Additionally, the I got a failed delivery notice (User Unknow) for David 
Miles's address.

On Feb 6, 2012, at 5:17 PM, Ben Campbell wrote:

> I am the assigned Gen-ART reviewer for this draft. For background on Gen-ART, 
> please see the FAQ at 
> <http://wiki.tools.ietf.org/area/gen/trac/wiki/GenArtfaq>.
> 
> Please resolve these comments along with any other Last Call comments you may 
> receive.
> 
> Document: draft-ietf-dhc-forcerenew-nonce-03
> Reviewer: Ben Campbell
> Review Date: 2012-02-06
> IETF LC End Date: 2012-02-06
> 
> Summary:This draft is not quite ready for publication as a proposed standard. 
> There are some potentially significant issues that should be addressed first.
> 
> [Note: Hopefully this draft has had or will have a SecDir review, since it 
> seems ripe for significant security implications.]
> 
> 
> *** Major issues:
> 
> -- I admit to not being a DHCP expert, but If I understand this draft 
> correctly, it proposes to send what is effectively a secret-key in a DHCPACK 
> request, then use that key to authenticate a force renew message. It seems 
> like any eavesdropper could sniff that key, and use it to spoof force renew 
> requests. The introduction mentions that there may be some environments where 
> the use of RFC3118 authentication could be relaxed, and offers an example of 
> such an environment. But nowhere does this draft appear to be limited in 
> scope to such environments. 
> 
> I think some additional text in (perhaps in the security considerations) is 
> needed to explain either why the vulnerability to eavesdroppers is either 
> okay in general, or limits the mechanism's use to environment where it is 
> okay. It also seems like that, in the best case, this mechanism proves only 
> that a Forcerenew request comes from the same DHCP server as in the original 
> transaction, but otherwise does not prove anything about the identity of that 
> server. If so, it would be worth mentioning it.
> 
> -- The mechanism appears to be limited to HMAC-MD5, and there does not appear 
> to be any way of selecting other algorithms. Is HMAC-MD5 really sufficient as 
> the only choice? Is there some expectation that stronger mechanisms or 
> algorithm extensibility would be too expensive? (Perhaps the extensibility 
> method would be to specify another mechanism that's identical except for a 
> different HMAC algorithm. But if that's the intent it should be mentioned.)
> 
> *** Minor issues:
> 
> -- Section 1 " 
> In such environments the mandatory coupling between FORCERENEW and DHCP 
> Authentication [RFC3118] can be relaxed."
> 
> It's not clear to me what connection that assertion has with this draft. Is 
> there an intent that the proposed mechanisms be used only in such 
> environments? I don't find any language scoping this proposal to any 
> particular environment.
> 
> -- section 3:
> 
> Does this draft update either 3203 or 3118? If so, please state that 
> explicitly in the abstract, introduction, and draft headers. (I think it must 
> at least update 3203, since that draft requires the use of 3118, and this 
> draft relaxes that.)
> 
> -- section 3.1, last paragraph: "...only if the client and server are not 
> using any other authentication..."
> 
> That seems to conflict with the statement in section 3 that this mechanism is 
> only used if RFC3118 is not used. That is, it's not a choice between this 
> mechanism or any other mechanism, it's a choice between this mechanism or 
> 3118.
> 
> -- section 3.1.3, 2nd paragraph: "The server SHOULD NOT include this option 
> unless the client has indicated its capability in a DHCP Discovery message."
> 
> Why not; what harm would it do? And on the other hand, if you want to 
> discourage it, why not go all the way to "MUST NOT"?
> 
> -- section 3.1.3, 5th paragraph: "...  computes an HMAC-MD5 of the Forcerenew 
> message using the Forcerenew nonce …"
> 
> Using it how? Is it the secret key for the HMAC calculation? (If so, why 
> aren't we calling it a "key" in the first place?)
> 
> -- section 3.1.4, 1st paragraph: "DHCP servers that support Forcerenew nonce 
> Protocol authentication MUST include the DHCP Forcerenew Nonce protocol 
> authentication option…"
> 
> Only if the client advertised it, right? Otherwise, this seems to conflict 
> with the previous SHOULD NOT.
> 
> -- section 3.1.4, 4th paragraph: "…  
> the client computes an HMAC-MD5 over the DHCP Forcerenew message, using the 
> Forcerenew Nonce …"
> 
> Using it how?
> 
> -- section 6:
> 
> You mention this mechanism is vulnerable to MiTM attacks. Why is this okay? 
> Are there some environments where it is good enough and others where it is 
> not? (Also, do they really need to be MitM attackers? Seems like any 
> eavesdropper could learn the nonce.)
> 
> *** Nits/editorial comments:
> 
> -- Abstract, second sentence:
> 
> I have trouble parsing this sentence. Are the propositions correct?
> 
> -- Section 3.1.1,4th paragraph: "… configured to require …"
> 
> Do you mean configured to "require", or configured to "use"? I would normally 
> take "requires" to mean that the server would not work with clients that 
> don't advertise support for the mechanism.
> 
> -- section 3.1.1, message flow diagram:
> 
> It would be helpful if you could avoid widowing the top of the diagram. One 
> has to keep flipping back to see the labels.
> 
> -- section 3.1.3, 5th paragraph: 
> 
> Please expand "RDM"
> 
> -- section 3.1.4, first paragraph: "The client MUST…"
> 
> A client that supports this mechanism MUST…
> 
> -- section 3.1.4, 2nd and third paragraph, 1st sentence of each:
> 
> I'm confused by this sentence of each paragraph. Are they intended as 
> conditionals for the rest of the respective paragraph?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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