xeps/xep-0389.xml

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<xep>
<header>
  <title>Extensible In-Band Registration</title>
  <abstract>
    This specification defines an XMPP protocol extension for in-band
    registration with instant messaging servers and other services with which an
    XMPP entity may initiate a stream.
    It aims to improve upon the state of the art and replace XEP-0077: In-Band
    Registration by allowing multi-factor registration mechanisms, and account
    recovery.
  </abstract>
  &LEGALNOTICE;
  <number>0389</number>
  <status>Experimental</status>
  <type>Standards Track</type>
  <sig>Standards</sig>
  <approver>Council</approver>
  <dependencies>
    <spec>XMPP Core</spec>
  </dependencies>
  <supersedes>
    <spec>XEP-0077</spec>
  </supersedes>
  <supersededby/>
  <shortname>ibr2</shortname>
  &sam;
  <revision>
    <version>0.4.0</version>
    <date>2020-04-22</date>
    <initials>ssw</initials>
    <remark>
      <ul>
        <li>Add OOB challenge type.</li>
        <li>Add IQ query for flows.</li>
        <li>Add a glossary.</li>
        <li>Make challenge listings more consistent.</li>
        <li>Cleanup and expand the registrar considerations section.</li>
        <li>Clarifications and typo fixes throughout the text.</li>
      </ul>
    </remark>
  </revision>
  <revision>
    <version>0.3.0</version>
    <date>2020-04-19</date>
    <initials>ssw</initials>
    <remark>
      <ul>
        <li>Move back to experimental.</li>
        <li>Add IQ variant of registration/recovery.</li>
        <li>Allow client to select between multiple flows.</li>
      </ul>
    </remark>
  </revision>
  <revision>
    <version>0.2.0</version>
    <date>2018-10-01</date>
    <initials>XEP Editor (jsc)</initials>
    <remark>Defer due to lack of activity.</remark>
  </revision>
  <revision>
    <version>0.1.0</version>
    <date>2017-03-16</date>
    <initials>XEP Editor (ssw)</initials>
    <remark>
      Move to experimental.
    </remark>
  </revision>
  <revision>
    <version>0.0.2</version>
    <date>2017-02-15</date>
    <initials>ssw</initials>
    <remark>
      <ul>
        <li>Don't allow feature to act as auth.</li>
        <li>Use a more conventional list for challenge type listings.</li>
      </ul>
    </remark>
  </revision>
  <revision>
    <version>0.0.1</version>
    <date>2017-02-08</date>
    <initials>ssw</initials>
    <remark><p>First draft.</p></remark>
  </revision>
</header>
<section1 topic='Introduction' anchor='intro'>
  <p>
    Historically, registering with an XMPP service has been difficult.
    Each server either used customized out-of-band registration mechanisms such
    as web forms which were difficult to discover, or they used &xep0077; which
    could easily be abused by spammers to register large numbers of accounts and
    which allowed for only limited extensibility.
  </p>
  <p>
    To solve these issues this specification provides a new in-band registration
    protocol that allows servers to present the user with a series of
    "challenges".
    This allows for both multi-stage proof-of-possession registration flows and
    spam prevention mechanisms such as proof-of-work functions.
  </p>
</section1>
<section1 topic='Requirements' anchor='reqs'>
  <ul>
    <li>
      The server MUST be able to present multiple challenges to the client.
    </li>
    <li>
      The server SHOULD be able reduce account registration spam.
    </li>
    <li>
      The server MAY present a challenge that requires the user to complete a
      step out-of-band.
    </li>
    <li>
      A client SHOULD be able to register an account without requiring the user
      to leave the client.
    </li>
    <li>
      A client MUST be able to use the same mechanism to register an account and
      to recover a forgotten password (subject to server policy).
    </li>
    <li>
      A client MUST be able to register with a server as well as external
      components.
    </li>
  </ul>
</section1>
<section1 topic='Glossary' anchor='glossary'>
  <dl>
    <di>
      <dt>Challenge</dt>
      <dd>
        A challenge is an action taken during account registration or recovery
        that requires a response.
        For example, displaying a form to a user or asking for a token.
      </dd>
    </di>
    <di>
      <dt>Challenge Type</dt>
      <dd>
        The type of a challenge is a unique string that identifies the type of
        payload that can be expected.
        For example, a challenge element with type "jabber:x:data" can be
        expected to contain a data form.
        Challenge types must be defined and registered in the challenge types
        registry.
        When defining a challenge it is often convenient to reuse an XML
        namespace from the document defining the challenge.
      </dd>
    </di>
    <di>
      <dt>Flow</dt>
      <dd>
        A flow, or more specifically a "registration flow" or "recovery flow",
        is a collection of challenges that together can be used to gather enough
        information to register a new account or recover an existing account.
      </dd>
    </di>
  </dl>
</section1>
<section1 topic='Use Cases' anchor='usecases'>
  <ul>
    <li>
      As a server operator, I want to prevent individual spammers from
      registering many accounts so I require registrants to perform a
      proof-of-work function before registration is completed.
    </li>
    <li>
      As a server operator I want to prevent bots from registering accounts so I
      require that registrants submit a form which requires user interaction.
    </li>
    <li>
      As a user I do not want to lose access to my account if I forget my
      password, so I provide my email and telephone number in response to the
      servers data form.
    </li>
    <li>
      As a server operator I do not want users to accidentally add an incorrect
      recovery address so I send an email with a unique link to the indicated
      account and require that they click the link before registration can
      continue.
    </li>
    <li>
      As a server operator I want to prevent SPIM using a proof-of-possession
      protocol so I present the user with a form asking for a mobile phone
      number and then send a verification code to that number via SMS and show
      another form requesting the verification code.
    </li>
  </ul>
</section1>
<section1 topic='Discovering Support' anchor='disco'>
  <section2 topic='Stream Feature'>
  <p>
    If a server supports registering for or recovering an account using
    Extensible IBR, it MUST inform the connecting client when returning stream
    features during the stream negotiation process.
    This is done by including a &lt;register/&gt; element, qualified by the
    'urn:xmpp:register:0' namespace for account registration, or a
    &lt;recovery/&gt; element qualified by the same namespace for account
    recovery.
    The register and recovery features are always voluntary-to-negotiate.
    The registration and recovery features MUST NOT be advertised before
    encryption has been negotiated, eg. using direct TLS or opportunistic TLS.
    They SHOULD be advertised at the same time as the SASL authentication
    feature, meaning that after registration or recovery is completed SASL
    authentication can proceed.
  </p>
  <p>
    For recovery or registration, the server MUST include a list of all
    challenges which the client may receive during the course of registering or
    recovering an account.
    These are grouped into "flows" and let the client pick a registration
    workflow that only contains challenges which the client supports.
    Each &lt;flow/&gt; element MUST have a unique "id" attribute which is used
    by the client to identify the flow being selected.
    They must also have at least one &lt;name/&gt; element containing a short,
    human readable description of the flow.
    If multiple &lt;name/&gt; elements are present they MUST have unique values
    for the "xml:lang" attribute.
    Clients MAY use the name element to show the different flows to the user and
    ask them to pick between them.
    Each flow must also contain an unordered set of &lt;challenge/&gt; elements
    representing the various challenges that must be completed to complete the
    registration or recovery flow.
    Each &lt;challenge/&gt; element contains a "type" attribute that uniquely
    identifies the challenge for the purpose of determining if it is supported.
    If a flow would offer the same challenge twice (eg. two data forms asking
    for different data), the challenge SHOULD only be listed once in the flow
    element.
  </p>
  <p>
    For example, a server may advertise a "Verify with SMS" flow and a "Verify
    by Phone Call" flow that both show a data form asking for a phone number
    and then a second data form asking for a token provided to the user in a
    text message or phone call depending on which flow the user selects.
  </p>
  <example caption='Host Advertises Stream Features'><![CDATA[
<stream:features>
  <mechanisms xmlns='urn:xmpp:sasl:0'>
    <mechanism>EXTERNAL</mechanism>
    <mechanism>SCRAM-SHA-1-PLUS</mechanism>
    <mechanism>SCRAM-SHA-1</mechanism>
    <mechanism>PLAIN</mechanism>
  </mechanisms>
  <register xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'>
    <flow id='0'>
      <name>Verify with SMS</name>
      <challenge type='jabber:x:data'/>
    </flow>
    <flow id='1'>
      <name>Verify by Phone Call</name>
      <challenge type='jabber:x:data'/>
    </flow>
    <flow id='2'>
      <name>Verify with the web</name>
      <challenge type='jabber:x:data'/>
      <challenge type='jabber:x:oob'/>
    </flow>
  </register>
  <recovery xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'>
    <flow id='0'>
      <name>Visit Password Recovery Site</name>
      <challenge type='jabber:x:oob'/>
    </flow>
  </recovery>
</stream:features>]]></example>
  </section2>
  <section2 topic='Service Discovery'>
    <p>
      Clients, servers, and other services such as components that support
      Extensible IBR after stream negotiation is complete MUST advertise the
      fact by including a feature of "urn::xmpp:register:0" in response to
      &xep0030; information requests and in their &xep0115; profiles.
    </p>
    <example caption='Disco info response'><![CDATA[
<query xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/disco#info'>
  …
  <feature var='urn:xmpp:register:0' />
  …
</query>]]></example>
  </section2>
  <section2 topic='Retrieving the Flows'>
    <p>
      To find what flows an entity provides (if any) after stream negotiation is
      complete the requester can send an IQ of type "get" containing a
      &lt;register&gt; or &lt;recovery&gt; element qualified by the
      "urn:xmpp:register:0" namespace.
    </p>
    <p>
      When responding to a query for registration or recovery flows the list of
      challenges should be included just as it would be if during stream feature
      negotiation.
      That is, a "register" or "recovery" element containing a list of flows,
      each with an id, containing a name and a list of challenges.
      If an entity supports this specification but does not provide any flows
      after stream negotiation it MUST respond with an empty list.
    </p>
    <example caption='Registration flows query'><![CDATA[
<iq type='get'>
  <register xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'/>
</iq>]]></example>
    <example caption='Registration flows results'><![CDATA[
<iq type='result'>
  <register xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'>
    <flow id='0'>
      <name>Verify with SMS</name>
      <challenge type='jabber:x:data'/>
    </flow>
    <flow id='1'>
      <name>Verify by Phone Call</name>
      <challenge type='jabber:x:data'/>
    </flow>
    <flow id='2'>
      <name>Verify with the web</name>
      <challenge type='jabber:x:data'/>
      <challenge type='jabber:x:oob'/>
    </flow>
  </register>
</iq>]]></example>
    <example caption='Empty registration flows results'><![CDATA[
<iq type='result'>
  <register xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'/>
</iq>]]></example>
  </section2>
</section1>
<section1 topic='Challenges' anchor='challenge'>
  <p>
    A client selects the registration or recovery feature for negotiation by
    replying with an element of the same name and namespace.
    The element MUST contain a &lt;flow&gt; element that MUST have an "id"
    attribute matching one of the flows advertised by the server.
    For example, to select the "Verify by Phone Call" registration flow from
    the previous example, the client would reply with:
  </p>
  <example caption='Client selects a recovery flow'><![CDATA[
<register xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'>
  <flow id='1'/>
</register>]]></example>
  <p>
    If the client is initiating registration or recovery after a stream has
    already been initiated it uses the same registration element wrapped in an
    IQ of type "set".
    </p>
  <example caption='Client selects a recovery flow after stream negotiation'><![CDATA[
<iq type='set' id='foo'>
  <recovery xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'>
    <flow id='0'/>
  </recovery>
</iq>]]></example>
  <p>
    The server then replies to the IQ or feature selection with a challenge.
    If replying to an IQ, the challenge must be wrapped in an IQ of type
    "result".
    Challenges take the form of a &lt;challenge/&gt; element qualified by the
    'urn:xmpp:register:0' namespace with a 'type' attribute that uniquely
    identifies the type of payload a client might expect the element to contain.
  </p>
    <example caption='Server issues a challenge'><![CDATA[
<challenge xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'
           type='urn:example:challenge'>
  <example xmlns='urn:example:challenge'>Payload</example>
</challenge>]]></example>
  <p>
    After a challenge is received, the client replies to the challenge by
    sending a &lt;response/&gt; element qualified by the 'urn:xmpp:register:0'
    namespace or a cancellation as defined later in this document.
    If the client sends a response, it MUST also include the payload
    corresponding to the challenges 'type' element (which may be empty).
  </p>
    <example caption='Client responds to a challenge'><![CDATA[
<response xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'>
  <result xmlns='urn:example:challenge'>Example Response</result>
</response>]]></example>
  <section2 topic='Data Form' anchor='dataform'>
    <p>
      This document defines a type of 'jabber:x:data' which MUST always contain a
      data form (an 'x' element with type 'form') as defined by &xep0004;.
    </p>
    <example caption='Server issues a data form challenge'><![CDATA[
<challenge xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'
           type='jabber:x:data'>
  <x xmlns='jabber:x:data' type='form'>
    <title>Chat Registration</title>
    <instructions>
      Please provide the following information
      to sign up to view our chat rooms!
    </instructions>
    <field type='hidden' var='FORM_TYPE'>
      <value>urn:xmpp:register:0</value>
    </field>
    <field type='text-single' label='Given Name' var='first'/>
    <field type='text-single' label='Family Name' var='last'/>
    <field type='text-single' label='Nickname' var='nick'>
      <required/>
    </field>
    <field type='text-single' label='Recovery Email Address' var='email'>
      <required/>
    </field>
  </x>
</challenge>]]></example>
  <p>
    The response to a "jabber:x:data" challenge MUST be a form submission (an
    'x' element of type 'submit').
    For instance, to reply to the data form challenge from the previous example
    a client might send:
  </p>
  <example caption='Client submits a data form in response to the challenge'><![CDATA[
<response xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'>
  <x xmlns='jabber:x:data' type='submit'>
    <field type='hidden' var='FORM_TYPE'>
      <value>urn:xmpp:register:0</value>
    </field>
    <field type='text-single' label='Given Name' var='first'>
      <value>Juliet</value>
    </field>
    <field type='text-single' label='Family Name' var='last'>
      <value>Capulet</value>
    </field>
    <field type='text-single' label='Nickname' var='nick'>
      <value>Jule</value>
    </field>
    <field type='text-single' label='Recovery Email Address' var='email'>
      <value>juliet@capulet.com</value>
    </field>
  </x>
</response>]]></example>
  </section2>
  <section2 topic='Out of Band Data' anchor='oob'>
    <p>
      Challenges of the type "jabber:x:oob" MUST contain an &lt;x/&gt; element
      qualified by the "jabber:x:oob" namespace as defined in &xep0066;.
    </p>
    <example caption='Server issues an OOB challenge'><![CDATA[
<challenge xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'
           type='jabber:x:oob'>
  <x xmlns='jabber:x:oob'>
    <url>http://example.net/login?token=foo</url>
  </x>
</challenge>]]></example>
    <p>
      If the client sends a response to the OOB challenge it MUST be empty.
    </p>
    <example caption='Client acknowledges the OOB challenge'><![CDATA[
<response xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'/>]]></example>
  </section2>
</section1>
<section1 topic='Completing Registration or Recovery' anchor='completion'>
  <p>
    If after receiving a challenge or response a client or server does not wish
    to continue registration or recovery, it may send an empty &lt;cancel/&gt;
    element qualified by the 'urn:xmpp:register:0' namespace.
    This informs the client or server that registration is complete.
    This is the same as submitting a data form of type 'cancel' in response to a
    data form challenge.
  </p>
  <example caption='User Cancels Registration or Recovery'><![CDATA[
<cancel xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'/>]]></example>
  <p>
    If the IQ based registration or recovery flow is being used and the server
    wishes to cancel the flow, it MAY respond to any IQ from the client with the
    cancel element and type "result".
  </p>
  <example caption='Server cancels request'><![CDATA[
<iq type='result' id='bar'>
  <cancel xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'/>
</iq>]]></example>
  <p>
    If the client successfully completes all required challenges during stream
    negotiation the server MUST return an empty &lt;success/&gt; element
    qualified by the 'urn:xmpp:register:0' namespace, at which point it may
    continue with the stream negotiation process.
    If the server needs more information, for example, in the previous challenge
    the user entered an email and now the server wishes to ask for a code that
    was sent to that email, the server MAY send another challenge.
  </p>
  <example caption='Server indicates success during steam negotiation'><![CDATA[
<success xmlns='urn:xmpp:register:0'/>]]></example>
  <p>
    If the IQ based flow is being used and the server wishes to indicate success
    it sends an empty IQ response of type "result".
  </p>
  <example caption='Server indicates success after stream negotiation'><![CDATA[
<iq type='result' id='bar' />]]></example>
</section1>
<section1 topic='Internationalization Considerations' anchor='i18n'>
  <p>
    When providing instructions in a data form, or in the name element of a
    registration or recovery flow, the server SHOULD use the language specified
    in the XML stream's current xml:lang, or the closest language for which the
    server has a translation (eg. based on mutual intelligibility between
    scripts and languages).
  </p>
  <p>
    For more information about language tags and matching, see &bcp47;.
  </p>
</section1>
<section1 topic='Security Considerations' anchor='security'>
  <p>
    Servers that allow in-band registration need to take measures to prevent
    abuse.
    Common techniques to prevent spam registrations include displaying CAPTCHAs
    or requiring proof-of-possession of a valid email address or telephone number
    by sending a unique code (e.g. an HMAC that can later be verified as having
    originated at the server) to the users email and requiring that they enter
    the code before continuing.
    Servers that do not take such measures risk being black listed by other
    servers in the network.
  </p>
</section1>
<section1 topic='IANA Considerations' anchor='iana'>
  <p>This document requires no interaction with &IANA;.</p>
</section1>
<section1 topic='XMPP Registrar Considerations' anchor='registrar'>
  <section2 topic='Protocol Namespaces' anchor='registrar-ns'>
    <p>This specification defines the following XML namespace:</p>
    <ul>
      <li>urn:xmpp:register:0</li>
    </ul>
    <p>
      Upon advancement of this specification from a status of Experimental to a
      status of Draft, the &REGISTRAR; shall add the foregoing namespace to the
      registries located at &STREAMFEATURES;, and &DISCOFEATURES; as described
      in Section 4 of &xep0053;.
    </p>
    <code caption='Service Discovery Features Registry Submission'><![CDATA[
<var>
  <name>urn:xmpp:register:0</name>
  <desc>Support for in band registration and password reset.</desc>
  <doc>&xep0389;</doc>
</var>]]></code>
    <code caption='Stream Features Registry Submission'><![CDATA[
<feature>
  <ns>urn:xmpp:register:0</ns>
  <name>Extensible In-Band Registration</name>
  <element>register</element>
  <desc>Support for in band registration and password reset.</desc>
  <doc>&xep0389;</doc>
</feature>]]></code>
    <p>
      The &REGISTRAR; shall also add the foregoing namespace to the Jabber/XMPP
      Protocol Namespaces Registry located at &NAMESPACES;.
      Upon advancement of this specification from a status of Experimental to a
      status of Draft, the &REGISTRAR; shall remove the provisional status from
      this registry entry.
    </p>
    <code caption='Jabber/XMPP Protocol Namespaces Registry Submission'><![CDATA[
<ns>
  <name>urn:xmpp:register:0</name>
  <doc>&xep0389;</doc>
  <status>provisional</status>
</ns>]]></code>
  </section2>
  <section2 topic='IBR Challenges Registry' anchor='registrar-challenges'>
    <p>
      The XMPP Registrar shall maintain a registry of IBR challenges.
      Challenges defined within the XEP series MUST be registered with the XMPP
      Registrar.
    </p>
    &REGPROCESS;
    <code><![CDATA[
<challenge>
  <type>A name that uniquely identifies the challenge.</type>
  <desc>A natural-language summary of the challenge.</desc>
  <doc>
    The document (or documents) in which the IBR challenge and its payload are
    defined.
  </doc>
</challenge>]]></code>
  <p>
    For an example registration, see the next section.
  </p>
  </section2>
  <section2 topic='Challenge Types' anchor='registrar-ibrchallenges'>
    <p>This specification defines the following IBR challenge:</p>
    <ul>
      <li>jabber:x:data</li>
      <li>jabber:x:oob</li>
    </ul>
    <p>
      Upon advancement of this specification from a status of Experimental to a
      status of Draft, the &REGISTRAR; shall add the following definitions to
      the IBR challenges registry, as described in this document:
    </p>
    <code caption='IBR Challenges Registry Submission for Data Forms'><![CDATA[
<challenge>
  <type>jabber:x:data</type>
  <desc>Requests that the client fill out an XEP-0004 data form.</desc>
  <doc>&xep0389;, &xep0004;</doc>
</challenge>]]></code>
    <code caption='IBR Challenges Registry Submission for OOB Data'><![CDATA[
<challenge>
  <type>jabber:x:oob</type>
  <desc>Requests that the client execute a URI.</desc>
  <doc>&xep0066;</doc>
</challenge>]]></code>
  </section2>
  <section2 topic='Namespace Versioning' anchor='registrar-versioning'>
    &NSVER;
  </section2>
</section1>
</xep>