Issue 2703:  How is a SecAttribute"s value field encoded (sec-rev)
Source:  (, )
Nature:  Clarification
Severity: 
Summary: Summary: How is a SecAttribute"s value field encoded? How is the
 defining_authority field encoded and what does it represent?
 
 The specification is unclear about this in the data module chapter,
 Appendix A. However, it is clear from the interoperability specification
 that the defining_authority if it exists, it is an OID.
 

Resolution: Close issue 2703 "How is a SecAttribute’s value field encoded"
Revised Text: Add the definition:
typedef sequence<octet> OID;
typedef sequence<OID> OIDList;
Modify the definition of SecAttribute to:
struct SecAttribute {
AttributeType attribute_type;
OID defining_authority;
Opaque value;
// The value of this attribute can be decoded
// only with the knowledge of the defining_authority
};
Note: This is a backwards compatible revision. Change Header of A.11.1 from "Attribute Types" to
"Security Attributes"
Replace the 3 bullet of paragraph 1586 with:
A defining authority. The field indicates the
authority responsible for defining the encoding
of the value field of the attribute. The defining
authority is defined as an octet sequence that is
an ASN.1 encoding of an OID. The entity referenced
by the OID defines the value’s encoding to/from
a sequence of octets. If the defining authority
field is empty (i.e. octet sequence of length
0), the defining authority is the OMG. The OMG
defines all attribute values to be a UTF-8 byte
encoding of a string value.
Replace the 4th bullet of paragraph 1586 with:
An attribute value. The attribute value is encoded as
an octet sequence. The encoding is specified by the
defining authority field.
Add the following after paragraph 1586:
Attributes used in the CORBA realm or CORBA
based security mechanisms have values of UTF-8
encoded strings, which is stipulated by an empty
sequence of octets for the defining authority
field. A defining authority field stipulating
different encodings for values is meant for
the representation of security attributes from
security mechanisms other than CORBA such that
the values of these attributes *cannot* be
represented as the standard OMG defined UTF-8
encoding of a string, or if such a mapping to
and from a string is not defined. Equality for
attributes is defined as structural equality based
on structural equality on the attribute type,
octet sequence equality on the defining authority,
and octet sequence equality of the value.
Actions taken:
June 4, 1999: received issue
June 18, 1999: closed issue
Discussion: 

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Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 15:24:12 -0400 (EDT)
From: Polar Humenn <polar@adiron.com>
To: issues@omg.org
Subject: Issue Security
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Document: Security 1.5
Severity: Clarification

How is a SecAttribute's value field encoded? How is the
defining_authority field encoded and what does it represent?

The specification is unclear about this in the data module chapter,
Appendix A. However, it is clear from the interoperability
specification
that the defining_authority if it exists, it is an OID.


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Polar Humenn                  Adiron, LLC
President                     2-212 Center for Science & Technology
mailto:polar@adiron.com       CASE Center/Syracuse University 
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