Monthly Archives: April 2014

Update of BSI TR-03105 Part 3.2 available (V1.4.1)

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The German BSI and French AFNOR have released an update with minor clarifications of their technical guideline BSI TR-03105 Part 3.2 focusing on conformity tests for ePassports implementing protocols like PACE and SAC (EACv1).

The new version 1.4.1of TR-03105 Part 3.2 includes changes in the following test cases:

  • ISO7816_II_2: The missing profile ‘ECDH’ is added to the profile of this test case according to the corresponding test case ISO7816_I_2 in test suite I.
  • ISO7816_II_3: There is a new test step added (step 3) to perform the additional command GENERAL AUTHENTICATE to perform key agreement correctly.
  • ISO7816_K_19: There are several meanings how to handle the ‘presence’ of a data group. A simple command SELECT to detect a data group of the chip is insufficient and may cause problems. In this test case the presence of data group EF.DG15 should be used as an indicator to perform Active Authentication. In the new version of this test case the wording is adapted to TR-03110 and is changed from “is present” to “if available”. On this way the discussion is moved from TR-03105 to TR-03110. From my point of view it makes sense to check if the relevant data group is listed in file EF.SOD. The information in EF.COM is note secured by Passive Authentication and may be corrupted. Instead of that, EF.SOD is secure and can be used as an indicator of the existence of a file on the chip.
  • ISO7816_L_13: In step 9 of this test case the command MUTUAL AUTHENTICATE is performed. In the old version of the specification this command was not complete. The missing Le byte is now added, so the command expects now 40 bytes (or 28 in hex) as response.
  • ISO7816_L_14: In the previous version of TR-03105 in step 8 of this test case a SELECT MF with parameter P2 = ‘0C’ is performed. ISO7816-4 specifies for bytes b4=1 and b3 =1 that no response data is expected if Le field is absent. This command causes problems on some COS implementations and so the command is replaced by a SELECT with P2 = ’00’ and Le = ’00’.

In the past I have missed such a list for every new released version of test specifications, like BSI TR-03105 or ICAO technical reports. So I hope, this list of modified test cases is helpful for your work in context of ePassport testing. If you are interested, please leave a comment and I will update this list with every new version of test specifications in context of smart cards used in ePassports and ID cards.

Interoperability Test for Supplemental Access Control (SAC)

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During the ICAO Regional Seminar on Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRTD) in Madrid from 25th to 27th of June 2014 there will be also the opportunity of an interoperability test for ePassports with Supplemental Access Control (SAC). The protocol SAC is replacing Basic Access Control (BAC) used in ePassports and will be obligatory in EU from December 2014. SAC is a mechanism specified to ensure only authorized parties can wirelessly read information from the RFID chip of an ePassport. SAC is also known as PACE v2 (Password Authenticated Connection Establishment). PACE v1 is used as a basic protocol in the German ID card and was developed and specified by the German BSI.

An interoperability test is similar to a plugtest performed e.g. by ETSI. It’s an event during which devices (ePassport, inspection systems and test tools) are tested for interoperability with emerging standards by physically connecting them. This procedure allows all vendors to test their devices against other devices. Additionally, there is the opportunity besides this crossover tests to test the devices against conformity test suites implemented in test tools like GlobalTester. This procedure reduces efforts and allows comprehensive failure analyses of the devices like ePassports or inspection systems. There are well established test specifications available, both for ePassports and for inspection systems. Publishers of these test specifications are the German BSI (TR-03105) or ICAO (TR – RF and Protocol Testing Part 3).

You can find further information corresponding to this event on the ICAO website. The website will be updated frequently.