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Bundle Transfer Protocol - Unidirectional (BTPU) over Ethernet
draft-ek-dtn-ethernet-06

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Author Erik Kline
Last updated 2026-09-06
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draft-ek-dtn-ethernet-06
Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking                            E. Kline
Internet-Draft                                Aalyria Technologies, Inc.
Intended status: Standards Track                        6 September 2026
Expires: 10 March 2027

     Bundle Transfer Protocol - Unidirectional (BTPU) over Ethernet
                        draft-ek-dtn-ethernet-06

Abstract

   This document specifies the use of the Bundle Transfer Protocol -
   Unidirectional (BTPU) as a Convergence Layer directly over Ethernet,
   and requests allocation of an EtherType and a multicast MAC address
   for that purpose.  This provides an alternative to IP-based
   convergence layers for environments where Ethernet forwarding is
   operationally feasible but IP routing is unavailable or operationally
   undesirable.

About This Document

   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   The latest revision of this draft can be found at
   https://ekline.github.io/draft-dtn-ethernet/draft-ek-dtn-
   ethernet.html.  Status information for this document may be found at
   https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ek-dtn-ethernet/.

   Discussion of this document takes place on the Delay/Disruption
   Tolerant Networking Working Group mailing list (mailto:dtn@ietf.org),
   which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/dtn/.
   Subscribe at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/dtn/.

   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
   https://github.com/ekline/draft-dtn-ethernet.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 10 March 2027.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Encapsulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     3.1.  Minimum Frame Size  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Applicability and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.1.  BTPU Protocol Compliance  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.2.  BTPU Logical Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.3.  Use of the Group MAC Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     4.4.  Congestion Control  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     4.5.  Relationship to IP-based Convergence Layers . . . . . . .   7
   5.  Assignment Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     5.1.  IEEE Assignment Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
       5.1.1.  EtherType . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     5.2.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
       5.2.1.  Multicast MAC Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   6.  Operational Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     6.1.  Checksums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     6.2.  MTU and Jumbo Frames  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     7.1.  Denial of Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     7.2.  Multicast Amplification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     7.3.  Frame Injection and Spoofing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     7.4.  Link-layer Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     7.5.  Packet Reordering, Duplication, and Replay  . . . . . . .  12
     7.6.  Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12

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   8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14

1.  Introduction

   This document specifies how BTPU [BTPU] is carried directly in
   Ethernet frames, enabling its use as a Convergence Layer for
   environments where Bundle Protocol nodes are connected by Ethernet or
   Ethernet-like technologies.  It defines the encapsulation (3), the
   mapping of BTPU's logical channel onto Ethernet addressing, and
   Ethernet-specific operational and security considerations.

   To support this, the following Ethernet parameters are requested:

   *  an EtherType to identify frames carrying BTPU payloads (5.1.1)

   *  a multicast MAC address for transmission to receivers whose
      unicast MAC addresses are not yet known (5.2.1)

   This convergence layer is applicable to:

   *  physical Ethernet LANs;

   *  Layer 2 services that present an Ethernet segment to Bundle
      Protocol Agents, such as overlay networks, cloud-hosted virtual
      networks, or Ground-Station-as-a-Service (GSaaS) infrastructure,
      provided the service carries arbitrary EtherTypes (and, where the
      group MAC address is to be used, non-IP multicast frames); and

   *  technologies supporting Ethernet framing, e.g., DVB-GSE
      ([DVB-GSE]), the 3GPP 5G Ethernet PDU Session type
      (Section 5.6.10.2 of [_3GPP-TS-23.501]), and the US Space
      Development Agency's Optical Communications Terminal standard
      (Section 3.4.8 of [SDA-OCT]).

   Primary use cases include mission modeling, testbed environments, and
   deployments where IP routing is unavailable or adds unnecessary
   complexity.

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2.  Conventions and Definitions

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

3.  Encapsulation

   A BTPU Link-layer PDU (Section 2.1 of [BTPU]) is carried as the
   payload of an Ethernet frame [IEEE802dot3] whose EtherType field is
   set to the value assigned in 5.1.1.  The Link-layer PDU consists of
   the octets following the EtherType field (or following the last tag,
   if one or more 802.1Q tags are present) up to, but not including, the
   Frame Check Sequence (FCS).  Its contents are a sequence of BTPU
   Messages as defined in [BTPU].

    0                   1                   2                   3
    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Destination MAC Address                    |
   +                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                               |                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               +
   |                      Source MAC Address                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |            802.1Q Tag (optional, may be repeated)             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      EtherType = TBD-ET       |                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               +
   |                                                               |
   :        BTPU Link-layer PDU (one or more BTPU Messages)        :
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                  Frame Check Sequence (FCS)                   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Figure 1: BTPU over Ethernet frame format (shown with one 802.1Q tag)

3.1.  Minimum Frame Size

   IEEE 802.3 requires a minimum frame size of 64 octets.  A frame whose
   payload is shorter than 46 octets (42 octets when an 802.1Q tag is
   present) is extended by the transmitting MAC with a PAD field whose
   contents are unspecified by [IEEE802dot3], although in practice they
   are conventionally zero-filled.  Because EtherType-framed Ethernet
   carries no payload length indication, a receiver cannot distinguish

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   such MAC padding from BTPU payload.

   To avoid relying on MAC padding behavior, senders SHOULD ensure that
   every Link-layer PDU is at least 46 octets long by appending a
   Definite Padding Message (Section 8.5 of [BTPU]) as needed.
   Receivers MUST tolerate trailing octets that do not parse as a BTPU
   Message in frames of minimum size, and SHOULD treat trailing zero
   octets as an Indefinite Padding Message (Section 8.6 of [BTPU]).

   Beyond the minimum frame size, Ethernet frames are variable length
   and no further padding is required.

4.  Applicability and Limitations

4.1.  BTPU Protocol Compliance

   This document specifies Ethernet encapsulation for [BTPU].  All
   protocol requirements, features, and recommendations defined in
   [BTPU] apply to this Ethernet profile.

   Because Bundles commonly exceed the Ethernet MTU (6.2),
   implementations MUST support BTPU segmentation (Section 4 of [BTPU])
   for both transmission and reception.  BTPU's 20-bit Message Length
   field does not constrain Ethernet use, as it comfortably exceeds any
   Ethernet frame size.

4.2.  BTPU Logical Channels

   [BTPU] operates over a logical channel between a sender and one or
   more receivers; each logical channel is an independent instance of
   the protocol with its own Transfer Number sequence and Transfer
   Window (Sections 4 and 5 of [BTPU]).  For Ethernet, the logical
   channel is identified by the tuple of:

   *  the interface on which the frame is transmitted or received, where
      each VLAN, as identified by the VLAN Identifier(s) of any 802.1Q
      tag(s) present, constitutes a distinct interface;

   *  the source MAC address; and

   *  the destination MAC address.

   Each unique combination defines a separate logical channel.  In
   particular, frames from the same sender addressed to a peer's unicast
   MAC address and frames addressed to the group MAC address (5.2.1)
   belong to different logical channels, and a receiver maintains
   independent BTPU state for each.

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   The Priority Code Point (PCP) and Drop Eligible Indicator (DEI)
   fields of an 802.1Q tag do not identify the logical channel.  Because
   a single Link-layer PDU can carry Messages belonging to several
   Transfers of differing priority, this document makes no
   recommendation about how those fields are set.

   The logical channel governs the sequencing and windowing of segmented
   Transfers.  Bundle Messages (Section 8.1 of [BTPU]) carry no Transfer
   Number and require no per-channel state at the receiver beyond that
   needed to identify the transmitting node.

   The Transfer Window size is configured out of band (Section 5 of
   [BTPU]).  Absent such configuration, implementations SHOULD use the
   default recommended by [BTPU].  Note that a receiver whose Transfer
   Window is smaller than the sender's will prematurely discard in-
   progress Transfers; this is of particular concern for channels using
   the group MAC address, where a single sender's frames are processed
   by many independently configured receivers.

   Technologies that carry Ethernet-framed payloads and use this
   EtherType (5.1.1) but lack the above channel identifiers need to
   define an equivalent logical channel identifier, e.g. from
   technology-specific source and destination identifiers and any
   protocol-specific channel discriminators.  Such definitions are
   outside the scope of this document.

4.3.  Use of the Group MAC Address

   A sender that does not know the unicast MAC address of the intended
   next-hop node MAY transmit BTPU frames to the group MAC address
   assigned in 5.2.1.  All BTPU receivers in the broadcast domain will
   receive such frames; from the perspective of each receiver they share
   a single logical channel identified by the sender's source MAC
   address and the group destination address (4.2).

   A node that receives a bundle in a frame addressed to the group MAC
   address processes it as follows:

   *  If the bundle's destination EID identifies an endpoint of which
      the receiving node is a member, the bundle is delivered as
      specified in [BPv7].

   *  Otherwise, if the receiving node has been explicitly configured to
      act as a next hop for the transmitting node (as identified by the
      frame's source MAC address and logical channel), the bundle is
      forwarded as specified in [BPv7].  Implementations MUST NOT enable
      such forwarding by default.

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   *  Otherwise, the receiving node MUST discard the bundle without
      further processing.  In particular, it MUST NOT forward the bundle
      and MUST NOT generate any status report concerning it; the bundle
      is treated as though it had never been received.

   Without this rule, a single frame carrying a bundle addressed to a
   singleton endpoint would be forwarded by every node in the broadcast
   domain that is not the destination, producing as many copies as there
   are receivers (see 7.2).  This mirrors the prohibition on forwarding
   link-layer broadcasts that carry unicast destinations in
   Section 5.3.4 of [RFC1812].

   A sender learns the unicast MAC address of a peer either through
   configuration or by observing the source MAC address of BTPU frames
   received from that peer; the latter requires the peer to transmit,
   which BTPU does not itself guarantee.  Once a peer's unicast MAC
   address is known, senders SHOULD transmit to it by unicast so as to
   avoid unnecessary processing by other nodes and unnecessary flooding
   by switches, which cannot prune non-IP multicast traffic.

4.4.  Congestion Control

   BTPU provides no congestion control and assumes that the sending rate
   is managed by a mechanism outside the protocol (Section 11 of
   [BTPU]).  Ethernet offers only hop-by-hop flow control, namely PAUSE
   frames (Clause 31 of [IEEE802dot3]) and Priority-based Flow Control
   ([IEEE802dot1Q]).  These mechanisms act on a single link rather than
   end to end across a bridged network, may be disabled by operators to
   avoid head-of-line blocking of unrelated traffic, and are ineffective
   over links whose delay is large relative to available buffering.
   They are therefore not a substitute for congestion control.

   Consistent with Section 11 of [BTPU], BTPU over Ethernet MUST NOT be
   deployed on a segment where congestion can occur unless the sending
   rate is bounded by an external mechanism, such as static rate
   limiting or a schedule agreed among the nodes sharing the segment.
   Where no such mechanism is available, a convergence layer providing
   congestion control (e.g., [TCPCL]) is recommended instead.

4.5.  Relationship to IP-based Convergence Layers

   IP-based convergence layers (TCPCL [TCPCL], UDPCLv2 [UDPCLv2]) remain
   recommended where IP infrastructure exists.  This Ethernet
   convergence layer addresses scenarios where:

   *  no operational IP addressing or routing is available

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   *  only link-local IP addresses are available and no peer discovery
      mechanism is deployed

   *  direct Ethernet operation simplifies deployment and management

   Direct Ethernet encapsulation also avoids the 28 octets (IPv4/UDP) or
   48 octets (IPv6/UDP) of network- and transport-layer headers per
   frame, plus any convergence-layer framing.  In many deployments this
   saving is minor, but it can be significant where the usable payload
   per frame is small, where link capacity is scarce, or where
   eliminating IP and UDP header processing simplifies line-rate
   hardware implementation.  The primary motivation for this
   specification, however, remains operation in environments where IP is
   unavailable or undesirable.

5.  Assignment Considerations

   This document requests one EtherType from the IEEE Registration
   Authority and one multicast MAC address from IANA, as described
   below.

5.1.  IEEE Assignment Considerations

5.1.1.  EtherType

   Following the procedure in Section 5.5 of [RFC9542]: the IESG is
   requested to approve applying to the IEEE Registration Authority for
   an EtherType for BTPU.  (The IESG should communicate its approval to
   IANA and to those concerned with this document.  IANA will forward
   the IESG Approval to the registry expert of the "EtherType" registry
   from the "IEEE 802 Numbers" registry group who will make the
   application to the IEEE Registration Authority, keeping IANA
   informed.)

   Upon assignment, IANA is requested to record the following entry in
   the "EtherType" registry of the "IEEE 802 Numbers" registry group
   [IANA-IEEE802]:

     +============+===========+==========================+===========+
     | Ethertype  | Ethertype | Description              | Reference |
     | (decimal)  | (hex)     |                          |           |
     +============+===========+==========================+===========+
     | TBD-ET-DEC | TBD-ET    | Bundle Transfer Protocol | RFC XXXX  |
     |            |           | - Unidirectional (BTPU)  |           |
     +------------+-----------+--------------------------+-----------+

                     Table 1: EtherType registry entry

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   [RFC Editor: please replace TBD-ET-DEC and TBD-ET throughout this
   document with the assigned EtherType, and RFC XXXX with this
   document's RFC number; then remove this note.]

5.2.  IANA Considerations

5.2.1.  Multicast MAC Address

   IANA is requested to assign one multicast EUI-48 identifier under the
   IANA OUI, from the block used for very small assignments (01-00-5E-
   90-00-00 through 01-00-5E-90-00-FF; Section 2.1.3 of [RFC9542]), and
   to record it in the "IANA Multicast 48-bit MAC Addresses" registry
   with this document as the reference.  Per Section 2.1.5 of [RFC9542],
   this assignment is subject to Expert Review.

   The address allows BTPU senders to reach all BTPU receivers within a
   broadcast domain without prior knowledge of their individual unicast
   MAC addresses, as described in 4.3.  A dedicated group address is
   requested, rather than use of the broadcast address, so that stations
   not participating in BTPU can filter these frames in hardware.

   [RFC Editor: please replace TBD-MAC below with the assigned address
   and remove this note.]

   Assigned address: TBD-MAC

   The completed template of Appendix A.1 of [RFC9542] follows:

   Applicant Name:  IETF DTN Working Group

   Applicant Email:  dtn@ietf.org

   Applicant Telephone:  (to be supplied at submission)

   Use Name:  Bundle Transfer Protocol - Unidirectional (BTPU) over
      Ethernet

   Document:  RFC XXXX (this document)

   EUI-48 or EUI-64:  EUI-48

   Size of Block requested:  1 (2**0)

   Multicast, unicast, or both:  Multicast

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6.  Operational Considerations

6.1.  Checksums

   As noted in Section 3.5 of [DGRAMCL], the Bundle Protocol assumes
   that Bundles are transmitted over an erasure channel, i.e., one that
   either delivers a PDU correctly or not at all.

   The Ethernet Frame Check Sequence (FCS) provides this property for a
   single link.  However, the FCS is verified and regenerated at each
   bridge, so it does not detect corruption that occurs within a bridge,
   and the error-detection strength of its 32-bit CRC diminishes as
   frame length increases.  Deployments requiring end-to-end integrity
   assurance SHOULD rely on Bundle-layer mechanisms such as block CRCs
   ([BPv7]) or BPSec Block Integrity Blocks ([RFC9172]) rather than on
   the FCS alone.

6.2.  MTU and Jumbo Frames

   Implementations MUST support transmission and reception of Link-layer
   PDUs of up to 1500 octets, the maximum payload size of a basic
   Ethernet frame [IEEE802dot3].  This limit applies to the BTPU Link-
   layer PDU itself; 802.1Q tags, if present, do not reduce it.

   Implementations MAY support non-standard "jumbo" frames (commonly
   with payloads of up to 9000 octets), but SHOULD do so only when
   explicitly configured by an operator who has verified that every link
   and bridge on the path supports the larger size.

   BTPU has no path MTU discovery mechanism, and Ethernet bridges
   silently discard frames that exceed their supported size.
   Implementations therefore SHOULD default to a 1500-octet Link-layer
   PDU.

7.  Security Considerations

   The security considerations of [BPv7] and [BTPU] apply.  BTPU itself
   provides no security mechanisms and relies on lower and/or upper
   layers (Section 10 of [BTPU]).  The following considerations are
   specific to carrying BTPU over Ethernet.

7.1.  Denial of Service

   BTPU assumes the sending rate is controlled by a mechanism out of
   scope for the protocol and has no built-in mechanism for identifying
   or mitigating any congestion a sender might cause (4.4).  Use of this
   protocol on some networks, a shared LAN segment for example, may
   cause a Denial-of-Service by flooding Ethernet switches and stations.

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7.2.  Multicast Amplification

   A single frame sent to the group MAC address (5.2.1) is delivered to
   every BTPU receiver in the broadcast domain.  If receivers were to
   process such bundles exactly as they process unicast-received
   bundles, an attacker (or a misconfigured node) could obtain
   significant amplification from a single frame:

   *  each receiver that is not the bundle's destination would attempt
      to forward the bundle toward that destination, producing as many
      copies as there are receivers; and

   *  each receiver that subsequently deletes the bundle could emit a
      status report to the bundle's report-to endpoint, if one was
      requested, producing as many status reports as there are
      receivers.

   The processing rules in 4.3 are intended to prevent both forms of
   amplification: bundles received via the group MAC address are
   forwarded only by nodes explicitly configured as a next hop for the
   transmitting node, and are otherwise discarded without generating any
   status report.  Implementations MUST NOT enable such forwarding by
   default.  Operators SHOULD limit the number of nodes configured to
   forward on behalf of any given transmitting node.

7.3.  Frame Injection and Spoofing

   Ethernet provides no authentication of the source MAC address.  An
   attacker with access to the link can observe the source and
   destination MAC addresses and Transfer Numbers in use on a logical
   channel and inject frames with a forged source address.  Such an
   attacker can corrupt an in-progress Transfer by injecting a Transfer
   Segment Message, abort it by injecting a Transfer Cancel Message, or
   cause the receiver to discard all in-progress Transfers from that
   sender by injecting a Message with a Transfer Number far ahead of the
   current window (Section 5 of [BTPU]).  Corrupted bundles can be
   detected by Bundle-layer integrity mechanisms (6.1), but the
   transfers themselves are lost.

   Any attacker with access to the link, or with sufficient knowledge of
   local Bundle forwarding configuration so as to inject BTPU frames and
   cause them to be sent to an Ethernet peer, may also overwhelm the
   receiver to the point of Denial of Service to other on-link senders.

   These attacks are mitigated by restricting link access and
   authenticating frame origin using the mechanisms described in 7.4, or
   by architectural properties of the link that exclude untrusted
   stations.

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7.4.  Link-layer Security

   IEEE standards include several security mechanisms that may be used
   in Ethernet networks.  Examples of Ethernet-level security mechanisms
   a network might deploy include IEEE 802.1X ([IEEE802dot1X]), which
   may be used to restrict access to the link to authorized
   participants, and IEEE 802.1AE ([IEEE802dot1AE]), which provides
   origin authentication and integrity for each frame and, optionally,
   confidentiality of the entire BTPU payload.  IEEE 802.1AE can also
   provide replay protection, but only when configured to do so and only
   for frames outside the configured replay window; deployments relying
   on it for this purpose need to enable replay protection with a window
   sized appropriately for the link.  In some deployments, a link may be
   considered secure against on-link attackers by virtue of its
   architecture, e.g. in cloud networking configurations where access to
   the virtual link is the responsibility of cloud security functions.

7.5.  Packet Reordering, Duplication, and Replay

   Packet reordering and duplication are handled by the BTPU protocol.
   However, an on-link attacker may replay traffic to effectively repeat
   a Bundle transfer.  Even if a link can be made secure (7.4), repeat
   delivery of specific Bundles may happen for other reasons.  Duplicate
   bundles can be detected by the Bundle Protocol Agent using the bundle
   identifier (Section 4.2.4 of [BPv7]); whether and for how long to
   retain such state is a matter of BPA policy and is independent of the
   convergence layer.

7.6.  Filtering

   A common security paradigm is to "default deny" all traffic patterns
   that, broadly, do not conform to operator expectations.  In such
   environments the BTPU EtherType and, where used, the group MAC
   address (5.2.1) need to be explicitly permitted on a given Ethernet
   segment before BTPU Messages can be successfully transmitted.

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

   [BPv7]     Burleigh, S., Fall, K., and E. Birrane, III, "Bundle
              Protocol Version 7", RFC 9171, DOI 10.17487/RFC9171,
              January 2022, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9171>.

   [BTPU]     Taylor, R., "Bundle Transfer Protocol - Unidirectional",
              Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-dtn-btpu-03,
              19 July 2026, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-ietf-dtn-btpu-03>.

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   [IEEE802dot1Q]
              IEEE, "IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area
              Networks--Bridges and Bridged Networks", IEEE Std 802.1Q-
              2022, December 2022,
              <https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/802.1Q/10323/>.

   [IEEE802dot3]
              IEEE, "IEEE Standard for Ethernet", IEEE Std 802.3-2022,
              DOI 10.1109/IEEESTD.2022.9844436, July 2022,
              <https://doi.org/10.1109/IEEESTD.2022.9844436>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

   [RFC9542]  Eastlake 3rd, D., Abley, J., and Y. Li, "IANA
              Considerations and IETF Protocol and Documentation Usage
              for IEEE 802 Parameters", BCP 141, RFC 9542,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9542, April 2024,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9542>.

8.2.  Informative References

   [DGRAMCL]  Kruse, H., Jero, S., and S. Ostermann, "Datagram
              Convergence Layers for the Delay- and Disruption-Tolerant
              Networking (DTN) Bundle Protocol and Licklider
              Transmission Protocol (LTP)", RFC 7122,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7122, March 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7122>.

   [DVB-GSE]  ETSI, "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Generic Stream
              Encapsulation (GSE); Part 1: Protocol", ETSI TS 102 606-1
              V1.2.1, July 2014, <https://www.etsi.org/deliver/
              etsi_ts/102600_102699/10260601/01.02.01_60/
              ts_10260601v010201p.pdf>.

   [IANA-IEEE802]
              IANA, "IEEE 802 Numbers", n.d.,
              <https://www.iana.org/assignments/ieee-802-numbers/>.

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   [IEEE802dot1AE]
              IEEE, "IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area
              Networks--Media Access Control (MAC) Security", IEEE Std
              802.1AE-2018, December 2018.

   [IEEE802dot1X]
              IEEE, "IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area
              Networks--Port-Based Network Access Control", IEEE Std
              802.1X-2020, February 2020.

   [RFC1812]  Baker, F., Ed., "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers",
              RFC 1812, DOI 10.17487/RFC1812, June 1995,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1812>.

   [RFC9172]  Birrane, III, E. and K. McKeever, "Bundle Protocol
              Security (BPSec)", RFC 9172, DOI 10.17487/RFC9172, January
              2022, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9172>.

   [SDA-OCT]  Space Development Agency, "Optical Communications Terminal
              (OCT) Standard", SDA OCT Standard Version 4.0.0, July
              2024, <https://www.sda.mil/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/
              SDA_OCT_Standard_4.0.0_final-20240701.pdf>.

   [TCPCL]    Sipos, B., Demmer, M., Ott, J., and S. Perreault, "Delay-
              Tolerant Networking TCP Convergence-Layer Protocol Version
              4", RFC 9174, DOI 10.17487/RFC9174, January 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9174>.

   [UDPCLv2]  Sipos, B. and J. Deaton, "Delay-Tolerant Networking UDP
              Convergence Layer Protocol Version 2", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-dtn-udpcl-04, 15 June 2026,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-dtn-
              udpcl-04>.

   [_3GPP-TS-23.501]
              3GPP, "System architecture for the 5G System (5GS)",
              3GPP TS 23.501, n.d., <https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/
              archive/23_series/23.501/>.

Acknowledgments

   Thanks to Wes Eddy, Jörg Ott, Brian Sipos, and Rick Taylor for
   numerous discussions and contributions.

Author's Address

   Erik Kline
   Aalyria Technologies, Inc.

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   Email: ek.ietf@gmail.com

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