SIGNER(8) SIGNER(8)
NAME
signer, verify, countersigner - set-top box authentication
SYNOPSIS
auth/signer
auth/verify set-top-box-id
auth/countersigner
DESCRIPTION
Signer and countersigner listen for requests on the service
ports infsigner and infcsigner, respectively. They are typ-
ically run via svc(8) on a machine acting as authentication
server for a network. Verify is invoked on the same server,
after signer but before countersigner, following an indepen-
dent check of a caller's credentials.
Signer constructs an authentication certificate from the
signer's key (in /keydb/signerkey) and information from the
requesting client, including the set top box ID. The
signer's key can be created using createsignerkey(8), but if
the key does not yet exist, signer creates and initialises
/keydb/signerkey itself, with an owner name of `*'.
Signer `blinds' the certificate by XOR-ing it with a random
bit mask, then sends the result to the requesting client.
The client machine's user uses that information to establish
identity with a human agent on the signing machine. Signer
also saves the both the `blinded' and `unblinded' result
from the input in /keydb/signed/set-top-box-id for verify
(see below).
Verify is run on the signing server by the agency running
the authentication server, in response to a call from a
remote user who has invoked register(8) or an equivalent.
Verify checks a caller's identity using information from the
file /keydb/signed/set-top-box-id created by signer. The
file contains the previously crafted authentication certifi-
cate and the `blinded' version of the certificate that was
sent to the requesting client.
Verify displays the `blinded' version textually or graphi-
cally, as appropriate, so that it can be compared to that
reported by the set-top-box owner over a secure independent
mechanism (for example, telephone). If the operator of
verify is convinced of the identity of the caller, the oper-
ator should accept when prompted by verify. Verify then
writes the authentication certificate to
/keydb/countersigned/set-top-box-id, as input for
SIGNER(8) SIGNER(8)
countersigner (see signer(8)).
Note: if the operator of verify accepts the identity, the
set-top-box owner should be requested to answer `yes' to the
prompt displayed by register(8). The order of
acceptance-first on the signer, then on the client-is essen-
tial, to produce the countersigned certificate before invok-
ing countersigner to read it.
Countersigner sends the blinding data in
/keydb/countersigned/set-top-box-id to the requesting
client.
FILES
/keydb/signerkey Secret key of the
`signer' host.
/keydb/signed/set-top-box-id Repository of `blinded'
and clear certificates.
/keydb/countersigned/set-top-box-id Repository of
`unblinded' certifi-
cates.
SOURCE
/appl/cmd/auth/signer.b
/appl/cmd/auth/verify.b
/appl/cmd/auth/countersigner.b
SEE ALSO
createsignerkey(8), register(8), svc(8)