Securing Neighbor Discovery (send) ---------------------------------- Charter Last Modified: 2004-05-25 Current Status: Active Working Group Chair(s): Pekka Nikander James Kempf Internet Area Director(s): Thomas Narten Margaret Wasserman Internet Area Advisor: Margaret Wasserman Mailing Lists: General Discussion:ietf-send@standards.ericsson.net To Subscribe: Majordomo@standards.ericsson.net In Body: subscribe ietf-send Archive: http://standards.ericsson.net/lists/ietf-send/threads.html Description of Working Group: Neighbor Discovery is the basic protocol by which IPv6 nodes discover their default routers on the local link, and by which nodes on a local link resolve IPv6 addresses to MAC layer addresses, for delivery of packets on the local link. Neighbor Discovery is specified in RFC 2461. One of the design principles behind Neighbor Discovery is to enable zero configuration, i.e., to allow hosts to start communicating with other hosts at the local link and in the Internet without any requirements for manual configuration. RFC 2461 specifies that IPsec AH should be used to secure signaling for Neighbor Discovery. Due to bootstrapping issues, only manual keying works and that is impractical for most cases. This is in conflict with the goal of Neighbor Discovery, namely to allow complete address autoconfiguration of a node. The objective of this working group is to define protocol support for securing IPv6 Neighbor Discovery without requiring manual keying. The following are charter items for the working group: 1) A threat assessment and trust model for local links will be worked out. The threat assessment will clearly describe which threats the Neighbor Discovery security solution(s) will address and which are not addressed. The trust model will describe what types of networks require what level of security solution. Together these form a clear problem statement and a set of requirements. 2) A protocol for assuring authenticatable distribution of public keys, that allows for example tying a public key to a node's IP address or interface ID, and for example authenticating a router's authorization to route, will be designed. The working group will consider the presentation by Steve Bellovin at the SEND BOF as a starting point. 3) The use of the key distribution protocol and public key cryptographic scheme for calculating digital signatures in IPsec AH and/or ESP headers will be specified. IANA may be requested to reserve one or more of the reserved SPIs (1-255) for the protocol. The Working Group will attempt to use well-known and existing public key cryptographic protocols with good security properties, in order to reduce the risk of unintended side effects, and to expedite the completion of the work. The protocol will be designed to assure that all functions of RFC 2461 and RFC 2462 are addressed. Specifically out of scope is IPv4 and ARP. Although ARP has similar problems, there is a huge installed base of ARP. It seems unlikely that any substantial fraction of that installed based would be updated quickly enough to make a difference. On the other hand, IPv6 deployment is still its initial stages, and changes to Neighbor Discovery are more likely to be widely adopted, if the Working Group executes quickly enough on its task. Goals and Milestones: Done First draft of draft-ietf-send-psreq-00.txt, the combined Neighbor Discovery threats and trust model drafts. Done Complete selection of a public key scheme. Initial draft of key distribution protocol, draft-ietf-send-ipsec-00.txt. Done Complete draft-ietf-send-psreq-xx.txt and send to IESG for approval. Done Initial draft for CGA, draft-ietf-send-cga-00.txt. Done Intermediate drafts for draft-ietf-send-cga-xx.txt and draft-ietf-send-ipsec-xx.txt submitted to selected reviewers. Done Submit draft-ietf-send-cga-xx.txt and draft-ietf-send-ipsec-xx.txt to IESG for approval. Internet-Drafts: Posted Revised I-D Title ------ ------- -------------------------------------------- Jun 03 Apr 04 Cryptographically Generated Addresses (CGA) Oct 03 Jul 04 SEcure Neighbor Discovery (SEND) Request For Comments: RFC Stat Published Title ------- -- ----------- ------------------------------------ RFC3756 I May 04 IPv6 Neighbor Discovery trust models and threats