>    The SPI doesn't have the semantics.
> 
> => I disagree, the SPI has the semantics we'd like to give to it.

When reasonable key management protocols are in use, IPSEC SPI's are
pseudo-random, chosen by the receiver, and securely communicated to
the sender via the key management protocol.  

The use of random spi's is one of the defenses against off-path
denial-of-service attacks.. an off-path attacker forging source
addresses cannot easily guess a valid SPI, and so packets with invalid
SPI's can be quickly discarded without requiring any cryptographic
processing.

What semantics do you think you can impose on something like that?

                                        - Bill

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