard a security context
144.It gss_process_context_token
145Process a token on a security context from a peer application
146.It gss_context_time
147Determine for how long a context will remain valid
148.It gss_inquire_context
149Obtain information about a security context
150.It gss_wrap_size_limit
151Determine token-size limit for
152.Xr gss_wrap 3
153on a context
154.It gss_export_sec_context
155Transfer a security context to another process
156.It gss_import_sec_context
157Import a transferred context
158.El
159.Pp
160GSS-API Per-message Routines:
161.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
162.It gss_get_mic
163Calculate a cryptographic message integrity code (MIC) for a message;
164integrity service
165.It gss_verify_mic
166Check a MIC against a message;
167verify integrity of a received message
168.It gss_wrap
169Attach a MIC to a message, and optionally encrypt the message content;
170confidentiality service
171.It gss_unwrap
172Verify a message with attached MIC, and decrypt message content if
173necessary.
174.El
175.Pp
176GSS-API Name manipulation Routines:
177.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
178.It gss_import_name
179Convert a contiguous string name to internal-form
180.It gss_display_name
181Convert internal-form name to text
182.It gss_compare_name
183Compare two internal-form names
184.It gss_release_name
185Discard an internal-form name
186.It gss_inquire_names_for_mech
187List the name-types supported by the specified mechanism
188.It gss_inquire_mechs_for_name
189List mechanisms that support the specified name-type
190.It gss_canonicalize_name
191Convert an internal name to an MN
192.It gss_export_name
193Convert an MN to export form
194.It gss_duplicate_name
195Create a copy of an internal name
196.El
197.Pp
198GSS-API Miscellaneous Routines
199.Bl -tag -width "gss_inquire_cred_by_mech"
200.It gss_add_oid_set_member
201Add an object identifier to a set
202.It gss_display_status
203Convert a GSS-API status code to text
204.It gss_indicate_mechs
205Determine available underlying authentication mechanisms
206.It gss_release_buffer
207Discard a buffer
208.It gss_release_oid_set
209Discard a set of object identifiers
210.It gss_create_empty_oid_set
211Create a set containing no object identifiers
212.It gss_test_oid_set_member
213Determines whether an object identifier is a member of a set.
214.El
215.Pp
216Individual GSS-API implementations may augment these routines by
217providing additional mechanism-specific routines if required
218functionality is not available from the generic forms.
219Applications are encouraged to use the generic routines wherever
220possible on portability grounds.
221.Sh STANDARDS
222.Bl -tag -width ".It RFC 2743"
223.It RFC 2743
224Generic Security Service Application Program Interface Version 2, Update 1
225.It RFC 2744
226Generic Security Service API Version 2 : C-bindings
227.El
228.Sh HISTORY
229The
230.Nm
231library first appeared in
232.Fx 7.0 .
233.Sh AUTHORS
234John Wray, Iris Associates
235.Sh COPYRIGHT
236Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.
237.Pp
238This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
239others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
240or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
241and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
242kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
243included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
244document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
245the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
246Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
247developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
248copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
249followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
250English.
251.Pp
252The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
253revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
254.Pp
255This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
256"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
257TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
258BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
259HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
260MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
261