Operational Implications of IPv6 Packets with Extension Headers
draft-gont-v6ops-ipv6-ehs-packet-drops-01

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IPv6 Operations Working Group (v6ops)                            F. Gont
Internet-Draft                                    SI6 Networks / UTN-FRH
Intended status: Informational                               N. Hilliard
Expires: April 17, 2016                                             INEX
                                                              G. Doering
                                                             SpaceNet AG
                                                                  W. Liu
                                                     Huawei Technologies
                                                               W. Kumari
                                                                  Google
                                                        October 15, 2015

    Operational Implications of IPv6 Packets with Extension Headers
               draft-gont-v6ops-ipv6-ehs-packet-drops-01

Abstract

   This document summarizes the security and operational implications of
   IPv6 extension headers, and attempts to analyze reasons why packets
   with IPv6 extension headers may be dropped in the public Internet.

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 http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   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
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on April 17, 2016.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2015 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
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents

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   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Previous Work on IPv6 Extension Headers . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Security Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Operational Implications  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.1.  Requirement to process required layer-3/layer-4
           information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.2.  Route-Processor Protection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     4.3.  Inability to Perform Fine-grained Filtering . . . . . . .   7
   5.  A Possible Attack Vector  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   8.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13

1.  Introduction

   IPv6 Extension Headers (EHs) allow for the extension of the IPv6
   protocol, and provide support for core functionality such as IPv6
   fragmentation.  However, common implementation limitations suggest
   that EHs present a challenge for IPv6 packet routing equipment, and
   evidence exists to suggest that IPv6 packets with EHs may be
   intentionally dropped on the public Internet in some network
   deployments.

   Discussions about the security and operational implications of IPv6
   extension headers are a regular feature in IETF working groups and
   other places.  Often in these discussions, important security and
   operational issues are overlooked.

   This document tries to raise awareness about the security and
   operational implications of IPv6 Extension Headers, and presents
   reasons why some networks drop packets containing IPv6 Extension
   Headers.

   Section 2 of this document summarizes the work that has been done in
   the area of IPv6 extension headers.  Section 3 discusses the security

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