





Network Working Group                                          R. Sparks
Request for Comments: 3420                                   dynamicsoft
Category: Standards Track                                  November 2002


                  Internet Media Type message/sipfrag

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document registers the message/sipfrag Multipurpose Internet
   Mail Extensions (MIME) media type.  This type is similar to
   message/sip, but allows certain subsets of well formed Session
   Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages to be represented instead of
   requiring a complete SIP message.  In addition to end-to-end security
   uses, message/sipfrag is used with the REFER method to convey
   information about the status of a referenced request.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   2.  Definition: message/sipfrag  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   3.  Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
       3.1 Valid message/sipfrag parts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
       3.2 Invalid message/sipfrag parts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   4.  Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   5.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   6.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       Non-Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8








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RFC 3420           Internet Media Type message/ipfrag      November 2002


1. Introduction

   The message/sip MIME media type defined in [1] carries an entire well
   formed SIP message.  Section 23.4 of [1] describes the use of
   message/sip in concert with S/MIME  to enhance end-to-end security.
   The concepts in that section can be extended to allow SIP entities to
   make assertions about a subset of a SIP message (for example, as
   described in [6]).  The message/sipfrag type defined in this document
   is used to represent this subset.

   A subset of a SIP message is also used by the REFER method defined in
   [5] to carry the status of referenced requests.  Allowing only a
   portion of a SIP message to be carried allows information that could
   compromise privacy and confidentiality to be protected by removal.

   This document does NOT provide a mechanism to segment a SIP message
   into multiple pieces for separate transport and later reassemble.
   The message/partial type defined in [2] provides a solution for that
   problem.

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMEND", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [4].

2. Definition: message/sipfrag

   A valid message/sipfrag part is one that could be obtained by
   starting with some valid SIP message and deleting any of the
   following:

   o  the entire start line

   o  one or more entire header fields

   o  the body

   The following Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) [3] rule describes a
   message/sipfrag part using the SIP grammar elements defined in [1].
   The expansion of any element is subject to the restrictions on valid
   SIP messages defined there.

           sipfrag = [ start-line ]
                     *message-header
                     [ CRLF [ message-body ] ]







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RFC 3420           Internet Media Type message/ipfrag      November 2002


   If the message/sipfrag part contains a body, it MUST also contain the
   appropriate header fields describing that body (such as Content-
   Length) as required by Section 7.4 of [1] and the null-line
   separating the header from the body.

3. Examples

3.1 Valid message/sipfrag parts

   This section uses a vertical bar and a space to the left of each
   example to illustrate the example's extent.  Each line of the
   message/sipfrag element begins with the first character after the "|"
   pair.

   The first two examples show that a message/sipfrag part can consist
   of only a start line.

         | INVITE sip:alice@atlanta.com SIP/2.0
      or
         | SIP/2.0 603 Declined

   The next two show that Subsets of a full SIP message may be
   represented.

      | REGISTER sip:atlanta.com SIP/2.0
      | To: sip:alice@atlanta.com
      | Contact: <sip:alicepc@atlanta.com>;q=0.9,
      |          <sip:alicemobile@atlanta.com>;q=0.1

      | SIP/2.0 400 Bad Request
      | Warning: 399 atlanta.com Your Event header field was malformed

   A message/sipfrag part does not have to contain a start line.  This
   example shows a part that might be signed to make assertions about a
   particular message.  (See [6].)

         | From: Alice <sip:alice@atlanta.com>
         | To: Bob <sip:bob@biloxi.com>
         | Contact: <sip:alice@pc33.atlanta.com>
         | Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 13:02:03 GMT
         | Call-ID: a84b4c76e66710
         | Cseq: 314159 INVITE









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RFC 3420           Internet Media Type message/ipfrag      November 2002


   The next two examples show message/sipfrag parts that contain bodies.

         | SIP/2.0 200 OK
         | Content-Type: application/sdp
         | Content-Length: 247
         |
         | v=0
         | o=alice 2890844526 2890844526 IN IP4 host.anywhere.com
         | s=
         | c=IN IP4 host.anywhere.com
         | t=0 0
         | m=audio 49170 RTP/AVP 0
         | a=rtpmap:0 PCMU/8000
         | m=video 51372 RTP/AVP 31
         | a=rtpmap:31 H261/90000
         | m=video 53000 RTP/AVP 32
         | a=rtpmap:32 MPV/90000

         | Content-Type: text/plain
         | Content-Length: 11
         |
         | Hi There!

3.2 Invalid message/sipfrag parts

   This section uses the character "X" followed by a space to the left
   of each example to illustrate the example's extent.  Each line of the
   invalid message/sipfrag element begins with the first character after
   the "X " pair.

   The start line, if present, must be complete and valid per [1].

         X INVITE

         X INVITE sip:alice@atlanta.com SIP/1.09

         X SIP/2.0

         X 404 Not Found

   All header fields must be valid per [1].

         X INVITE sip:alice@atlanta.com SIP/2.0
         X Via: SIP/2.0/UDP ;branch=z9hG4bK29342a
         X To: <>;tag=39234

         X To: sip:alice@atlanta.com
         X From: sip:bob@biloxi.com;tag=1992312



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RFC 3420           Internet Media Type message/ipfrag      November 2002


         X Call-ID: this is invalid

         X INVITE sip:alice@atlanta.com SIP/2.0
         X From: <sip:bob@biloxi.com>;tag=z9hG4bK2912;tag=z9hG4bK99234

   If a body is present in the message/sipfrag part, the headers
   required by Section 7.4 of [1] and the null-line separating the
   header from the body.

         X MESSAGE sip:alice@atlanta.com SIP/2.0
         X Hi There!

4. Discussion

   Section 23 of [1], and memos [5] and [6] provide motivation and
   detailed examples of carrying all or part of a SIP message in a MIME
   part.  Briefly, using this representation along with S/MIME enables
   protecting and making assertions about portions of a SIP message
   header.  It also enables applications to describe the messaging
   involved in a SIP transaction using portions of the messages
   themselves.

   The SIP REFER method [5], for instance, uses this to report the
   result of a SIP request to an authorized third party.  However, as
   that document details, it is rarely desirable to include the entire
   SIP response message in this report as a message/sip MIME part.
   Doing so has significant negative security implications.  The
   message/sipfrag type, on the other hand, allows a sender to select
   what information is exposed.  Further, it allows information required
   in a full SIP message that is not pertinent to a description of that
   message to be elided, reducing message size.  For instance, this
   allows a SIP element responding to a REFER to say "I got a 400 Bad
   Request with this Warning header field" without having to include the
   Via, To, From, Call-ID, CSeq and Content-Length header fields
   mandatory in a full SIP message.

   The message protection mechanism discussed in Section 23 of [1]
   assumes an entire SIP message is being protected.  However, there are
   several header fields in a full SIP message that necessarily change
   during transport.  [1] discusses how to inspect and ignore those
   changes.  This idea is refined in [6] to allow protection of a subset
   of the entire message, avoiding the extra work and potential errors
   involved in ignoring parts of the message that may legitimately
   change in transit.  That document also describes constructing
   cryptographic assertions about pertinent subsets of a SIP message
   header before the full header (including hop-by-hop transport
   specific information) may be available.




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RFC 3420           Internet Media Type message/ipfrag      November 2002


5. IANA Considerations

   The message/sipfrag media type is defined by the following
   information:

   Media type name: message
   Media subtype name: sipfrag
   Required parameters: none
   Optional parameters: version
     Version: The SIP-Version number of the enclosed message (e.g.,
     "2.0"). If not present, the version defaults to "2.0".
   Encoding scheme: SIP messages consist of an 8-bit header optionally
     followed by a binary MIME data object. As such, SIP messages must
     be treated as binary. Under normal circumstances SIP messages are
     transported over binary-capable transports, no special encodings
     are needed.
   Security considerations: see below

6. Security Considerations

   A message/sipfrag mime-part may contain sensitive information or
   information used to affect processing decisions at the receiver.
   When exposing that information or modifying it during transport would
   do harm, its level of protection can be improved using the S/MIME
   mechanisms described in section 23 of [1], with the limitations
   described in section 26 of that document, and the mechanisms
   described in [6].

   Applications using message/sipfrag to represent a subset of the
   header fields from a SIP message must consider the implications of
   the message/sipfrag part being captured and replayed and include
   sufficient information to mitigate risk.  Any SIP extension which
   uses message/sipfrag MUST describe the replay and cut and paste
   threats unique to its particular usage.  For example, [6] discusses
   how a subset of a SIP message can be used to assert the identity of
   the entity making a SIP request.  The draft details what information
   must be contained in the subset to bind the assertion to the request.














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RFC 3420           Internet Media Type message/ipfrag      November 2002


Normative References

   [1]  Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A.,
        Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M. and E. Schooler, "SIP:
        Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3265, June 2002.

   [2]  Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
        Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types", RFC 2046, November
        1996.

   [3]  Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
        Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997.

   [4]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
        Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

Non-Normative References

   [5]  Sparks, R., "The SIP Refer Method", Work in Progress.

   [6]  Peterson, J., "Enhancements for Authenticated Identity
        Management in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", Work in
        Progress.

Author's Address

   Robert J. Sparks
   dynamicsoft
   5100 Tennyson Parkway
   Suite 1200
   Plano, TX  75024

   EMail: rsparks@dynamicsoft.com


















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RFC 3420           Internet Media Type message/ipfrag      November 2002


Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
   or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
   kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
   document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
   the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
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   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
   English.

   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
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   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
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   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
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   MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.



















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