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Flow 11 --- ML-DSA-87 Compact-JWS Sign / Verify (Non-Streaming)

This scenario walks through a post-quantum, non-streaming signature round-trip with an ML-DSA-87 key:

  • Resolve the pre-provisioned ML-DSA-87 key-pair (kty="ML-DSA").

  • Sign a document → compact JWS written as UTF-8 text.

  • Verify the compact JWS.

  • Validate that the fresh signature is accepted by the server.

Key points

  • Uses signFile( ) / verifySignature( ) helpers (entire token in memory).

  • Demonstrates the Compact JWS format, easy to paste into logs or manifests.

  • Prints rich server metadata: key requested, material version, algorithm, policy warnings.

Prerequisites

The flow examples are data-plane only. They never create, rotate, or delete keys — they resolve pre-provisioned playground keys and operate on them. Before running any flow example you must:

  1. Provision a fresh demo-cli playground. Use the ankasecure-demo-provisioning tool to provision the demo-cli playground. This seeds the cryptographic keys the examples operate on and the cli-reference@demo-cli actor that holds capability grants on them.
  2. Use the emitted cli.properties. The provisioning tool writes a cli.properties file that carries the ankasecure.demo.kids catalogue line — the comma-separated list of provisioned key ids, in YAML file order. The examples load this file to discover which keys exist.
  3. Authenticate as cli-reference@demo-cli. Authenticate the SDK as the cli-reference@demo-cli actor — the all-operations actor of the demo-cli playground — so the resolved keys carry the capability grants each operation needs.

Key selection in the examples is by algorithm or by exact name:

  • kidForAlgorithm(alg) returns a pre-provisioned key id matching the requested algorithm — used by the single-key operation flows.
  • requireKid(name) asserts that an exact, named cross-kid endpoint is present in the ankasecure.demo.kids catalogue — used by the cross-kid REENCRYPT / RESIGN flows that must operate on a specific granted source/target pair.

If cli.properties is missing the ankasecure.demo.kids line, the examples fail fast with a clear message instructing you to (re-)provision the demo-cli playground — they will not silently fall back.

PKCS#7 / CMS examples (Flow 19 & Flow 20)

The PKCS#7 interop examples operate on a packaged, non-sensitive CMS EnvelopedData fixture — you do not supply a PKCS#7 file:

  • Fixture: src/main/resources/pkcs7/enveloped-data-sample.p7m, loaded from the classpath by Pkcs7ExampleFixture. It is a single-recipient, zero-signer EnvelopedData artifact from the QA test signer; it carries no private key and no secret.
  • Flow 19 (analysis) needs no key. Structural analysis (analyzePkcs7 / analyzePkcs7Stream) inspects the CMS envelope metadata only, so it runs with no decryption key and no extra configuration.
  • Flow 20 (conversion) needs a pre-provisioned recipient key. Converting EnvelopedData to JWE requires the platform to decrypt the envelope, so it needs the recipient's private key referenced by the pkcs7.decryptionKid property in cli.properties. That key is matched by issuer DN + serial number and is imported by a control-plane step (outside the data-plane SDK); until it is provisioned, Flow 20's conversion calls fail at the server while Flow 19 still runs. The calling actor also needs the in-place REENCRYPT grant on that kid, requested with the kid twice (assetKids: [kid, kid]) and stored as [kid]: a conversion is authorized by REENCRYPT / RESIGN grants, never by DECRYPT, and no wildcard REENCRYPT grant exists.
  • Data-plane only. Like every flow example, these never import keystores or perform any key-lifecycle operation.

When to use it

  • Portable attestations --- compact-JWS strings are perfect for embedding in SBOMs, PDF manifests or CI artefacts without binary handling.

  • Post-quantum assurance --- ML-DSA-87 delivers NIST-selected signature security that survives future RSA/ECC compromises.

  • Quick auditing --- public-key JSON export lets auditors validate signatures offline or store public keys in catalogues.

Shared helper – this code imports the utility class from
example-util.md (configuration, authentication, JSON).


Complete Java implementation

src/main/java/co/ankatech/ankasecure/sdk/examples/ExampleScenario11.java

/*
 * Copyright 2025 ANKATech Solutions Inc.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package co.ankatech.ankasecure.sdk.examples;

import co.ankatech.ankasecure.sdk.AuthenticatedSdk;
import co.ankatech.ankasecure.sdk.model.SignResult;
import co.ankatech.ankasecure.sdk.model.VerifySignatureResult;
import co.ankatech.ankasecure.sdk.util.FileIO;

import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.text.MessageFormat;
import java.util.Properties;

import static co.ankatech.ankasecure.sdk.examples.ExampleUtil.*;

/**
 * Scenario 11 — ML-DSA-87 Bulk Helpers (Compact JWS).
 *
 * <p>This scenario shows the <strong>non-streaming</strong> helper methods for
 * RFC&nbsp;7515 <em>Compact&nbsp;JWS</em> using an ML-DSA-87 key:</p>
 * <ol>
 *   <li>Resolve a pre-provisioned <code>ML-DSA-87</code> key from the demo
 *       playground (the SDK is data-plane-only — it does not create keys).</li>
 *   <li>Sign a plaintext document.</li>
 *   <li>Verify the resulting JWS.</li>
 * </ol>
 *
 * <p><b>Implementation notes (Java&nbsp;21+):</b></p>
 * <ul>
 *   <li>Filesystem operations use {@link java.nio.file.Path}.</li>
 *   <li>UTF-8 encoding is enforced for deterministic behaviour.</li>
 *   <li>Temporary artefacts reside under <kbd>temp_files/</kbd>.</li>
 * </ul>
 *
 * <p><b>Thread-safety:</b> this class is stateless and immutable.</p>
 *
 * @see ExampleUtil
 * @see ExamplePlaygroundKeys
 * @see AuthenticatedSdk
 */
public final class ExampleScenario11 {

    /** No instantiation &mdash; this class only exposes {@link #main(String[])}. */
    private ExampleScenario11() { }

    /**
     * Runs the ML-DSA-87 compact JWS sign/verify scenario.
     *
     * <p>Loads CLI properties, authenticates against ANKASecure&copy;,
     * and delegates to the scenario logic. On any unrecoverable error
     * the JVM terminates via
     * {@link ExampleUtil#fatal(String, Throwable)}.</p>
     *
     * @param args command-line arguments (ignored)
     */
    public static void main(final String[] args) {

        System.out.println("===== SCENARIO 11 START =====");
        System.out.println("""
                Purpose :
                  * Demonstrate Compact-JWS helpers with a pre-provisioned
                    ML-DSA-87 key
                Steps   :
                  1) Resolve pre-provisioned ML-DSA-87 key
                  2) Sign payload (compact JWS)
                  3) Verify JWS and validate integrity
                --------------------------------------------------------------""");

        try {
            prepareWorkingDir();

            Properties            props      = loadProperties();
            AuthenticatedSdk      sdk        = authenticate(props);
            ExamplePlaygroundKeys playground = ExamplePlaygroundKeys.from(props, sdk);

            runScenario(sdk, playground);

        } catch (Exception ex) {
            fatal("Scenario 11 failed", ex);
        }

        System.out.println("===== SCENARIO 11 END =====");
    }

    /**
     * Executes the ML-DSA-87 sign/verify scenario on a pre-provisioned key.
     *
     * <ol>
     *   <li>Create document file.</li>
     *   <li>Resolve a pre-provisioned ML-DSA-87 signing key.</li>
     *   <li>Sign document (compact JWS).</li>
     *   <li>Verify signature.</li>
     * </ol>
     *
     * @param sdk        an authenticated {@link AuthenticatedSdk} instance; must not be {@code null}
     * @param playground the pre-provisioned playground key resolver; must not be {@code null}
     * @throws Exception if any step fails
     */
    private static void runScenario(final AuthenticatedSdk sdk,
                                    final ExamplePlaygroundKeys playground) throws Exception {

        Path docFile  = TEMP_DIR.resolve("scenario11_doc.txt");
        Path jwsFile  = TEMP_DIR.resolve("scenario11.jws");

        /* 1 -- create document ---------------------------------------------- */
        FileIO.writeUtf8(docFile,
                "Scenario-11 - ML-DSA-87 non-streaming sign / verify demo.");
        System.out.println("[1] Document ready          -> " + docFile.toAbsolutePath());

        /* 2 -- resolve pre-provisioned key (data-plane SDK: no key creation) */
        final String kid = playground.kidForAlgorithm("ML-DSA-87");
        System.out.println("[2] Using pre-provisioned key -> kid = " + kid);

        /* 3 ── sign document (compact JWS) --------------------------------- */
        SignResult signMeta = sdk.signFile(kid, docFile, jwsFile);
        System.out.println("[3] JWS written             -> " + jwsFile.toAbsolutePath());
        printSignMeta(signMeta);

        /* 4 ── verify signature ------------------------------------------- */
        VerifySignatureResult verMeta = sdk.verifySignature(jwsFile);
        System.out.println(MessageFormat.format(
                "[4] Signature valid?        -> {0}", verMeta.isValid()));
        printVerifyMeta(verMeta);

        System.out.println(verMeta.isValid()
                ? "[5] SUCCESS - JWS verified."
                : "[5] FAILURE - verification failed.");
    }
}

How to run

mvn -q compile exec:java\
  -Dexec.mainClass="co.ankatech.ankasecure.sdk.examples.ExampleScenario11"

Console milestones

  • ML-DSA-87 key resolution from the playground

  • Compact-JWS signing → scenario11.jws

  • Key metadata printed to the console

  • Signature verification → SUCCESS confirmation


Where next?