Messaging Layer Security
| Protocol stack | |
| Abbreviation | MLS |
|---|---|
| Purpose | End-to-end encrypting messages |
| Developer(s) |
|
| Introduction | July 2023 |
| OSI layer | Application layer |
| RFC(s) | RFC 9420 |
| Website | datatracker |
Messaging Layer Security (MLS) is a security layer for end-to-end encrypting messages. It is maintained by the MLS working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force, and is designed to provide an efficient and practical security mechanism for groups as large as 50,000 and for those who access chat systems from multiple devices.[1][2][3]
Security properties
[edit]Security properties of MLS include message confidentiality, message integrity and authentication, membership authentication, asynchronicity, forward secrecy, post-compromise security, and scalability.[4]
History
[edit]The idea was born in 2016 and first discussed in an unofficial meeting during IETF 96 in Berlin with attendees from Wire, Mozilla and Cisco.[5]
Initial ideas were based on pairwise encryption for secure 1:1 and group communication. In 2017, an academic paper introducing Asynchronous Ratcheting Trees was published by the University of Oxford and Facebook setting the focus on more efficient encryption schemes.[6]
The first BoF took place in February 2018 at IETF 101 in London. The founding members are Mozilla, Facebook, Wire, Google, Twitter, University of Oxford, and INRIA.[7]
As of March 29, 2023, the IETF has approved publication of Messaging Layer Security (MLS) as a new standard.[8] It was officially published on July 19, 2023.[9][10] At that time, Google announced it intended to add MLS to the end to end encryption used by Google Messages over RCS.[11] In March 2025, the GSMA announced the Universal Profile 3.0 standard of RCS would support MLS and Apple announced it would support this RCS standard on Apple Messages.[12][13]
Matrix is one of the protocols declaring migration to MLS.[14]
Research on adding post-quantum cryptography (PQC) to MLS is ongoing, but MLS does not currently support PQC.[15][16][17]
Implementations
[edit]| Implementation | Language | License |
|---|---|---|
| OpenMLS | Rust | MIT |
| MLS++ | C++ | BSD 2-Clause |
| mls-rs | Rust | Apache 2.0 |
| MLS-TS | TypeScript | Apache 2.0 |
References
[edit]- ^ "Inside MLS, the New Protocol for Secure Enterprise Messaging". Dark Reading. June 27, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
- ^ at 10:29, Richard Chirgwin 22 Aug 2018. "Elders of internet hash out standards to grant encrypted message security for world+dog". www.theregister.co.uk. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Messaging Layer Security". GitHub.
- ^ "Messaging Layer Security (mls) -". datatracker.ietf.org. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
- ^ "Das sind die sieben Entwickler-Trends 2019: Vom Java-Comeback über MLS bis KI/ML-zentrierte Technologien". IT Finanzmagazin. January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
- ^ Cohn-Gordon, Katriel; Cremers, Cas; Garratt, Luke; Millican, Jon; Milner, Kevin (2017). "On Ends-to-Ends Encryption: Asynchronous Group Messaging with Strong Security Guarantees". Cryptology ePrint Archive.
- ^ Chirgwin, Richard (August 22, 2018). "Elders of internet hash out standards to grant encrypted message security for world+dog". Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ Sullivan, Nick; Turner, Sean (March 29, 2023). "Messaging Layer Security: Secure and Usable End-to-End Encryption". IETF. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
- ^ "New MLS protocol provides groups better and more efficient security at Internet scale". July 19, 2023. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
- ^ Beurdouche, Benjamin; Vasquez, Sarah (July 20, 2023). "Messaging Layer Security is now an internet standard". Mozilla. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
- ^ "An important step towards secure and interoperable messaging". Google Online Security Blog. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
- ^ Mayo, Benjamin (March 14, 2025). "End-to-end encrypted RCS messaging on iPhone coming in future software update". 9to5Mac. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
- ^ Van Pelt, Tom (March 14, 2025). "RCS Encryption: A Leap Towards Secure and Interoperable Messaging". GSMA. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
- ^ "Are We MLS Yet?". Are We MLS Yet?. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
- ^ "Cryspen | Post-Quantum Group Messaging". cryspen.com. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
- ^ Hashimoto, Keitaro; Katsumata, Shuichi; Prest, Thomas (November 7, 2022). "How to Hide MetaData in MLS-Like Secure Group Messaging: Simple, Modular, and Post-Quantum" (PDF). Cryptology ePrint Archive. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
- ^ "Post-quantum messaging: examining Apple's new PQ3 protocol". PQShield. February 22, 2024. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
External links
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