Yet another "Parse error reading JWS"

tomklein · January 30, 2021, 9:28pm

Hi there,

I'm currently trying to implement ACME according to RFC 8555 as part of our web server's automated SSL issuance.

I'm getting the following error and after lots of trial and error - I'm stuck. This is the error I'm getting:

{
  type: 'urn:ietf:params:acme:error:malformed',
  detail: 'Parse error reading JWS',
  status: 400
}

Here is the POST request body that I'm sending to LetsEncrypt's Staging ACME newAccount endpoint; along with a random key pair I used:

JWS after encoding/signature

{
  protected: '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',
  payload: 'eyJ0ZXJtc09mU2VydmljZUFncmVlZCI6dHJ1ZSwiY29udGFjdCI6WyJtYWlsdG86c3VwcG9ydEBnZW50bGVudC5jb20iXX0',
  signature: '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.eyJ0ZXJtc09mU2VydmljZUFncmVlZCI6dHJ1ZSwiY29udGFjdCI6WyJtYWlsdG86c3VwcG9ydEBnZW50bGVudC5jb20iXX0.bQSelIn4TfUHFBzUjgg-ufNGMozy6r3hQUo76dm4p57XUiEVcCqZiWCg9HPCNDw7Avgc1CxjCVtrP_w0OP0MtmqK04S5zHzw3ipz0EExorb3TuPXIHV8P5n2cyMYqx0fj155m36NWwuGwalwn6b7j0NuJH0-fxxbbIbLyDW3cCGwNBLkOVmcim95cFOuuVqCt5kFP-FUU16zNoWf-ESui37fzyg-9uf0sBTMEGZeQNTFc5drxvOq6rFh8wQjvvQT0wSwstct0IBDfwH729E0JYkvhsQClp0zpxzjVyxyoMP9pfpbYHjow05INgBRndoi73LRJBWjtRNAOXzB7rC1bw'
}

JWS before encoding/signature

{
  protected: {
    alg: 'RS256',
    jwk: {
      kty: 'RSA',
      n: 'ja9Ira4GgUEO1yYp1ybpm6z2uNZ2cw-CRNEGHHs4v8YTBkSgY6C3Tstc1-ppIuvfIY9XZDem37zVFO5LYdv7H_AWRzU_gx5uRMaMsW79WTdbfUGG02x5cK9_SJvL3B4y_fUndj_jpVBUo0J4dIjk61cfqXQ2UWAkcm5UkzIc-ulwW3qgdYJDNnbLQTUdywm4cEqrBkNE3v_FMa0fsRwsRi_HIjFfdF4qJdOsok_porAPlVIANTQMLlpoW-DYW3wcdLNjA2lAZdO_Xa9EdKYzGMCFQLHzW2EVK2pklWP2AR4ZKilgwxpGafDuSKgbzqtTQBNhF49m2R5dxFc1L08j6w',
      e: 'AQAB'
    },
    nonce: '00033g5lDliHKN_zXTmFvnWcPGrZoaWVuqgMGyg4pnMAE1U',
    url: 'https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/new-acct'
  },
  payload: {
    termsOfServiceAgreed: true,
    contact: [ 'mailto:support@gentlent.com' ]
  }
}

RSA 2048-bit Key Pair

I hope someone is able to point me in the right direction so I can solve this.

-Tom

Osiris · January 30, 2021, 9:37pm

What code are you using for signing the JWS?

Also, I'm totally not an expert, but should the signature of the signed JWS be a "$payload.$signature" combination? Sounds a little bit redundant to me.

tomklein · January 30, 2021, 9:40pm

@Osiris Well... that actually solved it. I tried fixing this for hours and again, it's such a "simple" mistake.

Thanks so much!

Osiris · January 30, 2021, 9:41pm

Note that you should use a different private key from now on, as you've published this one (even though it's a staging account I assume).

JuergenAuer · January 30, 2021, 9:41pm

Hi @tomklein

yes, there is a simple mistake.

That's

tomklein:

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',

{"alg":"RS256","jwk":{"kty":"RSA","n":"ja9Ira4GgUEO1yYp1ybpm6z2uNZ2cw-CRNEGHHs4v8YTBkSgY6C3Tstc1-ppIuvfIY9XZDem37zVFO5LYdv7H_AWRzU_gx5uRMaMsW79WTdbfUGG02x5cK9_SJvL3B4y_fUndj_jpVBUo0J4dIjk61cfqXQ2UWAkcm5UkzIc-ulwW3qgdYJDNnbLQTUdywm4cEqrBkNE3v_FMa0fsRwsRi_HIjFfdF4qJdOsok_porAPlVIANTQMLlpoW-DYW3wcdLNjA2lAZdO_Xa9EdKYzGMCFQLHzW2EVK2pklWP2AR4ZKilgwxpGafDuSKgbzqtTQBNhF49m2R5dxFc1L08j6w","e":"AQAB"},"nonce":"00033g5lDliHKN_zXTmFvnWcPGrZoaWVuqgMGyg4pnMAE1U","url":"https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/new-acct"}

But e < kty, so the order of the jwk object is wrong.

tomklein · January 30, 2021, 9:46pm

@Osiris Definitely using a new one.

@JuergenAuer Shouldn't the order of the objects inside JSON not matter (despite code readability)? It seems to work without order.

griffin · January 30, 2021, 9:55pm

When you sign the object, the order matters tremendously.

JuergenAuer · January 30, 2021, 9:56pm

If a signature is computed, the order is relevant.

sig("AB") <> sig("BA").

Reread my own code. The signature is computed

compute_Signature(protected + "." + payload)

"protected" contains the jwk.

But I see: My own code has a function

generate_JSON_public_Key_From_Certificate

with a different order:

kty
n
e
alg

Looks like this is the canonical order.

griffin · January 31, 2021, 7:39pm

Below is a snippet of test code based on my client that works. I can confirm that the PHP JSON encoder does not sort the keys as indicated by the two different thumbprints. The first thumbprint is correct.

<?php

$configargs = [
  "digest_alg" => "sha256",
  "private_key_bits" => 2048,
  "private_key_type" => OPENSSL_KEYTYPE_RSA
];

$privateKeyObject = openssl_pkey_new($configargs);

openssl_pkey_export($privateKeyObject, $privateKey);

$privateKeyDetails = openssl_pkey_get_details($privateKeyObject);

$jwk = [
  "e" => strtr(rtrim(base64_encode($privateKeyDetails["rsa"]["e"]), '='), '+/', '-_'),
  "kty" => "RSA",
  "n" => strtr(rtrim(base64_encode($privateKeyDetails["rsa"]["n"]), '='), '+/', '-_')
];

$thumbprint = strtr(rtrim(base64_encode(openssl_digest(json_encode($jwk, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES), "sha256", true)), '='), '+/', '-_');

$jwk2 = [
  "kty" => "RSA",
  "n" => strtr(rtrim(base64_encode($privateKeyDetails["rsa"]["n"]), '='), '+/', '-_'),
  "e" => strtr(rtrim(base64_encode($privateKeyDetails["rsa"]["e"]), '='), '+/', '-_')
];

$thumbprint2 = strtr(rtrim(base64_encode(openssl_digest(json_encode($jwk2, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES), "sha256", true)), '='), '+/', '-_');

$protected = [
  "url" => "account url",
  "alg" => "RS256",
  "nonce" => "current nonce",
  "jwk" => $jwk
];

$payload = [
  "termsOfServiceAgreed" => true
];

echo "<pre>";
print_r($thumbprint);
echo "<br><br>";
print_r($thumbprint2);
echo "<br><br>";
print_r($protected);
echo "<br>";
print_r($payload);
echo "</pre>";

?>

Can be tested with:

https://extendsclass.com/php.html

system · March 2, 2021, 7:39pm

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

Topic		Replies	Views
Parse error reading JWS Client dev	6	1545	September 12, 2022
Another "Parse error reading JWS"-Issue Client dev	4	522	November 30, 2023
Parse error reading JWS Client dev	14	3309	February 24, 2020
400 Status - urn:acme:error:malformed - JWS verification error Client dev	1	2624	August 28, 2016
Account Key Roll-over : Parse error reading JWS Client dev	10	3133	November 13, 2017

Yet another "Parse error reading JWS"

Related topics