Dear Tero,

thanks for your comments. I will clarify that headers are only
authenticated and payloads are both authenticated and encrypted. As for
well-known keys, that was exactly the discussion at the meeting. My point
is to remove it but I want to see everybody's opinion.

regards,
Xavi



2015-04-21 13:17 GMT+02:00 Tero Kivinen <[email protected]>:

> Xavier Vilajosana writes:
> > Hi Rene, Michael and Jonathan,
> >
> > I am working on the text for the security section in the minimal draft. I
> > included Rene's suggestion but I still have doubts as during the IETF
> meeting
> > there was some discussion about it.
> >
> > the security section is composed of 2 paragraphs.
> >
> > As this document refers to the interaction between Layer 3 and Layer
> >    2 protocols, this interaction MUST be secured by L2 security
> >    mechanisms as defined by [IEEE802154e].  Two security mechanisms are
> >    considered, authentication and encryption, authentication applies to
> >    the all packet content while encryption applies to header IEs and MAC
>                                                         ^^^^^^^^^^
> Header IEs are not encrypted, they are only authenticated. Payload IEs
> are encrypted and authenticated.
>
> Most of the TSCH IEs are Payload IEs (or actually a Nested IEs inside
> the MLME payload IE). These include TSCH Synchronization IE, TSCH
> Slotframe and Link IE, and TSCH Timeslot IE. Those IEs are encrypted.
>
> TSCH uses also one Header IE, i.e. Time Correction IE, and it is only
> authenticated.
>
> >    payload.  Key distribution is out of scope of this document, but
> >    examples include pre-configured keys at the nodes, shared keys among
> >    peers or well-known keys.  Refer to the 6TiSCH architecture document
> >    [I-D.ietf-6tisch-architecture] for further details on key
> >    distribution and advanced security aspects.
> >
> >    The present document assumes the existence of two cryptographic keys,
> >    which can be pre-configured.  One of the keys (K1) is used to
> >    authenticate EBs.  As defined in Section 4, EBs MUST be
> >    authenticated, with no payload encryption.  This facilitates logical
> >    segregation of distinct networks.  A second key (K2) is used to
> >    authenticate DATA, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, MAC COMMAND frame types and
> >    respective header IEs, with payload encryption.  Depending on
> >    security policy, these keys could be the same (i.e., K1=K2).
> >
> > The second paragraph is what Rene proposed and had consensus on the ML.
> In
> > red is my doubt that raises from the discussions during the WG meeting
> at the
> > IETF in Dallas. I think that someone was opposing to the text indicating
> > well-known keys.
>
> I think well-known keys will just make security weaker, and completely
> remove the security if K1=K2.
>
> Also if the K1 is well-known then it will NOT provide the "logical
> segregation of distinct networks".
>
> Also if K1 is well known, then EBs do not have any protection, i.e.
> anybody can generate fake EBs and mess up the network totally by
> giving completely wrong schedule for everybody. If the K1 is something
> that you get after you join the network, then you can verify that EBs
> are sent by someone who is part of the network, thus you can trust
> them bit more.
>
> Also if well-known K1 and EBs are used for time syncronization, i.e.
> keeping the ASN in sync after sleep, then nodes which wake up and
> whole do know the well-known K1 and private K2, cannot trust the ASN
> he gets from the EBs, as it might be faked, thus he cannot use K2 key
> before rejoining the network. Otherwise the attacker might roll ASN
> backwards during the sleep and cause the device to use same ASN twice
> (== same nonce twice == encryption provided by the K2 key would be
> broken).
> --
> [email protected]
>
_______________________________________________
6tisch mailing list
[email protected]
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/6tisch

Reply via email to