3 IPSECKEY WG M. Richardson
5 Expires: March 4, 2004 September 4, 2003
8 A method for storing IPsec keying material in DNS.
9 draft-ietf-ipseckey-rr-07.txt
13 This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
14 all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
16 Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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32 This Internet-Draft will expire on March 4, 2004.
36 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
40 This document describes a new resource record for DNS. This record
41 may be used to store public keys for use in IPsec systems.
43 This record replaces the functionality of the sub-type #1 of the KEY
44 Resource Record, which has been obsoleted by RFC3445.
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62 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
63 1.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
64 1.2 Usage Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
65 2. Storage formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
66 2.1 IPSECKEY RDATA format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
67 2.2 RDATA format - precedence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
68 2.3 RDATA format - algorithm type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
69 2.4 RDATA format - gateway type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
70 2.5 RDATA format - gateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
71 2.6 RDATA format - public keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
72 3. Presentation formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
73 3.1 Representation of IPSECKEY RRs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
74 3.2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
75 4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
76 4.1 Active attacks against unsecured IPSECKEY resource records . . 9
77 5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
78 6. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
79 Normative references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
80 Non-normative references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
81 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
82 Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
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118 The type number for the IPSECKEY RR is TBD.
122 The IPSECKEY resource record (RR) is used to publish a public key
123 that is to be associated with a Domain Name System (DNS) name for use
124 with the IPsec protocol suite. This can be the public key of a
125 host, network, or application (in the case of per-port keying).
127 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
128 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
129 document are to be interpreted as described in RFC2119 [8].
133 An IPSECKEY resource record SHOULD be used in combination with DNSSEC
134 unless some other means of authenticating the IPSECKEY resource
137 It is expected that there will often be multiple IPSECKEY resource
138 records at the same name. This will be due to the presence of
139 multiple gateways and the need to rollover keys.
141 This resource record is class independent.
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174 2.1 IPSECKEY RDATA format
176 The RDATA for an IPSECKEY RR consists of a precedence value, a public
177 key, algorithm type, and an optional gateway address.
180 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
181 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
182 | precedence | gateway type | algorithm | gateway |
183 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-------------+ +
185 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
189 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
192 2.2 RDATA format - precedence
194 This is an 8-bit precedence for this record. This is interpreted in
195 the same way as the PREFERENCE field described in section 3.3.9 of
198 Gateways listed in IPSECKEY records with lower precedence are to be
199 attempted first. Where there is a tie in precedence, the order
200 should be non-deterministic.
202 2.3 RDATA format - algorithm type
204 The algorithm type field identifies the public key's cryptographic
205 algorithm and determines the format of the public key field.
207 A value of 0 indicates that no key is present.
209 The following values are defined:
211 1 A DSA key is present, in the format defined in RFC2536 [11]
213 2 A RSA key is present, in the format defined in RFC3110 [12]
216 2.4 RDATA format - gateway type
218 The gateway type field indicates the format of the information that
219 is stored in the gateway field.
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228 The following values are defined:
230 0 No gateway is present
232 1 A 4-byte IPv4 address is present
234 2 A 16-byte IPv6 address is present
236 3 A wire-encoded domain name is present. The wire-encoded format is
237 self-describing, so the length is implicit. The domain name MUST
241 2.5 RDATA format - gateway
243 The gateway field indicates a gateway to which an IPsec tunnel may be
244 created in order to reach the entity named by this resource record.
246 There are three formats:
248 A 32-bit IPv4 address is present in the gateway field. The data
249 portion is an IPv4 address as described in section 3.4.1 of RFC1035
250 [2]. This is a 32-bit number in network byte order.
252 A 128-bit IPv6 address is present in the gateway field. The data
253 portion is an IPv6 address as described in section 2.2 of RFC1886
254 [7]. This is a 128-bit number in network byte order.
256 The gateway field is a normal wire-encoded domain name, as described
257 in section 3.3 of RFC1035 [2]. Compression MUST NOT be used.
259 2.6 RDATA format - public keys
261 Both of the public key types defined in this document (RSA and DSA)
262 inherit their public key formats from the corresponding KEY RR
263 formats. Specifically, the public key field contains the algorithm-
264 specific portion of the KEY RR RDATA, which is all of the KEY RR DATA
265 after the first four octets. This is the same portion of the KEY RR
266 that must be specified by documents that define a DNSSEC algorithm.
267 Those documents also specify a message digest to be used for
268 generation of SIG RRs; that specification is not relevant for
271 Future algorithms, if they are to be used by both DNSSEC (in the KEY
272 RR) and IPSECKEY, are likely to use the same public key encodings in
273 both records. Unless otherwise specified, the IPSECKEY public key
274 field will contain the algorithm-specific portion of the KEY RR RDATA
275 for the corresponding algorithm. The algorithm must still be
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284 designated for use by IPSECKEY, and an IPSECKEY algorithm type number
285 (which might be different than the DNSSEC algorithm number) must be
288 The DSA key format is defined in RFC2536 [11]
290 The RSA key format is defined in RFC3110 [12], with the following
293 The earlier definition of RSA/MD5 in RFC2065 limited the exponent and
294 modulus to 2552 bits in length. RFC3110 extended that limit to 4096
295 bits for RSA/SHA1 keys. The IPSECKEY RR imposes no length limit on
296 RSA public keys, other than the 65535 octet limit imposed by the two-
297 octet length encoding. This length extension is applicable only to
298 IPSECKEY and not to KEY RRs.
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340 3. Presentation formats
342 3.1 Representation of IPSECKEY RRs
344 IPSECKEY RRs may appear in a zone data master file. The precedence,
345 gateway type and algorithm and gateway fields are REQUIRED. The
346 base64 encoded public key block is OPTIONAL; if not present, then the
347 public key field of the resource record MUST be construed as being
348 zero octets in length.
350 The algorithm field is an unsigned integer. No mnemonics are
353 If no gateway is to be indicated, then the gateway type field MUST be
354 zero, and the gateway field MUST be "."
356 The Public Key field is represented as a Base64 encoding of the
357 Public Key. Whitespace is allowed within the Base64 text. For a
358 definition of Base64 encoding, see RFC1521 [3] Section 5.2.
360 The general presentation for the record as as follows:
362 IN IPSECKEY ( precedence gateway-type algorithm
363 gateway base64-encoded-public-key )
368 An example of a node 192.0.2.38 that will accept IPsec tunnels on its
371 38.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa. 7200 IN IPSECKEY ( 10 1 2
373 AQNRU3mG7TVTO2BkR47usntb102uFJtugbo6BSGvgqt4AQ== )
375 An example of a node, 192.0.2.38 that has published its key only.
377 38.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa. 7200 IN IPSECKEY ( 10 0 2
379 AQNRU3mG7TVTO2BkR47usntb102uFJtugbo6BSGvgqt4AQ== )
381 An example of a node, 192.0.2.38 that has delegated authority to the
384 38.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa. 7200 IN IPSECKEY ( 10 1 2
386 AQNRU3mG7TVTO2BkR47usntb102uFJtugbo6BSGvgqt4AQ== )
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396 An example of a node, 192.0.1.38 that has delegated authority to the
397 node with the identity "mygateway.example.com".
399 38.1.0.192.in-addr.arpa. 7200 IN IPSECKEY ( 10 3 2
400 mygateway.example.com.
401 AQNRU3mG7TVTO2BkR47usntb102uFJtugbo6BSGvgqt4AQ== )
403 An example of a node, 2001:0DB8:0200:1:210:f3ff:fe03:4d0 that has
404 delegated authority to the node 2001:0DB8:c000:0200:2::1
406 $ORIGIN 1.0.0.0.0.0.2.8.B.D.0.1.0.0.2.ip6.int.
407 0.d.4.0.3.0.e.f.f.f.3.f.0.1.2.0 7200 IN IPSECKEY ( 10 2 2
408 2001:0DB8:0:8002::2000:1
409 AQNRU3mG7TVTO2BkR47usntb102uFJtugbo6BSGvgqt4AQ== )
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452 4. Security Considerations
454 This entire memo pertains to the provision of public keying material
455 for use by key management protocols such as ISAKMP/IKE (RFC2407) [9].
457 The IPSECKEY resource record contains information that SHOULD be
458 communicated to the end client in an integral fashion - i.e. free
459 from modification. The form of this channel is up to the consumer of
460 the data - there must be a trust relationship between the end
461 consumer of this resource record and the server. This relationship
462 may be end-to-end DNSSEC validation, a TSIG or SIG(0) channel to
463 another secure source, a secure local channel on the host, or some
464 combination of the above.
466 The keying material provided by the IPSECKEY resource record is not
467 sensitive to passive attacks. The keying material may be freely
468 disclosed to any party without any impact on the security properties
469 of the resulting IPsec session: IPsec and IKE provide for defense
470 against both active and passive attacks.
472 Any user of this resource record MUST carefully document their trust
473 model, and why the trust model of DNSSEC is appropriate, if that is
474 the secure channel used.
476 4.1 Active attacks against unsecured IPSECKEY resource records
478 This section deals with active attacks against the DNS. These
479 attacks require that DNS requests and responses be intercepted and
480 changed. DNSSEC is designed to defend against attacks of this kind.
482 The first kind of active attack is when the attacker replaces the
483 keying material with either a key under its control or with garbage.
485 If the attacker is not able to mount a subsequent man-in-the-middle
486 attack on the IKE negotiation after replacing the public key, then
487 this will result in a denial of service, as the authenticator used by
490 If the attacker is able to both to mount active attacks against DNS
491 and is also in a position to perform a man-in-the-middle attack on
492 IKE and IPsec negotiations, then the attacker will be in a position
493 to compromise the resulting IPsec channel. Note that an attacker
494 must be able to perform active DNS attacks on both sides of the IKE
495 negotiation in order for this to succeed.
497 The second kind of active attack is one in which the attacker
498 replaces the the gateway address to point to a node under the
499 attacker's control. The attacker can then either replace the public
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508 key or remove it, thus providing an IPSECKEY record of its own to
509 match the gateway address.
511 This later form creates a simple man-in-the-middle since the attacker
512 can then create a second tunnel to the real destination. Note that,
513 as before, this requires that the attacker also mount an active
514 attack against the responder.
516 Note that the man-in-the-middle can not just forward cleartext
517 packets to the original destination. While the destination may be
518 willing to speak in the clear, replying to the original sender, the
519 sender will have already created a policy expecting ciphertext.
520 Thus, the attacker will need to intercept traffic from both sides.
521 In some cases, the attacker may be able to accomplish the full
522 intercept by use of Network Addresss/Port Translation (NAT/NAPT)
525 Note that the danger here only applies to cases where the gateway
526 field of the IPSECKEY RR indicates a different entity than the owner
527 name of the IPSECKEY RR. In cases where the end-to-end integrity of
528 the IPSECKEY RR is suspect, the end client MUST restrict its use of
529 the IPSECKEY RR to cases where the RR owner name matches the content
530 of the gateway field.
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564 5. IANA Considerations
566 This document updates the IANA Registry for DNS Resource Record Types
567 by assigning type X to the IPSECKEY record.
569 This document creates an IANA registry for the algorithm type field.
571 Values 0, 1 and 2 are defined in Section 2.3. Algorithm numbers 3
572 through 255 can be assigned by IETF Consensus (see RFC2434 [6]).
574 This document creates an IANA registry for the gateway type field.
576 Values 0, 1, 2 and 3 are defined in Section 2.4. Algorithm numbers 4
577 through 255 can be assigned by Standards Action (see RFC2434 [6]).
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622 My thanks to Paul Hoffman, Sam Weiler, Jean-Jacques Puig, Rob
623 Austein, and Olafur Gurmundsson who reviewed this document carefully.
624 Additional thanks to Olafur Gurmundsson for a reference
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678 [1] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - concepts and facilities", STD
679 13, RFC 1034, November 1987.
681 [2] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - implementation and
682 specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, November 1987.
684 [3] Borenstein, N. and N. Freed, "MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail
685 Extensions) Part One: Mechanisms for Specifying and Describing
686 the Format of Internet Message Bodies", RFC 1521, September
689 [4] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP
690 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
692 [5] Eastlake, D. and C. Kaufman, "Domain Name System Security
693 Extensions", RFC 2065, January 1997.
695 [6] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA
696 Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 2434, October 1998.
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732 Non-normative references
734 [7] Thomson, S. and C. Huitema, "DNS Extensions to support IP
735 version 6", RFC 1886, December 1995.
737 [8] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
738 Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
740 [9] Piper, D., "The Internet IP Security Domain of Interpretation
741 for ISAKMP", RFC 2407, November 1998.
743 [10] Eastlake, D., "Domain Name System Security Extensions", RFC
746 [11] Eastlake, D., "DSA KEYs and SIGs in the Domain Name System
747 (DNS)", RFC 2536, March 1999.
749 [12] Eastlake, D., "RSA/SHA-1 SIGs and RSA KEYs in the Domain Name
750 System (DNS)", RFC 3110, May 2001.
752 [13] Massey, D. and S. Rose, "Limiting the Scope of the KEY Resource
753 Record (RR)", RFC 3445, December 2002.
758 Michael C. Richardson
759 Sandelman Software Works
764 EMail: mcr@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca
765 URI: http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/
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788 Full Copyright Statement
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