A Layman's Guide to a Subset of ASN.1, BER, and DER

3.1. Simple types

Simple types are those not consisting of components; they are the "atomic" types. ASN.1 defines several; the types that are relevant to the PKCS standards are the following:¶

• BIT STRING, an arbitrary string of bits (ones and zeroes).

  ¶

• IA5String,

  an arbitrary string of IA5 (ASCII) characters.¶

• INTEGER,

  an arbitrary integer.¶

• NULL,

  a null value.¶

• OBJECT IDENTIFIER,

  an object identifier, which is a sequence of integer components that identify an object such as an algorithm or attribute type.¶

• OCTET STRING,

  an arbitrary string of octets (eight-bit values).¶

• PrintableString,

  an arbitrary string of printable characters.¶

• T61String,

  an arbitrary string of T.61 (eight-bit) characters.¶

• UTCTime,

  a "coordinated universal time" or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) value.¶

Simple types fall into two categories: string types and non- string types. BIT STRING, IA5String, OCTET STRING, PrintableString, T61String, and UTCTime are string types.¶

String types can be viewed, for the purposes of encoding, as consisting of components, where the components are substrings. This view allows one to encode a value whose length is not known in advance (e.g., an octet string value input from a file stream) with a constructed, indefinite- length encoding (see Section 4).¶

The string types can be given size constraints limiting the length of values.¶

3.2. Structured types

Structured types are those consisting of components. ASN.1 defines four, all of which are relevant to the PKCS standards:¶

• SEQUENCE,

  an ordered collection of one or more types.¶

• SEQUENCE OF,

  an ordered collection of zero or more occurrences of a given type.¶

• SET,

  an unordered collection of one or more types.¶

• SET OF,

  an unordered collection of zero or more occurrences of a given type.¶

The structured types can have optional components, possibly with default values.¶

3.3. Implicitly and explicitly tagged types

Tagging is useful to distinguish types within an application; it is also commonly used to distinguish component types within a structured type. For instance, optional components of a SET or SEQUENCE type are typically given distinct context-specific tags to avoid ambiguity.¶

There are two ways to tag a type: implicitly and explicitly.¶

Implicitly tagged types are derived from other types by changing the tag of the underlying type. Implicit tagging is denoted by the ASN.1 keywords [_class_ _number_] IMPLICIT (see Section 6.1).¶

Explicitly tagged types are derived from other types by adding an outer tag to the underlying type. In effect, explicitly tagged types are structured types consisting of one component, the underlying type. Explicit tagging is denoted by the ASN.1 keywords [_class_ _number_] EXPLICIT (see Section 6.2).¶

The keyword [_class_ _number_] alone is the same as explicit tagging, except when the "module" in which the ASN.1 type is defined has implicit tagging by default. ("Modules" are among the advanced features not described in this note.)¶

For purposes of encoding, an implicitly tagged type is considered the same as the underlying type, except that the tag is different. An explicitly tagged type is considered like a structured type with one component, the underlying type. Implicit tags result in shorter encodings, but explicit tags may be necessary to avoid ambiguity if the tag of the underlying type is indeterminate (e.g., the underlying type is CHOICE or ANY).¶

3.4. Other types

Other types in ASN.1 include the CHOICE and ANY types. The CHOICE type denotes a union of one or more alternatives; the ANY type denotes an arbitrary value of an arbitrary type, where the arbitrary type is possibly defined in the registration of an object identifier or integer value.¶

4.1. Primitive, definite-length method

This method applies to simple types and types derived from simple types by implicit tagging. It requires that the length of the value be known in advance. The parts of the BER encoding are as follows:¶

Identifier octets.

There are two forms: low tag number (for tag numbers between 0 and 30) and high tag number (for tag numbers 31 and greater).¶

• Low-tag-number form.

  One octet. Bits 8 and 7 specify the class (see Table 2), bit 6 has value "0", indicating that the encoding is primitive, and bits 5-1 give the tag number.¶

• High-tag-number form.

  Two or more octets. First octet is as in low-tag-number form, except that bits 5-1 all have value "1". Second and following octets give the tag number, base 128, most significant digit first, with as few digits as possible, and with the bit 8 of each octet except the last set to "1".¶

Length octets.

There are two forms: short (for lengths between 0 and 127), and long definite (for lengths between 0 and 2^1008 -1).¶

• Short form.

  One octet. Bit 8 has value "0" and bits 7-1 give the length.¶

• Long form.

  Two to 127 octets. Bit 8 of first octet has value "1" and bits 7-1 give the number of additional length octets. Second and following octets give the length, base 256, most significant digit first.¶

Contents octets.

These give a concrete representation of the value (or the value of the underlying type, if the type is derived by implicit tagging). Details for particular types are given in Section 6.¶

4.2. Constructed, definite-length method

This method applies to simple string types, structured types, types derived simple string types and structured types by implicit tagging, and types derived from anything by explicit tagging. It requires that the length of the value be known in advance. The parts of the BER encoding are as follows:¶

Identifier octets.

As described in Section 4.1, except that bit 6 has value "1", indicating that the encoding is constructed.¶

Length octets.

As described in Section 4.1.¶

Contents octets.

The concatenation of the BER encodings of the components of the value:¶

• • For simple string types and types derived from them by implicit tagging, the concatenation of the BER encodings of consecutive substrings of the value (underlying value for implicit tagging).¶

• • For structured types and types derived from them by implicit tagging, the concatenation of the BER encodings of components of the value (underlying value for implicit tagging).¶

• • For types derived from anything by explicit tagging, the BER encoding of the underlying value.¶

Details for particular types are given in Section 6.¶

4.3. Constructed, indefinite-length method

This method applies to simple string types, structured types, types derived simple string types and structured types by implicit tagging, and types derived from anything by explicit tagging. It does not require that the length of the value be known in advance. The parts of the BER encoding are as follows:¶

Identifier octets.

As described in Section 4.2.¶

Length octets.

One octet, 80.¶

Contents octets.

As described in Section 4.2.¶

End-of-contents octets.

Two octets, 00 00.¶

Since the end-of-contents octets appear where an ordinary BER encoding might be expected (e.g., in the contents octets of a sequence value), the 00 and 00 appear as identifier and length octets, respectively. Thus the end-of-contents octets is really the primitive, definite-length encoding of a value with universal class, tag number 0, and length 0.¶

6.1. Implicitly tagged types

An implicitly tagged type is a type derived from another type by changing the tag of the underlying type.¶

Implicit tagging is used for optional SEQUENCE components with underlying type other than ANY throughout PKCS, and for the extendedCertificate alternative of PKCS #7's [PKCS_7] ExtendedCertificateOrCertificate type.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

[[_class_] _number_] IMPLICIT _Type_

_class_ = UNIVERSAL  |  APPLICATION  |  PRIVATE

where _Type_ is a type, _class_ is an optional class name, and _number_ is the tag number within the class, a nonnegative integer.¶

In ASN.1 "modules" whose default tagging method is implicit tagging, the notation [[_class_] _number_] _Type_ is also acceptable, and the keyword IMPLICIT is implied. (See Section 3.3.) For definitions stated outside a module, the explicit inclusion of the keyword IMPLICIT is preferable to prevent ambiguity.¶

If the class name is absent, then the tag is context-specific. Context-specific tags can only appear in a component of a structured or CHOICE type.¶

Example: PKCS #8's [PKCS_8]PrivateKeyInfo type has an optional attributes component with an implicit, context-specific tag:¶

          PrivateKeyInfo ::= SEQUENCE {
            version Version,
            privateKeyAlgorithm PrivateKeyAlgorithmIdentifier,
            privateKey PrivateKey,
            attributes [0] IMPLICIT Attributes OPTIONAL }

Here the underlying type is Attributes, the class is absent (i.e., context-specific), and the tag number within the class is 0.¶

BER encoding. Primitive or constructed, depending on the underlying type. Contents octets are as for the BER encoding of the underlying value.¶

Example: The BER encoding of the attributes component of a PrivateKeyInfo value is as follows:¶

• • the identifier octets are 80 if the underlying Attributes value has a primitive BER encoding and a0 if the underlying Attributes value has a constructed BER encoding¶

• • the length and contents octets are the same as the length and contents octets of the BER encoding of the underlying Attributes value¶

DER encoding. Primitive or constructed, depending on the underlying type. Content octets are of the DER encoding of the underlying value.¶

6.2. Explicitly tagged types

Explicit tagging denotes a type derived from another type by adding an outer tag to the underlying type.¶

Explicit tagging is used for optional SEQUENCE components with underlying type ANY throughout PKCS, and for the version component of X.509's Certificate type.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

[[_class_] _number_] EXPLICIT _Type_

_class_ = UNIVERSAL  |  APPLICATION  |  PRIVATE

where _Type_ is a type, _class_ is an optional class name, and _number_ is the tag number within the class, a nonnegative integer.¶

If the class name is absent, then the tag is context-specific. Context-specific tags can only appear in a component of a SEQUENCE, SET or CHOICE type.¶

In ASN.1 "modules" whose default tagging method is explicit tagging, the notation [[_class_] _number_] _Type_ is also acceptable, and the keyword EXPLICIT is implied. (See Section 3.3.) For definitions stated outside a module, the explicit inclusion of the keyword EXPLICIT is preferable to prevent ambiguity.¶

Example 1: PKCS #7's ContentInfo type has an optional content component with an explicit, context-specific tag:¶

ContentInfo ::= SEQUENCE {
  contentType ContentType,
  content [0] EXPLICIT ANY DEFINED BY contentType OPTIONAL }

Here the underlying type is ANY DEFINED BY contentType, the class is absent (i.e., context-specific), and the tag number within the class is 0.¶

Example 2: X.509's Certificate type has a version component with an explicit, context-specific tag, where the EXPLICIT keyword is omitted:¶

Certificate ::= ...
  version [0] Version DEFAULT v1988,
   ...

The tag is explicit because the default tagging method for the ASN.1 "module" in X.509 that defines the Certificate type is explicit tagging.¶

BER encoding. Constructed. Contents octets are the BER encoding of the underlying value.¶

Example: the BER encoding of the content component of a ContentInfo value is as follows:¶

• • identifier octets are a0¶

• • length octets represent the length of the BER encoding of the underlying ANY DEFINED BY contentType value¶

• • contents octets are the BER encoding of the underlying ANY DEFINED BY contentType value¶

DER encoding. Constructed. Contents octets are the DER encoding of the underlying value.¶

6.3. ANY

The ANY type denotes an arbitrary value of an arbitrary type, where the arbitrary type is possibly defined in the registration of an object identifier or associated with an integer index.¶

The ANY type is used for content of a particular content type in PKCS #7's ContentInfo type, for parameters of a particular algorithm in X.509's AlgorithmIdentifier type, and for attribute values in X.501's [X.501]Attribute and AttributeValueAssertion types. The Attribute type is used by PKCS #6 [PKCS_6], #7, #8 [PKCS_8], #9 [PKCS_9]and #10[PKCS_10], and the AttributeValueAssertion type is used in X.501 distinguished names.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

ANY [DEFINED BY _identifier_]

where _identifier_ is an optional identifier.¶

In the ANY form, the actual type is indeterminate.¶

The ANY DEFINED BY identifier form can only appear in a component of a SEQUENCE or SET type for which identifier identifies some other component, and that other component has type INTEGER or OBJECT IDENTIFIER (or a type derived from either of those by tagging). In that form, the actual type is determined by the value of the other component, either in the registration of the object identifier value, or in a table of integer values.¶

Example: X.509's AlgorithmIdentifier type has a component of type ANY:¶

AlgorithmIdentifier ::= SEQUENCE {
  algorithm OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
  parameters ANY DEFINED BY algorithm OPTIONAL }

Here the actual type of the parameter component depends on the value of the algorithm component. The actual type would be defined in the registration of object identifier values for the algorithm component.¶

BER encoding. Same as the BER encoding of the actual value.¶

Example: The BER encoding of the value of the parameter component is the BER encoding of the value of the actual type as defined in the registration of object identifier values for the algorithm component.¶

DER encoding. Same as the DER encoding of the actual value.¶

6.4. BIT STRING

The BIT STRING type denotes an arbitrary string of bits (ones and zeroes). A BIT STRING value can have any length, including zero. This type is a string type.¶

The BIT STRING type is used for digital signatures on extended certificates in PKCS #6's ExtendedCertificate type, for digital signatures on certificates in X.509's Certificate type, and for public keys in certificates in X.509's SubjectPublicKeyInfo type.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

BIT STRING

Example: X.509's SubjectPublicKeyInfo type has a component of type BIT STRING:¶

SubjectPublicKeyInfo ::= SEQUENCE {
  algorithm AlgorithmIdentifier,
  publicKey BIT STRING }

BER encoding. Primitive or constructed. In a primitive encoding, the first contents octet gives the number of bits by which the length of the bit string is less than the next multiple of eight (this is called the "number of unused bits"). The second and following contents octets give the value of the bit string, converted to an octet string. The conversion process is as follows:¶

1. The bit string is padded after the last bit with zero to seven bits of any value to make the length of the bit string a multiple of eight. If the length of the bit string is a multiple of eight already, no padding is done.¶

2. The padded bit string is divided into octets. The first eight bits of the padded bit string become the first octet, bit 8 to bit 1, and so on through the last eight bits of the padded bit string.¶

In a constructed encoding, the contents octets give the concatenation of the BER encodings of consecutive substrings of the bit string, where each substring except the last has a length that is a multiple of eight bits.¶

Example: The BER encoding of the BIT STRING value "011011100101110111" can be any of the following, among others, depending on the choice of padding bits, the form of length octets, and whether the encoding is primitive or constructed:¶

03 04 06 6e 5d c0                                       DER encoding

03 04 06 6e 5d e0                               padded with "100000"

03 81 04 06 6e 5d c0                      long form of length octets

23 09                constructed encoding: "0110111001011101" + "11"
 03 03 00 6e 5d
 03 02 06 c0

DER encoding. Primitive. The contents octets are as for a primitive BER encoding, except that the bit string is padded with zero-valued bits.¶

Example: The DER encoding of the BIT STRING value "011011100101110111" is:¶

03 04 06 6e 5d c0

6.5. CHOICE

The CHOICE type denotes a union of one or more alternatives.¶

The CHOICE type is used to represent the union of an extended certificate and an X.509 certificate in PKCS #7's ExtendedCertificateOrCertificate type.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

CHOICE {
  [_identifier1_] _Type1_,
  ...,
  [_identifierN_] _TypeN_ }

where _identifier1_ , ..., _identifierN_ are optional, distinct identifiers for the alternatives, and _Type1_, ..., _TypeN_ are the types of the alternatives. The identifiers are primarily for documentation; they do not affect values of the type or their encodings in any way.¶

The types must have distinct tags. This requirement is typically satisfied with explicit or implicit tagging on some of the alternatives.¶

Example: PKCS #7's ExtendedCertificateOrCertificate type is a CHOICE type:¶

ExtendedCertificateOrCertificate ::= CHOICE {
  certificate Certificate, '--' X.509
  extendedCertificate [0] IMPLICIT ExtendedCertificate }

Here the identifiers for the alternatives are certificate and extendedCertificate, and the types of the alternatives are Certificate and [0] IMPLICIT ExtendedCertificate.¶

BER encoding. Same as the BER encoding of the chosen alternative. The fact that the alternatives have distinct tags makes it possible to distinguish between their BER encodings.¶

Example: The identifier octets for the BER encoding are 30 if the chosen alternative is certificate, and a0 if the chosen alternative is extendedCertificate.¶

DER encoding. Same as the DER encoding of the chosen alternative.¶

6.6. IA5String

The IA5String type denotes an arbitrary string of IA5 characters. IA5 stands for International Alphabet 5, which is the same as ASCII. The character set includes non-printing control characters. An IA5String value can have any length, including zero. This type is a string type.¶

The IA5String type is used in PKCS #9's electronic-mail address, unstructured-name, and unstructured-address attributes.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

IA5String

BER encoding. Primitive or constructed. In a primitive encoding, the contents octets give the characters in the IA5 string, encoded in ASCII. In a constructed encoding, the contents octets give the concatenation of the BER encodings of consecutive substrings of the IA5 string.¶

Example: The BER encoding of the IA5String value "test1@rsa.com" can be any of the following, among others, depending on the form of length octets and whether the encoding is primitive or constructed¶

16 0d 74 65 73 74 31 40 72 73 61 2e 63 6f 6d     DER encoding

16 81 0d                           long form of length octets
 74 65 73 74 31 40 72 73 61 2e 63 6f 6d

36 13         constructed encoding: "test1" + "@" + "rsa.com"
 16 05 74 65 73 74 31
 16 01 40
 16 07 72 73 61 2e 63 6f 6d

DER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets are as for a primitive BER encoding.¶

Example: The DER encoding of the IA5String value "test1@rsa.com" is¶

16 0d 74 65 73 74 31 40 72 73 61 2e 63 6f 6d

6.7. INTEGER

The INTEGER type denotes an arbitrary integer. INTEGER values can be positive, negative, or zero, and can have any magnitude.¶

The INTEGER type is used for version numbers throughout PKCS, cryptographic values such as modulus, exponent, and primes in PKCS #1's [PKCS_1]RSAPublicKey and RSAPrivateKey types and PKCS #3's [PKCS_3] DHParameter type, a message-digest iteration count in PKCS #5's[PKCS_5] PBEParameter type, and version numbers and serial numbers in X.509's Certificate type.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

INTEGER [{ _identifier1_(_value1_) ... _identifierN_(_valueN_) }]

where _identifier1_, ..., _identifierN_ are optional distinct identifiers and _value1_, ..., _valueN_ are optional integer values. The identifiers, when present, are associated with values of the type.¶

Example: X.509's Version type is an INTEGER type with identified values:¶

Version ::= INTEGER { v1988(0) }

The identifier v1988 is associated with the value 0. X.509's Certificate type uses the identifier v1988 to give a default value of 0 for the version component:¶

Certificate ::= ...
  version Version DEFAULT v1988,
  ...

BER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets give the value of the integer, base 256, in two's complement form, most significant digit first, with the minimum number of octets. The value 0 is encoded as a single 00 octet.¶

Some example BER encodings (which also happen to be DER encodings) are given in Table 3.¶

DER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets are as for a primitive BER encoding.¶

6.8. NULL

The NULL type denotes a null value.¶

The NULL type is used for algorithm parameters in several places in PKCS.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

NULL

BER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets are empty.¶

Example: The BER encoding of a NULL value can be either of the following, as well as others, depending on the form of the length octets:¶

05 00

05 81 00

DER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets are empty; the DER encoding of a NULL value is always 05 00.¶

6.9. OBJECT IDENTIFIER

The OBJECT IDENTIFIER type denotes an object identifier, a sequence of integer components that identifies an object such as an algorithm, an attribute type, or perhaps a registration authority that defines other object identifiers. An OBJECT IDENTIFIER value can have any number of components, and components can generally have any nonnegative value. This type is a non-string type.¶

OBJECT IDENTIFIER values are given meanings by registration authorities. Each registration authority is responsible for all sequences of components beginning with a given sequence. A registration authority typically delegates responsibility for subsets of the sequences in its domain to other registration authorities, or for particular types of object. There are always at least two components.¶

The OBJECT IDENTIFIER type is used to identify content in PKCS #7's ContentInfo type, to identify algorithms in X.509's AlgorithmIdentifier type, and to identify attributes in X.501's Attribute and AttributeValueAssertion types. The Attribute type is used by PKCS #6, #7, #8, #9, and #10, and the AttributeValueAssertion type is used in X.501 distinguished names. OBJECT IDENTIFIER values are defined throughout PKCS.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

OBJECT IDENTIFIER

The ASN.1 notation for values of the OBJECT IDENTIFIER type is¶

{ [_identifier_] _component1_ ... _componentN_ }

_componentI_ = _identifierI_ | _identifierI_ (_valueI_) | _valueI_

where _identifier_, _identifier1_, ..., _identifierN_ are identifiers, and _value1_, ..., _valueN_ are optional integer values.¶

The form without identifier is the "complete" value with all its components; the form with identifier abbreviates the beginning components with another object identifier value. The identifiers _identifier1_, ..., _identifierN_ are intended primarily for documentation, but they must correspond to the integer value when both are present. These identifiers can appear without integer values only if they are among a small set of identifiers defined in X.208.¶

Example: The following values both refer to the object identifier assigned to RSA Data Security, Inc.:¶

{ iso(1) member-body(2) 840 113549 }
{ 1 2 840 113549 }

(In this example, which gives ASN.1 value notation, the object identifier values are decimal, not hexadecimal.) Table 4 gives some other object identifier values and their meanings.¶

BER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets are as follows, where value1, ..., valueN denote the integer values of the components in the complete object identifier:¶

1. The first octet has value 40 * value1 + value2. (This is unambiguous, since value1 is limited to values 0, 1, and 2; value2 is limited to the range 0 to 39 when value1 is 0 or 1; and, according to X.208, n is always at least 2.)¶

2. The following octets, if any, encode value3, ..., valueN. Each value is encoded base 128, most significant digit first, with as few digits as possible, and the most significant bit of each octet except the last in the value's encoding set to "1."¶

Example: The first octet of the BER encoding of RSA Data Security, Inc.'s object identifier is 40 * 1 + 2 = 42 = (2a base 16). The encoding of 840 = 6 * 128 + (48 base 16) is 86 48 and the encoding of 113549 = 6 * 128^2 + (77 base 16) * 128 + (d base 16) is 86 f7 0d. This leads to the following BER encoding:¶

06 06 2a 86 48 86 f7 0d

DER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets are as for a primitive BER encoding.¶

6.10. OCTET STRING

The OCTET STRING type denotes an arbitrary string of octets (eight-bit values). An OCTET STRING value can have any length, including zero. This type is a string type.¶

The OCTET STRING type is used for salt values in PKCS #5's PBEParameter type, for message digests, encrypted message digests, and encrypted content in PKCS #7, and for private keys and encrypted private keys in PKCS #8.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

OCTET STRING [SIZE ({_size_ | _size1_ ... _size2_})]

where _size_, _size1_, and _size2_ are optional size constraints. In the OCTET STRING SIZE (_size_) form, the octet string must have size octets. In the OCTET STRING SIZE (_size1_ ... _size2_) form, the octet string must have between _size1_ and _size2_ octets. In the OCTET STRING form, the octet string can have any size.¶

Example: PKCS #5's PBEParameter type has a component of type OCTET STRING:¶

PBEParameter ::= SEQUENCE {
  salt OCTET STRING SIZE(8),
  iterationCount INTEGER }

Here the size of the salt component is always eight octets.¶

BER encoding. Primitive or constructed. In a primitive encoding, the contents octets give the value of the octet string, first octet to last octet. In a constructed encoding, the contents octets give the concatenation of the BER encodings of substrings of the OCTET STRING value.¶

Example: The BER encoding of the OCTET STRING value 01 23 45 67 89 ab cd ef can be any of the following, among others, depending on the form of length octets and whether the encoding is primitive or constructed:¶

04 08 01 23 45 67 89 ab cd ef                       DER encoding

04 81 08 01 23 45 67 89 ab cd ef      long form of length octets

24 0c                constructed encoding: 01 ... 67 + 89 ... ef
 04 04 01 23 45 67
 04 04 89 ab cd ef

DER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets are as for a primitive BER encoding.¶

Example: The BER encoding of the OCTET STRING value 01 23 45 67 89 ab cd ef is¶

04 08 01 23 45 67 89 ab cd ef

6.11. PrintableString

The PrintableString type denotes an arbitrary string of printable characters from the following character set:¶

        A, B, ..., Z
        a, b, ..., z
        0, 1, ..., 9
    (space) ' ( ) + , - . / : = ?

This type is a string type.¶

The PrintableString type is used in PKCS #9's challenge- password and unstructured-address attributes, and in several X.521 distinguished names attributes.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

PrintableString

BER encoding. Primitive or constructed. In a primitive encoding, the contents octets give the characters in the printable string, encoded in ASCII. In a constructed encoding, the contents octets give the concatenation of the BER encodings of consecutive substrings of the string.¶

Example: The BER encoding of the PrintableString value "Test User 1" can be any of the following, among others, depending on the form of length octets and whether the encoding is primitive or constructed:¶

13 0b 54 65 73 74 20 55 73 65 72 20 31              DER encoding

13 81 0b 54 65 73 74 20 55 73 65 72 20 31
                                      long form of length octets

33 0f                   constructed encoding: "Test " + "User 1"
   13 05 54 65 73 74 20
   13 06 55 73 65 72 20 31

DER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets are as for a primitive BER encoding.¶

Example: The DER encoding of the PrintableString value "Test User 1" is¶

13 0b 54 65 73 74 20 55 73 65 72 20 31

6.12. SEQUENCE

The SEQUENCE type denotes an ordered collection of one or more types.¶

The SEQUENCE type is used throughout PKCS and related standards.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

SEQUENCE {
  _[identifier1]_ _Type1_ [{OPTIONAL | DEFAULT _value1_}],
  ...,
  _[identifierN]_ _TypeN_ [{OPTIONAL | DEFAULT _valueN_}] }

where _identifier1_ , ..., _identifierN_ are optional, distinct identifiers for the components, _Type1_, ..., _TypeN_ are the types of the components, and _value1_, ..., _valueN_ are optional default values for the components. The identifiers are primarily for documentation; they do not affect values of the type or their encodings in any way.¶

The OPTIONAL qualifier indicates that the value of a component is optional and need not be present in the sequence. The DEFAULT qualifier also indicates that the value of a component is optional, and assigns a default value to the component when the component is absent.¶

The types of any consecutive series of components with the OPTIONAL or DEFAULT qualifier, as well as of any component immediately following that series, must have distinct tags. This requirement is typically satisfied with explicit or implicit tagging on some of the components.¶

Example: X.509's Validity type is a SEQUENCE type with two components:¶

Validity ::= SEQUENCE {
  start UTCTime,
  end UTCTime }

Here the identifiers for the components are start and end, and the types of the components are both UTCTime.¶

BER encoding. Constructed. Contents octets are the concatenation of the BER encodings of the values of the components of the sequence, in order of definition, with the following rules for components with the OPTIONAL and DEFAULT qualifiers:¶

• if the value of a component with the OPTIONAL or DEFAULT qualifier is absent from the sequence, then the encoding of that component is not included in the contents octets¶

• if the value of a component with the DEFAULT qualifier is the default value, then the encoding of that component may or may not be included in the contents octets¶

DER encoding. Constructed. Contents octets are the same as the BER encoding, except that if the value of a component with the DEFAULT qualifier is the default value, the encoding of that component is not included in the contents octets.¶

6.13. SEQUENCE OF

The SEQUENCE OF type denotes an ordered collection of zero or more occurrences of a given type.¶

The SEQUENCE OF type is used in X.501 distinguished names.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

SEQUENCE OF _Type_

where _Type_ is a type.¶

Example: X.501's RDNSequence type consists of zero or more occurrences of the RelativeDistinguishedName type, most significant occurrence first:¶

RDNSequence ::= SEQUENCE OF RelativeDistinguishedName¶

BER encoding. Constructed. Contents octets are the concatenation of the BER encodings of the values of the occurrences in the collection, in order of occurrence.¶

DER encoding. Constructed. Contents octets are the concatenation of the DER encodings of the values of the occurrences in the collection, in order of occurrence.¶

6.14. SET

The SET type denotes an unordered collection of one or more types.¶

The SET type is not used in PKCS.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

SET {
  _[identifier1]_ _Type1_ [{OPTIONAL | DEFAULT _value1_}],
  ...,
  _[identifierN]_ _TypeN_ [{OPTIONAL | DEFAULT _valueN_}] }

where _identifier1_, ..., _identifierN_ are optional, distinct identifiers for the components, _Type1_, ..., _TypeN_ are the types of the components, and _value1_, ..., _valueN_ are optional default values for the components. The identifiers are primarily for documentation; they do not affect values of the type or their encodings in any way.¶

The OPTIONAL qualifier indicates that the value of a component is optional and need not be present in the set. The DEFAULT qualifier also indicates that the value of a component is optional, and assigns a default value to the component when the component is absent.¶

The types must have distinct tags. This requirement is typically satisfied with explicit or implicit tagging on some of the components.¶

BER encoding. Constructed. Contents octets are the concatenation of the BER encodings of the values of the components of the set, in any order, with the following rules for components with the OPTIONAL and DEFAULT qualifiers:¶

• • if the value of a component with the OPTIONAL or DEFAULT qualifier is absent from the set, then the encoding of that component is not included in the contents octets¶

• • if the value of a component with the DEFAULT qualifier is the default value, then the encoding of that component may or may not be included in the contents octets¶

DER encoding. Constructed. Contents octets are the same as for the BER encoding, except that:¶

• 1. If the value of a component with the DEFAULT qualifier is the default value, the encoding of that component is not included.¶

  2. There is an order to the components, namely ascending order by tag.¶

6.15. SET OF

The SET OF type denotes an unordered collection of zero or more occurrences of a given type.¶

The SET OF type is used for sets of attributes in PKCS #6, #7, #8, #9 and #10, for sets of message-digest algorithm identifiers, signer information, and recipient information in PKCS #7, and in X.501 distinguished names.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

SET OF Type

where Type is a type.¶

Example: X.501's RelativeDistinguishedName type consists of zero or more occurrences of the AttributeValueAssertion type, where the order is unimportant:¶

RelativeDistinguishedName ::=
  SET OF AttributeValueAssertion

BER encoding. Constructed. Contents octets are the concatenation of the BER encodings of the values of the occurrences in the collection, in any order.¶

DER encoding. Constructed. Contents octets are the same as for the BER encoding, except that there is an order, namely ascending lexicographic order of BER encoding. Lexicographic comparison of two different BER encodings is done as follows: Logically pad the shorter BER encoding after the last octet with dummy octets that are smaller in value than any normal octet. Scan the BER encodings from left to right until a difference is found. The smaller-valued BER encoding is the one with the smaller-valued octet at the point of difference.¶

6.16. T61String

The T61String type denotes an arbitrary string of T.61 characters. T.61 is an eight-bit extension to the ASCII character set. Special "escape" sequences specify the interpretation of subsequent character values as, for example, Japanese; the initial interpretation is Latin. The character set includes non-printing control characters. The T61String type allows only the Latin and Japanese character interpretations, and implementors' agreements for directory names exclude control characters [NIST92]. A T61String value can have any length, including zero. This type is a string type.¶

The T61String type is used in PKCS #9's unstructured-address and challenge-password attributes, and in several X.521 attributes.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

T61String

BER encoding. Primitive or constructed. In a primitive encoding, the contents octets give the characters in the T.61 string, encoded in ASCII. In a constructed encoding, the contents octets give the concatenation of the BER encodings of consecutive substrings of the T.61 string.¶

Example: The BER encoding of the T61String value "cl'es publiques" (French for "public keys") can be any of the following, among others, depending on the form of length octets and whether the encoding is primitive or constructed:¶

14 0f                                              DER encoding
 63 6c c2 65 73 20 70 75 62 6c 69 71 75 65 73

14 81 0f                             long form of length octets
 63 6c c2 65 73 20 70 75 62 6c 69 71 75 65 73

34 15          constructed encoding: "clés" + " " + "publiques"
 14 05 63 6c c2 65 73
 14 01 20
 14 09 70 75 62 6c 69 71 75 65 73

The eight-bit character c2 is a T.61 prefix that adds an acute accent (') to the next character.¶

DER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets are as for a primitive BER encoding.¶

Example: The DER encoding of the T61String value "clés publiques" is¶

14 0f 63 6c c2 65 73 20 70 75 62 6c 69 71 75 65 73

6.17. UTCTime

The UTCTime type denotes a "coordinated universal time" or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) value. A UTCTime value includes the local time precise to either minutes or seconds, and an offset from GMT in hours and minutes. It takes any of the following forms:¶

YYMMDDhhmmZ
YYMMDDhhmm+hh'mm'
YYMMDDhhmm-hh'mm'
YYMMDDhhmmssZ
YYMMDDhhmmss+hh'mm'
YYMMDDhhmmss-hh'mm'

where:¶

• YY is the least significant two digits of the year (00 to 99)¶

• MM is the month (01 to 12)¶

• DD is the day (01 to 31)¶

• hh is the hour (00 to 23)¶

• mm are the minutes (00 to 59)¶

• ss are the seconds (00 to 59)¶

• Z indicates that local time is GMT, + indicates that local time is later than GMT, and - indicates that local time is earlier than GMT¶

• hh' is the absolute value of the offset from GMT in hours¶

• mm' is the absolute value of the offset from GMT in minutes¶

This type is a string type.¶

The UTCTime type is used for signing times in PKCS #9's signing-time attribute and for certificate validity periods in X.509's Validity type.¶

ASN.1 notation:¶

UTCTime

BER encoding. Primitive or constructed. In a primitive encoding, the contents octets give the characters in the string, encoded in ASCII. In a constructed encoding, the contents octets give the concatenation of the BER encodings of consecutive substrings of the string. (The constructed encoding is not particularly interesting, since UTCTime values are so short, but the constructed encoding is permitted.)¶

Example: The time this sentence was originally written was 4:45:40 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on May 6, 1991, which can be represented with either of the following UTCTime values, among others:¶

"910506164540-0700"

"910506234540Z"

These values have the following BER encodings, among others:¶

17 0d 39 31 30 35 30 36 32 33 34 35 34 30 5a

17 11 39 31 30 35 30 36 31 36 34 35 34 30 2d 30 37 30
   30

DER encoding. Primitive. Contents octets are as for a primitive BER encoding.¶

7.1. Abstract notation

This section gives the ASN.1 notation for the X.501 type Name.¶

Name ::= CHOICE {
  RDNSequence }

RDNSequence ::= SEQUENCE OF RelativeDistinguishedName

RelativeDistinguishedName ::=
  SET OF AttributeValueAssertion

AttributeValueAssertion ::= SEQUENCE {
   AttributeType,
   AttributeValue }

AttributeType ::= OBJECT IDENTIFIER

AttributeValue ::= ANY

The Name type identifies an object in an X.500 directory. Name is a CHOICE type consisting of one alternative: RDNSequence. (Future revisions of X.500 may have other alternatives.)¶

The RDNSequence type gives a path through an X.500 directory tree starting at the root. RDNSequence is a SEQUENCE OF type consisting of zero or more occurrences of RelativeDistinguishedName.¶

The RelativeDistinguishedName type gives a unique name to an object relative to the object superior to it in the directory tree. RelativeDistinguishedName is a SET OF type consisting of zero or more occurrences of AttributeValueAssertion.¶

The AttributeValueAssertion type assigns a value to some attribute of a relative distinguished name, such as country name or common name. AttributeValueAssertion is a SEQUENCE type consisting of two components, an AttributeType type and an AttributeValue type.¶

The AttributeType type identifies an attribute by object identifier. The AttributeValue type gives an arbitrary attribute value. The actual type of the attribute value is determined by the attribute type.¶

7.2. DER encoding

This section gives an example of a DER encoding of a value of type Name, working from the bottom up.¶

The name is that of the Test User 1 from the PKCS examples [Kal93]. The name is represented by the following path:¶

                       (root)
                          |
                   countryName = "US"
                          |
     organizationName = "Example Organization"
                          |
             commonName = "Test User 1"

Each level corresponds to one RelativeDistinguishedName value, each of which happens for this name to consist of one AttributeValueAssertion value. The AttributeType value is before the equals sign, and the AttributeValue value (a printable string for the given attribute types) is after the equals sign.¶

The countryName, organizationName, and commonUnitName are attribute types defined in X.520 [X.520]as:¶

attributeType OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { joint-iso-ccitt(2) ds(5) 4 }

countryName OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { attributeType 6 }

organizationName OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { attributeType 10 }

commonUnitName OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { attributeType 3 }

Note: joint-iso-ccitt and joint-iso-itu-t are interchangeable for (2).¶

06 03 55 04 06       countryName

06 03 55 04 0a  organizationName

06 03 55 04 03        commonName

   13 02 55 53                                 "US"

   13 14                     "Example Organization"
    45 78 61 6d 70 6c 65 20 4f 72 67 61 6e 69 7a 61
    74 69 6f 6e

   13 0b                              "Test User 1"
    54 65 73 74 20 55 73 65 72 20 31

   30 09                                     countryName = "US"
    06 03 55 04 06
    13 02 55 53

   30 1b              organizationName = "Example Organization"
    06 03 55 04 0a
    13 14 ... 6f 6e

   30 12                             commonName = "Test User 1"
    06 03 55 04 0b
    13 0b ... 20 31

   31 0b
    30 09 ... 55 53

   31 1d
    30 1b ... 6f 6e

   31 14
    30 12 ... 20 31

   30 42
    31 0b ... 55 53
    31 1d ... 6f 6e
    31 14 ... 20 31

   30 42
    31 0b
     30 09
       06 03 55 04 06                attributeType = countryName
       13 02 55 53                         attributeValue = "US"
   31 1d
   30 1b
     06 03 55 04 0a             attributeType = organizationName
   13 14                 attributeValue = "Example Organization"
     45 78 61 6d 70 6c 65 20 4f 72 67 61 6e 69 7a 61
     74 69 6f 6e

   31 14
     30 12
       06 03 55 04 03             attributeType = commonName
       13 0b                  attributeValue = "Test User 1"
         54 65 73 74 20 55 73 65 72 20 31