Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps) Internet Drafts


      
 Composite ML-KEM for use in X.509 Public Key Infrastructure
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-pq-composite-kem-21.txt
 Date: 01/09/2026
 Authors: Mike Ounsworth, John Gray, Massimiliano Pala, Jan Klaussner, Scott Fluhrer
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
This document defines combinations of US NIST ML-KEM in hybrid with traditional algorithms RSA-OAEP, ECDH, X25519, and X448. These combinations are tailored to meet security best practices and regulatory guidelines. Composite ML-KEM is applicable in any application that uses X.509 or PKIX data structures that accept ML- KEM, but where the operator wants extra protection against breaks or catastrophic bugs in ML-KEM.
 Use of Remote Attestation with Certification Signing Requests
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-csr-attestation-29.txt
 Date: 02/09/2026
 Authors: Mike Ounsworth, Hannes Tschofenig, Henk Birkholz, Monty Wiseman, Ned Smith
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
Certification Authorities (CAs) issuing certificates to Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) end entities may require a certificate signing request (CSR) to include additional verifiable information to confirm policy compliance. For example, a CA may require an end entity to demonstrate that the private key corresponding to a CSR's public key is secured by a hardware security module (HSM), is not exportable, etc. The process of generating, transmitting, and verifying additional information required by the CA is called remote attestation. While work is currently underway to standardize various aspects of remote attestation, a variety of proprietary mechanisms have been in use for years, particularly regarding protection of private keys. This specification defines ASN.1 structures which may carry attestation data for PKCS#10 and Certificate Request Message Format (CRMF) messages. Both standardized and proprietary attestation formats are supported by this specification.
 Requesting a Freshness Nonce for Attestation Evidence in Certificate Signing Requests
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-attestation-freshness-08.txt
 Date: 04/07/2026
 Authors: Hannes Tschofenig, Hendrik Brockhaus, Joe Mandel, Sean Turner
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
When an end entity includes attestation statements in a Certificate Signing Request (CSR), the freshness of the conveyed Evidence often needs to be established. A common mechanism is a nonce that is obtained from a Relying Party or Verifier and included by the Attester in the Evidence. This document specifies how an end entity requests such an attestation freshness nonce from an RA/CA when using certificate lifecycle management protocols. It defines message formats and protocol bindings for the conveyance of nonce request and response messages in the Certificate Management Protocol (CMP), Enrollment over Secure Transport (EST), and Certificate Management over CMS (CMC), including optional type-specific information needed to produce fresh Evidence for inclusion in a CSR.
 Composite Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA) for use in X.509 Public Key Infrastructure
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-pq-composite-sigs-19.txt
 Date: 21/04/2026
 Authors: Mike Ounsworth, John Gray, Massimiliano Pala, Jan Klaussner, Scott Fluhrer
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
This document defines combinations of US NIST Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA) in hybrid with traditional algorithms RSASSA-PKCS1-v1.5, RSASSA-PSS, ECDSA, Ed25519, and Ed448. These combinations are tailored to meet regulatory guidelines in certain regions. Composite ML-DSA is applicable in applications that use X.509 or PKIX data structures that accept ML-DSA, but where the operator wants extra protection against breaks or catastrophic bugs in ML-DSA, and where existential unforgeability (EUF-CMA) level security is acceptable.
 A Mechanism for X.509 Certificate Discovery
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-certdiscovery-03.txt
 Date: 21/05/2026
 Authors: Tomofumi Okubo, Corey Bonnell, John Gray, Mike Ounsworth, Joe Mandel
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
This document specifies a method to discover a secondary X.509 certificate associated with an X.509 certificate to enable efficient multi-certificate handling in protocols. The objective is threefold: to enhance cryptographic agility, improve operational availability, and accommodate multi-key/certificate usage. The proposed method aims to maximize compatibility with existing systems and is designed to be legacy-friendly, making it suitable for environments with a mix of legacy and new implementations. It includes mechanisms to provide information about the target certificate's signature algorithm, public key algorithm and the location of the secondary X.509 certificate, empowering relying parties to make informed decisions on whether to fetch the Secondary Certificate. The primary motivation for this method is to address the limitations of traditional certificate management approaches, which often lack flexibility, scalability, and seamless update capabilities. By leveraging this mechanism, subscribers can achieve cryptographic agility by facilitating the transition between different algorithms or X.509 certificate types. Operational redundancy is enhanced by enabling the use of backup certificates and minimizing the impact of Primary Certificate expiration or CA infrastructure failures. The approach ensures backward compatibility with existing systems and leverages established mechanisms, such as the subjectInfoAccess extension, to enable seamless integration.
 Best Practices for Signed Attributes in CMS SignedData
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-cms-euf-cma-signeddata-03.txt
 Date: 14/09/2026
 Authors: Daniel Van Geest, Falko Strenzke
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
The Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) has different signature verification behaviour based on whether signed attributes are present or not. This results in a potential existential forgery vulnerability in CMS and protocols which use CMS. This document describes the vulnerability and lists mitigations and best practices to avoid it. This document updates RFC 5652 by prohibiting the use of the id-data content type for new uses of the CMS SignedData type.
 Composite Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA) for use in Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-cms-composite-sigs-05.txt
 Date: 22/05/2026
 Authors: Mike Ounsworth, John Gray, Jan Klaussner, Daniel Van Geest
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
Composite Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA) defines combinations of ML-DSA with RSA, ECDSA, and EdDSA. This document specifies the conventions for using Composite ML-DSA algorithms within the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS).
 Composite ML-KEM for use in Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-cms-composite-kem-01.txt
 Date: 06/05/2026
 Authors: Daniel Van Geest, Mike Ounsworth, John Gray, Jan Klaussner
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
Composite ML-KEM defines combinations of ML-KEM with RSA-OAEP, ECDH, X25519, and X448. This document specifies the conventions for using Composite ML-KEM algorithms with the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) using the KEMRecipientInfo structure defined in “Using Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) Algorithms in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)” (RFC 9629).
 One Signature Certificates
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-one-signature-certs-02.txt
 Date: 01/07/2026
 Authors: Stefan Santesson, Russ Housley
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
This document defines the signedDocumentBinding certificate extension, which binds a certificate to the signed content of a digital signature produced by a single signing operation. Each certificate is created at the time of signing and the associated signing key is generated, used to produce a single digital signature, and then immediately destroyed. Certificates carrying this extension are intended to be issued without a revocation mechanism and with no expiration, which simplifies long-term validation.
 Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure -- Algorithm Identifiers for the Fast-Fourier Transform over NTRU-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (FN-DSA)
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-fn-dsa-certificates-00.txt
 Date: 20/05/2026
 Authors: Jake Massimo, Panos Kampanakis, Sean Turner, Bas Westerbaan
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
Digital signatures are used within X.509 certificates and Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs), and to sign messages. This document specifies the conventions for using, the forthcoming, FIPS 206, the Fast-Fourier Transform over NTRU-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (FN-DSA), in Internet X.509 certificates and CRLs. The conventions for the associated signatures, subject public keys, and private key are also described.
 Use of the FN-DSA Signature Algorithm in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-cms-fn-dsa-00.txt
 Date: 20/05/2026
 Authors: Daniel Van Geest, Sean Turner
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
The Fast-Fourier Transform over NTRU-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (FN-DSA), as defined by NIST in FIPS 206, is a post-quantum digital signature scheme that aims to be secure against an adversary in possession of a Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computer (CRQC). This document specifies the conventions for using the FN-DSA signature algorithm with the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS). In addition, the algorithm identifier is provided.
 Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 4.0 Certificate Handling
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-rfc8550bis-00.txt
 Date: 23/07/2026
 Authors: Blake Ramsdell, Sean Turner
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
This document specifies conventions for X.509 certificate usage by Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) v4.0 agents. S/MIME provides a method to send and receive secure MIME messages, and certificates are an integral part of S/MIME agent processing. S/ MIME agents validate certificates as described in RFC 5280 ("Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile"). S/MIME agents must meet the certificate-processing requirements in this document as well as those in RFC 5280. This document obsoletes RFC 5750.
 Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 4.0 Message Specification
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-rfc8551bis-00.txt
 Date: 28/07/2026
 Authors: Blake Ramsdell, Sean Turner
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
This document defines Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) version 4.0. S/MIME provides a consistent way to send and receive secure MIME data. Digital signatures provide authentication, message integrity, and non-repudiation with proof of origin. Encryption provides data confidentiality. Compression can be used to reduce data size. This document obsoletes RFC 5751.
 Update to the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Algorithm Identifier Protection Attribute
 
 draft-ietf-lamps-rfc6211-update-03.txt
 Date: 16/09/2026
 Authors: Russ Housley, Sean Turner
 Working Group: Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)
This document updates RFC 6211. It corrects errors in the definition of the id-aa-CMSAlgorithmProtect ASN.1 object identifier. The IANA registry entry has always been correct.


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Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps)

WG Name Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME
Acronym lamps
Area Security Area (sec)
State Active
Charter charter-ietf-lamps-08 Approved
Status update Show Changed 2017-11-16
Document dependencies
Additional resources Issue tracker, Wiki, Zulip stream
Personnel Chairs Russ Housley, Tim Hollebeek
Area Director Deb Cooley
Mailing list Address [email protected]
To subscribe https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/spasm
Archive https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/spasm/
Chat Room address https://zulip.ietf.org/#narrow/stream/lamps

Charter for Working Group

The PKIX and S/MIME Working Groups have been closed for some time. Some updates have been proposed to the X.509 certificate documents produced by the PKIX Working Group and the electronic mail security documents produced by the S/MIME Working Group.

The LAMPS (Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME) Working Group is chartered to make updates where there is a known constituency interested in real deployment and there is at least one sufficiently well specified approach to the update so that the working group can sensibly evaluate whether to adopt a proposal.

The LAMPS WG is now tackling these topics which will be published as Standards Track, BCP or Informational documents:

  1. The LAMPS WG may investigate updates to documents produced by the PKIX and S/MIME WGs. This work will follow the guidelines listed above (real deployment, known constituency, etc). This includes maintenance of protocols such as Certificate Management Protocol (CMP), Certificate Management over Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) (CMC), Enrollment over Secure Transport (EST), S/MIME protocols, and PKIX protocols. These protocols continue to be used in many different environments and they continue to evolve.
  2. Recent progress in the development of quantum computers poses a threat to widely deployed public key algorithms. As a result, there is a need to prepare for a day when cryptosystems such as RSA, Diffie-Hellman, ECDSA, ECDH, and EdDSA cannot be depended upon in the PKIX and S/MIME protocols.

2.a. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has produced quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithm standards. In addition, CFRG may vet other quantum-resistant public key cryptographic algorithms. The LAMPS WG will specify the use of these new Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) public key algorithms with the PKIX certificates and the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS). These specifications will use object identifiers for the new algorithms that are assigned by NIST or by IANA.

2.b. A lengthy transition from today's public key algorithms to PQC public key algorithms is expected. Time will be needed to gain full confidence in the new PQC public key algorithms.

  • 2.b.i. The LAMPS WG will specify formats, identifiers, enrollment, and operational practices for "hybrid key establishment" that combines the shared secret values one or more traditional key-establishment algorithm and one or more NIST PQC key-establishment algorithm or a PQC key-establishment algorithm vetted by the CFRG. The shared secret values will be combined using HKDF (see RFC 5869), one of the key derivation functions in NIST SP 800-56C, or a key derivation function vetted by the CFRG.
  • 2.b.ii. The LAMPS WG will specify formats, identifiers, enrollment, and operational practices for "dual signatures" that combines one or more traditional signature algorithm with one or more NIST PQC signature algorithm or a PQC algorithm vetted by the CFRG.

2.c. Specify the use of techniques that allow streamlined processing for PQC certificates and exchanges. One example of such use is unsigned X.509 Certificates to convey information about the subject. Currently, Trust Anchors use self-signed certificates for this purpose, using bandwidth that could prohibit constrained devices from being able to utilize the larger signature sized quantum resistant algorithms.

Milestones

Date Milestone Associated documents
Dec 2026 CAA Security (Standards Track RFC)
Nov 2026 Composite KEM in PKIX and CMS (Standards Track RFCs)
Oct 2026 Composite Signatures in PKIX and CMS (Standards Track RFCs)
Jun 2026 Adopt drafts for PQC KEM algorithms in CMS (Standards Track RFCs)
Jun 2026 Adopt drafts for PQC KEM public keys in PKIX certificates (Standards Track RFCs)