w3c / w3c/webcrypto

Persistent storage of key

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#331 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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HTML
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Description

Hi,
Storing a key at the browser side it already a challenge (especially in webkit--see #245).

In our system in order to overcome this problem, we store the key in a password input field and then it is picked up by the browser's password manager. We then use a similar form to get it back (using browser's autocomplete and user input).

Based on that "trick" I was wondering if Web Crypto spec could pursuit a new "autocomplete" value (e.g., "cryptokey") akin to what WebAuthN is doing (see e.g., here). Then password managers could be leveraged to store private keys, just like the way they store passwords.

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Research direction

Start by reading the Web Crypto specification and the linked WebAuthn autofill guidance, then examine how password inputs and autocomplete values are defined for browser password managers. A complete contribution would need a decided specification change defining the proposed "cryptokey" value and its intended private-key storage behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
authentication, security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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