Apart from reserving the right to touch up the English, I
have no trouble with Pekka's proposed additions.

But what more is needed about ingress filtering? That seems
to me to be a generic issue, with very little specificity
to flow label attacks.

Thanks
   Brian

Pekka Savola wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Following up from the last call and the issues I raised, I'll try to
> propose something to start with to make the security considerations more
> in line with certain imporant issues.
> 
> Note: I'm assuming that the sentence:
> 
>    A source node MUST ensure that it does not reuse Flow Label values it
>    is currently using or has recently used when creating new flows.
> 
> will be changed, at least to "unintentionally reuse".
> 
> Now, to the security considerations.
> 
> 5.1  Theft and Denial of Service
> 
>    The goal of the Flow Label is to allow different levels of service to
>    be provided for traffic streams on a common network infrastructure. A
>    variety of techniques may be used to achieve this, but the end result
>    will be that some packets receive different (e.g., better or worse)
>    service than others. The mapping of network traffic to the flow-
>    specific treatment is triggered by the IP addresses and Flow Label
>    value of the IPv6 header, and hence an adversary may be able to
>    obtain better service by modifying the IPv6 header or by injecting
>    packets with false addresses and labels. Taken to its limits, such
>                                 ^^^
> 
> ==> false addresses _or_ labels.
> 
>    theft-of-service becomes a denial-of-service attack when the modified
>    or injected traffic depletes the resources available to forward it
>    and other traffic streams.
> 
> ==> after this, add a new paragraph:
> 
>    Note that there is no guarantee that flow labels used in a node are
>    not used in any manner the node wants to, even reusing flow labels.
>    This is a feature: as nodes are typically untrusted, it cannot be
>    assumed that they would in fact implement or adhere to any restrictions
>    if such would be set -- and therefore any assumptions made by the
>    network on nodes' behaviour should be very limited except in
>    cases where the nodes are explicitly trusted.
> 
> ==> and after the "Since flows.." paragraph, add paragraphs:
> 
>    There are two issues with different properties:
>    spoofing of only Flow Label, and spoofing of the whole 3-tuple,
>    including Source and Destination Address.
> 
>    The former can be done inside a node which is using the correct source
>    address.  Being able to spoof Flow Label typically requires being in
>    position to also forge an address -- but in many cases, spoofing the
>    address may not be the interesting, especially if the spoofer's goal
>    is theft of service, not denial of service.
> 
>    The latter can be done by a host which is not subject to ingress
>    filtering [INGR] or an intermediate router.  Due to its properties,
>    such is typically useful only for denial of service.
> 
> ==> TODO: consider whether changes are needed (on ingress filtering) in
> the second-last paragraph.
> 
> Perhaps this should get one started.
> 
> --
> Pekka Savola                 "You each name yourselves king, yet the
> Netcore Oy                    kingdom bleeds."
> Systems. Networks. Security. -- George R.R. Martin: A Clash of Kings
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