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1TLS 1.3 Experimental Developments
2=================================
3
4Overview
5--------
6
7Mbed TLS doesn't support the TLS 1.3 protocol yet, but a prototype is in development.
8Stable parts of this prototype that can be independently tested are being successively
9upstreamed under the guard of the following macro:
10
11```
12MBEDTLS_SSL_PROTO_TLS1_3_EXPERIMENTAL
13```
14
15This macro will likely be renamed to `MBEDTLS_SSL_PROTO_TLS1_3` once a minimal viable
16implementation of the TLS 1.3 protocol is available.
17
18See the [documentation of `MBEDTLS_SSL_PROTO_TLS1_3_EXPERIMENTAL`](../../include/mbedtls/config.h)
19for more information.
20
21Status
22------
23
24The following lists which parts of the TLS 1.3 prototype have already been upstreamed
25together with their level of testing:
26
27* TLS 1.3 record protection mechanisms
28
29  The record protection routines `mbedtls_ssl_{encrypt|decrypt}_buf()` have been extended
30  to support the modified TLS 1.3 record protection mechanism, including modified computation
31  of AAD, IV, and the introduction of a flexible padding.
32
33  Those record protection routines have unit tests in `test_suite_ssl` alongside the
34  tests for the other record protection routines.
35
36  TODO: Add some test vectors from RFC 8448.
37
38- The HKDF key derivation function on which the TLS 1.3 key schedule is based,
39  is already present as an independent module controlled by `MBEDTLS_HKDF_C`
40  independently of the development of the TLS 1.3 prototype.
41
42- The TLS 1.3-specific HKDF-based key derivation functions (see RFC 8446):
43  * HKDF-Expand-Label
44  * Derive-Secret
45  - Secret evolution
46  * The traffic {Key,IV} generation from secret
47  Those functions are implemented in `library/ssl_tls13_keys.c` and
48  tested in `test_suite_ssl` using test vectors from RFC 8448 and
49  https://tls13.ulfheim.net/.
50
51- New TLS Message Processing Stack (MPS)
52
53  The TLS 1.3 prototype is developed alongside a rewrite of the TLS messaging layer,
54  encompassing low-level details such as record parsing, handshake reassembly, and
55  DTLS retransmission state machine.
56
57  MPS has the following components:
58  - Layer 1 (Datagram handling)
59  - Layer 2 (Record handling)
60  - Layer 3 (Message handling)
61  - Layer 4 (Retransmission State Machine)
62  - Reader  (Abstracted pointer arithmetic and reassembly logic for incoming data)
63  - Writer  (Abstracted pointer arithmetic and fragmentation logic for outgoing data)
64
65  Of those components, the following have been upstreamed
66  as part of `MBEDTLS_SSL_PROTO_TLS1_3_EXPERIMENTAL`:
67
68  - Reader ([`library/mps_reader.h`](../../library/mps_reader.h))
69