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Network Address Translation (NAT) Behavioral Requirements Updates
draft-penno-behave-rfc4787-5382-5508-bis-03

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Replaced".
Authors Reinaldo Penno , Simon Perreault , Mohamed Boucadair
Last updated 2012-07-16
Replaced by draft-ietf-tsvwg-behave-requirements-update, RFC 7857
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draft-penno-behave-rfc4787-5382-5508-bis-03
Port Control Protocol                                           R. Penno
Internet-Draft                                              S. Perreault
Intended status: BCP                                               Cisco
Expires: January 16, 2013                                     S. Kamiset

                                                            M. Boucadair
                                                          France Telecom
                                                           July 15, 2012

   Network Address Translation (NAT) Behavioral Requirements Updates
              draft-penno-behave-rfc4787-5382-5508-bis-03

Abstract

   This document clarifies and updates several requirements of RFC4787,
   RFC5382 and RFC5508 based on operational and development experience.
   The focus of this document is NAPT44.

Requirements Language

   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 RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

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 January 16, 2013.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 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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   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
   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.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   2.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     2.1.  Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   3.  TCP Session Tracking  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     3.1.  TCP Transitory Connection Idle-Timeout  . . . . . . . . . . 4
     3.2.  TCP RST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   4.  Address Pooling Paired (APP)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   5.  EIF Security  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   6.  EIF Protocol Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   7.  EIF Mapping Refresh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
     7.1.  Outbound Mapping Refresh and Error Packets  . . . . . . . . 6
   8.  EIM Protocol Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   9.  Port Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   10. Port Randomization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   11. IP Identification (IP ID) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   12. ICMP Query Mappings Timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   13. Hairpinning Support for ICMP Packets  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   14. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
   15. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
   16. Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
   17. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
     17.1. Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
     17.2. Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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1.  Terminology

   The reader should be familiar with all terms defined in RFC2663
   [RFC2663],RFC4787 [RFC4787],RFC5382 [RFC5382],RFC5508 [RFC5508]

2.  Introduction

   [RFC4787], [RFC5382] and [RFC5508] greatly advanced NAT
   interoperability and conformance.  But with widespread deployment and
   evolution of NAT more development and operational experience was
   acquired some areas of the original documents need further
   clarification or updates.  This documents provides such
   clarifications and updates.

2.1.  Scope

   This document focuses solely on NAPT44 and its goal is to clarify,
   fill gaps or update requirements of [RFC4787], [RFC5382] and
   [RFC5508].  It is out of the scope of this document the creation of
   completely new requirements not associated with the documents cited
   above.  New requirements would be better served elsewhere and if they
   are CGN specific in [I-D.ietf-behave-lsn-requirements]

3.  TCP Session Tracking

   [RFC5382] specifies TCP timers associated with various connection
   states but does not specify the TCP state machine a NAPT44 should use
   as a basis to apply such timers.  The TCP state machine below,
   adapted from [RFC6146], provides guidance on how TCP session tracking
   could be implemented - it is non-normative.

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                                      +-----------------------------+
                                      |                             |
                                      V                             |
                                +------+     CV4                    |
                                |CLOSED|-----SYN------+             |
                                +------+              |             |
                                   ^                  |             |
                                   |TCP_TRANS T.O.    |             |
                                   |                  V             |
                                +-------+          +-------+        |
                                | TRANS |          |V4 INIT|        |
                                +-------+          +-------+        |
                                 |    ^               |             |
                           data pkt   |               |             |
                                 |  V4 or V4 RST      |             |
                                 |  TCP_EST T.O.      |             |
                                 V    |              SV4 SYN        |
                            +--------------+          |             |
                            | ESTABLISHED  |<---------+             |
                            +--------------+                        |
                              |           |                         |
                         CV4 FIN      SV4 FIN                       |
                              |           |                         |
                              V           V                         |
                      +---------+       +----------+                |
                      |CV4 FIN  |       | SV4 FIN  |                |
                      |   RCV   |       |    RCV   |                |
                      +---------+       +----------+                |
                              |           |                         |
                         SV4 FIN      CV4 FIN                  TCP_TRANS
                              |           |                        T.O.
                              V           V                         |
                        +----------------------+                    |
                        | CV4 FIN + SV4 FIN RCV|--------------------+
                        +----------------------+
   (postamble)

3.1.  TCP Transitory Connection Idle-Timeout

   [RFC5382]:REQ-5 The transitory connection idle-timeout is defined as
   the minimum time a TCP connection in the partially open or closing
   phases must remain idle before the NAT considers the associated
   session a candidate for removal.  But the document does not clearly
   states if these can be configured separately.  This document
   clarifies that a NAT device SHOULD provide different knobs for
   configuring the open and closing idle timeouts.  This document
   further acknowledges that most TCP flows are very short (less than 10
   seconds) [FLOWRATE][TCPWILD] and therefore a partially open timeout

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   of 4 minutes might be excessive if security is a concern.  Therefore
   it MAY be configured to be less than 4 minutes in such cases.

   There are other initiatives to reduce reclaim state at NAT devices
   faster [I-D.naito-nat-resource-optimizing-extension]

3.2.  TCP RST

   [RFC5382] leaves the handling of TCP RST packets unspecified.  This
   document does not try standardize such behavior but clarifies based
   on operational experience that a NAT that receives a TCP RST for an
   active mapping and performs session tracking MAY immediately delete
   the sessions and remove any state associated with it.  If the NAT
   device that performs TCP session tracking receives a TCP RST for the
   first session that created a mapping, it MAY remove the session and
   the mapping immediately.

4.  Address Pooling Paired (APP)

   [RFC4787]: REQ-2 [RFC5382]:ND Address Pooling Paired behavior for NAT
   is recommended in previous documents but behavior when a public IPv4
   run out of ports is left undefined.  This document clarifies that if
   APP is enabled new sessions from a subscriber that already has a
   mapping associated with a public IP that ran out of ports SHOULD be
   dropped.  The administrator MAY provide a knob that allows a NAT
   device to starting using ports from another public IP when the one
   that anchored the APP mapping ran out of ports.  This is trade-off
   between subscriber service continuity and APP strict enforcement.
   (NE: It is sometimes referred as 'soft-APP')

5.  EIF Security

   [RFC4787]:REQ-8 and [RFC5382]:REQ-3 End-point independent filtering
   could potentially result in security attacks from the public realm.
   In order to handle this, when possible there MUST be strict filtering
   checks in the inbound direction.  A knob SHOULD be provided to limit
   the number of inbound sessions and a knob SHOULD be provided to
   enable or disable EIF on a per application basis.

6.  EIF Protocol Independence

   [RFC4787]:REQ-8 and[RFC5382]: REQ-3 Current RFCs do not specify
   whether EIF mappings are protocol independent.  In other words, if a
   outbound TCP SYN creates a mapping it is left undefined whether
   inbound UDP can create sessions and packets are forwarded.  EIF

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   mappings SHOULD be protocol independent in order allow inbound
   packets for protocols that multiplex TCP and UDP over the same IP:
   port through the NAT and maintain compatibility with stateful NAT64
   RFC6146 [RFC6146].  But the administrator MAY provide a configuration
   knob to make it protocol dependent.

7.  EIF Mapping Refresh

   [RFC4787]: REQ-6 [RFC5382]: ND The NAT mapping Refresh direction MAY
   have a "NAT Inbound refresh behavior" of "True" but it does not
   clarifies how this applies to EIF mappings.  The issue in question is
   whether inbound packets that match an EIF mapping but do not create a
   new session due to a security policy should refresh the mapping
   timer.  This document clarifies that even when a NAT device has a
   inbound refresh behavior of TRUE, that such packets SHOULD NOT
   refresh the mapping.  Otherwise a simple attack of a packet every 2
   minutes can keep the mapping indefinitely.

7.1.  Outbound Mapping Refresh and Error Packets

   In the case of NAT outbound refresh behavior there might be certain
   types of packets that should not refresh the mapping.  For example,
   if the mapping is kept alive by ICMP Error or TCP RST outbound
   packets sent as response to inbound packets, these SHOULD NOT refresh
   the mapping.

8.  EIM Protocol Independence

   [RFC4787] [RFC5382]: REQ-1 Current RFCs do not specify whether EIM
   are protocol independent.  In other words, if a outbound TCP SYN
   creates a mapping it is left undefined whether outbound UDP can reuse
   such mapping and create session.  On the other hand, Stateful NAT64
   [RFC6146] clearly specifies three binding information bases (TCP,
   UDP, ICMP).  This document clarifies that EIM mappings SHOULD be
   protocol dependent .  A knob MAY be provided in order allow protocols
   that multiplex TCP and UDP over the same source IP and port to use a
   single mapping.

9.  Port Parity

   A NAT devices MAY disable port parity preservation for dynamic
   mappings.  Nevertheless, A NAT SHOULD support means to explicitly
   request to preserve port parity (e.g., [I-D.boucadair-pcp-rtp-rtcp]).

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10.  Port Randomization

   A NAT SHOULD follow the recommendations specified in Section 4 of
   [RFC6056] especially: "A NAPT that does not implement port
   preservation [RFC4787] [RFC5382] SHOULD obfuscate selection of the
   ephemeral port of a packet when it is changed during translation of
   that packet.  A NAPT that does implement port preservation SHOULD
   obfuscate the ephemeral port of a packet only if the port must be
   changed as a result of the port being already in use for some other
   session.  A NAPT that performs parity preservation and that must
   change the ephemeral port during translation of a packet SHOULD
   obfuscate the ephemeral ports.  The algorithms described in this
   document could be easily adapted such that the parity is preserved
   (i.e., force the lowest order bit of the resulting port number to 0
   or 1 according to whether even or odd parity is desired)."

11.  IP Identification (IP ID)

   A NAT SHOULD handle the Identification field of translated IPv4
   packets as specified in Section 9 of [I-D.ietf-intarea-ipv4-id-
   update].

12.  ICMP Query Mappings Timeout

   Section 3.1 of [RFC5508] says that ICMP Query Mappings are to be
   maintained by NAT device.  However, RFC doesn't discuss about the
   Query Mapping timeout values.  Section 3.2 of that RFC only discusses
   about ICMP Query Session Timeouts.  ICMP Query Mappings MAY be
   deleted once the last the session using the mapping is deleted.

13.  Hairpinning Support for ICMP Packets

   [RFC5508]:REQ-7 This requirement specifies that NAT devices enforcing
   Basic NAT MUST support traversal of hairpinned ICMP Query sessions.
   This implicitly means that address mappings from external address to
   internal address (similar to Endpoint Independent Filters) MUST be
   maintained to allow inbound ICMP Query sessions.  If an ICMP Query is
   received on an external address, NAT device can then translate to an
   internal IP.  [RFC5508]:REQ-7 This requirement specifies that all NAT
   devices (i.e., Basic NAT as well as NAPT devices) MUST support the
   traversal of hairpinned ICMP Error messages.  This too requires NAT
   devices to maintain address mappings from external IP address to
   internal IP address in addition to the ICMP Query Mappings described
   in section 3.1 of that RFC.

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14.  IANA Considerations

   TBD

15.  Security Considerations

   In the case of EIF mappings due to high risk of resource crunch, a
   NAT device MAY provide a knob to limit the number of inbound sessions
   spawned from a EIF mapping.

16.  Acknowledgements

   Thanks to Dan Wing, Suresh Kumar, Mayuresh Bakshi, Rajesh Mohan and
   Senthil Sivamular for review and discussions

17.  References

17.1.  Normative References

   [I-D.ietf-pcp-base]
              Wing, D., Cheshire, S., Boucadair, M., Penno, R., and P.
              Selkirk, "Port Control Protocol (PCP)",
              draft-ietf-pcp-base-26 (work in progress), June 2012.

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

   [RFC2663]  Srisuresh, P. and M. Holdrege, "IP Network Address
              Translator (NAT) Terminology and Considerations",
              RFC 2663, August 1999.

   [RFC3605]  Huitema, C., "Real Time Control Protocol (RTCP) attribute
              in Session Description Protocol (SDP)", RFC 3605,
              October 2003.

   [RFC4787]  Audet, F. and C. Jennings, "Network Address Translation
              (NAT) Behavioral Requirements for Unicast UDP", BCP 127,
              RFC 4787, January 2007.

   [RFC5382]  Guha, S., Biswas, K., Ford, B., Sivakumar, S., and P.
              Srisuresh, "NAT Behavioral Requirements for TCP", BCP 142,
              RFC 5382, October 2008.

   [RFC5508]  Srisuresh, P., Ford, B., Sivakumar, S., and S. Guha, "NAT
              Behavioral Requirements for ICMP", BCP 148, RFC 5508,

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              April 2009.

   [RFC6056]  Larsen, M. and F. Gont, "Recommendations for Transport-
              Protocol Port Randomization", BCP 156, RFC 6056,
              January 2011.

   [RFC6146]  Bagnulo, M., Matthews, P., and I. van Beijnum, "Stateful
              NAT64: Network Address and Protocol Translation from IPv6
              Clients to IPv4 Servers", RFC 6146, April 2011.

17.2.  Informative References

   [FLOWRATE]
              Zhang, Y., Breslau, L., Paxson, V., and S. Shenker, "On
              the Characteristics and Origins of Internet Flow Rates".

   [I-D.boucadair-pcp-rtp-rtcp]
              Boucadair, M. and S. Sivakumar, "Reserving N and N+1 Ports
              with PCP", draft-boucadair-pcp-rtp-rtcp-04 (work in
              progress), April 2012.

   [I-D.ietf-behave-lsn-requirements]
              Perreault, S., Yamagata, I., Miyakawa, S., Nakagawa, A.,
              and H. Ashida, "Common requirements for Carrier Grade NATs
              (CGNs)", draft-ietf-behave-lsn-requirements-08 (work in
              progress), July 2012.

   [I-D.naito-nat-resource-optimizing-extension]
              Kengo, K. and A. Matsumoto, "NAT resource optimizing
              extension",
              draft-naito-nat-resource-optimizing-extension-01 (work in
              progress), March 2012.

   [TCPWILD]  Qian, F., Subhabrata, S., Spatscheck, O., Morley Mao, Z.,
              and W. Willinger, "TCP Revisited: A Fresh Look at TCP in
              the Wild".

Authors' Addresses

   Reinaldo Penno
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   170 West Tasman Drive
   San Jose, California  95134
   USA

   Email: repenno@cisco.com

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   Simon Perreault
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   2875 boul. Laurier, suite D2-630
   Quebec, QC  G1V 2M2
   Canada

   Email: simon.perreault@viagenie.ca

   Sarat Kamiset
   California

   Phone:
   Fax:

   Mohamed Boucadair
   France Telecom
   Rennes,   35000
   France

   Email: mohamed.boucadair@orange.com

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