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IETF and Post Quantum Cryptography: Drafts, RFCs, and the Quantum Safe Internet

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IETF and Post Quantum Cryptography: Drafts, RFCs, and the Quantum Safe Internet - QNSQY post-quantum encryption guide

The IETF's PQC Portfolio

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is where the Internet protocols that use cryptography get updated for Post Quantum Cryptography. Most active drafts and recent RFCs focus on TLS, SSH, OpenPGP, IPsec, and JOSE (JSON Object Signing and Encryption).

TLS (TLS Working Group)

  • draft-ietf-tls-hybrid-design: hybrid key exchange framework for TLS 1.3.
  • draft-ietf-tls-ecdhe-mlkem: specific hybrid groups including X25519MLKEM768 (codepoint 0x11EC), SecP256r1MLKEM768, SecP384r1MLKEM1024.
  • draft-ietf-uta-pqc-app: PQC recommendations for TLS application use.

SSH (Secure Shell Maintenance)

  • RFC 9941 (April 2026): sntrup761x25519-sha512 hybrid SSH key exchange.
  • draft-ietf-sshm-mlkem-hybrid-kex: adds ML-KEM hybrid to SSH, parallel to RFC 9941.

OpenPGP

IETF OpenPGP WG is specifying PQC for OpenPGP. Drafts add:

  • Hybrid encryption (ECDH + ML-KEM).
  • Hybrid signatures (ECDSA + ML-DSA).
  • Pure PQC where appropriate.

GnuPG production support expected 2026-2027.

IPsec

  • draft-ietf-ipsecme-ikev2-pqc: hybrid ML-KEM in IKEv2.
  • StrongSwan and other implementations are in progress.

JOSE (JWT etc.)

IETF JOSE working group is adding PQC algorithm identifiers for JWT, JWS, JWE, JWK. Early drafts cover ML-DSA for JWT signing.

S/MIME

IETF LAMPS working group adds ML-KEM and ML-DSA to S/MIME (CMS) for PQC encrypted and signed email. Production availability in mail clients expected 2026-2027.

Why IETF Matters

  1. Interoperability: Internet protocols require cross-vendor interoperability that only standardization provides.
  2. Reference implementations: liboqs, oqs-provider, and BoringSSL follow IETF codepoints.
  3. Regulatory incorporation: FIPS, ETSI, and ISO/IEC standards reference IETF RFCs.

Watch List for 2026-2027

  1. Finalization of draft-ietf-tls-ecdhe-mlkem (expected RFC).
  2. draft-ietf-sshm-mlkem-hybrid-kex finalization.
  3. IETF OpenPGP PQC drafts to RFC.
  4. draft-ietf-ipsecme-ikev2-pqc to RFC.
  5. JOSE PQC algorithm IANA registrations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is RFC 9941?

IETF RFC published April 2026 standardizing sntrup761x25519-sha512 hybrid SSH key exchange. OpenSSH 9.x already ships this as default or optional.

Has TLS hybrid been RFC-ized?

draft-ietf-tls-ecdhe-mlkem is at late-stage draft as of April 2026. The X25519MLKEM768 hybrid (codepoint 0x11EC) is already deployed at scale (Chrome 131, Cloudflare, AWS).

How do I track IETF PQC work?

Follow IETF TLS, SSHM, JOSE, LAMPS, OPENPGP, IPSECME working groups. Datatracker.ietf.org lists active drafts.

Are IETF drafts safe to deploy?

For prototyping, yes. For production, prefer finalized RFCs or well-established late-stage drafts with broad implementation.

Sources

  1. RFC 9941
  2. draft-ietf-tls-ecdhe-mlkem

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Originally published at quantumsequrity.com/blog/ietf-pqc-internet-drafts.