10 Feb
2010
10 Feb
'10
12:44 p.m.
Hi,
Having got Xwiki to produce RDFa (very easy), and having switched of Twitter to allow me
to concentrate,I am now working on allowing a user to click a button in his profile, and
have it create a foaf+ssl certificate (which is just a normal certificate, but with a URL
in the subject alternative name). The code for this is very simple:
http://github.com/harbulot/keygenapp/blob/master/samplewebapp/src/main/java…
(with a few lines of tweaks required to add the certificate information to the profile
page).
What happens is that a <keygen> XML element is added to a <form> element in
the user's profile page. This forces the browser (Safari, Firefox, Opera) to create a
<public, private> key pair and send the public part to the servlet referred to above
(MiniCaServlet). That servlet creates a certificate and sends it back to an invisible
iframe. The browser then adds that cert to the keystore (this is done automatically,
it's part of browser behavior).
So to move this code to XWiki, I understand I should create a component. I read about it
here:
http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/WritingComponents
and it makes sense. From a component I can get the user, and from that I can get his
profile page, and then I can add the public key information to his profile (I wrote a
RSAKeyClass in Xwiki to do this).
The component should finally send the newly generated certificate back to the client,
which it can do because it has access the the HTTPServletResponse.
But where would I put such a component? In a specific wiki page?
Does all that make sense? If not let me know before I go and code it up.
Henry
PS. It would be fun later to have the User's Profile page be a bit Ajaxy, so that if
it notices a change to the invisible iframe the browser can make a reques to XWiki to
refresh the table of public keys displayed to the user.
Social Web Architect
http://bblfish.net/
11 Feb
11 Feb
8:24 p.m.
On 02/10/2010 12:44 PM, Story Henry wrote:
Hi,
Having got Xwiki to produce RDFa (very easy), and having switched of
Twitter to allow me to concentrate,I am now working on allowing a
user to click a button in his profile, and have it create a foaf+ssl
certificate (which is just a normal certificate, but with a URL in
the subject alternative name). The code for this is very simple:
http://github.com/harbulot/keygenapp/blob/master/samplewebapp/src/main/java…
(with a few lines of tweaks required to add the certificate
information to the profile page).
What happens is that a<keygen> XML element is added to a<form>
element in the user's profile page. This forces the browser (Safari,
Firefox, Opera) to create a<public, private> key pair and send the
public part to the servlet referred to above (MiniCaServlet). That
What about IE? Not that I like it, but most enterprise users are still
on IE6.
servlet creates a certificate and sends it back to an
invisible
iframe. The browser then adds that cert to the keystore (this is done
automatically, it's part of browser behavior).
Do you have a link to some documentation about this behavior?
So to move this code to XWiki, I understand I should
create a
component. I read about it here:
http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/WritingComponents
Yes, that's the right approach. You should also read about the new
scripting service, see http://jira.xwiki.org/jira/browse/XWIKI-4853 and
http://markmail.org/thread/g4z56pl734lng2ym
and it makes sense. From a component I can get the
user, and from
that I can get his profile page, and then I can add the public key
information to his profile (I wrote a RSAKeyClass in Xwiki to do
this).
RSAKeyClass as a class inside com.xpn.xwiki.objects.classes, similar to
PasswordClass, NumberClass and the like? Yes, that is good. You also
need a RSAKeyMetaClass in com.xpn.xwiki.objects.meta, and register it in
com.xpn.xwiki.objects.meta.MetaClass
Alternatively, you could just use the TextAreaClass for the moment,
although that's 0 security.
The component should finally send the newly generated
certificate
back to the client, which it can do because it has access the the
HTTPServletResponse.
But where would I put such a component? In a specific wiki page?
Better as a jar inside WEB-INF/lib. Given that it adds a new property
type to the data model, it should be a key component inside the platform.
Does all that make sense? If not let me know before I
go and code it
up.
Looks good to me so far, but I have a couple more questions/suggestions:
- You must make sure that the private key can't be publicly accessed
- What do you plan to do with these keys afterwards?
- The process that you described (browser creates key, sends public part
to server, server creates certificate and sends back to browser) does
not mention anything about what happens within the user profile. Could
you go into more details?
Henry
PS. It would be fun later to have the User's Profile page be a bit
Ajaxy, so that if it notices a change to the invisible iframe the
browser can make a reques to XWiki to refresh the table of public
keys displayed to the user.
Social Web Architect http://bblfish.net/
--
Sergiu Dumitriu
http://purl.org/net/sergiu/
12 Feb
12 Feb
5:10 a.m.
I needed some more background on this, as it turned out I was about to ask a
stupid question about who signs the certs, but that is basically answered
here:
http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/foaf_ssl_pki_and_the (foaf+ssl, pki and
the duck-rabbit)
Whereas PKI is used for hierarchical trust, we use it to build a web of
trust. Where X509 certs built up a lot on the
Distinguished Name hierarchy,
we nearly ignore it. Where X509 tried to place information in the
certificate, we place it outside at the name location. Even though SSL can
request client certificates in the browser, nobody does this, yet we build
on this little known feature. Self signed client certificates, which would
not have made sense in traditional PKI infrastructure, because they proove
nearly nothing about the client, is what we build everything on....
Ok, this is beginning to make sense. PGP via the web browser, using browser
mechanisms to install SSL client certificates. Looking for more background,
I found these:
http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/foaf_ssl_adding_security_to
foaf+ssl: adding security to open distributed social networks
http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/more_on_authorization_in_foaf
foaf+ssl: creating a web of trust without key signing parties
http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/building_secure_and_distributed_social
Building Secure, Open and Distributed Social Network Applications
...
I think it would be very useful to integrate FOAFiness with Xwiki's access
control: e.g. allow FOAFs passed document links in your wiki to
conditionally register/login and view/comment the given link/document.
Nonregistered users would be given access based on space-rights (if space
not publicly viewable, then access denied). By conditionally register/login,
I mean that you could place access control rules on how far you might want
to allow any private document to "spread" in a foaf network. E.g. some
documents would only be accessible by first-level friends, etc.
Is something like the above part of the "use case" for Foaf+SSL in Xwiki??
Niels
http://nielsmayer.com
10:44 a.m.
On 12 Feb 2010, at 05:10, Niels Mayer wrote:
I needed some more background on this, as it turned
out I was about to ask a
stupid question about who signs the certs, but that is basically answered
here:
http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/foaf_ssl_pki_and_the (foaf+ssl, pki and
the duck-rabbit)
Exactly. One could give access rights on parts of the wiki with rules such as
<http://xwiki.org/OSSGTP/> can only be edited by members of the
<http://www.ossgtp.org/members/#ossgtp> group and their friends.
So at <http://www.ossgtp.org/> there would be a foaf:Document describing the current
members, which could be updated periodically. Xwiki.org would get that document every so
often (or it could be pinged on changes).
One can imagine a lot of different scenarios....
Whereas PKI is used for hierarchical trust, we
use it to build a web of
trust. Where X509 certs built up a lot on the Distinguished Name hierarchy,
we nearly ignore it. Where X509 tried to place information in the
certificate, we place it outside at the name location. Even though SSL can
request client certificates in the browser, nobody does this, yet we build
on this little known feature. Self signed client certificates, which would
not have made sense in traditional PKI infrastructure, because they proove
nearly nothing about the client, is what we build everything on....
Ok, this is beginning to make sense. PGP via the web browser, using browser
mechanisms to install SSL client certificates. Looking for more background,
I found these:
http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/foaf_ssl_adding_security_to
foaf+ssl: adding security to open distributed social networks
http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/more_on_authorization_in_foaf
foaf+ssl: creating a web of trust without key signing parties
http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/building_secure_and_distributed_social
Building Secure, Open and Distributed Social Network Applications
...
I think it would be very useful to integrate FOAFiness with Xwiki's access
control: e.g. allow FOAFs passed document links in your wiki to
conditionally register/login and view/comment the given link/document.
Nonregistered users would be given access based on space-rights (if space
not publicly viewable, then access denied). By conditionally register/login,
I mean that you could place access control rules on how far you might want
to allow any private document to "spread" in a foaf network. E.g. some
documents would only be accessible by first-level friends, etc. Is something like the above part of the "use
case" for Foaf+SSL in Xwiki??
Those are use cases for foaf+ssl, and I think XWiki is an Operating System, with aim to
replace emacs, so yes you can do whatever you want ;-)
Henry
Niels
http://nielsmayer.com
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10:35 a.m.
On 11 Feb 2010, at 20:24, Sergiu Dumitriu wrote:
Yes, it is now defined in HTML5
http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html#the-keygen-element
(No we don't want people to edit their public/private keys. That would just cause
confusion.)
There are two keys that need to be mentioned here:
- the key from the browser: the browser will only send the public key to the server, so
it is up to the client to be careful about this
- the key of the Xwiki server that will sign the incoming keys
One could create a certificate on the fly per installation of an Xwiki server, as this
just needs to be self signed. Well it would be useful to make it a little specific, by for
example giving a reasonable LDAP name (Distinguished Name) to it
On 02/10/2010 12:44 PM, Story Henry wrote:
You can do it as shown here I think. This html calls this javascript:
http://github.com/harbulot/keygenapp/blob/master/samplewebapp/src/main/weba…
will call this javascript
http://github.com/harbulot/keygenapp/blob/master/samplewebapp/src/main/weba…
With IE one has to use an ActiveX component. We have not checked this out that much yet,
and it may be possible to do a lot better that that javascript....
More on http://esw.w3.org/topic/foaf+ssl
Hi,
Having got Xwiki to produce RDFa (very easy), and having switched of
Twitter to allow me to concentrate,I am now working on allowing a
user to click a button in his profile, and have it create a foaf+ssl
certificate (which is just a normal certificate, but with a URL in
the subject alternative name). The code for this is very simple:
http://github.com/harbulot/keygenapp/blob/master/samplewebapp/src/main/java…
(with a few lines of tweaks required to add the certificate
information to the profile page).
What happens is that a<keygen> XML element is added to a<form>
element in the user's profile page. This forces the browser (Safari,
Firefox, Opera) to create a<public, private> key pair and send the
public part to the servlet referred to above (MiniCaServlet). That
What about IE? Not that I like it, but most enterprise users are still
on IE6. servlet creates a certificate and sends it back
to an invisible
iframe. The browser then adds that cert to the keystore (this is done
automatically, it's part of browser behavior).
Do you have a link to some documentation about this behavior? So to move this code to XWiki, I understand I
should create a
component. I read about it here:
http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/WritingComponents
Yes, that's the right approach. You should also read about the new
scripting service, see http://jira.xwiki.org/jira/browse/XWIKI-4853 and
http://markmail.org/thread/g4z56pl734lng2ym
and it makes sense. From a component I can get
the user, and from
that I can get his profile page, and then I can add the public key
information to his profile (I wrote a RSAKeyClass in Xwiki to do
this).
RSAKeyClass as a class inside com.xpn.xwiki.objects.classes, similar to
PasswordClass, NumberClass and the like? Yes, that is good. You also
need a RSAKeyMetaClass in com.xpn.xwiki.objects.meta, and register it in
com.xpn.xwiki.objects.meta.MetaClass
Alternatively, you could just use the TextAreaClass for the moment,
although that's 0 security. The component should finally send the newly
generated certificate
back to the client, which it can do because it has access the the
HTTPServletResponse.
But where would I put such a component? In a specific wiki page?
Better as a jar inside WEB-INF/lib. Given that it adds a new property
type to the data model, it should be a key component inside the platform.
Does all that make sense? If not let me know
before I go and code it
up.
Looks good to me so far, but I have a couple more questions/suggestions:
- You must make sure that the private key can't be publicly accessed - What do you plan to do with these keys afterwards?
- The process that you described (browser creates key, sends public part
to server, server creates certificate and sends back to browser) does
not mention anything about what happens within the user profile. Could
you go into more details?
The user profile will show a public key marked up in RDFa. There could be a number of
them. See my profile http://bblfish.net/ for an example.
This is then used to authenticate the user. More on the wiki, but the short version is
here:
http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/foaf_ssl_adding_security_to
Henry
Henry
PS. It would be fun later to have the User's Profile page be a bit
Ajaxy, so that if it notices a change to the invisible iframe the
browser can make a reques to XWiki to refresh the table of public
keys displayed to the user.
Social Web Architect http://bblfish.net/
--
Sergiu Dumitriu
http://purl.org/net/sergiu/
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4 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
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Niels Mayer -
Sergiu Dumitriu -
Story Henry