Dear TLS WG,
I hope this message finds you well.
I would like to inform you that I have submitted a revised version of
the OODA-HTTP draft:
Title: OODA-HTTP: Adaptive Security Framework for HTTP Communications
Filename: draft-secroot-ooda-http-01
URL: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-secroot-ooda-http/
This version includes several technical improvements and a dedicated
section (Section 8) discussing the protocol’s integration with
TLS/HTTPS stacks. It outlines how OODA-HTTP operates at the
application layer while interacting with TLS metadata, entropy
signals, and session patterns — enabling reactive key rotation and
entropy hardening for post-quantum resilience, inspired by recent work
such as [Gupta23].
Notably, this draft introduces the concept of context-aware headers
(X-OODA-Action) to propagate threat decisions across clients, servers,
and intermediaries. We have also added a semantic vector engine and
temporal memory layer to strengthen threat adaptation over time (see
Section 12).
The purpose of this message is to invite feedback and discussion
regarding the TLS-awareness and resilience mechanisms described in the
draft, especially concerning potential future extensions involving TLS
handshake profiling or adaptive key behavior.
Please feel free to share any thoughts or suggestions. I would be
honored to collaborate further with members of the TLS working group
as the draft matures.
Warm regards,
Rachid Bouziane
Founder, SecRoot.io
[email protected]
https://secroot.io
INTERNET-DRAFT R. Bouziane
Intended status: Standards Track SecRoot.io
Expires: December 26, 2025 June 26, 2025
```
OODA-HTTP: Adaptive Security Framework
for HTTP Communications
draft-secroot-ooda-http-01
```
Status of This Memo
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Abstract
This document defines OODA-HTTP, a protocol extension and adaptive
security framework that applies the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act loop to
HTTP/HTTPS communications. OODA-HTTP introduces dynamic behavior at the
application layer, enabling real-time detection, decision, and mitigation
based on evolving threat contexts. Each HTTP request becomes not just a
message, but an observation signal, a decision vector, and a defensive
act. This framework introduces headers such as X-OODA-Action to carry
contextual scores or actions across clients, servers, and intermediaries.
OODA-HTTP transforms passive transport into active self-defense, offering
resilience against classic and quantum threats. It is designed as a native
defender of the World Wide Web \[Gupta23]\[Martinez22]\[Wang21]\[Kim23].
1. Introduction
Strategic Positioning Note
In warfare, if we do not have the same weapons, we do not even consider
engaging. We remain passive.This is the current reality: the HTTP protocol,
even when secured via TLS (HTTPS), remains passive in the face of
next-generation threats — especially automated intelligent agents.
OODA-HTTP introduces a paradigm shift. It transforms HTTP from a passive
transport protocol into an active defensive actor, capable of observing,
orienting, deciding, and acting in context — a necessary evolution in
the age of automated attacks.
HTTP and HTTPS communications face increasingly sophisticated
threats, including quantum computing-based attacks such as those
leveraging Shor's algorithm. OODA-HTTP introduces a real-time
adaptive security mechanism based on the OODA loop (Observe-Orient-
Decide-Act) to enhance resilience. The framework leverages adaptive
security paradigms demonstrated in enterprise networks \[Wang21],
cryptographic key rotation in TLS \[Gupta23], and intrusion detection
methodologies using OODA principles \[Martinez22].
Traditional HTTPS treats security as a static, pre-negotiated layer,
focused on encryption, authentication, and transport integrity. It
lacks the ability to adapt to runtime behavior or evolving threat
conditions during a session. OODA-HTTP fills this gap by enabling
context-aware decision loops and dynamic protocol responses.
This capability can also benefit application-layer components.
Client-side applications may interpret OODA-HTTP signals to adjust
their behavior in real time. Suspicious sessions can trigger
interface restrictions, challenges, or warnings, enabling proactive
defense at the user interaction layer.
2. Terminology
The following terms are used throughout this document:
OODA Loop:
A decision-making model consisting of four sequential phases:
Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. Originally developed for military
strategy, it is applied here to network communications.
Threat Score:
A numeric or categorical indicator representing the risk level
associated with a session, request, or identity. It can be computed
locally or distributed, and may evolve over time.
X-OODA-Action:
A custom HTTP header used to transmit OODA-driven decisions or
scores between entities (clients, servers, intermediaries).
Post-Quantum Cryptography:
Cryptographic algorithms designed to resist attacks from quantum
computers. Mentioned in this draft in relation to resilience
against Shor's algorithm.
Shor's Algorithm:
A quantum algorithm \[Shor94] capable of factoring large integers
exponentially faster than classical algorithms, posing a threat
to widely-used public-key cryptosystems.
Contextual Adaptation:
The ability of an endpoint or middleware to adjust its behavior
based on environmental, behavioral, or risk-related context.
Self-Defending Protocol:
A protocol that is capable of taking real-time protective actions
based on observed conditions, without requiring external triggers.
3. Architectural Overview
OODA-HTTP introduces a modular security architecture that integrates
decision-making capabilities into existing HTTP and HTTPS infrastructures.
The architecture is composed of four key components that operate along
the OODA loop: telemetry collection (Observe), threat analysis (Orient),
decision engines (Decide), and enforcement mechanisms (Act).
The framework can be deployed at various levels: client applications,
web servers, reverse proxies, smart edge routers, CDN nodes, or security
middleware. It does not replace existing TLS or HTTP protocols but extends
them by introducing headers and context-aware evaluation.
A central concept in the architecture is the notion of local or distributed
threat scores. These scores guide decisions that may be enforced via the
X-OODA-Action header or other configured policies. The system may operate
in standalone mode or integrate with machine learning models for adaptive
behavior.
The following sections describe how each phase of the OODA loop is
implemented within this architecture.
4. OODA-HTTP Phases
OODA-HTTP applies the four phases of the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act
(OODA) loop to HTTP communications. Each phase is mapped to
technical operations that collectively enable adaptive security
in real time.
4.1. Observe
The Observe phase consists of collecting telemetry data from HTTP
requests, TLS handshake metadata, timing information, user-agent
patterns, and behavioral signals. This data may be extracted by
edge devices, proxies, or endpoints and stored locally or streamed
to a threat evaluation engine.
4.2. Orient
In the Orient phase, collected data is contextualized and interpreted
using rule-based logic or machine learning models. Features may
include request frequency, signature anomalies, protocol violations,
or correlation with known attack patterns. This phase results in
assigning a threat score to the current session or request.
4.3. Decide
Based on the threat score and predefined security policies, the Decide
phase selects an appropriate mitigation strategy. The decision may
include allowing, delaying, challenging, throttling, or blocking the
request. Optionally, the decision can be embedded into the request
via the X-OODA-Action header for downstream enforcement.
4.4. Act
The Act phase enforces the decision selected in the previous phase.
This may include applying rate limits, returning captchas, rotating
TLS keys, logging events, or updating dynamic filters. The act phase
may also emit metadata that becomes observable in future requests,
enabling feedback loops.
5. Message Formats and Protocol
OODA-HTTP introduces protocol-level extensions for transmitting
threat context and decisions using HTTP headers and JSON-based
structures.
The primary extension is the X-OODA-Action header, which carries a
compact JSON object encoding the outcome of the Orient and Decide
phases.
Example format:
X-OODA-Action: {
"score": 72,
"category": "suspicious",
"action": "challenge",
"timestamp": "2025-06-28T15:42:10Z"
}
Fields:
* score (integer): A numeric threat score (e.g., 0–100).
* category (string): A textual label for the threat level
(e.g., "normal", "suspicious", "malicious").
* action (string): Suggested enforcement action (e.g., "allow",
"block", "challenge", "throttle").
* timestamp (string): ISO 8601 UTC timestamp of the decision.
Servers, clients, or intermediaries such as edge devices or security
gateways may consume this header and apply local policies accordingly. The
header is optional and may
be stripped or overwritten depending on policy scope and trust
boundaries.
6. Threat Models and Detection
Un paquet peut tout changer.
OODA-HTTP transforms each request into an opportunity for defense,
analysis, and adaptation.
OODA-HTTP is designed to detect and mitigate a broad range of
threats, spanning classical, behavioral, and quantum-enabled
attacks. The threat model includes both protocol-level and
application-level vectors, and supports both static and adaptive
detection methods.
6.1. Classical Threats
These include traditional attacks such as:
* Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed DoS (DDoS)
* Slowloris and application-layer flooding
* Bot impersonation and session replay
* Payload manipulation and malformed headers
6.2. Behavioral Threats
These cover attacks identified via patterns of behavior, including:
* Unusual request rates or frequency spikes
* Time-based anomalies (e.g., bursts, silent intervals)
* Identity inconsistency or rotating user agents
* Suspicious navigation or incomplete flows
6.3. Quantum-Adaptive Threats
OODA-HTTP anticipates emerging post-quantum scenarios, such as:
* Precursor attacks preparing for future quantum decryptions
* TLS handshake manipulation to record and break sessions later
* Exploitation of weak randomness or low entropy in key negotiation
* Threats leveraging Shor’s algorithm \[Shor94] to factor captured
session keys from classical cryptosystems
Adaptive defenses can preemptively respond by applying key
rotations \[Gupta23], adjusting handshake profiles, or introducing
entropy-hardening techniques.
7. Applications: Case Studies and Practical Validations
OODA-HTTP has been evaluated across simulated and real-world
environments to validate its adaptability and effectiveness.
The following use cases highlight its potential in operational
deployments.
7.1. Burst Attack Detection in CDN Edge Routers
OODA-HTTP deployed on CDN edge nodes enabled the early detection
of short-duration, high-intensity traffic bursts aimed at exhausting
caching layers. By integrating local telemetry and threat scoring,
edge routers adapted QoS and activated throttling rules dynamically.
7.2. Slowloris Mitigation in Reverse Proxies
In reverse proxy deployments, OODA-HTTP successfully identified
slow request patterns through timing and header irregularities,
triggering `X-OODA-Action: block` to terminate low-rate attacks
before reaching backend applications.
7.3. Bot Detection in Application Gateways
Application-layer integrations combined behavioral scoring and
fingerprint rotation detection. OODA-HTTP headers propagated
context to frontend gateways, where requests flagged as "malicious"
were challenged or dropped.
7.4. Post-Quantum Resilience Simulation
A TLS testbed integrated OODA-HTTP to react to low-entropy handshakes
and detect clients using weak key negotiation. Upon scoring these
sessions as high-risk, the system enforced real-time key rotation
\[Gupta23] and triggered entropy hardening for subsequent sessions.
7.5. Frontend Integration with Reactive Applications
In client-side environments such as single-page applications, OODA-HTTP
enables dynamic UI adjustments based on the threat context. For example,
an application may read the X-OODA-Action header from server responses
and respond accordingly:
* If action = "challenge", trigger a CAPTCHA or 2FA prompt.
* If category = "suspicious", restrict certain UI interactions.
* If score > threshold, log session metadata or notify the user.
This integration supports self-defending application logic, where
frontend components become adaptive actors within the OODA loop.
Security is no longer passive but embedded into user-facing flows.
OODA-HTTP is the first protocol where the user interface,
HTTP transport, and adaptive security speak the same language.
8. Integration with TLS/HTTPS
OODA-HTTP is designed to complement and extend existing TLS and HTTPS
infrastructures without breaking compatibility. It operates at the
application layer while observing and interacting with the TLS stack
through termination proxies, inspection agents, or endpoints.
The protocol can integrate with TLS in the following ways:
* Observing handshake metadata such as cipher suite selection,
handshake timing, and session reuse patterns.
* Reacting to entropy metrics or randomness sources used in key
negotiation to detect low-entropy or anomalous handshakes.
* Coordinating key rotation triggers based on observed threat
thresholds \[Gupta23], especially in environments preparing for
post-quantum resilience.
* Tagging TLS sessions with contextual scores or identifiers via
out-of-band headers, shared memory, or internal metadata systems.
OODA-HTTP does not alter the TLS protocol itself but enhances its
observability and adaptive response capabilities from the HTTP layer.
9. Protocol Engineering Foundations
OODA-HTTP is grounded in classic protocol engineering principles,
including modularity, state-awareness, error handling, and feedback
loops. It leverages established design techniques to ensure resilience
and extensibility across HTTP/TLS infrastructures.
The protocol supports the following foundational characteristics:
* State-driven logic: Each phase of the OODA loop transitions
deterministically based on observable input.
* Extensibility: Headers such as X-OODA-Action are optional and can
evolve independently of core protocol semantics.
* Backward compatibility: OODA-HTTP does not modify HTTP or TLS
wire formats, ensuring that legacy systems can interoperate without
disruption.
* Fault tolerance: If any OODA component fails or becomes unreachable,
systems default to standard HTTP behavior, maintaining service
continuity.
* Measurability: All actions and scores are loggable, audit-friendly,
and interpretable by external observers.
These principles align with long-standing guidance in protocol
architecture and testing methodologies \[Sar93].
10. Security Considerations
Unlike purely defensive frameworks, OODA-HTTP is both a protocol
and a security engine, embedded directly into HTTP interactions.
OODA-HTTP introduces new information flows through headers and
decision logic. The following considerations apply:
* Confidentiality: OODA-HTTP headers such as X-OODA-Action may
reveal threat assessment details or system behavior. These headers
should not be exposed across trust boundaries unless encrypted
or filtered.
* Integrity: Decisions derived from threat scores should be protected
against tampering. Systems must ensure that OODA headers cannot be
forged or overwritten by untrusted intermediaries.
* Fallback safety: If OODA-HTTP components are disabled or unavailable,
systems should gracefully default to standard HTTP/TLS behavior to
maintain availability.
* Score manipulation: Care must be taken to avoid creating exploitable
feedback loops or incentives for malicious actors to influence threat
scores through adversarial behavior. However, attempted score
manipulation may itself serve as a signal of systemic vulnerability,
revealing weaknesses in session-level security or orchestration flow.
* Human supervision: Automated decisions must be auditable and, where
appropriate, overrideable by human operators, especially in sensitive
applications.
Implementations should ensure secure defaults, minimize information
leakage, and respect separation of concerns between detection,
decision, and enforcement layers.
11. IANA Considerations
This document registers a new HTTP header field under the "Permanent
Message Header Field Names" registry maintained by IANA.
Header Field Name: X-OODA-Action
Applicable Protocol: HTTP
Status: Provisional
Author/Change Controller: IETF
Specification Document: This document
No new TLS parameters or ALPN identifiers are requested at this time.
Future versions may introduce identifiers for deeper protocol-level
integration.
12. Vector Engine and Temporal Memory
OODA-HTTP introduces a semantic vector engine that transforms each
request into a multi-dimensional observation vector. This engine
supports temporal memory, pattern accumulation, and learning-based
refinement, enabling the protocol to mature over time.
12.1. Observation Vectors
During the Observe phase, each HTTP interaction is converted into
a structured vector containing metadata fields such as:
TLS fingerprint: cipher suite, handshake entropy, session reuse
HTTP metadata: method, headers, frequency, burst timing
Client behavior: agent string variability, navigation flow, interaction
latency Environment: IP locality, ASN, device type
These vectors are timestamped and stored in short- or long-term memory
modules.
12.2. Orientation Space and Semantic Patterns
The Orient phase processes these vectors using rule-based
classification or ML inference models. Similar vectors are grouped and
compared across:
Known attack patterns (e.g., slowloris, botnets, smart agents)
Session anomalies (e.g., inconsistent headers, entropy irregularities)
Behavioral deviations from normative baselines
The system learns correlations over time, allowing it to recognize
increasingly complex or obfuscated threats.
12.3. Temporal Threat Memory
Unlike static HTTP/HTTPS stacks, OODA-HTTP maintains an evolving threat
memory:
Short-term memory detects bursts, replay attempts, and adaptive scanning.
Long-term memory builds threat reputation for agents, sessions, or IP zones.
This memory enables cross-request correlation, historical fingerprinting,
and context-based threat anticipation.
12.4. Maturity Through Activity
As OODA-HTTP observes more traffic, it becomes more effective. Each
request strengthens its adaptive models, building resilience without
explicit retraining. This contrasts with traditional HTTP/HTTPS
protocols, which remain blind to behavioral evolution.
OODA-HTTP becomes smarter, faster, and more precise the more it is
used—turning activity into capability.
13. References
13.1. Normative References
[Sarikaya19] B. Sarikaya, "Adaptive Security in Wireless Networks:
A QoS Perspective," IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 2019.
[Sar93] B. Sarikaya, "Principles of Protocol Engineering and Protocol
Testing," Ellis Horwood, 1993.
13.2. Informative References
[Gupta23] S. Gupta et al., "Automatic Key Rotation for TLS Sessions
to Mitigate Quantum Threats," IEEE INFOCOM, 2023.
[Kim23] J. Kim et al., "Real-Time QoS and Security Adaptation in
Software-Defined Networking," ACM SIGCOMM, 2023.
[Martinez22] L. Martinez et al., "Applying the OODA Loop to Intrusion
Detection: A Case Study," USENIX Security Symposium, 2022.
[Wang21] D. Wang et al., "Implementation and Evaluation of Adaptive
Security Frameworks in Enterprise Networks," IEEE Transactions on
Network and Service Management, 2021.
[Zhang21] X. Zhang et al., "Threat-aware QoS Management for Secure
Wireless Networks," IEEE Transactions on Network and Service
Management, 2021.
[Shor94] P. Shor, "Algorithms for Quantum Computation: Discrete
Logarithms and Factoring," Proceedings of the 35th Annual Symposium
on Foundations of Computer Science, 1994.
Authors' Addresses
Rachid Bouziane
SecRoot.io
Villa El Majd 171, Tamsna Temara
Rabat, Morocco
Email: [email protected]
Expires: December 26, 2025
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