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Layer-2 security aspects for the IEEE 802.15.4e MAC
draft-piro-6tisch-security-issues-02

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Expired".
Authors Giuseppe Piro , Gennaro Boggia , Luigi Alfredo Grieco
Last updated 2014-06-13
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draft-piro-6tisch-security-issues-02
6TiSCH                                                           G. Piro
INTERNET-DRAFT                                     (Politecnico di Bari)
Intended Status: Informational                                 G. Boggia
Expires: December 15, 2014                         (Politecnico di Bari)
                                                            L. A. Grieco
                                                   (Politecnico di Bari)
                                                           June 13, 2014

          Layer-2 security aspects for the IEEE 802.15.4e MAC
                  draft-piro-6tisch-security-issues-02

Abstract

   The aim of this Internet Draft is to define standard compliant
   procedures for configuring layer-2 security services in IEEE
   802.15.4e-based Low-power and Lossy Networks. In particular, it
   provides a review of security aspects presented in both IEEE 802.15.4
   and IEEE 802.15.4e specifications, the classification of secure
   network configurations and layer-2 keys, the description of a set of
   consecutive steps required to establish a layer-2 secure link, and a
   lightweight Key Management Protocol designed  for negotiating a
   layer-2 one-hop link key. As the final goal, the document would
   describe how security MAC attributes can by initialized and updated
   in order to offer layer-2 security services in real networks. 

Status of this Memo

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

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
   other groups may also distribute working documents as
   Internet-Drafts.

   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."

   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/1id-abstracts.html

   The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html
 

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Copyright and License Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 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
   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  Acronyms  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   3  Security in IEEE 802.15.4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   5  Definition of layer-2 keys  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   4  Security Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   6  Establishing a secured layer-2 link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     6.1  Setting-up phase  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
     6.2  Bootstrap phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
       6.2.1  Bootstrap phase for the PAN coordinator . . . . . . . . 12
       6.2.2  Bootstrap phase for a remote mote . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     6.3  Join Phase  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     6.4  Key Negotiation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
       6.4.1  New Header Information Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
       6.4.2 KMP description  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
       6.4.2 Calculation of the Link Key  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   7  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
   8  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
   9  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
     9.1  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
     9.2  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

 

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1  Acronyms

   In addition to the acronyms defined in [I-D.palattella-6tisch-
   terminology], the following acronyms are used in this document:

   ECDH Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman

   KMP Key Management Protocol

2  Introduction

   The IEEE 802.15.4 standard [IEEE802154] is widely recognized as one
   of the most successful enabling technologies for short-range low-rate
   wireless communications. It covers all the details related to the
   Medium Access Control (MAC) and physical layers of the protocol stack
   and supports the possibility to protect MAC packets by means of
   symmetric-key cryptography techniques with several security options. 
   However, the IEEE 802.15.4 standard does not explain how handling the
   initialization of a secure IEEE 802.15.4 domain, the generation and
   the exchange of keys, and the management of joining operations in a
   secure 802.15.4 network already configured in the past, thus
   delegating the upper layers to orchestrate, enable, configure, and
   negotiate security services. The IEEE 802.15.4e [IEEE802154e]
   standard introduces some amendments to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.
   Among its key features there is the Time-slotted Channel Hopping
   (TSCH), i.e., a novel MAC protocol, which better supports multi-hop
   communications in emerging industrial applications. In addition, it
   provides very few upgrades to security-related aspects. 

   Since the IEEE 802.15.4e amendment focuses only on link-layer
   aspects, the 6TiSCH WG was created to define open standards in
   support of the adoption of IPv6 over the TSCH mode of the
   IEEE802.15.4e standard, thus covering all facets related to the
   management of network communications in complex (and eventually
   distributed) Low-Power and Lossy Networks (LLNs) [I-D.watteyne-
   6tisch-tsch] [I-D.wang-6tisch-6top]. 

   Security aspects represent an important issue that needs to be
   considered in a 6TiSCH network. TSCH defines mechanisms to encrypt
   and authenticate MAC frames but it does not define how this keying
   material is generated [IEEE802154]. For this reason, the 6TiSCH WG
   needs to (i) define the keying material and authentication mechanism
 

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   needed by a new mote to join an existing network; (ii) define a
   mechanism to allow for the secure transfer of application data
   between neighbor motes; and (iii) define a mechanism to allow for the
   secure transfer of signaling data between motes and 6TiSCH [I-
   D.watteyne-6tisch-tsch].

   In this context, the aim of this Internet Draft is to provide
   standard compliant procedures for configuring layer-2 security
   services in IEEE 802.15.4e-based Low-power and Lossy Networks. In
   particular, main features covered by this document are:

      - a review of security aspects presented in both IEEE 802.15.4 and
      IEEE 802.15.4e specifications, with particular attention to the
      set of parameters that need to be set for enabling security
      services at the MAC layer;

      - the classification of possible secure network configurations,
      which include Fully Secure, Unsecure, Partial Secure, and Hybrid
      Secure networks. 

      - the definition of layer-2 keys, that are MasterKey, NetworkKey,
      and LinkKey;

      - the description of a set of consecutive steps (i.e., Setting-up,
      Bootstrap, Join, and key Negotiation phases) that are required to
      establish a layer-2 secure link among a couple of nodes;

      - the design of a lightweight Key Management Protocol useful for
      negotiating a layer-2 one-hop link key.

3  Security in IEEE 802.15.4

This section summarizes security features defined within IEEE 802.15.4
and IEEE 802.15.4e specifications [IEEE802154] [IEEE802154e]. 

The standard defines eight security levels to protect MAC frames, as
summarized in Fig. 1 and imposes the adoption of the CCM* algorithm to
perform encryption and description procedures (which requires a key of
128 bit). 

+----------+-------------+-----------+----------------+
| Security | Security    | Data      | Data           |
| level    | attribute   | Integrity | Confidentiality|
+----------+-------------+-----------+----------------+
| 0        | None        | No        | No             |
 

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+----------+-------------+-----------+----------------+
| 1        | MIC-32      | Yes       | No             |
+----------+-------------+-----------+----------------+
| 2        | MIC-64      | Yes       | No             |
+----------+-------------+-----------+----------------+
| 3        | MIC-128     | Yes       | No             |
+----------+-------------+-----------+----------------+
| 4        | ENC         | No        | Yes            |
+----------+-------------+-----------+----------------+
| 5        | ENC-MIC-32  | Yes       | Yes            |
+----------+-------------+-----------+----------------+
| 6        | ENC-MIC-64  | Yes       | Yes            |
+----------+-------------+-----------+----------------+
| 7        | ENC-MIC-128 | Yes       | Yes            |
+----------+-------------+-----------+----------------+
Figure 1. Security levels available for a IEEE 802.15.4 network.

At the MAC layer, encryption and decryption operations are implemented
within the "outgoing frame security" and the "incoming frame security"
procedures, respectively. They use a number of security attributes,
summarized in what follows:

      - macKeyTable: it is composed by a set of KeyDescriptor elements.
      A specific KeyDescriptor element is created for each key, composed
      by (see Tab. 61 of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for more details
      [IEEE802154]):

            - The KeyIdLookupList, which is a list of
            KeyIdLookupDescriptor entries. A KeyIdLookupDescriptor is
            composed by a set of parameters (see Tab. 65 of the IEEE
            802.15.4 standard for more details [IEEE802154]), i.e.,
            KeyIdMode, KeySource, KeyIndex, DeviceAddMode, DevicePANId,
            and DeviceAddress, that are used to identify the key within
            the macKeyTable. 

            - The DeviceDescriptorHandleList, which contains pointers to
            DeviceDescriptor elements stored within the macDeviceTable.
            It is used to identify which devices may use the key.  

            - The KeyUsageList, which is a list of KeyUsageDescriptor
            elements. A KeyUsageDescriptor is composed by the FrameType
            and the CommandFrameIdentifies fields that indicate the
            frame type with which the considered key may be used (see
            Tab. 62 of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for more details
            [IEEE802154]).

            - The Key.  
 

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      - macDeviceTable: it is composed by a set of DeviceDescriptor
      elements, providing some information about remote devices which
      the node can establish secure communication with. A dedicated
      DeviceDescriptor element is associated to each remote device. It
      is composed by a number of fields, i.e., PANId, ShortAddress,
      ExtAddress, FrameCounter, and Extemp, which collect information
      related to a specific remote device (see Tab. 64 of the IEEE
      802.15.4 standard for more details [IEEE802154]).

      - macSecurityLevelTable: it is made by a set of
      SecurityLevelDescriptor elements, which store details about the
      security level required for each MAC frame type and subtype.
      Fields belonging to the SecurityLevelDescriptor data structure
      are: FrameType, ComamndFrameIdentifier, SecurityMinimum,
      DeviceOverrideSecurityMinimum, and AllowedSecurityLevels (see Tab.
      63 of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for more details [IEEE802154]). 

      - macFrameCounter: it is an integer value storing the outgoing
      frame counter for the considered device. Its length depends from
      the configured macFrameCounterMode (in TSCH-enabled networks it
      represents the ASN [IEEE802154e]).

      - macAutoRequestSecurityLevel: it is an integer value providing
      the security level used for automatic data requests.

      - macAutoRequestKeyIdMode: it is an integer value indicating the
      key identifier mode used for automatic data requests. It is not
      valid if the macAutoRequestSecurityLevel attribute is set to 0x00.

      - macAutoRequestKeySource: it represents a short or extended IEEE
      802.15.4 MAC address, indicating the originator of the key used
      for automatic data requests. This attribute is not valid if the
      macAutoRequestKeyIdMode element is not valid or set to 0x00.

      - macAutoRequestKeyIndex: it is an integer value storing the index
      of the key used for automatic data requests. It is not valid if
      the macAutoRequestKeyIdMode attribute is not valid or set to
      0x00.

      - macDefaultKeySource: it is the extended IEEE 802.15.4 MAC
      address of the originator of the default key used for key
      identifier mode 0x01. 

      - macPANCoordExtendedAddress: it represents the extended address
      of the PAN coordinator.

      - macPANCoordShortAddress: it represents the short address
      assigned to the PAN coordinator.
 

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      -macFrameCounterMode: it is an integer value describing the size
      of the frame counter (i.e., 0x04 corresponds to a frame size of 4
      octets;  0x04 corresponds to a frame size of 5 octets). 

During the outgoing security procedure, the high layer uses the
KeyIdMode parameter to select a specific key in the macKeyTable to be
used for protecting the MAC frame.

The KeyIdMode is set to 00, 01, 10, and 11 in the case the key can be
derived implicitly by both sender and the receiver and its is not
specified in the message, the key is determined explicitly by the
KeyIndex parameter stored into the MAC header and the
macDefaultKeySource, the key can be derived by considering KeyIndex and
KeySource fields stored into the MAC header (with KeySource representing
the short address of the device that has generated the key), and the key
can be derived by considering KeyIndex and KeySource fields stored into
the MAC header (with KeySource representing the IEEE extended address of
the device that has generated the key), respectively.

Both IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEE 802.15.4e standards do not provide any
guideline to create (and or negotiate) keys, as well as to configure the
aforementioned security MAC attributes. They just delegate upper layers
to orchestrate such aspects.

5  Definition of layer-2 keys

At the mac layer, three different kind of keys may be defined, that
are:

      - MasterKey: it represents an initial secret, which is shared
      among all the motes. A mote can be subjected to any kind of tamper
      attacks. Without any further shrewdness, an attacker that may
      physically access to the mote could extract the MasterKey, thus
      compromising the security of the whole 6TiSCH network. Hence, it
      is very important to ensure the protection to that tampering
      attacks by using specific software-based and/or hardware-based
      mechanisms [Walters07][Becher2006]. 

      - NetworkKey: it is a key shared among provided by at the end of
      the join procedure  This means that it can be obtained only if the
      node is able to correctly complete the join procedure, which
      offers authorization and authentication services.

      - LinkKey: it represents a one-hop key negotiated by a couple of
      motes, directly connected at the MAC layer, that intend to
      exchange data in a secured way. 
 

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Each defined layer-2 key is used to protect a specific set of messages.
In particular, the MasterKey is used for protecting enhanced beacon
messages and data frames carrying messages exchanged during the join
procedure; the NetworkKey is used for protecting broadcast messages and
MAC frames exchanged during the Key Negotiation Phase; the LinkKey is
used for encrypting and authenticating messages exchanged between two
nodes at the MAC layer. 

MasterKey and NetworkKey should be properly identified mwithin the
network by setting KeyIdMode to 0x01 (for both of keys) and the KeyIndex
to 1 and 2, respectively. Differently, the LinkKey should be explicitly
identified within the network. Hence, its KeyIdMode should be set to
0x03 and KeySource and KeyIndex parameters should be set according to
the couple of nodes that negotiated the key (more details can be found
in Sec. 6).

As it will better described in the following sections, the MasterKey is
stored within the device during the Setting-Up Phase and configured as
one of security MAC attribute at the end of the Bootstrap Phase. The
NetworkKey is obtained and configured as one of security MAC attribute
during the Join Phase. Finally, the LinkLey is negotiated and configured
at the MAC layer during the Key Negotiation Phase. 

4  Security Configurations

Based on the status and the configuration of security services, a
network may fall within one of the following security configurations:

      - Fully Secured network: all the devices forming the network are
      configured to fully support security services and they have
      already obtained (or negotiated) all the keys defined in the
      previous section. It represents the most secured configuration:
      all packets are encrypted and authenticated by using a specific
      key, which depends from the message they carry. Nodes that do not
      support security capabilities (or that are not in posses of all
      the information to joining the network, such as key materials and
      encryption and decryption algorithms) are not allowed to join the
      network.

      - Unsecured network: security services are not supported. Even if
      in possession of security capabilities, any pair of nodes is not
      allowed to establish a secured communication. Differently for the
      Fully Secured scheme, this is the lowest security level. Since the
      data encryption, the message integrity, and the peer
 

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      authentication are not implemented, all the MAC frames are
      exchanged in clear. Hence, the setup and the maintaining of the
      network are described by the standard and no further upgrades are
      required.

      - Partial Secured network: only the integrity of message is
      supported.

      - Hybrid Secured network: a network falls in this configuration
      when there still are a group of devices that have not yet received
      the network key (because they have not yet completed the join
      procedure).

The standard imposes to specify, for each kind of MAC packet, minimum
security levels that should be guaranteed. These restrictions must be
detailed for each remote device.  To this end, SecurityMinimum,
DeviceOverrideSecurityMinimum, and AllowedSecurityLevels parameters are
stored into the DeviceDescriptor element (see Sec. 3) to define the
minimum security level (i.e., one of those reported in Fig.1), the
possibility to override the minimum security level (i.e.,
DeviceOverrideSecurityMinimum is just a boolean flag), and the list of
allowed security levels in the case the minimum one could be overridden,
respectively.

With reference to secure network configurations presented in Sec. 3.1,
these parameters must be set as reported in Fig. 2.

+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Attribute      | Secured Network Configurations        |
|                |Unsecured| Fully   | Partial | Hybrid  |
+----------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| SecurityMinimum|0        | from 5  | from 1  | from 5  |
|                |         | to 7    | to 4    | to 7    |
+----------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| DeviceOverride-| FALSE   | FALSE   | FALSE   | FALSE   |
| SecurityMinimum|         |         |         |         |
+----------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| AllowedSecuri- | 0       | from 5  | from 1  | from 5  |
| tyLevelsvels   |         | to 7    | to 4    | to 7    |
+----------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Figure 2. Setting of security attributes of the DeviceDescriptor element
in each defined secure network configuration.

The Unsecured network configuration does not support any security
features. Hence, both minimum and allowable security levels are set to 0
for all the MAC frames and the possibility to override such constraints
 

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is disabled for all devices. 

If the Fully Secured configuration is enabled, the minimum security
level must be chosen in the range [5,7], thus allowing the possibility
to support the encryption and the authentication of messages. The
manufacturer must set the default value to 7; it can be updated by the
network administrator. The minimum security level must not be overridden
by any devices and, as a consequence, the field AllowedSecurityLevels
should contain only one value, equal to the minimum security level. 

If the Partial Secured configuration is enabled, the minimum security
level must be chosen in the range [1,4], thus allowing the possibility
to support the authentication of messages. The manufacturer must set the
default value to 4; it can be updated by the network administrator. The
minimum security level must not be overridden by any devices and, as a
consequence, the field AllowedSecurityLevels should contain only one
value, equal to the minimum security level. 

If the Hybrid Secured configuration is enabled, security attributes of
the DeviceDescriptor element should be set as in the Fully Secured
configuration. In fact, also in this context, independently from the key
adopted for protecting the packet, both data confidentiality and message
integrity services needs to be provided. 

6  Establishing a secured layer-2 link 

A layer-2 secure link can be established through the execution of four
consecutive phases: Setting-up, Bootstrapping, Join, and Key Negotiation
(see Fig. 3).

The Setting-up Phase is used to store into the device all the secrets
required to initialize a secured domain. The Bootstrap Phase, whose
implementation is different for both PAN coordinator and any other
remote mote, serves for initializing security MAC attributes. The Join
Phase is handled by upper layers for offering authorization and
authentication services and allows the device to receive at the end the
NetworkKey. Finally, the Key Negotiation Phase handles the Key
Management Protocol (KMP) and it is used to negotiate a layer-2 key
between a couple of nodes that are directly connected at the MAC layer. 

 

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+-----------------------+
|                       |       Installation of
|   Setting-up Phase    |  -->  initial secretes 
|                       |       in each device
+-----------------------+
           |
           V
+-----------------------+
|                       |      Initialization of
|   Bootstrap Phase     |  --> security MAC attributes 
|                       |      
+-----------------------+
           |
           V
+-----------------------+
|                       |      Implementation of the join
|     Join Phase        |  --> procedure through upper layers
|                       |      protocols like IEEE 802.1x, PANA, etc.
+-----------------------+
           |
           V
+-----------------------+
|                       |       Negotiation of the
| Key Negotiation Phase |  -->  layer-2 link key
|                       |       between a couple of nodes
+-----------------------+

Figure 3. Summary of the proposed framework.

6.1  Setting-up phase

The setting-up phase is used to properly configure the device that will
join to a secure networks. It consists in storing, within the device,
parameters and initial secrets, which will be used by secure algorithms
and procedure to setup the secure domain. They include the MasterKey,
(ii) the GlobalSecurityLevelsTable, (iii) the private key, (iv) the
public key stored within a certificate, and (iv) the certificate of the
certification authority. This operation may be performed by the
manufacturer or by the network administrator. 

Note that the GlobalSecurityLevelsTable, that has been reported in Fig.
4, is used to store the minimum security level and the list of allowed
security levels that must be adopted for each kind of MAC frame and for
each security configuration defined in Sec. 5. Both the minimum security
level and the list of allowed security levels must be chosen by the
 

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manufacturer or by the network administrator, according to restrictions
reported in Fig. 2.

+-------------+------------+-----------------------------+
| Attribute   | Frame Type |Secured  Configurations      |
|             |            | Fully   | Partial | Hybrid  |
+-------------+------------+---------+---------+---------+
| Security    | Beacon     |         |         |         |
| Minimum     |            |         |         |         |
+-------------+------------+---------+---------+---------+
| Security    | Data       |         |         |         |
| Minimum     |            |         |         |         |
+-------------+------------+---------+---------+---------+
| Security    | Command MAC|         |         |         |
| Minimum     |            |         |         |         |
+-------------+------------+---------+---------+---------+
| Security    | ACK        |         |         |         |
| Minimum     |            |         |         |         |
+-------------+------------+---------+---------+---------+
| AllowedSe-  | Beacon     |         |         |         |
| curityLevels|            |         |         |         |
+-------------+------------+---------+---------+---------+
| AllowedSe-  | Data       |         |         |         |
| curityLevels|            |         |         |         |
+-------------+------------+---------+---------+---------+
| AllowedSe-  | Command MAC|         |         |         |
| curityLevels|            |         |         |         |
+-------------+------------+---------+---------+---------+
| AllowedSe-  | ACK        |         |         |         |
| curityLevels|            |         |         |         |
+-------------+------------+---------+---------+---------+

Figure 4. Structure of the GlobalSecurityLevelsTable. 

6.2  Bootstrap phase 

6.2.1  Bootstrap phase for the PAN coordinator

As soon a node becomes the PAN coordinator, it should configure initial
security MAC attributes, including those related to the MasterKey. To
this end, specific primitives of the 6top adaptation layer are used [I-
D.wang-6tisch-6top]. 

 

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The following operations are executed:

      a) A CONFIGURE.security command is generated by the 6top layer and
      sent to the MAC entity to initialize security attributes. The set
      of parameters handled by this command are set as in the sequel:

            a.1) enable = true;

            a.2) macAutoRequestSecurityLevel = security level expected
            for the beacon message and stored within the
            GlobalSecurityLevelsTable;

            a.3) macAutoRequestKeyIdMode = 0x03;

            a.4) macAutoRequestKeySource = MAC address of the device;

            a.5) macAutoRequestKeyIndex = 1;

            a.6) macDefaultKeySource = MAC address of the device;

      b) CONFIGURE.security.macSecurityLevelTable command is generated
      by the 6top layer and sent to the MAC entity to initialize
      macSecurityLevelTable. Parameters stored into this command are
      taken from the GlobalSecurityLevelsTable.

      c) A new KeyIdLookupList data structure is created. A
      KeyIdLookupDescriptor is generated and stored into the
      KeyIdLookupList data structure. The KeyIdMode, the KeyIndex, and
      the key variables of this KeyIdLookupDescriptor are set to 0x01
      and 1, respectively. Instead, KeySource, DeviceAddrMode,
      DevicePANId, and DeviceAddress are not set due to the selected
      KeyIdMode (see Tab. 65 of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for more
      details [IEEE802154]).  

      d) A KeyUsageList data structure is created. One
      KeyUsageDescriptor for each kind of broadcast messages is create
      and stored into the KeyUsageList data structure. 

      e) An empty DeviceDescriptorHandleList is created. No data are
      stored within this list because the PAN coordinator does not yet
      know the list of devices that may use this key.

      f) Then, the 6top layer deliver the MasterKey, the
      KeyIdLookupList, the KeyUsageList, and the
      DeviceDescriptorHandleList to the MAC layer by using the
      CONFIGURE.security.macKeyTable primitive. Triggered by the
      CONFIGURE.security.macKeyTable command, the MAC layer will create
      a KeyDescriptor associated to the Master Key, where storing all
 

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      the parameters received by the 6top layer, and store it within the
      macKeyTable.

The Bootstrap phase for the PAN coordinator has been summarized in Fig.
5.

 

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     6top                                        MAC
      |                                           |
      | CONFIGURE.security                        |
      |-----------------------------------------> |
      |                                     initialize 
      |                                     security MAC
      |                                      attributes
      |                                           |
      | CONFIGURE.security.macSecurityLevelTable  |
      |-----------------------------------------> |
      |                                       initialize 
      |                                    minimum security
      |                                         levels
      |                                           |
      | CONFIGURE.security.macKeyTable            |
      |-----------------------------------------> |
      |                               create the KeyDescriptor
      |                                 associated to the
      |                                      MasterKey 
      |                                           |
      V                                           V
Figure 5. Bootstrap Phase for the PAN coordinator.

6.2.2  Bootstrap phase for a remote mote

Before executing the Join Phase, a remote mote should initialize
security MAC attributes, including information related to the MasterKey,
 through specific 6top adaptation layer primitives. To this end, after
the reception of the enhanced beacon message, the following operations
are executed:

      a) From the received beacon message, the mote extracts the PAN_ID,
      the MAC address of the node that sent the beacon, and the
      FrameCounter.

      b) A CONFIGURE.security primitive is generated by the 6top layer
      and sent to the MAC entity to initialize security attributes. The
      set of parameters handled by this primitive are set as in the
      sequel:

            b.1) enable = true;

            b.2) macAutoRequestSecurityLevel = security level expected
            for the beacon message and stored within the
            GlobalSecurityLevelsTable;

 

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            b.3) macAutoRequestKeyIdMode = 0x03;

            b.4) macAutoRequestKeySource = MAC address of the device;

            b.5) macAutoRequestKeyIndex = 1;

            b.6) macDefaultKeySource =  MAC address of the device;

      c) CONFIGURE.security.macSecurityLevelTable primitive is generated
      by the 6top layer and sent to the MAC entity to initialize
      macSecurityLevelTable. Parameters stored into this command are
      taken from the GlobalSecurityLevelsTable.

      d) A new KeyIdLookupList data structure is created. A
      KeyIdLookupDescriptor is generated and stored into the
      KeyIdLookupList data structure. The KeyIdMode and the KeyIndex
      variables of this KeyIdLookupDescriptor are set to 0x00, the MAC
      address of the node that sent the beacon message and 1,
      respectively. Instead, KeySource, DeviceAddrMode, DevicePANId, and
      DeviceAddress are not set due to the selected KeyIdMode (see Tab.
      65 of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for more details [IEEE802154]).  

      e) A KeyUsageList data structure is created. One
      KeyUsageDescriptor for each kind of messages is create and stored
      into the KeyUsageList data structure. 

      f) A new DeviceDescriptor element, associated to the node that
      sent the enhanced beacon message is created and stored into the
      macDeviceTable. It is built considering these specifications (see
      Tab. 64 of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard [IEEE802154] for more
      details):

            f.1) The PANId variable is associated to the PAN_ID value
            extracted from the Beacon message.

            f.2) The ShortAddress is set to the MAC address of node that
            sent the beacon message whenever the short addressing mode
            is used. This parameter is set to 0xfffe if only the
            extended addressing mode is used. If its value is unknown,
            the ShortAddress parameter is set to 0xfff. 

            f.3) The ExtAddress is set to the IEEE MAC address of node
            that sent the beacon message.

            f.4) The FrameCounter parameter is set to the FrameCounter
            value extracted from the enhanced beacon message (it
            represents the ASN in the case the network works in TSCH-
            mode [IEEE802154e]).
 

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            f.5) The Extempt boolean flag is set to the allowed value of
            the DeviceOverriddeSecurityMinimum variable described in
            Fig. 2.

      g) The DeviceDescriptorHandleList is created and populated with
      the DeviceDescriptor created at the previous step.

      h) A KeyUsageList data structure is created and stored within the
      KeyDescriptor element. One KeyUsageDescriptor for each broadcast
      message is create and stored into the KeyUsageList data
      structure.

      i) The 6top layer deliver the MasterKey, the KeyIdLookupList, the
      KeyUsageList, and the DeviceDescriptorHandleList to the MAC layer
      by using the CONFIGURE.security.macKeyTable primitive. Triggered
      by the CONFIGURE.security.macKeyTable primitive, the MAC layer
      will create a KeyDescriptor associated to the Master Key, in which
      storing all the parameters received by the 6top layer, and will
      store it within the macKeyTable.

The Bootstrap Phase for a remote mote in a beacon-enabled network has
been summarized in Fig. 6.

 

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   mote                          mote           device that sends
   6top                           MAC          the beacon message
    |                              |                   |
    |                              | Enhanced Beacon   |
    |                              | <-----------------|
    |                              |                   |
    |                        extract PAN_ID            |
    |                      and macShortAddress         |
    |                              |                   |
    | CONFIGURE.security           |                   |
    |----------------------------> |                   |
    |                           initialize             | 
    |                           security MAC           |
    |                           attributes             |
    |                              |                   |
    | CONFIGURE.security.          |                   |
    |        macSecurityLevelTable |                   |
    |----------------------------> |                   |
    |                          initialize              |
    |                        minimum security          |
    |                            levels                |
    |                              |                   |
    | CONFIGURE.security.          |                   |
    |             macKeyTable      |                   |
    |----------------------------> |                   |
    |                 create the KeyDescriptor         |
    |                     associated to the            |
    |                       MasterKey                  |
    |                              |                   |
    V                              V                   V
Figure 6. Bootstrap Phase for the remote mote.

6.3  Join Phase

During the Join Phase, the join procedure is implemented by upper layers
for offering authorization and authentication features. It may be
executed, for example, through IEEE 802.1x or PANA [RFC5191] protocols.
It is out of scope of this Internet Draft. 

As soon a node receives the NetworkKey (expected at the end of the join
procedure), it updates security MAC attributes as described for the
MasterKey, with the only difference that the KeyIndex is set to 2.

Details about this important phase can be found in [I-D.draft-
richardson-6tisch-security-architecture].

 

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6.4  Key Negotiation Phase

Since resource-constrained devices are unable to perform complex
algorithms and protocols [Altolini2013][Riaz2009], a simple key
agreement protocol, based on both ECDH algorithm and Station-To-Station
protocol [StsProtocol], is adopted during the execution of the key
negotiation phase.

As described in Sec. 6.1, it is supposed that each node stores the
certificate of the authority and the couple of its public and private
key (generated through the adoption of elliptic curves). Obviously, the
public key is stored within a certificate, signed by the authority. 

In this section is described the KMP implemented between a couple of
nodes, i.e., node A and node B, which want to negotiate a on-hop layer-2
key. Let PBK_A, PVK_A, PBK_B, and PVK_B be A's public key, A's private
key, B's public key, and B's private key, respectively. Moreover, to
handle the Key Negotiation phase, a number of high-level commands have
been defined. In line with IEEE 802.15.4e specifications, they are
mapped into specific Header Information Elements, each one identified by
an unique element ID. 

6.4.1  New Header Information Elements

The set of Header Information Elements introduced for handling the KMP
are:

      - Crypto Information Element (element ID set to 0x18). It is used
      to deliver the certificate storing the ECDH public key. Since the
      certificate length is generally higher than the IEEE 802.15.4e MAC
      payload, it is necessary to fragment the certificate, thus sending
      it through multiple consecutive MAC frames. To this end, the first
      byte of the introduced Information Element is used to indicate the
      fragment ID to which the current packet refers to. The second byte
      of the first fragment stores the RAND parameter, which is a random
      value adopted to finalize the mutual authentication.

      - Authentication Information Element (element ID set to 0x19),
      which stored the AuthField used to execute the mutual
      authentication.

 

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6.4.2 KMP description

The KMP consists of six consecutive steps:

      - Step 1: node A sends to node B its certificate through a number
      of consecutive MAC frames containing the Crypto Information
      Element. Let RAND_A be the random number stored within the second
      byte of the Crypto Information Element belonging to the first MAC
      frame. All of these packets are protected by using the NetworkKey
      received at the end of the Join Phase.

      - Step 2: node B verifies the authenticity of the received
      certificate. In affirmative case, it sends to node A its
      certificate through a number of consecutive MAC frames containing
      the Crypto Information Element. Let RAND_B be the random number
      stored within the second byte of the Crypto Information Element
      belonging to the first MAC frame. All of these packets are
      protected by using the NetworkKey received at the end of the Join
      Phase.

      - Step 3: node A and node B computes the PreLinkKey, P_k, by using
      the ECDH algorithm. 

      - Step 4: node A computes the authentication parameter as expected
      for the Station-To-Station protocol:
                      AuthField_A = E(P_k, sign),

      where

            sign = S(PVK_A, H_128 {P_k || RAND_B || RAND_A})

      Then, it creates a Authentication Information Element containing
      the aforecomputed AuthField and sends it to node B. Note that
      H_128 {.}, E(.), and S(.) operators refer to a 128-bit hash
      function, the encryption, and the digital sign algorithm,
      respectively.

      - Step 5: node B computes the authentication parameter through the
      128-bit hash function, as in the sequel: 

                      AuthField_B = E(P_k, sign),

      where

 

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           sign = S(PVK_B, H_128 {P_k || RAND_A || RAND_B}).

      Then, it creates a Authentication Information Element containing
      the aforecomputed AuthField and sends it to node A. 

      - Step 6: nodes A and B verifies the authenticity of received
      AuthField parameters (according to the Station-To-Station)
      protocol and computes the Link Key.

6.4.2 Calculation of the Link Key

The standard imposes to use the CCM* algorithm and a 128-bit key to
protect MAC frames. At the same time, the CCM* algorithm assumes that
each key must be used for a specific number of block ciphers
[IEEE802154].

For each i-th group of block ciphers, the LinkKey, L_k, is computed as
in the following:

                    L_k = H_128 (i | PAN_ID | P_k).

Node A and node B compute the Link Key and updates mac security
attributes accordingly. To this end, the following steps are executed:

      a) If i=1, a new DeviceDescriptor element, associated to the
      remote mote with which it has negotiated a link key, is created.
      It is composed of:

            a.1) the PANId, which is set to the PAN_ID value.

            a.2) The ShortAddress, which is set to the MAC address of
            the remote node whenever the short addressing mode is used.
            This parameter is set to 0xfffe if only the extended
            addressing mode is used. In the case its value is unknown,
            this parameter is set to 0xfff.

            a.3) The ExtAddress, which is set to the IEEE MAC address of
            the remote node.

            a.4) The FrameCounter, which is set to the FrameCounter
            value extracted from the latest packet received by the
            remote node.
 

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            a.5) The Extempt boolean flag, which is set to the allowed
            value of the DeviceOverriddeSecurityMinimum variable
            described in Fig. 2.

      b) A new KeyIdLookupList data structure is created. A
      KeyIdLookupDescriptor is generated and stored into the
      KeyIdLookupList data structure. The KeyIdMode, the KeySource, and
      the KeyIndex variables of this KeyIdLookupDescriptor are set to
      0x03, the MAC address of the remote mote, and 1, respectively.
      DeviceAddrMode, DevicePANId, and DeviceAddress are not set because
      of the selected KeyIdMode (see Tab. 65 of the IEEE 802.15.4
      standard for more details [IEEE802154]). 

      c) A KeyUsageList data structure is created and stored within the
      KeyDescriptor element. One KeyUsageDescriptor associated to data
      MAC frames is created and stored into the KeyUsageList data
      structure.

      d) A DeviceDescriptorHandleList is created and populated with the
      pointer to the DeviceDescriptor created at the point a).

      e) The 6top layer delivers the Link Key, the KeyIdLookupList, the
      KeyUsageList, and the DeviceDescriptorHandleList to the MAC layer
      by using the CONFIGURE.security.macKeyTable command. Triggered by
      the CONFIGURE.security.macKeyTable command, the MAC layer will
      create a KeyDescriptor associated to the LinkKey, L_k, in which
      storing all the parameters received by the 6top layer, and will
      store it within the macKeyTable.

 

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7  Security Considerations

      There are no security considerations for this document.

8  IANA Considerations

      There is no IANA action required for this document.

9  References

9.1  Normative References

   [IEEE802154e] IEEE standard for Information Technology, "IEEE std.
              802.15.4e, Part. 15.4: Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area
              Networks (LR-WPANs) Amendament 1: MAC sublayer", April
              2012.

   [IEEE802154] IEEE standard for Information Technology, "IEEE std.
              802.15.4, Part. 15.4: Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC)
              and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications for Low-Rate
              Wireless Personal Area Networks", June 2011.

   [I-D.watteyne-6tisch-tsch] Watteyne, T., MR. Palattella, and LA.
              Grieco, "Using IEEE802.15.4e TSCH in an LLN context:
              Overview, Problem Statement and Goals", Internet-Draft
              draft-ietf-6tisch-tsch-00, November 2013.

   [I-D.wang-6tisch-6top] Wang, Q., Vilajosana, X. and T. Watteyne,
              "6TiSCH Operation Sublayer (6top)", Internet-Draft draft-
              wang-6tisch-6top-sublayer-00, February 2014.

   [I-D.draft-palattella-6tisch-terminology] Palattella, MR., Ed.,
              Thubert, P., Watteyne, T., and Q. Wang, "Terminology in
              IPv6 over Time Slotted Channel Hopping". Internet Draft
              draft-ietf-6tisch-terminology-01, February 2013.

   [I-D.draft-richardson-6tisch-security-architecture] M. Richardson,
              "security architecture for 6top: requirements and
              structure". Internet Draft draft-richardson-6tisch-
              security-architecture-02 April 2014.

   [DH] W. Diffie and M. Hellman, "New directions in cryptography," IEEE
              Trans. Inf. Theor. 22, 6 Sep., 2006.

   [StsProtocol] Whitfield Diffie, Paul C. van Oorschot and Michael J, 
              "Wiener, Authentication and authenticated key exchange",
 

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              Designs, Codes, and Cryptography, 1987.  

9.2  Informative References

   [ZIGBEEIP] ZigBee Public Document 15-002r00, "ZigBee IP
              Specification", 2013.

   [Camtepe2005] Seyit A. Camtepe and Bulent Yener, "Key Distribution
              Mechanisms for Wireless Sensor Networks: a Survey",
              Technical Report 2005.

   [Walters07] John Paul Walters, Zhengqiang Liang, Weisong Shi, and
              Vipin Chaudhary, "Wireless sensor network security: A
              survey," in book chapter of Security", Proc. of
              Distributed, Grid, and Pervasive Computing, CRC Press,
              2007.

   [Wang2006] Yong Wang, Garhan Attebury, and Byrav Ramamurthy, "A
              survey of security issues in wireless sensor networks",
              IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 2006

   [Cayirci2007] Security in Wireless Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks. John
              Wiley & Sons, 2007.

   [RFC5191] Forsberg, D., Ohba, Y., Patil, B., Tschofenig, H., and A.
              Yegin, "Protocol for Carrying Authentication for Network
              Access (PANA)", RFC 5191, May 2008.

   [RFC6347] Rescorla, E. and N. Modadugu, "Datagram Transport Layer
              Security Version 1.2", RFC 6347, January 2012.

   [HIPDEX] Moskowitz, R., "HIP Diet EXchange (DEX)", draft-
              moskowitzhip-rg-dex-06 (work in progress), May 2012.

   [PalattellaSurvey] Maria Rita Palattella, Nicola Accettura, Xavier
              Vilajosana, Thomas Watteyne, Luigi Alfredo Grieco, Gennaro
              Boggia, and Mischa Dohler," Standardized Protocol Stack
              For The Internet Of (Important) Things", IEEE
              Communications Surveys & Tutorials, December, 2012

   [StallingsSecurityBooks] William Stallings: Cryptography and network
              security - principles and practice. Prentice Hall 2010.

   [Becher2006] Alexander Becher, Zinaida Benenson, and Maximillian
              Dornseif, "Tampering with motes: real-world physical
              attacks on wireless sensor networks",  In Proc. of conf.
 

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              on Security in Pervasive Computing (SPC), Berlin, 2006

   [TELOSB] "Crossbow Technology, TelosB Datasheet." [Online].
              Available: http://www.willow.co.uk/TelosB_Datasheet.pdf

   [Riaz2009] Riaz, R.; Ki-Hyung Kim; Ahmed, H.F., "Security analysis
              survey and framework design for IP connected LoWPANs,"
              Autonomous Decentralized Systems, 2009. ISADS '09.
              International Symposium on , vol., no., pp.1,6, 23-25
              March 2009

   [Altolini2013] Altolini, D.; Lakkundi, V.; Bui, N.; Tapparello, C.;
              Rossi, M., "Low power link layer security for IoT:
              Implementation and performance analysis," Wireless
              Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC),
              2013 9th International , vol., no., pp.919,925, 1-5 July
              2013

   [Watteyne2012] Thomas Watteyne, Xavier Vilajosana, Branko Kerkez,
              Fabien Chraim, Kevin Weekly, Qin Wang, Steven D. Glaser,
              Kris Pister: OpenWSN: a standards-based low-power wireless
              development environment. Trans. Emerging
              Telecommunications Technologies 23(5): 480-493 (2012)

Authors' Addresses

Giuseppe Piro
DEI, Dep. of Electrical and Information Engineering
Politecnico di Bari
Via Orabona 4, 70125, Bari, ITALY
Phone: +39 0805963301

Email: giuseppe.piro@poliba.it

Gennaro Boggia
DEI, Dep. of Electrical and Information Engineering
Politecnico di Bari
Via Orabona 4, 70125, Bari, ITALY
Phone: +39 0805963913

Email: gennaro.boggia@poliba.it
 

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Luigi Alfredo Grieco
DEI, Dep. of Electrical and Information Engineering
Politecnico di Bari
Via Orabona 4, 70125, Bari, ITALY
Phone: +39 0805963911

Email: alfredo.grieco@poliba.it

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