One document matched: draft-ietf-oauth-json-web-token-03.xml
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<rfc category="std" ipr="trust200902" docName="draft-ietf-oauth-json-web-token-03">
<front>
<title>JSON Web Token (JWT)</title>
<author fullname="Michael B. Jones" initials="M.B." surname="Jones">
<organization>Microsoft</organization>
<address>
<email>mbj@microsoft.com</email>
<uri>http://self-issued.info/</uri>
</address>
</author>
<author fullname="John Bradley" initials="J." surname="Bradley">
<organization abbrev="Ping Identity">Ping Identity</organization>
<address>
<email>ve7jtb@ve7jtb.com</email>
</address>
</author>
<author fullname="Nat Sakimura" initials="N." surname="Sakimura">
<organization abbrev="NRI">Nomura Research Institute</organization>
<address>
<email>n-sakimura@nri.co.jp</email>
</address>
</author>
<date day="30" month="July" year="2012" />
<area>Security</area>
<workgroup>OAuth Working Group</workgroup>
<keyword>RFC</keyword>
<keyword>Request for Comments</keyword>
<keyword>I-D</keyword>
<keyword>Internet-Draft</keyword>
<keyword>Assertion</keyword>
<keyword>Claim</keyword>
<keyword>Simple Web Token</keyword>
<keyword>Security Token</keyword>
<keyword>SWT</keyword>
<keyword>JavaScript Object Notation</keyword>
<keyword>JSON</keyword>
<keyword>JSON Web Token</keyword>
<keyword>JWT</keyword>
<keyword>JSON Web Signature</keyword>
<keyword>JWS</keyword>
<keyword>JSON Web Encryption</keyword>
<keyword>JWE</keyword>
<keyword>JSON Web Key</keyword>
<keyword>JWK</keyword>
<keyword>JSON Web Algorithms</keyword>
<keyword>JWA</keyword>
<abstract>
<t>
JSON Web Token (JWT) is a means of representing claims to be
transferred between two parties. The claims in a JWT are
encoded as a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
object that is digitally signed or MACed using JSON
Web Signature (JWS) and/or encrypted using JSON Web Encryption
(JWE).
</t>
<t>
The suggested pronunciation of JWT is the same as the English
word "jot".
</t>
</abstract>
</front>
<middle>
<section title="Introduction">
<t>
JSON Web Token (JWT) is a compact token format intended for
space constrained environments such as HTTP Authorization
headers and URI query parameters. JWTs encode claims to be
transmitted as a
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) <xref target="RFC4627"/>
object that is base64url encoded
and digitally signed or MACed and/or encrypted. Signing and MACing is
performed using JSON Web Signature (JWS) <xref target="JWS"/>.
Encryption is performed using
JSON Web Encryption (JWE) <xref target="JWE"/>.
</t>
<t>
The suggested pronunciation of JWT is the same as the English
word "jot".
</t>
<section title='Notational Conventions'>
<t>
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL",
"SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY",
and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as
described in
Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels <xref target='RFC2119' />.
</t>
</section>
</section>
<section title="Terminology">
<t>
<list style="hanging">
<t hangText="JSON Web Token (JWT)">
A string representing a set of claims as a JSON object that is
digitally signed or MACed and/or encrypted.
The string consists of multiple parts, the first being the
Encoded JWT Header, plus additional parts depending upon
the contents of the header, with the parts being separated
by period ('.') characters, and each part containing
base64url encoded content.
</t>
<t hangText="Base64url Encoding">
The URL- and filename-safe Base64 encoding
described in <xref target="RFC4648">RFC 4648</xref>,
Section 5, with the (non URL-safe) '=' padding characters
omitted, as permitted by Section 3.2. (See Appendix C of
<xref target="JWS" /> for notes on implementing base64url
encoding without padding.)
</t>
<t hangText="JWT Header">
A string representing a JSON object that
describes the cryptographic operations applied to the JWT.
When the JWT is digitally signed or MACed, the JWT Header is a JWS Header.
When the JWT is encrypted, the JWT Header is a JWE Header.
</t>
<t hangText="Header Parameter Name">
The name of a member of the JSON object representing a
JWT Header.
</t>
<t hangText="Header Parameter Value">
The value of a member of the JSON object representing a
JWT Header.
</t>
<t hangText="JWT Claims Set">
A string representing a JSON object that
contains the claims conveyed by the JWT.
When the JWT is digitally signed or MACed, the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of the
JWT Claims Set are base64url encoded to create the Encoded JWS Payload.
When the JWT is encrypted, the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of the
JWT Claims Set are used as the JWE Plaintext.
</t>
<t hangText="Claim Name">
The name of a member of the JSON object representing a
JWT Claims Set.
</t>
<t hangText="Claim Value">
The value of a member of the JSON object representing a
JWT Claims Set.
</t>
<t hangText="Encoded JWT Header">
Base64url encoding of the bytes of the
UTF-8 <xref target="RFC3629"/>
representation of the JWT Header.
</t>
<t hangText="Collision Resistant Namespace">
A namespace that allows names to be allocated in a manner
such that they are highly unlikely to collide with other names.
For instance, collision resistance can be achieved through
administrative delegation of portions of the namespace or
through use of collision-resistant name allocation functions.
Examples of Collision Resistant Namespaces include:
Domain Names,
Object Identifiers (OIDs) as defined in the ITU-T X.660
and X.670 Recommendation series, and
Universally Unique IDentifiers (UUIDs)
<xref target="RFC4122"/>.
When using an administratively delegated namespace,
the definer of a name needs to take
reasonable precautions to ensure they are in control of
the portion of the namespace they use to define the name.
</t>
<t hangText="StringOrURI">
A JSON string value, with the additional requirement that
while arbitrary string values MAY be used, any value
containing a ":" character MUST be a URI
<xref target="RFC3986"/>.
StringOrURI values are compared as case-sensitive strings
with no transformations or canonicalizations applied.
</t>
<t hangText="IntDate">
A JSON numeric value representing the number of seconds
from 1970-01-01T0:0:0Z UTC until the specified UTC date/time.
See <xref target="RFC3339">RFC 3339</xref> for details
regarding date/times in general and UTC in particular.
</t>
</list>
</t>
</section>
<section title="JSON Web Token (JWT) Overview">
<t>
JWTs represent a set of claims as a JSON object that is
base64url encoded and digitally signed or MACed and/or
encrypted. The JWT Claims Set represents this JSON object.
As per <xref target="RFC4627">RFC 4627</xref>
Section 2.2, the JSON object consists of zero or more
name/value pairs (or members), where the names are strings and
the values are arbitrary JSON values. These members are the
claims represented by the JWT.
</t>
<t>
The member names within the JWT Claims Set are
referred to as Claim Names. The
corresponding values are referred to as Claim Values.
</t>
<t>
The bytes of the UTF-8 representation of the JWT Claims Set
are digitally signed or MACed in the manner described in JSON Web Signature (JWS)
<xref target="JWS" /> and/or encrypted in the manner described
in JSON Web Encryption (JWE) <xref target="JWE" />.
</t>
<t>
The contents of the JWT Header describe the cryptographic
operations applied to the JWT Claims Set.
If the JWT Header is a JWS Header, the claims are digitally signed or MACed.
If the JWT Header is a JWE Header, the claims are encrypted.
</t>
<t>
A JWT is represented as a JWS or JWE. The number of parts is
dependent upon the representation of the resulting JWS or JWE.
</t>
<section title="Example JWT" anchor="ExampleJWT">
<t>
The following example JWT Header declares that the
encoded object is a JSON Web Token (JWT) and the JWT is
MACed using the HMAC SHA-256 algorithm:
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
{"typ":"JWT",
"alg":"HS256"}
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
Base64url encoding the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of
the JWT Header yields this Encoded JWS Header value,
which is used as the Encoded JWT Header:
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLA0KICJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
The following is an example of a JWT Claims Set:
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
{"iss":"joe",
"exp":1300819380,
"http://example.com/is_root":true}
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
Base64url encoding the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of
the JSON Claims Set yields this Encoded JWS Payload
(with line breaks for display purposes only):
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly
9leGFtcGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
Signing the Encoded JWS Header and Encoded JWS Payload with
the HMAC SHA-256 algorithm and base64url encoding the
signature in the manner specified in <xref target="JWS" />,
yields this Encoded JWS Signature:
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
dBjftJeZ4CVP-mB92K27uhbUJU1p1r_wW1gFWFOEjXk
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
Concatenating these parts in this order
with period characters between the
parts yields this complete JWT (with line breaks for
display purposes only):
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLA0KICJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9
.
eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ
.
dBjftJeZ4CVP-mB92K27uhbUJU1p1r_wW1gFWFOEjXk
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
This computation is illustrated in more detail in <xref
target="JWS" />, Appendix A.1.
See <xref target="EncryptedJWT"/> for an example of
an encrypted JWT.
</t>
</section>
</section>
<section title="JWT Claims">
<t>
The JWT Claims Set represents a JSON object whose members
are the claims conveyed by the JWT.
The Claim Names within this object MUST be unique;
JWTs with duplicate Claim Names MUST be rejected.
Note however, that the set of claims that a
JWT must contain to be considered valid is context-dependent
and is outside the scope of this specification. When used in
a security-related context, implementations MUST understand
and support all of the claims present; otherwise, the JWT MUST
be rejected for processing.
</t>
<t>
There are three classes of JWT Claim Names: Reserved Claim
Names, Public Claim Names, and Private Claim Names.
</t>
<section title="Reserved Claim Names" anchor="ReservedClaimName">
<t>
The following claim names are reserved. None of the claims
defined below are intended to be mandatory, but
rather, provide a starting point for a set of useful,
interoperable claims. All the names are short because a
core goal of JWTs is for the tokens to be compact.
Additional reserved claim names MAY be defined via the
IANA JSON Web Token Claims registry <xref target="JWTClaimsReg" />.
</t>
<section title='"exp" (Expiration Time) Claim' anchor="expDef">
<t>
The <spanx style="verb">exp</spanx> (expiration time)
claim identifies the expiration time on or after which the
token MUST NOT be accepted for processing. The processing
of the <spanx style="verb">exp</spanx> claim requires that
the current date/time MUST be before the expiration
date/time listed in the <spanx style="verb">exp</spanx>
claim. Implementers MAY provide for some small leeway,
usually no more than a few minutes, to account for clock skew.
Its value MUST be a number containing an IntDate value.
This claim is OPTIONAL.
</t>
</section>
<section title='"nbf" (Not Before) Claim' anchor="nbfDef">
<t>
The <spanx style="verb">nbf</spanx> (not before) claim
identifies the time before which the token MUST NOT be
accepted for processing. The processing of the <spanx
style="verb">nbf</spanx> claim requires that the current
date/time MUST be after or equal to the not-before
date/time listed in the <spanx style="verb">nbf</spanx>
claim. Implementers MAY provide for some small leeway,
usually no more than a few minutes, to account for clock skew.
Its value MUST be a number containing an IntDate value.
This claim is OPTIONAL.
</t>
</section>
<section title='"iat" (Issued At) Claim' anchor="iatDef">
<t>
The <spanx style="verb">iat</spanx> (issued at) claim
identifies the time at which the JWT was issued. This
claim can be used to determine the age of the token.
Its value MUST be a number containing an IntDate value.
This claim is OPTIONAL.
</t>
</section>
<section title='"iss" (Issuer) Claim' anchor="issDef">
<t>
The <spanx style="verb">iss</spanx> (issuer) claim
identifies the principal that issued the JWT. The
processing of this claim is generally application
specific.
The <spanx style="verb">iss</spanx> value is a case sensitive string
containing a StringOrURI value.
This claim is OPTIONAL.
</t>
</section>
<section title='"aud" (Audience) Claim' anchor="audDef">
<t>
The <spanx style="verb">aud</spanx> (audience) claim
identifies the audience that the JWT is intended for. The
principal intended to process the JWT MUST be identified
with the value of the audience claim. If the principal
processing the claim does not identify itself with the
identifier in the <spanx style="verb">aud</spanx> claim
value then the JWT MUST be rejected. The interpretation
of the audience value is generally
application specific.
The <spanx style="verb">aud</spanx> value is a case sensitive string
containing a StringOrURI value.
This claim is OPTIONAL.
</t>
</section>
<section title='"prn" (Principal) Claim' anchor="prnDef">
<t>
The <spanx style="verb">prn</spanx> (principal) claim
identifies the subject of the JWT. The processing of this
claim is generally application specific.
The <spanx style="verb">prn</spanx> value is a case sensitive string
containing a StringOrURI value.
This claim is OPTIONAL.
</t>
</section>
<section title='"jti" (JWT ID) Claim' anchor="jtiDef">
<t>
The <spanx style="verb">jti</spanx> (JWT ID) claim
provides a unique identifier for the JWT. The identifier
value MUST be assigned in a manner that ensures that there
is a negligible probability that the same value will be
accidentally assigned to a different data object. The
<spanx style="verb">jti</spanx> claim can be used to
prevent the JWT from being replayed.
The <spanx style="verb">jti</spanx> value is a case sensitive string.
This claim is OPTIONAL.
</t>
</section>
<section title='"typ" (Type) Claim' anchor="typDef">
<t>
The <spanx style="verb">typ</spanx> (type) claim is used
to declare a type for the contents of this JWT Claims Set.
The <spanx style="verb">typ</spanx> value is a case sensitive string.
This claim is OPTIONAL.
</t>
<t>
The values used for the <spanx style="verb">typ</spanx>
claim come from the same value space as the
<spanx style="verb">typ</spanx> header parameter,
with the same rules applying.
</t>
</section>
</section>
<section title="Public Claim Names" anchor="PublicClaimName">
<t>
Claim names can be defined at will by those using
JWTs. However, in order to prevent collisions, any new claim
name SHOULD either be registered in the IANA
JSON Web Token Claims registry <xref target="JWTClaimsReg" /> or be
a URI that contains a Collision Resistant Namespace.
</t>
</section>
<section title="Private Claim Names" anchor="PrivateClaimName">
<t>
A producer and consumer of a JWT may agree to any claim
name that is not a Reserved Name <xref
target="ReservedClaimName"></xref> or a Public Name <xref
target="PublicClaimName"></xref>. Unlike Public Names,
these private names are subject to collision and should be
used with caution.
</t>
</section>
</section>
<section title="JWT Header">
<t>
The members of the JSON object represented by the JWT Header
describe the cryptographic operations applied to the JWT and
optionally, additional properties of the JWT.
The member names within the JWT Header are
referred to as Header Parameter Names.
These names MUST be unique;
JWTs with duplicate Header Parameter Names MUST be rejected.
The corresponding values are referred to as Header Parameter Values.
</t>
<t>
Implementations MUST understand the entire contents of the
header; otherwise, the JWT MUST be rejected for processing.
</t>
<t>
JWS Header Parameters are defined by <xref target="JWS" />.
JWE Header Parameters are defined by <xref target="JWE" />.
This specification further specifies the use of the following
header parameter in both the cases where the JWT is a JWS and
where it is a JWE.
</t>
<section title='"typ" (Type) Header Parameter' anchor="typHdrDef">
<t>
The <spanx style="verb">typ</spanx> (type) header parameter
is used to declare the type of this object.
If present, it is RECOMMENDED that its value be either "JWT" or
"urn:ietf:params:oauth:token-type:jwt" to indicate that this object is a JWT.
The <spanx style="verb">typ</spanx> value is a case sensitive string.
This header parameter is OPTIONAL.
</t>
</section>
<section title='"cty" (Content Type) Header Parameter' anchor="ctyHdrDef">
<t>
The <spanx style="verb">cty</spanx> (content type) header parameter
is used to declare structural information about the JWT.
Its value MUST be a string.
</t>
<t>
In the normal case where nested signing or encryption
operations are not employed, the use of this header
parameter is NOT RECOMMENDED.
In the case that nested signing or encryption is
employed, the use of this header parameter is REQUIRED; in
this case, the value MUST be "JWT", to indicate that
a nested JWT is carried in this JWT.
</t>
<t>
The values used for the <spanx style="verb">cty</spanx>
header parameter come from the same value space as the
<spanx style="verb">typ</spanx> header parameter,
with the same rules applying.
</t>
</section>
</section>
<section title="Plaintext JWTs" anchor="Plaintext">
<t>
To support use cases where the JWT content is secured by a
means other than a signature and/or encryption contained
within the token (such as a signature on a data structure
containing the token), JWTs MAY also be created without a
signature or encryption. A plaintext JWT is a JWS using the
<spanx style="verb">none</spanx> JWS <spanx
style="verb">alg</spanx> header parameter value defined in
JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) <xref target="JWA" />; it is a
JWS with an empty JWS Signature value.
</t>
<section title="Example Plaintext JWT" anchor="ExamplePlaintextJWT">
<t>
The following example JWT Header declares that the
encoded object is a Plaintext JWT:
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
{"alg":"none"}
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
Base64url encoding the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of
the JWT Header yields this Encoded JWT Header:
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
eyJhbGciOiJub25lIn0
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
The following is an example of a JWT Claims Set:
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
{"iss":"joe",
"exp":1300819380,
"http://example.com/is_root":true}
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
Base64url encoding the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of
the JSON Claims Set yields this Encoded JWS Payload
(with line breaks for display purposes only):
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
The Encoded JWS Signature is the empty string.
</t>
<t>
Concatenating these parts in this order
with period characters between the
parts yields this complete JWT (with line breaks for
display purposes only):
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
eyJhbGciOiJub25lIn0
.
eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ
.
]]></artwork></figure>
</section>
</section>
<section title="Rules for Creating and Validating a JWT">
<t>
To create a JWT, one MUST perform these steps. The order of
the steps is not significant in cases where there are no
dependencies between the inputs and outputs of the steps.
<list style="numbers">
<t>
Create a JWT Claims Set containing the desired claims.
Note that white space is explicitly allowed in the
representation and no canonicalization is performed before
encoding.
</t>
<t>
Let the Message be the bytes of the UTF-8 representation
of the JWT Claims Set.
</t>
<t>
Create a JWT Header containing the desired set of header
parameters. The JWT
MUST conform to either the <xref target="JWS" /> or <xref
target="JWE" /> specifications.
Note that white
space is explicitly allowed in the representation and no
canonicalization is performed before encoding.
</t>
<t>
Base64url encode the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of
the JWT Header. Let this be the Encoded JWT Header.
</t>
<t>
Depending upon whether the JWT is a JWS or JWE,
there are two cases:
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
If the JWT is a JWS, create a JWS using the JWT
Header as the JWS Header and the Message as the JWS
Payload; all steps specified in <xref target="JWS" />
for creating a JWS MUST be followed.
</t>
<t>
Else, if the JWT is a JWE, create a JWE using the
JWT Header as the JWE Header and the Message as the
JWE Plaintext; all steps specified in <xref
target="JWE" /> for creating a JWE MUST be followed.
</t>
</list>
</t>
<t>
If a nested signing or encryption operation will be
performed, let the Message be the JWS or JWE, and
return to Step 3, using a <spanx style="verb">cty</spanx> (content type)
value of "JWT" in the new JWT Header created in that step.
</t>
<t>
Otherwise, let the resulting JWT be the JWS or JWE.
</t>
</list>
</t>
<t>
When validating a JWT the following steps MUST be taken. The
order of the steps is not significant in cases where there are
no dependencies between the inputs and outputs of the steps.
If any of the listed steps fails then the token MUST be
rejected for processing.
</t>
<t>
<list style="numbers">
<t>
The JWT MUST contain at least one period character.
</t>
<t>
Let the Encoded JWT Header be the portion of the JWT
before the first period character.
</t>
<t>
The Encoded JWT Header MUST be successfully base64url
decoded following the restriction given in this
specification that no padding characters have been used.
</t>
<t>
The resulting JWT Header MUST be completely valid JSON syntax
conforming to <xref target="RFC4627">RFC 4627</xref>.
</t>
<t>
The resulting JWT Header MUST be validated to only include
parameters and values whose syntax and semantics are both
understood and supported.
</t>
<t>
Determine whether the JWT is a JWS or a JWE by
examining the <spanx style="verb">alg</spanx>
(algorithm) header value and optionally, the <spanx
style="verb">enc</spanx> (encryption method) header value,
if present.
</t>
<t>
Depending upon whether the JWT is a JWS or JWE,
there are two cases:
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
If the JWT is a JWS, all steps specified in <xref
target="JWS" /> for validating a JWS MUST be followed.
Let the Message be the result of base64url decoding
the JWS Payload.
</t>
<t>
Else, if the JWT is a JWE, all steps specified in <xref
target="JWE" /> for validating a JWE MUST be followed.
Let the Message be the JWE Plaintext.
</t>
</list>
</t>
<t>
If the JWT Header contains a <spanx style="verb">cty</spanx> (content type)
value of "JWT",
then the Message contains a JWT that was the subject of
nested signing or encryption operations. In
this case, return to Step 1, using the Message as the JWT.
</t>
<t>
Otherwise, let the JWT Claims Set be the Message.
</t>
<t>
The JWT Claims Set MUST be completely valid
JSON syntax conforming to <xref target="RFC4627">RFC
4627</xref>.
</t>
<t>
When used in a security-related context, the
JWT Claims Set MUST be validated to only include claims
whose syntax and semantics are both understood and
supported.
</t>
</list>
</t>
<t>
Processing a JWT inevitably requires comparing known strings
to values in the token. For example, in checking what the
algorithm is, the Unicode string encoding <spanx style="verb">alg</spanx> will be
checked against the member names in the JWT Header
to see if there is a matching header parameter
name. A similar process occurs when determining if the value
of the <spanx style="verb">alg</spanx> header parameter represents a supported
algorithm.
</t>
<t>
Comparisons between JSON strings and other Unicode strings
MUST be performed as specified below:
<list style="numbers">
<t>
Remove any JSON applied escaping to produce an array of
Unicode code points.
</t>
<t>
<xref target="USA15">Unicode Normalization</xref> MUST NOT
be applied at any point to either the JSON string or to
the string it is to be compared against.
</t>
<t>
Comparisons between the two strings MUST be performed as a
Unicode code point to code point equality comparison.
</t>
</list>
</t>
</section>
<section title="Cryptographic Algorithms" anchor="Algorithms">
<t>
JWTs use JSON Web Signature (JWS) <xref target="JWS" /> and
JSON Web Encryption (JWE) <xref target="JWE" /> to sign and/or
encrypt the contents of the JWT.
</t>
<t>
Of the JWS signing algorithms, only HMAC SHA-256 and <spanx
style="verb">none</spanx> MUST be
implemented by conforming JWT implementations. It is
RECOMMENDED that implementations also support the RSA SHA-256
and ECDSA P-256 SHA-256 algorithms. Support for other
algorithms and key sizes is OPTIONAL.
</t>
<t>
If an implementation provides encryption capabilities,
of the JWE encryption algorithms, only RSA-PKCS1-1.5 with 2048 bit keys,
AES-128-KW, AES-256-KW,
AES-128-CBC, and AES-256-CBC MUST be implemented by conforming
implementations. It is RECOMMENDED that implementations also
support ECDH-ES with 256 bit keys, AES-128-GCM, and
AES-256-GCM. Support for other algorithms and key sizes is
OPTIONAL.
</t>
</section>
<section title="IANA Considerations" anchor="IANA">
<section title="JSON Web Token Claims Registry" anchor="JWTClaimsReg">
<t>
This specification establishes the
IANA JSON Web Token Claims registry
for reserved JWT Claim Names.
The registry records the reserved Claim Name
and a reference to the specification that defines it.
This specification registers the Claim Names
defined in <xref target="ReservedClaimName"></xref>.
</t>
<t>
Values are registered with a Specification Required
<xref target="RFC5226"/> after a two week review period on the [TBD]@ietf.org mailing
list, on the advice of one or more Designated Experts. However, to allow for the
allocation of values prior to publication, the Designated Expert(s) may approve
registration once they are satisfied that such a specification will be published.
</t>
<t>
Registration requests must be sent to the [TBD]@ietf.org mailing list for review and
comment, with an appropriate subject (e.g., "Request for access token type: example").
[[ Note to RFC-EDITOR: The name of the mailing list should be determined in consultation
with the IESG and IANA. Suggested name: claims-reg-review. ]]
</t>
<t>
Within the review period, the Designated Expert(s) will either approve or
deny the registration request, communicating this decision to the review list and IANA.
Denials should include an explanation and, if applicable, suggestions as to how to make
the request successful.
</t>
<t>
IANA must only accept registry updates from the Designated Expert(s), and should direct
all requests for registration to the review mailing list.
</t>
<section title='Registration Template'>
<t>
<list style='hanging'>
<t hangText='Claim Name:'>
<vspace />
The name requested (e.g., "example").
This name is case sensitive. Names that match other registered names
in a case insensitive manner SHOULD NOT be accepted.
</t>
<t hangText='Change Controller:'>
<vspace />
For standards-track RFCs, state "IETF". For others, give the name of the
responsible party. Other details (e.g., postal address, e-mail address, home page
URI) may also be included.
</t>
<t hangText='Specification Document(s):'>
<vspace />
Reference to the document that specifies the parameter, preferably including a URI that
can be used to retrieve a copy of the document. An indication of the relevant
sections may also be included, but is not required.
</t>
</list>
</t>
</section>
<section title='Initial Registry Contents'>
<t>
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Claim Name: <spanx style="verb">exp</spanx>
</t>
<t>
Change Controller: IETF
</t>
<t>
Specification Document(s): <xref target="expDef"/> of [[ this document ]]
</t>
</list>
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Claim Name: <spanx style="verb">nbf</spanx>
</t>
<t>
Change Controller: IETF
</t>
<t>
Specification Document(s): <xref target="nbfDef"/> of [[ this document ]]
</t>
</list>
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Claim Name: <spanx style="verb">iat</spanx>
</t>
<t>
Change Controller: IETF
</t>
<t>
Specification Document(s): <xref target="iatDef"/> of [[ this document ]]
</t>
</list>
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Claim Name: <spanx style="verb">iss</spanx>
</t>
<t>
Change Controller: IETF
</t>
<t>
Specification Document(s): <xref target="issDef"/> of [[ this document ]]
</t>
</list>
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Claim Name: <spanx style="verb">aud</spanx>
</t>
<t>
Change Controller: IETF
</t>
<t>
Specification Document(s): <xref target="audDef"/> of [[ this document ]]
</t>
</list>
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Claim Name: <spanx style="verb">prn</spanx>
</t>
<t>
Change Controller: IETF
</t>
<t>
Specification Document(s): <xref target="prnDef"/> of [[ this document ]]
</t>
</list>
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Claim Name: <spanx style="verb">jti</spanx>
</t>
<t>
Change Controller: IETF
</t>
<t>
Specification Document(s): <xref target="jtiDef"/> of [[ this document ]]
</t>
</list>
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Claim Name: <spanx style="verb">typ</spanx>
</t>
<t>
Change Controller: IETF
</t>
<t>
Specification Document(s): <xref target="typDef"/> of [[ this document ]]
</t>
</list>
</t>
</section>
</section>
<section title='Sub-Namespace Registration of urn:ietf:params:oauth:token-type:jwt'>
<section title='Registry Contents'>
<t>
This specification registers the value
<spanx style='verb'>token-type:jwt</spanx> in the
IANA urn:ietf:params:oauth registry established in
<xref target="I-D.ietf-oauth-urn-sub-ns">An IETF URN Sub-Namespace for OAuth</xref>.
<list style='symbols'>
<t>URN: urn:ietf:params:oauth:token-type:jwt</t>
<t>Common Name: JSON Web Token (JWT) Token Type</t>
<t>Change Controller: IETF</t>
<t>Specification Document(s): [[this document]]</t>
</list>
</t>
</section>
</section>
<section title='JSON Web Signature and Encryption Type Values Registration'>
<section title='Registry Contents'>
<t>
This specification registers the <spanx style='verb'>JWT</spanx>
type value in the
IANA JSON Web Signature and Encryption Type Values registry <xref target="JWS"/>:
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
"typ" Header Parameter Value: <spanx style='verb'>JWT</spanx>
</t>
<t>
Abbreviation for MIME Type: application/jwt
</t>
<t>
Change Controller: IETF
</t>
<t>
Specification Document(s): <xref target="typHdrDef"/> of [[ this document ]]
</t>
</list>
</t>
</section>
</section>
<section title="Media Type Registration">
<section title='Registry Contents'>
<t>
This specification registers the <spanx
style="verb">application/jwt</spanx> Media Type <xref target="RFC2046"/>
in the MIME Media Type registry <xref target="RFC4288"/>
to indicate that the content is a JWT.
<list style="symbols">
<t>
Type Name: application
</t>
<t>
Subtype Name: jwt
</t>
<t>
Required Parameters: n/a
</t>
<t>
Optional Parameters: n/a
</t>
<t>
Encoding considerations: JWT values are encoded as a
series of base64url encoded values (some of which may be the
empty string) separated by period ('.') characters
</t>
<t>
Security Considerations: See the Security Considerations section of this document
</t>
<t>
Interoperability Considerations: n/a
</t>
<t>
Published Specification: [[ this document ]]
</t>
<t>
Applications that use this media type:
OpenID Connect, Mozilla Browser ID, Salesforce, Google, numerous others
</t>
<t>
Additional Information:
Magic number(s): n/a,
File extension(s): n/a,
Macintosh file type code(s): n/a
</t>
<t>
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Michael B. Jones, mbj@microsoft.com
</t>
<t>
Intended Usage: COMMON
</t>
<t>
Restrictions on Usage: none
</t>
<t>
Author: Michael B. Jones, mbj@microsoft.com
</t>
<t>
Change Controller: IETF
</t>
</list>
</t>
</section>
</section>
</section>
<section title="Security Considerations" anchor="Security">
<t>
All of the security issues faced by any cryptographic application
must be faced by a JWT/JWS/JWE/JWK agent. Among these issues are protecting
the user's private key, preventing various attacks, and helping the
user avoid mistakes such as inadvertently encrypting a message for
the wrong recipient. The entire list of security considerations is
beyond the scope of this document, but some significant concerns are
listed here.
</t>
<t>
All the security considerations in the JWS specification also
apply to JWT, as do the JWE security considerations when
encryption is employed. In particular, the JWS
JSON Security Considerations and Unicode Comparison Security Considerations
apply equally to the JWT Claims Set in the same manner that
they do to the JWS Header.
</t>
</section>
<section title="Open Issues" anchor="TBD">
<t>
[[ to be removed by the RFC editor before publication as an RFC ]]
</t>
<t>
The following items remain to be considered or done in this draft:
<list style="symbols">
<t>
Track changes to the underlying JOSE specifications.
</t>
</list>
</t>
</section>
</middle>
<back>
<references title="Normative References">
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.2119.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.2046.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.3339.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.3629.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.3986.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.4288.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.4627.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.4648.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.5226.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml3/reference.I-D.draft-ietf-oauth-urn-sub-ns-06.xml' ?>
<reference anchor="USA15">
<front>
<title>Unicode Normalization Forms</title>
<author fullname="Mark Davis" initials="M." surname="Davis">
<address>
<email>markdavis@google.com</email>
</address>
</author>
<author fullname="Ken Whistler" initials="K." surname="Whistler">
<address>
<email>ken@unicode.org</email>
</address>
</author>
<author fullname="Martin Dürst" initials="M."
surname="Dürst"></author>
<date day="03" month="09" year="2009" />
</front>
<seriesInfo name="Unicode Standard Annex" value="15" />
</reference>
<reference anchor="JWS">
<front>
<title>JSON Web Signature (JWS)</title>
<author fullname="Michael B. Jones" initials="M.B." surname="Jones">
<organization>Microsoft</organization>
<address>
<email>mbj@microsoft.com</email>
<uri>http://self-issued.info/</uri>
</address>
</author>
<author fullname="John Bradley" initials="J." surname="Bradley">
<organization abbrev="Ping Identity">Ping Identity</organization>
<address>
<email>ve7jtb@ve7jtb.com</email>
</address>
</author>
<author fullname="Nat Sakimura" initials="N." surname="Sakimura">
<organization abbrev="NRI">Nomura Research Institute</organization>
<address>
<email>n-sakimura@nri.co.jp</email>
</address>
</author>
<date day="30" month="July" year="2012" />
</front>
<format target="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-jose-json-web-signature" type="HTML" />
</reference>
<reference anchor="JWE">
<front>
<title>JSON Web Encryption (JWE)</title>
<author fullname="Michael B. Jones" initials="M.B." surname="Jones">
<organization>Microsoft</organization>
<address>
<email>mbj@microsoft.com</email>
<uri>http://self-issued.info/</uri>
</address>
</author>
<author fullname="Eric Rescorla" initials="E." surname="Rescorla">
<organization abbrev="RTFM">RTFM, Inc.</organization>
<address>
<email>ekr@rtfm.com</email>
</address>
</author>
<author fullname="Joe Hildebrand" initials="J." surname="Hildebrand">
<organization abbrev="Cisco">Cisco Systems, Inc.</organization>
<address>
<email>jhildebr@cisco.com</email>
</address>
</author>
<date day="30" month="July" year="2012" />
</front>
<format target="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-jose-json-web-encryption" type="HTML" />
</reference>
<reference anchor="JWA">
<front>
<title>JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)</title>
<author fullname="Michael B. Jones" initials="M.B." surname="Jones">
<organization>Microsoft</organization>
<address>
<email>mbj@microsoft.com</email>
<uri>http://self-issued.info/</uri>
</address>
</author>
<date day="30" month="July" year="2012" />
</front>
<format target="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-jose-json-web-algorithms" type="HTML" />
</reference>
</references>
<references title="Informative References">
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.3275.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.4122.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml2/reference.OASIS.saml-core-2.0-os.xml' ?>
<?rfc include='http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml4/reference.W3C.CR-xml11-20021015.xml' ?>
<reference anchor="SWT">
<front>
<title>Simple Web Token (SWT)</title>
<author fullname="Dick Hardt" initials="D." surname="Hardt"></author>
<author fullname="Yaron Y. Goland" initials="Y.Y." surname="Goland"></author>
<date day="4" month="November" year="2009" />
</front>
<seriesInfo name="Version" value="0.9.5.1" />
<format target="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh781551.aspx" type="HTML" />
</reference>
<reference anchor="MagicSignatures">
<front>
<title>Magic Signatures</title>
<author fullname="John Panzer (editor)" initials="J." surname="Panzer (editor)"></author>
<author fullname="Ben Laurie" initials="B." surname="Laurie"></author>
<author fullname="Dirk Balfanz" initials="D." surname="Balfanz"></author>
<date day="7" month="January" year="2011" />
</front>
<format target="http://salmon-protocol.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/draft-panzer-magicsig-01.html" type="HTML" />
</reference>
<reference anchor="JSS">
<front>
<title>JSON Simple Sign</title>
<author fullname="John Bradley" initials="J." surname="Bradley">
<organization>independent</organization>
</author>
<author fullname="Nat Sakimura (editor)" initials="N. " surname="Sakimura (editor)">
<organization abbrev="NRI">Nomura Research Institute</organization>
</author>
<date month="September" year="2010" />
</front>
<format target="http://jsonenc.info/jss/1.0/" type="HTML" />
</reference>
<reference anchor="CanvasApp">
<front>
<title>Canvas Applications</title>
<author fullname="Facebook" surname="Facebook"></author>
<date year="2010" />
</front>
<format target="http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/canvas" type="HTML" />
</reference>
</references>
<section title="Example Encrypted JWT" anchor="EncryptedJWT">
<t>
This example encrypts the same claims as used in <xref target="ExampleJWT"/>
to the recipient using RSAES-PKCS1-V1_5 and AES CBC.
AES CBC does not have an integrated integrity check,
so a separate integrity check calculation is performed using HMAC SHA-256,
with separate encryption and integrity keys being derived from a master key
using the Concat KDF with the SHA-256 digest function.
</t>
<t>
The following example JWE Header (with line breaks for display purposes only) declares that:
<list style="symbols">
<t>
the Content Master Key is encrypted to the recipient
using the RSAES-PKCS1-V1_5 algorithm to produce the JWE
Encrypted Key,
</t>
<t>
the Plaintext is encrypted using the AES CBC
algorithm with a 128 bit key to produce the Ciphertext,
</t>
<t>
the JWE Integrity Value safeguarding the integrity of the
Ciphertext and the parameters used to create it was
computed with the HMAC SHA-256 algorithm, and
</t>
<t>
the 128 bit Initialization Vector (IV) with the
base64url encoding <spanx
style="verb">AxY8DCtDaGlsbGljb3RoZQ</spanx> was used.
</t>
</list>
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
{"alg":"RSA1_5","enc":"A128CBC","int":"HS256","iv":"AxY8DCtDaGls
bGljb3RoZQ"}
]]></artwork></figure>
<t>
Other than using the bytes of the UTF-8 representation of
the JSON Claims Set from <xref target="ExampleJWT"/>
as the plaintext value, the computation of this JWT is
identical to the computation of the JWE in
Appendix A.2 of <xref target="JWE"/>,
including the keys used.
</t>
<t>
The final result in this example
(with line breaks for display purposes only) is:
</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
eyJhbGciOiJSU0ExXzUiLCJlbmMiOiJBMTI4Q0JDIiwiaW50IjoiSFMyNTYiLCJp
diI6IkF4WThEQ3REYUdsc2JHbGpiM1JvWlEifQ.
VjBkk22MjrFUMUl8ItbS8CjKjku4HQz4RiHD0eVG4dir-7XbDkPr1q6YtnN1X-av
1EKmEnsrbhSxTvqtY4oEbWKLoEQ7zVm_0BW-rnwxdwrj4QJrhXGnqIL6bC4waZVJ
qYhVQIahVWSQsCRcS1oYXA-2GhT6rk91y118DUkhGDsvdK2_hQsNGE6BQVN1i-Xw
Uoz5sM6_0PRQ1FsYnJATMjVZfa4otHiooZ_KcOlSWIDxhMDqfPOu60--1ej0eZBy
O7Ar_IZvzPAWqJ9agGFQIVGRZviXhN0WeErq9fVTcgeSUPsmurRSTYhTrNFLojqP
qqk8pI61kn8GmZxA80-RUQ.
7kLQQst655TUxmDzysjRLXnD-nfLK5EQK7ODAUkwxc0aRb9NOgu0EMJgOR6Vz8eN
baf8six_OP6BRyUTYrCkH73-inD6Rc-7vc9eC5fcfSM.
COyXNSm-CdfAL22WIKcoyCgQwb85aLW3ttDkzNj_1Wg
]]></artwork></figure>
</section>
<section title="Relationship of JWTs to SAML Tokens">
<t>
<xref target="OASIS.saml-core-2.0-os">SAML 2.0</xref> provides
a standard for creating tokens with much greater expressivity
and more security options than supported by JWTs. However, the
cost of this flexibility and expressiveness is both size and
complexity. In addition, SAML's use of <xref
target="W3C.CR-xml11-20021015">XML</xref> and <xref
target="RFC3275">XML DSIG</xref> only contributes to the size
of SAML tokens.
</t>
<t>
JWTs are intended to provide a simple token format that is
small enough to fit into HTTP headers and query arguments in
URIs. It does this by supporting a much simpler token model
than SAML and using the <xref target="RFC4627">JSON</xref>
object encoding syntax. It also supports securing tokens using
Message Authentication Codes (MACs) and digital
signatures using a smaller (and less flexible) format than XML
DSIG.
</t>
<t>
Therefore, while JWTs can do some of the things SAML tokens
do, JWTs are not intended as a full replacement for SAML
tokens, but rather as a compromise token format to be used
when space is at a premium.
</t>
</section>
<section title="Relationship of JWTs to Simple Web Tokens (SWTs)">
<t>
Both JWTs and Simple Web Tokens <xref target="SWT">SWT</xref>,
at their core, enable sets of claims to be communicated
between applications. For SWTs, both the claim names and
claim values are strings. For JWTs, while claim names are
strings, claim values can be any JSON type. Both token types
offer cryptographic protection of their content: SWTs with
HMAC SHA-256 and JWTs with a choice of algorithms, including
HMAC SHA-256, RSA SHA-256, and ECDSA P-256 SHA-256.
</t>
</section>
<section title="Acknowledgements" anchor="Acknowledgements">
<t>
The authors acknowledge that the design of JWTs was
intentionally influenced by the design and simplicity of <xref
target="SWT">Simple Web Tokens</xref> and ideas for JSON
tokens that Dick Hardt discussed within the OpenID community.
</t>
<t>
Solutions for signing JSON content were previously explored by
<xref target="MagicSignatures">Magic Signatures</xref>, <xref
target="JSS">JSON Simple Sign</xref>, and <xref
target="CanvasApp">Canvas Applications</xref>, all of which
influenced this draft.
Dirk Balfanz, Yaron Y. Goland, John Panzer, and Paul Tarjan
all made significant contributions to the design of this
specification.
</t>
</section>
<section title='Document History'>
<t>
[[ to be removed by the RFC editor before publication as an RFC ]]
</t>
<t>
-03
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Added statement that
"StringOrURI values are compared as case-sensitive strings
with no transformations or canonicalizations applied".
</t>
<t>
Indented artwork elements to better distinguish them from the body text.
</t>
</list>
</t>
<t>
-02
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Added an example of an encrypted JWT.
</t>
<t>
Added this language to Registration Templates:
"This name is case sensitive. Names that match other registered names
in a case insensitive manner SHOULD NOT be accepted."
</t>
<t>
Applied editorial suggestions.
</t>
</list>
</t>
<t>
-01
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Added the <spanx style="verb">cty</spanx> (content type) header parameter
for declaring type information about the secured content,
as opposed to the <spanx style="verb">typ</spanx> (type) header parameter,
which declares type information about this object.
This significantly simplified nested JWTs.
</t>
<t>
Moved description of how to determine whether a header is
for a JWS or a JWE from the JWT spec to the JWE spec.
</t>
<t>
Changed registration requirements from RFC Required to
Specification Required with Expert Review.
</t>
<t>
Added Registration Template sections for defined registries.
</t>
<t>
Added Registry Contents sections to populate registry values.
</t>
<t>
Added "Collision Resistant Namespace" to the terminology section.
</t>
<t>
Numerous editorial improvements.
</t>
</list>
</t>
<t>
-00
<list style='symbols'>
<t>
Created the initial IETF draft based upon
draft-jones-json-web-token-10 with no normative
changes.
</t>
</list>
</t>
</section>
</back>
</rfc>
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