ietf-dkim
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Re: [ietf-dkim] Re: New Issue: TLD key publication and signing

2006-02-20 00:33:05
Stephen Farrell wrote:

  I remember talking about this a long time ago with Jim as a potential
  attack. While it remains so, a TLD operator can even more easily
  change your NS records too. So, really, the integrity of the DNS is
  hinged on TLD operators not doing such evil things. As such, I don't
  think DKIM's vulnerability is any greater than, say, the NS record
  for bankofamerica.com, right?

I think that that's correct. But this is a different threat, so we
should note it at least.
Agreed.

If the problem were limited to TLDs, then we would be able to simply say
that the d= in a signature MUST NOT be a TLD.  But the problem isn't
just TLDs, but any parent domain, e.g., co.uk, ca.us, k12.ca.us, etc.

In response to some other comments, this isn't a DNS vulnerability.  DNS
could be perfectly secure and we would have this problem; it derives
from the fact that DKIM allows parent domains to sign for their
children.  So it belongs in the DKIM threats document.

I would probably rate it as a high impact (affects entire domains) but
low likelihood (one has to be the owner of a higher-level domain, and
most of them can probably be trusted not to do this) threat.

-Jim
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