Sorry I'm late to this thread.

On Thu, Nov 10, 2022 at 4:42 AM Scott Kitterman <[email protected]>
wrote:

> I agree that we don't want too much detail in the charter about the
> technical
> nature of the problem, but I would like to understand it in more detail in
> order to better assess the appropriateness of what is there.
>
> If a domain is signing spam and their reputation suffers as a result,
> isn't
> that the system working as designed?
>
> I would like to understand what is the technical characteristic of these
> messages that is distinct from the non-bad ones.  As far as I can tell
> (and
> this isn't the first time I've run across these discussions), there isn't
> one.
> If that's the case, then I don't think there's an actual technical
> solution to
> this problem.
>

The slides
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/115/materials/slides-115-dispatch-dkim-replay-problem-and-possible-solutions>
at Dispatch and the problem statement draft
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-chuang-dkim-replay-problem/> help
describe the DKIM replay problem.

There are some things that we could target at a technical level.  We
probably would look for characteristics in the typical attack flow i.e.
After having a spammy message signed, the spammer typically copies a
message from the inbox, and then broadcasts it with a high degree of
amplification.  We could look for

   - Messages that are sent to recipients that are not intended by the
   original sender or the forwarder
   - Messages may be viewed as traversing a path defined by the original
   sender and forwarder.   Messages taken from that intended path could be
   replay
   - A variation is: messages that are taken from the inbox and then resent
   - Count the signatures seen and filter by count

Once work is chartered in the IETF, it tends to get a certain momentum
> toward
> producing a result.  Before agreeing that we have a charter to solve a
> problem, I'd like to understand we have a problem that can be solved, even
> though that requires a bit of discussion at a more detailed level than
> what
> eventually goes in the charter.
>
> Leaving aside algorithms and processes for a moment, could someone
> describe
> how an technically proficient human would examine one of these messages
> and
> determine they are "bad"?
>

What I've seen is that the Received header shows the delivery of the
message to the initial recipient, followed by a new set of Received headers
that shows that the message has been resent.  Sometimes the spammer leaves
behind other clues like duplicate headers like multiple Date, Message-id or
Subject headers.

-Wei


> I'll think about what else needs to be there from a compatibility
> perspective.
> I need to re-read the drafts and think about it first.
>
> Scott K
>
> On Thursday, November 10, 2022 5:35:08 AM EST Barry Leiba wrote:
> > We could add a sentence or two that says we’re seeing increasing spam
> > campaigns that use DKIM replay to get their spam sent out, taking
> advantage
> > of — and subsequently damaging — the reputation of the domain that signed
> > the original message.  Do you think that would be useful?
> >
> > More detail than that doesn’t belong in the charter.  I would expect to
> put
> > more detail in the Introduction section of the document we come up with.
> >
> > The “compatibility” part of the charter, and the discussions of what the
> > ultimate solution will be, will be what handles the “not breaking email
> > architecture” and minimizing damage to legitimate email flows.  I don’t
> > think more of that detail needs to be in the charter either, but if you
> > disagree please suggest specific text you’d like to see.
> >
> > Barry
> >
> > On Wed, Nov 9, 2022 at 7:56 PM Scott Kitterman <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> > > I think having a precised understanding of the problem that the
> charter is
> > > meant to address is important.  I am having a hard time finding a
> > > technical
> > > distinction between a "replay attack" and the, by design, nature of
> DKIM's
> > > independence from transport details.
> > >
> > > I have not read all the drafts, but the ones I have looked at seem to
> want
> > > to
> > > tie some aspect of a DKIM signature to something in the envelope.  I
> think
> > > that would be a 5321/5322 layering violation that would make such
> > > proposals
> > > difficult for protocol based systems to implement.
> > >
> > > I think there needs to be something about not breaking the
> architecture of
> > > email in the charter based on what I've read so far, but I don't think
> I
> > > have
> > > a fine enough understanding of the problem yet to propose words.
> > >
> > > Understanding and bounding the problem is, I think, an essential
> > > prerequisite
> > > to the charter.  We've seen efforts fail before due to a lack of
> consensus
> > > on
> > > the exact problem (DBOUND comes immediately to mind).
> > >
> > > Even if there's no report, I think we should make sure we understand
> the
> > > problem first.
> > >
> > > Would someone who's pushing for a solution please describe what's being
> > > done
> > > that's technically distinguishable from something like traditional
> email
> > > forwarding (e.g. using may alumni.example.edu address and then
> > > alumni.example.edu forwards it to my current "real" address).  By
> design,
> > > DKIM
> > > has no problem with this behavior, so I'd like to understand how to
> > > distinguish good from bad in this space.
> > >
> > > Scott K
> > >
> > > On Wednesday, November 9, 2022 12:43:35 PM EST Barry Leiba wrote:
> > > > Is this relevant to the charter?  Do you doubt the attacks
> > > > sufficiently that you would want to object to chartering a working
> > > > group to address the issue?
> > > >
> > > > Barry
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Nov 9, 2022 at 4:54 PM Alessandro Vesely <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> > > > > On Wed 09/Nov/2022 13:08:15 +0100 Barry Leiba wrote:
> > > > > > [...]
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Current proposals include the following drafts:
> > > > > >   - draft-bradshaw-envelope-validation-extension-dkim
> > > > > >   - draft-chuang-replay-resistant-arc
> > > > > >   - draft-gondwana-email-mailpath
> > > > > >   - draft-kucherawy-dkim-anti-replay
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The working group will start by considering those proposals;
> other
> > > > > > proposals remain welcome.
> > > > >
> > > > > Isn't there a report on relevant replay attacks?  All the above I-D
> > > > > say
> > > > > that replay attacks are a problem.  Bron adds that the attack was
> > >
> > > widely
> > >
> > > > > seen in early 2022.  However, there's not a panoramic view of the
> > > > > problem, mentioning volume, scope, targets and such.
> > > > >
> > > > > I know replay attacks are possible, but I never saw one.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Best
> > > > > Ale
> > > > > --
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
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> > > >
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> > >
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>
>
>
>
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