CoRE Working Group M. Tiloca
Internet-Draft R. Hoeglund
Updates: 7252, 7641 (if approved) RISE AB
Intended status: Standards Track C. Amsuess
Expires: 3 October 2021
F. Palombini
Ericsson AB
1 April 2021
Observe Notifications as CoAP Multicast Responses
draft-ietf-core-observe-multicast-notifications-00
Abstract
The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) allows clients to
"observe" resources at a server, and receive notifications as unicast
responses upon changes of the resource state. In some use cases,
such as based on publish-subscribe, it would be convenient for the
server to send a single notification addressed to all the clients
observing a same target resource. This document updates RFC7252 and
RFC7641, and defines how a server sends observe notifications as
response messages over multicast, synchronizing all the observers of
a same resource on a same shared Token value. Besides, this document
defines how Group OSCORE can be used to protect multicast
notifications end-to-end between the server and the observer clients.
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-
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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 3 October 2021.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2021 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Server-Side Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1. Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2. Informative Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.1. Encoding of Transport-Specific Message Information . 8
2.2.2. Encoding of Transport-Independent Message
Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3. Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4. Congestion Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.5. Cancellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3. Client-Side Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.1. Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.2. Informative Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.3. Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.4. Cancellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4. Web Linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5. Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6. Rough Counting of Clients in the Group Observation . . . . . 19
6.1. Processing on the Client Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.2. Processing on the Server Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6.2.1. Request for Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6.2.2. Collection of Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6.2.3. Processing of Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
7. Protection of Multicast Notifications with Group OSCORE . . . 23
7.1. Signaling the OSCORE Group in the Informative Response . 24
7.2. Server-Side Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.2.1. Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.2.2. Informative Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
7.2.3. Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
7.2.4. Cancellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
7.3. Client-Side Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
7.3.1. Informative Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
7.3.2. Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
8. Example with Group OSCORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9. Intermediaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
10. Intermediaries Together with End-to-End Security . . . . . . 35
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10.1. The Listen-To-Multicast-Responses Option . . . . . . . . 36
10.2. Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
11. Informative Response Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
12. Transport Protocol Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
13. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
13.1. Listen-To-Multicast-Responses Option . . . . . . . . . . 41
14. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
14.1. Media Type Registrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
14.2. CoAP Content-Formats Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
14.3. Informative Response Parameters Registry . . . . . . . . 43
14.4. CoAP Transport Information Registry . . . . . . . . . . 44
14.5. CoAP Option Numbers Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
14.6. Expert Review Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
15. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
15.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
15.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Appendix A. Different Sources for Group Observation Data . . . . 50
A.1. Topic Discovery in Publish-Subscribe Settings . . . . . . 50
A.2. Introspection at the Multicast Notification Sender . . . 51
Appendix B. Pseudo-Code for Rough Counting of Clients . . . . . 52
B.1. Client Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
B.2. Client Side - Optimized Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
B.3. Server Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Appendix C. OSCORE Group Self-Managed by the Server . . . . . . 56
Appendix D. Phantom Request as Deterministic Request . . . . . . 58
Appendix E. Example with a Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Appendix F. Example with a Proxy and Group OSCORE . . . . . . . 61
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
1. Introduction
The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) [RFC7252] has been
extended with a number of mechanisms, including resource Observation
[RFC7641]. This enables CoAP clients to register at a CoAP server as
"observers" of a resource, and hence being automatically notified
with an unsolicited response upon changes of the resource state.
CoAP supports group communication over IP multicast
[I-D.ietf-core-groupcomm-bis]. This includes support for Observe
registration requests over multicast, in order for clients to
efficiently register as observers of a resource hosted at multiple
servers.
However, in a number of use cases, using multicast messages for
responses would also be desirable. That is, it would be useful that
a server sends observe notifications for a same target resource to
multiple observers as responses over IP multicast.
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For instance, in CoAP publish-subscribe [I-D.ietf-core-coap-pubsub],
multiple clients can subscribe to a topic, by observing the related
resource hosted at the responsible broker. When a new value is
published on that topic, it would be convenient for the broker to
send a single multicast notification at once, to all the subscriber
clients observing that topic.
A different use case concerns clients observing a same registration
resource at the CoRE Resource Directory
[I-D.ietf-core-resource-directory]. For example, multiple clients
can benefit of observation for discovering (to-be-created) OSCORE
groups [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm], by retrieving from the
Resource Directory updated links and descriptions to join them
through the respective Group Manager
[I-D.tiloca-core-oscore-discovery].
More in general, multicast notifications would be beneficial whenever
several CoAP clients observe a same target resource at a CoAP server,
and can be all notified at once by means of a single response
message. However, CoAP does not currently define response messages
over IP multicast. This specification fills this gap and provides
the following twofold contribution.
First, it updates [RFC7252] and [RFC7641], by defining a method to
deliver Observe notifications as CoAP responses addressed to multiple
clients, e.g. over IP multicast. In the proposed method, the group
of potential observers entrusts the server to manage the Token space
for multicast notifications. By doing so, the server provides all
the observers of a target resource with the same Token value to bind
to their own observation. That Token value is then used in every
multicast notification for the target resource. This is achieved by
means of an informative unicast response sent by the server to each
observer client.
Second, this specification defines how to use Group OSCORE
[I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm] to protect multicast notifications
end-to-end between the server and the observer clients. This is also
achieved by means of the informative unicast response mentioned
above, which additionally includes parameter values used by the
server to protect every multicast notification for the target
resource by using Group OSCORE. This provides a secure binding
between each of such notifications and the observation of each of the
clients.
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1.1. Terminology
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
Readers are expected to be familiar with terms and concepts described
in CoAP [RFC7252], group communication for CoAP
[I-D.ietf-core-groupcomm-bis], Observe [RFC7641], CBOR [RFC8949],
OSCORE [RFC8613], and Group OSCORE [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm].
This specification additionally defines the following terminology.
* Traditional observation. A resource observation associated to a
single observer client, as defined in [RFC7641].
* Group observation. A resource observation associated to a group
of clients. The server sends notifications for the group-observed
resource over IP multicast to all the observer clients.
* Phantom request. The CoAP request message that the server would
have received to start or cancel a group observation on one of its
resources. A phantom request is generated inside the server and
does not hit the wire.
* Informative response. A CoAP response message that the server
sends to a given client via unicast, providing the client with
information on a group observation.
2. Server-Side Requirements
The server can, at any time, start a group observation on one of its
resources. Practically, the server may want to do that under the
following circumstances.
* In the absence of observations for the target resource, the server
receives a registration request from a first client wishing to
start a traditional observation on that resource.
* When a certain amount of traditional observations has been
established on the target resource, the server decides to make
those clients part of a group observation on that resource.
The server maintains an observer counter for each group observation
to a target resource, as a rough estimation of the observers actively
taking part in the group observation.
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The server initializes the counter to 0 when starting the group
observation, and increments it after a new client starts taking part
in that group observation. Also, the server should keep the counter
up-to-date over time, for instance by using the method described in
Section 6.
This document does not describe a way for the client to influence the
server's decision to start group observations. That is done on
purpose: the specified mechanism is expected to be used in situations
where sending individual notifications is not feasible, or not
preferred beyond a certain number of clients observing a target
resource. If applications arise where negotiation does make sense,
they are welcome to specify additional means to opt in to multicast
notifications.
2.1. Request
Assuming it is reachable at the address SRV_ADDR and port number
SRV_PORT, the server starts a group observation on one of its
resources as defined below. The server intends to send multicast
notifications for the target resource to the multicast IP address
GRP_ADDR and port number GRP_PORT.
1. The server builds a phantom observation request, i.e. a GET
request with an Observe option set to 0 (register).
2. The server selects an available value T, from the Token space of
a CoAP endpoint used for messages having:
* As source address and port number, the IP multicast address
GRP_ADDR and port number GRP_PORT.
* As destination address and port number, the server address
SRV_ADDR and port number SRV_PORT, intended for accessing the
target resource.
This Token space is under exclusive control of the server.
3. The server processes the phantom observation request above,
without transmitting it on the wire. The request is addressed to
the resource for which the server wants to start the group
observation, as if sent by the group of observers, i.e. with
GRP_ADDR as source address and GRP_PORT as source port.
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4. Upon processing the self-generated phantom registration request,
the server interprets it as an observe registration received from
the group of potential observer clients. In particular, from
then on, the server MUST use T as its own local Token value
associated to that observation, with respect to the (previous hop
towards the) clients.
5. The server does not immediately respond to the phantom
observation request with a multicast notification sent on the
wire. The server stores the phantom observation request as is,
throughout the lifetime of the group observation.
6. The server builds a CoAP response message INIT_NOTIF as initial
multicast notification for the target resource, in response to
the phantom observation request. This message is formatted as
other multicast notifications (see Section 2.3) and MUST include
the current representation of the target resource as payload.
The server stores the message INIT_NOTIF and does not transmit
it. The server considers this message as the latest multicast
notification for the target resource, until it transmits a new
multicast notification for that resource as a CoAP message on the
wire. After that, the server deletes the message INIT_NOTIF.
2.2. Informative Response
After having started a group observation on a target resource, the
server proceeds as follows.
For each traditional observation ongoing on the target resource, the
server MAY cancel that observation. Then, the server considers the
corresponding clients as now taking part in the group observation,
for which it increases the corresponding observer counter
accordingly.
The server sends to each of such clients an informative response
message, encoded as a unicast response with response code 5.03
(Service Unavailable). As per [RFC7641], such a response does not
include an Observe option. The response MUST be Confirmable and MUST
NOT encode link-local addresses.
The Content-Format of the informative response is set to application/
informative-response+cbor, defined in Section 14.2. The payload of
the informative response is a CBOR map including the following
parameters, whose CBOR labels are defined in Section 11.
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* 'tp_info', with value a CBOR array. This includes the transport-
specific information required to correctly receive multicast
notifications bound to the phantom observation request. The CBOR
array is formatted as defined in Section 2.2.1. This parameter
MUST be included.
* 'ph_req', with value the byte serialization of the transport-
independent information of the phantom observation request (see
Section 2.1), encoded as a CBOR byte string. The value of the
CBOR byte string is formatted as defined in Section 2.2.2. This
parameter MUST be included.
* 'last_notif', with value the byte serialization of the transport-
independent information of the latest multicast notification for
the target resource, encoded as a CBOR byte string. The value of
the CBOR byte string is formatted as defined in Section 2.2.2.
This parameter MAY be included.
The CDDL notation [RFC8610] provided below describes the payload of
the informative response.
informative_response_payload = {
1 => array, ; 'tp_info', i.e. transport-specific information
2 => bstr, ; 'ph_req' (transport-independent information)
? 3 => bstr ; 'last_notif' (transport-independent information)
}
Figure 1: Format of the informative response payload
Upon receiving a registration request to observe the target resource,
the server does not create a corresponding individual observation for
the requesting client. Instead, the server considers that client as
now taking part in the group observation of the target resource, of
which it increments the observer counter by 1. Then, the server
replies to the client with the same informative response message
defined above, which MUST be Confirmable.
Note that this also applies when, with no ongoing traditional
observations on the target resource, the server receives a
registration request from a first client and decides to start a group
observation on the target resource.
2.2.1. Encoding of Transport-Specific Message Information
The CBOR array specified in the 'tp_info' parameter is formatted
according to the following CDDL notation.
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tp_info = [
srv_addr ; Addressing information of the server
? req_info ; Request data extension
]
srv_addr = (
tp_id : int, ; Identifier of the used transport protocol
+ elements ; Number, format and encoding
; based on the value of 'tp_id'
)
req_info = (
+ elements ; Number, format and encoding based on
; the value of 'tp_id' in 'srv_addr'
)
Figure 2: General format of 'tp_info'
The 'srv_addr' element of 'tp_info' specifies the addressing
information of the server, and includes at least one element 'tp_id'
which is formatted as follows.
* 'tp_id' : this element is a CBOR integer, which specifies the
transport protocol used to transport the CoAP response from the
server, i.e. a multicast notification in this specification.
This element takes value from the "Value" column of the "CoAP
Transport Information" registry defined in Section 14.4 of this
specification. This element MUST be present. The value of this
element determines:
- How many elements are required to follow in 'srv_addr', as well
as what information they convey, their encoding and their
semantics.
- How many elements are required in the 'req_info' element of the
'tp_info' array, as well as what information they convey, their
encoding and their semantics.
This specification registers the integer value 1 ("UDP") to be
used as value for the 'tp_id' element, when CoAP responses are
transported over UDP. In such a case, the full encoding of the
'tp_info' CBOR array is as defined in Section 2.2.1.1.
Future specifications that consider CoAP multicast notifications
transported over different transport protocols MUST:
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- Register an entry with an integer value to be used for 'tp_id',
in the "CoAP Transport Information" registry defined in
Section 14.4 of this specification.
- Accordingly, define the elements of the 'tp_info' CBOR array,
i.e. the elements following 'tp_id' in 'srv_addr' as well as
the elements in 'req_info', as to what information they convey,
their encoding and their semantics.
The 'req_info' element of 'tp_info' specifies transport-specific
information related to a pertinent request message, i.e. the phantom
observation request in this specification. The exact format of
'req_info' depends on the value of 'tp_id'.
Given a specific value of 'tp_id', the complete set of elements
composing 'srv_addr' and 'req_info' in the 'tp_info' CBOR array is
indicated by the two columns "Srv Addr" and "Req Info" of the "CoAP
Transport Information" registry defined in Section 14.4,
respectively.
2.2.1.1. UDP Transport-Specific Information
When CoAP multicast notifications are transported over UDP as per
[RFC7252] and [I-D.ietf-core-groupcomm-bis], the server specifies the
integer value 1 ("UDP") as value of 'tp_id' in the 'srv_addr' element
of the 'tp_info' CBOR array in the error informative response. Then,
the rest of the 'tp_info' CBOR array is defined as follows.
* 'srv_addr' includes two more elements following 'tp_id':
- 'srv_host': this element is a CBOR byte string, with value the
destination IP address of the phantom observation request.
This parameter is tagged and identified by the CBOR tag 260
"Network Address (IPv4 or IPv6 or MAC Address)". That is, the
value of the CBOR byte string is the IP address SRV_ADDR of the
server hosting the target resource, from where the server will
send multicast notifications for the target resource. This
element MUST be present.
- 'srv_port': this element is a CBOR unsigned integer, with value
the destination port number of the phantom observation request.
That is, the specified value is the port number SRV_PORT, from
where the server will send multicast notifications for the
target resource. This element MUST be present.
* 'req_info' includes the following elements:
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- 'token': this element is a CBOR byte string, with value the
Token value of the phantom observation request generated by the
server (see Section 2.1). Note that the same Token value is
used for the multicast notifications bound to that phantom
observation request (see Section 2.3). This element MUST be
present.
- 'cli_addr': this element is a CBOR byte string, with value the
source IP address of the phantom observation request. This
parameter is tagged and identified by the CBOR tag 260 "Network
Address (IPv4 or IPv6 or MAC Address)". That is, the value of
the CBOR byte string is the IP multicast address GRP_ADDR,
where the server will send multicast notifications for the
target resource. This element MUST be present.
- 'cli_port': this element is a CBOR unsigned integer, with value
the source port number of the phantom observation request.
That is, the specified value is the port number GRP_PORT, where
the server will send multicast notifications for the target
resource. This element is OPTIONAL. If not included, the
default port number 5683 is assumed.
The CDDL notation provided below describes the full 'tp_info' CBOR
array using the format above.
tp_info = [
tp_id : 1, ; UDP as transport protocol
srv_host : #6.260(bstr), ; Src. address of multicast notifications
srv_port : uint, ; Src. port of multicast notifications
token : bstr, ; Token of the phantom request and
; associated multicast notifications
cli_addr : #6.260(bstr), ; Dst. address of multicast notifications
? cli_port : uint ; Dst. port of multicast notifications
]
Figure 3: Format of 'tp_info' with UDP as transport protocol
2.2.2. Encoding of Transport-Independent Message Information
For both the parameters 'ph_req' and 'last_notif' in the informative
response, the value of the byte string is the concatenation of the
following components, in the order specified below.
When defining the value of each component, "CoAP message" refers to
the phantom observation request for the 'ph_req' parameter, and to
the corresponding latest multicast notification for the 'last_notif'
parameter.
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* A single byte, with value the content of the Code field in the
CoAP message.
* The byte serialization of the complete sequence of CoAP options in
the CoAP message.
* If the CoAP message includes a non-zero length payload, the one-
byte Payload Marker (0xff) followed by the payload.
2.3. Notifications
Upon a change in the status of the target resource under group
observation, the server sends a multicast notification, intended to
all the clients taking part in the group observation of that
resource. In particular, each of such multicast notifications is
formatted as follows.
* It MUST be Non-confirmable.
* It MUST include an Observe option, as per [RFC7641].
* It MUST have the same Token value T of the phantom registration
request that started the group observation. This Token value is
specified in the 'token' element of 'req_info' under the 'tp_info'
parameter, in the informative response message sent to all the
observer clients.
That is, every multicast notification for a target resource is not
bound to the observation requests from the different clients, but
rather to the phantom registration request associated to the whole
set of clients taking part in the group observation of that
resource.
* It MUST be sent from the same IP address SRV_ADDR and port number
SRV_PORT where: i) the original Observe registration requests are
sent to by the clients; and ii) the corresponding informative
responses are sent from by the server (see Section 2.2). These
are indicated to the observer clients as value of the 'srv_host'
and 'srv_port' elements of 'srv_addr' under the 'tp_info'
parameter, in the informative response message (see
Section 2.2.1.1). That is, redirection MUST NOT be used.
* It MUST be sent to the IP multicast address GRP_ADDR and port
number GRP_PORT. These are indicated to the observer clients as
value of the 'cli_addr' and 'cli_port' elements of 'req_info'
under the 'tp_info' parameter, in the informative response message
(see Section 2.2.1.1).
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For each target resource with an active group observation, the server
MUST store the latest multicast notification.
2.4. Congestion Control
In order to not cause congestion, the server should conservatively
control the sending of multicast notifications. In particular:
* The multicast notifications MUST be Non-confirmable.
* In constrained environments such as low-power, lossy networks
(LLNs), the server should only support multicast notifications for
resources that are small. Following related guidelines from
Section 2.2.4 of [I-D.ietf-core-groupcomm-bis], this can consist,
for example, in having the payload of multicast notifications as
limited to approximately 5% of the IP Maximum Transmit Unit (MTU)
size, so that it fits into a single link-layer frame in case IPv6
over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoWPAN) (see
Section 4 of [RFC4944]) is used.
* The server SHOULD provide multicast notifications with the
smallest possible IP multicast scope that fulfills the application
needs. For example, following related guidelines from
Section 2.2.4 of [I-D.ietf-core-groupcomm-bis], site-local scope
is always preferred over global scope IP multicast, if this
fulfills the application needs. Similarly, realm-local scope is
always preferred over site-local scope, if this fulfills the
application needs.
* Following related guidelines from Section 4.5.1 of [RFC7641], the
server SHOULD NOT send more than one multicast notification every
3 seconds, and SHOULD use an even less aggressive rate when
possible (see also Section 3.1.2 of [RFC8085]). The transmission
rate of multicast notifications should also take into account the
avoidance of a possible "broadcast storm" problem [MOBICOM99].
This prevents a following, considerable increase of the channel
load, whose origin would be likely attributed to a router rather
than the server.
2.5. Cancellation
At any point in time, the server may want to cancel a group
observation of a target resource. For instance, the server may
realize that no clients or not enough clients are interested in
taking part in the group observation anymore. A possible approach
that the server can use to assess this is defined in Section 6.
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In order to cancel the group observation, the server sends to itself
a phantom cancellation request, i.e. a GET request with an Observe
option set to 1 (deregister), without transmitting it on the wire.
As per Section 3.6 of [RFC7641], all other options MUST be identical
to those in the phantom registration request, except for the set of
ETag Options. This request has the same Token value T of the phantom
registration request, and is addressed to the resource for which the
server wants to end the group observation, as if sent by the group of
observers, i.e. with the multicast IP address GRP_ADDR as source
address and the port number GRP_PORT as source port.
After that, the server sends a multicast response with response code
5.03 (Service Unavailable), signaling that the group observation has
been terminated. The response has no payload, and is sent to the
same multicast IP address GRP_ADDR and port number GRP_PORT used to
send the multicast notifications related to the target resource. As
per [RFC7641], this response does not include an Observe option.
Finally, the server releases the resources allocated for the group
observation, and especially frees up the Token value T used at its
CoAP endpoint.
3. Client-Side Requirements
3.1. Request
A client sends an observation request to the server as described in
[RFC7641], i.e. a GET request with an Observe option set to 0
(register). The request MUST NOT encode link-local addresses. If
the server is not configured to accept registrations on that target
resource with a group observation, this would still result in a
positive notification response to the client as described in
[RFC7641].
3.2. Informative Response
Upon receiving the informative response defined in Section 2.2, the
client proceeds as follows.
1. The client configures an observation of the target resource. To
this end, it relies on a CoAP endpoint used for messages having:
* As source address and port number, the server address SRV_ADDR
and port number SRV_PORT intended for accessing the target
resource. These are specified as value of the 'srv_host' and
'srv_port' elements of 'srv_addr' under the 'tp_info'
parameter, in the informative response (see Section 2.2.1.1).
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* As destination address and port number, the IP multicast
address GRP_ADDR and port number GRP_PORT. These are
specified as value of the 'cli_addr' and 'cli_port' elements
of 'req_info' under the 'tp_info' parameter, in the
informative response (see Section 2.2.1.1). If the 'cli_port'
element is omitted in 'req_info', the client MUST assume the
default port number 5683 as GRP_PORT.
2. The client rebuilds the phantom registration request, by using:
* The transport-independent information, specified in the
'ph_req' parameter of the informative response.
* The Token value T, specified in the 'token' element of
'req_info' under the 'tp_info' parameter of the informative
response.
3. The client stores the phantom registration request, as associated
to the observation of the target resource. In particular, the
client MUST use the Token value T of this phantom registration
request as its own local Token value associated to that group
observation, with respect to the server. The particular way to
achieve this is implementation specific.
4. If the informative response includes the parameter 'last_notif',
the client rebuilds the latest multicast notification, by using:
* The transport-independent information, specified in the
'last_notif' parameter of the informative response.
* The Token value T, specified in the 'token' element of
'req_info' under the 'tp_info' parameter of the informative
response.
5. If the informative response includes the parameter 'last_notif',
the client processes the multicast notification rebuilt in step 4
as defined in Section 3.2 of [RFC7641]. In particular, the value
of the Observe option is used as initial baseline for
notification reordering in this group observation.
6. If a traditional observation to the target resource is ongoing,
the client MAY silently cancel it without notifying the server.
If any of the expected fields in the informative response are not
present or malformed, the client MAY try sending a new registration
request to the server (see Section 3.1). Otherwise, the client
SHOULD explicitly withdraw from the group observation.
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Appendix A describes possible alternative ways for clients to
retrieve the phantom registration request and other information
related to a group observation.
3.3. Notifications
After having successfully processed the informative response as
defined in Section 3.2, the client will receive, accept and process
multicast notifications about the state of the target resource from
the server, as responses to the phantom registration request and with
Token value T.
The client relies on the value of the Observe option for notification
reordering, as defined in Section 3.4 of [RFC7641].
3.4. Cancellation
At a certain point in time, a client may become not interested in
receiving further multicast notifications about a target resource.
When this happens, the client can simply "forget" about being part of
the group observation for that target resource, as per Section 3.6 of
[RFC7641].
When, later on, the server sends the next multicast notification, the
client will not recognize the Token value T in the message. Since
the multicast notification is Non-confirmable, it is OPTIONAL for the
client to reject the multicast notification with a Reset message, as
defined in Section 3.5 of [RFC7641].
In case the server has canceled a group observation as defined in
Section 2.5, the client simply forgets about the group observation
and frees up the used Token value T for that endpoint, upon receiving
the multicast error response defined in Section 2.5.
4. Web Linking
The possible use of multicast notifications in a group observation
may be indicated by a target "grp_obs" attribute in a web link
[RFC8288] to a resource, e.g. using a link-format document [RFC6690]
if the resource is accessible over CoAP.
The "grp_obs" attribute is a hint, indicating that the server might
send multicast notifications for observations of the resource
targeted by the link. Note that this is simply a hint, i.e. it does
not include any information required to participate in a group
observation, and to receive and process multicast notifications.
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A value MUST NOT be given for the "grp_obs" attribute; any present
value MUST be ignored by parsers. The "grp_obs" attribute MUST NOT
appear more than once in a given link-value; occurrences after the
first MUST be ignored by parsers.
The example in Figure 4 shows a use of the "grp_obs" attribute: the
client does resource discovery on a server and gets back a list of
resources, one of which includes the "grp_obs" attribute indicating
that the server might send multicast notifications for observations
of that resource. The link-format notation (see Section 5 of
[RFC6690]) is used.
REQ: GET /.well-known/core
RES: 2.05 Content
</sensors/temp>;grp_obs,
</sensors/light>;if="sensor"
Figure 4: The Web Link
5. Example
The following example refers to two clients C_1 and C_2 that register
to observe a resource /r at a Server S, which has address SRV_ADDR
and listens to the port number SRV_PORT. Before the following
exchanges occur, no clients are observing the resource /r , which has
value "1234".
The server S sends multicast notifications to the IP multicast
address GRP_ADDR and port number GRP_PORT, and starts the group
observation upon receiving a registration request from a first client
that wishes to start a traditional observation on the resource /r.
The following notation is used for the payload of the informative
responses:
* 'bstr(X)' denotes a CBOR byte string with value the byte
serialization of X, with '|' denoting byte concatenation.
* 'OPT' denotes a sequence of CoAP options. This refers to the
phantom registration request encoded by the 'ph_req' parameter, or
to the corresponding latest multicast notification encoded by the
'last_notif' parameter.
* 'PAYLOAD' denotes a CoAP payload. This refers to the latest
multicast notification encoded by the 'last_notif' parameter.
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C_1 ----------------- [ Unicast ] ------------------------> S /r
| GET |
| Token: 0x4a |
| Observe: 0 (Register) |
| <Other options> |
| |
| (S allocates the available Token value 0x7b .) |
| |
| |
| |
| (S sends to itself a phantom observation request PH_REQ |
| as coming from the IP multicast address GRP_ADDR .) |
| ------------------------------------------------ |
| / |
| \----------------------------------------------------> | /r
| GET |
| Token: 0x7b |
| Observe: 0 (Register) |
| <Other options> |
| |
| (S creates a group observation of /r .) |
| |
| (S increments the observer counter |
| for the group observation of /r .) |
| |
C_1 <-------------------- [ Unicast ] --------------------- S
| 5.03 |
| Token: 0x4a |
| Content-Format: application/informative-response+cbor |
| <Other options> |
| Payload: { |
| tp_info : [1, bstr(SRV_ADDR), SRV_PORT, |
| 0x7b, bstr(GRP_ADDR), GRP_PORT], |
| ph_req : bstr(0x01 | OPT), |
| last_notif : bstr(0x45 | OPT | 0xff | PAYLOAD) |
| } |
| |
C_2 ----------------- [ Unicast ] ------------------------> S /r
| GET |
| Token: 0x01 |
| Observe: 0 (Register) |
| <Other options> |
| |
| (S increments the observer counter |
| for the group observation of /r .) |
| |
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| |
C_2 <-------------------- [ Unicast ] --------------------- S
| 5.03 |
| Token: 0x01 |
| Content-Format: application/informative-response+cbor |
| <Other options> |
| Payload: { |
| tp_info : [1, bstr(SRV_ADDR), SRV_PORT, |
| 0x7b, bstr(GRP_ADDR), GRP_PORT], |
| ph_req : bstr(0x01 | OPT), |
| last_notif : bstr(0x45 | OPT | 0xff | PAYLOAD) |
| } |
| |
| (The value of the resource /r changes to "5678".) |
| |
C_1 |
+ <------------------- [ Multicast ] -------------------- S
C_2 (Destination address/port: GRP_ADDR/GRP_PORT) |
| 2.05 |
| Token: 0x7b |
| Observe: 11 |
| Content-Format: application/cbor |
| <Other options> |
| Payload: : "5678" |
| |
Figure 5: Example of group observation
6. Rough Counting of Clients in the Group Observation
To allow the server to keep an estimate of interested clients without
creating undue traffic on the network, a new CoAP option is
introduced, which SHOULD be supported by clients that listen to
multicast responses.
The option is called Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider. As
summarized in Figure 6, the option is not critical but proxy-unsafe,
and integer valued.
+-----+---+---+---+---+---------------------+--------+------+---------+
| No. | C | U | N | R | Name | Format | Len. | Default |
+-----+---+---+---+---+---------------------+--------+------+---------+
| TBD | | x | | | Multicast-Response- | uint | 0-1 | (none) |
| | | | | | Feedback-Divider | | | |
+-----+---+---+---+---+---------------------+--------+------+---------+
C = Critical, U = Unsafe, N = NoCacheKey, R = Repeatable
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Figure 6: Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider
The Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider option is of class E for
OSCORE [RFC8613][I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm].
6.1. Processing on the Client Side
Upon receiving a response with a Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider
option, a client SHOULD acknowledge its interest in continuing
receiving multicast notifications for the target resource, as
described below.
The client picks an integer random number I, from 0 inclusive to the
number Z = (2 ** Q) exclusive, where Q is the value specified in the
option and "**" is the exponentiation operator. If I is different
than 0, the client takes no further action. Otherwise, the client
should wait a random fraction of the Leisure time (see Section 8.2 of
[RFC7252]), and then registers a regular unicast observation on the
same target resource.
To this end, the client essentially follows the steps that got it
originally subscribed to group notifications for the target resource.
In particular, the client sends an observation request to the server,
i.e. a GET request with an Observe option set to 0 (register). The
request MUST be addressed to the same target resource, and MUST have
the same destination IP address and port number used for the original
registration request, regardless the source IP address and port
number of the received multicast notification.
Since the observation registration is only done for its side effect
of showing as an attempted observation at the server, the client MUST
send the unicast request in a non confirmable way, and with the
maximum No-Response setting [RFC7967]. In the request, the client
MUST include a Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider option, whose
value MUST be empty (Option Length = 0). The client does not need to
wait for responses, and can keep processing further notifications on
the same token.
The client MUST ignore the Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider
option, if the multicast notification is retrieved from the
'last_notif' parameter of an informative response (see Section 2.2).
A client includes the Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider option only
in a re-registration request triggered by the server as described
above, and MUST NOT include it in any other request.
As the Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider option is unsafe to
forward, a proxy needs to answer it on its own, and is later counted
as a single client.
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Appendix B.1 provides a description in pseudo-code of the operations
above performed by the client.
6.2. Processing on the Server Side
In order to avoid needless use of network resources, a server SHOULD
keep a rough, updated count of the number of clients taking part in
the group observation of a target resource. To this end, the server
updates the value COUNT of the associated observer counter (see
Section 2), for instance by using the method described below.
6.2.1. Request for Feedback
When it wants to obtain a new estimated count, the server considers a
number M of confirmations it would like to receive from the clients.
It is up to applications to define policies about how the server
determines and possibly adjusts the value of M.
Then, the server computes the value Q = max(L, 0), where:
* L is computed as L = ceil(log2(N / M)).
* N is the current value of the observer counter, possibly rounded
up to 1, i.e. N = max(COUNT, 1).
Finally, the server sets Q as the value of the Multicast-Response-
Feedback-Divider option, which is sent within a successful multicast
notification.
If several multicast notifications are sent in a burst fashion, it is
RECOMMENDED for the server to include the Multicast-Response-
Feedback-Divider option only in the first one of those notifications.
6.2.2. Collection of Feedback
The server collects unicast observation requests from the clients,
for an amount of time of MAX_CONFIRMATION_WAIT seconds. During this
time, the server regularly increments the observer counter when
adding a new client to the group observation (see Section 2.2).
It is up to applications to define the value of
MAX_CONFIRMATION_WAIT, which has to take into account the
transmission time of the multicast notification and of unicast
observation requests, as well as the leisure time of the clients,
which may be hard to know or estimate for the server.
If this information is not known to the server, it is recommended to
define MAX_CONFIRMATION_WAIT as follows.
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MAX_CONFIRMATION_WAIT = MAX_RTT + MAX_CLIENT_REQUEST_DELAY
where MAX_RTT is as defined in Section 4.8.2 of [RFC7252] and has
default value 202 seconds, while MAX_CLIENT_REQUEST_DELAY is
equivalent to MAX_SERVER_RESPONSE_DELAY defined in Section 2.3.1 of
[I-D.ietf-core-groupcomm-bis] and has default value 250 seconds. In
the absence of more specific information, the server can thus
consider a conservative MAX_CONFIRMATION_WAIT of 452 seconds.
If more information is available in deployments, a much shorter
MAX_CONFIRMATION_WAIT can be set. This can be based on a realistic
round trip time (replacing MAX_RTT) and on the largest leisure time
configured on the clients (replacing MAX_CLIENT_REQUEST_DELAY), e.g.
DEFAULT_LEISURE = 5 seconds, thus shortening MAX_CONFIRMATION_WAIT to
a few seconds.
6.2.3. Processing of Feedback
Once MAX_CONFIRMATION_WAIT seconds have passed, the server counts the
R confirmations arrived as unicast observation requests to the target
resource, since the multicast notification with the Multicast-
Response-Feedback-Divider option has been sent. In particular, the
server considers a unicast observation request as a confirmation from
a client only if it includes a Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider
option with an empty value (Option Length = 0).
Then, the server computes a feedback indicator as E = R * (2 ** Q),
where "**" is the exponentiation operator. According to what defined
by application policies, the server determines the next time when to
ask clients for their confirmation, e.g. after a certain number of
multicast notifications has been sent. For example, the decision can
be influenced by the reception of no confirmations from the clients,
i.e. R = 0, or by the value of the ratios (E/N) and (N/E).
Finally, the server computes a new estimated count of the observers.
To this end the server first consider COUNT' as the current value of
the observer counter at this point in time. Note that COUNT' may be
greater than the value COUNT used at the beginning of this process,
if the server has incremented the observer counter upon adding new
clients to the group observation (see Section 2.2).
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In particular, the server computes the new estimated count value as
COUNT' + ((E - N) / D), where D > 0 is an integer value used as
dampener. This step has to be performed atomically. That is, until
this step is completed, the server MUST hold the processing of an
observation request for the same target resource from a new client.
Finally, the server considers the result as the current observer
counter, and assesses it for possibly canceling the group observation
(see Section 2.5).
This estimate is skewed by packet loss, but it gives the server a
sufficiently good estimation for further counts and for deciding when
to cancel the group observation. It is up to applications to define
policies about how the server takes the newly updated estimate into
account and determines whether to cancel the group observation.
As an example, if the server currently estimates that N = COUNT = 32
observers are active and considers a constant M = 8, it sends out a
notification with Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider: 2. Then, out
of 18 actually active clients, 5 send a re-registration request based
on their random draw, of which one request gets lost, thus leaving 4
re-registration requests received by the server. Also, no new
clients have been added to the group observation during this time,
i.e. COUNT' is equal to COUNT. As a consequence, assuming that a
dampener value D = 1 is used, the server computes the new estimated
count value as 32 + (16 - 32) = 16, and keeps the group observation
active.
To produce a most accurate updated counter, a server can include a
Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider option with value Q = 0 in its
multicast notifications, as if M is equal to N. This will trigger
all the active clients to state their interest in continuing
receiving notifications for the target resource. Thus, the amount R
of arrived confirmations is affected only by possible packet loss.
Appendix B.3 provides a description in pseudo-code of the operations
above performed by the server, including example behaviors for
scheduling the next count update and deciding whether to cancel the
group observation.
7. Protection of Multicast Notifications with Group OSCORE
A server can protect multicast notifications by using Group OSCORE
[I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm], thus ensuring they are protected
end-to-end with the observer clients. This requires that both the
server and the clients interested in receiving multicast
notifications from that server are members of the same OSCORE group.
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In some settings, the OSCORE group to refer to can be pre-configured
on the clients and the server. In such a case, a server which is
aware of such pre-configuration can simply assume a client to be
already member of the correct OSCORE group.
In any other case, the server MAY communicate to clients what OSCORE
group they are required to join, by providing additional guidance in
the informative response as described in Section 7.1. Note that
clients can already be members of the right OSCORE group, in case
they have previously joined it to securely communicate with the same
and/or other servers to access their resources.
Both the clients and the server MAY join the OSCORE group by using
the approach described in [I-D.ietf-ace-key-groupcomm-oscore] and
based on the ACE framework for Authentication and Authorization in
constrained environments [I-D.ietf-ace-oauth-authz]. Further details
on how to discover the OSCORE group and join it are out of the scope
of this specification.
If multicast notifications are protected using Group OSCORE, the
original registration requests and related unicast (notification)
responses MUST also be secured, including and especially the
informative responses from the server.
To this end, alternative security protocols than Group OSCORE, such
as OSCORE [RFC8613] and/or DTLS [RFC6347][I-D.ietf-tls-dtls13], can
be used to protect other exchanges via unicast between the server and
each client, including the original client registration (see
Section 3).
7.1. Signaling the OSCORE Group in the Informative Response
This section describes a mechanism for the server to communicate to
the client what OSCORE group to join in order to decrypt and verify
the multicast notifications protected with group OSCORE. The client
MAY use the information provided by the server to start the ACE
joining procedure described in [I-D.ietf-ace-key-groupcomm-oscore].
This mechanism is OPTIONAL to support for the client and server.
Additionally to what defined in Section 2, the CBOR map in the
informative response payload contains the following fields, whose
CBOR labels are defined in Section 11.
* 'join_uri', with value the URI for joining the OSCORE group at the
respective Group Manager, encoded as a CBOR text string. If the
procedure described in [I-D.ietf-ace-key-groupcomm-oscore] is used
for joining, this field specifically indicates the URI of the
group-membership resource at the Group Manager.
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* 'sec_gp', with value the name of the OSCORE group, encoded as a
CBOR text string.
* Optionally, 'as_uri', with value the URI of the Authorization
Server associated to the Group Manager for the OSCORE group,
encoded as a CBOR text string.
* Optionally, 'cs_alg', with value the COSE algorithm
[I-D.ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-algs] used to countersign messages in
the OSCORE group, encoded as a CBOR text string or integer. The
value is taken from the 'Value' column of the "COSE Algorithms"
registry [COSE.Algorithms].
* Optionally, 'cs_alg_crv', with value the elliptic curve (if
applicable) for the COSE algorithm [I-D.ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-algs]
used to countersign messages in the OSCORE group, encoded as a
CBOR text string or integer. The value is taken from the 'Value'
column of the "COSE Elliptic Curve" registry
[COSE.Elliptic.Curves].
* Optionally, 'cs_key_kty', with value the COSE key type
[I-D.ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-struct] of countersignature keys used to
countersign messages in the OSCORE group, encoded as a CBOR text
string or an integer. The value is taken from the 'Value' column
of the "COSE Key Types" registry [COSE.Key.Types].
* Optionally, 'cs_key_crv', with value the elliptic curve (if
applicable) of countersignature keys used to countersign messages
in the OSCORE group, encoded as a CBOR text string or integer.
The value is taken from the 'Value' column of the "COSE Elliptic
Curve" registry [COSE.Elliptic.Curves].
* Optionally, 'cs_kenc', with value the encoding of the public keys
used in the OSCORE group, encoded as a CBOR integer. The value is
taken from the 'Confirmation Key' column of the "CWT Confirmation
Method" registry defined in [RFC8747]. Future specifications may
define additional values for this parameter.
* Optionally, 'alg', with value the COSE AEAD algorithm
[I-D.ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-algs], encoded as a CBOR text string or
integer. The value is taken from the 'Value' column of the "COSE
Algorithms" registry [COSE.Algorithms].
* Optionally, 'hkdf', with value the COSE HKDF algorithm
[I-D.ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-algs], encoded as a CBOR text string or
integer. The value is taken from the 'Value' column of the "COSE
Algorithms" registry [COSE.Algorithms].
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The values of 'cs_alg', 'cs_alg_crv', 'cs_key_kty', 'cs_key_crv' and
'cs_key_kenc' provide an early knowledge of the format and encoding
of public keys used in the OSCORE group. Thus, the client does not
need to ask the Group Manager for this information as a preliminary
step before the (ACE) join process, or to perform a trial-and-error
exchange with the Group Manager upon joining the group. Hence, the
client is able to provide the Group Manager with its own public key
in the correct expected format and encoding, at the very first step
of the (ACE) join process.
The values of 'cs_alg', 'alg' and 'hkdf' provide an early knowledge
of the algorithms used in the OSCORE group. Thus, the client is able
to decide whether to actually proceed with the (ACE) join process,
depending on its support for the indicated algorithms.
As mentioned above, since this mechanism is OPTIONAL, all the fields
are OPTIONAL in the informative response. However, the 'join_uri'
and 'sec_gp' fields MUST be present if the mechanism is implemented
and used. If any of the fields are present without the 'join_uri'
and 'sec_gp' fields present, the client MUST ignore these fields,
since they would not be sufficient to start the (ACE) join procedure.
When this happens, the client MAY try sending a new registration
request to the server (see Section 3.1). Otherwise, the client
SHOULD explicitly withdraw from the group observation.
Appendix C describes a possible alternative approach, where the
server self-manages the OSCORE group, and provides the observer
clients with the necessary keying material in the informative
response. The approach in Appendix C MUST NOT be used together with
the mechanism defined in this section for indicating what OSCORE
group to join.
7.2. Server-Side Requirements
When using Group OSCORE to protect multicast notifications, the
server performs the operations described in Section 2, with the
following differences.
7.2.1. Registration
The phantom registration request MUST be secured, by using Group
OSCORE. In particular, the group mode of Group OSCORE defined in
Section 8 of [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm] MUST be used.
The server protects the phantom registration request as defined in
Section 8.1 of [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm], as if it was the
actual sender, i.e. by using its Sender Context. As a consequence,
the server consumes the current value of its Sender Sequence Number
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SN in the OSCORE group, and hence updates it to SN* = (SN + 1).
Consistently, the OSCORE option in the phantom registration request
includes:
* As 'kid', the Sender ID of the server in the OSCORE group.
* As 'piv', the previously consumed Sender Sequence Number value SN
of the server in the OSCORE group, i.e. (SN* - 1).
7.2.2. Informative Response
The value of the CBOR byte string in the 'ph_req' parameter encodes
the phantom observation request as a message protected with Group
OSCORE (see Section 7.2.1). As a consequence: the specified Code is
always 0.05 (FETCH); the sequence of CoAP options will be limited to
the outer, non encrypted options; a payload is always present, as the
authenticated ciphertext followed by the counter signature.
Similarly, the value of the CBOR byte string in the 'last_notif'
parameter encodes the latest multicast notification as a message
protected with Group OSCORE (see Section 7.2.3). This applies also
to the initial multicast notification INIT_NOTIF built in step 6 of
Section 2.1.
Optionally, the informative response includes information on the
OSCORE group to join, as additional parameters (see Section 7.1).
7.2.3. Notifications
The server MUST protect every multicast notification for the target
resource with Group OSCORE. In particular, the group mode of Group
OSCORE defined in Section 8 of [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm] MUST
be used.
The process described in Section 8.3 of
[I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm] applies, with the following
additions when building the two OSCORE 'external_aad' to encrypt and
countersign the multicast notification (see Sections 4.3.1 and 4.3.2
of [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm]).
* The 'request_kid' is the 'kid' value in the OSCORE option of the
phantom registration request, i.e. the Sender ID of the server.
* The 'request_piv' is the 'piv' value in the OSCORE option of the
phantom registration request, i.e. the consumed Sender Sequence
Number SN of the server.
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* The 'request_kid_context' is the 'kid context' value in the OSCORE
option of the phantom registration request, i.e. the Group
Identifier value (Gid) of the OSCORE group used as ID Context.
Note that these same values are used to protect each and every
multicast notification sent for the target resource under this group
observation.
7.2.4. Cancellation
When canceling a group observation (see Section 2.5), the phantom
cancellation request MUST be secured, by using Group OSCORE. In
particular, the group mode of Group OSCORE defined in Section 8 of
[I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm] MUST be used.
Like defined in Section 7.2.1 for the phantom registration request,
the server protects the phantom cancellation request as per
Section 8.1 of [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm], by using its Sender
Context and consuming its current Sender Sequence number in the
OSCORE group, from its Sender Context. The following, corresponding
multicast error response defined in Section 2.5 is also protected
with Group OSCORE, as per Section 8.3 of
[I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm].
Note that, differently from the multicast notifications, this
multicast error response will be the only one securely paired with
the phantom cancellation request.
7.3. Client-Side Requirements
When using Group OSCORE to protect multicast notifications, the
client performs as described in Section 3, with the following
differences.
7.3.1. Informative Response
Upon receiving the informative response from the server, the client
performs as described in Section 3.2, with the following additions.
Once completed step 2, the client decrypts and verifies the rebuilt
phantom registration request as defined in Section 8.2 of
[I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm], with the following differences.
* The client MUST NOT perform any replay check. That is, the client
skips step 3 in Section 8.2 of [RFC8613].
* If decryption and verification of the phantom registration request
succeed:
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- The client MUST NOT update the Replay Window in the Recipient
Context associated to the server. That is, the client skips
the second bullet of step 6 in Section 8.2 of [RFC8613].
- The client MUST NOT take any further process as normally
expected according to [RFC7252]. That is, the client skips
step 8 in Section 8.2 of [RFC8613]. In particular, the client
MUST NOT deliver the phantom registration request to the
application, and MUST NOT take any action in the Token space of
its unicast endpoint, where the informative response has been
received.
- The client stores the values of the 'kid', 'piv' and 'kid
context' fields from the OSCORE option of the phantom
registration request.
* If decryption and verification of the phantom registration request
fail, the client MAY try sending a new registration request to the
server (see Section 3.1). Otherwise, the client SHOULD explicitly
withdraw from the group observation.
* If the informative response includes the parameter 'last_notif',
the client also decrypts and verifies the latest multicast
notification rebuilt in step 4, just like it would for the
multicast notifications transmitted as CoAP messages on the wire
(see Section 7.3.2). The client proceeds with step 5 if
decryption and verification of the latest multicast notification
succeed, or to step 6 otherwise.
7.3.2. Notifications
After having successfully processed the informative response as
defined in Section 7.3.1, the client will decrypt and verify every
multicast notification for the target resource as defined in
Section 8.4 of [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm], with the following
difference.
The client MUST set the two 'external_aad' defined in Sections 4.3.1
and 4.3.2 of [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm] as follows. The
particular way to achieve this is implementation specific.
* 'request_kid' takes the value of the 'kid' field from the OSCORE
option of the phantom registration request (see Section 7.3.1).
* 'request_piv' takes the value of the 'piv' field from the OSCORE
option of the phantom registration request (see Section 7.3.1).
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* 'request_kid_context' takes the value of the 'kid context' field
from the OSCORE option of the phantom registration request (see
Section 7.3.1).
Note that these same values are used to decrypt and verify each and
every multicast notification received for the target resource.
The replay protection and checking of multicast notifications is
performed as specified in Section 4.1.3.5.2 of [RFC8613].
8. Example with Group OSCORE
The following example refers to two clients C_1 and C_2 that register
to observe a resource /r at a Server S, which has address SRV_ADDR
and listens to the port number SRV_PORT. Before the following
exchanges occur, no clients are observing the resource /r , which has
value "1234".
The server S sends multicast notifications to the IP multicast
address GRP_ADDR and port number GRP_PORT, and starts the group
observation upon receiving a registration request from a first client
that wishes to start a traditional observation on the resource /r.
Pairwise communication over unicast is protected with OSCORE, while S
protects multicast notifications with Group OSCORE. Specifically:
* C_1 and S have a pairwise OSCORE Security Context. In particular,
C_1 has 'kid' = 1 as Sender ID, and SN_1 = 101 as Sender Sequence
Number. Also, S has 'kid' = 3 as Sender ID, and SN_3 = 301 as
Sender Sequence Number.
* C_2 and S have a pairwise OSCORE Security Context. In particular,
C_2 has 'kid' = 2 as Sender ID, and SN_2 = 201 as Sender Sequence
Number. Also, S has 'kid' = 4 as Sender ID, and SN_4 = 401 as
Sender Sequence Number.
* S is a member of the OSCORE group with name "myGroup", and 'kid
context' = 0x57ab2e as Group ID. In the OSCORE group, S has 'kid'
= 5 as Sender ID, and SN_5 = 501 as Sender Sequence Number.
The following notation is used for the payload of the informative
responses:
* 'bstr(X)' denotes a CBOR byte string with value the byte
serialization of X, with '|' denoting byte concatenation.
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* 'OPT' denotes a sequence of CoAP options. This refers to the
phantom registration request encoded by the 'ph_req' parameter, or
to the corresponding latest multicast notification encoded by the
'last_notif' parameter.
* 'PAYLOAD' denotes an encrypted CoAP payload. This refers to the
phantom registration request encoded by the 'ph_req' parameter, or
to the corresponding latest multicast notification encoded by the
'last_notif' parameter.
* 'SIGN' denotes the counter signature appended to an encrypted CoAP
payload. This refers to the phantom registration request encoded
by the 'ph_req' parameter, or to the corresponding latest
multicast notification encoded by the 'last_notif' parameter.
C_1 ------------ [ Unicast w/ OSCORE ] ------------------> S /r
| 0.05 (FETCH) |
| Token: 0x4a |
| OSCORE: {kid: 1 ; piv: 101 ; ...} |
| <Other class U/I options> |
| 0xff |
| Encrypted_payload { |
| 0x01 (GET), |
| Observe: 0 (Register), |
| <Other class E options> |
| } |
| |
| (S allocates the available Token value 0x7b .) |
| |
| |
| (S sends to itself a phantom observation request PH_REQ |
| as coming from the IP multicast address GRP_ADDR .) |
| ------------------------------------------------------ |
| / |
| \-------------------------------------------------------> | /r
| 0.05 (FETCH) |
| Token: 0x7b |
| OSCORE: {kid: 5 ; piv: 501 ; |
| kid context: 57ab2e; ...} |
| <Other class U/I options> |
| 0xff |
| Encrypted_payload { |
| 0x01 (GET), |
| Observe: 0 (Register), |
| <Other class E options> |
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| } |
| <Counter signature> |
| |
| |
| (S steps SN_5 in the Group OSCORE Sec. Ctx : SN_5 <== 502) |
| |
| (S creates a group observation of /r .) |
| |
| (S increments the observer counter |
| for the group observation of /r .) |
| |
| |
C_1 <--------------- [ Unicast w/ OSCORE ] ---------------- S
| 2.05 (Content) |
| Token: 0x4a |
| OSCORE: {piv: 301; ...} |
| <Other class U/I options> |
| 0xff |
| Encrypted_payload { |
| 5.03 (Service Unavailable), |
| Content-Format: application/informative-response+cbor, |
| <Other class E options>, |
| 0xff, |
| CBOR_payload { |
| tp_info : [1, bstr(SRV_ADDR), SRV_PORT, |
| 0x7b, bstr(GRP_ADDR), GRP_PORT], |
| ph_req : bstr(0x05 | OPT | 0xff | PAYLOAD | SIGN), |
| last_notif : bstr(0x45 | OPT | 0xff | PAYLOAD | SIGN), |
| join_uri : "coap://myGM/ace-group/myGroup", |
| sec_gp : "myGroup" |
| } |
| } |
| |
| |
C_2 ------------ [ Unicast w/ OSCORE ] ------------------> S /r
| 0.05 (FETCH) |
| Token: 0x01 |
| OSCORE: {kid: 2 ; piv: 201 ; ...} |
| <Other class U/I options> |
| 0xff |
| Encrypted_payload { |
| 0x01 (GET), |
| Observe: 0 (Register), |
| <Other class E options> |
| } |
| |
| (S increments the observer counter |
| for the group observation of /r .) |
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| |
C_2 <--------------- [ Unicast w/ OSCORE ] ---------------- S
| 2.05 (Content) |
| Token: 0x01 |
| OSCORE: {piv: 401; ...} |
| <Other class U/I options> |
| 0xff, |
| Encrypted_payload { |
| 5.03 (Service Unavailable), |
| Content-Format: application/informative-response+cbor, |
| <Other class E options>, |
| 0xff, |
| CBOR_payload { |
| tp_info : [1, bstr(SRV_ADDR), SRV_PORT, |
| 0x7b, bstr(GRP_ADDR), GRP_PORT], |
| ph_req : bstr(0x05 | OPT | 0xff | PAYLOAD | SIGN), |
| last_notif : bstr(0x45 | OPT | 0xff | PAYLOAD | SIGN), |
| join_uri : "coap://myGM/ace-group/myGroup", |
| sec_gp : "myGroup" |
| } |
| } |
| |
| |
| (The value of the resource /r changes to "5678".) |
| |
C_1 |
+ <----------- [ Multicast w/ Group OSCORE ] ------------ S
C_2 (Destination address/port: GRP_ADDR/GRP_PORT) |
| 2.05 (Content) |
| Token: 0x7b |
| OSCORE: {kid: 5; piv: 502 ; |
| kid context: 57ab2e; ...} |
| <Other class U/I options> |
| 0xff |
| Encrypted_payload { |
| 2.05 (Content), |
| Observe: 11, |
| Content-Format: application/cbor, |
| <Other class E options>, |
| 0xff, |
| CBOR_Payload : "5678" |
| } |
| <Counter signature> |
| |
Figure 7: Example of group observation with Group OSCORE
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The two external_aad used to encrypt and countersign the multicast
notification above have 'request_kid' = 5, 'request_piv' = 501 and
'request_kid_context' = 0x57ab2e. These values are specified in the
'kid', 'piv' and 'kid context' field of the OSCORE option of the
phantom observation request, which is encoded in the 'ph_req'
parameter of the unicast informative response to the two clients.
Thus, the two clients can build the two same external_aad for
decrypting and verifying this multicast notification and the
following ones.
9. Intermediaries
This section specifies how the approach presented in Section 2 and
Section 3 works when a proxy is used between the clients and the
server. In addition to what specified in Section 5.7 of [RFC7252]
and Section 5 of [RFC7641], the following applies.
A client sends its original observation request to the proxy. If the
proxy is not already registered at the server for that target
resource, the proxy forwards the observation request to the server,
hence registering itself as an observer. If the server has an
ongoing group observation for the target resource or decides to start
one, the server considers the proxy as taking part in the group
observation, and replies to the proxy with an informative response.
Upon receiving an informative response, the proxy performs as
specified for the client in Section 3, with the peculiarity that
"consuming" the last notification (if present) means populating its
cache.
In particular, by using the information retrieved from the
informative response, the proxy configures an observation of the
target resource at the origin server, acting as a client directly
taking part in the group observation.
As a consequence, the proxy will listen to the IP multicast address
and port number indicated by the server in the informative response,
as 'cli_addr' and 'cli_port' element of 'req_info' under the
'tp_info' parameter, respectively (see Section 2.2.1.1).
Furthermore, multicast notifications will match the phantom request
stored at the proxy, based on the Token value specified in the
'token' element of 'req_info' under the 'tp_info' parameter in the
informative response.
Then, the proxy performs the following actions.
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* If the 'last_notif' field is not present, the proxy responds to
the client with an Empty Acknowledgement (if indicated by the
message type, and if it has not already done so).
* If the 'last_notif' field is present, the proxy rebuilds the
latest multicast notification, as defined in Section 3. Then, the
proxy responds to the client, by forwarding back the latest
multicast notification.
When responding to an observation request from a client, the proxy
also adds that client (and its Token) to the list of its registered
observers for the target resource, next to the older observations.
Upon receiving a multicast notification from the server, the proxy
forwards it back separately to each observer client over unicast.
Note that the notification forwarded back to a certain client has the
same Token value of the original observation request sent by that
client to the proxy.
Note that the proxy configures the observation of the target resource
at the server only once, when receiving the informative response
associated to a (newly started) group observation for that target
resource.
After that, when receiving an observation request from a following
new client to be added to the same group observation, the proxy does
not take any further action with the server. Instead, the proxy
responds to the client either with the latest multicast notification
if available from its cache, or with an Empty Acknowledgement
otherwise, as defined above.
An example is provided in Appendix E.
In the general case with a chain of two or more proxies, every proxy
in the chain takes the role of client with the (next hop towards the)
origin server. Note that the proxy adjacent to the origin server is
the only one in the chain that receives informative responses and
listens to an IP multicast address to receive notifications for the
group observation. Furthermore, every proxy in the chain takes the
role of server with the (previous hop towards the) origin client.
10. Intermediaries Together with End-to-End Security
As defined in Section 7, Group OSCORE can be used to protect
multicast notifications end-to-end between the origin server and the
clients. In such a case, additional actions are required when also
the informative responses from the origin server are protected
specifically end-to-end, by using OSCORE or Group OSCORE.
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In fact, the proxy adjacent to the origin server is not able to
access the encrypted payload of such informative responses. Hence,
the proxy cannot retrieve the 'ph_req' and 'tp_info' parameters
necessary to correctly receive multicast notifications and forward
them back to the clients.
Then, differently from what defined in Section 9, each proxy
receiving an informative response simply forwards it back to the
client that has sent the corresponding observation request. Note
that the proxy does not even realize the message to be an actual
informative response, since the outer Code field is set to 2.05
(Content).
Upon receiving the informative response, the client does not
configure an observation of the target resource. Instead, the client
performs a new observe registration request, by transmitting the re-
built phantom request as intended to reach the proxy adjacent to the
origin server. In particular, the client includes the new Listen-To-
Multicast-Responses CoAP option defined in Section 10.1, to provide
that proxy with the transport-specific information required for
receiving multicast notifications for the group observation.
Details on the additional message exchange and processing are defined
in Section 10.2.
10.1. The Listen-To-Multicast-Responses Option
To allow the proxy to listen to the multicast notifications sent by
the server, a new CoAP option is introduced. This option MUST be
supported by clients interested to take part in group observations
through intermediaries, and by proxies that collect multicast
notifications and forward them back to the observer clients.
The option is called Listen-To-Multicast-Responses and is intended
only for requests. As summarized in Figure 8, the option is critical
and proxy-unsafe.
+-----+---+---+---+---+-------------------+--------+--------+---------+
| No. | C | U | N | R | Name | Format | Len. | Default |
+-----+---+---+---+---+-------------------+--------+--------+---------+
| TBD | x | x | - | | Listen-To- | (*) | 3-1024 | (none) |
| | | | | | Multicast- | | | |
| | | | | | Responses | | | |
+-----+---+---+---+---+-------------------+--------+--------+---------+
C = Critical, U = Unsafe, N = NoCacheKey, R = Repeatable
(*) See below.
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Figure 8: Listen-To-Multicast-Responses
The Listen-To-Multicast-Responses option includes the serialization
of a CBOR array. This specifies transport-specific message
information required for listening to the multicast notifications of
a group observation, and intended to the proxy adjacent to the origin
server sending those notifications. In particular, the serialized
CBOR array has the same format specified in Section 2.2.1 for the
'tp_info' parameter of the informative response (see Section 2.2).
The Listen-To-Multicast-Responses option is of class U for OSCORE
[RFC8613][I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm].
10.2. Message Processing
Compared to Section 9, the following additions apply when informative
responses are protected end-to-end between the origin server and the
clients.
After the origin server sends an informative response, each proxy
simply forwards it back to the (previous hop towards the) origin
client that has sent the observation request.
Once received the informative response, the origin client proceeds in
a different way than in Section 7.3.1:
* The client performs all the additional decryption and verification
steps of Section 7.3.1 on the phantom request specified in the
'ph_req' parameter and on the last notification specified in the
'last_notif' parameter (if present).
* The client builds a ticket request (see Appendix B of
[I-D.amsuess-core-cachable-oscore]), as intended to reach the
proxy adjacent to the origin server. The ticket request is
formatted as follows.
- The Token is chosen as the client sees fit. In fact, there is
no reason for this Token to be the same as the phantom
request's.
- The Code field, the outer CoAP options and the encrypted
payload (containing inner options, AEAD tag etc.) are the same
of the phantom request used for the group observation. That
is, they are as specified in the 'ph_req' parameter of the
received informative response.
- An outer Observe option is included and set to 0 (Register).
This will usually be set in the phantom request already.
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- The outer options Proxy-Scheme, Uri-Host and Uri-Port are
included, and set to the same values they had in the original
registration request sent by the client.
- The new option Listen-To-Multicast-Responses is included as an
outer option. The value is set to the serialization of the
CBOR array specified by the 'tp_info' parameter of the
informative response.
Note that, except for transport-specific information such as
the Token and Message ID values, every different client
participating to the same group observation (hence rebuilding
the same phantom request) will build the same ticket request.
Note also that, identically to the phantom request, the ticket
request is still protected with Group OSCORE, i.e. it has the
same OSCORE option, encrypted payload and counter signature.
Then, the client sends the ticket request to the next hop towards the
origin server. Every proxy in the chain forwards the ticket request
to the next hop towards the origin server, until the last proxy in
the chain is reached. This last proxy, adjacent to the origin
server, proceeds as follows.
* The proxy MUST NOT further forward the ticket request to the
origin server.
* The proxy removes the Proxy-Scheme, Uri-Host and Uri-Port options
from the ticket request.
* The proxy removes the Listen-To-Multicast-Responses option from
the ticket request, and extracts the conveyed transport-specific
information.
* The proxy rebuilds the phantom request associated to the group
observation, by using the ticket request as directly providing the
required transport-independent information. This includes the
outer Code field, the outer CoAP options and the encrypted payload
concatenated with the counter signature.
* The proxy configures an observation of the target resource at the
origin server, acting as a client directly taking part in the
group observation. To this end, the proxy uses the rebuilt
phantom request and the transport-specific information retrieved
from the Listen-To-Multicast-Responses Option. The particular way
to achieve this is implementation specific.
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After that, the proxy will listen to the IP multicast address and
port number indicated in the Listen-To-Multicast-Responses option, as
'cli_addr' and 'cli_port' element of the serialized CBOR array,
respectively. Furthermore, multicast notifications will match the
phantom request stored at the proxy, based on the Token value
specified in the 'token' element of the serialized CBOR array in the
Listen-To-Multicast-Responses option.
An example is provided in Appendix F.
11. Informative Response Parameters
This specification defines a number of fields used in the informative
response message defined in Section 2.2.
The table below summarizes them and specifies the CBOR key to use
instead of the full descriptive name. Note that the media type
application/informative-response+cbor MUST be used when these fields
are transported.
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+================+==========+===================+=============+
| Name | CBOR Key | CBOR Type | Reference |
+================+==========+===================+=============+
| tp_info | 1 | array | Section 2.2 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| ph_req | 2 | byte string | Section 2.2 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| last_notif | 3 | byte string | Section 2.2 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| join_uri | 4 | text string | Section 7.1 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| sec_gp | 5 | text string | Section 7.1 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| as_uri | 6 | text string | Section 7.1 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| cs_alg | 7 | int / text string | Section 7.1 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| cs_crv | 8 | int / text string | Section 7.1 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| cs_kty | 9 | int / text string | Section 7.1 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| cs_kenc | 10 | int | Section 7.1 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| alg | 11 | int / text string | Section 7.1 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| hkdf | 12 | int / text string | Section 7.1 |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| gp_material | 13 | map | Appendix C |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| srv_pub_key | 14 | byte string | Appendix C |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| srv_identifier | 15 | byte string | Appendix C |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
| exp | 16 | uint | Appendix C |
+----------------+----------+-------------------+-------------+
Table 1
12. Transport Protocol Information
This specification defines some values of transport protocol
identifiers to use within the 'tp_info' parameter of the informative
response message defined in Section 2.2 of this specification.
According to the encoding specified in Section 2.2.1, these values
are used for the 'tp_id' element of 'srv_addr', under the 'tp_info'
parameter.
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The table below summarizes them, specifies the integer value to use
instead of the full descriptive name, and provides the corresponding
full set of information elements to include in the 'tp_info'
parameter.
+-----------+-------------+-------+----------+-----------+-----------+
| Transport | Description | Value | Srv Addr | Req Info | Reference |
| Protocol | | | | | |
+-----------+-------------+-------+----------+-----------+-----------+
| Reserved | This value | 0 | | | [This |
| | is reserved | | | | document] |
| | | | | | |
| UDP | UDP is used | 1 | tp_id | token | [This |
| | as per | | srv_host | cli_host | document] |
| | RFC7252 | | srv_port | ?cli_port | |
+-----------+-------------+-------+----------+-----------+-----------+
Figure 9: Transport protocol information
13. Security Considerations
The same security considerations from [RFC7252][RFC7641][I-D.ietf-cor
e-groupcomm-bis][RFC8613][I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm] hold for
this document.
If multicast notifications are protected using Group OSCORE, the
original registration requests and related unicast (notification)
responses MUST also be secured, including and especially the
informative responses from the server. This prevents on-path active
adversaries from altering the conveyed IP multicast address and
serialized phantom registration request. Thus, it ensures secure
binding between every multicast notification for a same observed
resource and the phantom registration request that started the group
observation of that resource.
To this end, clients and servers SHOULD use OSCORE or Group OSCORE,
so ensuring that the secure binding above is enforced end-to-end
between the server and each observing client.
13.1. Listen-To-Multicast-Responses Option
The CoAP option Listen-To-Multicast-Responses defined in Section 10.1
is of class U for OSCORE and Group OSCORE
[RFC8613][I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm].
This allows the proxy adjacent to the origin server to access the
option value conveyed in a ticket request (see Section 10.2), and to
retrieve from it the transport-specific information about a phantom
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request. By doing so, the proxy becomes able to configure an
observation of the target resource and to receive multicast
notifications matching to the phantom request.
Any proxy in the chain, as well as further possible intermediaries or
on-path active adversaries, are thus able to remove the option or
alter its content, before the ticket request reaches the proxy
adjacent to the origin server.
Removing the option would result in the proxy adjacent to the origin
server to not configure the group observation, if that has not
happened yet. In such a case, the proxy would not receive the
corresponding multicast notifications to be forwarded back to the
clients.
Altering the option content would result in the proxy adjacent to the
origin server to incorrectly configure a group observation (e.g., by
indicating a wrong multicast IP address) hence preventing the correct
reception of multicast notifications and their forwarding to the
clients; or to configure bogus group observations that are currently
not active on the origin server.
In order to prevent what described above, the ticket requests
conveying the Listen-To-Multicast-Responses option can be
additionally protected hop-by-hop.
14. IANA Considerations
This document has the following actions for IANA.
14.1. Media Type Registrations
This specification registers the media type 'application/informative-
response+cbor' for error messages as informative response defined in
Section 2.2 of this specification, when carrying parameters encoded
in CBOR. This registration follows the procedures specified in
[RFC6838].
* Type name: application
* Subtype name: informative-response+cbor
* Required parameters: N/A
* Optional parameters: N/A
* Encoding considerations: Must be encoded as a CBOR map containing
the parameters defined in Section 2.2 of [this document].
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* Security considerations: See Section 13 of [this document].
* Interoperability considerations: N/A
* Published specification: [this document]
* Applications that use this media type: The type is used by CoAP
servers and clients that support error messages as informative
response defined in Section 2.2 of [this document].
* Fragment identifier considerations: N/A
* Additional information: N/A
* Person & email address to contact for further information:
iesg@ietf.org (mailto:iesg@ietf.org)
* Intended usage: COMMON
* Restrictions on usage: None
* Author: Marco Tiloca marco.tiloca@ri.se
(mailto:marco.tiloca@ri.se)
* Change controller: IESG
14.2. CoAP Content-Formats Registry
IANA is asked to add the following entry to the "CoAP Content-
Formats" sub-registry defined in Section 12.3 of [RFC7252], within
the "Constrained RESTful Environments (CoRE) Parameters" registry.
Media Type: application/informative-response+cbor
Encoding: -
ID: TBD
Reference: [this document]
14.3. Informative Response Parameters Registry
This specification establishes the "Informative Response Parameters"
IANA registry. The registry has been created to use the "Expert
Review Required" registration procedure [RFC8126]. Expert review
guidelines are provided in Section 14.6.
The columns of this registry are:
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* Name: This is a descriptive name that enables easier reference to
the item. The name MUST be unique. It is not used in the
encoding.
* CBOR Key: This is the value used as CBOR key of the item. These
values MUST be unique. The value can be a positive integer, a
negative integer, or a string.
* CBOR Type: This contains the CBOR type of the item, or a pointer
to the registry that defines its type, when that depends on
another item.
* Reference: This contains a pointer to the public specification for
the item.
This registry has been initially populated by the values in
Section 11. The "Reference" column for all of these entries refers
to sections of this document.
14.4. CoAP Transport Information Registry
This specification defines the subregistry "CoAP Transport
Information" within the "CoRE Parameters" registry. The registry has
been created to use the "Expert Review Required" registration
procedure [RFC8126]. Expert review guidelines are provided in
Section 14.6.
The columns of this registry are:
* Transport Protocol: This is a descriptive name that enables easier
reference to the item. The name MUST be unique. It is not used
in the encoding.
* Description: Text giving an overview of the transport protocol
referred by this item.
* Value: CBOR abbreviation for the transport protocol referred by
this item. Different ranges of values use different registration
policies [RFC8126]. Integer values from -256 to 255 are
designated as Standards Action. Integer values from -65536 to
-257 and from 256 to 65535 are designated as Specification
Required. Integer values greater than 65535 are designated as
Expert Review. Integer values less than -65536 are marked as
Private Use.
* Server Addr: List of elements providing addressing information of
the server.
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* Req Info: List of elements providing transport-specific
information related to a pertinent CoAP request. Optional
elements are prepended by '?'.
* Reference: This contains a pointer to the public specification for
the item.
This registry has been initially populated by the values in
Section 12. The "Reference" column for all of these entries refers
to sections of this document.
14.5. CoAP Option Numbers Registry
IANA is asked to enter the following option numbers to the "CoAP
Option Numbers" registry defined in [RFC7252] within the "CoRE
Parameters" registry.
+--------+--------------------------------------+-----------------+
| Number | Name | Reference |
+--------+--------------------------------------+-----------------+
| TBD | Multicast-Response-Feedback-Divider | [This document] |
+--------+--------------------------------------+-----------------+
| TBD | Listen-To-Multicast-Responses | [This document] |
+--------+--------------------------------------+-----------------+
14.6. Expert Review Instructions
The IANA registries established in this document are defined as
expert review. This section gives some general guidelines for what
the experts should be looking for, but they are being designated as
experts for a reason so they should be given substantial latitude.
Expert reviewers should take into consideration the following points:
* Point squatting should be discouraged. Reviewers are encouraged
to get sufficient information for registration requests to ensure
that the usage is not going to duplicate one that is already
registered and that the point is likely to be used in deployments.
The zones tagged as private use are intended for testing purposes
and closed environments, code points in other ranges should not be
assigned for testing.
* Specifications are required for the standards track range of point
assignment. Specifications should exist for specification
required ranges, but early assignment before a specification is
available is considered to be permissible. Specifications are
needed for the first-come, first-serve range if they are expected
to be used outside of closed environments in an interoperable way.
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When specifications are not provided, the description provided
needs to have sufficient information to identify what the point is
being used for.
* Experts should take into account the expected usage of fields when
approving point assignment. The fact that there is a range for
standards track documents does not mean that a standards track
document cannot have points assigned outside of that range. The
length of the encoded value should be weighed against how many
code points of that length are left, the size of device it will be
used on, and the number of code points left that encode to that
size.
15. References
15.1. Normative References
[COSE.Algorithms]
IANA, "COSE Algorithms",
<https://www.iana.org/assignments/cose/
cose.xhtml#algorithms>.
[COSE.Elliptic.Curves]
IANA, "COSE Elliptic Curves",
<https://www.iana.org/assignments/cose/
cose.xhtml#elliptic-curves>.
[COSE.Key.Types]
IANA, "COSE Key Types",
<https://www.iana.org/assignments/cose/cose.xhtml#key-
type>.
[I-D.ietf-ace-key-groupcomm-oscore]
Tiloca, M., Park, J., and F. Palombini, "Key Management
for OSCORE Groups in ACE", Work in Progress, Internet-
Draft, draft-ietf-ace-key-groupcomm-oscore-09, 2 November
2020, <http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ace-
key-groupcomm-oscore-09.txt>.
[I-D.ietf-ace-oscore-profile]
Palombini, F., Seitz, L., Selander, G., and M. Gunnarsson,
"OSCORE Profile of the Authentication and Authorization
for Constrained Environments Framework", Work in Progress,
Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-ace-oscore-profile-15, 26
January 2021, <http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-
ietf-ace-oscore-profile-15.txt>.
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[I-D.ietf-core-groupcomm-bis]
Dijk, E., Wang, C., and M. Tiloca, "Group Communication
for the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP)", Work in
Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-core-groupcomm-bis-
02, 2 November 2020, <http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/
draft-ietf-core-groupcomm-bis-02.txt>.
[I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm]
Tiloca, M., Selander, G., Palombini, F., and J. Park,
"Group OSCORE - Secure Group Communication for CoAP", Work
in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-core-oscore-
groupcomm-10, 2 November 2020, <http://www.ietf.org/
internet-drafts/draft-ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm-10.txt>.
[I-D.ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-algs]
Schaad, J., "CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE):
Initial Algorithms", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
draft-ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-algs-12, 24 September 2020,
<http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-cose-
rfc8152bis-algs-12.txt>.
[I-D.ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-struct]
Schaad, J., "CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE):
Structures and Process", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
draft-ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-struct-14, 24 September 2020,
<http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-cose-
rfc8152bis-struct-14.txt>.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC4944] Montenegro, G., Kushalnagar, N., Hui, J., and D. Culler,
"Transmission of IPv6 Packets over IEEE 802.15.4
Networks", RFC 4944, DOI 10.17487/RFC4944, September 2007,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4944>.
[RFC6838] Freed, N., Klensin, J., and T. Hansen, "Media Type
Specifications and Registration Procedures", BCP 13,
RFC 6838, DOI 10.17487/RFC6838, January 2013,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6838>.
[RFC7252] Shelby, Z., Hartke, K., and C. Bormann, "The Constrained
Application Protocol (CoAP)", RFC 7252,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7252, June 2014,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7252>.
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[RFC7641] Hartke, K., "Observing Resources in the Constrained
Application Protocol (CoAP)", RFC 7641,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7641, September 2015,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7641>.
[RFC7967] Bhattacharyya, A., Bandyopadhyay, S., Pal, A., and T.
Bose, "Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) Option for
No Server Response", RFC 7967, DOI 10.17487/RFC7967,
August 2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7967>.
[RFC8085] Eggert, L., Fairhurst, G., and G. Shepherd, "UDP Usage
Guidelines", BCP 145, RFC 8085, DOI 10.17487/RFC8085,
March 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8085>.
[RFC8126] Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
[RFC8288] Nottingham, M., "Web Linking", RFC 8288,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8288, October 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8288>.
[RFC8613] Selander, G., Mattsson, J., Palombini, F., and L. Seitz,
"Object Security for Constrained RESTful Environments
(OSCORE)", RFC 8613, DOI 10.17487/RFC8613, July 2019,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8613>.
[RFC8949] Bormann, C. and P. Hoffman, "Concise Binary Object
Representation (CBOR)", STD 94, RFC 8949,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8949, December 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8949>.
15.2. Informative References
[I-D.amsuess-core-cachable-oscore]
Amsuess, C. and M. Tiloca, "Cachable OSCORE", Work in
Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-amsuess-core-cachable-
oscore-00, 13 July 2020, <http://www.ietf.org/internet-
drafts/draft-amsuess-core-cachable-oscore-00.txt>.
[I-D.ietf-ace-oauth-authz]
Seitz, L., Selander, G., Wahlstroem, E., Erdtman, S., and
H. Tschofenig, "Authentication and Authorization for
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Constrained Environments (ACE) using the OAuth 2.0
Framework (ACE-OAuth)", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
draft-ietf-ace-oauth-authz-36, 16 November 2020,
<http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ace-oauth-
authz-36.txt>.
[I-D.ietf-core-coap-pubsub]
Koster, M., Keranen, A., and J. Jimenez, "Publish-
Subscribe Broker for the Constrained Application Protocol
(CoAP)", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
core-coap-pubsub-09, 30 September 2019,
<http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-core-coap-
pubsub-09.txt>.
[I-D.ietf-core-coral]
Hartke, K., "The Constrained RESTful Application Language
(CoRAL)", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
core-coral-03, 9 March 2020, <http://www.ietf.org/
internet-drafts/draft-ietf-core-coral-03.txt>.
[I-D.ietf-core-resource-directory]
Amsuess, C., Shelby, Z., Koster, M., Bormann, C., and P.
Stok, "CoRE Resource Directory", Work in Progress,
Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-core-resource-directory-26, 2
November 2020, <http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-
ietf-core-resource-directory-26.txt>.
[I-D.ietf-tls-dtls13]
Rescorla, E., Tschofenig, H., and N. Modadugu, "The
Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) Protocol Version
1.3", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-tls-
dtls13-40, 20 January 2021, <http://www.ietf.org/internet-
drafts/draft-ietf-tls-dtls13-40.txt>.
[I-D.tiloca-core-oscore-discovery]
Tiloca, M., Amsuess, C., and P. Stok, "Discovery of OSCORE
Groups with the CoRE Resource Directory", Work in
Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-tiloca-core-oscore-
discovery-07, 2 November 2020, <http://www.ietf.org/
internet-drafts/draft-tiloca-core-oscore-discovery-
07.txt>.
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[MOBICOM99]
Ni, S.-Y., Tseng, Y.-C., Chen, Y.-S., and J.-P. Sheu, "The
Broadcast Storm Problem in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network",
Proceedings of the 5th annual ACM/IEEE international
conference on Mobile computing and networking , August
1999, <https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~culler/cs294-
f03/papers/bcast-storm.pdf>.
[RFC6347] Rescorla, E. and N. Modadugu, "Datagram Transport Layer
Security Version 1.2", RFC 6347, DOI 10.17487/RFC6347,
January 2012, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6347>.
[RFC6690] Shelby, Z., "Constrained RESTful Environments (CoRE) Link
Format", RFC 6690, DOI 10.17487/RFC6690, August 2012,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6690>.
[RFC7519] Jones, M., Bradley, J., and N. Sakimura, "JSON Web Token
(JWT)", RFC 7519, DOI 10.17487/RFC7519, May 2015,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7519>.
[RFC8610] Birkholz, H., Vigano, C., and C. Bormann, "Concise Data
Definition Language (CDDL): A Notational Convention to
Express Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) and
JSON Data Structures", RFC 8610, DOI 10.17487/RFC8610,
June 2019, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8610>.
[RFC8747] Jones, M., Seitz, L., Selander, G., Erdtman, S., and H.
Tschofenig, "Proof-of-Possession Key Semantics for CBOR
Web Tokens (CWTs)", RFC 8747, DOI 10.17487/RFC8747, March
2020, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8747>.
Appendix A. Different Sources for Group Observation Data
While the clients usually receive the phantom registration request
and other information related to the group observation through an
Informative Response, the same data can be made available through
different services, such as the following ones.
A.1. Topic Discovery in Publish-Subscribe Settings
In a Publish-Subscribe scenario ([I-D.ietf-core-coap-pubsub]), a
group observation can be discovered along with topic metadata. For
instance, a discovery step can make the following metadata available.
This example assumes a CoRAL namespace [I-D.ietf-core-coral], that
contains properties analogous to those in the content-format
application/informative-response+cbor.
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Request:
GET </ps/topics?rt=oic.r.temperature>
Accept: CoRAL
Response:
2.05 Content
Content-Format: CoRAL
rdf:type <http://example.org/pubsub/topic-list>
topic </ps/topics/1234> {
tp_info [1, h"7b", h"20010db80100..0001", 5683,
h"ff35003020010db8..1234", 5683],
ph_req h"0160..",
last_notif h"256105.."
}
Figure 10: Group observation discovery in a Pub-Sub scenario
With this information from the topic discovery step, the client can
already set up its multicast address and start receiving multicast
notifications.
In heavily asymmetric networks like municipal notification services,
discovery and notifications do not necessarily need to use the same
network link. For example, a departure monitor could use its (costly
and usually-off) cellular uplink to discover the topics it needs to
update its display to, and then listen on a LoRA-WAN interface for
receiving the actual multicast notifications.
A.2. Introspection at the Multicast Notification Sender
For network debugging purposes, it can be useful to query a server
that sends multicast responses as matching a phantom registration
request.
Such an interface is left for other documents to specify on demand.
As an example, a possible interface can be as follows, and rely on
the already known Token value of intercepted multicast notifications,
associated to a phantom registration request.
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Request:
GET </.well-known/core/mc-sender?token=6464>
Response:
2.05 Content
Content-Format: application/informative-response+cbor
{
'tp_info': [1, h"7b", h"20010db80100..0001", 5683,
h"ff35003020010db8..1234", 5683],
'ph_req': h"0160..",
'last_notif' : h"256105.."
}
Figure 11: Group observation discovery with server introspection
For example, a network sniffer could offer sending such a request
when unknown multicast notifications are seen on a network.
Consequently, it can associate those notifications with a URI, or
decrypt them, if member of the correct OSCORE group.
Appendix B. Pseudo-Code for Rough Counting of Clients
This appendix provides a description in pseudo-code of the two
algorithms used for the rough counting of active observers, as
defined in Section 6.
In particular, Appendix B.1 describes the algorithm for the client
side, while Appendix B.2 describes an optimized version for
constrained clients. Finally, Appendix B.3 describes the algorithm
for the server side.
B.1. Client Side
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input: int Q, // Value of the MRFD option
int LEISURE_TIME, // DEFAULT_LEISURE from RFC 7252,
// unless overridden
output: None
int RAND_MIN = 0;
int RAND_MAX = (2**Q) - 1;
int I = randomInteger(RAND_MIN, RAND_MAX);
if (I == 0) {
float fraction = randomFloat(0, 1);
Timer t = new Timer();
t.setAndStart(fraction * LEISURE_TIME);
while(!t.isExpired());
Request req = new Request();
// Initialize as NON and with maximum
// No-Response settings, set options ...
Option opt = new Option(OBSERVE);
opt.set(0);
req.setOption(opt);
opt = new Option(MRFD);
req.setOption(opt);
req.send(SRV_ADDR, SRV_PORT);
}
B.2. Client Side - Optimized Version
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input: int Q, // Value of the MRFD option
int LEISURE_TIME, // DEFAULT_LEISURE from RFC 7252,
// unless overridden
output: None
const unsigned int UINT_BIT = CHAR_BIT * sizeof(unsigned int);
if (respond_to(Q) == true) {
float fraction = randomFloat(0, 1);
Timer t = new Timer();
t.setAndStart(fraction * LEISURE_TIME);
while(!t.isExpired());
Request req = new Request();
// Initialize as NON and with maximum
// No-Response settings, set options ...
Option opt = new Option(OBSERVE);
opt.set(0);
req.setOption(opt);
opt = new Option(MRFD);
req.setOption(opt);
req.send(SRV_ADDR, SRV_PORT);
}
bool respond_to(int Q) {
while (Q >= UINT_BIT) {
if (rand() != 0) return false;
Q -= UINT_BIT;
}
unsigned int mask = ~((~0u) << Q);
unsigned int masked = mask & rand();
return masked == 0;
}
B.3. Server Side
input: int COUNT, // Current observer counter
int M, // Desired number of confirmations
int MAX_CONFIRMATION_WAIT,
Response notification, // Multicast notification to send
output: int NEW_COUNT // Updated observer counter
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int D = 4; // Dampener value
int RETRY_NEXT_THRESHOLD = 4;
float CANCEL_THRESHOLD = 0.2;
int N = max(COUNT, 1);
int Q = max(ceil(log2(N / M)), 0);
Option opt = new Option(MRFD);
opt.set(Q);
notification.setOption(opt);
<Finalize the notification message>
notification.send(GRP_ADDR, GRP_PORT);
Timer t = new Timer();
t.setAndStart(MAX_CONFIRMATION_WAIT); // Time t1
while(!t.isExpired());
// Time t2
int R = <number of requests to the target resource
between t1 and t2, with the MRFD option>;
int E = R * (2**Q);
// Determine after how many multicast notifications
// the next count update will be performed
if ((R == 0) || (max(E/N, N/E) > RETRY_NEXT_THRESHOLD)) {
<Next count update with the next multicast notification>
}
else {
<Next count update after 10 multicast notifications>
}
// Compute the new count estimate
int COUNT_PRIME = <current value of the observer counter>;
int NEW_COUNT = COUNT_PRIME + ((E - N) / D);
// Determine whether to cancel the group observation
if (NEW_COUNT < CANCEL_THRESHOLD) {
<Cancel the group observation>;
return 0;
}
return NEW_COUNT;
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Appendix C. OSCORE Group Self-Managed by the Server
For simple settings, where no pre-arranged group with suitable
memberships is available, the server can be responsible to setup and
manage the OSCORE group used to protect the group observation.
In such a case, a client would implicitly request to join the OSCORE
group when sending the observe registration request to the server.
When replying, the server includes the group keying material and
related information in the informative response (see Section 2.2).
Additionally to what defined in Section 2, the CBOR map in the
informative response payload contains the following fields, whose
CBOR labels are defined in Section 11.
* 'gp_material': this element is a CBOR map, which includes what the
client needs in order to set up the Group OSCORE Security Context.
This parameter has as value a subset of the
Group_OSCORE_Input_Material object, which is defined in
Section 6.4 of [I-D.ietf-ace-key-groupcomm-oscore] and extends the
OSCORE_Input_Material object encoded in CBOR as defined in
Section 3.2.1 of [I-D.ietf-ace-oscore-profile].
In particular, the following elements of the
Group_OSCORE_Input_Material object are included, using the same
CBOR labels from the OSCORE Security Context Parameters Registry,
as in Section 6.4 of [I-D.ietf-ace-key-groupcomm-oscore].
- 'ms', 'contexId', 'cs_alg', 'cs_params', 'cs_key_params',
'cs_key_enc'. These elements MUST be included.
- 'hkdf', 'alg', 'salt'. These elements MAY be included.
The following elements of the Group_OSCORE_Input_Material object
MUST NOT be included.
- 'group_senderId', 'ecdh_alg', 'ecdh_params', 'ecdh_key_params'.
* 'srv_pub_key': this element is a CBOR byte string, which wraps the
serialization of the public key that the server uses in the OSCORE
group. If the public key of the server is encoded as a COSE_Key
(see the 'cs_key_enc' element of the 'gp_material' parameter), it
includes 'kid' specifying the Sender ID that the server has in the
OSCORE group.
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* 'srv_identifier': this element MUST be present only if
'srv_pub_key' is also present and, at the same time, the used
encoding for the public key of the server does not allow to
specify a Sender ID within the associated public key. Otherwise,
it MUST NOT be present. If present, this element is a CBOR byte
string, with value the Sender ID that the server has in the OSCORE
group.
* 'exp': with value the expiration time of the keying material of
the OSCORE group specified in the 'gp_material' parameter, encoded
as a CBOR unsigned integer. This field contains a numeric value
representing the number of seconds from 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z UTC
until the specified UTC date/time, ignoring leap seconds,
analogous to what specified for NumericDate in Section 2 of
[RFC7519].
A client receiving an informative response uses the information above
to set up the Group OSCORE Security Context, as described in
Section 2 of [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm]. Note that the client
does not obtain a Sender ID of its own, hence it installs a Security
Context that a "silent server" would, i.e. without Sender Context.
From then on, the client uses the received keying material to process
the incoming multicast notifications from the server.
The server complies with the following points.
* The server MUST NOT self-manage OSCORE groups and provide the
related keying material in the informative response for any other
purpose than the protection of group observations, as defined in
this document.
The server MAY use the same self-managed OSCORE group to protect
the phantom request and the multicast notifications of multiple
group observations it hosts.
* The server MUST NOT provide in the informative response the keying
material of other OSCORE groups it is or has been a member of.
After the time indicated in the 'exp' field:
* The server MUST stop using the keying material and MUST cancel the
group observations for which that keying material is used (see
Section 2.5). If the server creates a new group observation as a
replacement or follow-up using the same OSCORE group:
- The server MUST update the Master Secret.
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- The server MUST update the ID Context (Gid). Consistently with
Section 2.3 of [I-D.ietf-core-oscore-groupcomm], the server
MUST assign an ID Context that it has never assigned before in
the OSCORE group.
- The server MAY update the Master Salt.
* The client MUST stop using the keying material and MAY re-register
the observation at the server.
Before the key material has expired, the server can send a multicast
response with response code 5.03 (Service Unavailable) to the
observing clients, protected with the current key material. In
particular, this is an informative response (see Section 2.2) and
contains the abovementioned parameters for the next group keying
material to be used. Alternatively, the server can simply cancel the
group observation (see Section 2.5), which results in the eventual
re-registration of the clients that are still interested in the group
observation.
Applications requiring backward security and forward security are
REQUIRED to use an actual group joining process (usually through a
dedicated Group Manager), e.g. the ACE joining procedure defined in
[I-D.ietf-ace-key-groupcomm-oscore]. The server can facilitate the
clients by providing them information about the OSCORE group to join,
as described in Section 7.1.
Appendix D. Phantom Request as Deterministic Request
In some settings, the server can assume that all the approaching
clients already have the exact phantom observation request to use.
For instance, the clients can be pre-configured with the phantom
observation request, or they may be expected to retrieve it through
dedicated means (see Appendix A), before sending an observe
registration request to the server.
If Group OSCORE is used to protect the group observation (see
Section 7), and the OSCORE group supports the concept of
Deterministic Client [I-D.amsuess-core-cachable-oscore], then the
server and each client in the OSCORE group can independently protect
the phantom observation request possibly available as plain CoAP
message. To this end, they use the approach defined in Section 2 of
[I-D.amsuess-core-cachable-oscore] to compute a protected
deterministic request, against which the protected multicast
notifications will match for the group observation in question.
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Note that, if the optimization defined in Appendix C is also used,
the error informative response from the server has to include
additional information, i.e. the Sender ID of the Deterministic
Client in the OSCORE group, and the hash algorithm used to compute
the deterministic request (see Section 2.3.1 of
[I-D.amsuess-core-cachable-oscore]).
This optimization allows the server to not provide the same full
phantom observation request to each client in the error informative
response (see Section 2.2). That is, the informative response does
not need to include the 'ph_req' parameter, but only the 'tp_info'
parameter specifying the transport-specific information and
(optionally) the 'last_notif' parameter specifying the latest sent
multicast notification.
Appendix E. Example with a Proxy
This section provides an example when a proxy P is used between the
clients and the server. The same assumptions and notation used in
Section 5 are used for this example. In addition, the proxy has
address PRX_ADDR and listens to the port number PRX_PORT.
Unless explicitly indicated, all messages transmitted on the wire are
sent over unicast.
C1 C2 P S
| | | |
| | | | (The value of the resource /r is "1234")
| | | |
+------------>| | Token: 0x4a
| GET | | | Observe: 0 (Register)
| | | | Proxy-Uri: coap://sensor.example/r
| | | |
| | +------->| Token: 0x5e
| | | GET | Observe: 0 (Register)
| | | | Uri-Host: sensor.example
| | | | Uri-Path: r
| | | |
| | | | (S allocates the available Token value 0x7b)
| | | |
| | | | (S sends to itself a phantom observation
| | | | request PH_REQ as coming from the
| | | | IP multicast address GRP_ADDR)
| | | |
| | | ------+
| | | / |
| | | \----->| Token: 0x7b
| | | GET | Observe: 0 (Register)
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| | | | Uri-Host: sensor.example
| | | | Uri-Path: r
| | | |
| | | |
| | | | (S creates a group observation of /r)
| | | |
| | | | (S increments the observer counter
| | | | for the group observation of /r)
| | | |
| | | |
| | |<-------+ Token: 0x5e
| | | 5.03 | Content-Format: application/
| | | | informative-response+cbor
| | | | <Other options>
| | | | Payload: {
| | | | tp_info : [1, bstr(SRV_ADDR), SRV_PORT,
| | | | 0x7b, bstr(GRP_ADDR),
| | | | GRP_PORT],
| | | | ph_req : bstr(0x01 | OPT),
| | | | last_notif : bstr(0x45 | OPT |
| | | | 0xff | PAYLOAD)
| | | | }
| | | |
| | | | (PAYLOAD in 'last_notif' : "1234")
| | | |
| | | |
| | | | (The proxy starts listening to the
| | | | GRP_ADDR address and the GRP_PORT port.)
| | | |
| | | | (The proxy adds C1 to its list of observers.)
| | | |
| | | |
|<------------+ | Token: 0x4a
| 2.05 | | | Content-Format: application/cbor
| | | | <Other options>
| | | | Payload: "1234"
: : : :
: : : :
: : : :
| +----->| | Token: 0x01
| | GET | | Observe: 0 (Register)
| | | | Proxy-Uri: coap://sensor.example/r
| | | |
| | | | (The proxy has a fresh cache representation)
| | | |
| |<-----+ | Token: 0x01
| | 2.05 | | Content-Format: application/cbor
| | | | <Other options>
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| | | | Payload: "1234"
| | | |
| | | |
: : : :
: : : : (The value of the resource
: : : : /r changes to "5678".)
: : : (*) :
| | |<-------+ Token: 0x7b
| | | 2.05 | Observe: 11
| | | | Content-Format: application/cbor
| | | | <Other options>
| | | | Payload: "5678"
| | | |
|<------------+ | Token: 0x4a
| 2.05 | | | Observe: 54123
| | | | Content-Format: application/cbor
| | | | <Other options>
| | | | Payload: "5678"
| | | |
| |<-----+ | Token: 0x01
| | 2.05 | | Observe: 54123
| | | | Content-Format: application/cbor
| | | | <Other options>
| | | | Payload: "5678"
(*) Sent over IP multicast to GROUP_ADDR:GROUP_PORT
Figure 12: Example of group observation with a proxy
Note that the proxy has all the information to understand the
observation request from C2, and can immediately start to serve the
still fresh values.
This behavior is mandated by Section 5 of [RFC7641], i.e. the proxy
registers itself only once with the next hop and fans out the
notifications it receives to all registered clients.
Appendix F. Example with a Proxy and Group OSCORE
This section provides an example when a proxy P is used between the
clients and the server, and Group OSCORE is used to protect multicast
notifications end-to-end between the server and the clients.
The same assumptions and notation used in Section 8 are used for this
example. In addition, the proxy has address PRX_ADDR and listens to
the port number PRX_PORT.
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Unless explicitly indicated, all messages transmitted on the wire are
sent over unicast and protected with OSCORE end-to-end between a
client and the server.
C1 C2 P S
| | | | (The value of the resource /r is "1234")
| | | |
+-------------->| | Token: 0x4a
| FETCH | | | Observe: 0 (Register)
| | | | OSCORE: {kid: 1 ; piv: 101 ; ...}
| | | | Uri-Host: sensor.example
| | | | Proxy-Scheme: coap
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | Encrypted_payload {
| | | | 0x01 (GET),
| | | | Observe: 0 (Register),
| | | | Uri-Path: r,
| | | | <Other class E options>
| | | | }
| | | |
| | +-------->| Token: 0x5e
| | | FETCH | Observe: 0 (Register)
| | | | OSCORE: {kid: 1 ; piv: 101 ; ...}
| | | | Uri-Host: sensor.example
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | Encrypted_payload {
| | | | 0x01 (GET),
| | | | Observe: 0 (Register),
| | | | Uri-Path: r,
| | | | <Other class E options>
| | | | }
| | | |
| | | |
| | | | (S allocates the available
| | | | Token value 0x7b .)
| | | |
| | | | (S sends to itself a phantom observation
| | | | request PH_REQ as coming from the
| | | | IP multicast address GRP_ADDR)
| | | |
| | | -------+
| | | / |
| | | \------>| Token: 0x7b
| | | FETCH | Observe: 0 (Register)
| | | | OSCORE: {kid: 5 ; piv: 501 ;
| | | | kid context: 57ab2e; ...}
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| | | | Uri-Host: sensor.example
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | Encrypted_payload {
| | | | 0x01 (GET),
| | | | Observe: 0 (Register),
| | | | Uri-Path: r
| | | | <Other class E options>
| | | | }
| | | | <Counter signature>
| | | |
| | | |
| | | | (S steps SN_5 in the Group OSCORE
| | | | Security Context : SN_5 <== 502)
| | | |
| | | | (S creates a group observation of /r)
| | | |
| | | | (S increments the observer counter
| | | | for the group observation of /r)
| | | |
| | | |
| | |<--------+ Token: 0x5e
| | | 2.05 | OSCORE: {piv: 301 ; ...}
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | Encrypted_payload {
| | | | 5.03 (Service Unavailable),
| | | | Content-Format: application/
| | | | informative-response+cbor,
| | | | <Other class E options>,
| | | | 0xff,
| | | | CBOR_payload {
| | | | tp_info : [1, bstr(SRV_ADDR),
| | | | SRV_PORT, 0x7b,
| | | | bstr(GRP_ADDR), GRP_PORT],
| | | | ph_req : bstr(0x05 | OPT | 0xff |
| | | | PAYLOAD | SIGN),
| | | | last_notif : bstr(0x45 | OPT | 0xff |
| | | | PAYLOAD | SIGN),
| | | | join_uri : "coap://myGM/
| | | | ace-group/myGroup",
| | | | sec_gp : "myGroup"
| | | | }
| | | | }
| | | |
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| | | |
|<--------------+ | Token: 0x4a
| 2.05 | | | OSCORE: {piv: 301 ; ...}
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | (Same Encrypted_payload)
| | | |
| | | |
+-------------->| | Token: 0x4b
| FETCH | | | Observe: 0 (Register)
| | | | OSCORE: {kid: 5 ; piv: 501 ; ...}
| | | | Uri-Host: sensor.example
| | | | Proxy-Scheme: coap
| | | | Listen-To-
| | | | Multicast-Responses: {[1, bstr(SRV_ADDR),
| | | | SRV_PORT, 0x7b,
| | | | bstr(GRP_ADDR),
| | | | GRP_PORT]
| | | | }
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | Encrypted_payload {
| | | | 0x01 (GET),
| | | | Observe: 0 (Register),
| | | | Uri-Path: r
| | | | <Other class E options>
| | | | }
| | | | <Counter signature>
| | | |
| | | |
| | | | (The proxy starts listening to the
| | | | GRP_ADDR address and the GRP_PORT port.)
| | | |
| | | | (The proxy adds C1 to
| | | | its list of observers.)
: : : :
: : : :
: : : :
| +------>| | Token: 0x01
| | FETCH | | Observe: 0 (Register)
| | | | OSCORE: {kid: 2 ; piv: 201 ; ...}
| | | | Uri-Host: sensor.example
| | | | Proxy-Scheme: coap
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | Encrypted_payload {
| | | | 0x01 (GET),
| | | | Observe: 0 (Register),
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| | | | Uri-Path: r,
| | | | <Other class E options>
| | | | }
| | | |
| | +-------->| Token: 0x5e
| | | FETCH | Observe: 0 (Register)
| | | | OSCORE: {kid: 2 ; piv: 201 ; ...}
| | | | Uri-Host: sensor.example
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | Encrypted_payload {
| | | | 0x01 (GET),
| | | | Observe: 0 (Register),
| | | | Uri-Path: r,
| | | | <Other class E options>
| | | | }
| | | |
| | |<--------+ Token: 0x5e
| | | 2.05 | OSCORE: {piv: 401 ; ...}
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | Encrypted_payload {
| | | | 5.03 (Service Unavailable),
| | | | Content-Format: application/
| | | | informative-response+cbor,
| | | | <Other class E options>,
| | | | 0xff,
| | | | CBOR_payload {
| | | | tp_info : [1, bstr(SRV_ADDR),
| | | | SRV_PORT, 0x7b,
| | | | bstr(GRP_ADDR), GRP_PORT],
| | | | ph_req : bstr(0x05 | OPT | 0xff |
| | | | PAYLOAD | SIGN),
| | | | last_notif : bstr(0x45 | OPT | 0xff |
| | | | PAYLOAD | SIGN),
| | | | join_uri : "coap://myGM/
| | | | ace-group/myGroup",
| | | | sec_gp : "myGroup"
| | | | }
| | | | }
| | | |
| |<------+ | Token: 0x01
| | 2.05 | | OSCORE: {piv: 401 ; ...}
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | (Same Encrypted_payload)
| | | |
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| | | |
| +------>| | Token: 0x02
| | FETCH | | Observe: 0 (Register)
| | | | OSCORE: {kid: 5 ; piv: 501 ; ...}
| | | | Uri-Host: sensor.example
| | | | Proxy-Scheme: coap
| | | | Listen-To-
| | | | Multicast-Responses: {[1, bstr(SRV_ADDR),
| | | | SRV_PORT, 0x7b,
| | | | bstr(GRP_ADDR),
| | | | GRP_PORT]
| | | | }
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | Encrypted_payload {
| | | | 0x01 (GET),
| | | | Observe: 0 (Register),
| | | | Uri-Path: r
| | | | <Other class E options>
| | | | }
| | | | <Counter signature>
| | | |
| | | | (The proxy adds C2 to its list of
| | | | observers, and serves the cached
| | | | response)
| | | |
| |<------+ | Token: 0x02
| | 2.05 | | OSCORE: {piv: 301 ; ...}
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | (Same as earlier to C1)
: : : :
: : : :
: : : :
| | | | (The value of the resource
| | | | /r changes to "5678".)
| | | |
| | | |
| | | (*) |
| | |<--------+ Token: 0x7b
| | | 2.05 | Observe: 11
| | | | OSCORE: {kid: 5; piv: 502 ;
| | | | kid context: 57ab2e; ...}
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | Encrypted_payload {
| | | | 2.05 (Content),
| | | | Observe: 11,
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| | | | Content-Format: application/cbor,
| | | | <Other class E options>,
| | | | 0xff,
| | | | CBOR_Payload : "5678"
| | | | }
| | | | <Counter signature>
| | | |
| | | |
|<--------------+ | Token: 0x4b
| 2.05 | | | Observe: 54123
| | | | OSCORE: {kid: 5; piv: 502 ;
| | | | kid context: 57ab2e; ...}
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | (Same Encrypted_payload)
| | | |
| |<------+ | Token: 0x02
| | 2.05 | | Observe: 54123
| | | | OSCORE: {kid: 5; piv: 502 ;
| | | | kid context: 57ab2e; ...}
| | | | <Other class U/I options>
| | | | 0xff
| | | | (Same Encrypted_payload)
(*) Sent over IP multicast to GROUP_ADDR:GROUP_PORT and protected
with Group OSCORE end-to-end between the server and the clients.
Figure 13: Example of group observation with a proxy and Group OSCORE
Unlike in the unprotected example in Appendix E, the proxy does _not_
have all the information to perform request deduplication, and can
only recognize the identical request once the client sends the ticket
request.
Acknowledgments
The authors sincerely thank Carsten Bormann, Klaus Hartke, Jaime
Jimenez, John Mattsson, Ludwig Seitz, Jim Schaad and Goeran Selander
for their comments and feedback.
The work on this document has been partly supported by VINNOVA and
the Celtic-Next project CRITISEC; and by the H2020 project SIFIS-Home
(Grant agreement 952652).
Authors' Addresses
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Marco Tiloca
RISE AB
Isafjordsgatan 22
SE-16440 Stockholm Kista
Sweden
Email: marco.tiloca@ri.se
Rikard Hoeglund
RISE AB
Isafjordsgatan 22
SE-16440 Stockholm Kista
Sweden
Email: rikard.hoglund@ri.se
Christian Amsuess
Hollandstr. 12/4
1020 Vienna
Austria
Email: christian@amsuess.com
Francesca Palombini
Ericsson AB
Torshamnsgatan 23
SE-16440 Stockholm Kista
Sweden
Email: francesca.palombini@ericsson.com
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