Network Working Group                                    R. Hibbs
   INTERNET-DRAFT                           Richard Barr Hibbs, P.E.
   Category:  Informational                                 C. Smith
   Expires:  December 15, 2006                        C & C Catering
                                                             B. Volz
                                                 Cisco Systems, Inc.
                                                            M. Zohar
                                    IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
                                                       June 13, 2006
   
   
   
          Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv4 (DHCPv4)
                              Threat Analysis
   
   
   
               <draft-ietf-dhc-v4-threat-analysis-03.txt>
                 Saved: Tuesday, June 13, 2006, 12:56:25
   
   
   
   
   Intellectual Property Rights
   
      By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
      applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
      have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
      aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.
   
   Status of this Memo
   
      Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
      Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
      other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
      Drafts.
   
      Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six
      months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents
      at any time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as
      reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
   
      The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
      http://www.ietf.org/1id-abstracts.html.
   
      The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
      http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
   
      Comments are solicited and should be addressed to the working
      group's mailing list at dhcwg@ietf.org and/or the author(s).
   
   Copyright Notice
   
      Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
   
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006            [Page 1]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
   Abstract
   
      DHCPv4 (RFC 2131) is a stable, widely used protocol for
      configuration of host systems in a TCP/IPv4 network.  It did not
      provide for authentication of clients and servers, nor did it
      provide for data confidentiality.  This is reflected in the original
      "Security Considerations" section of RFC 2131, which identifies a
      few threats and leaves development of any defenses against those
      threats to future work.  In about 1995, DHCP security began to
      attract attention from the Internet community, eventually resulting
      in the publication of RFC 3118 in 2001.  Although RFC 3118 was a
      mandatory prerequisite for the DHCPv4 Reconfigure Extension, RFC
      3203, it has had no known usage by any commercial or private
      implementation since its adoption.  The DHC Working Group adopted a
      work item for 2003 to review and modify or replace RFC 3118 to
      afford a workable, easily deployed security mechanism for DHCPv4.
      This memo provides a threat analysis of the Dynamic Host
      Configuration Protocol for Ipv4 (DHCPv4) for use both as RFC 2131
      advances from Draft Standard to Full Standard and to support our
      chartered work improving the acceptance and deployment of RFC 3118.
   
   Table of Contents
   
   1 Introduction................................................4
      1.1 Issues for Consideration...............................4
      1.2 Exclusions.............................................4
   2 Use of Key Words............................................5
   3 Applicability...............................................5
      3.1 Assumptions............................................5
      3.2 Scope of this Memo.....................................5
   4 General threats to DHCPv4...................................5
      4.1 Denial-of-Service Attacks..............................5
          4.1.1 Refusal to Configure Clients.....,...............5
          4.1.2 Impersonating Clients.............,..............5
          4.1.3 Flooding...........................,.............6
      4.2 Client Misconfiguration................................6
      4.3 Theft of Network Service...............................6
      4.4 Packet Insertion, Deletion, or Modification............7
   5 Weaknesses of RFC 3118......................................7
      5.1 Key Exposure...........................................7
      5.2 Key Distribution.......................................7
      5.3 Replay attacks.........................................8
      5.4 Protocol Agreement Difficulties........................8
      5.5 DHCPv4 Relay Agents Excluded...........................8
      5.6 Unanticipated Infrastructure Changes...................8
   6 DHCPv4 Security Requirements................................9
      6.1 Environments...........................................9
      6.2 Capabilities..........................................10
      6.3 Musings on the Key Distribution Problem...............10
      6.4 Data Confidentiality..................................11
          6.4.1 "Public" Data in DHCP Packets...................12
          6.4.2 Protecting Data in DHCP Options.................12
      6.5 Host versus User Authentication.......................12
          6.5.1 Why do we make this distinction?................13
          6.5.2 Is one mechanism sufficient?....................13
   7 IANA Considerations........................................14
   8 Security Considerations....................................14
   9 Acknowledgements...........................................14
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006            [Page 2]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
   10 References................................................14
      10.1 Normative References.................................14
      10.2 Informative References...............................15
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006            [Page 3]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
   
   1 Introduction
   
      DHCPv4 as defined in [RFC1541] and [RFC2131] does not provide any
      form of communication security, confidentiality, data integrity, or
      peer entity authentication.
   
      A design team was formed at IETF-55 in Atlanta in November 2002 to
      look at DHCPv4 and [RFC3118] to document security requirements for
      DHCPv4.  [RFC3118] defines the current security mechanisms for
      DHCPv4.
   
      Unfortunately, RFC 3118 has neither been implemented nor deployed to
      date.  There is widespread feeling that its current restriction to
      manual keying of clients limits its deployment.  The DHC Working
      Group seeks to rectify this situation by defining security
      mechanisms for DHCPv4 that have better deployment properties.
   
   1.1 Issues for Consideration
   
      Specific issues to be considered include:
   
      O  Improved key management and scalability.
   
      O  Security for messages passed between relay agents and servers.
   
      O  The increased usage of DHCPv4 on insecure (e.g., wireless) and
         public LANs.
   
      O  The need for clients to be able to authenticate servers, without
         simultaneously requiring client authentication by the server.
   
      O  Does use of the Relay Agent Information Option imply the need
         for authenticated messages between DHCP servers and relay
         agents?
   
   1.2 Exclusions
   
      Excluded from our analysis are:
   
      O  Securing messages between relay agents and servers:  work is
         already underway on this, see [RFC4030] and [relay-ipsec].
   
      O  DHCP Reconfigure Extension (FORCERENEW) [RFC3203]:  the authors
         believe it is appropriate to put the onus to provide the
         analysis on those who are interested in moving that work forward.
         [Editor's note:  despite repeated calls on the DHC Working Group
         mailing list to identify even a single implementation of
         FORCERENEW, we are unable to put forward an example of its use.]
   
      O  DHCP Failover Protocol, as defined in [failover]:  the server-
         to-server protocol used differs significantly from DHCP, and
         there has been no recent work on the [failover] draft.
   
      O  DHCP-DNS Interaction, as defined in [fqdn]:  securing
         communication between DHCP servers and DNS servers is a DNS
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006            [Page 4]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
         update security issue and therefore out of scope for the DHC
         working group.
   
      O  DHCPv6, as defined in [RFC3315]: while we believe that
         authentication techniques developed for DHCPv4 would generally
         be applicable to DHCPv6, there are fundamental differences
         between the two protocols and RFC 3118 specifies DHCPv4-style
         message and options formats, so we have chosen to concentrate on
         DHCPv4.
   
      O  DHCP Lease Query, as defined in [RFC4388]:  because of lack of
         maturity.
   
   2 Use of Key Words
   
      The key words "MUST," "MUST NOT," "REQUIRED," "SHALL," "SHALL NOT,"
      "SHOULD," "SHOULD NOT," "RECOMMENDED," "MAY," and "OPTIONAL" in this
      document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
   
   3 Applicability
   
   3.1 Assumptions
   
      This document assumes that the reader is familiar with both the base
      DHCPv4 protocol as defined in [RFC2131] and the DHCPv4
      authentication extension as defined in [RFC3118], and does not
      attempt to provide a tutorial on either.
   
   3.2 Scope of this Memo
   
      This document confines its analysis to DHCPv4, as defined in
      [RFC2131] and [RFC2132] and DHCP Authentication, as defined in
      [RFC3118].
   
   4 General threats to DHCPv4
   
      These are the classes of threats to the base DHCPv4 protocol.  Not
      all of these are DHCP-specific, nor can all the concerns listed be
      addressed by DHCP authentication.
   
   4.1 Denial-of-Service Attacks
   
   4.1.1 Refusal to Configure Clients
   
      A rogue DHCP server can refuse to configure clients by responding
      with either partial information (i.e., missing the IP address, yet
      containing other information), or a non-routable (or otherwise bad)
      IP address, or the server may respond to DHCPDISCOVER messages (with
      DHCPOFFER messages) but then ignore the subsequent client
      DHCPREQUEST messages.  This may cause a client to repeatedly fail to
      be configured, though clients could take steps to ensure that they
      subsequently ignore such servers for some time.
   
   4.1.2 Impersonating Clients
   
      A rogue client can impersonate a client or many clients, by using
      another client's client identifier (client identifier option) and/or
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006            [Page 5]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
      hardware address (chaddr) or by generating these identifiers.  This
      may be done to:
   
      O  Obtain addresses when hardware address or client identifier
         restrictions (lists) are configured into the site's server
         through some mechanism not described in RFC 2131.  Some sites
         may use such a mechanism to restrict the clients that are
         allowed addresses.  A rogue client listens to DHCPv4 traffic and
         captures a few chaddrs or client identifiers and starts using
         them.
   
      O  Simulate many clients to consume all available addresses.  The
         rogue client may either hold on to these addresses (until the
         leases expire) or decline the addresses (by sending a
         DHCPDECLINE) in the hopes that the server will remove the
         declined address from use for a longer period.
   
      O  Create havoc on the subnet by injecting fake messages on behalf
         of other clients, prematurely releasing (DHCPRELEASE) or
         declining (DHCPDECLINE) their addresses.  A rogue client listens
         to DHCPv4 traffic and gleams client identity and address
         information and uses this information to inject fake messages.
   
   4.1.3 Flooding
   
      A rogue client can flood the network with (near-) continuous DHCPv4
      request messages thereby consuming processing resources and network
      bandwidth.
   
      We mention this attack only for completeness, as there is little or
      nothing that a DHCP server can do to prevent such an attack and the
      client could just as well send messages of other protocols, so we
      will not discuss it further.
   
   4.2 Client Misconfiguration
   
      Rogue servers may give out bad configuration information (such as
      fake gateways or DNS servers), or relay agents or other network
      elements may alter packets between a client and server, to cause the
      client to be misconfigured, or potentially worse cause future man-
      in-the-middle attacks.  This category is usually part of another
      attack, be it theft of service, business espionage, or business
      interruption including denial of service.
   
   4.3 Theft of Network Service
   
      By "theft of network service", we mean the taking of an unused
      address for network access or the use of an assigned address not
      belonging to the client, in contrast with "client masquerading"
      (Section 2.1.2) which refers specifically to the use of a legitimate
      client's chaddr or client identifier.
   
      Instantiation of an unauthorized client for purposes of using
      network resources or services is only partially preventable using
      client-server authentication techniques.  We mention this attack
      only for completeness, as there is little or nothing a DHCP server
      itself can do to prevent such an attack.  Additional host and
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006            [Page 6]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
      application security is required to prevent theft of service, and
      such layer 5 and higher functions are declared out of scope for this
      analysis.
   
   4.4 Packet Insertion, Deletion, or Modification
   
      If a client (or server or relay agent) is known to crash or shut
      down when invalid packets of some type are sent, this could be
      simply another type of denial of service attack.  Likewise, simply
      deleting certain packet types (DHCPREQUEST to renew or rebind a
      lease) would eventually result in client lease expiration, a denial
      of service attack.  A rogue relay agent or other host would
      typically use packet insertion and deletion to interrupt service.
      In a different vein, the modification of packets in the DHCP
      exchange may be used to facilitate many different types of attacks
      on either client or server.  For example, a DHCPACK could be
      modified to a DHCPNAK, thereby denying the client a lease.
   
   5 Weaknesses of RFC 3118
   
      An authentication mechanism for DHCPv4 protocol messages was
      developed in RFC 3118, proposing two basic authentication mechanisms
      and the means for extending the repertoire of methods as needed.
      The configuration token method (protocol 0) relies on exchanging
      clear-text authentication tokens between unconfigured DHCPv4 clients
      and DHCPv4 servers.  It is also vulnerable to message interception.
      Delayed authentication (protocol 1) focuses on solving the
      intradomain authentication problem where the out-of-band exchange of
      a shared secret is feasible.
   
   5.1 Key Exposure
   
      The configuration token protocol, protocol 0, utilizes clear-text
      authentication tokens (i.e., passwords), providing only weak entity
      authentication and no message authentication.  This protocol is
      vulnerable to interception and provides only the most rudimentary
      protection against inadvertently instantiated DHCP servers.  It also
      leaks the key before knowing whether the server supports protocol 0.
   
   5.2 Key Distribution
   
      Both protocols 0 and 1 suffer from the lack of a means to easily,
      quickly, and reliably distribute authentication tokens used in the
      protocols.  In many environments, some existing key distribution
      mechanism is presumed to be trusted and reliable, with strong
      administrative procedures and a security-conscious user population
      in place, leaving only the selection and specification of an
      appropriate cryptographic algorithm as a concern of the protocol
      designer.
   
      Relying on such out-of-band methods to distribute and manage tens or
      hundreds of thousands of tokens is a significant barrier to the
      widespread implementation of either protocol 0 or 1.
   
      Key distribution presents a significant system management challenge
      that is in marked contrast with DHCP itself, a protocol that has
      been successfully deployed in environments that make few demands or
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006            [Page 7]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
      assumptions.  If we are to hope for similarly successful deployment
      of authentication for DHCP, a means for mitigating (if not
      eliminating) these difficulties must be offered.
   
   5.3 Replay attacks
   
      Since the configuration token protocol, protocol 0, passes a clear-
      text authentication token, the token would be visible to any host on
      the same subnet.  Delayed authentication, protocol 1, is not
      susceptible to replay attacks since it contains a nonce value
      generated by the source and a message authentication code (MAC)
      which provides both message and entity authentication.
   
   5.4 Protocol Agreement Difficulties
   
      An a priori agreement is presumed to have taken place between client
      and server on the authentication protocol to use.  No mechanism is
      provided to allow for the discovery of supported protocols, nor is
      there a facility for negotiation.  The only way to express non-
      support of a protocol is by failing to respond.
   
   5.5 DHCPv4 Relay Agents Excluded
   
      [RFC3118] is defined exclusively for client-server communication.
      The role of relay agents has expanded somewhat from their earliest
      definition to include a DHCP option carrying relay agent information
      via sub-options [RFC3046].  An authentication sub-option for the
      relay agent information option has been defined by [RFC4030], though
      it only defines a single protocol, symmetrical shared-secret keys,
      to protect the contents of the messages between DHCP relay agents
      and servers.  Work-in-progress to protect the interaction between
      relay agents and servers using IPSEC [relay-ipsec] seems to have
      halted, with no recent work.
   
   5.6 Unanticipated Infrastructure Changes
   
      Rapid commit, defined by [RFC4039], specifies how a two-message
      exchange between client and server can dramatically decrease the
      elapsed time for address assignment, a feature becoming significant
      as more and more highly mobile devices desire an abbreviated address
      assignment phase for short duration communications.
   
      While a two-message exchange by itself does not affect the overall
      security of the communications, it has two side effects.  First, the
      delayed authentication protocol simply cannot be used as the
      DHCPOFFER message required to return a nonce value to the client is
      not present.  Second, as noted by the authors of [RFC4039], without
      authentication it is considerably more likely to consume addresses,
      increasing the risk of one type of denial of service attack.
   
      CableLabs client configuration [RFC3495] adds another two-tier
      option to the DHCPv4 options list, defining an initial set of sub-
      options for passing configuration information specific to CableLabs
      VoIP and possible future services.  Although several of the sub-
      options contain potentially sensitive information regarding Kerberos
      tickets to be used by cable modems and media terminal adapters.  The
      option specification does not require used of DHCP authentication,
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006            [Page 8]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
      although it would seem to be necessary.  The authors of this memo do
      not wish to go so far as to recommend that DHCP authentication be a
      requirement for any or all DHCP options, but the CableLabs client
      configuration option will likely not be the last option that could
      benefit from a robust, workable authentication implementation.
   
      Passive duplicate address detection [p-dad] is a relatively new
      proposal to replace the use of ICMPECHO and ARP messages by DHCP
      clients and servers to improve the duplicate address detection
      process by passively listening to message traffic and developing a
      table of matches between chaddr, DHCP client identifier, and IP
      address that would be periodically transmitted to interested DHCP
      servers.  The presence of an entry for a particular IP address would
      signify that it is known to be in use, so a DHCP server could
      exclude the address from its pool of addresses available for
      assignment.
   
      The address usage collector (AUC) defined by [p-dad] does not use
      the DHCP client-server protocol, nor does it function by actively
      handling DHCP messages, so its implementation would not affect
      authenticated DHCP messages.  However, DHC Working Group discussion
      of the [p-dad] draft raised the point that the AUC must capture the
      client identifiers used in DHCP message exchanges.  If DHCP
      authentication were enabled, an AUC of necessity would be required
      to have the same authentication configuration data (protocol,
      algorithm, and key) as the clients and servers, certainly a
      consideration for scalability and risk assessment.
   
   6 DHCPv4 Security Requirements
   
      DHCPv4 was developed in an era when computers were primarily used in
      business and university environments.  Security was either not a
      concern or was addressed by controlling physical access stemming
      from the belief that intrusion into critical systems was most likely
      to come from an external source.  Now, with wireless access points
      and ubiquitous networking, physical access control mechanisms are no
      longer sufficient, and security and privacy issues are a major
      concern.
   
   6.1 Environments
   
      The following environments can be expected for DHCPv4
      implementations:
   
      O  Network size, from a few hosts to hundreds of thousands of hosts.
   
      O  Network topology, from a single subnet to Class-A networks.
   
      O  Network location, from a single room to international dispersion.
   
      O  Wired, broadcast wireless, and directional wireless media.
   
      O  Movement between different media and networks.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006            [Page 9]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
   6.2 Capabilities
   
      The following are essential elements of DHCPv4 security:
   
      1. Clients MUST be able to authenticate servers (to prevent
         misconfigured clients and assure that the correct servers are
         being contacted).
   
      2. Servers MUST be able to authenticate clients (use of hardware
         addresses and client-IDs provides no real security but is all
         that is easily possible today).  Better mechanisms are needed
         for servers to identify clients to whom they will offer service
         (to prevent IP address pool depletion, for example).
   
      3. Administrators MUST be able to choose between four
         authentication paradigms:
   
         a. No authentication required.
   
         b. Mutual authentication required.
   
         c. Client authenticates server.
   
         d. Server authenticates client.
   
      4. Integrity of DHCP packet exchanges MUST be assured.
   
      Not all capabilities may be needed or desired in all situations.
   
   6.3 Musings on the Key Distribution Problem
   
      The authors believe that only by addressing scalability issues with
      key distribution can RFC 3118 achieve wide deployment.  While it is
      not our intention to describe solutions in this document, we admit
      that we find several models used today by browsers and secure web
      servers as well as token-based user authentication schemes such as
      the RSA SecureID token to be attractive.  Trusted root certificates
      are distributed with the client implementation (web browser); users
      have the ability to extend the certificates that they will accept,
      install their own certificates (should client identification be
      required), and choose which certificate to present to servers
      requesting the client's identity.  Security tokens that combine a
      secure seed value with the current time of day using a cryptographic
      algorithm to produce effectively a random one-time pad are
      relatively inexpensive and widely available.
   
      Analogously, DHCPv4 servers could make use of certificates just as
      web servers do, while DHCPv4 clients could be distributed with
      appropriate certificate authority certificates (trust anchors).
      Self-signed certificates are, of course, a possibility should an
      organization wish full control over its domain of trust.
   
      Should this path be pursued, we believe that certificate revocation
      will be a major problem to confront, just as it is in the
      browser/web server environment today.  Revocation of client
      certificates (which we believe would occur, on the whole, much more
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 10]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
      frequently than revocation of server certificates) would require
      only ordinary care in certificate validation by the DHCP server.
   
      Revocation of server certificates is more complex because of the
      difficulty updating client configurations, as well as the inability
      of clients to rely on certificate revocation lists while in the
      process of performing IP address and configuration management.
   
      Using a security token device today is mostly to identify a person
      requesting access to a private resource.  Key fobs, USB dongles, or
      wallet cards are in the possession of a user, and in conjunction
      with a user name, password, and possibly other information confirms
      two of the three classic dimensions of provable identity (something
      you know--user name and password, something you have--the security
      token, and something you are--biometrics typically satisfy this
      dimension.)
   
      We envision a security token becoming part of the host system's
      hardware complement in the near future, such that the token then
      becomes not a user identity validator, but a host system validator.
      It is common today to have a system service tag or serial number
      that is machine-readable.  Some hardware configurations include
      processors with readable serial numbers as well.  What we lack is a
      secure means to generate a cryptographically random key that cannot
      be easily defeated by software or component swapping.
   
      Either of these approaches offers a simple way to avoid the classic
      key distribution problem, though neither is totally without cost.
      Somehow, somewhere, a token's identifiers (seed and algorithm) must
      be recorded by the DHCP and other interested servers, or the
      certificate infrastructure must be in place.  We see no way to
      eliminate administrative issues associated with security, but we can
      see an end to passwords written on a sticky note.
   
      An interesting Internet-Draft by Alper Yegin et al. [eap-auth]
      proposed the use of EAP for DHCP authentication using the delayed
      method.  Their draft required modifications to several components of
      an AAA solution, but illustrated how delayed authentication could be
      "bootstrapped" using tools at our disposal.
   
      That idea is also suggested by [RFC4014] Ralph Droms and John
      Schnizlein, who define a DHCP option code for RADIUS information
      provided by an NAS, similar to the mechanism in [eap-auth].  These
      two documents taken together may provide a third solution to the key
      distribution problem.
   
   6.4 Data Confidentiality
   
      Data Confidentiality was not provided for in the original DHCP
      protocol as defined in RFC 2131 or any of the subsequent RFCs.
      Historically, DHCP was mainly used to assign IP addresses and return
      configuration options such as the local gateway and DNS information.
   
      Over time the DHCP protocol has evolved, deployments are extending
      beyond physically secure intranets to public networks in hotspots,
      cafes, airports, and at home over broadband.  We are seeing an
      accompanying proliferation of new configuration options.
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 11]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
      DHCP has, in fact, become so successful that it is now used to
      transport a great deal of configuration data that could be obtained
      in a variety of other ways.  It is certainly possible that a client
      or server will wish to reveal some of these data only to a properly
      authenticated peer.
   
   6.4.1 "Public" Data in DHCP Packets
   
      We assume that any information that may be gleaned directly from the
      network using, for example, Ethernet promiscuous mode is not
      confidential.  It could be argued that over time more and more
      communication will be switched, encrypted, or secured at the
      physical layer, so that less information could easily be gleaned
      from the network traffic.
   
      Taking encryption into consideration, the IP packet payload might be
      encrypted, but not the IP header itself since it is required for
      packet routing.  As a result, none of the IP header fields are
      confidential.  IP addresses included in the header are therefore not
      confidential.  Similarly, the hardware addresses are also not
      confidential.
   
      Although the IP packet payload (which would include the UDP or TCP
      header) might normally be encrypted, some protocols have made
      explicit decisions not to encrypt their exchanges, declaring their
      data public.  DNS is such a protocol [dns-threats].  Thus, we may
      also treat DNS domain and server information as public.
   
      Commonly used routing protocols such as BGP [RFC1771], RIP [RFC1721],
      and router discovery [RFC1256] also normally send advertisements in
      the clear and we therefore extend our treatment of public DHCP data
      to routing information.
   
   6.4.2 Protecting Data in DHCP Options
   
      Some DHCP options (e.g., relay agent options, [RFC3046]) or option
      families (site or vendor options) admit no analysis because the data
      carried by them may be of unknown sensitivity.  Users must do their
      own analysis of confidentiality.
   
      Should some data require confidentiality, it may be possible to
      exploit the "public" data above to allow a two-step configuration
      process in which sufficient client configuration is first obtained
      by the normal DHCPDISCOVER/OFFER/REQUEST/ACK exchange, and private
      data subsequently transmitted over a secure communications channel
      (such as IPsec) using DHCPINFORM.
   
   6.5 Host versus User Authentication
   
      [RFC3118] is concerned specifically with DHCP clients and servers
      authenticating themselves to each other if required by an
      administrative domain.  This is not the same thing as authenticating
      users for establishing their Identity, access rights, permissions,
      or other matters relating to what they can view or do once connected
      to the network.
   
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 12]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
   6.5.1 Why do we make this distinction?
   
      Host authentication provides only assurance that the hosts
      connecting to a network are recognized.  This may be for several
      reasons, including:
   
      O  Requirement to restrict network access from "foreign" hosts to
         ensure consistent technical support or meet other regulatory
         requirements such as double-insulation or non-sparking.
   
      O  Requirement to restrict network access from "unsecured" (for
         instance, non-TEMPEST compliant) hosts in a high security
         network.
   
      O  Requirement to restrict network access from unknown hosts whose
         identity has not been recorded by existing administrative
         procedures, saving troubleshooting and administrative effort.
   
      User authentication focuses on the individual users of a host system,
      seeking to uniquely identify someone to establish their rights to
      view, print, add, alter, delete, edit, modify, copy, or manipulate
      any data maintained by an organization, run software programs, or
      affect changes in the environment.  This may be for such reasons as:
   
      O  Requirement to be compliant with regulations such as HIPAA, SOX,
         and GLBA designed to safeguard and protect confidentiality and
         various reporting requirements.
   
      O  Requirement to maintain reasonable controls over access to
         certain critical systems such as utility power grids, water and
         sewage treatment plants, the network infrastructure itself, and
         life safety systems of all sorts.
   
      O  Requirement to maintain administrative controls over certain
         sensitive information such as trade secrets and personnel data
   
   6.5.2 Is one mechanism sufficient?
   
      Full discussion of this question is beyond the scope of this memo,
      but the simple answer is, "probably not."  This has a significant
      implication for the claims of certain techniques such as
      "sandboxing" of unverified users, restricting their network access
      to a user registration web site until their identity has been
      established.  Simply put, limiting network access is not DHCP
      authentication, although it does represent a very workable approach
      to user authentication in many cases.
   
      Recall that a user can be identified by "something they know,"
      "something they have," and "something they are."  While the same
      could be said to be true of host systems, the authors point out that
      while we do not pretend to understand all of the ways that future
      developers might imbue hosts with the tools to independently create
      attacks on our infrastructure, we will assert that users will be the
      greatest risk for some time still.
   
      DHCP Authentication addresses only host authentication from the
      belief that other, existing mechanisms such as IPSEC, SSL, and VPN
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 13]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
      can protect the content of communications, with Identity Management
      and other technologies can protect applications and data.
   
      A properly authenticated host could still launch a denial of service
      attack, corrupt sensitive data, or wreak other havoc, which
      underscores our point that host and user authentication are
      different.
   
      A well-secured network needs both.
   
   7 IANA Considerations
   
      None known.
   
   8 Security Considerations
   
      This entire memo presents a threat analysis of the DHCPv4 protocol.
   
   9 Acknowledgements
   
      This document is the result of work undertaken the by DHCP working
      group, beginning at the 55th IETF meeting in Atlanta.  The authors
      would also like to acknowledge contributions from others not
      directly involved in writing this memo, including John Beatty and
      Vipul Gupta of Sun Microsystems, Ralph Droms of Cisco Systems,
      Bernard Aboba of Microsoft, and Mark Stapp of Cisco Systems for
      their careful reviews and helpful suggestions.
   
   10 References
   
   10.1 Normative References
   
      [RFC1256] Deering, S., "ICMP Router Discovery Messages," RFC 1256,
          September 1991.
   
      [RFC1541] Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol," RFC 1541,
          October 1993.
   
      [RFC1721] Malkin, G., "RIP Version 2 Protocol Analysis," RFC 1721,
          November 1994.
   
      [RFC1771] Rekhter, Y. and T. Li, "A Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-
          4)," RFC 1771, March 1995.
   
      [RFC2131] Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol," RFC 2131,
          March 1997.
   
      [RFC2132] Alexander, S. and R. Droms, "DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor
          Extensions", RFC 2132, March 1997.
   
      [RFC3046] Patrick, M., "DHCP Relay Agent Information Option," RFC
          3046, January 2001.
   
      [RFC3118] Droms, R. and W. Arbaugh, "Authentication for DHCP
          Messages," RFC 3118, June 2001.
   
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 14]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
      [RFC4014] Droms, R. and J. Schnizlein, " Remote Authentication Dial-
          In User Service (RADIUS) Attributes Suboption for the Dynamic
          Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Relay Agent Information
          Option," RFC 4014, February 2005.
   
   10.2 Informative References
   
      [RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
          3," RFC 2026, BCP 9, October 1996.
   
      [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
          Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
   
      [RFC3203] T'Joens, Y., C. Hublet and P. De Schrijver, "DHCP
          Reconfigure Extension," RFC 3203, December 2001.
   
      [RFC3315] Droms, R., Bound, J., Volz, B., Lemon, T., Perkins, C. and
          M. Carney, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6
          (DHCPv6)," RFC 3315, July 2003.
   
      [RFC3495] Beser, B. and P. Duffy, "Dynamic Host Configuration
          Protocol (DHCP) Option for CableLabs Client Configuration," RFC
          3495, March 2003.
   
      [RFC3594] Duffy, P., PacketCable Security Ticket Control Sub-Option
          for the DHCP CableLabs Client Configuration (CCC) Option"," RFC
          3594, September 2003.
   
      [RFC3978] Bradner, S., "IETF Rights in Contributions," RFC 3978, BCP
          78, March 2005.
   
      [RFC3979] Bradner, S., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF
          Technology," RFC 3979, BCP 79, March 2005.
   
      [RFC4030] Stapp, M. and T. Lemon, "The Authentication Suboption for
          the DHCP Relay Agent Option," draft-ietf-dhc-auth-suboption-03),
          RFC 4030, March 2005.
   
      [RFC4039] Park, S., P. Kim and B. Volz, "Rapid Commit Option for the
          Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol version 4 (DHCPv4)," RFC
          4039, March 2005.
   
      [RFC4388] Woundy, R., and Kinnear, K., "Dynamic Host Configuration
          Protocol (DHCP) Leasequery," February 2006.
   
      [dns-threats] Atkins, D. and R. Austein, "Threat Analysis Of The
          Domain Name System," draft-ietf-dnsext-dns-threats-07 (work in
          progress), April 2004.
   
      [draft2223bis] Reynolds, J. and R. Braden, "Instructions to Request
          for Comments (RFC) Authors," draft-rfc-editor-rfc2223bis-08.txt
          (work in progress), August 2004.
   
      [eap-auth] Yegin, A., H. Tschofenig and D. Forsberg, "Bootstrapping
          RFC3118 Delayed DHCP Authentication Using EAP-based Network
          Access Authentication," draft-yegin-eap-boot-rfc3118-02, (work
          in progress), March 2006.
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 15]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
      [failover] Droms, R. and K. Kinnear, "DHCP Failover Protocol,"
          draft-ietf-dhc-failover-12 (work in progress), December 2003.
          [Editor's note:  at the time of publication of this memo, the
          Failover Internet-Draft has expired.]
   
      [fqdn] Stapp, M., Volz, B., and Y. Rekhter, "The DHCP Client FQDN
          Option," draft-ietf-dhc-fqdn-option-13 (work in progress), March
          2006.
   
      [p-dad] Forte, A., S. Shin and H. Schulzrinne, "Passive Duplicate
          Address Detection for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
          (DHCP)," draft-forte-dhc-passive-dad-02 (work-in-progress), June
          2006.
   
      [relay-ipsec] Droms, R., "Authentication of DHCP Relay Agent Options
          Using Ipsec," draft-ietf-dhc-relay-agent-ipsec-02 (work in
          progress), May 2005.  [Editor's note:  at the time of
          publication of this memo, the Relay IPSEC Internet-Draft has
          expired.]
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 16]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
   Authors' Addresses
   
      Richard Barr Hibbs
      Richard Barr Hibbs, P.E.
      952 Sanchez Street
      San Francisco, California 94114-3362
      USA
   
      Phone: +1 415 648 3920
      Fax:   +1 415 648 9017
      E-Mail:  rbhibbs@pacbell.net
   
      Carl Smith
      C & C Catering
      1121 Holly Street
      Alameda, California 94502
      USA
   
      E-Mail:  islandia@alumni.ucsd.edu
   
      Bernard Volz
      Cisco Systems, Inc.
      1414 Massachusetts Avenue
      Boxborough, Massachusetts 01719
      USA
   
      Phone:  +1 978 936 0382
      E-Mail:  volz@cisco.com
   
      Mimi Zohar
      IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
      19 Skyline Drive
      Hawthorne, New York 10532-2134
      USA
   
      Phone: +1 914 784 7606
      E-Mail: zohar@us.ibm.com
   
   Full Copyright Statement
   
      Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).  All rights reserved.
   
      This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
      contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
      retain all their rights.
   
      This document and the information contained herein are provided on
      an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE
      REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE
      INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
      IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF
      THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
      WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 17]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
   Intellectual Property
   
      The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
      Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed
      to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described
      in this document or the extent to which any license under such
      rights might or might not be available; nor does it represent that
      it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights.
      Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC
      documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.
   
      Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
      assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
      attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use
      of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
      specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository
      at http://www.ietf.org/ipr.
   
      The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
      copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
      rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
      this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-
      ipr@ietf.org.
   
   Acknowledgement
   
      Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
      Administrative Support Activity (IASA).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 18]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
   APPENDIX:  NOTES
   
      This appendix will be removed in its entirety before the memo goes
      to Working Group Last Call.
   
   ISSUES LIST
   
      This section summarizes issues raised in this memo that require
      resolution by the DHC Working Group.
   
      1. Because of the specific exception for inclusion of the Relay
         Agent Information Option [RFC3046] in cases where it does not
         fit in the main payload portion of a DHCP response packet,
         should the use of DHCP Authentication be mandated in place of
         the Relay Agent Authentication suboption?
   
      2. Does the CableLabs Client Configuration option [RFC3495] require
         the use of DHCP Authentication to protect sensitive information
         about Kerberos domains and keys?
   
      3. Should the DHC Working Group promote the development of a new
         authentication protocol based on the use of certificates?
   
      4. Should the DHC Working Group solicit an update from the authors
         of the EAP-based authentication protocol [eap-auth] and develop
         it as a new authentication protocol?
   
      5. Should the DHC Working Group promote the development of a new
         authentication protocol based on hardware security tokens?
   
   CHANGE LOG
   
      This section summarizes the changes made to this memo as it has
      evolved.
   
   "-01" Draft
   
      No significant changes were made from initial ("-0") version:
   
      O  Updated author information.
   
      O  Removed unused references.
   
      O  Added the Change Log section.
   
   "-02" Draft
   
      The following changes were made:
   
      O  Updated author information.
   
      O  Added text to 1.3 to exclude security for messages passed
         between relay agents and servers, as there are two Internet-
         Drafts on this subject.
   
      O  Reworded several sections in section 2.
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 19]


   Internet-Draft         DHCPv4 Threat Analysis         June 13, 2006
   
      O  Revised and renamed section 2.1.2.  Now includes more attacks.
   
      O  Revised section 2.1.3.
   
      O  Minor revisions to section 3, 3.2, and 3.2.
   
      O  Other minor insertions, deletions, and modifications based on
         comments from Bernard Aboba and Mark Stapp and to otherwise
         improve the document.
   
   "-03" Draft
   
      The draft was updated, correcting minor spelling, grammatical, and
      typographical errors, and modified in the following ways:
   
      O  Removed Section 8, "Change Log," to APPENDIX and added an issues
         list section.
   
      O  Replaced all Internet-Draft boilerplate with the most current
         versions.
   
      O  Renumbered document sections.
   
      O  Updated author information.
   
      O  Updated references for I-Ds advanced to RFCs.
   
      O  Added normative and informative references.
   
      O  Added discussion of Relay Agents (section 3.5.)
   
      O  Added section 3.6, discussing the side effects of infrastruture
         changes from the Rapid Commit and CableLabs configuration
         options, and the newly proposed Address Usage Collector (AUC)
         for passive duplicate address detection.
   
      O  Expanded section 4.3, "Musings on the Key Distribution Problem"
         to include description of hardware-based key generation tokens.
   
      O  Added section 4.5, "Host versus User Authentication," to help
         clarify the problem [RFC3118] is intended to address.
   
      O  Added discussion of the RADIUS-based authentication proposal
         described in [RFC4014].
   
      O  Added discussion of the EAP-based authentication protocol
         proposed by A. Yegin et al.
   
      O  Inserted Intellectual Property Rights statement on first page.
   
      O  Performed general spelling, grammar, and typography update of
         entire memo text.
   
      O  Reviewed all drafts used as references, updated as necessary.
   
   
   
   
   
   Hibbs, et al.        Expires: December 15, 2006           [Page 20]