One document matched: draft-ietf-csi-dhcpv6-cga-ps-01.txt

Differences from draft-ietf-csi-dhcpv6-cga-ps-00.txt


Network Working Group                                      Sheng Jiang 
Internet Draft                            Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd 
Intended status: Informational                               Sean Shen 
Expires: June 18, 2010                                           CNNIC 
                                                             Tim Chown 
                                             University of Southampton 
                                                     December 16, 2009 
                                    


             DHCPv6 and CGA Interaction: Problem Statement 
                                    
                  draft-ietf-csi-dhcpv6-cga-ps-01.txt 


Status of this Memo 

   This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the 
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on June 16, 2010. 

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   Copyright (c) 2009 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the 
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Abstract 

   This document describes potential issues in the interaction between 
   DHCPv6 and Cryptographically Generated Addresses (CGAs). Firstly, the 
   scenario of using CGAs in DHCPv6 environments is discussed.   Some 
   operations are clarified for the interaction of DHCPv6 servers and 
   CGA-associated hosts. We then also discuss how CGAs and DHCPv6 may 
   have mutual benefits for each other, including using CGAs in DHCPv6 
   operations to enhance its security features and using DHCPv6 to 
   provide the CGA generation function. 

    

Table of Contents 

   1. Introduction.................................................3 
   2. Coexistence of DHCPv6 and CGA................................3 
   3. What DHCPv6 can do for CGA...................................4 
   4. What CGA can do for DHCPv6...................................5 
   5. Security Considerations......................................6 
   6. IANA Considerations..........................................6 
   7. Solution Requests............................................7 
   8. Acknowledgements.............................................7 
   9. Change Log...................................................7 
   10. References..................................................7 
      10.1. Normative References...................................7 
      10.2. Informative References.................................8 
   Author's Addresses..............................................9 
    















 
 
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1. Introduction 

   The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) [RFC3315] 
   can assign addresses statefully. Although there are other ways to 
   assign IPv6 addresses [RFC4862, RFC4339], DHCPv6 is still useful when 
   an administrator requires more control over address assignments to 
   hosts. DHCPv6 can also be used to distribute other network 
   configuration information. 

   Cryptographically Generated Addresses (CGAs) [RFC3972] are IPv6 
   addresses for which the interface identifiers are generated by 
   computing a cryptographic one-way hash function from a public key and 
   auxiliary parameters. By using the associated public & private keys 
   as described by SEcure Neighbor Discovery (SEND) [RFC3971], CGAs can 
   protect the Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) [RFC4861], i.e. they 
   can provide address validation and integrity protection for NDP 
   messages. 

   This document describes potential issues in the interaction between 
   DHCPv6 and Cryptographically Generated Addresses (CGAs). Firstly, the 
   scenario of using CGAs in DHCPv6 environments is discussed. Some 
   operations are clarified for the interaction of DHCPv6 servers and 
   CGA-associated hosts. We then also discuss how CGAs and DHCPv6 may 
   have mutual benefits for each other, including using CGAs in DHCPv6 
   operations to enhance its security features and using DHCPv6 to 
   provide the CGA generation function. 

2. Coexistence of DHCPv6 and CGA 

   CGAs can be used with IPv6 Stateless Address Configuration [RFC4862]. 
   The public key system associated with the CGA address provides 
   message origin validation and integrity protection without the need 
   for negotiation and transportation of key materials. 

   The current CGA specifications do not mandate which device generates 
   a CGA address. In many cases, a CGA address is generated by the 
   associated key pair owner, which normally is also the host that will 
   use the CGA address. However, in a DHCPv6-managed network, hosts 
   should obtain IPv6 addresses only from a DHCPv6 server. This 
   difference of roles needs to be carefully considered if there is a 
   requirement to use CGAs in DHCPv6-managed environments. 

   The current DHCPv6 specification [RFC3315] has a mechanism that could 
   be used to allow a host to self-generate a CGA for use in a DHCPv6-
   managed environment, i.e. the DHCPv6 server can grant the use of 
   host-generated CGA addresses on request from the client. 
 
 
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   Specifically, a node can request that a DHCPv6 server grants the use 
   of a self-generated CGA by sending a DHCPv6 Request message. This 
   DHCPv6 Request message contains an IA option including the CGA 
   address. Depending on whether the CGA satisfies the CGA-related 
   configuration parameters of the network, the DHCPv6 server can then 
   send an acknowledgement to the node to either grant the use of the 
   CGA or to indicate that the node must generate a new CGA with the 
   correct CGA-related configuration parameters of the network. In the 
   meantime the DHCPv6 server may log the requested address/host 
   combination. 

3. What DHCPv6 can do for CGA 

   In the current CGA specifications there is a lack of procedures to 
   enable central management of CGA generation. Administrators should be 
   able to configure parameters used to generate CGAs. DHCPv6 could be 
   used to assign subnet prefixes or certificates to CGA address owners. 
   In some scenarios, the administrator may further want to enforce some 
   parameters, in particular the necessary security-related parameters 
   such as the SEC value. 

   In the CGA generation procedure, the generation of the Modifier field 
   of a CGA address is computationally intensive. This operation can 
   lead to apparent slow performance and/or battery consumption problems 
   for end hosts with limited computing ability and/or restricted 
   battery power (e.g. mobile devices). In such cases, a mechanism to 
   delegate the computation of the modifier would be desirable. It is 
   possible that the whole CGA generation procedure could be delegated 
   to the DHCPv6 server. This would be especially useful for large SEC 
   values. 

   Generating a key pair, which will be used to generate a CGA, also 
   requires a notable computation. Generation and distribution of a key 
   pair can also be done by DHCPv6 server. Of course, when designing 
   these new functions, one should carefully consider the impact on 
   security.  However, the security considerations of specific solutions 
   are out of scope of this document. 

   New DHCPv6 options could be defined to carry management parameters 
   from a DHCPv6 server to the client that wishes to use a CGA. A new 
   DHCPv6 prefix assignment option could be defined to propagate a 
   subnet prefix. More DHCPv6 options may be defined to propagate 
   additional CGA-relevant configuration information, such as the SEC 
   value, certificate information, SEND proxy information, etc. 

   It may be possible to define a delegation operation that allows a 
   client to pass computations to a DHCPv6 server, by introducing new 
 
 
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   DHCPv6 option(s). A node could thus initiate a DHCPv6 request to the 
   DHCPv6 server requesting the computation of the Modifier or the CGA. 
   The DHCPv6 server could then either compute the Modifier by itself, 
   or redirect the computation requirement to another server. Once the 
   DHCPv6 server generates (or obtains from the redirected computational 
   server) the Modifier or the CGA address, it can respond to the node 
   with the Modifier or the resulting address and the corresponding CGA 
   Parameters data structure.  

   Depending on the scenario, the configuration information needed to 
   generate CGAs (including a SEC value, a subnet prefix, a modifier, a 
   public key, a Collision Count value and any Extension Fields) may be 
   provided by either hosts or DHCPv6 servers. A DHCPv6 server might 
   receive from hosts the configuration information customized by hosts, 
   generate CGAs by using configuration information provided by both 
   parties and deliver CGAs and their associated CGA Parameters data 
   structures to hosts. The details of such potential new methods need 
   to be defined clearly in the solution specifications. 

   New DHCPv6 options may be defined to support the interactions that 
   are required when a DHCPv6 server generates a key pair for hosts. 

   When designing such solutions, the designer should thoroughly 
   consider the impact on DHCPv6 model and the security of CGA usage. In 
   order to be compatible with DHCPv6, the configuring procedure of CGA 
   parameters should be compatible with the current DHCPv6 definition. 
   When a DHCP6 server configures CGA parameters, integrity protection 
   may be needed to avoid attacks, such as downgrade attack. 

4. What CGA can do for DHCPv6 

   DHCPv6 is vulnerable to various attacks, e.g. fake address attacks 
   where a 'rogue' DHCPv6 server responds with incorrect address 
   information. A malicious rogue DHCPv6 server can also provide 
   incorrect configuration to the client in order to divert the client 
   to communicate with malicious services, like DNS or NTP. It may also 
   mount a Denial of Service attack through mis-configuration of the 
   client that causes all network communication from the client to fail. 
   A rogue DHCPv6 server may also collect some critical information from 
   the client. Attackers may be able to gain unauthorized access to some 
   resources, such as network access. See Section 23 [RFC3315]. 

   In the basic DHCPv6 specifications, regular IPv6 addresses are used. 
   However, DHCPv6 servers, relay agents and clients could use CGAs as 
   their own addresses. A DHCPv6 message (from either a server, relay 
   agent or client) with a CGA as source address, can carry the CGA 
   Parameters data structure and a digital signature. The receiver can 
 
 
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   verify both the CGA and signature, then process the payload of the 
   DHCPv6 message only if the validation is successful. In this way 
   DHCPv6 messages can be protected. This mechanism can efficiently 
   improve the security of DHCPv6, because the address of a DHCP message 
   sender (which can be a DHCP server, a reply agent or a client) can be 
   verified by a receiver. The usage of CGA can efficiently avoid the 
   above attacks. It improves the communication security of DHCPv6 
   interactions. The usage of CGA can also avoid DHCPv6's dependence on 
   IPSEC [RFC3315] in relay scenarios. This mechanism is applicable in 
   environments where physical security on the link is not assured (such 
   as over certain wireless infrastructures) or where available security 
   mechanisms are not sufficient, and attacks on DHCPv6 are a concern. 

   It should be noticed that there could be different levels of pre-
   configuration of CGA. The minimum level of pre-configuration is to 
   configure public keys on both parties of communication or have a 
   third party authority available for users to retrieve public keys. 
   The public keys will be used for users to generate CGAs and verify 
   CGAs and signatures. The pre-configuration can also include 
   configuring more CGA parameters such as SEC value or more depend on 
   policies. The pre-configuration can even be the whole CGA and related 
   parameters, but in this case the address will be fixed and this 
   situation may not be desired when users want to keep their addresses 
   unknown. 

5. Security Considerations 

   As Section 4 of this document has discussed, CGAs can provide 
   additional security features for DHCPv6. However, in defining 
   solutions using DHCPv6 to configure CGAs, as suggested in Section 3.  
   of this document, careful consideration is required to evaluate 
   whether the new mechanism introduces new security vulnerabilities. 

   When DHCP is used to manage CGAs, CGA relevant information is stored 
   in a central repository, DHCP server. It does not increase privacy 
   risks. The CGA relevant information is only exposed to network 
   management plane. The privacy risks are not higher than other network 
   managed entities, like normal IPv6 addresses managed by DHCP, or 
   addresses log in ACL. 

6. IANA Considerations 

   There are no IANA considerations in this document. 




 
 
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7. Solution Requests 

   As discussed in this document, CGAs and DHCPv6 can provide additional 
   services or security features for each other. Solutions that define 
   the details of such interactions should be investigated to determine 
   how viable they are.  

8. Acknowledgements 

   Useful comments were made by Marcelo Bagnulo, UC3M, Spain and other 
   members of the IETF CSI working group. 

9. Change Log [RFC Editor please remove] 

   draft-jiang-csi-dhacpv6-cga-ps-00, original version, 2008-10-27 

   draft-jiang-csi-dhacpv6-cga-ps-01, revised after comments at IETF 73, 
   2009-01-08 

   draft-jiang-csi-dhacpv6-cga-ps-02, revised after comments at CSI 
   mailing list, 2009-06-17 

   draft-jiang-csi-dhacpv6-cga-ps-03, revised after comments at CSI 
   mailing list, 2009-09-18 

   draft-ietf-csi-dhacpv6-cga-ps-00, revised after comments at CSI 
   mailing list and wg adoption call, 2009-10-12 

   draft-ietf-csi-dhacpv6-cga-ps-01, revised after comments at IETF 76, 
   2009-12-16 

10. References 

10.1. Normative References 

   [RFC3315] R. Droms, Ed., J. Bound, B. Volz, T. Lemon, C. Perkins and 
             M. Carney, "Dynamic Host Configure Protocol for IPv6", RFC 
             3315, July 2003. 

   [RFC3971] J. Arkko, J. Kempf, B. Zill and P. Nikander, "SEcure 
             Neighbor Discovery (SEND) ", RFC 3971, March 2005. 

   [RFC3972] T. Aura, "Cryptographically Generated Address", RFC 3972, 
             March 2005. 



 
 
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   [RFC4861] T. Narten, E. Nordmark, W. Simpson and H. Soliman, 
             "Neighbor Discovery for IP version 6 (IPv6)", RFC 4861, 
             September 2007. 

   [RFC4862] S. Thomson and T. Narten, "IPv6 Stateless Address 
             Autoconfiguration", RFC 4862, September 2007. 

10.2. Informative References 

   [RFC4339] J. Jeong, Ed., "IPv6 Host Configuration of DNS Server 
             Information Approaches", RFC 4339, February 2006. 



































 
 
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Author's Addresses 

   Sheng Jiang 
   Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd 
   KuiKe Building, No.9 Xinxi Rd., 
   Shang-Di Information Industry Base, Hai-Dian District, Beijing 100085 
   P.R. China 
   Phone: 86-10-82836081 
   Email: shengjiang@huawei.com 
    
   Sean Shen 
   CNNIC 
   4, South 4th Street, Zhongguancun 
   Beijing 100190 
   P.R. China 
   Email: shenshuo@cnnic.cn 
    
   Tim Chown 
   University of Southampton 
   Highfield 
   Southampton, Hampshire SO17 1BJ 
   United Kingdom 
   Email: tjc@ecs.soton.ac.uk 























 
 
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