Network Working Group                                 William A. Arbaugh
INTERNET-DRAFT                                    University of Maryland
Category: Experimental                                     Bernard Aboba
<draft-irtf-aaaarch-handoff-02.txt>                            Microsoft
20 May 2003


                Experimental Handoff Extension to RADIUS

This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all
provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026.

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/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt

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

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

In order to decrease handoff latency, the concept of pre-emptive
provisioning is under investigation.  This document describes an
experimental extension that enables an accounting server to notify a NAS
of a prospective handoff.  This enables the NAS to reserve resources and
obtain the session parameters prior to arrival of the client,
potentially reducing handoff times.  The extension described in this
document may potentially be useful in enabling handoffs across access
technologies and providers. However, whether the approach described in
this document is effective, deployable or secure is the subject of
current research.  It is offered for RADIUS primarily because source
code for RADIUS client and server implementations is readily available
for research purposes.  Given that this extension represents research
work in progress, implementation of this specification for purposes
other than research is not recommended.




Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                      [Page 1]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


Table of Contents

1.     Introduction ..........................................    3
   1.1       Terminology .....................................    5
   1.2       Requirements language ...........................    5
2.     Packet format .........................................    6
   2.1       Notify-Request ..................................    8
   2.2       Notify-Accept ...................................    9
   2.3       Notify-Reject ...................................   10
3.     Table of Attributes ...................................   10
4.     Security considerations ...............................   13
   4.1       Authorization issues ............................   13
   4.2       Impersonation ...................................   13
   4.3       IPsec usage guidelines ..........................   14
   4.4       Replay protection ...............................   17
   4.5       Spoofing and hijacking ..........................   17
5.     IANA considerations ...................................   18
6.     Normative references ..................................   18
7.     Informative references ................................   19
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..............................................   20
AUTHORS' ADDRESSES ...........................................   21
Intellectual Property Statement ..............................   21
Full Copyright Statement .....................................   22




























Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                      [Page 2]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


1.  Introduction

In wireless networks such as IEEE 802.11, described in [IEEE80211], it
may be desirable to improve the speed at which handoff can be completed.
Where RADIUS Accounting [RFC2866] is implemented, RADIUS Accounting
packets will be generated each time the client connects to a NAS.
Accounting packets from a single session, across multiple NASes, are
uniquely identified by the Acct-Multi-Session-Id Attribute, described in
[RFC2866] and [Congdon].

The sequence of NASes contacted by clients as they move creates a graph
representing the mobility paths of the clients.  We call this graph a
neighbor graph with NASes as the vertices and the mobility paths between
the NASes as the edges.  Thus, the number of neighbors for a given NAS
is given by the degree function applied to the vertex representing the
given NAS, e.g. for NAS_A the number of neighbors would be given by
deg(v_A) where deg is the degree function deg: V -> int.  Through
knowledge of the neighbor graph, it is possible for a RADIUS server to
anticipate client movements and provide advance notice of a potential
handoff to the NAS.  This advance notice, known as a Notify-Request in
this specification, allows the NAS to reserve resources and obtain the
session authorization parameters prior to arrival of the client.  This
removes the latency of the RADIUS exchange from the critical path for
processing a handoff, decreasing handoff latency substantially, as
described in [IEEE-02-758, IEEE-03-084].  Assuming that the coverage
area is overlapping, this technique can support handoffs at vehicular
velocities.  The creation and maintenance of neighbor graphs at an
authentication server is described in [Mishra].  An alternate approach
to using neighbor graphs uses a matrix of probabilities and is described
in [8021XHandoff].

By nature, client behavior is not completely predictable, so that the
handoff advance notice is only advisory.  The client identified in the
advance notice may never contact the NAS, or may contact it long after
the initial notice is received.  As a result, the NAS will typically
free reserved resources after a suitable waiting period, known as the
Reservation-Lifetime.  In situations where resources are at a premium,
it may be desirable to minimize resources reserved for clients that are
no longer likely to attempt to connect to a given NAS. To accomplish
this, the reservation period can be shortened, or alternatively, the
RADIUS server can remove resource reservations using the Disconnect-
Request, specified in [DynAuth].  A client contacting the NAS after the
Reservation-Lifetime has expired or a resource reservation has been
removed will be unable to complete a handoff, and will need to do a fast
resume, such as is supported in EAP TLS [RFC2716].

The extension described in this document enables a RADIUS Server to send
Notify-Requests to NASes, and to receive Notify-Responses. The Notify-



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                      [Page 3]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


Request identifies the session to be handed off and the NAS on which it
currently resides.  Attributes included within the Notify-Request are
described in Section 2.1.

If the NAS has resources available to reserve, and if it is enabled to
support this handoff extension, then it will respond with a Notify-
Accept.  If resources are not available (such as when previous resource
commitments leave insufficient resources remaining), or if the NAS does
not wish to support the prospective handoff for any other reason, the
NAS will respond with a Notify-Reject, specifying the reason why the
requested handoff reservation could not be carried out, using the Error-
Cause Attribute, specified in [DynAuth].

After the NAS responds with a Notify-Accept, it will typically issue an
Access-Request to the RADIUS server.  This allows the NAS to obtain the
authorizations for the session before it is contacted by the client.
The contents of the Access-Request sent by the NAS will depend on the
form of access it is providing, so that it cannot be specified in detail
here.  However, for use with IEEE 802.11, it is expected that an Access-
Request will be sent with a NAS-Port-Type Attribute with value "802.11"
and a Service-Type Attribute with value "Authorize Only", as defined in
[Chiba]. For other access methods, a different NAS-Port-Type value might
be sent, perhaps with a different value for Service-Type.

Since the extension defined in this document supports multiple access
methods and service types, and leverages the conventional RADIUS Access-
Request/Response exchange, it can be used to enable handoffs between any
access technology compatible with RADIUS.  For example, using this
extension, it is possible to enable a handoff between 802.11 and
cellular technologies such as GPRS or CDMA 1X-RTT.  When this extension
is used to enable handoff between heterogeneous technologies, the
"correctness" issues described in [Context] do not arise, since the
RADIUS server provides the authorizations appropriate for each NAS and
access mechanism.

This extension can also enable handoffs between providers that do not
establish mutual trust, as would be required when using a context
transfer approach, such as [IEEE80211f]. All that is necessary is that
each NAS be able to reach the home RADIUS server through an appropriate
path. Of course, where handoffs occur across different providers and
access media, it is unlikely that session continuity can be preserved,
since the client will be likely to change its IP address.









Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                      [Page 4]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


1.1.  Terminology

This document uses the following terms:

Authenticator
          An Authenticator is an entity that require authentication from
          the Supplicant.  The Authenticator may be connected to the
          Supplicant at the other end of a point-to-point LAN segment or
          802.11 wireless link.

authentication server
          An authentication server is an entity that provides an
          Authentication Service to an Authenticator. This service
          verifies from the credentials provided by the Supplicant, the
          claim of identity made by the Supplicant.

Network Access Server (NAS)
          The device providing access to the network.

Service   The NAS provides a service to the user, such as IEEE 802 or
          PPP.

Port Access Entity (PAE)
          The protocol entity associated with a physical or virtual
          (802.11) Port.  A given PAE may support the protocol
          functionality associated with the Authenticator, Supplicant or
          both.

Session   Each service provided by the NAS to a user constitutes a
          session, with the beginning of the session defined as the
          point where service is first provided and the end of the
          session defined as the point where service is ended.  A user
          may have multiple sessions in parallel or series if the NAS
          supports that, with each session generating a separate start
          and stop accounting record.  Where the client is mobile and is
          able to handoff between NASes, multiple related sessions may
          be uniquely identified by the Acct-Multi-Session-Id Attribute.

Supplicant
          A Supplicant is an entity that is being authenticated by an
          Authenticator.  The Supplicant may be connected to the
          Authenticator at one end of a point-to-point LAN segment or
          802.11 wireless link.

1.2.  Requirements language

In this document, several words are used to signify the requirements of
the specification.  These words are often capitalized.  The key words



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                      [Page 5]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


"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].

2.  Packet format

Exactly one Notify-Request, Notify-Accept or Notify-Reject packet is
encapsulated in the UDP Data field.  For the Notify-Request packet, the
UDP Destination Port field is TBD.  When a reply is generated, the
source and destination ports are reversed.

A summary of the data format is shown below. The fields are transmitted
from left to right.

0                   1                   2                   3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|     Code      |  Identifier   |            Length             |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                                                               |
|                         Authenticator                         |
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|  Attributes ...
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Code

   The Code field is one octet, and identifies the type of RADIUS
   packet.  When a packet is received with an invalid Code field, it is
   silently discarded. RADIUS codes (decimal) for this extension are
   assigned as follows:

   TBD - Notify-Request
   TBD - Notify-Accept
   TBD - Notify-Reject

Identifier

   The Identifier field is one octet, and aids in matching requests and
   replies.  The RADIUS server can detect a duplicate request if it has
   the same client source IP address and source UDP port and Identifier
   within a short span of time.

Length

   The Length field is two octets.  It indicates the length of the



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                      [Page 6]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


   packet including the Code, Identifier, Length, Authenticator and
   Attribute fields.  Octets outside the range of the Length field MUST
   be treated as padding and ignored on reception.  If the packet is
   shorter than the Length field indicates, it MUST be silently
   discarded.  The minimum length is 20 and maximum length is 4096.

Authenticator

   The Authenticator field is sixteen (16) octets.  The most significant
   octet is transmitted first.  This value is used to authenticate the
   messages between the client and RADIUS server.

Request Authenticator

   In Notify-Request Packets, the Authenticator value is a 16 octet MD5
   [RFC1321] checksum, called the Request Authenticator.  The Request
   Authenticator is calculated the same way as for an Accounting-
   Request, specified in [RFC2866].

   Note that the Request Authenticator of an Notify-Request can not be
   done the same way as the Request Authenticator of a RADIUS Access-
   Request, because there is no User-Password Attribute in an Notify-
   Request.

Response Authenticator

   The Authenticator field in a Notify-Accept or Notify-Reject packet is
   called the Response Authenticator, and contains a one-way MD5 hash
   calculated over a stream of octets consisting of the Notify-Response
   Code, Identifier, Length, the Request Authenticator field from the
   Notify-Request packet being replied to, and the response Attributes
   if any, followed by the shared secret.  The resulting 16 octet MD5
   hash value is stored in the Authenticator field of the Notify-Accept
   or Notify-Reject packet.

Attributes

   In Notify-Request messages, all Attributes are treated as mandatory.
   A NAS MUST respond to a Notify-Request containing one or more
   unsupported Attributes with a Notify-Reject. A Notify-Reject MUST NOT
   result in resources being reserved on the NAS.  Attributes beyond
   those specified in Section 3 SHOULD NOT be included within Notify-
   Request messages, since this could produce unpredictable results.

   When using a forwarding proxy, the proxy must be able to alter the
   packet as it passes through in each direction.  When the proxy
   forwards a Notify-Request, it MAY add a Proxy-State Attribute, and
   when the proxy forwards a response, it MUST remove its Proxy-State



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                      [Page 7]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


   Attribute if it added one.  Proxy-State is always added or removed
   after any other Proxy-States, but no other assumptions regarding its
   location within the list of Attributes can be made.  Since Notify
   responses are authenticated on the entire packet contents, the
   stripping of the Proxy-State Attribute invalidates the integrity
   check - so the proxy needs to recompute it.  A forwarding proxy MUST
   NOT modify existing Proxy-State, State, or Class Attributes present
   in the packet.

   If there are any Proxy-State Attributes in a Notify-Request received
   from the server, the forwarding proxy MUST include those Proxy-State
   Attributes in its response to the server.  The forwarding proxy MAY
   include the Proxy-State Attributes in the Notify-Request when it
   forwards the request, or it MAY omit them in the forwarded request.
   If the forwarding proxy omits the Proxy-State Attributes in the
   request, it MUST attach them to the response before sending it to the
   server.

2.1.  Notify-Request

Description

   A Notify-Request packet is sent by the RADIUS server to the NAS to
   notify it of the potential handoff of a specified session.

Code

   TBD - Notify-Request

Identifier

   The Identifier field MUST be changed whenever the content of the
   Attributes field changes, and whenever a valid reply has been
   received for a previous request.  For retransmissions where the
   contents are identical, the Identifier MUST remain unchanged.

   Note that if the Event-Timestamp Attribute is included the Notify-
   Request then the Event-Timestamp value will be updated when the
   packet is retransmitted, changing the content of the Attributes field
   and requiring a new Identifier and Request Authenticator.

Request Authenticator

   The Request Authenticator of an Accounting-Request contains a
   16-octet MD5 hash value calculated according to the method described
   in "Request Authenticator" in Section 2.

Attributes



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                      [Page 8]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


   The Attribute field is variable in length, and contains a list of
   Attributes.  In Notify-Request packets, certain Attributes are used
   to uniquely identify the NAS as well as a potential user session on
   the NAS, and to describe the services to be provided.  All NAS
   identification Attributes included in a Notify-Request message MUST
   match in order for a Notify-Accept to be sent; otherwise a Notify-
   Reject MUST be sent.
   To address security concerns described in Section 4.1, the User-Name
   Attributes MUST be present in Notify-Request packets.  To address
   security concerns described in Section 4.2, the NAS-IP-Address and/or
   NAS-IPv6-Address Attributes SHOULD be present in Notify-Request
   packets; the NAS-Identifier Attribute MAY be present in addition.
   Details of the Attributes which may be included in Notify-Request
   packets are provided in Section 3.

2.2.  Notify-Accept

Description

   The NAS responds to the Notify-Request with a Notify-Accept if the
   NAS agrees to to prepare for a handoff of the specified session.

Code

   TBD - Notify-Accept

Identifier

   The Identifier field is a copy of the Identifier field of the Notify-
   Request which caused this Notify-Accept.

Response Authenticator

   The Response Authenticator of a Notify-Accept contains a 16-octet MD5
   hash value calculated according to the method described in "Response
   Authenticator" in Section 2.

Attributes

   The Attribute field is variable in length, and contains a list of
   Attributes.  Within the Notify-Accept, Attributes are used to provide
   the RADIUS server with the session identifiers that will be used by
   the NAS in subsequent Access-Request and Accounting-Request packets.
   This includes session identification Attributes, such as the User-
   Name and Acct-Multi-Session-Id Attributes provided by the RADIUS
   server in the Notify-Request, as well as an Acct-Session-Id allocated
   by the NAS for the handoff, should it occur. The Idle-Timeout
   Attribute, when included in the Notify-Accept, provides the RADIUS



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                      [Page 9]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


   server with the time that the NAS is willing to reserve resources for
   the handoff.  Section 3 provides more detail on the Attributes
   permitted within the Notify-Accept packet.

2.3.  Notify-Reject

Description

   The NAS responds to the Notify-Request with a Notify-Reject if the
   NAS does not have the resources to make the required handoff
   preparations, or wishes to decline for any other reason.

Code

   TBD - Notify-Reject

Identifier

   The Identifier field is a copy of the Identifier field of the Notify-
   Request which caused this Notify-Reject.

Response Authenticator

   The Response Authenticator of a Notify-Accept contains a 16-octet MD5
   hash value calculated according to the method described in "Response
   Authenticator" in Section 2.

Attributes

   The Attribute field is variable in length, and contains a list of
   Attributes.  Within the Notify-Reject, the Error-Cause Attribute
   provides the RADIUS server with the reason why the Notify-Request
   could not be honored. Values of the Error-Cause Attribute, and their
   corresponding meanings are described in [DynAuth], Section 3.1.

3.  Table of Attributes

The following table provides a guide to which Attributes may be found in
which kinds of packets, and in what quantity. If an Attribute is not
mentioned in this table, then it SHOULD NOT be included in Notify-
Request, Notify-Accept or Notify-Reject packets.










Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 10]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


Notify    Notify   Notify
Request   Accept   Reject   #    Attribute
 1         1        0       1   User-Name [Note 1]
 0-1       0        0       4   NAS-IP-Address [Note 2]
 0-1       0        0       5   NAS-Port [Note 5]
 1         0        0       6   Service-Type [Note 10,11]
 0-1       0        0       7   Framed-Protocol [Note 10]
 0-1       0-1      0-1    24   State [Note 12]
 0-1       0-1      0      28   Idle-Timeout [Note 3]
 0-1       0        0      30   Called-Station-Id [Note 4]
 0-1       0        0      31   Calling-Station-Id [Note 1]
 0-1       0        0      32   NAS-Identifier [Note 2]
 0+        0+       0+     33   Proxy-State
 0         0-1      0      44   Acct-Session-Id [Note 7]
 0-1       0-1      0      50   Acct-Multi-Session-Id [Note 6]
 0-1       0-1    0-1      55   Event-Timestamp [Note 9]
 1         0        0      61   NAS-Port-Type [Note 10]
 0-1       0        0      87   NAS-Port-Id [Note 5]
 0-1       0        0      94   Originating-Line-Info [Note 5]
 0-1       0        0      95   NAS-IPv6-Address [Note 2]
 0         0        0-1    TBD  Error-Cause [Note 8]
Notify    Notify   Notify
Request   Accept   Reject   #    Attribute

[Note 1] The User-Name Attribute MUST be provided in the Notify-Request
and MUST be echoed in the Notify-Accept, and subsequent Access-Request
packets.

[Note 2] A Notify-Request MUST contain a NAS-IP-Address, NAS-
IPv6-Address or NAS-Identifier Attribute (or some combination of these).

[Note 3] Within a Notify-Request, the Idle-Timeout Attribute provides a
suggested amount of time for which the NAS may reserve resources for a
potential handoff.  If an Idle-Timeout Attribute is included within the
Notify-Request, then if the NAS is unable to reserve resources for this
period of time, then it MUST include an Idle-Timeout Attribute in the
Notify-Accept, if sent, specifying the time it is willing to commit to.
The RADIUS server should assume that the resources have been released at
time Event-Timestamp + Idle-Timeout.

[Note 4] Within a Notify-Request, Called-Station-Id refers to the NAS
from which the handoff is expected to occur.  If the handoff does not
occur from that NAS referred to in Called-Station-Id, then the NAS MAY
refuse the handoff.  In the case where NAS-Port-Type = 802.11, and the
Called-Station-Id contains an SSID, then if the handoff occurs, the
client MUST  be granted access only to this SSID.  If the attempts to
connect to another SSID, then the NAS MUST deny network access to the
client. If the SSID field is omitted, then a value of ANY is assumed.



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 11]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


[Note 5] The NAS-Port and NAS-Port-Id Attributes, if present, refer to
the NAS port from which the handoff is expected to occur.  Originating-
Line-Info provides information on how the session originated.

[Note 6] Within a Notify-Request, the Acct-Multi-Session-Id provides a
unique identifier for user sessions during handoffs between NASes.  The
Acct-Multi-Session-Id is echoed in subsequent Access-Request and
Accounting-Request packets.

[Note 7] The Acct-Session-Id, if present in Notify-Accept packets,
denotes the accounting session id allocated by the NAS for the
prospective handoff, should it occur.  The Acct-Session-Id is echoed in
subsequent Access-Request and Accounting-Request packets.

[Note 8] The Error-Cause Attribute is present only in Notify-Reject
packets, and specifies the reason for the rejection.  It is defined in
[DynAuth], Section 3.1.

[Note 9] When IPsec replay protection is not used, the Event-Timestamp
Attribute MUST be present in all packets in order to prevent replay
attacks.  This is discussed in Section 4.

[Note 10] The Service-Type, NAS-Port-Type, and Framed-Protocol
Attributes are used to specify the services that are to be provided to
the handed off session.  The Service-Type and NAS-Port-Type Attributes
MUST be present in the Notify-Request; when used with 802.11, it is
expected that a NAS-Port-Type Attribute with value "802.11" and a
Service-Type Attribute with a value of "Authorize Only" will be
included.  The Service-Type is echoed in the subsequent Access-Request.
If the NAS is not able to provide the specified service, then it MUST
send a Notify-Reject.

[Note 11] The Service-Type Attribute is included with a value of
"Authorize Only" within a RADIUS Access-Request in order to indicate
that only authorization is being requested, as defined in [Chiba].
Where used in concert with this specification, such an Access-Request
indicates that a handoff request is being anticipated and that the
RADIUS server should send back an Access-Accept to allow the prospective
handoff to occur, or an Access-Reject to deny the prospective handoff.
The decision is typically based on the User-Name, Called-Station-Id,
Calling-Station-Id, and State attributes.

[Note 12] The State Attribute is available to be sent by the RADIUS
server to the NAS in a Notify-Request message and MUST be sent
unmodified from the NAS to the RADIUS server in subsequent Notify-
Accept, Notify-Reject or Access-Request messages.  The NAS MUST NOT
interpret the State Attribute locally.  A Notify-Request, Notify-Accept
or Notify-Reject packet must have only zero or one State Attribute.



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 12]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


Usage of the State Attribute is implementation dependent.  If the RADIUS
server does not recognize the State Attribute in the Access-Request,
then it MUST send an Access-Reject.

The following table defines the meaning of the above table entries.

0     This Attribute MUST NOT be present in packet.
0+    Zero or more instances of this Attribute MAY be present in packet.
0-1   Zero or one instance of this Attribute MAY be present in packet.
1     Exactly one instance of this Attribute MUST be present in packet.

4.  Security considerations

4.1.  Authorization issues

Where a NAS is shared by multiple providers, it is undesirable for one
provider to be able to send Notify-Requests relating to sessions of
another provider.

To prevent this, the RADIUS proxy SHOULD perform a "reverse path
forwarding" (RPF) check to verify that a Notify-Request is originating
from an authorized RADIUS server.  In a network model where a proxy is
employed to forward Notify-Request messages, the NAS MUST accept these
messages only from proxies that it is configured to trust.  Requests
from untrusted sources MUST be silently discarded.

To perform the RPF check, the proxy uses the session identification
Attributes included in Notify-Request messages, in order to determine
the RADIUS server(s) to which an equivalent Access-Request would be
routed.  If this matches the source address of the Notify-Request, then
the Request is forwarded; otherwise it SHOULD be silently discarded.

Typically the proxy will extract the realm from the Network Access
Identifier [RFC2486] included within the User-Name Attribute, and
determine the corresponding RADIUS servers in the proxy routing tables.
The RADIUS servers for that realm  are then compared against the source
address of the packet.  Where no RADIUS proxy is present, the RPF check
will need to be performed by the NAS itself.

Since authorization to send a Notify-Request is determined based on the
source address and the corresponding shared secret, the NASes or proxies
SHOULD configure a different shared secret for each RADIUS server.

4.2.  Impersonation

[RFC2865] Section 3 states:

   A RADIUS server MUST use the source IP address of the RADIUS



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 13]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


   UDP packet to decide which shared secret to use, so that
   RADIUS requests can be proxied.

When RADIUS requests are forwarded by a proxy, the NAS-IP-Address or
NAS-IPv6-Address Attributes will typically not match the source address
observed by the RADIUS server.  Since the NAS-Identifier Attribute need
not contain an FQDN, this Attribute may not be resolvable to the source
address observed by the RADIUS server, even when no proxy is present.

As a result, the authenticity check performed by a RADIUS server or
proxy does not verify the correctness of NAS identification Attributes.
This makes it possible for a rogue NAS to forge NAS-IP-Address, NAS-
IPv6-Address or NAS-Identifier Attributes within a RADIUS Access-Request
in order to impersonate another NAS.  It is also possible for a rogue
NAS to forge session identification Attributes such as the Called-
Station-Id, Calling-Station-Id, or Originating-Line-Info.  This could
fool the RADIUS server into sending Notify-Request messages containing
forged session identification Attributes to a NAS targeted by an
attacker.

To address these vulnerabilities RADIUS proxies SHOULD check whether NAS
identification Attributes match the source address of packets
originating from the NAS. Where one or more Attributes do not match,
Notify-Request messages SHOULD be silently discarded.

Such a check may not always be possible.  Since the NAS-Identifier
Attribute need not correspond to an FQDN, it may not be resolvable to an
IP address to be matched against the source address.  Also, where a NAT
exists between the RADIUS client and proxy, checking the NAS-IP-Address
or NAS-IPv6-Address Attributes may not be feasible.

4.3.  IPsec usage guidelines

Implementations of this specification SHOULD support IPsec [RFC2401]
along with IKE [RFC2409] for key management.  IPsec ESP [RFC2406] with
non-null transform SHOULD be supported, and IPsec ESP with a non-null
encryption transform and authentication support SHOULD be used to
provide per-packet confidentiality, authentication, integrity and replay
protection.  IKE SHOULD be used for key management.

Within RADIUS [RFC2865], a shared secret is used for hiding of
Attributes such as User-Password, as well as in computation of the
Response Authenticator.  In RADIUS accounting [RFC2866], the shared
secret is used in computation of both the Request Authenticator and the
Response Authenticator.

Since in RADIUS a shared secret is used to provide confidentiality as
well as integrity protection and authentication, only use of IPsec ESP



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 14]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


with a non-null transform can provide security services sufficient to
substitute for RADIUS application-layer security.  Therefore, where
IPsec AH or ESP null is used, it will typically still be necessary to
configure a RADIUS shared secret.

Where RADIUS is run over IPsec ESP with a non-null transform, the secret
shared between the NAS and the RADIUS server MAY NOT be configured.  In
this case, a shared secret of zero length MUST be assumed.  However, a
RADIUS server that cannot know whether incoming traffic is IPsec-
protected MUST be configured with a non-null RADIUS shared secret.

When IPsec ESP is used with RADIUS, per-packet authentication, integrity
and replay protection MUST be used.  3DES-CBC MUST be supported as an
encryption transform and AES-CBC SHOULD be supported. AES-CBC SHOULD be
offered as a preferred encryption transform if supported.  HMAC-SHA1-96
MUST be supported as an authentication transform.  DES-CBC SHOULD NOT be
used as the encryption transform.

A typical IPsec policy for an IPsec-capable RADIUS client is "Initiate
IPsec, from me to any destination port UDP 1812".  This causes an IPsec
SA to be set up by the RADIUS client prior to sending RADIUS traffic.
If some RADIUS servers contacted by the client do not support IPsec,
then a more granular policy will be required: "Initiate IPsec, from me
to IPsec-Capable-RADIUS-Server, destination port UDP 1812".

For a client implementing this specification the policy would be "Accept
IPsec, from any to me, destination port UDP TBD".  This causes the
RADIUS client to accept (but not require) use of IPsec.  It may not be
appropriate to require IPsec for all RADIUS servers connecting to an
IPsec-enabled RADIUS client, since some RADIUS servers may not support
IPsec.

For an IPsec-capable RADIUS server, a typical IPsec policy is "Accept
IPsec, from any to me, destination port 1812".  This causes the RADIUS
server to accept (but not require) use of IPsec.  It may not be
appropriate to require IPsec for all RADIUS clients connecting to an
IPsec-enabled RADIUS server, since some RADIUS clients may not support
IPsec.

For servers implementing this specification, the policy would be
"Initiate IPsec, from me to any, destination port UDP TBD".  This causes
the RADIUS server to initiate IPsec when sending RADIUS extension
traffic to any RADIUS client.  If some RADIUS clients contacted by the
server do not support IPsec, then a more granular policy will be
required, such as "Initiate IPsec, from me to IPsec-capable-RADIUS-
client, destination port UDP TBD".





Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 15]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


Where IPsec is used for security, and no RADIUS shared secret is
configured, it is important that the RADIUS client and server perform an
authorization check.  Before enabling a host to act as a RADIUS client,
the RADIUS server SHOULD check whether the host is authorized to provide
network access.  Similarly, before enabling a host to act as a RADIUS
server, the RADIUS client SHOULD check whether the host is authorized
for that role.

RADIUS servers can be configured with the IP addresses (for IKE
Aggressive Mode with pre-shared keys) or FQDNs (for certificate
authentication) of RADIUS clients.  Alternatively, if a separate
Certification Authority (CA) exists for RADIUS clients, then the RADIUS
server can configure this CA as a trust anchor [RFC3280] for use with
IPsec.

Similarly, RADIUS clients can be configured with the IP addresses (for
IKE Aggressive Mode with pre-shared keys) or FQDNs (for certificate
authentication) of RADIUS servers.  Alternatively, if a separate CA
exists for RADIUS servers, then the RADIUS client can configure this CA
as a trust anchor for use with IPsec.

Since unlike SSL/TLS, IKE does not permit certificate policies to be set
on a per-port basis, certificate policies need to apply to all uses of
IPsec on RADIUS clients and servers.  In IPsec deployment supporting
only certificate authentication, a management station initiating an
IPsec-protected telnet session to the RADIUS server would need to obtain
a certificate chaining to the RADIUS client CA.  Issuing such a
certificate might  not be appropriate if the management station was not
authorized as a RADIUS client.

Where RADIUS clients may obtain their IP address dynamically (such as an
Access Point supporting DHCP), Main Mode with pre-shared keys [RFC2409]
SHOULD NOT be used, since this requires use of a group pre-shared key;
instead, Aggressive Mode SHOULD be used.  Where RADIUS client addresses
are statically assigned either Aggressive Mode or Main Mode MAY be used.
With certificate authentication, Main Mode SHOULD be used.

Care needs to be taken with IKE Phase 1 Identity Payload selection in
order to enable mapping of identities to pre-shared keys even with
Aggressive Mode.  Where the ID_IPV4_ADDR or ID_IPV6_ADDR Identity
Payloads are used and addresses are dynamically assigned, mapping of
identities to keys is not possible, so that group pre-shared keys are
still a practical necessity.  As a result, the ID_FQDN identity payload
SHOULD be employed in situations where Aggressive mode is utilized along
with pre-shared keys and IP addresses are dynamically assigned.  This
approach also has other advantages, since it allows the RADIUS server
and client to configure themselves based on the fully qualified domain
name of their peers.



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 16]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


Note that with IPsec, security services are negotiated at the
granularity of an IPsec SA, so that RADIUS exchanges requiring a set of
security services different from those negotiated with existing IPsec
SAs will need to negotiate a new IPsec SA.  Separate IPsec SAs are also
advisable where quality of service considerations dictate different
handling RADIUS conversations.  Attempting to apply different quality of
service to connections handled by the same IPsec SA can result in
reordering, and falling outside the replay window.  For a discussion of
the issues, see [RFC2983].

4.4.  Replay protection

Since this specification utilizes the Request Authenticator field for
integrity protection and authentication, rather than as a nonce, no
liveness or protection against replay is provided by the RADIUS header.

Where IPsec replay protection is not used, the Event-Timestamp (55)
Attribute [RFC2869] MUST be included within all messages.  When this
attribute is present, both the NAS and the RADIUS server MUST check that
the Event-Timestamp Attribute is current within an acceptable time
window.  If the Event-Timestamp Attribute is not current, then the
message MUST be silently discarded.  This implies the need for time
synchronization within the network, which can be achieved by a variety
of means, including secure NTP, as described in [NTPAUTH].

Both the NAS and the RADIUS server SHOULD be configurable to silently
discard messages lacking an Event-Timestamp Attribute.  A default time
window of 300 seconds is recommended.

4.5.  Spoofing and hijacking

Access-Request packets with a User-Password Attribute establish the
identity of both the user and the NAS sending the Access-Request,
because of the way the shared secret between the NAS and RADIUS server
is used.  Access-Request packets with CHAP-Password or EAP-Message
Attributes do not have a User-Password Attribute.  As a result, the
Message-Authenticator Attribute SHOULD be used in Access-Request packets
that do not have a User-Password Attribute, in order to establish the
identity of the NAS sending the request.  This includes Access-Request
packets with a Service-Type Attribute with a value of "Authorize Only".

An attacker may attempt to inject packets into the conversation between
the NAS and the RADIUS server.  RADIUS [RFC2865] does not support
encryption other than Attribute hiding.  As described in [RFC2865], only
Access-Reply and Access-Challenge packets are authenticated and
integrity protected.  Moreover, the per-packet authentication and
integrity protection mechanism described in this specification has known
weaknesses [MD5Attack], making it a tempting target for attackers.



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 17]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


To provide stronger security, implementations of this specification
SHOULD use IPsec ESP with non-null transform and per-packet encryption,
authentication, integrity and replay protection, as specified in Section
4.3.

5.  IANA Considerations

This specification requires assignment of a UDP port, in addition to
RADIUS Type codes for Notify-Request, Notify-Accept, and Notify-Reject.

6.  Normative references

[RFC1305]      Mills, D. L., "Network Time Protocol (version 3)
               Specification, Implementation and Analysis, RFC 1305
               March, 1992.

[RFC1321]      Rivest, R. and S. Dusse, "The MD5 Message-Digest
               Algorithm", RFC 1321, April 1992.

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

[RFC2865]      Rigney, C., Rubens, A., Simpson, W. and S. Willens,
               "Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS)",
               RFC 2865, June 2000.

[RFC2866]      Rigney, C., "RADIUS Accounting", RFC 2866, June 2000.

[RFC2869]      Rigney, C., Willats, W. and P. Calhoun, "RADIUS
               Extensions", RFC 2869, June 2000.

[RFC3162]      Aboba, B., Zorn, G. and D. Mitton, "RADIUS and IPv6", RFC
               3162, August 2001.

[IEEE8021X]    IEEE Standards for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks:
               Port based Network Access Control, IEEE Std 802.1X-2001,
               June 2001.

[Congdon]      Congdon, P., et al., "IEEE 802.1X RADIUS Usage
               Guidelines", Internet draft (work in progress), draft-
               congdon-radius-8021x-29.txt, April 2003.

[DynAuth]      Chiba, M., et. al., "Dynamic Authorization Extensions to
               Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service (RADIUS)",
               Internet draft (work in progress), draft-chiba-radius-
               dynamic-authorization-20.txt, May 2003.





Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 18]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


7.  Informative references

[Mishra]       Mishra, A., Shin, M., Arbaugh, W., Lee, I. and K. Jang,
               "Experimental Neighbor Graph Creation and Maintenance",
               Internet draft (work in progress), draft-irtf-aaaarch-
               neighbor-graph-00.txt.

[RFC2104]      Krawczyk, H., Bellare, M. and R. Canetti, "HMAC: Keyed-
               Hashing for Message Authentication", RFC 2104, February
               1997.

[RFC2434]      Alvestrand, H. and T. Narten, "Guidelines for Writing an
               IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 2434,
               October 1998.

[RFC2607]      Aboba, B. and J. Vollbrecht, "Proxy Chaining and Policy
               Implementation in Roaming", RFC 2607, June 1999.

[RFC2716]      Aboba, B. and D. Simon, "PPP EAP TLS Authentication
               Protocol", RFC 2716, October 1999.

[RFC2983]      Black, D. "Differentiated Services and Tunnels", RFC
               2983, October 2000.

[Context]      Aboba, B. and T. Moore, "A Model for Context Transfer in
               IEEE 802", draft-aboba-802-context-02.txt, Internet draft
               (work in progress), April 2002.

[IEEE802]      IEEE Standards for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks:
               Overview and Architecture, ANSI/IEEE Std 802, 1990.

[IEEE8021Q]    IEEE Standards for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks:
               Draft Standard for Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks,
               P802.1Q, January 1998.

[IEEE-02-758]  Mishra, A., Shin, M., Arbaugh, W., Lee, I. and K. Jang,
               "Proactive Caching Strategies for IAPP Latency
               Improvement during 802.11 Handoff", IEEE 802.11 Working
               Group, IEEE-02-758r1-F, November 2002.

[IEEE-03-084]  Mishra, A., Shin, M., Arbaugh, W., Lee, I. and K. Jang,
               "Proactive Key Distribution to support fast and secure
               roaming", IEEE 802.11 Working Group, IEEE-03-084r1-I,
               http://www.ieee802.org/11/Documents/DocumentHolder/
               3-084.zip, January 2003.

[8021XHandoff] Pack, S. and Y. Choi, "Pre-Authenticated Fast Handoff in
               a Public Wireless LAN Based on IEEE 802.1X Model", School



Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 19]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


               of Computer Science and Engineering, Seoul National
               University, Seoul, Korea, 2002.

[IEEE8023]     ISO/IEC 8802-3 Information technology -
               Telecommunications and information exchange between
               systems - Local and metropolitan area networks - Common
               specifications - Part 3:  Carrier Sense Multiple Access
               with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) Access Method and
               Physical Layer Specifications, (also ANSI/IEEE Std 802.3-
               1996), 1996.

[IEEE80211]    Information technology - Telecommunications and
               information exchange between systems - Local and
               metropolitan area networks - Specific Requirements Part
               11:  Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and
               Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, IEEE Std.
               802.11-1999, 1999.

[IEEE80211f]   Information technology - Telecommunications and
               information exchange between systems - Local and
               metropolitan area networks - Specific Requirements Part
               11: Recommended Practice for Multi-Vendor Access Point
               Interoperability via an Inter-Access Point Protocol
               Across Distribution Systems Supporting IEEE 802.11
               Operation, IEEE Draft 802.11f/D5, January 2003.

[MD5Attack]    Dobbertin, H., "The Status of MD5 After a Recent Attack."
               CryptoBytes Vol.2 No.2, Summer 1996.

[NASREQ]       Calhoun, P., et al., "Diameter Network Access Server
               Application", draft-ietf-aaa-diameter-nasreq-11.txt,
               Internet draft (work in progress), February 2003.

[NTPAuth]      Mills, D., "Public Key Cryptography for the Network Time
               Protocol", Internet draft (work in progress), draft-ietf-
               stime-ntpauth-05.txt, November 2002.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the following people for
contributions to this document: Tim Moore (Microsoft), Min-ho Shin
(University of Maryland), Nick Petroni (University of Maryland), Adam
Sulmicki (University of Maryland), Insun Lee (Samsung Electronics),
Kyunghun Jang (Samsung Electronics).







Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 20]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


Authors' Addresses

William A. Arbaugh
Department of Computer Science
University of Maryland, College Park
A.V. Williams Building
College Park, MD 20742

EMail: waa@cs.umd.edu
Phone: +1 301 405 2774

Bernard Aboba
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052

EMail: bernarda@microsoft.com
Phone: +1 425 706 6605
Fax:   +1 425 936 7329

Intellectual Property Statement

The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
intellectual property 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; neither does it represent that it has made any
effort to identify any such rights.  Information on the IETF's
procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and standards-
related documentation can be found in BCP-11.  Copies of claims of
rights made available for publication 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
implementors or users of this specification can be obtained from the
IETF Secretariat.

The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights
which may cover technology that may be required to practice this
standard.  Please address the information to the IETF Executive
Director.










Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 21]


INTERNET-DRAFT              Handoff Extension                20 May 2003


Full Copyright Statement

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003).  All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or
assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and
distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind,
provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included
on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this document itself
may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice
or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations,
except as needed for the purpose of developing Internet standards in
which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet
Standards process must be followed, or as required to translate it into
languages other than English.  The limited permissions granted above are
perpetual and will not be revoked by the Internet Society or its
successors or assigns.  This document and the information contained
herein is provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE
INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS 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.

Expiration Date

This memo is filed as <draft-irtf-aaaarch-handoff-02.txt>,  and  expires
November 22, 2003.
























Arbaugh & Aboba               Experimental                     [Page 22]