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Re: [Int-dir] Review of draft-ietf-dhc-relay-server-security-02

2017-01-26 12:26:17
Bernie, Tomek,


On Jan 26, 2017, at 5:38 AM, Bernie Volz (volz) <volz(_at_)cisco(_dot_)com> 
wrote:

Hi:
 
Thanks for the review Jouni (as Int-Dir coordinator and document coauthor).
 
Regarding the main issue and to extend Tomek’s comment …
 
We actually have used this text, but without the MUST, in 3315bis (the 
updated version has not been published as the coauthors are still working 
through the remaining open issues from the approximately 300 that we captured 
during the 3315bis WGLC back in August). We do expect to publish an updated 
version before the IETF-98 deadline (hopefully with all issues addressed, but 
we’ll see).
 
And, as Tomek explained, this idea here was to make this an OPTIONAL feature 
that vendors could implement (much like any new DHCP option) – but if we left 
the text as a SHOULD or similar, vendors could claim they supported it 
without actually implementing it. Thus, this document has a MUST. And, it 
does not update – but rather extends – 3315 and 1542.

Hmm.. I really do not like specification “games” like this. If you cannot 
justify a MUST into RFC3315bis, then trying to circumvent the fact in another 
document (that does not update the RFC3315 or RFC3315bis) should not be a 
Standards Track document. I could accept this as a BCP or a like.

- Jouni

 o I would separate the new recommendation text for DHCPv4 and DHCPv6
into their own respective section. Having just a one-liner statement
"also applies to DHCPv4 [RFC1542].." is kind of confusing in a middle
of very DHCPv6 specific text. I recon the DHCPv4 section would be
short, but definitely more clear in that way.
 
BV> I’ll discuss this with Yogendra … I think we can just make this clearer 
by either breaking out this applicability text for v4/v6 into separate 
paragraphs. I don’t think there really should be a need to duplicate the main 
material – i.e., have separate sections which basically would be the same 
text on the IPsec items.
 
o Although it should be obvious, but I would explicitly point it out
in the Security Considerations that the security model here is
hop-by-hop. If there are multiple relays then there will be multiple
IPsec tunnels as well.
 
BV> Sure, we can add that.
 
o Section 14:  s/section 14,/Section 14,
 
BV> OK, thanks for catching that.
 
Again, thanks.
 
-          Bernie
 
From: Tomek Mrugalski [mailto:tomasz(_dot_)mrugalski(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2017 5:24 AM
To: Jouni Korhonen <jounikor(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>; 
int-dir(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
Cc: dhcwg(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org; ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org; 
draft-ietf-dhc-relay-server-security(_dot_)all(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
Subject: Re: Review of draft-ietf-dhc-relay-server-security-02
 
W dniu 26.01.2017 o 07:45, Jouni Korhonen pisze:
Reviewer: Jouni Korhonen
Review result: Not Ready
 
Disclaimer: I have not followed recent DHC discussions to the extent
that the existence this document was new to me.
 
Issues:
 
My issues with the document are the following. First, it actually
updates a great deal of RFC3315 (Section 21.1) while there is
RFC3315bis in progress. Why the DHCPv6 part of this document is not
directly contributed to RFC3315bis work? There's even author overlap
so there must be a good reason. Second, if there is a reason to keep
the content of this document separate from RFC3315 body of work, at
least this specification should then target to update RFC3315bis and
not RFC3315.
Hi Jouni,
First of all, thanks for doing the review.

I will leave it up to the authors to provide further details on this, but 
with my shepherd hat on, let me explain that this omission was made on 
purpose. The decision was made to not update 3315 and not bundle this into 
3315bis on purpose. If we did that, then every DHCP server would HAVE to 
support IPSec. This would make implementation, certification and deployment 
much more complex and this is something we wanted to avoid. With the current 
approach, operators can be specific whether they need relay server security 
(by requiring their vendors to support both 3315 and this document) or not 
(just 3315).

This is also explained in the write-up:
(16) Will publication of this document change the status of any
existing RFCs? Are those RFCs listed on the title page header, listed
in the abstract, and discussed in the introduction? If the RFCs are not
listed in the Abstract and Introduction, explain why, and point to the
part of the document where the relationship of this document to the
other RFCs is discussed. If this information is not in the document,
explain why the WG considers it unnecessary.
 
  No. Even though this I-D introduces changes to RFC3315, the WG doesn't
  want to enforce IPsec encryption on every DHCPv6 server. Therefore
  it does not update RFC3315.


Also, I'd like to clarify that 3315bis is not a wildcard that bundles every 
RFC related to DHCPv6 ever published. This document is 133 pages long and 
that size causes difficulties moving the work forward. We're thinking what 
are the things we can take out of it, rather what else we could add. The 
previous argument still stands here. We want to have the core spec and an 
additional RFC that people can point to when they require secure server-relay 
communication.

If that explanation is not acceptable for you, how do you propose to 
structure the text and possibly add updates 2131/3315 to achieve the goal or 
being a non-mandatory feature?

I'll let the authors comment on the nits.

Again, thanks for the review. It's good to receive one that shakes things up 
a bit once in a while :)
Tomek

Other smaller nits:
 
o This document updates both RFC3315(bis) and RFC1542. Those are not
reflected in the document title page and abstract. 
 
o I would separate the new recommendation text for DHCPv4 and DHCPv6
into their own respective section. Having just a one-liner statement
"also applies to DHCPv4 [RFC1542].." is kind of confusing in a middle
of very DHCPv6 specific text. I recon the DHCPv4 section would be
short, but definitely more clear in that way.
 
o Although it should be obvious, but I would explicitly point it out
in the Security Considerations that the security model here is
hop-by-hop. If there are multiple relays then there will be multiple
IPsec tunnels as well.
 
o Section 14:  s/section 14,/Section 14,
 
o 
 
 

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