3GPP defined the Generic Authentication Architecture (GAA). The adoption of GAA by other standardization bodies showed that some services can not make the assumption that the User Equipment (UE) has always the possibility to connect to the Bootstrapping Server Function (BSF). This specification introduces a generic push layer that makes use of the GBA Push Function as specified in TS 33.223.

The present document specifies a generic push layer that makes use of the GBA Push Function as specified in TS 33.223. The GPL specification includes a message format, cipher suites and processing model. GPL assumes that keys and other SA parameters have been preinstalled in the Push-NAF and UE in the form of a NAF SA. GPL is a protection protocol that can be applied in a unidirectional fashion. The rationale for GPL is that having each application specify its own security mechanisms would for obvious reasons lead to duplication of work, specifications and implementations. Using a generic secure push layer avoids these problems. A generic secure push layer may also relieve the applications using the service of having to be aware of inner working of the security layer. As an analogy, TS 33.222 can be mentioned, which provides a generic security layer for HTTP based applications.

The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present document.

• References are either specific (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.) or non-specific.
• For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.
• For a non-specific reference, the latest version applies. In the case of a reference to a 3GPP document (including a GSM document), a non-specific reference implicitly refers to the latest version of that document in the same Release as the present document.