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Framework for Interface to Network Security Functions
draft-ietf-i2nsf-framework-08

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 8329.
Authors Diego Lopez , Edward Lopez, Linda Dunbar , John Strassner , Rakesh Kumar
Last updated 2017-10-26 (Latest revision 2017-10-10)
Replaces draft-merged-i2nsf-framework
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
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Document shepherd Yoav Nir
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Send notices to "Adrian Farrel" <adrian@olddog.co.uk>, Yoav Nir <ynir.ietf@gmail.com>, Adrian Farrel <adrian@olddog.co.uk>
IANA IANA review state IANA OK - No Actions Needed
draft-ietf-i2nsf-framework-08
I2NSF                                                           D. Lopez
Internet-Draft                                            Telefonica I+D
Intended status: Informational                                  E. Lopez
Expires: April 25, 2018                               Curveball Networks
                                                               L. Dunbar
                                                            J. Strassner
                                                                  Huawei
                                                                R. Kumar
                                                        Juniper Networks
                                                        October 10, 2017

         Framework for Interface to Network Security Functions
                     draft-ietf-i2nsf-framework-08

Abstract

   This document describes the framework for the Interface to Network
   Security Functions (I2NSF), and defines a reference model (including
   major functional components) for I2NSF.  Network security functions
   (NSFs) are packet-processing engines that inspect and optionally
   modify packets traversing networks, either directly or in the context
   of sessions to which the packet is associated.

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 February 25, 2018.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2017 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

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   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Conventions used in this document  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     2.1.  Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     2.2.  Definitions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  I2NSF Reference Model  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     3.1.  I2NSF Consumer-Facing Interface  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
     3.2.  I2NSF NSF-Facing Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
     3.3.  I2NSF Registration Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   4.  Threats Associated with Externally Provided NSFs . . . . . . .  7
   5.  Avoiding NSF Ossification  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   6.  The Network Connecting I2NSF Components  . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     6.1.  Network Connecting I2NSF Users and I2NSF Controller  . . .  9
     6.2.  Network Connecting the Controller and NSFs  . . . . . . .   9
     6.3.  Interface to vNSFs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   7.  I2NSF Flow Security Policy Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     7.1.  Customer-Facing Flow Security Policy Structure . . . . . . 12
     7.2.  NSF-Facing Flow Security Policy Structure  . . . . . . . . 13
     7.3.  Differences from ACL Data Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   8.  Capability Negotiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   9.  Registration Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
     9.1.  Flow-Based NSF Capability Characterization . . . . . . . . 16
     9.2.  Registration Categories  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   10. Manageability Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   11. Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   12. IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   13. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   14. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
     14.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
     14.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

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1.  Introduction

   This document describes the framework for the Interface to Network
   Security Functions (I2NSF), and defines a reference model (including
   major functional components) for I2NSF.  This includes an analysis of
   the threats implied by the deployment of Network Security Functions
   (NSFs) that are externally provided.  It also describes how I2NSF
   facilitates implementing security functions in a technology- and
   vendor-independent manner in Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and
   Network Function Virtualization (NFV) environments, while avoiding
   potential constraints that could limit the capabilities of NSFs.

   The I2NSF use cases [RFC8192] call for standard interfaces for users
   of an I2NSF system (e.g., applications, overlay or cloud network
   management system, or enterprise network administrator or management
   system), to inform the I2NSF system which I2NSF functions should be
   applied to which traffic (or traffic patterns).  The I2NSF system
   realizes this as a set of security rules for monitoring and
   controlling the behavior of different traffic.  It also provides
   standard interfaces for users to monitor flow-based security
   functions hosted and managed by different administrative domains.

   [RFC8192] also describes the motivation and the problem space for
   an Interface to Network Security Functions system.

2.  Conventions used in this document

   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].

   In this document, these words will appear with that interpretation
   only when in ALL CAPS.  Lower case uses of these words are not to be
   interpreted as carrying RFC-2119 significance.

   Note:  as this is an informational document, no RFC-2119 key words
   are used.

2.1.  Acronyms

   The following acronyms are used in this document:

      DOTS  Distributed Denial-of-Service Open Threat Signaling
      IDS   Intrusion Detection System
      IoT   Internet of Things
      IPS   Intrusion Protection System
      NSF   Network Security Function

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2.2.  Definitions

   The following terms, which are used in this document, are defined in
   the I2NSF terminology document [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-terminology]:

      Capability

      Controller

      Firewall

      I2NSF Consumer

      I2NSF NSF-Facing Interface

      I2NSF Policy Rule

      I2NSF Producer

      I2NSF Registration Interface

      I2NSF Registry

      Interface

      Interface Group

      Intrusion Detection System

      Intrusion Protection System

      Network Security Function

      Role

3.  I2NSF Reference Model

   Figure 1 shows a reference model (including major functional
   components and interfaces) for an I2NSF system.  This figure is drawn
   from the point-of-view of the Network Operator Management System;
   hence, this view does not assume any particular management
   architecture for either the NSFs or for how NSFs are managed (on the
   developer's side). In particular, the Network Operator Management
   System does not participate in NSF data plane activities.

   Note that the term "Controller" is defined in
   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-terminology].

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       +-------------------------------------------------------+
       |  I2NSF User (e.g., Overlay Network Mgmt, Enterprise   |
       |  Network Mgmt, another network domain's mgmt, etc.)   |
       +--------------------+----------------------------------+
                            |
                            |  I2NSF Consumer-Facing Interface
                            |
                            |               I2NSF
               +------------+---------+ Registration  +-------------+
               | Network Operator Mgmt|  Interface    | Developer's |
               |        System        | < --------- > | Mgmt System |
               +----------------+-----+               +-------------+
                                |
                                | I2NSF NSF-Facing Interface
                                |
           +---------------+----+------------+---------------+
           |               |                 |               |
       +---+---+       +---+---+         +---+---+       +---+---+
       | NSF-1 |  ...  | NSF-m |         | NSF-1 |  ...  | NSF-m |  ...
       +-------+       +-------+         +-------+       +-------+

      Developer Mgmt System A              Developer Mgmt System B

                      Figure 1: I2NSF Reference Model

   When defining I2NSF interfaces, this framework adheres to the
   following principles:

   o  Agnostic of network topology and NSF location in the network

   o  Agnostic of provider of the NSF (i.e., independent of the way that
      the provider makes an NSF available, as well as how the provider
      allows the NSF to be managed)

   o  Agnostic of any vendor-specific operational, administrative, and
      management implementation, hosting environment, and form-factor
      (physical or virtual)

   o  Agnostic to NSF control plane implementation (e.g., signaling
      capabilities)

   o  Agnostic to NSF data plane implementation (e.g., encapsulation
      capabilities)

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3.1.  I2NSF Consumer-Facing Interface

   The I2NSF Consumer-Facing Interface is used to enable different users
   of a given I2NSF system to define, manage, and monitor security
   policies for specific flows within an administrative domain. The
   location and implementation of I2NSF policies are irrelevant to the
   consumer of I2NSF policies.

   Some examples of I2NSF Consumers include:

   o  A videoconference network manager that needs to dynamically inform
      the underlay network to allow, rate-limit, or deny flows (some of
      which are encrypted) based on specific fields in the packets for a
      certain time span.

   o  Enterprise network administrators and management systems that need
      to request their provider network to enforce specific I2NSF
      policies for particular flows.

   o  An IoT management system sending requests to the underlay network
      to block flows that match a set of specific conditions.

3.2.  I2NSF NSF-Facing Interface

   The I2NSF NSF-Facing Interface (NSF-Facing Interface for short) is
   used to specify and monitor flow-based security policies enforced by
   one or more NSFs.  Note that the I2NSF Management System does not
   need to use all features of a given NSF, nor does it need to use all
   available NSFs. Hence, this abstraction enables NSF features to be
   treated as building blocks by an NSF system; thus, developers are
   free to use the security functions defined by NSFs independent of
   vendor and technology.

   Flow-based NSFs [RFC8192] inspect packets in the order that they
   are received. Note that all Interface Groups require the NSF to be
   registered using the Registration Interface. The Interface to
   flow-based NSFs can be categorized as follows:

   1.  NSF Operational and Administrative Interface: an Interface Group
       used by the I2NSF Management System to program the operational
       state of the NSF; this also includes administrative control
       functions. I2NSF Policy Rules represent one way to change this
       Interface Group in a consistent manner. Since applications and
       I2NSF Components need to dynamically control the behavior of
       traffic that they send and receive, much of the I2NSF effort is
       focused on this Interface Group.

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   2.  Monitoring Interface: an Interface Group used by the the I2NSF
       Management System to obtain monitoring information from one or
       more selected NSFs. Each interface in this Interface Group could
       be a query- or a report-based interface. The difference is that
       a query-based interface is used by the the I2NSF Management
       System to obatin information, whereas a report-based interface
       is used by the NSF to provide information. The functionality of
       this Interface Group may also be defined by other protocols,
       such as SYSLOG and DOTS (Distributed Denial-of-Service Open
       Threat Signaling). The I2NSF Management System may take one or
       more actions based on the receipt of information; this should be
       specified by an I2NSF Policy Rule.  This Interface Group does
       NOT change the operational state of the NSF.

   This document uses the flow-based paradigm to develop the NSF-Facing
   Interface.  A common trait of flow-based NSFs is in the processing
   of packets based on the content (e.g., header/payload) and/or
   context (e.g., session state, authentication state) of the
   received packets. This feature is one of the requirements for
   defining the behavior of I2NSF.

3.3.  I2NSF Registration Interface

   NSFs provided by different vendors may have different capabilities.
   In order to automate the process of utilizing multiple types of
   security functions provided by different vendors, it is necessary to
   have a dedicated interface for vendors to define the capabilities of
   (i.e., register) their NSFs.  This Interface is called the
   I2NSF Registration Interface.

   An NSF's capabilities can either be pre-configured or retrieved
   dynamically through the I2NSF Registration Interface.  If a new
   function that is exposed to the consumer is added to an NSF, then
   the capabilities of that new function should be registered in the
   I2NSF Registry via the I2NSF Registration Interface, so that
   interested management and control entities may be made aware of them.

4.  Threats Associated with Externally Provided NSFs

   While associated with a much higher flexibility, and in many cases a
   necessary approach given the deployment conditions, the usage of
   externally provided NSFs implies several additional concerns in
   security.  The most relevant threats associated with a security
   platform of this nature are:

   o  An unknown/unauthorized user can try to impersonate another user
      that can legitimately access external NSF services.  This attack
      may lead to accessing the I2NSF Policy Rules and applications of
      the attacked user, and/or to generate network traffic outside the
      security functions with a falsified identity.

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   o  An authorized user may misuse assigned privileges to alter the
      network traffic processing of other users in the NSF underlay or
      platform.

   o  A user may try to install malformed elements (e.g., I2NSF Policy
      Rules, or configuration files), trying to directly take the
      control of a NSF or the whole provider platform. For example,
      a user may exploit a vulnerability on one of the functions, or
      may try to intercept or modify the traffic of other users in the
      same provider platform.

   o  A malicious provider can modify the software (e.g., the operating
      system or the specific NSF implementation) to alter the behavior
      of one or more NSFs.  This event has a high impact on all users
      accessing NSFs, since the provider has the highest level of
      privileges controlling the operation of the software.

   o  A user that has physical access to the provider platform can
      modify the behavior of the hardware/software components, or the
      components themselves. For example, the user can access a serial
      console (most devices offer this interface for maintenance
      reasons) to access the NSF software with the same level of
      privilege of the provider.

   The above threats may be mitigated by requiring the use of an AAA
   framework for all users to access the I2NSF environment. This could
   be further enhanced by requiring attestation to be used to detect
   changes to the I2NSF environment by authorized parties.

5.  Avoiding NSF Ossification

   A basic tenet in the introduction of I2NSF standards is that the
   standards should not make it easier for attackers to compromise the
   network.  Therefore, in constructing standards for I2NSF Interfaces
   as well as I2NSF Policy Rules, it is equally important to allow
   support for specific functions, as this enables the introduction of
   NSFs that evolve to meet new threats.  Proposed standards for I2NSF
   Interfaces to communicate with NSFs, as well as I2NSF Policy Rules
   to control NSF functionality, should not:

   o  Narrowly define NSF categories, or their roles, when implemented
      within a network

   o  Attempt to impose functional requirements or constraints, either
      directly or indirectly, upon NSF developers

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   o  Be a limited lowest common denominator approach, where interfaces
      can only support a limited set of standardized functions, without
      allowing for developer-specific functions

   o  Be seen as endorsing a best common practice for the implementation
      of NSFs; rather, this document describes the conceptual structure
      and reference model of I2NSF

   To prevent constraints on NSF developers' creativity and innovation,
   this document recommends the Flow-based NSF interfaces to be designed
   from the paradigm of processing packets in the network.  Flow-based
   NSFs ultimately are packet-processing engines that inspect packets
   traversing networks, either directly or in the context of sessions in
   which the packet is associated.  The goal is to create a workable
   interface to NSFs that aids in their integration within legacy, SDN,
   and/or NFV environments, while avoiding potential constraints which
   could limit their functional capabilities.

6.  The Network Connecting I2NSF Components

6.1.  Network Connecting I2NSF Users and the I2NSF Controller

   As a general principle, in the I2NSF environment, users directly
   interact with the I2NSF Controller.  Given the role of the I2NSF
   Controller, a mutual authentication of users and the I2NSF
   Controller may be required.  I2NSF does not mandate a specific
   authentication scheme; it is up to the users to choose available
   authentication schemes based on their needs.

   Upon successful authentication, a trusted connection between the
   user and the I2NSF Controller (or an endpoint designated by it) will
   be established.  All traffic to and from the NSF environment will
   flow through this connection. The connection is intended not only to
   be secure, but trusted in the sense that it should be bound to the
   mutual authentication between the user and the I2NSF Controller, as
   described in [I-D.pastor-i2nsf-remote-attestation]. The only
   possible exception is when the required level of assurance is lower,
  (see Section 4.1 of [I-D.pastor-i2nsf-remote-attestation]), in which
   case the user must be made aware of this circumstance.

6.2.  Network Connecting the I2NSF Controller and NSFs

   Most likely the NSFs are not directly attached to the I2NSF
   Controller; for example, NSFs can be distributed across the network.
   The network that connects the I2NSF Controller with the NSFs can be
   the same network that carries the data traffic, or can be a dedicated
   network for management purposes only.  In either case, packet loss
   could happen due to failure, congestion, or other reasons.

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   Therefore, the transport mechanism used to carry the control messages
   and monitoring information should provide reliable message delivery.
   Transport redundancy mechanisms such as Multipath TCP (MPTCP) and the
   Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) will need to be evaluated
   for applicability.  Latency requirements for control message delivery
   must also be evaluated.

   The network connection between the I2NSF Controller and NSFs can
   rely either on:

   o  Closed environments, where there is only one administrative
      domain.  Less restrictive access control and simpler validation
      can be used inside the domain because of the protected nature of
      a closed environment.

   o  Open environments, where one or more NSFs can be hosted in one or
      more external administrative domains that are reached via secure
      external network connections.  This requires more restrictive
      security control to be placed over the I2NSF interface.  The
      information over the I2NSF interfaces shall be exchanged by
      using the trusted connection described in section 6.1.

   When running in an open environment, I2NSF needs to rely on the use
   of standard I2NSF interfaces to properly verify peer identities
   (e.g., through an AAA framework).  The implementations of identity
   management functions, as well as the AAA framework, are out of scope
   for I2NSF.

6.3.  Interface to vNSFs

   There are some unique characteristics in interfacing to virtual NSFs:

   o  There could be multiple instantiations of one single NSF that has
      been distributed across a network.  When different instantiations
      are visible to the I2NSF Controller, different policies may be
      applied to different instantiations of an individual NSF (e.g.,
      to reflect the different roles that each vNSF is designated for).
      Therefore, it is recommended that Roles, in addition to the use
      of robust identities, be used to distinguish between different
      instantiations of the same vNSF. Note that this also applies to
      physical NSFs.

   o  When multiple instantiations of one single NSF appear as one
      single entity to the I2NSF Controller, the I2NSF Controller may
      need to either get assistance from other entities in the I2NSF
      Management System, and/or delegate the provisioning of the
      multiple instantiations of the (single) NSF to other entities in
      the I2NSF Management System. This is shown in Figure 2 below.

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   o  Policies enforced by one vNSF instance may need to be retrieved
      and moved to another vNSF of the same type when user flows are
      moved from one vNSF to another.

   o  Multiple vNSFs may share the same physical platform.

   o  There may be scenarios where multiple vNSFs collectively perform
      the security policies needed.

                          +------------------------+
                          |    I2NSF Controller    |
                          +------------------------+
                                   ^        ^
                                   |        |
                       +-----------+        +------------+
                       |                                 |
                       v                                 v
    + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +  + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
    |  NSF-A  +--------------+      |  |  NSF-B  +--------------+      |
    |         | NSF Manager  |      |  |         | NSF Manager  |      |
    |         +--------------+      |  |         +--------------+      |
    | + - - - - - - - - - - - - - + |  | + - - - - - - - - - - - - - + |
    | |+---------+     +---------+| |  | |+---------+     +---------+| |
    | || NSF-A#1 | ... | NSF-A#n || |  | || NSF-B#1 | ... | NSF-B#m || |
    | |+---------+     +---------+| |  | |+---------+     +---------+| |
    | |         NSF-A cluster     | |  | |          NSF-B cluster    | |
    | + - - - - - - - - - - - - - + |  | + - - - - - - - - - - - - - + |
    + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +  + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +

            Figure 2: Cluster of NSF Instantiations Management

6.4.  Consistency

   There are three basic models of consistency:
   
     o centralized, which uses a single manager to impose behavior
     o decentralized, in which managers make decisions without being
       aware of each other (i.e., managers do not exchange information)
     o distributed, in which managers make explicit use of information
       exchange to arrive at a decision

   This document does NOT make a recommendation on which of the above
   three models to use. I2NSF Policy Rules, coupled with an appropriate
   management strategy, is applicable to the design and integration of
   any of the above three consistency models.

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7.  I2NSF Flow Security Policy Structure

   Even though security functions come in a variety of form factors and
   have different features, provisioning to flow-based NSFs can be
   standardized by using policy rules.

   In this version of I2NSF, policy rules are limited to imperative
   paradigms. I2NSF is using an Event - Condition - Action (ECA) policy,
   where:

     o An Event clause is used to trigger the evaluation of the
       Condition clause of the Policy Rule.

     o A Condition clause is used to determine whether or not the set of
         Actions in the I2NSF Policy Rule can be executed or not.

     o An Action clause defines the type of operations that may be
       performed on this packet or flow.

   Each of the above three clauses are defined to be Boolean clauses.
   This means that each is a logical statement that evaluates to either
   TRUE or FALSE.

   The above concepts are described in detail in
   [I-D.draft-xibassnez-i2nsf-capability].

7.1.  Customer-Facing Flow Security Policy Structure

   This layer is for the user's network management system to express and
   monitor the needed flow security policies for their specific flows.

   Some customers may not have the requisite security skills to express
   security requirements or policies that are precise enough to
   implement in an NSF.  These customers may instead express
   expectations (e.g., goals, or intent) of the functionality desired
   by their security policies.  Customers may also express guidelines,
   such as which types of destinations are (or are not) allowed for
   certain users.  As a result, there could be different levels of
   content and abstractions used in Service Layer policies.  Here
   are some examples of more abstract security Policies that can be
   developed based on the I2NSF defined customer-facing interface:

      Enable Internet access for authenticated users

      Any operation on a HighValueAsset must use the corporate network

      The use of FTP from any user except the CxOGroup must be audited

      Streaming media applications are prohibited on the corporate
      network during business hours

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      Scan email for malware detection protect traffic to corporate
      network with integrity and confidentiality

      Remove tracking data from Facebook [website = *.facebook.com]

   One flow policy over the Customer-Facing Interface may need multiple
   NSFs at various locations to achieve the desired enforcement. Some
   flow security policies from users may not be granted because of
   resource constraints.  [I-D.xie-i2nsf-demo-outline-design] describes
   an implementation of translating a set of user policies to the flow
   policies to individual NSFs.

   I2NSF will first focus on user policies that can be modeled as
   closely as possible to the flow security policies used by individual
   NSFs.  An I2NSF user flow policy should be similar in structure to
   the structure of an I2NSF Policy Rule, but with more of a user-
   oriented expression for the packet content, context, and other parts
   of an ECA policy rule.  This enables the user to construct an I2NSF
   Policy Rule without having to know the exact syntax of the desired
   content (e.g., actual tags or addresses) to match in the packets. For
   example, when used in the context of policy rules over the Client
   Facing Interface:

      An Event can be "the client has passed the AAA process"

      A Condition can be matching user identifier, or from specific
      ingress or egress points

      An action can be establishing a IPsec tunnel

7.2.  NSF-Facing Flow Security Policy Structure

   The NSF-Facing Interface is to pass explicit rules to individual NSFs
   to treat packets, as well as methods to monitor the execution status
   of those functions.

   Here are some examples of events over the NSF facing interface:

      time == 08:00

      notification that a NSF state changes from standby to active

      user logon or logoff

   Here are some examples of conditions over the NSF facing interface

   o  Packet content values that look for one or more packet headers,
      data from the packet payload, bits in the packet, or data that
      are derived from the packet.

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   o  Context values that are based on measured and/or inferred
      knowledge, which can be used to define the state and environment
      in which a managed entity exists or has existed.  In addition to
      state data, this includes data from sessions, direction of the
      traffic, time, and geo-location information.  State refers to the
      behavior of a managed entity at a particular point in time.
      Hence, it may refer to situations in which multiple pieces of
      information that are not available at the same time must be
      analyzed.  For example, tracking established TCP connections
      (connections that have gone through the initial three-way
      handshake).

   Actions to individual flow-based NSFs include:

   o  Actions performed on ingress packets, such as pass, drop,
      rate limiting, and mirroring.

   o  Actions performed on egress packets, such as invoke signaling,
      tunnel encapsulation, packet forwarding and/or transformation.

   o  Applying a specific functional profile or signature - e.g., an IPS
      Profile, a signature file, an anti-virus file, or a URL filtering
      file.  Many flow-based NSFs utilize profile and/or signature files
      to achieve more effective threat detection and prevention.  It is
      not uncommon for a NSF to apply different profiles and/or
      signatures for different flows.  Some profiles/signatures do not
      require any knowledge of past or future activities, while others
      are stateful, and may need to maintain state for a specific length
      of time.

   The functional profile or signature file is one of the key properties
   that determine the effectiveness of the NSF, and is mostly NSF-
   specific today.  The rulesets and software interfaces of I2NSF aim to
   specify the format to pass profile and signature files while
   supporting specific functionalities of each.

   Policy consistency among multiple security function instances is very
   critical because security policies are no longer maintained by one
   central security device, but instead are enforced by multiple
   security functions instantiated at various locations.

7.3.  Differences from ACL Data Models

   Policy rules are very different from ACLs. An ACL is NOT a policy.
   Rather, policies are used to manage the construction and lifecycle
   of an ACL.

   [I-D.ietf-netmod-acl-model] has defined rules for the Access
   Control List supported by most routers/switches that forward packets
   based on packets' L2, L3, or sometimes L4 headers.  The actions for
   Access Control Lists include Pass, Drop, or Redirect.
   
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   The functional profiles (or signatures) for NSFs are not present in
   [I-D.ietf-netmod-acl-model] because the functional profiles are
   unique to specific NSFs.  For example, most IPS/IDS implementations
   have their proprietary functions/profiles.  One of the goals of I2NSF
   is to define a common envelop format for exchanging or sharing
   profiles among different organizations to achieve more effective
   protection against threats.

   The "packet content matching" of the I2NSF policies should not only
   include the matching criteria specified by
   [I-D.ietf-netmod-acl-model], but also the L4-L7 fields depending
   on the NSFs selected.

   Some Flow-based NSFs need matching criteria that include the context
   associated with the packets. This may also include metadata.

   The I2NSF "actions" should extend the actions specified by
   [I-D.ietf-netmod-acl-model] to include applying statistics
   functions, threat profiles, or signature files that clients provide.

8.  Capability Negotiation

   It is very possible that the underlay network (or provider network)
   does not have the capability or resource to enforce the flow security
   policies requested by the overlay network (or enterprise network).
   Therefore, it is required that the I2NSF system support dynamic
   discovery capabilities, as well as a query mechanism, so that the
   I2NSF system can expose appropriate security services using
   I2NSF capabilities. This may also be used to support negotiation
   between a user and the I2NSF system. Such dynamic negotiation
   facilitates the delivery of the required security service(s). The
   outcome of the negotiation would feed the I2NSF Management System,
   which would then dynamically allocate appropriate NSFs (along with
   any resources needed by the allocated NSFs) and configure the set of
   security services that meet the requirements of the user.

   When an NSF cannot perform the desired provisioning (e.g., due to
   resource constraints), it must inform the I2NSF Management System.

   The protocol needed for this security function/capability negotiation
   may be somewhat correlated to the dynamic service parameter
   negotiation procedure described in [RFC7297].  The Connectivity
   Provisioning Profile (CPP) template, even though currently covering
   only Connectivity requirements, includes security clauses such as
   isolation requirements and non-via nodes. Hence, it could be extended
   as a basis for the negotiation procedure.  Likewise, the companion
   Connectivity Provisioning Negotiation Protocol (CPNP) could be a
   candidate for the negotiation procedure.

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   "Security-as-a-Service" would be a typical example of the kind of
   (CPP-based) negotiation procedures that could take place between a
   corporate customer and a service provider.  However, more security
   specific parameters have to be considered.

   [I.D.-draft-xibassnez-i2nsf-capability] describes the concepts of
   capabilities in detail.

9.  Registration Considerations

9.1.  Flow-Based NSF Capability Characterization

   There are many types of flow-based NSFs.  Firewall, IPS, and IDS are
   the commonly deployed flow-based NSFs.  However, the differences
   among them are definitely blurring, due to more powerful technology,
   integration of platforms, and new threats.  Basic types of
   flow-based NSFs include:

   o  Firewall - A device or a function that analyzes packet headers and
      enforces policy based on protocol type, source address,
      destination address, source port, destination port, and/or other
      attributes of the packet header.  Packets that do not match policy
      are rejected.  Note that additional functions, such as logging and
      notification of a system administrator, could optionally be
      enforced as well.

   o  IDS (Intrusion Detection System) - A device or function that
      analyzes packets, both header and payload, looking for known
      events.  When a known event is detected, a log message is
      generated detailing the event.  Note that additional functions,
      such as notification of a system administrator, could optionally
      be enforced as well.

   o  IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) - A device or function that
      analyzes packets, both header and payload, looking for known
      events.  When a known event is detected, the packet is rejected.
      Note that additional functions, such as logging and notification
      of a system administrator, could optionally be enforced as well.

   Flow-based NSFs differ in the depth of packet header or payload they
   can inspect, the various session/context states they can maintain,
   and the specific profiles and the actions they can apply.  An example
   of a session is "allowing outbound connection requests and only
   allowing return traffic from the external network".

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9.2.  Registration Categories

   Developers can register their NSFs using Packet Content Match
   categories.  The IDR (Inter-Domain Routing) Flow Specification
   [RFC5575] has specified 12 different packet header matching types.
   More packet content matching types have been proposed in the IDR WG.
   I2NSF should re-use the packet matching types being specified as much
   as possible.  More matching types might be added for Flow-based NSFS.
   Tables 1-4 below list the applicable packet content categories that
   can be potentially used as packet matching types by Flow-based NSFs:

        +-----------------------------------------------------------+
        |         Packet Content Matching Capability Index          |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | Layer 2       | Layer 2 header fields:                    |
        | Header        | Source/Destination/s-VID/c-VID/EtherType/.|
        |               |                                           |
        |---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | Layer 3       | Layer  header fields:                     |
        |               |            protocol                       |
        | IPv4 Header   |            dest port                      |
        |               |            src port                       |
        |               |            src address                    |
        |               |            dest address                   |
        |               |            dscp                           |
        |               |            length                         |
        |               |            flags                          |
        |               |            ttl                            |
        |               |                                           |
        | IPv6 Header   |                                           |
        |               |            addr                           |
        |               |            protocol/nh                    |
        |               |            src port                       |
        |               |            dest port                      |
        |               |            src address                    |
        |               |            dest address                   |
        |               |            length                         |
        |               |            traffic class                  |
        |               |            hop limit                      |
        |               |            flow label                     |
        |               |            dscp                           |
        | TCP           |            Port                           |
        | SCTP          |            syn                            |
        | DCCP          |            ack                            |
        |               |            fin                            |
        |               |            rst                            |
        |               |          ? psh                            |
        |               |          ? urg                            |
        |               |          ? window                         |
        |               |            sockstress                     |
        |               | Note: bitmap could be used to             |
        |               |   represent all the fields                |

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        | UDP           |                                           |
        |               |            flood abuse                    |
        |               |            fragment abuse                 |
        |               |            Port                           |
        | HTTP layer    |                                           |
        |               |          | hash collision                 |
        |               |          | http - get flood               |
        |               |          | http - post flood              |
        |               |          | http - random/invalid url      |
        |               |          | http - slowloris               |
        |               |          | http - slow read               |
        |               |          | http - r-u-dead-yet (rudy)     |
        |               |          | http - malformed request       |
        |               |          | http - xss                     |
        |               |          | https - ssl session exhaustion |
        +---------------+----------+--------------------------------+
        | IETF PCP      | Configurable                              |
        |               | Ports                                     |
        |               |                                           |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | IETF TRAM     | profile                                   |
        |               |                                           |
        |               |                                           |
        |---------------+-------------------------------------------+

   Table 1: Packet Content Matching Capability Index

Notes:  DCCP:  Datagram Congestion Control Protocol
        PCP:   Port Control Protocol
        TRAM:  TURN Revised and Modernized, where TURN stands for
               Traversal Using Relays around NAT

        +-----------------------------------------------------------+
        |      Context Matching Capability Index                   |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | Session       |   Session state,                          |
        |               |   bidirectional state                     |
        |               |                                           |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | Time          |   time span                               |
        |               |   time occurrence                         |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | Events        |   Event URL, variables                    |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | Location      |   Text string, GPS coords, URL            |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | Connection    |   Internet (unsecured), Internet          |
        |   Type        |   (secured by VPN, etc.), Intranet, ...   |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        |  Direction    |  Inbound, Outbound                        |

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        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        |  State        |  Authentication State                     |
        |               |  Authorization State                      |
        |               |  Accounting State                         |
        |               |  Session State                            |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+

   Table 2: Context Matching Capability Index

        +-----------------------------------------------------------+
        |      Action Capability Index                              |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | Ingress port  |   SFC header termination,                 |
        |               |   VxLAN header termination                |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        |               |   Pass                                    |
        | Actions       |   Deny                                    |
        |               |   Mirror                                  |
        |               |   Simple Statistics: Count (X min; Day;..)|
        |               |   Client specified Functions: URL         |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | Egress        |   Encap SFC, VxLAN, or other header       |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+

   Table 3: Action Capability Index

        +-----------------------------------------------------------+
        |      Functional Profile Index                             |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+
        | Profile types |   Name, type, or Flexible                 |
        | Signature     |   Profile/signature URL Command for       |
        |               |   I2NSF Controller to enable/disable      |
        +---------------+-------------------------------------------+

   Table 4: Function Profile Index

10.  Manageability Considerations

   Management of NSFs includes:

   o  Lifecycle management and resource management of NSFs

   o  Configuration of devices, such as address configuration, device
      internal attributes configuration, etc.

   o  Signaling

   o  Policy rules provisioning

   Currently, I2NSF only focuses on the policy rule provisioning part.

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11.  Security Considerations

   NSF control and monitoring demand trustworthy, robust, and fully
   secured access.  Therefore, proper secure communication channels
   have to be carefully specified for carrying the controlling and
   monitoring information between the NSFs and their management
   entity or entities. This has been discussed in Section 4.

   This framework is intended for enterprise users, with or without
   cloud service offerings. Privacy of users should be provided by
   using existing standard mechanisms, such as encryption;
   anonymization of data should also be done (if possible depending
   on the transport used). Such mechanisms require confidentiality
   and integrity.

12.  IANA Considerations

   This document requires no IANA actions.  RFC Editor: Please remove
   this section before publication.

13.  Acknowledgements

   This document includes significant contributions from Christian
   Jacquenet (Orange), Seetharama Rao Durbha (Cablelabs), Mohamed
   Boucadair (Orange), Ramki Krishnan (Dell), Anil Lohiya (Juniper
   Networks), Joe Parrott (BT), Frank Xialing (Huawei), and
   XiaoJun Zhuang (China Mobile).

   Some of the results leading to this work have received funding from
   the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under
   grant agreement no. 611458.

14.  References

14.1.  Normative References

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

   [RFC5575]  Marques, P., Sheth, N., Raszuk, R., Greene, B., Mauch, J.,
              and D. McPherson, "Dissemination of Flow Specification
              Rules", RFC 5575, August 2009,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5575>.

   [RFC7297]  Boucadair, M., Jacquenet, C., and N. Wang, "IP
              Connectivity Provisioning Profile (CPP)", RFC 7297,
              July 2014,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7297>.

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14.2.  Informative References

   [RFC8192]
              Hares, S., Dunbar, L., Lopez, D., Zarny, M., and C.
              Jacquenet, "I2NSF Problem Statement and Use cases",
              RFC 8192, July 2017
              https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc8192/.

   [I-D.ietf-netmod-acl-model]
              Bogdanovic, D., Sreenivasa, K., Huang, L., and D. Blair,
              "Network Access Control List (ACL) YANG Data Model",
              draft-ietf-netmod-acl-model-13 (work in progress),
              October, 2017.

   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-terminology]
              Hares, S., Strassner, J., Lopez, D., Xia, L., and H.
              Birkholz, "Interface to Network Security Functions (I2NSF)
              Terminology", draft-ietf-i2nsf-terminology-04 (work in
              progress),  July 2017.

   [I-D.draft-xibassnez-i2nsf-capability]
              Xia, L., Strassner, J., Basile, C., and Lopez, D.,
              "Information Model of NSFs Capabilities",
              draft-xibassnez-i2nsf-capability-02.txt (work in
              progress), July, 2017.

  [I-D.pastor-i2nsf-remote-attestation]
              Pastor, A., Lopez, D., and A. Shaw, "Remote Attestation
              Procedures for Network Security Functions (NSFs) through
              the I2NSF Security Controller",
              draft-pastor-i2nsf-nsf-remote-attestation-02 (work in
              progress), September 2017.

   [I-D.xie-i2nsf-demo-outline-design]
              Xie, Y., Xia, L., and J. Wu, "Interface to Network
              Security Functions Demo Outline Design",
              draft-xie-i2nsf-demo-outline-design-00 (work in progress),
              April 2015.

   [gs_NFV]   "ETSI NFV Group Specification; Network Functions
              Virtualization (NFV) Use Cases. ETSI GS NFV 001v1.1.1",
              2013.

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Authors' Addresses

   Diego R. Lopez
   Telefonica I+D
   Editor Jose Manuel Lara, 9
   Seville,   41013
   Spain

   Phone: +34 682 051 091
   Email: diego.r.lopez@telefonica.com

   Edward Lopez
   Curveball Networks
   Chantilly, Virgina
   USA

   Phone: +1 703 220 0988
   Email: elopez@fortinet.com

   Linda Dunbar
   Huawei

   Email: Linda.Dunbar@huawei.com

   John Strassner
   Huawei

   Email: John.sc.Strassner@huawei.com

   Rakesh Kumar
   Juniper Networks

   Email: rkkumar@juniper.net

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