<pre>Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                          M. Jones
Request for Comments: 7516                                     Microsoft
Category: Standards Track                                  J. Hildebrand
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                    Cisco
                                                                May 2015


                       <span class="h1">JSON Web Encryption (JWE)</span>

Abstract

   JSON Web Encryption (JWE) represents encrypted content using
   JSON-based data structures.  Cryptographic algorithms and identifiers
   for use with this specification are described in the separate JSON
   Web Algorithms (JWA) specification and IANA registries defined by
   that specification.  Related digital signature and Message
   Authentication Code (MAC) capabilities are described in the separate
   JSON Web Signature (JWS) specification.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in <a href="./rfc5741#section-2">Section&nbsp;2 of RFC 5741</a>.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   <a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7516">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7516</a>.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp78">BCP 78</a> and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (<a href="http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info">http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info</a>) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.




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Table of Contents

   <a href="#section-1">1</a>.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   <a href="#page-4">4</a>
     <a href="#section-1.1">1.1</a>.  Notational Conventions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   <a href="#page-4">4</a>
   <a href="#section-2">2</a>.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   <a href="#page-5">5</a>
   <a href="#section-3">3</a>.  JSON Web Encryption (JWE) Overview  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   <a href="#page-8">8</a>
     <a href="#section-3.1">3.1</a>.  JWE Compact Serialization Overview  . . . . . . . . . . .   <a href="#page-8">8</a>
     <a href="#section-3.2">3.2</a>.  JWE JSON Serialization Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . .   <a href="#page-9">9</a>
     <a href="#section-3.3">3.3</a>.  Example JWE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-10">10</a>
   <a href="#section-4">4</a>.  JOSE Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-11">11</a>
     <a href="#section-4.1">4.1</a>.  Registered Header Parameter Names . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-11">11</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.1">4.1.1</a>.  "alg" (Algorithm) Header Parameter  . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-12">12</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.2">4.1.2</a>.  "enc" (Encryption Algorithm) Header Parameter . . . .  <a href="#page-12">12</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.3">4.1.3</a>.  "zip" (Compression Algorithm) Header Parameter  . . .  <a href="#page-12">12</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.4">4.1.4</a>.  "jku" (JWK Set URL) Header Parameter  . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-13">13</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.5">4.1.5</a>.  "jwk" (JSON Web Key) Header Parameter . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-13">13</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.6">4.1.6</a>.  "kid" (Key ID) Header Parameter . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-13">13</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.7">4.1.7</a>.  "x5u" (X.509 URL) Header Parameter  . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-13">13</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.8">4.1.8</a>.  "x5c" (X.509 Certificate Chain) Header Parameter  . .  <a href="#page-13">13</a>
       4.1.9.  "x5t" (X.509 Certificate SHA-1 Thumbprint) Header
               Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-14">14</a>
       4.1.10. "x5t#S256" (X.509 Certificate SHA-256 Thumbprint)
               Header Parameter  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-14">14</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.11">4.1.11</a>. "typ" (Type) Header Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-14">14</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.12">4.1.12</a>. "cty" (Content Type) Header Parameter . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-14">14</a>
       <a href="#section-4.1.13">4.1.13</a>. "crit" (Critical) Header Parameter  . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-14">14</a>
     <a href="#section-4.2">4.2</a>.  Public Header Parameter Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-14">14</a>
     <a href="#section-4.3">4.3</a>.  Private Header Parameter Names  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-15">15</a>
   <a href="#section-5">5</a>.  Producing and Consuming JWEs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-15">15</a>
     <a href="#section-5.1">5.1</a>.  Message Encryption  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-15">15</a>
     <a href="#section-5.2">5.2</a>.  Message Decryption  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-17">17</a>
     <a href="#section-5.3">5.3</a>.  String Comparison Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-20">20</a>
   <a href="#section-6">6</a>.  Key Identification  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-20">20</a>
   <a href="#section-7">7</a>.  Serializations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-20">20</a>
     <a href="#section-7.1">7.1</a>.  JWE Compact Serialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-20">20</a>
     <a href="#section-7.2">7.2</a>.  JWE JSON Serialization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-20">20</a>
       <a href="#section-7.2.1">7.2.1</a>.  General JWE JSON Serialization Syntax . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-21">21</a>
       <a href="#section-7.2.2">7.2.2</a>.  Flattened JWE JSON Serialization Syntax . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-23">23</a>
   <a href="#section-8">8</a>.  TLS Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-24">24</a>
   <a href="#section-9">9</a>.  Distinguishing between JWS and JWE Objects  . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-24">24</a>
   <a href="#section-10">10</a>. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-25">25</a>
     10.1.  JSON Web Signature and Encryption Header Parameters
            Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-25">25</a>
       <a href="#section-10.1.1">10.1.1</a>.  Registry Contents  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-25">25</a>
   <a href="#section-11">11</a>. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-27">27</a>
     <a href="#section-11.1">11.1</a>.  Key Entropy and Random Values  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-27">27</a>
     <a href="#section-11.2">11.2</a>.  Key Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-27">27</a>
     <a href="#section-11.3">11.3</a>.  Using Matching Algorithm Strengths . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-28">28</a>



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     <a href="#section-11.4">11.4</a>.  Adaptive Chosen-Ciphertext Attacks . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-28">28</a>
     <a href="#section-11.5">11.5</a>.  Timing Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-28">28</a>
   <a href="#section-12">12</a>. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-29">29</a>
     <a href="#section-12.1">12.1</a>.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-29">29</a>
     <a href="#section-12.2">12.2</a>.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-30">30</a>
   <a href="#appendix-A">Appendix A</a>.  JWE Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-32">32</a>
     <a href="#appendix-A.1">A.1</a>.  Example JWE using RSAES-OAEP and AES GCM  . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-32">32</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.1.1">A.1.1</a>.  JOSE Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-32">32</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.1.2">A.1.2</a>.  Content Encryption Key (CEK)  . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-32">32</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.1.3">A.1.3</a>.  Key Encryption  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-33">33</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.1.4">A.1.4</a>.  Initialization Vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-34">34</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.1.5">A.1.5</a>.  Additional Authenticated Data . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-35">35</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.1.6">A.1.6</a>.  Content Encryption  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-35">35</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.1.7">A.1.7</a>.  Complete Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-36">36</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.1.8">A.1.8</a>.  Validation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-36">36</a>
     A.2.  Example JWE using RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5 and
           AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-36">36</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.2.1">A.2.1</a>.  JOSE Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-37">37</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.2.2">A.2.2</a>.  Content Encryption Key (CEK)  . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-37">37</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.2.3">A.2.3</a>.  Key Encryption  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-38">38</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.2.4">A.2.4</a>.  Initialization Vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-39">39</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.2.5">A.2.5</a>.  Additional Authenticated Data . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-40">40</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.2.6">A.2.6</a>.  Content Encryption  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-40">40</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.2.7">A.2.7</a>.  Complete Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-40">40</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.2.8">A.2.8</a>.  Validation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-41">41</a>
     A.3.  Example JWE Using AES Key Wrap and
           AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-41">41</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.3.1">A.3.1</a>.  JOSE Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-41">41</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.3.2">A.3.2</a>.  Content Encryption Key (CEK)  . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-42">42</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.3.3">A.3.3</a>.  Key Encryption  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-42">42</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.3.4">A.3.4</a>.  Initialization Vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-42">42</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.3.5">A.3.5</a>.  Additional Authenticated Data . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-43">43</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.3.6">A.3.6</a>.  Content Encryption  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-43">43</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.3.7">A.3.7</a>.  Complete Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-43">43</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.3.8">A.3.8</a>.  Validation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-44">44</a>
     <a href="#appendix-A.4">A.4</a>.  Example JWE Using General JWE JSON Serialization  . . . .  <a href="#page-44">44</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.4.1">A.4.1</a>.  JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected Headers . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-45">45</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.4.2">A.4.2</a>.  JWE Protected Header  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-45">45</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.4.3">A.4.3</a>.  JWE Shared Unprotected Header . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-45">45</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.4.4">A.4.4</a>.  Complete JOSE Header Values . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-45">45</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.4.5">A.4.5</a>.  Additional Authenticated Data . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-46">46</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.4.6">A.4.6</a>.  Content Encryption  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-46">46</a>
       <a href="#appendix-A.4.7">A.4.7</a>.  Complete JWE JSON Serialization Representation  . . .  <a href="#page-47">47</a>
     <a href="#appendix-A.5">A.5</a>.  Example JWE Using Flattened JWE JSON Serialization  . . .  <a href="#page-47">47</a>
   <a href="#appendix-B">Appendix B</a>.  Example AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 Computation . . . .  <a href="#page-48">48</a>
     <a href="#appendix-B.1">B.1</a>.  Extract MAC_KEY and ENC_KEY from Key  . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-48">48</a>
     <a href="#appendix-B.2">B.2</a>.  Encrypt Plaintext to Create Ciphertext  . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-49">49</a>
     <a href="#appendix-B.3">B.3</a>.  64-Bit Big-Endian Representation of AAD Length  . . . . .  <a href="#page-49">49</a>



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     <a href="#appendix-B.4">B.4</a>.  Initialization Vector Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-49">49</a>
     <a href="#appendix-B.5">B.5</a>.  Create Input to HMAC Computation  . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-50">50</a>
     <a href="#appendix-B.6">B.6</a>.  Compute HMAC Value  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-50">50</a>
     <a href="#appendix-B.7">B.7</a>.  Truncate HMAC Value to Create Authentication Tag  . . . .  <a href="#page-50">50</a>
   Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-50">50</a>
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-51">51</a>

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-1" href="#section-1">1</a>.  Introduction</span>

   JSON Web Encryption (JWE) represents encrypted content using JSON-
   based data structures [<a href="./rfc7159" title="&quot;The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data Interchange Format&quot;">RFC7159</a>].  The JWE cryptographic mechanisms
   encrypt and provide integrity protection for an arbitrary sequence of
   octets.

   Two closely related serializations for JWEs are defined.  The JWE
   Compact Serialization is a compact, URL-safe representation intended
   for space constrained environments such as HTTP Authorization headers
   and URI query parameters.  The JWE JSON Serialization represents JWEs
   as JSON objects and enables the same content to be encrypted to
   multiple parties.  Both share the same cryptographic underpinnings.

   Cryptographic algorithms and identifiers for use with this
   specification are described in the separate JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)
   [<a href="#ref-JWA" title="&quot;JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)&quot;">JWA</a>] specification and IANA registries defined by that
   specification.  Related digital signature and MAC capabilities are
   described in the separate JSON Web Signature (JWS) [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>]
   specification.

   Names defined by this specification are short because a core goal is
   for the resulting representations to be compact.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-1.1" href="#section-1.1">1.1</a>.  Notational Conventions</span>

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "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" [<a href="./rfc2119" title="&quot;Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels&quot;">RFC2119</a>].
   The interpretation should only be applied when the terms appear in
   all capital letters.

   BASE64URL(OCTETS) denotes the base64url encoding of OCTETS, per
   Section 2 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>].

   UTF8(STRING) denotes the octets of the UTF-8 [<a href="./rfc3629" title="&quot;UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646&quot;">RFC3629</a>] representation
   of STRING, where STRING is a sequence of zero or more Unicode
   [<a href="#ref-UNICODE" title="&quot;The Unicode Standard&quot;">UNICODE</a>] characters.





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   ASCII(STRING) denotes the octets of the ASCII [<a href="./rfc20" title="&quot;ASCII format for Network Interchange&quot;">RFC20</a>] representation
   of STRING, where STRING is a sequence of zero or more ASCII
   characters.

   The concatenation of two values A and B is denoted as A || B.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-2" href="#section-2">2</a>.  Terminology</span>

   The terms "JSON Web Signature (JWS)", "Base64url Encoding",
   "Collision-Resistant Name", "Header Parameter", "JOSE Header", and
   "StringOrURI" are defined by the JWS specification [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>].

   The terms "Ciphertext", "Digital Signature", "Initialization Vector
   (IV)", "Message Authentication Code (MAC)", and "Plaintext" are
   defined by the "Internet Security Glossary, Version 2" [<a href="./rfc4949" title="&quot;Internet Security Glossary, Version 2&quot;">RFC4949</a>].

   These terms are defined by this specification:

   JSON Web Encryption (JWE)
      A data structure representing an encrypted and integrity-protected
      message.

   Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data (AEAD)
      An AEAD algorithm is one that encrypts the plaintext, allows
      Additional Authenticated Data to be specified, and provides an
      integrated content integrity check over the ciphertext and
      Additional Authenticated Data.  AEAD algorithms accept two inputs,
      the plaintext and the Additional Authenticated Data value, and
      produce two outputs, the ciphertext and the Authentication Tag
      value.  AES Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) is one such algorithm.

   Additional Authenticated Data (AAD)
      An input to an AEAD operation that is integrity protected but not
      encrypted.

   Authentication Tag
      An output of an AEAD operation that ensures the integrity of the
      ciphertext and the Additional Authenticated Data.  Note that some
      algorithms may not use an Authentication Tag, in which case this
      value is the empty octet sequence.

   Content Encryption Key (CEK)
      A symmetric key for the AEAD algorithm used to encrypt the
      plaintext to produce the ciphertext and the Authentication Tag.







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   JWE Encrypted Key
      Encrypted Content Encryption Key value.  Note that for some
      algorithms, the JWE Encrypted Key value is specified as being the
      empty octet sequence.

   JWE Initialization Vector
      Initialization Vector value used when encrypting the plaintext.
      Note that some algorithms may not use an Initialization Vector, in
      which case this value is the empty octet sequence.

   JWE AAD
      Additional value to be integrity protected by the authenticated
      encryption operation.  This can only be present when using the JWE
      JSON Serialization.  (Note that this can also be achieved when
      using either the JWE Compact Serialization or the JWE JSON
      Serialization by including the AAD value as an integrity-protected
      Header Parameter value, but at the cost of the value being double
      base64url encoded.)

   JWE Ciphertext
      Ciphertext value resulting from authenticated encryption of the
      plaintext with Additional Authenticated Data.

   JWE Authentication Tag
      Authentication Tag value resulting from authenticated encryption
      of the plaintext with Additional Authenticated Data.

   JWE Protected Header
      JSON object that contains the Header Parameters that are integrity
      protected by the authenticated encryption operation.  These
      parameters apply to all recipients of the JWE.  For the JWE
      Compact Serialization, this comprises the entire JOSE Header.  For
      the JWE JSON Serialization, this is one component of the JOSE
      Header.

   JWE Shared Unprotected Header
      JSON object that contains the Header Parameters that apply to all
      recipients of the JWE that are not integrity protected.  This can
      only be present when using the JWE JSON Serialization.

   JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected Header
      JSON object that contains Header Parameters that apply to a single
      recipient of the JWE.  These Header Parameter values are not
      integrity protected.  This can only be present when using the JWE
      JSON Serialization.

   JWE Compact Serialization
      A representation of the JWE as a compact, URL-safe string.



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<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-7" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


   JWE JSON Serialization
      A representation of the JWE as a JSON object.  The JWE JSON
      Serialization enables the same content to be encrypted to multiple
      parties.  This representation is neither optimized for compactness
      nor URL safe.

   Key Management Mode
      A method of determining the Content Encryption Key value to use.
      Each algorithm used for determining the CEK value uses a specific
      Key Management Mode.  Key Management Modes employed by this
      specification are Key Encryption, Key Wrapping, Direct Key
      Agreement, Key Agreement with Key Wrapping, and Direct Encryption.

   Key Encryption
      A Key Management Mode in which the CEK value is encrypted to the
      intended recipient using an asymmetric encryption algorithm.

   Key Wrapping
      A Key Management Mode in which the CEK value is encrypted to the
      intended recipient using a symmetric key wrapping algorithm.

   Direct Key Agreement
      A Key Management Mode in which a key agreement algorithm is used
      to agree upon the CEK value.

   Key Agreement with Key Wrapping
      A Key Management Mode in which a key agreement algorithm is used
      to agree upon a symmetric key used to encrypt the CEK value to the
      intended recipient using a symmetric key wrapping algorithm.

   Direct Encryption
      A Key Management Mode in which the CEK value used is the secret
      symmetric key value shared between the parties.


















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<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-8" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-3" href="#section-3">3</a>.  JSON Web Encryption (JWE) Overview</span>

   JWE represents encrypted content using JSON data structures and
   base64url encoding.  These JSON data structures MAY contain
   whitespace and/or line breaks before or after any JSON values or
   structural characters, in accordance with <a href="./rfc7159#section-2">Section&nbsp;2 of RFC 7159</a>
   [<a href="./rfc7159" title="&quot;The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data Interchange Format&quot;">RFC7159</a>].  A JWE represents these logical values (each of which is
   defined in <a href="#section-2">Section 2</a>):

   o  JOSE Header
   o  JWE Encrypted Key
   o  JWE Initialization Vector
   o  JWE AAD
   o  JWE Ciphertext
   o  JWE Authentication Tag

   For a JWE, the JOSE Header members are the union of the members of
   these values (each of which is defined in <a href="#section-2">Section 2</a>):

   o  JWE Protected Header
   o  JWE Shared Unprotected Header
   o  JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected Header

   JWE utilizes authenticated encryption to ensure the confidentiality
   and integrity of the plaintext and the integrity of the JWE Protected
   Header and the JWE AAD.

   This document defines two serializations for JWEs: a compact, URL-
   safe serialization called the JWE Compact Serialization and a JSON
   serialization called the JWE JSON Serialization.  In both
   serializations, the JWE Protected Header, JWE Encrypted Key, JWE
   Initialization Vector, JWE Ciphertext, and JWE Authentication Tag are
   base64url encoded, since JSON lacks a way to directly represent
   arbitrary octet sequences.  When present, the JWE AAD is also
   base64url encoded.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.1" href="#section-3.1">3.1</a>.  JWE Compact Serialization Overview</span>

   In the JWE Compact Serialization, no JWE Shared Unprotected Header or
   JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected Header are used.  In this case, the
   JOSE Header and the JWE Protected Header are the same.










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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


   In the JWE Compact Serialization, a JWE is represented as the
   concatenation:

      BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header)) || '.' ||
      BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) || '.' ||
      BASE64URL(JWE Initialization Vector) || '.' ||
      BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext) || '.' ||
      BASE64URL(JWE Authentication Tag)

   See <a href="#section-7.1">Section 7.1</a> for more information about the JWE Compact
   Serialization.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.2" href="#section-3.2">3.2</a>.  JWE JSON Serialization Overview</span>

   In the JWE JSON Serialization, one or more of the JWE Protected
   Header, JWE Shared Unprotected Header, and JWE Per-Recipient
   Unprotected Header MUST be present.  In this case, the members of the
   JOSE Header are the union of the members of the JWE Protected Header,
   JWE Shared Unprotected Header, and JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected
   Header values that are present.

   In the JWE JSON Serialization, a JWE is represented as a JSON object
   containing some or all of these eight members:

      "protected", with the value BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header))
      "unprotected", with the value JWE Shared Unprotected Header
      "header", with the value JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected Header
      "encrypted_key", with the value BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key)
      "iv", with the value BASE64URL(JWE Initialization Vector)
      "ciphertext", with the value BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext)
      "tag", with the value BASE64URL(JWE Authentication Tag)
      "aad", with the value BASE64URL(JWE AAD)

   The six base64url-encoded result strings and the two unprotected JSON
   object values are represented as members within a JSON object.  The
   inclusion of some of these values is OPTIONAL.  The JWE JSON
   Serialization can also encrypt the plaintext to multiple recipients.
   See <a href="#section-7.2">Section 7.2</a> for more information about the JWE JSON
   Serialization.












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<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-10" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.3" href="#section-3.3">3.3</a>.  Example JWE</span>

   This example encrypts the plaintext "The true sign of intelligence is
   not knowledge but imagination." to the recipient.

   The following example JWE Protected Header declares that:

   o  The Content Encryption Key is encrypted to the recipient using the
      RSAES-OAEP [<a href="./rfc3447" title="&quot;Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) #1: RSA Cryptography Specifications Version 2.1&quot;">RFC3447</a>] algorithm to produce the JWE Encrypted Key.

   o  Authenticated encryption is performed on the plaintext using the
      AES GCM [<a href="#ref-AES" title="&quot;Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)&quot;">AES</a>] [<a href="#ref-NIST.800-38D">NIST.800-38D</a>] algorithm with a 256-bit key to
      produce the ciphertext and the Authentication Tag.

     {"alg":"RSA-OAEP","enc":"A256GCM"}

   Encoding this JWE Protected Header as BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected
   Header)) gives this value:

     eyJhbGciOiJSU0EtT0FFUCIsImVuYyI6IkEyNTZHQ00ifQ

   The remaining steps to finish creating this JWE are:

   o  Generate a random Content Encryption Key (CEK).

   o  Encrypt the CEK with the recipient's public key using the RSAES-
      OAEP algorithm to produce the JWE Encrypted Key.

   o  Base64url-encode the JWE Encrypted Key.

   o  Generate a random JWE Initialization Vector.

   o  Base64url-encode the JWE Initialization Vector.

   o  Let the Additional Authenticated Data encryption parameter be
      ASCII(BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header))).

   o  Perform authenticated encryption on the plaintext with the AES GCM
      algorithm using the CEK as the encryption key, the JWE
      Initialization Vector, and the Additional Authenticated Data
      value, requesting a 128-bit Authentication Tag output.

   o  Base64url-encode the ciphertext.

   o  Base64url-encode the Authentication Tag.






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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


   o  Assemble the final representation: The Compact Serialization of
      this result is the string BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header)) ||
      '.' || BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE
      Initialization Vector) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext) || '.'
      || BASE64URL(JWE Authentication Tag).

   The final result in this example (with line breaks for display
   purposes only) is:

     eyJhbGciOiJSU0EtT0FFUCIsImVuYyI6IkEyNTZHQ00ifQ.
     OKOawDo13gRp2ojaHV7LFpZcgV7T6DVZKTyKOMTYUmKoTCVJRgckCL9kiMT03JGe
     ipsEdY3mx_etLbbWSrFr05kLzcSr4qKAq7YN7e9jwQRb23nfa6c9d-StnImGyFDb
     Sv04uVuxIp5Zms1gNxKKK2Da14B8S4rzVRltdYwam_lDp5XnZAYpQdb76FdIKLaV
     mqgfwX7XWRxv2322i-vDxRfqNzo_tETKzpVLzfiwQyeyPGLBIO56YJ7eObdv0je8
     1860ppamavo35UgoRdbYaBcoh9QcfylQr66oc6vFWXRcZ_ZT2LawVCWTIy3brGPi
     6UklfCpIMfIjf7iGdXKHzg.
     48V1_ALb6US04U3b.
     5eym8TW_c8SuK0ltJ3rpYIzOeDQz7TALvtu6UG9oMo4vpzs9tX_EFShS8iB7j6ji
     SdiwkIr3ajwQzaBtQD_A.
     XFBoMYUZodetZdvTiFvSkQ

   See <a href="#appendix-A.1">Appendix A.1</a> for the complete details of computing this JWE.  See
   <a href="#appendix-A">Appendix A</a> for additional examples, including examples using the JWE
   JSON Serialization in Sections A.4 and A.5.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-4" href="#section-4">4</a>.  JOSE Header</span>

   For a JWE, the members of the JSON object(s) representing the JOSE
   Header describe the encryption applied to the plaintext and
   optionally additional properties of the JWE.  The Header Parameter
   names within the JOSE Header MUST be unique, just as described in
   Section 4 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>].  The rules about handling Header Parameters that
   are not understood by the implementation are also the same.  The
   classes of Header Parameter names are likewise the same.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1" href="#section-4.1">4.1</a>.  Registered Header Parameter Names</span>

   The following Header Parameter names for use in JWEs are registered
   in the IANA "JSON Web Signature and Encryption Header Parameters"
   registry established by [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], with meanings as defined below.

   As indicated by the common registry, JWSs and JWEs share a common
   Header Parameter space; when a parameter is used by both
   specifications, its usage must be compatible between the
   specifications.






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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.1" href="#section-4.1.1">4.1.1</a>.  "alg" (Algorithm) Header Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "alg" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.1 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], except
   that the Header Parameter identifies the cryptographic algorithm used
   to encrypt or determine the value of the CEK.  The encrypted content
   is not usable if the "alg" value does not represent a supported
   algorithm, or if the recipient does not have a key that can be used
   with that algorithm.

   A list of defined "alg" values for this use can be found in the IANA
   "JSON Web Signature and Encryption Algorithms" registry established
   by [<a href="#ref-JWA" title="&quot;JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)&quot;">JWA</a>]; the initial contents of this registry are the values
   defined in Section 4.1 of [<a href="#ref-JWA" title="&quot;JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)&quot;">JWA</a>].

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.2" href="#section-4.1.2">4.1.2</a>.  "enc" (Encryption Algorithm) Header Parameter</span>

   The "enc" (encryption algorithm) Header Parameter identifies the
   content encryption algorithm used to perform authenticated encryption
   on the plaintext to produce the ciphertext and the Authentication
   Tag.  This algorithm MUST be an AEAD algorithm with a specified key
   length.  The encrypted content is not usable if the "enc" value does
   not represent a supported algorithm.  "enc" values should either be
   registered in the IANA "JSON Web Signature and Encryption Algorithms"
   registry established by [<a href="#ref-JWA" title="&quot;JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)&quot;">JWA</a>] or be a value that contains a
   Collision-Resistant Name.  The "enc" value is a case-sensitive ASCII
   string containing a StringOrURI value.  This Header Parameter MUST be
   present and MUST be understood and processed by implementations.

   A list of defined "enc" values for this use can be found in the IANA
   "JSON Web Signature and Encryption Algorithms" registry established
   by [<a href="#ref-JWA" title="&quot;JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)&quot;">JWA</a>]; the initial contents of this registry are the values
   defined in Section 5.1 of [<a href="#ref-JWA" title="&quot;JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)&quot;">JWA</a>].

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.3" href="#section-4.1.3">4.1.3</a>.  "zip" (Compression Algorithm) Header Parameter</span>

   The "zip" (compression algorithm) applied to the plaintext before
   encryption, if any.  The "zip" value defined by this specification
   is:

   o  "DEF" - Compression with the DEFLATE [<a href="./rfc1951" title="&quot;DEFLATE Compressed Data Format Specification version 1.3&quot;">RFC1951</a>] algorithm

   Other values MAY be used.  Compression algorithm values can be
   registered in the IANA "JSON Web Encryption Compression Algorithms"
   registry established by [<a href="#ref-JWA" title="&quot;JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)&quot;">JWA</a>].  The "zip" value is a case-sensitive
   string.  If no "zip" parameter is present, no compression is applied
   to the plaintext before encryption.  When used, this Header Parameter
   MUST be integrity protected; therefore, it MUST occur only within the



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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


   JWE Protected Header.  Use of this Header Parameter is OPTIONAL.
   This Header Parameter MUST be understood and processed by
   implementations.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.4" href="#section-4.1.4">4.1.4</a>.  "jku" (JWK Set URL) Header Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "jku" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.2 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], except
   that the JWK Set resource contains the public key to which the JWE
   was encrypted; this can be used to determine the private key needed
   to decrypt the JWE.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.5" href="#section-4.1.5">4.1.5</a>.  "jwk" (JSON Web Key) Header Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "jwk" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.3 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], except
   that the key is the public key to which the JWE was encrypted; this
   can be used to determine the private key needed to decrypt the JWE.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.6" href="#section-4.1.6">4.1.6</a>.  "kid" (Key ID) Header Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "kid" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.4 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], except
   that the key hint references the public key to which the JWE was
   encrypted; this can be used to determine the private key needed to
   decrypt the JWE.  This parameter allows originators to explicitly
   signal a change of key to JWE recipients.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.7" href="#section-4.1.7">4.1.7</a>.  "x5u" (X.509 URL) Header Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "x5u" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.5 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], except
   that the X.509 public key certificate or certificate chain [<a href="./rfc5280" title="&quot;Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile&quot;">RFC5280</a>]
   contains the public key to which the JWE was encrypted; this can be
   used to determine the private key needed to decrypt the JWE.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.8" href="#section-4.1.8">4.1.8</a>.  "x5c" (X.509 Certificate Chain) Header Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "x5c" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.6 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], except
   that the X.509 public key certificate or certificate chain [<a href="./rfc5280" title="&quot;Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile&quot;">RFC5280</a>]
   contains the public key to which the JWE was encrypted; this can be
   used to determine the private key needed to decrypt the JWE.

   See <a href="#appendix-B">Appendix B</a> of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>] for an example "x5c" value.






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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.9" href="#section-4.1.9">4.1.9</a>.  "x5t" (X.509 Certificate SHA-1 Thumbprint) Header Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "x5t" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.7 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], except
   that the certificate referenced by the thumbprint contains the public
   key to which the JWE was encrypted; this can be used to determine the
   private key needed to decrypt the JWE.  Note that certificate
   thumbprints are also sometimes known as certificate fingerprints.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.10" href="#section-4.1.10">4.1.10</a>.  "x5t#S256" (X.509 Certificate SHA-256 Thumbprint) Header</span>
<span class="h4">         Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "x5t#S256" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.8 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>],
   except that the certificate referenced by the thumbprint contains the
   public key to which the JWE was encrypted; this can be used to
   determine the private key needed to decrypt the JWE.  Note that
   certificate thumbprints are also sometimes known as certificate
   fingerprints.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.11" href="#section-4.1.11">4.1.11</a>.  "typ" (Type) Header Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "typ" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.9 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], except
   that the type is that of this complete JWE.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.12" href="#section-4.1.12">4.1.12</a>.  "cty" (Content Type) Header Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "cty" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.10 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], except
   that the type is that of the secured content (the plaintext).

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1.13" href="#section-4.1.13">4.1.13</a>.  "crit" (Critical) Header Parameter</span>

   This parameter has the same meaning, syntax, and processing rules as
   the "crit" Header Parameter defined in Section 4.1.11 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>],
   except that Header Parameters for a JWE are being referred to, rather
   than Header Parameters for a JWS.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.2" href="#section-4.2">4.2</a>.  Public Header Parameter Names</span>

   Additional Header Parameter names can be defined by those using JWEs.
   However, in order to prevent collisions, any new Header Parameter
   name should either be registered in the IANA "JSON Web Signature and
   Encryption Header Parameters" registry established by [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>] or be a
   Public Name: a value that contains a Collision-Resistant Name.  In
   each case, the definer of the name or value needs to take reasonable




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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


   precautions to make sure they are in control of the part of the
   namespace they use to define the Header Parameter name.

   New Header Parameters should be introduced sparingly, as they can
   result in non-interoperable JWEs.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.3" href="#section-4.3">4.3</a>.  Private Header Parameter Names</span>

   A producer and consumer of a JWE may agree to use Header Parameter
   names that are Private Names: names that are not Registered Header
   Parameter names (<a href="#section-4.1">Section 4.1</a>) or Public Header Parameter names
   (<a href="#section-4.2">Section 4.2</a>).  Unlike Public Header Parameter names, Private Header
   Parameter names are subject to collision and should be used with
   caution.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-5" href="#section-5">5</a>.  Producing and Consuming JWEs</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.1" href="#section-5.1">5.1</a>.  Message Encryption</span>

   The message encryption process is as follows.  The order of the steps
   is not significant in cases where there are no dependencies between
   the inputs and outputs of the steps.

   1.   Determine the Key Management Mode employed by the algorithm used
        to determine the Content Encryption Key value.  (This is the
        algorithm recorded in the "alg" (algorithm) Header Parameter of
        the resulting JWE.)

   2.   When Key Wrapping, Key Encryption, or Key Agreement with Key
        Wrapping are employed, generate a random CEK value.  See <a href="./rfc4086">RFC</a>
        <a href="./rfc4086">4086</a> [<a href="./rfc4086" title="&quot;Randomness Requirements for Security&quot;">RFC4086</a>] for considerations on generating random values.
        The CEK MUST have a length equal to that required for the
        content encryption algorithm.

   3.   When Direct Key Agreement or Key Agreement with Key Wrapping are
        employed, use the key agreement algorithm to compute the value
        of the agreed upon key.  When Direct Key Agreement is employed,
        let the CEK be the agreed upon key.  When Key Agreement with Key
        Wrapping is employed, the agreed upon key will be used to wrap
        the CEK.

   4.   When Key Wrapping, Key Encryption, or Key Agreement with Key
        Wrapping are employed, encrypt the CEK to the recipient and let
        the result be the JWE Encrypted Key.

   5.   When Direct Key Agreement or Direct Encryption are employed, let
        the JWE Encrypted Key be the empty octet sequence.




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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


   6.   When Direct Encryption is employed, let the CEK be the shared
        symmetric key.

   7.   Compute the encoded key value BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key).

   8.   If the JWE JSON Serialization is being used, repeat this process
        (steps 1-7) for each recipient.

   9.   Generate a random JWE Initialization Vector of the correct size
        for the content encryption algorithm (if required for the
        algorithm); otherwise, let the JWE Initialization Vector be the
        empty octet sequence.

   10.  Compute the encoded Initialization Vector value BASE64URL(JWE
        Initialization Vector).

   11.  If a "zip" parameter was included, compress the plaintext using
        the specified compression algorithm and let M be the octet
        sequence representing the compressed plaintext; otherwise, let M
        be the octet sequence representing the plaintext.

   12.  Create the JSON object(s) containing the desired set of Header
        Parameters, which together comprise the JOSE Header: one or more
        of the JWE Protected Header, the JWE Shared Unprotected Header,
        and the JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected Header.

   13.  Compute the Encoded Protected Header value BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE
        Protected Header)).  If the JWE Protected Header is not present
        (which can only happen when using the JWE JSON Serialization and
        no "protected" member is present), let this value be the empty
        string.

   14.  Let the Additional Authenticated Data encryption parameter be
        ASCII(Encoded Protected Header).  However, if a JWE AAD value is
        present (which can only be the case when using the JWE JSON
        Serialization), instead let the Additional Authenticated Data
        encryption parameter be ASCII(Encoded Protected Header || '.' ||
        BASE64URL(JWE AAD)).

   15.  Encrypt M using the CEK, the JWE Initialization Vector, and the
        Additional Authenticated Data value using the specified content
        encryption algorithm to create the JWE Ciphertext value and the
        JWE Authentication Tag (which is the Authentication Tag output
        from the encryption operation).

   16.  Compute the encoded ciphertext value BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext).





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   17.  Compute the encoded Authentication Tag value BASE64URL(JWE
        Authentication Tag).

   18.  If a JWE AAD value is present, compute the encoded AAD value
        BASE64URL(JWE AAD).

   19.  Create the desired serialized output.  The Compact Serialization
        of this result is the string BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected
        Header)) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) || '.' ||
        BASE64URL(JWE Initialization Vector) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE
        Ciphertext) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE Authentication Tag).  The
        JWE JSON Serialization is described in <a href="#section-7.2">Section 7.2</a>.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.2" href="#section-5.2">5.2</a>.  Message Decryption</span>

   The message decryption process is the reverse of the encryption
   process.  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 these steps fail, the encrypted content cannot be
   validated.

   When there are multiple recipients, it is an application decision
   which of the recipients' encrypted content must successfully validate
   for the JWE to be accepted.  In some cases, encrypted content for all
   recipients must successfully validate or the JWE will be considered
   invalid.  In other cases, only the encrypted content for a single
   recipient needs to be successfully validated.  However, in all cases,
   the encrypted content for at least one recipient MUST successfully
   validate or the JWE MUST be considered invalid.

   1.   Parse the JWE representation to extract the serialized values
        for the components of the JWE.  When using the JWE Compact
        Serialization, these components are the base64url-encoded
        representations of the JWE Protected Header, the JWE Encrypted
        Key, the JWE Initialization Vector, the JWE Ciphertext, and the
        JWE Authentication Tag, and when using the JWE JSON
        Serialization, these components also include the base64url-
        encoded representation of the JWE AAD and the unencoded JWE
        Shared Unprotected Header and JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected
        Header values.  When using the JWE Compact Serialization, the
        JWE Protected Header, the JWE Encrypted Key, the JWE
        Initialization Vector, the JWE Ciphertext, and the JWE
        Authentication Tag are represented as base64url-encoded values
        in that order, with each value being separated from the next by
        a single period ('.') character, resulting in exactly four
        delimiting period characters being used.  The JWE JSON
        Serialization is described in <a href="#section-7.2">Section 7.2</a>.




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   2.   Base64url decode the encoded representations of the JWE
        Protected Header, the JWE Encrypted Key, the JWE Initialization
        Vector, the JWE Ciphertext, the JWE Authentication Tag, and the
        JWE AAD, following the restriction that no line breaks,
        whitespace, or other additional characters have been used.

   3.   Verify that the octet sequence resulting from decoding the
        encoded JWE Protected Header is a UTF-8-encoded representation
        of a completely valid JSON object conforming to <a href="./rfc7159">RFC 7159</a>
        [<a href="./rfc7159" title="&quot;The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data Interchange Format&quot;">RFC7159</a>]; let the JWE Protected Header be this JSON object.

   4.   If using the JWE Compact Serialization, let the JOSE Header be
        the JWE Protected Header.  Otherwise, when using the JWE JSON
        Serialization, let the JOSE Header be the union of the members
        of the JWE Protected Header, the JWE Shared Unprotected Header
        and the corresponding JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected Header, all
        of which must be completely valid JSON objects.  During this
        step, verify that the resulting JOSE Header does not contain
        duplicate Header Parameter names.  When using the JWE JSON
        Serialization, this restriction includes that the same Header
        Parameter name also MUST NOT occur in distinct JSON object
        values that together comprise the JOSE Header.

   5.   Verify that the implementation understands and can process all
        fields that it is required to support, whether required by this
        specification, by the algorithms being used, or by the "crit"
        Header Parameter value, and that the values of those parameters
        are also understood and supported.

   6.   Determine the Key Management Mode employed by the algorithm
        specified by the "alg" (algorithm) Header Parameter.

   7.   Verify that the JWE uses a key known to the recipient.

   8.   When Direct Key Agreement or Key Agreement with Key Wrapping are
        employed, use the key agreement algorithm to compute the value
        of the agreed upon key.  When Direct Key Agreement is employed,
        let the CEK be the agreed upon key.  When Key Agreement with Key
        Wrapping is employed, the agreed upon key will be used to
        decrypt the JWE Encrypted Key.

   9.   When Key Wrapping, Key Encryption, or Key Agreement with Key
        Wrapping are employed, decrypt the JWE Encrypted Key to produce
        the CEK.  The CEK MUST have a length equal to that required for
        the content encryption algorithm.  Note that when there are
        multiple recipients, each recipient will only be able to decrypt
        JWE Encrypted Key values that were encrypted to a key in that
        recipient's possession.  It is therefore normal to only be able



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        to decrypt one of the per-recipient JWE Encrypted Key values to
        obtain the CEK value.  Also, see <a href="#section-11.5">Section 11.5</a> for security
        considerations on mitigating timing attacks.

   10.  When Direct Key Agreement or Direct Encryption are employed,
        verify that the JWE Encrypted Key value is an empty octet
        sequence.

   11.  When Direct Encryption is employed, let the CEK be the shared
        symmetric key.

   12.  Record whether the CEK could be successfully determined for this
        recipient or not.

   13.  If the JWE JSON Serialization is being used, repeat this process
        (steps 4-12) for each recipient contained in the representation.

   14.  Compute the Encoded Protected Header value BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE
        Protected Header)).  If the JWE Protected Header is not present
        (which can only happen when using the JWE JSON Serialization and
        no "protected" member is present), let this value be the empty
        string.

   15.  Let the Additional Authenticated Data encryption parameter be
        ASCII(Encoded Protected Header).  However, if a JWE AAD value is
        present (which can only be the case when using the JWE JSON
        Serialization), instead let the Additional Authenticated Data
        encryption parameter be ASCII(Encoded Protected Header || '.' ||
        BASE64URL(JWE AAD)).

   16.  Decrypt the JWE Ciphertext using the CEK, the JWE Initialization
        Vector, the Additional Authenticated Data value, and the JWE
        Authentication Tag (which is the Authentication Tag input to the
        calculation) using the specified content encryption algorithm,
        returning the decrypted plaintext and validating the JWE
        Authentication Tag in the manner specified for the algorithm,
        rejecting the input without emitting any decrypted output if the
        JWE Authentication Tag is incorrect.

   17.  If a "zip" parameter was included, uncompress the decrypted
        plaintext using the specified compression algorithm.

   18.  If there was no recipient for which all of the decryption steps
        succeeded, then the JWE MUST be considered invalid.  Otherwise,
        output the plaintext.  In the JWE JSON Serialization case, also
        return a result to the application indicating for which of the
        recipients the decryption succeeded and failed.




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   Finally, note that it is an application decision which algorithms may
   be used in a given context.  Even if a JWE can be successfully
   decrypted, unless the algorithms used in the JWE are acceptable to
   the application, it SHOULD consider the JWE to be invalid.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.3" href="#section-5.3">5.3</a>.  String Comparison Rules</span>

   The string comparison rules for this specification are the same as
   those defined in Section 5.3 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>].

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-6" href="#section-6">6</a>.  Key Identification</span>

   The key identification methods for this specification are the same as
   those defined in Section 6 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>], except that the key being
   identified is the public key to which the JWE was encrypted.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-7" href="#section-7">7</a>.  Serializations</span>

   JWEs use one of two serializations: the JWE Compact Serialization or
   the JWE JSON Serialization.  Applications using this specification
   need to specify what serialization and serialization features are
   used for that application.  For instance, applications might specify
   that only the JWE JSON Serialization is used, that only JWE JSON
   Serialization support for a single recipient is used, or that support
   for multiple recipients is used.  JWE implementations only need to
   implement the features needed for the applications they are designed
   to support.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-7.1" href="#section-7.1">7.1</a>.  JWE Compact Serialization</span>

   The JWE Compact Serialization represents encrypted content as a
   compact, URL-safe string.  This string is:

      BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header)) || '.' ||
      BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) || '.' ||
      BASE64URL(JWE Initialization Vector) || '.' ||
      BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext) || '.' ||
      BASE64URL(JWE Authentication Tag)

   Only one recipient is supported by the JWE Compact Serialization and
   it provides no syntax to represent JWE Shared Unprotected Header, JWE
   Per-Recipient Unprotected Header, or JWE AAD values.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-7.2" href="#section-7.2">7.2</a>.  JWE JSON Serialization</span>

   The JWE JSON Serialization represents encrypted content as a JSON
   object.  This representation is neither optimized for compactness nor
   URL safe.



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   Two closely related syntaxes are defined for the JWE JSON
   Serialization: a fully general syntax, with which content can be
   encrypted to more than one recipient, and a flattened syntax, which
   is optimized for the single-recipient case.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-7.2.1" href="#section-7.2.1">7.2.1</a>.  General JWE JSON Serialization Syntax</span>

   The following members are defined for use in top-level JSON objects
   used for the fully general JWE JSON Serialization syntax:

   protected
      The "protected" member MUST be present and contain the value
      BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header)) when the JWE Protected
      Header value is non-empty; otherwise, it MUST be absent.  These
      Header Parameter values are integrity protected.

   unprotected
      The "unprotected" member MUST be present and contain the value JWE
      Shared Unprotected Header when the JWE Shared Unprotected Header
      value is non-empty; otherwise, it MUST be absent.  This value is
      represented as an unencoded JSON object, rather than as a string.
      These Header Parameter values are not integrity protected.

   iv
      The "iv" member MUST be present and contain the value
      BASE64URL(JWE Initialization Vector) when the JWE Initialization
      Vector value is non-empty; otherwise, it MUST be absent.

   aad
      The "aad" member MUST be present and contain the value
      BASE64URL(JWE AAD)) when the JWE AAD value is non-empty;
      otherwise, it MUST be absent.  A JWE AAD value can be included to
      supply a base64url-encoded value to be integrity protected but not
      encrypted.

   ciphertext
      The "ciphertext" member MUST be present and contain the value
      BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext).

   tag
      The "tag" member MUST be present and contain the value
      BASE64URL(JWE Authentication Tag) when the JWE Authentication Tag
      value is non-empty; otherwise, it MUST be absent.

   recipients
      The "recipients" member value MUST be an array of JSON objects.
      Each object contains information specific to a single recipient.
      This member MUST be present with exactly one array element per



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      recipient, even if some or all of the array element values are the
      empty JSON object "{}" (which can happen when all Header Parameter
      values are shared between all recipients and when no encrypted key
      is used, such as when doing Direct Encryption).

   The following members are defined for use in the JSON objects that
   are elements of the "recipients" array:

   header
      The "header" member MUST be present and contain the value JWE Per-
      Recipient Unprotected Header when the JWE Per-Recipient
      Unprotected Header value is non-empty; otherwise, it MUST be
      absent.  This value is represented as an unencoded JSON object,
      rather than as a string.  These Header Parameter values are not
      integrity protected.

   encrypted_key
      The "encrypted_key" member MUST be present and contain the value
      BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) when the JWE Encrypted Key value is
      non-empty; otherwise, it MUST be absent.

   At least one of the "header", "protected", and "unprotected" members
   MUST be present so that "alg" and "enc" Header Parameter values are
   conveyed for each recipient computation.

   Additional members can be present in both the JSON objects defined
   above; if not understood by implementations encountering them, they
   MUST be ignored.

   Some Header Parameters, including the "alg" parameter, can be shared
   among all recipient computations.  Header Parameters in the JWE
   Protected Header and JWE Shared Unprotected Header values are shared
   among all recipients.

   The Header Parameter values used when creating or validating per-
   recipient ciphertext and Authentication Tag values are the union of
   the three sets of Header Parameter values that may be present: (1)
   the JWE Protected Header represented in the "protected" member, (2)
   the JWE Shared Unprotected Header represented in the "unprotected"
   member, and (3) the JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected Header represented
   in the "header" member of the recipient's array element.  The union
   of these sets of Header Parameters comprises the JOSE Header.  The
   Header Parameter names in the three locations MUST be disjoint.

   Each JWE Encrypted Key value is computed using the parameters of the
   corresponding JOSE Header value in the same manner as for the JWE
   Compact Serialization.  This has the desirable property that each JWE
   Encrypted Key value in the "recipients" array is identical to the



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   value that would have been computed for the same parameter in the JWE
   Compact Serialization.  Likewise, the JWE Ciphertext and JWE
   Authentication Tag values match those produced for the JWE Compact
   Serialization, provided that the JWE Protected Header value (which
   represents the integrity-protected Header Parameter values) matches
   that used in the JWE Compact Serialization.

   All recipients use the same JWE Protected Header, JWE Initialization
   Vector, JWE Ciphertext, and JWE Authentication Tag values, when
   present, resulting in potentially significant space savings if the
   message is large.  Therefore, all Header Parameters that specify the
   treatment of the plaintext value MUST be the same for all recipients.
   This primarily means that the "enc" (encryption algorithm) Header
   Parameter value in the JOSE Header for each recipient and any
   parameters of that algorithm MUST be the same.

   In summary, the syntax of a JWE using the general JWE JSON
   Serialization is as follows:

     {
      "protected":"&lt;integrity-protected shared header contents&gt;",
      "unprotected":&lt;non-integrity-protected shared header contents&gt;,
      "recipients":[
       {"header":&lt;per-recipient unprotected header 1 contents&gt;,
        "encrypted_key":"&lt;encrypted key 1 contents&gt;"},
       ...
       {"header":&lt;per-recipient unprotected header N contents&gt;,
        "encrypted_key":"&lt;encrypted key N contents&gt;"}],
      "aad":"&lt;additional authenticated data contents&gt;",
      "iv":"&lt;initialization vector contents&gt;",
      "ciphertext":"&lt;ciphertext contents&gt;",
      "tag":"&lt;authentication tag contents&gt;"
     }

   See <a href="#appendix-A.4">Appendix A.4</a> for an example JWE using the general JWE JSON
   Serialization syntax.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-7.2.2" href="#section-7.2.2">7.2.2</a>.  Flattened JWE JSON Serialization Syntax</span>

   The flattened JWE JSON Serialization syntax is based upon the general
   syntax, but flattens it, optimizing it for the single-recipient case.
   It flattens it by removing the "recipients" member and instead
   placing those members defined for use in the "recipients" array (the
   "header" and "encrypted_key" members) in the top-level JSON object
   (at the same level as the "ciphertext" member).






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   The "recipients" member MUST NOT be present when using this syntax.
   Other than this syntax difference, JWE JSON Serialization objects
   using the flattened syntax are processed identically to those using
   the general syntax.

   In summary, the syntax of a JWE using the flattened JWE JSON
   Serialization is as follows:

     {
      "protected":"&lt;integrity-protected header contents&gt;",
      "unprotected":&lt;non-integrity-protected header contents&gt;,
      "header":&lt;more non-integrity-protected header contents&gt;,
      "encrypted_key":"&lt;encrypted key contents&gt;",
      "aad":"&lt;additional authenticated data contents&gt;",
      "iv":"&lt;initialization vector contents&gt;",
      "ciphertext":"&lt;ciphertext contents&gt;",
      "tag":"&lt;authentication tag contents&gt;"
     }

   Note that when using the flattened syntax, just as when using the
   general syntax, any unprotected Header Parameter values can reside in
   either the "unprotected" member or the "header" member, or in both.

   See <a href="#appendix-A.5">Appendix A.5</a> for an example JWE using the flattened JWE JSON
   Serialization syntax.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-8" href="#section-8">8</a>.  TLS Requirements</span>

   The Transport Layer Security (TLS) requirements for this
   specification are the same as those defined in Section 8 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>].

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-9" href="#section-9">9</a>.  Distinguishing between JWS and JWE Objects</span>

   There are several ways of distinguishing whether an object is a JWS
   or JWE.  All these methods will yield the same result for all legal
   input values; they may yield different results for malformed inputs.

   o  If the object is using the JWS Compact Serialization or the JWE
      Compact Serialization, the number of base64url-encoded segments
      separated by period ('.') characters differs for JWSs and JWEs.
      JWSs have three segments separated by two period ('.') characters.
      JWEs have five segments separated by four period ('.') characters.

   o  If the object is using the JWS JSON Serialization or the JWE JSON
      Serialization, the members used will be different.  JWSs have a
      "payload" member and JWEs do not.  JWEs have a "ciphertext" member
      and JWSs do not.




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   o  The JOSE Header for a JWS can be distinguished from the JOSE
      Header for a JWE by examining the "alg" (algorithm) Header
      Parameter value.  If the value represents a digital signature or
      MAC algorithm, or is the value "none", it is for a JWS; if it
      represents a Key Encryption, Key Wrapping, Direct Key Agreement,
      Key Agreement with Key Wrapping, or Direct Encryption algorithm,
      it is for a JWE.  (Extracting the "alg" value to examine is
      straightforward when using the JWS Compact Serialization or the
      JWE Compact Serialization and may be more difficult when using the
      JWS JSON Serialization or the JWE JSON Serialization.)

   o  The JOSE Header for a JWS can also be distinguished from the JOSE
      Header for a JWE by determining whether an "enc" (encryption
      algorithm) member exists.  If the "enc" member exists, it is a
      JWE; otherwise, it is a JWS.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-10" href="#section-10">10</a>.  IANA Considerations</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-10.1" href="#section-10.1">10.1</a>.  JSON Web Signature and Encryption Header Parameters Registration</span>

   This section registers the Header Parameter names defined in
   <a href="#section-4.1">Section 4.1</a> in the IANA "JSON Web Signature and Encryption Header
   Parameters" registry established by [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>].

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-10.1.1" href="#section-10.1.1">10.1.1</a>.  Registry Contents</span>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "alg"
   o  Header Parameter Description: Algorithm
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.1">Section&nbsp;4.1.1 of RFC 7516</a>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "enc"
   o  Header Parameter Description: Encryption Algorithm
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.2">Section&nbsp;4.1.2 of RFC 7516</a>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "zip"
   o  Header Parameter Description: Compression Algorithm
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.3">Section&nbsp;4.1.3 of RFC 7516</a>








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   o  Header Parameter Name: "jku"
   o  Header Parameter Description: JWK Set URL
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.4">Section&nbsp;4.1.4 of RFC 7516</a>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "jwk"
   o  Header Parameter Description: JSON Web Key
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE

   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.5">Section&nbsp;4.1.5 of RFC 7516</a>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "kid"
   o  Header Parameter Description: Key ID
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.6">Section&nbsp;4.1.6 of RFC 7516</a>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "x5u"
   o  Header Parameter Description: X.509 URL
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.7">Section&nbsp;4.1.7 of RFC 7516</a>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "x5c"
   o  Header Parameter Description: X.509 Certificate Chain
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.8">Section&nbsp;4.1.8 of RFC 7516</a>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "x5t"
   o  Header Parameter Description: X.509 Certificate SHA-1 Thumbprint
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.9">Section&nbsp;4.1.9 of RFC 7516</a>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "x5t#S256"
   o  Header Parameter Description: X.509 Certificate SHA-256 Thumbprint
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.10">Section&nbsp;4.1.10 of RFC 7516</a>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "typ"
   o  Header Parameter Description: Type
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.11">Section&nbsp;4.1.11 of RFC 7516</a>



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   o  Header Parameter Name: "cty"
   o  Header Parameter Description: Content Type
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE
   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.12">Section&nbsp;4.1.12 of RFC 7516</a>

   o  Header Parameter Name: "crit"
   o  Header Parameter Description: Critical
   o  Header Parameter Usage Location(s): JWE

   o  Change Controller: IESG
   o  Specification Document(s): <a href="./rfc7516#section-4.1.13">Section&nbsp;4.1.13 of RFC 7516</a>

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-11" href="#section-11">11</a>.  Security Considerations</span>

   All of the security issues that are pertinent to any cryptographic
   application must be addressed by JWS/JWE/JWK agents.  Among these
   issues are protecting the user's asymmetric private and symmetric
   secret keys and employing countermeasures to various attacks.

   All the security considerations in the JWS specification also apply
   to this specification.  Likewise, all the security considerations in
   XML Encryption 1.1 [<a href="#ref-W3C.REC-xmlenc-core1-20130411">W3C.REC-xmlenc-core1-20130411</a>] also apply, other
   than those that are XML specific.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-11.1" href="#section-11.1">11.1</a>.  Key Entropy and Random Values</span>

   See Section 10.1 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>] for security considerations on key entropy
   and random values.  In addition to the uses of random values listed
   there, note that random values are also used for Content Encryption
   Keys (CEKs) and Initialization Vectors (IVs) when performing
   encryption.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-11.2" href="#section-11.2">11.2</a>.  Key Protection</span>

   See Section 10.2 of [<a href="#ref-JWS" title="&quot;JSON Web Signature (JWS)&quot;">JWS</a>] for security considerations on key
   protection.  In addition to the keys listed there that must be
   protected, implementations performing encryption must protect the key
   encryption key and the Content Encryption Key.  Compromise of the key
   encryption key may result in the disclosure of all contents protected
   with that key.  Similarly, compromise of the Content Encryption Key
   may result in disclosure of the associated encrypted content.









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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-11.3" href="#section-11.3">11.3</a>.  Using Matching Algorithm Strengths</span>

   Algorithms of matching strengths should be used together whenever
   possible.  For instance, when AES Key Wrap is used with a given key
   size, using the same key size is recommended when AES GCM is also
   used.  If the key encryption and content encryption algorithms are
   different, the effective security is determined by the weaker of the
   two algorithms.

   Also, see <a href="./rfc3766">RFC 3766</a> [<a href="./rfc3766" title="&quot;Determining Strengths For Public Keys Used For Exchanging Symmetric Keys&quot;">RFC3766</a>] for information on determining strengths
   for public keys used for exchanging symmetric keys.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-11.4" href="#section-11.4">11.4</a>.  Adaptive Chosen-Ciphertext Attacks</span>

   When decrypting, particular care must be taken not to allow the JWE
   recipient to be used as an oracle for decrypting messages.  <a href="./rfc3218">RFC 3218</a>
   [<a href="./rfc3218" title="&quot;Preventing the Million Message Attack on Cryptographic Message Syntax&quot;">RFC3218</a>] should be consulted for specific countermeasures to attacks
   on RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5.  An attacker might modify the contents of the
   "alg" Header Parameter from "RSA-OAEP" to "RSA1_5" in order to
   generate a formatting error that can be detected and used to recover
   the CEK even if RSAES-OAEP was used to encrypt the CEK.  It is
   therefore particularly important to report all formatting errors to
   the CEK, Additional Authenticated Data, or ciphertext as a single
   error when the encrypted content is rejected.

   Additionally, this type of attack can be prevented by restricting the
   use of a key to a limited set of algorithms -- usually one.  This
   means, for instance, that if the key is marked as being for
   "RSA-OAEP" only, any attempt to decrypt a message using the "RSA1_5"
   algorithm with that key should fail immediately due to invalid use of
   the key.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-11.5" href="#section-11.5">11.5</a>.  Timing Attacks</span>

   To mitigate the attacks described in <a href="./rfc3218">RFC 3218</a> [<a href="./rfc3218" title="&quot;Preventing the Million Message Attack on Cryptographic Message Syntax&quot;">RFC3218</a>], the
   recipient MUST NOT distinguish between format, padding, and length
   errors of encrypted keys.  It is strongly recommended, in the event
   of receiving an improperly formatted key, that the recipient
   substitute a randomly generated CEK and proceed to the next step, to
   mitigate timing attacks.











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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-12" href="#section-12">12</a>.  References</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-12.1" href="#section-12.1">12.1</a>.  Normative References</span>

   [<a id="ref-JWA">JWA</a>]      Jones, M., "JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)", <a href="./rfc7518">RFC 7518</a>,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7518, May 2015,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7518">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7518</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-JWK">JWK</a>]      Jones, M., "JSON Web Key (JWK)", <a href="./rfc7517">RFC 7517</a>,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7517, May 2015,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7517">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7517</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-JWS">JWS</a>]      Jones, M., Bradley, J., and N. Sakimura, "JSON Web
              Signature (JWS)", <a href="./rfc7515">RFC 7515</a>, DOI 10.17487/RFC7515, May
              2015, &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7515">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7515</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC1951">RFC1951</a>]  Deutsch, P., "DEFLATE Compressed Data Format Specification
              version 1.3", <a href="./rfc1951">RFC 1951</a>, DOI 10.17487/RFC1951, May 1996,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1951">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1951</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC20">RFC20</a>]    Cerf, V., "ASCII format for Network Interchange", STD 80,
              <a href="./rfc20">RFC 20</a>, DOI 10.17487/RFC0020, October 1969,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc20">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc20</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC2119">RFC2119</a>]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp14">BCP 14</a>, <a href="./rfc2119">RFC 2119</a>,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC3629">RFC3629</a>]  Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
              10646", STD 63, <a href="./rfc3629">RFC 3629</a>, DOI 10.17487/RFC3629, November
              2003, &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3629">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3629</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC4949">RFC4949</a>]  Shirey, R., "Internet Security Glossary, Version 2",
              FYI 36, <a href="./rfc4949">RFC 4949</a>, DOI 10.17487/RFC4949, August 2007,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4949">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4949</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC5280">RFC5280</a>]  Cooper, D., Santesson, S., Farrell, S., Boeyen, S.,
              Housley, R., and W. Polk, "Internet X.509 Public Key
              Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List
              (CRL) Profile", <a href="./rfc5280">RFC 5280</a>, DOI 10.17487/RFC5280, May 2008,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5280">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5280</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC7159">RFC7159</a>]  Bray, T., Ed., "The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data
              Interchange Format", <a href="./rfc7159">RFC 7159</a>, DOI 10.17487/RFC7159, March
              2014, &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7159">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7159</a>&gt;.





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   [<a id="ref-UNICODE">UNICODE</a>]  The Unicode Consortium, "The Unicode Standard",
              &lt;<a href="http://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/">http://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/</a>&gt;.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-12.2" href="#section-12.2">12.2</a>.  Informative References</span>

   [<a id="ref-AES">AES</a>]      National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
              "Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)", FIPS PUB 197,
              November 2001, &lt;<a href="http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips197/fips-197.pdf">http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/</a>
              <a href="http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips197/fips-197.pdf">fips/fips197/fips-197.pdf</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-JSE">JSE</a>]      Bradley, J. and N. Sakimura (editor), "JSON Simple
              Encryption", September 2010,
              &lt;<a href="http://jsonenc.info/enc/1.0/">http://jsonenc.info/enc/1.0/</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-JSMS">JSMS</a>]     Rescorla, E. and J. Hildebrand, "JavaScript Message
              Security Format", Work in Progress,
              <a href="./draft-rescorla-jsms-00">draft-rescorla-jsms-00</a>, March 2011.

   [<a id="ref-NIST.800-38D">NIST.800-38D</a>]
              National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
              "Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation:
              Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) and GMAC", NIST PUB 800-38D,
              November 2007, &lt;<a href="http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-38D/SP-800-38D.pdf">http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/</a>
              <a href="http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-38D/SP-800-38D.pdf">nistpubs/800-38D/SP-800-38D.pdf</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC3218">RFC3218</a>]  Rescorla, E., "Preventing the Million Message Attack on
              Cryptographic Message Syntax", <a href="./rfc3218">RFC 3218</a>,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC3218, January 2002,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3218">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3218</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC3447">RFC3447</a>]  Jonsson, J. and B. Kaliski, "Public-Key Cryptography
              Standards (PKCS) #1: RSA Cryptography Specifications
              Version 2.1", <a href="./rfc3447">RFC 3447</a>, DOI 10.17487/RFC3447, February
              2003, &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3447">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3447</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC3766">RFC3766</a>]  Orman, H. and P. Hoffman, "Determining Strengths For
              Public Keys Used For Exchanging Symmetric Keys", <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp86">BCP 86</a>,
              <a href="./rfc3766">RFC 3766</a>, DOI 10.17487/RFC3766, April 2004,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3766">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3766</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-RFC4086">RFC4086</a>]  Eastlake 3rd, D., Schiller, J., and S. Crocker,
              "Randomness Requirements for Security", <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp106">BCP 106</a>, <a href="./rfc4086">RFC 4086</a>,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4086, June 2005,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4086">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4086</a>&gt;.







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   [<a id="ref-RFC5652">RFC5652</a>]  Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", STD 70,
              <a href="./rfc5652">RFC 5652</a>, DOI 10.17487/RFC5652, September 2009,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5652">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5652</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-W3C.REC-xmlenc-core1-20130411">W3C.REC-xmlenc-core1-20130411</a>]
              Eastlake, D., Reagle, J., Hirsch, F., and T. Roessler,
              "XML Encryption Syntax and Processing Version 1.1", World
              Wide Web Consortium Recommendation
              REC-xmlenc-core1-20130411, April 2013,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2013/REC-xmlenc-core1-20130411/">http://www.w3.org/TR/2013/REC-xmlenc-core1-20130411/</a>&gt;.









































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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A" href="#appendix-A">Appendix A</a>.  JWE Examples</span>

   This section provides examples of JWE computations.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.1" href="#appendix-A.1">A.1</a>.  Example JWE using RSAES-OAEP and AES GCM</span>

   This example encrypts the plaintext "The true sign of intelligence is
   not knowledge but imagination." to the recipient using RSAES-OAEP for
   key encryption and AES GCM for content encryption.  The
   representation of this plaintext (using JSON array notation) is:

   [84, 104, 101, 32, 116, 114, 117, 101, 32, 115, 105, 103, 110, 32,
   111, 102, 32, 105, 110, 116, 101, 108, 108, 105, 103, 101, 110, 99,
   101, 32, 105, 115, 32, 110, 111, 116, 32, 107, 110, 111, 119, 108,
   101, 100, 103, 101, 32, 98, 117, 116, 32, 105, 109, 97, 103, 105,
   110, 97, 116, 105, 111, 110, 46]

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.1.1" href="#appendix-A.1.1">A.1.1</a>.  JOSE Header</span>

   The following example JWE Protected Header declares that:

   o  The Content Encryption Key is encrypted to the recipient using the
      RSAES-OAEP algorithm to produce the JWE Encrypted Key.
   o  Authenticated encryption is performed on the plaintext using the
      AES GCM algorithm with a 256-bit key to produce the ciphertext and
      the Authentication Tag.

     {"alg":"RSA-OAEP","enc":"A256GCM"}

   Encoding this JWE Protected Header as BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected
   Header)) gives this value:

     eyJhbGciOiJSU0EtT0FFUCIsImVuYyI6IkEyNTZHQ00ifQ

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.1.2" href="#appendix-A.1.2">A.1.2</a>.  Content Encryption Key (CEK)</span>

   Generate a 256-bit random CEK.  In this example, the value (using
   JSON array notation) is:

   [177, 161, 244, 128, 84, 143, 225, 115, 63, 180, 3, 255, 107, 154,
   212, 246, 138, 7, 110, 91, 112, 46, 34, 105, 47, 130, 203, 46, 122,
   234, 64, 252]









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<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.1.3" href="#appendix-A.1.3">A.1.3</a>.  Key Encryption</span>

   Encrypt the CEK with the recipient's public key using the RSAES-OAEP
   algorithm to produce the JWE Encrypted Key.  This example uses the
   RSA key represented in JSON Web Key [<a href="#ref-JWK" title="&quot;JSON Web Key (JWK)&quot;">JWK</a>] format below (with line
   breaks within values for display purposes only):

     {"kty":"RSA",
      "n":"oahUIoWw0K0usKNuOR6H4wkf4oBUXHTxRvgb48E-BVvxkeDNjbC4he8rUW
           cJoZmds2h7M70imEVhRU5djINXtqllXI4DFqcI1DgjT9LewND8MW2Krf3S
           psk_ZkoFnilakGygTwpZ3uesH-PFABNIUYpOiN15dsQRkgr0vEhxN92i2a
           sbOenSZeyaxziK72UwxrrKoExv6kc5twXTq4h-QChLOln0_mtUZwfsRaMS
           tPs6mS6XrgxnxbWhojf663tuEQueGC-FCMfra36C9knDFGzKsNa7LZK2dj
           YgyD3JR_MB_4NUJW_TqOQtwHYbxevoJArm-L5StowjzGy-_bq6Gw",
      "e":"AQAB",
      "d":"kLdtIj6GbDks_ApCSTYQtelcNttlKiOyPzMrXHeI-yk1F7-kpDxY4-WY5N
           WV5KntaEeXS1j82E375xxhWMHXyvjYecPT9fpwR_M9gV8n9Hrh2anTpTD9
           3Dt62ypW3yDsJzBnTnrYu1iwWRgBKrEYY46qAZIrA2xAwnm2X7uGR1hghk
           qDp0Vqj3kbSCz1XyfCs6_LehBwtxHIyh8Ripy40p24moOAbgxVw3rxT_vl
           t3UVe4WO3JkJOzlpUf-KTVI2Ptgm-dARxTEtE-id-4OJr0h-K-VFs3VSnd
           VTIznSxfyrj8ILL6MG_Uv8YAu7VILSB3lOW085-4qE3DzgrTjgyQ",
      "p":"1r52Xk46c-LsfB5P442p7atdPUrxQSy4mti_tZI3Mgf2EuFVbUoDBvaRQ-
           SWxkbkmoEzL7JXroSBjSrK3YIQgYdMgyAEPTPjXv_hI2_1eTSPVZfzL0lf
           fNn03IXqWF5MDFuoUYE0hzb2vhrlN_rKrbfDIwUbTrjjgieRbwC6Cl0",
      "q":"wLb35x7hmQWZsWJmB_vle87ihgZ19S8lBEROLIsZG4ayZVe9Hi9gDVCOBm
           UDdaDYVTSNx_8Fyw1YYa9XGrGnDew00J28cRUoeBB_jKI1oma0Orv1T9aX
           IWxKwd4gvxFImOWr3QRL9KEBRzk2RatUBnmDZJTIAfwTs0g68UZHvtc",
      "dp":"ZK-YwE7diUh0qR1tR7w8WHtolDx3MZ_OTowiFvgfeQ3SiresXjm9gZ5KL
           hMXvo-uz-KUJWDxS5pFQ_M0evdo1dKiRTjVw_x4NyqyXPM5nULPkcpU827
           rnpZzAJKpdhWAgqrXGKAECQH0Xt4taznjnd_zVpAmZZq60WPMBMfKcuE",
      "dq":"Dq0gfgJ1DdFGXiLvQEZnuKEN0UUmsJBxkjydc3j4ZYdBiMRAy86x0vHCj
           ywcMlYYg4yoC4YZa9hNVcsjqA3FeiL19rk8g6Qn29Tt0cj8qqyFpz9vNDB
           UfCAiJVeESOjJDZPYHdHY8v1b-o-Z2X5tvLx-TCekf7oxyeKDUqKWjis",
      "qi":"VIMpMYbPf47dT1w_zDUXfPimsSegnMOA1zTaX7aGk_8urY6R8-ZW1FxU7
           AlWAyLWybqq6t16VFd7hQd0y6flUK4SlOydB61gwanOsXGOAOv82cHq0E3
           eL4HrtZkUuKvnPrMnsUUFlfUdybVzxyjz9JF_XyaY14ardLSjf4L_FNY"
     }














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   The resulting JWE Encrypted Key value is:

   [56, 163, 154, 192, 58, 53, 222, 4, 105, 218, 136, 218, 29, 94, 203,
   22, 150, 92, 129, 94, 211, 232, 53, 89, 41, 60, 138, 56, 196, 216,
   82, 98, 168, 76, 37, 73, 70, 7, 36, 8, 191, 100, 136, 196, 244, 220,
   145, 158, 138, 155, 4, 117, 141, 230, 199, 247, 173, 45, 182, 214,
   74, 177, 107, 211, 153, 11, 205, 196, 171, 226, 162, 128, 171, 182,
   13, 237, 239, 99, 193, 4, 91, 219, 121, 223, 107, 167, 61, 119, 228,
   173, 156, 137, 134, 200, 80, 219, 74, 253, 56, 185, 91, 177, 34, 158,
   89, 154, 205, 96, 55, 18, 138, 43, 96, 218, 215, 128, 124, 75, 138,
   243, 85, 25, 109, 117, 140, 26, 155, 249, 67, 167, 149, 231, 100, 6,
   41, 65, 214, 251, 232, 87, 72, 40, 182, 149, 154, 168, 31, 193, 126,
   215, 89, 28, 111, 219, 125, 182, 139, 235, 195, 197, 23, 234, 55, 58,
   63, 180, 68, 202, 206, 149, 75, 205, 248, 176, 67, 39, 178, 60, 98,
   193, 32, 238, 122, 96, 158, 222, 57, 183, 111, 210, 55, 188, 215,
   206, 180, 166, 150, 166, 106, 250, 55, 229, 72, 40, 69, 214, 216,
   104, 23, 40, 135, 212, 28, 127, 41, 80, 175, 174, 168, 115, 171, 197,
   89, 116, 92, 103, 246, 83, 216, 182, 176, 84, 37, 147, 35, 45, 219,
   172, 99, 226, 233, 73, 37, 124, 42, 72, 49, 242, 35, 127, 184, 134,
   117, 114, 135, 206]

   Encoding this JWE Encrypted Key as BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) gives
   this value (with line breaks for display purposes only):

     OKOawDo13gRp2ojaHV7LFpZcgV7T6DVZKTyKOMTYUmKoTCVJRgckCL9kiMT03JGe
     ipsEdY3mx_etLbbWSrFr05kLzcSr4qKAq7YN7e9jwQRb23nfa6c9d-StnImGyFDb
     Sv04uVuxIp5Zms1gNxKKK2Da14B8S4rzVRltdYwam_lDp5XnZAYpQdb76FdIKLaV
     mqgfwX7XWRxv2322i-vDxRfqNzo_tETKzpVLzfiwQyeyPGLBIO56YJ7eObdv0je8
     1860ppamavo35UgoRdbYaBcoh9QcfylQr66oc6vFWXRcZ_ZT2LawVCWTIy3brGPi
     6UklfCpIMfIjf7iGdXKHzg

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.1.4" href="#appendix-A.1.4">A.1.4</a>.  Initialization Vector</span>

   Generate a random 96-bit JWE Initialization Vector.  In this example,
   the value is:

   [227, 197, 117, 252, 2, 219, 233, 68, 180, 225, 77, 219]

   Encoding this JWE Initialization Vector as BASE64URL(JWE
   Initialization Vector) gives this value:

     48V1_ALb6US04U3b









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<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-35" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.1.5" href="#appendix-A.1.5">A.1.5</a>.  Additional Authenticated Data</span>

   Let the Additional Authenticated Data encryption parameter be
   ASCII(BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header))).  This value is:

   [101, 121, 74, 104, 98, 71, 99, 105, 79, 105, 74, 83, 85, 48, 69,
   116, 84, 48, 70, 70, 85, 67, 73, 115, 73, 109, 86, 117, 89, 121, 73,
   54, 73, 107, 69, 121, 78, 84, 90, 72, 81, 48, 48, 105, 102, 81]

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.1.6" href="#appendix-A.1.6">A.1.6</a>.  Content Encryption</span>

   Perform authenticated encryption on the plaintext with the AES GCM
   algorithm using the CEK as the encryption key, the JWE Initialization
   Vector, and the Additional Authenticated Data value above, requesting
   a 128-bit Authentication Tag output.  The resulting ciphertext is:

   [229, 236, 166, 241, 53, 191, 115, 196, 174, 43, 73, 109, 39, 122,
   233, 96, 140, 206, 120, 52, 51, 237, 48, 11, 190, 219, 186, 80, 111,
   104, 50, 142, 47, 167, 59, 61, 181, 127, 196, 21, 40, 82, 242, 32,
   123, 143, 168, 226, 73, 216, 176, 144, 138, 247, 106, 60, 16, 205,
   160, 109, 64, 63, 192]

   The resulting Authentication Tag value is:

   [92, 80, 104, 49, 133, 25, 161, 215, 173, 101, 219, 211, 136, 91,
   210, 145]

   Encoding this JWE Ciphertext as BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext) gives this
   value (with line breaks for display purposes only):

     5eym8TW_c8SuK0ltJ3rpYIzOeDQz7TALvtu6UG9oMo4vpzs9tX_EFShS8iB7j6ji
     SdiwkIr3ajwQzaBtQD_A

   Encoding this JWE Authentication Tag as BASE64URL(JWE Authentication
   Tag) gives this value:

     XFBoMYUZodetZdvTiFvSkQ














<span class="grey">Jones &amp; Hildebrand           Standards Track                   [Page 35]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-36" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.1.7" href="#appendix-A.1.7">A.1.7</a>.  Complete Representation</span>

   Assemble the final representation: The Compact Serialization of this
   result is the string BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header)) || '.' ||
   BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE Initialization
   Vector) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE
   Authentication Tag).

   The final result in this example (with line breaks for display
   purposes only) is:

     eyJhbGciOiJSU0EtT0FFUCIsImVuYyI6IkEyNTZHQ00ifQ.
     OKOawDo13gRp2ojaHV7LFpZcgV7T6DVZKTyKOMTYUmKoTCVJRgckCL9kiMT03JGe
     ipsEdY3mx_etLbbWSrFr05kLzcSr4qKAq7YN7e9jwQRb23nfa6c9d-StnImGyFDb
     Sv04uVuxIp5Zms1gNxKKK2Da14B8S4rzVRltdYwam_lDp5XnZAYpQdb76FdIKLaV
     mqgfwX7XWRxv2322i-vDxRfqNzo_tETKzpVLzfiwQyeyPGLBIO56YJ7eObdv0je8
     1860ppamavo35UgoRdbYaBcoh9QcfylQr66oc6vFWXRcZ_ZT2LawVCWTIy3brGPi
     6UklfCpIMfIjf7iGdXKHzg.
     48V1_ALb6US04U3b.
     5eym8TW_c8SuK0ltJ3rpYIzOeDQz7TALvtu6UG9oMo4vpzs9tX_EFShS8iB7j6ji
     SdiwkIr3ajwQzaBtQD_A.
     XFBoMYUZodetZdvTiFvSkQ

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.1.8" href="#appendix-A.1.8">A.1.8</a>.  Validation</span>

   This example illustrates the process of creating a JWE with
   RSAES-OAEP for key encryption and AES GCM for content encryption.
   These results can be used to validate JWE decryption implementations
   for these algorithms.  Note that since the RSAES-OAEP computation
   includes random values, the encryption results above will not be
   completely reproducible.  However, since the AES GCM computation is
   deterministic, the JWE Encrypted Ciphertext values will be the same
   for all encryptions performed using these inputs.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.2" href="#appendix-A.2">A.2</a>.  Example JWE using RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5 and AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256</span>

   This example encrypts the plaintext "Live long and prosper." to the
   recipient using RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5 for key encryption and
   AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 for content encryption.  The representation
   of this plaintext (using JSON array notation) is:

   [76, 105, 118, 101, 32, 108, 111, 110, 103, 32, 97, 110, 100, 32,
   112, 114, 111, 115, 112, 101, 114, 46]








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<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-37" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.2.1" href="#appendix-A.2.1">A.2.1</a>.  JOSE Header</span>

   The following example JWE Protected Header declares that:

   o  The Content Encryption Key is encrypted to the recipient using the
      RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5 algorithm to produce the JWE Encrypted Key.
   o  Authenticated encryption is performed on the plaintext using the
      AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 algorithm to produce the ciphertext and
      the Authentication Tag.

     {"alg":"RSA1_5","enc":"A128CBC-HS256"}

   Encoding this JWE Protected Header as BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected
   Header)) gives this value:

     eyJhbGciOiJSU0ExXzUiLCJlbmMiOiJBMTI4Q0JDLUhTMjU2In0

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.2.2" href="#appendix-A.2.2">A.2.2</a>.  Content Encryption Key (CEK)</span>

   Generate a 256-bit random CEK.  In this example, the key value is:

   [4, 211, 31, 197, 84, 157, 252, 254, 11, 100, 157, 250, 63, 170, 106,
   206, 107, 124, 212, 45, 111, 107, 9, 219, 200, 177, 0, 240, 143, 156,
   44, 207]



























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<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-38" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.2.3" href="#appendix-A.2.3">A.2.3</a>.  Key Encryption</span>

   Encrypt the CEK with the recipient's public key using the
   RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5 algorithm to produce the JWE Encrypted Key.  This
   example uses the RSA key represented in JSON Web Key [<a href="#ref-JWK" title="&quot;JSON Web Key (JWK)&quot;">JWK</a>] format
   below (with line breaks within values for display purposes only):

     {"kty":"RSA",
      "n":"sXchDaQebHnPiGvyDOAT4saGEUetSyo9MKLOoWFsueri23bOdgWp4Dy1Wl
           UzewbgBHod5pcM9H95GQRV3JDXboIRROSBigeC5yjU1hGzHHyXss8UDpre
           cbAYxknTcQkhslANGRUZmdTOQ5qTRsLAt6BTYuyvVRdhS8exSZEy_c4gs_
           7svlJJQ4H9_NxsiIoLwAEk7-Q3UXERGYw_75IDrGA84-lA_-Ct4eTlXHBI
           Y2EaV7t7LjJaynVJCpkv4LKjTTAumiGUIuQhrNhZLuF_RJLqHpM2kgWFLU
           7-VTdL1VbC2tejvcI2BlMkEpk1BzBZI0KQB0GaDWFLN-aEAw3vRw",
      "e":"AQAB",
      "d":"VFCWOqXr8nvZNyaaJLXdnNPXZKRaWCjkU5Q2egQQpTBMwhprMzWzpR8Sxq
           1OPThh_J6MUD8Z35wky9b8eEO0pwNS8xlh1lOFRRBoNqDIKVOku0aZb-ry
           nq8cxjDTLZQ6Fz7jSjR1Klop-YKaUHc9GsEofQqYruPhzSA-QgajZGPbE_
           0ZaVDJHfyd7UUBUKunFMScbflYAAOYJqVIVwaYR5zWEEceUjNnTNo_CVSj
           -VvXLO5VZfCUAVLgW4dpf1SrtZjSt34YLsRarSb127reG_DUwg9Ch-Kyvj
           T1SkHgUWRVGcyly7uvVGRSDwsXypdrNinPA4jlhoNdizK2zF2CWQ",
      "p":"9gY2w6I6S6L0juEKsbeDAwpd9WMfgqFoeA9vEyEUuk4kLwBKcoe1x4HG68
           ik918hdDSE9vDQSccA3xXHOAFOPJ8R9EeIAbTi1VwBYnbTp87X-xcPWlEP
           krdoUKW60tgs1aNd_Nnc9LEVVPMS390zbFxt8TN_biaBgelNgbC95sM",
      "q":"uKlCKvKv_ZJMVcdIs5vVSU_6cPtYI1ljWytExV_skstvRSNi9r66jdd9-y
           BhVfuG4shsp2j7rGnIio901RBeHo6TPKWVVykPu1iYhQXw1jIABfw-MVsN
           -3bQ76WLdt2SDxsHs7q7zPyUyHXmps7ycZ5c72wGkUwNOjYelmkiNS0",
      "dp":"w0kZbV63cVRvVX6yk3C8cMxo2qCM4Y8nsq1lmMSYhG4EcL6FWbX5h9yuv
           ngs4iLEFk6eALoUS4vIWEwcL4txw9LsWH_zKI-hwoReoP77cOdSL4AVcra
           Hawlkpyd2TWjE5evgbhWtOxnZee3cXJBkAi64Ik6jZxbvk-RR3pEhnCs",
      "dq":"o_8V14SezckO6CNLKs_btPdFiO9_kC1DsuUTd2LAfIIVeMZ7jn1Gus_Ff
           7B7IVx3p5KuBGOVF8L-qifLb6nQnLysgHDh132NDioZkhH7mI7hPG-PYE_
           odApKdnqECHWw0J-F0JWnUd6D2B_1TvF9mXA2Qx-iGYn8OVV1Bsmp6qU",
      "qi":"eNho5yRBEBxhGBtQRww9QirZsB66TrfFReG_CcteI1aCneT0ELGhYlRlC
           tUkTRclIfuEPmNsNDPbLoLqqCVznFbvdB7x-Tl-m0l_eFTj2KiqwGqE9PZ
           B9nNTwMVvH3VRRSLWACvPnSiwP8N5Usy-WRXS-V7TbpxIhvepTfE0NNo"
     }














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<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-39" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


   The resulting JWE Encrypted Key value is:

   [80, 104, 72, 58, 11, 130, 236, 139, 132, 189, 255, 205, 61, 86, 151,
   176, 99, 40, 44, 233, 176, 189, 205, 70, 202, 169, 72, 40, 226, 181,
   156, 223, 120, 156, 115, 232, 150, 209, 145, 133, 104, 112, 237, 156,
   116, 250, 65, 102, 212, 210, 103, 240, 177, 61, 93, 40, 71, 231, 223,
   226, 240, 157, 15, 31, 150, 89, 200, 215, 198, 203, 108, 70, 117, 66,
   212, 238, 193, 205, 23, 161, 169, 218, 243, 203, 128, 214, 127, 253,
   215, 139, 43, 17, 135, 103, 179, 220, 28, 2, 212, 206, 131, 158, 128,
   66, 62, 240, 78, 186, 141, 125, 132, 227, 60, 137, 43, 31, 152, 199,
   54, 72, 34, 212, 115, 11, 152, 101, 70, 42, 219, 233, 142, 66, 151,
   250, 126, 146, 141, 216, 190, 73, 50, 177, 146, 5, 52, 247, 28, 197,
   21, 59, 170, 247, 181, 89, 131, 241, 169, 182, 246, 99, 15, 36, 102,
   166, 182, 172, 197, 136, 230, 120, 60, 58, 219, 243, 149, 94, 222,
   150, 154, 194, 110, 227, 225, 112, 39, 89, 233, 112, 207, 211, 241,
   124, 174, 69, 221, 179, 107, 196, 225, 127, 167, 112, 226, 12, 242,
   16, 24, 28, 120, 182, 244, 213, 244, 153, 194, 162, 69, 160, 244,
   248, 63, 165, 141, 4, 207, 249, 193, 79, 131, 0, 169, 233, 127, 167,
   101, 151, 125, 56, 112, 111, 248, 29, 232, 90, 29, 147, 110, 169,
   146, 114, 165, 204, 71, 136, 41, 252]

   Encoding this JWE Encrypted Key as BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) gives
   this value (with line breaks for display purposes only):

     UGhIOguC7IuEvf_NPVaXsGMoLOmwvc1GyqlIKOK1nN94nHPoltGRhWhw7Zx0-kFm
     1NJn8LE9XShH59_i8J0PH5ZZyNfGy2xGdULU7sHNF6Gp2vPLgNZ__deLKxGHZ7Pc
     HALUzoOegEI-8E66jX2E4zyJKx-YxzZIItRzC5hlRirb6Y5Cl_p-ko3YvkkysZIF
     NPccxRU7qve1WYPxqbb2Yw8kZqa2rMWI5ng8OtvzlV7elprCbuPhcCdZ6XDP0_F8
     rkXds2vE4X-ncOIM8hAYHHi29NX0mcKiRaD0-D-ljQTP-cFPgwCp6X-nZZd9OHBv
     -B3oWh2TbqmScqXMR4gp_A

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.2.4" href="#appendix-A.2.4">A.2.4</a>.  Initialization Vector</span>

   Generate a random 128-bit JWE Initialization Vector.  In this
   example, the value is:

   [3, 22, 60, 12, 43, 67, 104, 105, 108, 108, 105, 99, 111, 116, 104,
   101]

   Encoding this JWE Initialization Vector as BASE64URL(JWE
   Initialization Vector) gives this value:

     AxY8DCtDaGlsbGljb3RoZQ








<span class="grey">Jones &amp; Hildebrand           Standards Track                   [Page 39]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-40" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.2.5" href="#appendix-A.2.5">A.2.5</a>.  Additional Authenticated Data</span>

   Let the Additional Authenticated Data encryption parameter be
   ASCII(BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header))).  This value is:

   [101, 121, 74, 104, 98, 71, 99, 105, 79, 105, 74, 83, 85, 48, 69,
   120, 88, 122, 85, 105, 76, 67, 74, 108, 98, 109, 77, 105, 79, 105,
   74, 66, 77, 84, 73, 52, 81, 48, 74, 68, 76, 85, 104, 84, 77, 106, 85,
   50, 73, 110, 48]

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.2.6" href="#appendix-A.2.6">A.2.6</a>.  Content Encryption</span>

   Perform authenticated encryption on the plaintext with the
   AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 algorithm using the CEK as the encryption
   key, the JWE Initialization Vector, and the Additional Authenticated
   Data value above.  The steps for doing this using the values from
   <a href="#appendix-A.3">Appendix A.3</a> are detailed in <a href="#appendix-B">Appendix B</a>.  The resulting ciphertext
   is:

   [40, 57, 83, 181, 119, 33, 133, 148, 198, 185, 243, 24, 152, 230, 6,
   75, 129, 223, 127, 19, 210, 82, 183, 230, 168, 33, 215, 104, 143,
   112, 56, 102]

   The resulting Authentication Tag value is:

   [246, 17, 244, 190, 4, 95, 98, 3, 231, 0, 115, 157, 242, 203, 100,
   191]

   Encoding this JWE Ciphertext as BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext) gives this
   value:

     KDlTtXchhZTGufMYmOYGS4HffxPSUrfmqCHXaI9wOGY

   Encoding this JWE Authentication Tag as BASE64URL(JWE Authentication
   Tag) gives this value:

     9hH0vgRfYgPnAHOd8stkvw

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.2.7" href="#appendix-A.2.7">A.2.7</a>.  Complete Representation</span>

   Assemble the final representation: The Compact Serialization of this
   result is the string BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header)) || '.' ||
   BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE Initialization
   Vector) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE
   Authentication Tag).






<span class="grey">Jones &amp; Hildebrand           Standards Track                   [Page 40]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-41" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


   The final result in this example (with line breaks for display
   purposes only) is:

     eyJhbGciOiJSU0ExXzUiLCJlbmMiOiJBMTI4Q0JDLUhTMjU2In0.
     UGhIOguC7IuEvf_NPVaXsGMoLOmwvc1GyqlIKOK1nN94nHPoltGRhWhw7Zx0-kFm
     1NJn8LE9XShH59_i8J0PH5ZZyNfGy2xGdULU7sHNF6Gp2vPLgNZ__deLKxGHZ7Pc
     HALUzoOegEI-8E66jX2E4zyJKx-YxzZIItRzC5hlRirb6Y5Cl_p-ko3YvkkysZIF
     NPccxRU7qve1WYPxqbb2Yw8kZqa2rMWI5ng8OtvzlV7elprCbuPhcCdZ6XDP0_F8
     rkXds2vE4X-ncOIM8hAYHHi29NX0mcKiRaD0-D-ljQTP-cFPgwCp6X-nZZd9OHBv
     -B3oWh2TbqmScqXMR4gp_A.
     AxY8DCtDaGlsbGljb3RoZQ.
     KDlTtXchhZTGufMYmOYGS4HffxPSUrfmqCHXaI9wOGY.
     9hH0vgRfYgPnAHOd8stkvw

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.2.8" href="#appendix-A.2.8">A.2.8</a>.  Validation</span>

   This example illustrates the process of creating a JWE with
   RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5 for key encryption and AES_CBC_HMAC_SHA2 for content
   encryption.  These results can be used to validate JWE decryption
   implementations for these algorithms.  Note that since the
   RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5 computation includes random values, the encryption
   results above will not be completely reproducible.  However, since
   the AES-CBC computation is deterministic, the JWE Encrypted
   Ciphertext values will be the same for all encryptions performed
   using these inputs.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.3" href="#appendix-A.3">A.3</a>.  Example JWE Using AES Key Wrap and AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256</span>

   This example encrypts the plaintext "Live long and prosper." to the
   recipient using AES Key Wrap for key encryption and
   AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 for content encryption.  The representation
   of this plaintext (using JSON array notation) is:

   [76, 105, 118, 101, 32, 108, 111, 110, 103, 32, 97, 110, 100, 32,
   112, 114, 111, 115, 112, 101, 114, 46]

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.3.1" href="#appendix-A.3.1">A.3.1</a>.  JOSE Header</span>

   The following example JWE Protected Header declares that:

   o  The Content Encryption Key is encrypted to the recipient using the
      AES Key Wrap algorithm with a 128-bit key to produce the JWE
      Encrypted Key.
   o  Authenticated encryption is performed on the plaintext using the
      AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 algorithm to produce the ciphertext and
      the Authentication Tag.

     {"alg":"A128KW","enc":"A128CBC-HS256"}



<span class="grey">Jones &amp; Hildebrand           Standards Track                   [Page 41]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-42" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc7516">RFC 7516</a>                JSON Web Encryption (JWE)               May 2015</span>


   Encoding this JWE Protected Header as BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected
   Header)) gives this value:

     eyJhbGciOiJBMTI4S1ciLCJlbmMiOiJBMTI4Q0JDLUhTMjU2In0

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.3.2" href="#appendix-A.3.2">A.3.2</a>.  Content Encryption Key (CEK)</span>

   Generate a 256-bit random CEK.  In this example, the value is:

   [4, 211, 31, 197, 84, 157, 252, 254, 11, 100, 157, 250, 63, 170, 106,
   206, 107, 124, 212, 45, 111, 107, 9, 219, 200, 177, 0, 240, 143, 156,
   44, 207]

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.3.3" href="#appendix-A.3.3">A.3.3</a>.  Key Encryption</span>

   Encrypt the CEK with the shared symmetric key using the AES Key Wrap
   algorithm to produce the JWE Encrypted Key.  This example uses the
   symmetric key represented in JSON Web Key [<a href="#ref-JWK" title="&quot;JSON Web Key (JWK)&quot;">JWK</a>] format below:

     {"kty":"oct",
      "k":"GawgguFyGrWKav7AX4VKUg"
     }

   The resulting JWE Encrypted Key value is:

   [232, 160, 123, 211, 183, 76, 245, 132, 200, 128, 123, 75, 190, 216,
   22, 67, 201, 138, 193, 186, 9, 91, 122, 31, 246, 90, 28, 139, 57, 3,
   76, 124, 193, 11, 98, 37, 173, 61, 104, 57]

   Encoding this JWE Encrypted Key as BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) gives
   this value:

     6KB707dM9YTIgHtLvtgWQ8mKwboJW3of9locizkDTHzBC2IlrT1oOQ

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.3.4" href="#appendix-A.3.4">A.3.4</a>.  Initialization Vector</span>

   Generate a random 128-bit JWE Initialization Vector.  In this
   example, the value is:

   [3, 22, 60, 12, 43, 67, 104, 105, 108, 108, 105, 99, 111, 116, 104,
   101]

   Encoding this JWE Initialization Vector as BASE64URL(JWE
   Initialization Vector) gives this value:

     AxY8DCtDaGlsbGljb3RoZQ





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<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.3.5" href="#appendix-A.3.5">A.3.5</a>.  Additional Authenticated Data</span>

   Let the Additional Authenticated Data encryption parameter be
   ASCII(BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header))).  This value is:

   [101, 121, 74, 104, 98, 71, 99, 105, 79, 105, 74, 66, 77, 84, 73, 52,
   83, 49, 99, 105, 76, 67, 74, 108, 98, 109, 77, 105, 79, 105, 74, 66,
   77, 84, 73, 52, 81, 48, 74, 68, 76, 85, 104, 84, 77, 106, 85, 50, 73,
   110, 48]

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.3.6" href="#appendix-A.3.6">A.3.6</a>.  Content Encryption</span>

   Perform authenticated encryption on the plaintext with the
   AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 algorithm using the CEK as the encryption
   key, the JWE Initialization Vector, and the Additional Authenticated
   Data value above.  The steps for doing this using the values from
   this example are detailed in <a href="#appendix-B">Appendix B</a>.  The resulting ciphertext
   is:

   [40, 57, 83, 181, 119, 33, 133, 148, 198, 185, 243, 24, 152, 230, 6,
   75, 129, 223, 127, 19, 210, 82, 183, 230, 168, 33, 215, 104, 143,
   112, 56, 102]

   The resulting Authentication Tag value is:

   [83, 73, 191, 98, 104, 205, 211, 128, 201, 189, 199, 133, 32, 38,
   194, 85]

   Encoding this JWE Ciphertext as BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext) gives this
   value:

     KDlTtXchhZTGufMYmOYGS4HffxPSUrfmqCHXaI9wOGY

   Encoding this JWE Authentication Tag as BASE64URL(JWE Authentication
   Tag) gives this value:

     U0m_YmjN04DJvceFICbCVQ

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.3.7" href="#appendix-A.3.7">A.3.7</a>.  Complete Representation</span>

   Assemble the final representation: The Compact Serialization of this
   result is the string BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header)) || '.' ||
   BASE64URL(JWE Encrypted Key) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE Initialization
   Vector) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext) || '.' || BASE64URL(JWE
   Authentication Tag).






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   The final result in this example (with line breaks for display
   purposes only) is:

     eyJhbGciOiJBMTI4S1ciLCJlbmMiOiJBMTI4Q0JDLUhTMjU2In0.
     6KB707dM9YTIgHtLvtgWQ8mKwboJW3of9locizkDTHzBC2IlrT1oOQ.
     AxY8DCtDaGlsbGljb3RoZQ.
     KDlTtXchhZTGufMYmOYGS4HffxPSUrfmqCHXaI9wOGY.
     U0m_YmjN04DJvceFICbCVQ

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.3.8" href="#appendix-A.3.8">A.3.8</a>.  Validation</span>

   This example illustrates the process of creating a JWE with AES Key
   Wrap for key encryption and AES GCM for content encryption.  These
   results can be used to validate JWE decryption implementations for
   these algorithms.  Also, since both the AES Key Wrap and AES GCM
   computations are deterministic, the resulting JWE value will be the
   same for all encryptions performed using these inputs.  Since the
   computation is reproducible, these results can also be used to
   validate JWE encryption implementations for these algorithms.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.4" href="#appendix-A.4">A.4</a>.  Example JWE Using General JWE JSON Serialization</span>

   This section contains an example using the general JWE JSON
   Serialization syntax.  This example demonstrates the capability for
   encrypting the same plaintext to multiple recipients.

   Two recipients are present in this example.  The algorithm and key
   used for the first recipient are the same as that used in
   <a href="#appendix-A.2">Appendix A.2</a>.  The algorithm and key used for the second recipient
   are the same as that used in <a href="#appendix-A.3">Appendix A.3</a>.  The resulting JWE
   Encrypted Key values are therefore the same; those computations are
   not repeated here.

   The plaintext, the CEK, JWE Initialization Vector, and JWE Protected
   Header are shared by all recipients (which must be the case, since
   the ciphertext and Authentication Tag are also shared).















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<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.4.1" href="#appendix-A.4.1">A.4.1</a>.  JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected Headers</span>

   The first recipient uses the RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5 algorithm to encrypt
   the CEK.  The second uses AES Key Wrap to encrypt the CEK.  Key ID
   values are supplied for both keys.  The two JWE Per-Recipient
   Unprotected Header values used to represent these algorithms and key
   IDs are:

     {"alg":"RSA1_5","kid":"2011-04-29"}

   and

     {"alg":"A128KW","kid":"7"}

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.4.2" href="#appendix-A.4.2">A.4.2</a>.  JWE Protected Header</span>

   Authenticated encryption is performed on the plaintext using the
   AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 algorithm to produce the common JWE
   Ciphertext and JWE Authentication Tag values.  The JWE Protected
   Header value representing this is:

     {"enc":"A128CBC-HS256"}

   Encoding this JWE Protected Header as BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected
   Header)) gives this value:

     eyJlbmMiOiJBMTI4Q0JDLUhTMjU2In0

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.4.3" href="#appendix-A.4.3">A.4.3</a>.  JWE Shared Unprotected Header</span>

   This JWE uses the "jku" Header Parameter to reference a JWK Set.
   This is represented in the following JWE Shared Unprotected Header
   value as:

     {"jku":"https://server.example.com/keys.jwks"}

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.4.4" href="#appendix-A.4.4">A.4.4</a>.  Complete JOSE Header Values</span>

   Combining the JWE Per-Recipient Unprotected Header, JWE Protected
   Header, and JWE Shared Unprotected Header values supplied, the JOSE
   Header values used for the first and second recipient, respectively,
   are:

     {"alg":"RSA1_5",
      "kid":"2011-04-29",
      "enc":"A128CBC-HS256",
      "jku":"https://server.example.com/keys.jwks"}




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   and

     {"alg":"A128KW",
      "kid":"7",
      "enc":"A128CBC-HS256",
      "jku":"https://server.example.com/keys.jwks"}

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.4.5" href="#appendix-A.4.5">A.4.5</a>.  Additional Authenticated Data</span>

   Let the Additional Authenticated Data encryption parameter be
   ASCII(BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE Protected Header))).  This value is:

   [101, 121, 74, 108, 98, 109, 77, 105, 79, 105, 74, 66, 77, 84, 73,
   52, 81, 48, 74, 68, 76, 85, 104, 84, 77, 106, 85, 50, 73, 110, 48]

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.4.6" href="#appendix-A.4.6">A.4.6</a>.  Content Encryption</span>

   Perform authenticated encryption on the plaintext with the
   AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 algorithm using the CEK as the encryption
   key, the JWE Initialization Vector, and the Additional Authenticated
   Data value above.  The steps for doing this using the values from
   <a href="#appendix-A.3">Appendix A.3</a> are detailed in <a href="#appendix-B">Appendix B</a>.  The resulting ciphertext
   is:

   [40, 57, 83, 181, 119, 33, 133, 148, 198, 185, 243, 24, 152, 230, 6,
   75, 129, 223, 127, 19, 210, 82, 183, 230, 168, 33, 215, 104, 143,
   112, 56, 102]

   The resulting Authentication Tag value is:

   [51, 63, 149, 60, 252, 148, 225, 25, 92, 185, 139, 245, 35, 2, 47,
   207]

   Encoding this JWE Ciphertext as BASE64URL(JWE Ciphertext) gives this
   value:

     KDlTtXchhZTGufMYmOYGS4HffxPSUrfmqCHXaI9wOGY

   Encoding this JWE Authentication Tag as BASE64URL(JWE Authentication
   Tag) gives this value:

     Mz-VPPyU4RlcuYv1IwIvzw









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<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.4.7" href="#appendix-A.4.7">A.4.7</a>.  Complete JWE JSON Serialization Representation</span>

   The complete JWE JSON Serialization for these values is as follows
   (with line breaks within values for display purposes only):

     {
      "protected":
       "eyJlbmMiOiJBMTI4Q0JDLUhTMjU2In0",
      "unprotected":
       {"jku":"https://server.example.com/keys.jwks"},
      "recipients":[
       {"header":
         {"alg":"RSA1_5","kid":"2011-04-29"},
        "encrypted_key":
         "UGhIOguC7IuEvf_NPVaXsGMoLOmwvc1GyqlIKOK1nN94nHPoltGRhWhw7Zx0-
          kFm1NJn8LE9XShH59_i8J0PH5ZZyNfGy2xGdULU7sHNF6Gp2vPLgNZ__deLKx
          GHZ7PcHALUzoOegEI-8E66jX2E4zyJKx-YxzZIItRzC5hlRirb6Y5Cl_p-ko3
          YvkkysZIFNPccxRU7qve1WYPxqbb2Yw8kZqa2rMWI5ng8OtvzlV7elprCbuPh
          cCdZ6XDP0_F8rkXds2vE4X-ncOIM8hAYHHi29NX0mcKiRaD0-D-ljQTP-cFPg
          wCp6X-nZZd9OHBv-B3oWh2TbqmScqXMR4gp_A"},
       {"header":
         {"alg":"A128KW","kid":"7"},
        "encrypted_key":
         "6KB707dM9YTIgHtLvtgWQ8mKwboJW3of9locizkDTHzBC2IlrT1oOQ"}],
      "iv":
       "AxY8DCtDaGlsbGljb3RoZQ",
      "ciphertext":
       "KDlTtXchhZTGufMYmOYGS4HffxPSUrfmqCHXaI9wOGY",
      "tag":
       "Mz-VPPyU4RlcuYv1IwIvzw"
     }

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.5" href="#appendix-A.5">A.5</a>.  Example JWE Using Flattened JWE JSON Serialization</span>

   This section contains an example using the flattened JWE JSON
   Serialization syntax.  This example demonstrates the capability for
   encrypting the plaintext to a single recipient in a flattened JSON
   structure.

   The values in this example are the same as those for the second
   recipient of the previous example in <a href="#appendix-A.4">Appendix A.4</a>.










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   The complete JWE JSON Serialization for these values is as follows
   (with line breaks within values for display purposes only):

     {
      "protected":
       "eyJlbmMiOiJBMTI4Q0JDLUhTMjU2In0",
      "unprotected":
       {"jku":"https://server.example.com/keys.jwks"},
      "header":
       {"alg":"A128KW","kid":"7"},
      "encrypted_key":
       "6KB707dM9YTIgHtLvtgWQ8mKwboJW3of9locizkDTHzBC2IlrT1oOQ",
      "iv":
       "AxY8DCtDaGlsbGljb3RoZQ",
      "ciphertext":
       "KDlTtXchhZTGufMYmOYGS4HffxPSUrfmqCHXaI9wOGY",
      "tag":
       "Mz-VPPyU4RlcuYv1IwIvzw"
     }

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-B" href="#appendix-B">Appendix B</a>.  Example AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 Computation</span>

   This example shows the steps in the AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256
   authenticated encryption computation using the values from the
   example in <a href="#appendix-A.3">Appendix A.3</a>.  As described where this algorithm is
   defined in Sections <a href="#section-5.2">5.2</a> and <a href="#section-5.2.3">5.2.3</a> of JWA, the AES_CBC_HMAC_SHA2
   family of algorithms are implemented using Advanced Encryption
   Standard (AES) in Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode with Public-Key
   Cryptography Standards (PKCS) #7 padding to perform the encryption
   and an HMAC SHA-2 function to perform the integrity calculation -- in
   this case, HMAC SHA-256.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-B.1" href="#appendix-B.1">B.1</a>.  Extract MAC_KEY and ENC_KEY from Key</span>

   The 256 bit AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256 key K used in this example
   (using JSON array notation) is:

   [4, 211, 31, 197, 84, 157, 252, 254, 11, 100, 157, 250, 63, 170, 106,
   206, 107, 124, 212, 45, 111, 107, 9, 219, 200, 177, 0, 240, 143, 156,
   44, 207]

   Use the first 128 bits of this key as the HMAC SHA-256 key MAC_KEY,
   which is:

   [4, 211, 31, 197, 84, 157, 252, 254, 11, 100, 157, 250, 63, 170, 106,
   206]





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   Use the last 128 bits of this key as the AES-CBC key ENC_KEY, which
   is:

   [107, 124, 212, 45, 111, 107, 9, 219, 200, 177, 0, 240, 143, 156, 44,
   207]

   Note that the MAC key comes before the encryption key in the input
   key K; this is in the opposite order of the algorithm names in the
   identifiers "AES_128_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256" and "A128CBC-HS256".

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-B.2" href="#appendix-B.2">B.2</a>.  Encrypt Plaintext to Create Ciphertext</span>

   Encrypt the plaintext with AES in CBC mode using PKCS #7 padding
   using the ENC_KEY above.  The plaintext in this example is:

   [76, 105, 118, 101, 32, 108, 111, 110, 103, 32, 97, 110, 100, 32,
   112, 114, 111, 115, 112, 101, 114, 46]

   The encryption result is as follows, which is the ciphertext output:

   [40, 57, 83, 181, 119, 33, 133, 148, 198, 185, 243, 24, 152, 230, 6,
   75, 129, 223, 127, 19, 210, 82, 183, 230, 168, 33, 215, 104, 143,
   112, 56, 102]

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-B.3" href="#appendix-B.3">B.3</a>.  64-Bit Big-Endian Representation of AAD Length</span>

   The Additional Authenticated Data (AAD) in this example is:

   [101, 121, 74, 104, 98, 71, 99, 105, 79, 105, 74, 66, 77, 84, 73, 52,
   83, 49, 99, 105, 76, 67, 74, 108, 98, 109, 77, 105, 79, 105, 74, 66,
   77, 84, 73, 52, 81, 48, 74, 68, 76, 85, 104, 84, 77, 106, 85, 50, 73,
   110, 48]

   This AAD is 51-bytes long, which is 408-bits long.  The octet string
   AL, which is the number of bits in AAD expressed as a big-endian
   64-bit unsigned integer is:

   [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 152]

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-B.4" href="#appendix-B.4">B.4</a>.  Initialization Vector Value</span>

   The Initialization Vector value used in this example is:

   [3, 22, 60, 12, 43, 67, 104, 105, 108, 108, 105, 99, 111, 116, 104,
   101]






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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-B.5" href="#appendix-B.5">B.5</a>.  Create Input to HMAC Computation</span>

   Concatenate the AAD, the Initialization Vector, the ciphertext, and
   the AL value.  The result of this concatenation is:

   [101, 121, 74, 104, 98, 71, 99, 105, 79, 105, 74, 66, 77, 84, 73, 52,
   83, 49, 99, 105, 76, 67, 74, 108, 98, 109, 77, 105, 79, 105, 74, 66,
   77, 84, 73, 52, 81, 48, 74, 68, 76, 85, 104, 84, 77, 106, 85, 50, 73,
   110, 48, 3, 22, 60, 12, 43, 67, 104, 105, 108, 108, 105, 99, 111,
   116, 104, 101, 40, 57, 83, 181, 119, 33, 133, 148, 198, 185, 243, 24,
   152, 230, 6, 75, 129, 223, 127, 19, 210, 82, 183, 230, 168, 33, 215,
   104, 143, 112, 56, 102, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 152]

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-B.6" href="#appendix-B.6">B.6</a>.  Compute HMAC Value</span>

   Compute the HMAC SHA-256 of the concatenated value above.  This
   result M is:

   [83, 73, 191, 98, 104, 205, 211, 128, 201, 189, 199, 133, 32, 38,
   194, 85, 9, 84, 229, 201, 219, 135, 44, 252, 145, 102, 179, 140, 105,
   86, 229, 116]

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-B.7" href="#appendix-B.7">B.7</a>.  Truncate HMAC Value to Create Authentication Tag</span>

   Use the first half (128 bits) of the HMAC output M as the
   Authentication Tag output T.  This truncated value is:

   [83, 73, 191, 98, 104, 205, 211, 128, 201, 189, 199, 133, 32, 38,
   194, 85]

Acknowledgements

   Solutions for encrypting JSON content were also explored by "JSON
   Simple Encryption" [<a href="#ref-JSE" title="&quot;JSON Simple Encryption&quot;">JSE</a>] and "JavaScript Message Security Format"
   [<a href="#ref-JSMS" title="&quot;JavaScript Message Security Format&quot;">JSMS</a>], both of which significantly influenced this document.  This
   document attempts to explicitly reuse as many of the relevant
   concepts from XML Encryption 1.1 [<a href="#ref-W3C.REC-xmlenc-core1-20130411">W3C.REC-xmlenc-core1-20130411</a>] and
   <a href="./rfc5652">RFC 5652</a> [<a href="./rfc5652" title="&quot;Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)&quot;">RFC5652</a>] as possible, while utilizing simple, compact JSON-
   based data structures.

   Special thanks are due to John Bradley, Eric Rescorla, and Nat
   Sakimura for the discussions that helped inform the content of this
   specification; to Eric Rescorla and Joe Hildebrand for allowing the
   reuse of text from [<a href="#ref-JSMS" title="&quot;JavaScript Message Security Format&quot;">JSMS</a>] in this document; and to Eric Rescorla for
   co-authoring many drafts of this specification.

   Thanks to Axel Nennker, Emmanuel Raviart, Brian Campbell, and Edmund
   Jay for validating the examples in this specification.



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   This specification is the work of the JOSE working group, which
   includes dozens of active and dedicated participants.  In particular,
   the following individuals contributed ideas, feedback, and wording
   that influenced this specification:

   Richard Barnes, John Bradley, Brian Campbell, Alissa Cooper, Breno de
   Medeiros, Stephen Farrell, Dick Hardt, Jeff Hodges, Russ Housley,
   Edmund Jay, Scott Kelly, Stephen Kent, Barry Leiba, James Manger,
   Matt Miller, Kathleen Moriarty, Tony Nadalin, Hideki Nara, Axel
   Nennker, Ray Polk, Emmanuel Raviart, Eric Rescorla, Pete Resnick, Nat
   Sakimura, Jim Schaad, Hannes Tschofenig, and Sean Turner.

   Jim Schaad and Karen O'Donoghue chaired the JOSE working group and
   Sean Turner, Stephen Farrell, and Kathleen Moriarty served as
   Security Area Directors during the creation of this specification.

Authors' Addresses

   Michael B. Jones
   Microsoft

   EMail: mbj@microsoft.com
   URI:   <a href="http://self-issued.info/">http://self-issued.info/</a>


   Joe Hildebrand
   Cisco Systems, Inc.

   EMail: jhildebr@cisco.com






















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