This section describes the main roles, interfaces, and procedures in 3GPP GAA.
What is GAA?
The 3GPP Generic Authentication Architecture allows IMS devices (User Equipment or UEs) to authenticate with the network and securely access application servers, without the need for user interaction.
The authentication mechanism relies on secret key material (K) stored on the UE’s tamper-proof USIM. The same key material K is also known by the UE’s Home Subscriber Server or Authentication Centre (HSS/AuC).
When the UE needs to access an application server (Network Application Function or NAF), the UE performs a "bootstrapping" procedure with its HSS. This procedure sets up a security association for the UE, and calculates a new NAF-specific shared key.
The NAF is also able to calculate the same shared key, and uses this to authenticate requests from the UE. The NAF-specific shared key never has to traverse the network, because it can be calculated independently by the UE and NAF, based on the shared secret K.
3GPP GAA specifies how this is achieved.
