(Registered 15 December 2004) (References updated 6 February 2006) The IESG has approved a request to register the "application/samlmetadata+xml" MIME media type in the standards tree. This media type is a product of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Systems (OASIS). The IESG contact persons are Ted Hardie and Scott Hollenbeck. MIME media type name: application MIME subtype name: samlmetadata+xml Required parameters: none Optional parameters: charset Same as charset parameter of application/xml [RFC3023]. Encoding considerations: Same as for application/xml [RFC3023]. Security considerations: Per their specification, samlmetadata+xml typed objects do not contain executable content. However, these objects are XML-based [XML], and thus they have all of the general security considerations presented in section 10 of [RFC3023]. SAML metadata [SAMLv2Meta] contains information whose integrity and authenticity is important - identity provider and service provider public keys and endpoint addresses, for example. To counter potential issues, the publisher may sign samlmetadata+xml typed objects. Any such signature should be verified by the recipient of the data - both as a valid signature, and as being the signature of the publisher. Additionally, various of the publication protocols, e.g. HTTP-over-TLS/SSL, offer means for ensuring the authenticity of the publishing party and for protecting the metadata in transit. [SAMLv2Meta] also defines prescriptive metadata caching directives, as well as guidance on handling HTTPS redirects, trust processing, server authentication, and related items. For a more detailed discussion of SAML v2.0 metadata and its security considerations, please see [SAMLv2Meta]. For a discussion of overall SAML v2.0 security considerations and specific security-related design features, please refer to the SAML v2.0 specifications listed in the below bibliography. The specifications containing security-specific information are explicitly listed. Interoperability considerations: SAML v2.0 metadata explicitly supports identifying the protocols and versions supported by the identified entities. For example, an identity provider entity can be denoted as supporting SAML v2.0, SAML v1.1 [SAMLv1.1], Liberty ID-FF 1.2 [LAPFF], or even other protocols if they are unambiguously identifiable via URI [RFC2396]. This protocol support information is conveyed via the protocolSupportEnumeration attribute of metadata objects of the RoleDescriptorType. Published specification: [SAMLv2Meta] explicitly specifies use of the application/samlmetadata+xml MIME media type. Applications which use this media type: Potentially any application implementing SAML v2.0, as well as those applications implementing specifications based on SAML, e.g. those available from the Liberty Alliance [LAP]. Additional information: Magic number(s): In general, the same as for application/xml [RFC3023]. In particular, the XML root element of the returned object will be one of , , or . where "md" maps to the SAML v2.0 metadata namespace: urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata File extension(s): none Macintosh File Type Code(s): none Person & email address to contact for further information: This registration is made on behalf of the OASIS Security Services Technical Committee (SSTC) Please refer to the SSTC website for current information on committee chairperson(s) and their contact addresses: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/security/. Committee members should submit comments and potential errata to the securityservices at lists.oasis-open.org list. Others should submit them by filling out the web form located at http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/form.php?wg_abbrev=s Additionally, the SAML developer community email distribution list, saml-dev at lists.oasis-open.org, may be employed to discuss usage of the application/samlmetadata+xml MIME media type. The "saml-dev" mailing list is publicly archived here: http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/saml-dev/. To post to the "saml-dev" mailing list, one must subscribe to it. To subscribe, send a message with the single word "subscribe" in the message body, to: saml-dev-request at lists.oasis-open.org. Intended usage: COMMON Author/Change controller: The SAML specification sets are a work product of the OASIS Security Services Technical Committee (SSTC). OASIS and the SSTC have change control over the SAML specification sets. Bibliography [LAP] "Liberty Alliance Project". See http://www.projectliberty.org/ [LAPFF] "Liberty Alliance Project: Federation Framework". See http://www.projectliberty.org/resources/ specifications.php#box1 [OASIS] "Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Systems". See http://www.oasis-open.org/ [RFC2396] T. Berners-Lee, R. Fielding, L. Masinter, Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax. IETF RFC 2396, August 1998. Available at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt [RFC3023] M. Murata, S. St.Laurent, D. Kohn, "XML Media Types", IETF Request for Comments 3023, January 2001. Available as http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3023.txt [SAMLv1.1] OASIS Security Services Technical Committee, "Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Version 1.1 Specification Set". OASIS Standard 200308, August 2003. Available as http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php /3400/oasis-sstc-saml-1.1-pdf-xsd.zip [SAMLv2.0] OASIS Security Services Technical Committee, "Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Version 2.0 Specification Set". OASIS Standard, 15-Mar-2005. Available at: http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0/saml-2.0-os.zip [SAMLv2Bind] S. Cantor et al., "Bindings for the OASIS Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) V2.0". OASIS, March 2005. Document ID saml-bindings-2.0-os. Available at: http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0/saml-bindings-2.0-os.pdf [SAMLv2Core] S. Cantor et al., "Assertions and Protocols for the OASIS Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) V2.0". OASIS, March 2005. Document ID saml-core-2.0-os. Available at: http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0/saml-core-2.0-os.pdf [SAMLv2Meta] S. Cantor et al., "Metadata for the OASIS Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) V2.0". OASIS, March 2005. Document ID saml-metadata-2.0-os. Available at: http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0/saml-metadata-2.0-os.pdf [SAMLv2Prof] S. Cantor et al., "Profiles for the OASIS Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) V2.0". OASIS, March 2005. Document ID saml-profiles-2.0-os. Available at: http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0/saml-profiles-2.0-os.pdf [SAMLv2Sec] F. Hirsch et al., "Security and Privacy Considerations for the OASIS Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) V2.0". OASIS, March 2005. Document ID saml-sec-consider-2.0-os. Available at: http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0/saml-sec-consider-2.0-os.pdf [SSTC] "OASIS Security Services Technical Committee". See http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/security/ [XML] Bray, T., Paoli, J., Sperberg-McQueen, C.M. and E. Maler, "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Second Edition)", World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation REC-xml, October 2000, Available as http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xmlcorot