Internet Engineering Task Force S. Fluhrer
Internet-Draft D. McGrew
Intended status: Informational P. Kampanakis
Expires: March 13, 2016 Cisco Systems
September 10, 2015
An Extension for Postquantum Security using Preshared Keys for IKEv2
draft-fluhrer-qr-ikev2-00
Abstract
This document describes an extension of IKEv2 to allow it to be
resistant to a Quantum Computer, by using preshared keys
Status of This Memo
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This Internet-Draft will expire on March 13, 2016.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Exchanges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.1. Computing SKEYSEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2. Verifying preshared key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3. Child SAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Appendix A. Discussion and Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1. Introduction
It is an open question whether or not it is feasible to build a
quantum computer, but if it is, many of the cryptographic algorithms
and protocols currently in use would be insecure. A quantum computer
would be able to solve DH and ECDH problems, and this would imply
that the security of existing IKEv2 systems would be compromised.
IKEv1 when used with preshared keys does not share this
vulnerability, because those keys are one of the inputs to the key
derivation function. If the preshared key have sufficient entropy,
then the resulting system is believed to be quantum resistant.
This document describes a way to extend IKEv2 to have a similar
property; assuming that the two end systems share a long secret key,
then the resulting exchange is quantum resistant, that is, believed
to be invulnerable to an attacker with a Quantum Computer. By
bringing postquantum security to IKEv2, this note removes the need to
use an obsolete version of the Internet Key Exchange in order to
achieve that security goal.
The general idea is that we add an additional secret that is shared
between the initiator and the responder; this secret is in addition
to the authentication method that is already provided within IKEv2.
We stir in this secret when generating the IKE keys (along with the
parameters that IKEv2 normally uses); this secret adds quantum
resistance to the exchange.
It is important to minimize the changes to IKEv2. The existing
mechanisms to do authentication and key exchange remain in place
(that is, we continue to do (EC)DH, and potentially a PKI
authentication if configured). This does not replace the
authentication checks that the protocol does; instead, it is done as
a parallel check.
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1.1. 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].
2. Assumptions
We assume that each IKE peer (both the initiator and the responder)
has an optional Postquantum Preshared Key (PPK) (potentially on a
per-peer basis), and also has a configurable flag that determines
whether this postquantum preshared key is mandatory. This preshared
key is independent of the preshared key (if any) that the IKEv2
protocol uses to perform authentication.
In addition, we assume that the initiator knows which PPK to use with
the peer it is initiating to (for instance, if it knows the peer,
then it can determine which PPK will be used).
3. Exchanges
If the initiator has a configured postquantum preshared key (whether
or not it is optional), then it will include a vendor ID payload in
its initial exchange as follows:
Initiator Responder
------------------------------------------------------------------
HDR, SAi1, KEi, Ni, VID --->
The contents of this vendor ID payload MUST consist of:
o 16 byte fixed vendor id
o 16 random bytes
o 16 bytes of AES256(HMAC_SHA256(ppk, "A"), random_bytes)
The 16 byte fixed vendor id consists of:
0x26, 0x9c, 0x82, 0x00, 0x36, 0x8a, 0xf5, 0x3b,
0x85, 0xd9, 0xde, 0x63, 0x6b, 0x3b, 0x29, 0xa4
this is the MD5 of "Quantum Resistant Secret Hash".
That is, we use HMAC_SHA256(ppk, "A") as the 256 bit AES key to
encrypt the 16 random bytes (in ECB mode), where "A" is a string
consisting of a single 0x41 octet.
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When the responder receives this vendor ID, it scans through its list
of configured postquantum preshared keys, and determines which one it
is (by computing AES256(HMAC(ppk, "A"), Nonce) and comparing that
value to the 16 bytes within the payload.
If the responder finds a value that matches the payload for a
particular PPK, that indicates that the intiator and responder share
a PPK and can make use of this extension. Upon finding such a
preshared key, the responder includes a vendor ID payload with the
response:
Initiator Responder
------------------------------------------------------------------
<--- HDR, SAr1, Ker, Nr, [CERTREQ], VID
The contents of this vendor ID payload MUST consist of:
o 16 byte fixed vendor id
The 16 byte fixed vendor id consists of:
0x26, 0x9c, 0x82, 0x00, 0x36, 0x8a, 0xf5, 0x3b,
0x85, 0xd9, 0xde, 0x63, 0x6b, 0x3b, 0x29, 0xa4
this is the MD5 of "Quantum Resistant Secret Hash".
The random value and its encryption are not included in the VID this
time. This VID serves as a postquantum preshared key confirmation.
If the responder does not find such a preshared key, then it MAY
continue with the protocol without including a vendor ID (if it is
configured to not have mandatory preshared keys), or it MAY abort the
exchange (if it configured to make preshared keys mandatory).
When the initiator receives the response, it KUST check for the
presence of the vendor ID. If it receives one, it marks the SA as
using the configured preshared key; if it does not receive one, it
MAY either abort the exchange (if the preshared key was configured as
mandatory), or it MAY continue without using the preshared key (if
the preshared key was configured as optional).
3.1. Computing SKEYSEED
When it comes time to generate the keying material during the initial
Exchange, the implementation (both the initiator and the responder)
checks to see if there was an agreed-upon preshared key. If there
was, then both sides use this alternative formula:
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SKEYSEED = prf(HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Ni) | HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Nr), g^ir)
(SK_d | SK_ai | SK_ar | SK_ei | SK_er | SK_pi | SK_pr) =
prf+(SKEYSEED, HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Ni) | HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Nr) |
SPIi | SPIr)
where ppk is the postquantum preshared key, Ni, Nr are the nonces
exchanged in the IKEv2 exchange (and not the nonces used in the
vendor id;apos;s), HMAC_SHA256(a, b) uses 'a' as the key, and 'b' as
the text, and g^ir is the Diffie-Hellman shared secret.
3.2. Verifying preshared key
Once both the initiator and the responder have exchanged identities,
they both double-check with their policy database to verify that they
were configured to use those preshared keys when negotiating with the
peer. If they are not, they MUST abort the exchange.
3.3. Child SAs
When you create a child SA, the initiator and the responder will
transform the nonces using the same ppk as they used during the
original IKE SA negotiation. That is, they will use one of the
alternative derivations (depending on whether an optional Diffie-
Hellman was included):
KEYMAT = prf+(SK_d, HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Ni) | HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Nr))
or
KEYMAT = prf+(SK_d, g^ir (new) |
HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Ni) | HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Nr))
When you rekey an IKE SA (generating a fresh SKEYSEED), the initiator
and the responder will transform the nonces using the same ppk as
they used during the original IKE SA negotiation. That is, they will
use the alternate derivation:
SKEYSEED = prf( SK_d (old), g^ir (new) |
HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Ni) | HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Nr))
(SK_d | SK_ai | SK_ar | SK_ei | SK_er | SK_pi | SK_pr) =
prf+(SKEYSEED, HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Ni) | HMAC_SHA256(ppk, Nr) |
SPIi | SPIr)
4. Security Considerations
Quantum computers are able to perform Grover's algorithm; that
effectively halves the size of a symmetric key. Because of this, the
user SHOULD ensure that the postquantum preshared key used has at
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least 256 bits of entropy, in order to provide a 128 bit security
level.
In addition, the policy SHOULD be set to negotiate only quantum-
resistant symmetric algorithms (AES-256, SHA-256 or better).
The random values within the vendor ID are there to prevent anyone
from deducing whether two different exchanges use the same ppk
values. To prevent such a leakage, every exchange SHOULD use a fresh
16 byte random value. Violating this places the anonymity at risk;
however it has no other security implication.
5. Normative References
[AES] National Institute of Technology, "Specification for the
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)", 2001, <FIPS 197>.
[RFC2104] Krawczyk, H., Bellare, M., and R. Canetti, "HMAC: Keyed-
Hashing for Message Authentication", RFC 2104,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2104, February 1997,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2104>.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC7296] Kaufman, C., Hoffman, P., Nir, Y., Eronen, P., and T.
Kivinen, "Internet Key Exchange Protocol Version 2
(IKEv2)", STD 79, RFC 7296, DOI 10.17487/RFC7296, October
2014, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7296>.
Appendix A. Discussion and Rationale
The idea behind this is that while a Quantum Computer can easily
reconstruct the shared secret of an (EC)DH exchange, they cannot as
easily recover a secret from a symmetric exchange this makes the
SKEYSEED depend on both the symmetric ppk, and also the Diffie-
Hellman exchange. If we assume that the attacker knows everything
except the ppk during the key exchange, and there are 2**n plausible
ppk's, then a Quantum Computer (using Grover's algorithm) would take
O(2**(n/2)) time to recover the ppk. So, even if the (EC)DH can be
trivially solved, the attacker still can't recover any key material
unless they can find the ppk, and that's too difficult if the ppk has
enough entropy (say, 256 bits).
Another goal of this protocol is to minimize the number of changes
within the IKEv2 protocol, and in particular, within the cryptography
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of IKEv2. By limiting our changes to vendor id's, and translating
the nonces, it is hoped that this would be implementable, even on
systems that perform much of the IKEv2 processing is in hardware.
A third goal was to be friendly to incremental deployment in
operational networks, for which we might not want to have a global
shared key, and also if we're rolling this out incrementally. This
is why we specifically try to allow the ppk to be dependent on the
peer, and why we allow the ppk to be configured as optional.
A fourth goal was to avoid violating any of the security goals of
IKEv2. One such goal is anonymity; that someone listening into the
exchanges cannot easily determine who is negotiating with whom.
The third and fourth goals are in partial conflict. In order to
achieve postquantum security, we need to stir in the ppk when the
keys are computed, however the keys are computed before we know who
we're talking to (and so which ppk we should use). And, we can't
just tell the other side which ppk to use, as we might use different
ppk's for different peers, and so that would violate the anonymity
goal. If we just (for example) included a hash of the ppk, someone
listening in could easily tell when we're using the same ppk for
different exchanges, and thus deduce that the systems are related.
The compromise we selected was to include enough information that
someone who knows the ppk can recognize it, however someone who
doesn't know the ppk learns nothing. However, one issue with this is
that the responder needs to do a linear scan over all ppk's it has
been configured with; this is not ideal, but it's the best compromise
we can come up with. And, the current protocol (of having the
initiator send an R, Enc(R) pair in the vendor id) doesn't allow
anyone who doesn't know the vendor id have no information whether two
exchanges use the same ppk or not.
An alternative approach to solve this problem without a linear scan
would be to do a normal (non-QR) IKEv2 exchange, and when the two
sides obtain identities, see if they need to be QR, and if so, create
an immediate IKEv2 child SA (using the ppk). One issue with this is
that someone with a quantum computer could deduce the identities
used.
A slightly different approach to try to make this even more friendly
to IKEv2-based cryptographic hardware might be to use invertible
cryptography when we present the nonces to the kdf. The idea here is
in case we have IKEv2 hardware that insists on selecting its own
nonces (and so we won't be able to give a difference nonce to the
KDF); instead, we encrypt the nonce that we send (and decrypt the
nonce that we get). Of course, this means that the responder will
need to figure out which ppk we're using up front (based on the
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vendor id); we're not sure if this idea would be a net improvement
(especially since the transform we're proposing now is
cryptographically secure and simple).
The reasoning behind the cryptography used: the values we use in the
vendor id's are cryptographically independent of the values used
during the SKEYSEED generation (because HMAC_SHA256(ppk, A) is
independent of HMAC_SHA256(ppk, B) if A and B are different strings
(and as any real nonce must be longer than a single byte, there is
never a collision between that and \quot;A\quot;. This independent
stems from the assumption that SHA-256 is a secure MAC. This was
chosen over more ad hoc designs where the two uses of the ppk would
appear to be independent (but that doesn't follow from any standard
cryptographical assumption. The method of encoding the ppk within
the vendor id (using AES-256) was chosen as it met two goals:
o Anonymity; given A, AES256_K1(A), B, AES256_K2(B), it's fairly
obvious that gives someone (even if they have a quantum computer)
no clue about whether K1==K2 (unless either A==B or AES256_K1(A)==
AES256_K2(B); both highly unlikely events if A and B are chosen
randomly).
o Performance during the linear search; a server could preexpand the
AES keys, and so comparing a potential ppk against an vendor id
from the initiator would amount to performing a single AES block
encryption and then doing a 16 byte comparison.
The first goal is considered important; one of the goals of IKEv2 is
to provide anonymity. The second is considered important because the
linear scan directly affects scalability. While this draft requires
a linear scan over all ppk's known by the responder (it is unknown
how to avoid this without leaking when the same ppk is being
negotiated by two different exchanges), this use of AES makes this
linear scan as cheap as possible. We don't know how to avoid the
linear scan, so making the scan cheap (while not compromising on
security) was considered important.
One thing that this draft does not address is algorithm agility; it
specifies that we'll use HMAC-SHA256 and AES256, and does not allow
any alternatives. This might change in a latter version of this
draft.
Authors' Addresses
Scott Fluhrer
Cisco Systems
Email: sfluhrer@cisco.com
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David McGrew
Cisco Systems
Email: mcgrew@cisco.com
Panos Kampanakis
Cisco Systems
Email: pkampana@cisco.com
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