Invitation to comment on PKCS 11 Specification V3.1 and PKCS #11 Profiles V3.1 before call for consent as OASIS Standard – ends June 18th

19 Apr 2023

Security

The public-key cryptography standards maintained by the PKCS #11 Technical Committee is now out for a 60-day public review preceding the call for consent

OASIS and the PKCS 11 TC [1] are pleased to announce that PKCS #11 Specification V3.1 and PKCS #11 Profiles V3.1 are now available for public review and comment.

The documents describe the public-key cryptography standards maintained and enhanced by the OASIS PKCS 11 Technical Committee.

The Specification defines a platform-independent API to cryptographic tokens, such as hardware security modules and smart cards. The API itself is named “Cryptoki” (from “cryptographic token interface”) and pronounced “crypto-key”. The specification defines data types, functions and other basic components of the interface and also defines mechanisms that are anticipated for use with the current version of PKCS #11.

Profiles define the use of PKCS#11 data types, objects, functions and mechanisms within specific contexts of provider and consumer interaction. These profiles define a set of normative constraints for employing PKCS#11 within a particular environment or context of use.

The TC received 3 Statements of Use from from Utimaco, Information Security Corp (ISC), and Cryptsoft [3]

The candidate specifications and related files are available here:

PKCS #11 Specification Version 3.1
Committee Specification 01
11 August 2022

Editable source (Authoritative):
https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-spec/v3.1/cs01/pkcs11-spec-v3.1-cs01.docx

HTML:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-spec/v3.1/cs01/pkcs11-spec-v3.1-cs01.html

PDF:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-spec/v3.1/cs01/pkcs11-spec-v3.1-cs01.pdf

Header files:
· pkcs11.h: https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-spec/v3.1/cs01/include/pkcs11-v3.1/pkcs11.h

· pkcs11f.h: https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-spec/v3.1/cs01/include/pkcs11-v3.1/pkcs11f.h

· pkcs11t.h: https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-spec/v3.1/cs01/include/pkcs11-v3.1/pkcs11t.h

ZIP distribution file:

https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-spec/v3.1/cs01/pkcs11-spec-v3.1-cs01.zip

PKCS #11 Profiles Version 3.1
Committee Specification 01
14 July 2022

Editorial source (Authoritative):
https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-profiles/v3.1/cs01/pkcs11-profiles-v3.1-cs01.docx

HTML:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-profiles/v3.1/cs01/pkcs11-profiles-v3.1-cs01.html

PDF:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-profiles/v3.1/cs01/pkcs11-profiles-v3.1-cs01.pdf

Test cases:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-profiles/v3.1/cs01/test-cases/

ZIP distribution file:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-profiles/v3.1/cs01/pkcs11-profiles-v3.1-cs01.zip

Public Review Period:

The 60-day public review starts 20 April 2023 at 00:00 UTC and ends 18 June 2023 at 23:59 UTC.

This is an open invitation to comment. OASIS solicits feedback from potential users, developers and others, whether OASIS members or not, for the sake of improving the interoperability and quality of its technical work.

Comments may be submitted to the TC by any person through the use of the OASIS TC Comment Facility as explained in the instructions located via the button labeled “Send A Comment” at the top of the TC public home page, or directly at:

https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/index.php?wg_abbrev=pkcs11

Comments submitted for this work and for other work of this TC/OP are publicly archived and can be viewed at:

https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/pkcs11-comment

All comments submitted to OASIS are subject to the OASIS Feedback License, which ensures that the feedback you provide carries the same obligations at least as the obligations of the TC members. In connection with this public reviews of “KCS 11 Specification V3.1 and PKCS #11 Profiles V3.1,” we call your attention to the OASIS IPR Policy [4] applicable especially [5] to the work of this technical committee. All members of the TC/OP should be familiar with this document, which may create obligations regarding the disclosure and availability of a member’s patent, copyright, trademark and license rights that read on an approved OASIS specification.

OASIS invites any persons who know of any such claims to disclose these if they may be essential to the implementation of the above specification, so that notice of them may be posted to the notice page for this TC’s work.

Additional information

[1] PKCS 11 TC
https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=pkcs11

[2] Approval ballot:
https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ballot.php?id=3769

[3] Statements of Use:

[4] http://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/ipr

[5] https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/pkcs11/ipr.php
https://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/ipr#s10.2.2
RF on RAND Mode