[Mip6-firewall] HA Firewall BCP draft v01

Suresh Krishnan suresh.krishnan at ericsson.com
Thu Jul 5 18:34:47 EDT 2007


Hi Folks,
   Here is v01 of the draft. Since I have not heard back from Qiu Ying 
regarding my comments, I have not included the MN part yet. I will try 
to wait until Sunday to submit this in case there are any comments.

Cheers
Suresh
-------------- next part --------------



Network Working Group                                        S. Krishnan
Internet-Draft                                                  Ericsson
Intended status: Informational                           N. Steinleitner
Expires: December 30, 2007                      University of Goettingen
                                                                 Q. Ying
                                         Institute for Infocomm Research
                                                           June 28, 2007


                   Firewall Recommendations for MIPv6
                    draft-krishnan-mip6-firewall-01

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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).











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Abstract

   This document presents some recommendations for firewall
   administrators to help them configure their firewalls in a way that
   allows Mobile IPv6 signaling and data messags to pass through.  This
   document assumes that the firewalls in question include some kind of
   stateful packet filtering capability.


Table of Contents

   1.  Requirements notation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  Home Agent behind a firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     3.1.  Signaling between the MN and the HA  . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     3.2.  Route optimization signaling between MN and CN through
           HA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     3.3.  IKEv2 signaling between MN and HA for establishing SAs . .  6
     3.4.  Data traffic from and to MN passing through the HA . . . .  6
   4.  Correspondent Node behind a firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     4.1.  RRT signaling between MN and CN through HA . . . . . . . .  7
     4.2.  Route optimization signaling between MN and CN . . . . . .  7
     4.3.  Binding Update from MN to CN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     4.4.  Route Optimization data traffic from MN  . . . . . . . . .  8
     4.5.  Bi-directional tunnelled data traffic from the MN to
           the CN through HA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   5.  Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   6.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   7.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   8.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 15



















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1.  Requirements notation

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].














































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2.  Introduction

   Network elements such as firewalls are an integral aspect of a
   majority of IP networks today, given the state of security in the
   Internet, threats, and vulnerabilities to data networks.  MIPv6
   [RFC3775] defines mobility support for IPv6 nodes.  Since firewalls
   are not aware of MIPv6 protocol details, they will probably interfere
   with the smooth operation of the protocol.  The problems caused by
   firewalls to Mobile IPv6 are documented in [RFC4487]

   This document presents some recommendations for firewall
   administrators to help them configure their firewalls in a way that
   allows Mobile IPv6 signaling and data messags to pass through.  This
   document assumes that the firewalls in question include some kind of
   stateful packet filtering capability.




































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3.  Home Agent behind a firewall

   This section presents the recommendations for configuring a firewall
   that is protects a home agent.  For each type of traffic that needs
   to pass through this firewall, recommendations are presented on how
   to identify that traffic.  The following types of traffic are
   considered

   o  Signaling between the MN and the HA

   o  Route optimization signaling between MN and CN through HA

   o  IKEv2 signaling between MN and HA for establishing SAs

   o  Data traffic from and to MN passing through the HA

3.1.  Signaling between the MN and the HA

   The signaling between the MN and HA is protected using IPSec ESP.
   These messages are encrypted and hence are not inspectable by
   firewalls.  So the firewall either has to either permit all these
   messages or discard all of them.  But if these messages are
   discarded, Mobile IPv6 as specified today will cease to work.  In
   order to permit these messages through, the firewall has to detect
   the messages using the following pattern.

     Destination Address: Address of HA
     IP payload protocol number: 50 (ESP)

   This pattern will allow the BU messages from MNs to HA and BA
   messages from the HA to the MNs to pass through.  It will also allow
   the HoTI and HoT messages (related to route optimization) between the
   MN and the HA to pass through.

3.2.  Route optimization signaling between MN and CN through HA

   Route Optimization allows direct communication of data packets
   between the MN and a CN without tunneling it back through the HA.  In
   order for route optimization to work, part of the initial signaling
   has to pass through the HA.  The following pattern will allow these
   messages to pass through.

     Destination Address: HoA of MN
     Mobility Header Type: 3

   This pattern allows the HoT message from the CN to the MN's HoA to
   pass through the firewall.  The HoTI message from the MN to the CN
   through the HA usually passes through the firewall without any



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   problems.  Hence no specific pattern is recommended.

3.3.  IKEv2 signaling between MN and HA for establishing SAs

   The MN and HA exchange IKEv2 signaling in order to establish the
   security associations.  The security associations so established will
   later be used for securing the mobility signaling messages.  Hence
   these messages need to be permitted to pass through the firewalls.
   The following pattern will detect these messages.

     Destination Address: Address of HA
     Transport Protocol: UDP
     Destination UDP Port: 500


3.4.  Data traffic from and to MN passing through the HA

   If a CN tries to initiate traffic to an MN, a stateful firewall would
   prevent these connection requests to pass through as there is no
   established state on the firewall.  Since MNs do not usually provide
   services, this is not usually a problem.  But if this is necessary to
   do, the pattern to look for is

     Destination Address: MN HoA

   Allowing this traffic might allow any kind of traffic, including
   malicious traffic, to pass through unfiltered to the MN.  This might
   cause a Denial of Service at the MN.























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4.  Correspondent Node behind a firewall

   This section presents the recommendations for configuring a firewall
   if a node behind it should be able to act as Mobile IPv6 CN.  For
   each type of traffic that needs to pass through this firewall,
   recommendations are presented on how to identify that traffic.  The
   following types of traffic are considered

   o  RRT signaling between MN and CN through HA

   o  Route optimization signaling between MN and CN

   o  Binding Update from MN to CN

   o  Route Optimization data traffic from MN

   o  Bi-directional tunnelled data traffic from the MN to the CN
      through HA

4.1.  RRT signaling between MN and CN through HA

   Parts of the initial RRT signaling has to pass through the HA, namely
   the HoTI and the HoT messages.  Without assistance, the HoTI message
   from the HA to the CN is not able to traverse the firewall.  The
   following pattern will allow these messages to traverse.

      Destination Address: CN Address

      Mobility Header Type: 1

   This pinhole allows the HoTI message from the HA to the CN to
   traverse the firewall.  The HoT message from the CN to the MN through
   the HA can traverse the firewall without any assistance.  Hence no
   pinhole is required.

4.2.  Route optimization signaling between MN and CN

   Route Optimization allows direct communication of data packets
   between the MN and a CN without tunnelling it back through the HA.
   To get route optimization work, the MN has to send a CoTI message
   directly to the CN, which response with a CoT message.  However, a
   stateful firewall would prevent the CoTI message to pass through as
   there is no established state on the firewall.  The following pinhole
   will allow the CoTI message to traverse.







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      Destination Address: CN Address

      Mobility Header Type: 2

   The CoT message from the CN to the MN can traverse the firewall
   without any assistance.  Hence no pinhole is required.

4.3.  Binding Update from MN to CN

   After successfully performing the RRT, the MN sends the BU to the CN
   and expects the BA.  Since this BU does not match any previous
   installed pinhole rules, an additional pinhole with the following
   format is required.

      Destination Address: CN Address

      IPv6 Destination Options Header

   This allows the BU to traverse the firewall and the BA can pass the
   firewall without any assistance.  Therefore, the Binding Update
   sequence can be performed successfully.

4.4.  Route Optimization data traffic from MN

   Also the Route Optimization data traffic from MN directly to the CN
   can not traverse the firewall without assistance.  But as we have
   configured the firewall to allow the BU message from MN to the CN to
   traverse the firewall, the Route Optimization data traffic is able to
   pass through as it also matches the pinhole installed for the BU.

   Therefore, no additional pinhole rules are required.

4.5.  Bi-directional tunnelled data traffic from the MN to the CN
      through HA

   If a MN tries to initiate traffic to a CN through the HA using bi-
   directional tunnelling, a stateful firewall would prevent these
   connection requests to pass through as there is no established state
   on the firewall.  This is usually a problem as CNs often provide
   services.  A solution is to static configure the firewall to let this
   traffic pass through.  However, this is only an acceptable option if
   it is not necessary to open an all-embracing pinhole, e.g. if the
   destination ports are well-known.  In this case, the pinhole has to
   look like







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      Destination Address: CN Address

      Destination Port: Application Ports

   If the ports are unknown, it is necessary to install a pinhole with
   only the Destination Address as pattern.  Allowing this traffic might
   allow any kind of traffic, including malicious traffic, to traverse
   to the CN.  This might cause a Denial of Service at the CN.











































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5.  Contributors

   This document is one of the deliverables of the MIPv6 firewall
   design.  The following members of the team were involved in the
   creation of this document.

   Hannes Tschofenig Hannes.Tschofenig at gmx.net

   Gabor Bajko Gabor.Bajko at nokia.com

   Suresh Krishnan suresh.krishnan at ericsson.com

   Hesham Soliman solimanhs at gmail.com

   Yaron Sheffer yaronf at checkpoint.com

   Qiu Ying qiuying at i2r.a-star.edu.sg

   Ram Vishnu vishnu at motorola.com

   Niklas Steinleitner steinleitner at cs.uni-goettingen.de

   Vijay Devarapalli vijay.devarapalli at AzaireNet.com




























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6.  IANA Considerations

   This document does not require any IANA action.
















































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7.  Security Considerations

   This document specifies recommendations for firewall administrators
   to allow Mobile IPv6 traffic to pass through unhindered.  Since some
   of this traffic is encrypted it is not possible for firewalls to
   discern whether it is safe or not.  This document recommends a
   liberal setting so that all legitimate traffic can pass.  This means
   that some malicious traffic may be permitted by these rules.  These
   rules may allow the initiation of Denial of Service attacks against
   Mobile IPv6 capable nodes such as a home agent.









































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8.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC3775]  Johnson, D., Perkins, C., and J. Arkko, "Mobility Support
              in IPv6", RFC 3775, June 2004.

   [RFC4487]  Le, F., Faccin, S., Patil, B., and H. Tschofenig, "Mobile
              IPv6 and Firewalls: Problem Statement", RFC 4487,
              May 2006.








































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Authors' Addresses

   Suresh Krishnan
   Ericsson
   8400 Decarie Blvd.
   Town of Mount Royal, QC
   Canada

   Phone: +1 514 345 7900 x42871
   Email: suresh.krishnan at ericsson.com


   Niklas Steinleitner
   University of Goettingen
   Lotzestr. 16-18
   Goettingen
   Germany

   Email: steinleitner at cs.uni-goettingen.de


   Qiu Ying
   Institute for Infocomm Research
   21 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
   Singapore

   Phone: +65-6874-6742
   Email: qiuying at i2r.a-star.edu.sg























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