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Copy file name to clipboardExpand all lines: docs/users-manual/application-otp/challenge-response.md
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The other OTP application configurations ([Yubico OTP](xref:OtpYubicoOtp), [OATH HOTP](xref:OtpHotp),
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and [static password](xref:OtpStaticPassword)) require the user to activate the configured [slot](xref:OtpSlots) (by
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touching the YubiKey or scanning it with an [NFC reader](xref:OtpNdef)) in order to generate and submit the password
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touching the YubiKey or scanning it with an [NFC reader](xref:OtpNdef)) in order to generate and transmit the password
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from the YubiKey to a host device. Challenge-response, on the other hand, begins with a “challenge” that a host sends to
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the YubiKey. The YubiKey receives the challenge (as a byte array) and “responds” by encrypting or digesting (hashing)
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the challenge with a stored secret key and sending the response code back to the host for authentication.
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the YubiKey. The YubiKey receives the challenge as a byte array and “responds” by encrypting or digesting (hashing)
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the challenge with a stored secret key and sending the response back to the host for authentication.
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Challenge-response is flexible. It can be used in single and multi-factor authentication for logging into applications
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or devices, and validation can take place on a host device itself or on a validation server on an internal or external
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* The validating party must be able to validate responses and pass the result back to the application.
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> [!NOTE]
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> [!IMPORTANT]
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> All YubiKey-host communication for challenge-response is done via the [HID communication protocol](xref:OtpHID).
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> Therefore, challenge-response authentication will only work when a YubiKey is physically plugged into a host over USB
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> or
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> Lightning. Challenges and responses cannot be communicated wirelessly with NFC.
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## Supported challenge-response algorithms
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The .NET SDK and the YubiKey support the following encryption and hashing algorithms for challenge-response:
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The .NET SDK and the YubiKey support the following algorithms for challenge-response:
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*[Yubico OTP](xref:OtpYubicoOtp) (encryption)
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* HMAC-SHA1 as defined in [RFC2104](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2104) (hashing)
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For Yubico OTP challenge-response, the key will receive a 6-byte challenge. The YubiKey will then create a 16-byte
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For Yubico OTP challenge-response, an application will send the YubiKey a 6-byte challenge. The YubiKey will then create a 16-byte
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string by concatenating the challenge with 10 bytes of unique device fields. For Yubico OTP challenge-response, these 10
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bytes of additional data are not important. They are merely added as padding so that the challenge may then be encrypted
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bytes of additional data are not important—they are merely added as padding so that the challenge may then be encrypted
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with a 16-byte key using the AES encryption algorithm (AES requires that data be encrypted in blocks of the same size as
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the encryption key). The resulting Yubico OTP becomes the response code.
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the encryption key). The resulting Yubico OTP (as a byte array) becomes the response.
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For HMAC-SHA1 challenge-response, the key will receive a challenge of up to 64 bytes in size, which will be digested (
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hashed) with a 20-byte secret key, resulting in a 6-10 digit HOTP as the response code.
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For HMAC-SHA1 challenge-response, an application will send the YubiKey a challenge of up to 64 bytes in size, which will be digested (
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hashed) with a 20-byte secret key, resulting in a 20-byte response (the HMAC-SHA1 hash value). Responses can be received
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by an application as a byte array or a 6-10 digit numeric code. With HMAC-SHA1, the challenge can be either an
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application-specified byte array or the current Unix time.
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> [!NOTE]
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> Hashing/digesting is a one-way operation, meaning that once a block of data is hashed, it cannot be converted back
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> into its original form. Encryption, on the other hand, is a two-way operation. When a block of data is encrypted, it
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> can
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> be decrypted back into its original form at any time. This is an important distinction because the validating party
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> be decrypted back into its original form. This is an important distinction because the validating party
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> will
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> have to respond differently to Yubico OTP responses (encrypted) and HMAC-SHA1 responses (hashed). For Yubico OTP, the
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> validating party will have to decrypt the response and compare the result with the original challenge. For HMAC-SHA1,
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1. The YubiKey receives the challenge and encrypts/digests it with the secret key and encryption/hashing algorithm that
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the slot was configured with.
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1. The YubiKey sends the response back to the host, and the application receives it as a string object containing
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numeric digits, a byte array, or a single integer (as determined by the SDK).
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1. The YubiKey sends the response back to the host, and the application receives it as a raw byte array, a string object of
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numeric digits, or an integer (as configured with the SDK).
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1. The application sends the response to the validating party. For Yubico OTP challenge-response, the response must be
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decrypted using the YubiKey’s unique secret key. For HMAC-SHA1 challenge-response, the validating party must digest
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the challenge with the secret key using the same HMAC-SHA1 algorithm.
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the challenge with the secret key and the HMAC-SHA1 algorithm.
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1. For Yubico OTP, if the decrypted response matches the original challenge that was sent to the YubiKey, authentication
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was successful, and the user is logged in. (For Yubico OTP challenge-response, the 6-byte challenge must match the
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first 6 bytes of the decrypted response—the other bytes are ignored.) For HMAC-SHA1, if the response matches the
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validating party's digested challenge, authentication was successful, and the user is logged in.
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> [!NOTE]
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> For the authentication process to succeed, the size of the challenge must align with the algorithm that the YubiKey
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> was configured with. Similarly, the validating party must decrypt the response using the same algorithm that the
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> challenge was encrypted with.
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## SDK functionality
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The SDK’s challenge-response functionality centers around the following two methods:
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> [!NOTE]
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> It’s important that the size of your secret key matches the size that is expected for the algorithm you
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> chose ([16 bytes](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.ConfigureChallengeResponse.YubiOtpKeySize) for Yubico OTP
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> and [20 bytes](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.ConfigureChallengeResponse.HmacSha1KeySize) for HMAC-SHA1). For
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> example, if you call ``UseYubiOtp()``, the key that you set with ``UseKey()`` must be 16 bytes long. Otherwise, the
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> YubiKey will not be able to respond to a challenge correctly. The SDK will throw an exception if the key length is
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> incorrect for the chosen configuration.
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> and [20 bytes](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.ConfigureChallengeResponse.HmacSha1KeySize) for HMAC-SHA1). The SDK will throw an exception if the key length is
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> incorrect for the chosen algorithm.
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The ``ConfigureChallengeResponse`` class also provides optional methods for requiring users to touch the YubiKey to
> ``UseSmallChallenge()`` is included for compatibility with legacy systems whose implementations break data sets into
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> multiple blocks, which often results in the last element being smaller than 64 bytes.
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For a full list of the methods in the ``ConfigureChallengeResponse`` class, please see
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For a full list of the methods in the ``ConfigureChallengeResponse`` class, see
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the [API documentation](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.ConfigureChallengeResponse).
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For an example of how to use ``ConfigureChallengeResponse()``, please
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see [How to program a slot with a challenge-response credential](xref:OtpProgramChallengeResponse).
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For an example of how to use ``ConfigureChallengeResponse()``, see
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[How to program a slot with a challenge-response credential](xref:OtpProgramChallengeResponse).
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### CalculateChallengeResponse()
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In order for a host to send a challenge to a YubiKey and receive a response, an application on the host must
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call ``CalculateChallengeResponse()``. With this method, you can:
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* send the challenge to the YubiKey as a byte array
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with [UseChallenge()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.UseChallenge%28System.Byte%5B%5D%29).
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* send a Yubico OTP or HMAC-SHA1 challenge to the YubiKey as an application-specified byte array
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with [UseChallenge()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.UseChallenge%28System.Byte%5B%5D%29).
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Alternatively, the current Unix time can be sent as a challenge with
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[UseTotp()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.UseTotp) for HMAC-SHA1 challenge-response.
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* send a message to the user to notify them to touch the YubiKey to initiate the challenge-response operation
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with [UseTouchNotifier()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.UseTouchNotifier%28System.Action%29).
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This is only needed if the YubiKey slot was configured to require the button touch with ``UseButton()``.
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* receive the response from the YubiKey. The response can be received as a string object of numeric digits
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via [GetCode()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.GetCode%28System.Int32%29), as a byte
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array via [GetDataBytes()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.GetDataBytes) (the only
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response type that is compatible with Yubico OTPs), or as a single 32-bit integer
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via [GetDataInt()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.GetDataInt).
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* receive the response from the YubiKey. The response can be received as a string object of 6-10 numeric digits
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via [GetCode()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.GetCode%28System.Int32%29) (HMAC-SHA1), as a byte
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array via [GetDataBytes()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.GetDataBytes) (Yubico OTP, HMAC-SHA1), or as a single 10-digit, 32-bit integer
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via [GetDataInt()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.GetDataInt) (HMAC-SHA1).
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In addition, the time period for time-based challenges sent with ``UseTotp()`` (i.e. how long a TOTP response is valid for) can be set
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via [WithPeriod()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.WithPeriod%28System.Int32%29). The
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default period is 30 seconds. Time-based challenges can only be used with keys configured for HMAC-SHA1 challenge-response.
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The SDK will throw an exception if you call both ``UseTotp()`` and ``UseChallenge()``.
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> [!NOTE]
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> The size of the challenge sent to the YubiKey with ``UseChallenge()`` must align with the slot's configuration. If the
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> slot is configured to perform Yubico OTP, the challenge must
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> be [6 bytes](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.YubicoOtpChallengeSize) long. If the slot
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> is
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> configured for HMAC-SHA1, the challenge must
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> configured for HMAC-SHA1, the HOTP challenge must
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> be [64 bytes](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.MaxHmacChallengeSize) long. However, if
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> the
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> slot has been configured with ``UseSmallChallenge()``, an HMAC-SHA1 challenge smaller than 64 bytes is acceptable. The
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> slot has been configured with ``UseSmallChallenge()``, an HOTP challenge smaller than 64 bytes is acceptable. The
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> SDK will throw an exception if the challenge size does not match the YubiKey slot's configuration.
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Alternatively, the application can send a TOTP challenge to the YubiKey
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with [UseTotp()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.UseTotp). The time period of the TOTP
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challenge (i.e. how long a TOTP is valid for) can be set
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via [WithPeriod()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.WithPeriod%28System.Int32%29) (the
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default period is 30 seconds). TOTP challenges can only be used with keys configured for HMAC-SHA1 challenge-response.
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With ``UseTotp()``, the application will send the current time as the challenge, and the YubiKey will digest it with the
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stored secret key and the HMAC-SHA1 algorithm. The SDK will throw an exception if you call both ``UseTotp()``
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and ``UseChallenge()``.
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For a full list of the methods in the ``CalculateChallengeResponse`` class, please see
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For a full list of the methods in the ``CalculateChallengeResponse`` class, see
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the [API documentation](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse).
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For an example of how to use ``CalculateChallengeResponse()``, please
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see [How to calculate a response code for a challenge-response credential](xref:OtpCalcChallengeResponseCode).
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For an example of how to use ``CalculateChallengeResponse()``, see [How to calculate a response code for a challenge-response credential](xref:OtpCalcChallengeResponseCode).
- an application-specified byte array (Yubico OTP and HMAC-SHA1)
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- the current Unix time (HMAC-SHA1 configurations only)
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The challenge type must align with the type of credential that the YubiKey was programmed with, otherwise an exception
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will occur. To send an HMAC-SHA1 or TOTP challenge, the key must be programmed with an HMAC-SHA1 credential. To send a
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Yubico OTP challenge, the key must be programmed with a Yubico OTP credential.
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The challenge type and size must align with the type of credential that the YubiKey was programmed with, otherwise an exception
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will be thrown.
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For HMAC-SHA1 and TOTP challenge-response, the YubiKey will digest the challenge with the HMAC-SHA1 credential that it
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was programmed with. The resulting code can then be compared to the code produced by the validation server via the same
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hashing operation. For Yubico OTP challenge-response, the YubiKey will encrypt the challenge using its Yubico OTP
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credential, producing a Yubico OTP. This OTP can then be decrypted by the validation server with the credential's secret
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For HMAC-SHA1 challenge-response, the YubiKey will digest the challenge with the HMAC-SHA1 credential that it
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was programmed with. The resulting hash value can then be compared to the hash value produced by the validation server via the HMAC-SHA1 algorithm.
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For Yubico OTP challenge-response, the YubiKey will encrypt the challenge using its Yubico OTP
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credential, producing a Yubico OTP (as a byte array). This OTP can then be decrypted by the validation server with the credential's secret
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key.
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## Response code types
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## Response types
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The response from a YubiKey can be received via one of three methods:
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will be returned by default unless a larger number is specified when calling this method (for
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example, ``GetCode(8)``).
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1.[GetDataBytes()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.GetDataBytes): returns a byte array.
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1.[GetDataInt()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.GetDataInt): returns a single 32-bit
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integer. For HOTP challenges, the integer returned will represent the same number as ``GetCode(10)``.
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1.[GetDataInt()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.GetDataInt): returns a single 10-digit, 32-bit
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integer. The integer returned will represent the same code as ``GetCode(10)``.
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Any of these response methods can be used for HOTP and TOTP challenges. However, ``GetDataBytes()`` is the only
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Any of these response methods can be used for HMAC-SHA1 challenges. However, ``GetDataBytes()`` is the only
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compatible method for Yubico OTP challenges.
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## Touch
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Regardless of the challenge type, you must
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call [UseYubiOtp()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.UseYubiOtp%28System.Boolean%29) when
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sending a challenge with ``CalculateChallengeResponse()``(more specifially, call ``UseYubiOtp(false)`` for HOTP and
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TOTP challenges or ``UseYubiOtp(true)`` for Yubico OTP challenges). There is no default setting; an exception will occur
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sending a challenge with ``CalculateChallengeResponse()``Specifically, call ``UseYubiOtp(false)`` for HMAC-SHA1 challenges
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or ``UseYubiOtp(true)`` for Yubico OTP challenges. There is no default setting; an exception will occur
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if you do not call ``UseYubiOtp()``.
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For Yubico OTP challenge-response, the challenge must be 6 bytes
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long ([YubicoOtpChallengeSize](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.YubicoOtpChallengeSize)).
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For HOTP and TOTP challenge-response, the challenge must be 64 bytes
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For HMAC SHA-1 challenge-response, the application-specified challenge must be 64 bytes
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long ([MaxHmacChallengeSize](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.MaxHmacChallengeSize)) unless
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the YubiKey was previously configured
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with [UseSmallChallenge()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.ConfigureChallengeResponse.UseSmallChallenge%28System.Boolean%29).
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Additionally, for TOTP challenges, you can set the time period that the response code is valid for
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Additionally, for time-based HMAC-SHA1 challenges sent with [UseTotp()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.UseTotp), you can set the time period that the response is valid for
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via [WithPeriod()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.WithPeriod%28System.Int32%29) (the
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default is 30 seconds). Calling this method with an HMAC-SHA1 or Yubico OTP challenge will still succeed, but it has no
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effect on the challenge sent to the YubiKey.
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default is 30 seconds).
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## CalculateChallengeResponse() examples
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### HMAC-SHA1 challenge-response example
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In this example, we send an HOTP challenge (``hmacChal``) to the short press slot of the YubiKey
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In this example, we send an HMAC-SHA1 challenge (``hmacChal``) to the short press slot of the YubiKey
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with [UseChallenge()](xref:Yubico.YubiKey.Otp.Operations.CalculateChallengeResponse.UseChallenge%28System.Byte%5B%5D%29)
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and get the response as a string object containing eight 32-bit integers via ``GetCode()``.
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```C#
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using (OtpSessionotp=newOtpSession(yubiKey))
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{
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// The challenge, hmacChal, has been set elsewhere.
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