Hello Malisa,

just another little consideration.

In the case we would still consider PSK + COSE for handling the join
procedure at the application layer, can we introduce a pre-join phase
between JN and JA, useful for  authenticating JN locally ?

It can be done by 6top, for example.

Some possibilities may exist.

- JN sends a certificate. JA knowns that CA and verifies the
certificate. Then JA assists JN in the join process.
- JN sends a certificate. JA does not known that CA and it cannot
verify the certificate. JA may be configured for running different
behaviors (i.e., accept the request and postpone the authentication to
the JCE; discard the join request, ... other ? )
- JN does not have a certificate. JA may follow the same decisions as
in the previous point.
- other ?

Hence, we may have join procedure at the application layer (COSE) and
a pre-join process at the MAC/6top layer.

Does it make sense ?

Giuseppe




On Fri, Sep 11, 2015 at 2:28 PM, Giuseppe Piro <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello Malisa,
>
> The traffic load generated during the join process could be an
> important aspect to consider. Thanks for the mail.
>
> However, if you use only PSK + COSE, you are imposing that a message
> received by the JA must be forwarded towards the JCE.  Is the network
> vulnerable against DoS and DDoS attacks (same comment discussed during
> the last phone conf) ?
>
> Please, have a look to the following examples.
>
>
> If you have a legitimate JN, the exchange of messages is simple:
>
>          legitimate JN ---(1)--> JA ---(2)--> X ---(2) --> JCE
>
>          legitimate JN <---(4)-- JA <---(3)-- X <---(3) -- JCE
>
> where
> X is a generic intermediate node (we have a multihop network)
> (1) join request message containing COSE object and processed at the
> MAC layer through K1
> (2) join request message forwarded by JA or intermediate node X
> towards JCE. It can be protected at the MAC layer through network-wide
> keys or unicast layer-2 keys.
> (3) join response message forwarded by JCE or intermediate node X
> towards JN. It can be protected at the MAC layer through network-wide
> keys or unicast layer-2 keys. It contains network-wide keys or any
> other key materials (in a COSE object, I guess)
> (4) join response message sent by JA to JN. It is processed at the mac
> layer through K1. It contains network-wide keys or any other key
> materials (in a COSE object, I guess)
>
>
> If you have a malicious JN (or more malicious JNs), the exchange of
> messages could be:
>
>          malicious JN ---(1)--> JA ---(2)--> X ---(2) --> JCE
>
>          malicious JN              JA <---(3)-- X <---(3) -- JCE
>
> where
> (1) malicious join request message containing malicious COSE object
> and processed at the MAC layer through K1
> (2) malicious join request message forwarded by JA or intermediate
> node X towards JCE. It can be protected at the MAC layer through
> network-wide keys or unicast layer-2 keys.
>
> --- in the middle time JCE verifies that the request is not legitimate
> and stores somethings in its database and announces this to the JA ---
>
> (3) join response message forwarded by JCE to _only_ JA. It can be
> protected at the MAC layer through network-wide keys or unicast
> layer-2 keys. IMPORTANT: It contains details about the fail of the
> join process.
>
> -- details stored in (3) are used by JA for avoid to accept any other
> packets from that malicious JN ---
>
>
> Now, what happens if you have many malicious JNs ? What happens if JS
> moves and try to join from different JAs ?  Therefore, PSK +COSE
> reduces the number of messages... but makes the network vulnerable
> against DoS and DDoS.
>
>
> Does it make sense ?  What do you think ? How do you suggest to handle
> this aspect ?  Probably I did not understand well what you have in
> mind... so, please, clarify this aspect.
>
>
> All the best,
> Giuseppe
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 11, 2015 at 1:05 PM, Malisa Vucinic <[email protected]> 
> wrote:
>> It seems that this would trigger the exchange of:
>>
>> (1) 6 packets between JN and JA,
>> (2) 4 packets between JA and JCE on a multi hop path.
>>
>> Communication of (1) happens in the shared slot so collisions are likely.
>> Communication of (2) happens over multiple hops so it affects the network.
>>
>> I am skeptical how this would look like in terms of delay for the initial
>> formation of a large network and in your example bellow JA learns that JN is
>> valid only in step (6) at the end of the exchange, when 4 packets have
>> already traversed the whole network. In that sense, I don’t see any benefit
>> from JA there, except that we can get rid of one packet, EAP identity
>> request… Am I missing something?
>>
>> What do we loose in terms of security if JN simply uses its PSK to generate
>> a MAC protected COSE object that can fit in one radio frame that JA forwards
>> to JCE? We said that we can protect from replay either using ASN or a
>> monotonic counter local to JN. In that case, it would suffice that JCE
>> verifies the object and creates a new one that JN can accept, encapsulating
>> whatever domain-specific keys are necessary…
>>
>> This would result in:
>>
>> (1) 2 packets between JN and JA,
>> (2) 2 packets between JA and JCE on a multi hop path.
>>
>> This roughly reduces the latency by a factor of 3 for the most critical
>> stochastic part, and by a factor of 2 for the deterministic part…
>> I realize that we are not doing challenge-response there but I am not clear
>> what do we really loose since JCE takes care of replay protection from a
>> rogue JN, and JN can make sure that it does not use the PSK with the same IV
>> more than once?
>
> --
> Giuseppe Piro, PhD
> Post Doc Researcher
> DEI, Politecnico di Bari
> via Orabona 4 - 70125 (Bari), Italy.
> email: [email protected]
> phone: +39 080 5963301
> web: giuseppepiro.com



-- 
Giuseppe Piro, PhD
Post Doc Researcher
DEI, Politecnico di Bari
via Orabona 4 - 70125 (Bari), Italy.
email: [email protected]
phone: +39 080 5963301
web: telematics.poliba.it/piro

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