TICTOC Working Group                                       Tal Mizrahi
Internet Draft                                                 Marvell
Intended status: Informational                        Karen O'Donoghue
Expires: April 2012                                               ISOC
                                                      October 24, 2011

                       TICTOC Security Requirements
             draft-mizrahi-tictoc-security-requirements-00.txt


Abstract

   As time synchronization protocols are becoming increasingly common
   and widely deployed, concern about their exposure to various security
   threats is increasing. This document defines a set of requirements
   for security solutions for time synchronization protocols, focusing
   on the IEEE 1588 and NTP. This document also discusses the security
   impacts of time synchronization protocol practices, the time
   synchronization performance implications of external security
   practices, the dependencies between other security services and time
   synchronization.

Status of this Memo

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

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

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

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

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

   This Internet-Draft will expire on April 24, 2012.







Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                 [Page 1]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors. All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document. Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ................................................ 3
   2. Conventions Used in this Document ........................... 4
      2.1. Terminology ............................................ 4
      2.2. Abbreviations .......................................... 4
   3. Security Threats ............................................ 4
      3.1. Packet interception and manipulation ................... 5
      3.2. Spoofing ............................................... 5
      3.3. Replay attack .......................................... 5
      3.4. Rogue master attack .................................... 5
      3.5. Packet Interception and Removal ........................ 5
      3.6. Packet delay manipulation .............................. 5
      3.7. Cryptographic performance attacks ...................... 6
      3.8. DoS attacks ............................................ 6
      3.9. Time source spoofing (e.g. GPS fraud) .................. 6
   4. Security Requirements ....................................... 6
      4.1. Clock Identity Authentication .......................... 6
         4.1.1. Authentication and Proventication of Masters ...... 6
         4.1.2. Authentication of Slaves .......................... 7
         4.1.3. PTP: Authentication of Transparent Clocks.......... 7
         4.1.4. PTP: Authentication of Announce Messages .......... 8
      4.2. Data integrity ......................................... 8
         4.2.1. PTP: Hop-by-hop vs. End-to-end Integrity Protection 8
            4.2.1.1. Hop by Hop Integrity Protection .............. 9
            4.2.1.2. End to End Integrity Protection .............. 9
      4.3. Availability .......................................... 10
      4.4. Replay Protection ..................................... 10
      4.5. Cryptographic Keys & Security Associations ............ 10
         4.5.1. Security Association ............................. 10
         4.5.2. Unicast and Multicast ............................ 10
         4.5.3. Key Freshness .................................... 11


Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                 [Page 2]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


      4.6. Performance ........................................... 11
      4.7. Confidentiality........................................ 11
      4.8. Protection against packet delay attacks ............... 12
   5. Summary of Requirements .................................... 12
   6. Additional security implications ........................... 13
   7. Issues for Further Discussion .............................. 13
   8. Security Considerations .................................... 14
   9. IANA Considerations ........................................ 14
   10. Acknowledgments ........................................... 14
   11. References ................................................ 14
      11.1. Normative References ................................. 14
      11.2. Informative References ............................... 15

1. Introduction

   As time synchronization protocols are becoming increasingly common
   and widely deployed, concern about the resulting exposure to various
   security threats is increasing. If a time synchronization protocol is
   compromised, the applications it serves are prone to a range of
   possible attacks including Denial-of-Service or incorrect behavior.

   This document focuses on the security aspects of the Precision Time
   Protocol ([IEEE 1588]) and the Network Time Protocol ([NTPv4]). The
   Network Time Protocol was defined with an inherent security protocol,
   defined in [NTPv4] and in [AutoKey]. The IEEE 1588 includes an
   experimental security protocol, defined in Annex K of the standard,
   but this Annex was never formalized into a fully defined security
   protocol.

   This document attempts to add clarity to the time synchronization
   protocol security requirements discussion by addressing a series of
   questions. It is expected that this document will evolve into
   possibly two documents including one on requirements and one
   providing clarity around the additional questions raised below. Until
   the discussion has matured sufficiently, it will be captured in this
   document. The four primary questions addressed by this draft include:

   (1) What are the threats that need to be addressed for the time
   synchronization protocol, and thus what security services need to be
   provided? (e.g. a malicious NTP server or PTP master)

   (2) What external security practices impact the security and
   performance of time keeping, and what can be done to mitigate these
   impacts? (e.g. an IPSec tunnel in the synchronization traffic path)

   (3) What are the security impacts of time synchronization protocol
   practices?  (e.g. on-the-fly modification of timestamps)


Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                 [Page 3]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


   (4) What are the dependencies between other security services and
   time synchronization? (e.g. which comes first - the certificate or
   the timestamp?)

   It is expected that the final version of this document will define a
   set of requirements for security solutions for time synchronization
   protocols, focusing on the IEEE 1588 and NTP.

2. Conventions Used in this Document

2.1. Terminology

   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 [KEYWORDS].

   This document describes security requirements, and thus requirements
   are phrased in the document in the form "the security mechanism
   MUST/SHOULD/...". Note, that the phrasing does not imply that this
   document defines a specific security mechanism, but defines the
   requirements that every security mechanism should comply to.

   This document refers to both PTP and NTP. For the sake of
   consistency, throughout the document the term "master" applies to
   both a PTP master and an NTP server. Similarly, the term "slave"
   applies to both PTP slaves and NTP clients. The general term "clock"
   refers to masters, slaves and PTP Transparent Clocks (TC). The term
   "protocol packets" is refers generically to PTP and NTP messages.

2.2. Abbreviations

   BC     Boundary Clock

   MITM   Man In The Middle

   NTP    Network Time Protocol

   OC     Ordinary Clock

   PTP    Precision Time Protocol

   TC     Transparent Clock

3. Security Threats

   The following section defines the security threats that are discussed
   in subsequent sections.


Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                 [Page 4]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


3.1. Packet interception and manipulation

   A packet interception and manipulation attack results when a Man-In-
   The-Middle (MITM) attacker intercepts timing protocol packets, alters
   them and relays them to their destination, allowing the attacker to
   maliciously tamper with the protocol. This can result in a situation
   where the time protocol is apparently operational but providing
   intentionally inaccurate information.

3.2. Spoofing

   In spoofing, an attacker masquerades as a legitimate node in the
   network. For example, an attacker can impersonate the master,
   allowing malicious distribution of false timing information. As with
   packet interception and manipulation, this can result in a situation
   where the time protocol is apparently operational but providing
   intentionally inaccurate information.

3.3. Replay attack

   In a replay attack, an attacker records protocol packets and replays
   them at a later time. This can also result in a situation where the
   time protocol is apparently operational but providing intentionally
   inaccurate information.

3.4. Rogue master attack

   In a rogue master attack, an attacker causes other nodes in the
   network to believe it is a legitimate master. As opposed to the
   spoofing attack, in the Rouge Master attack the attacker does not
   fake its identity, but rather manipulates the master election
   process. For example, in PTP, an attacker can manipulate the Best
   Master Clock Algorithm (BMCA), and cause other nodes in the network
   to believe it is the most eligible candidate to be a grandmaster.

3.5. Packet Interception and Removal

   A packet interception and removal attack results when a Man-In-The-
   Middle attacker intercepts and drops protocol packets, preventing the
   destination node from receiving the timing information.

3.6. Packet delay manipulation

   In a packet delay manipulation scenario, a Man-In-The-Middle attacker
   intercepts protocol packets, and relays them to their destination
   after adding a maliciously computed delay.



Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                 [Page 5]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


3.7. Cryptographic performance attacks

   In cryptographic performance attacks, an attacker transmits fake
   protocol packet, causing high utilization of the cryptographic engine
   at the receiver, which attempts to verify the integrity of these fake
   packets.

3.8. DoS attacks

   There are many possible Layer 2 and Layer 3 Denial of Service
   attacks. As the target's availability is compromised, the timing
   protocol is affected accordingly.

3.9. Time source spoofing (e.g. GPS fraud)

   In time source spoofing, an attacker spoofs the accurate time source
   of the master. For example, if the master uses a GPS based clock as
   its reference source, an attacker can spoof the GPS satellites,
   causing the master to use a false reference time.

4. Security Requirements

4.1. Clock Identity Authentication

Requirement

   The security mechanism MUST provide a means for each clock to
   authenticate the sender of a protocol packet.

Discussion

   In the context of this document, authentication refers to:

   o Identification: verifying the identity of the peer clock.

   o Authorization: verifying that the peer clock is permitted to play
      the role that it plays in the protocol. For example, some nodes
      may be permitted to be masters, while other nodes are only
      permitted to be slaves or TCs.

      The following subsections describe 4 distinct cases of clock
      authentication.

4.1.1. Authentication and Proventication of Masters

Requirement



Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                 [Page 6]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


   The security mechanism MUST support a proventication mechanism, to be
   used in cases where end-to-end authentication is not possible.

Discussion

   Slaves and transparent clocks authenticate masters in order to ensure
   the authenticity of the time source.

   In some cases a slave is connected to an intermediate master, that is
   not the primary time source. For example, in PTP a slave can be
   connected to a Boundary Clock (BC), which in turn is connected to a
   grandmaster. A similar example in NTP is when a client is connected
   to a stratum 2 server, which is connected to a stratum 1 server. In
   both the PTP and the NTP cases, the slave authenticates the
   intermediate master, and the intermediate master authenticates the
   primary master. This inductive authentication process is referred to
   in [AutoKey] as proventication.

4.1.2. Authentication of Slaves

Requirement

   The security mechanism SHOULD provide a means for a master to
   authenticate its slaves.

Discussion

   Slaves are authenticated by masters in order to verify that the slave
   is authorized to receive timing services from the master.

   Authentication of slaves prevents unauthorized clocks from receiving
   time services, and also reduces unnecessary load on the master clock,
   by preventing the master from serving unauthorized clocks. It could
   be argued that the authentication of slaves could put a higher load
   on the master then serving the unauthorized clock. This tradeoff will
   need to be discussed further.

4.1.3. PTP: Authentication of Transparent Clocks

Requirement

   The security mechanism for PTP SHOULD provide a means for a master to
   authenticate the TCs.

Discussion

   Transparent clocks are authenticated by peer masters, slaves and TCs.


Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                 [Page 7]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


   Authentication of TCs, much like authentication of slaves, reduces
   unnecessary load on the master clock and peer TCs, by preventing the
   master from serving unauthorized clocks. It also prevents malicious
   TCs from attacking the protocol by manipulating the correctionField.
   It could also be argued that the authentication could result in a
   higher load then merely serving the unauthorized devices. This
   tradeoff will need to be discussed further.

4.1.4. PTP: Authentication of Announce Messages

Requirement

   The security mechanism for PTP MUST support authentication of
   Announce messages.

Discussion

   Master election is performed in PTP using the Best Master Clock
   Algorithm (BMCA). Each Ordinary Clock (OC) announces its clock
   attributes using Announce messages, and the best master is elected
   based on the information gathered from all the candidates. Announce
   messages must be authenticated in order to prevent malicious master
   attacks.

   Note, that this subsection specifies a requirement that is not
   necessarily included in 4.1.1.  or in 4.1.2. , since the BMCA is
   initiated before clocks have been defined as masters or slaves.

4.2. Data integrity

Requirement

   The security mechanism MUST protect the integrity of protocol
   packets.

Discussion

   While subsection 4.1.  refers to ensuring WHO sent the protocol
   packet, this subsection refers to ensuring that the packet arrived
   intact. The integrity protection mechanism ensures the authenticity
   and completeness of data from the data originator.

4.2.1. PTP: Hop-by-hop vs. End-to-end Integrity Protection

Requirement




Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                 [Page 8]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


   A security mechanism for PTP MUST support hop-by-hop integrity
   protection.

Requirement

   A security mechanism for PTP SHOULD support end-to-end integrity
   protection.

Discussion

   Specifically in PTP, when protocol packets are subjected to
   modification by TCs, the integrity protection can be enforced in one
   of two approaches, end-to-end or hop-by-hop.

4.2.1.1. Hop by Hop Integrity Protection

   Each hop that needs to modify a protocol packet:

   o Verifies its integrity.

   o Modifies the packet, i.e., modifies the correctionField.

   o Re-generates the integrity protection, e.g., re-computes a Message
      Authentication Code.

   In the hop-by-hop approach, the integrity of protocol packets is
   protected by induction on the path from the originator to the
   receiver.

   This approach is simple, but allows malicious TCs to modify protocol
   packets.

4.2.1.2. End to End Integrity Protection

   In this approach, the integrity protection is maintained on the path
   from the originator of a protocol packet to the receiver. This allows
   the receiver to validate the protocol packet without the ability of
   intermediate TCs to manipulate the packet.

   Since TCs need to modify the correctionField, a separate integrity
   protection mechanism is used specifically for the correctionField.

   The end-to-end approach limits the TC's impact to the correctionField
   alone, while the rest of the protocol packet is protected on an end-
   to-end basis.




Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                 [Page 9]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


4.3. Availability

Requirement

   The security mechanism MUST be resistant to DoS attacks from an
   external attacker.

Discussion

   This requirement is attained by clock authentication, as described in
   4.1. .

4.4. Replay Protection

Requirement

   Protocol messages MUST be resistant to replay attacks.

4.5. Cryptographic Keys & Security Associations

4.5.1. Security Association

Requirement

   The security protocol MUST support an association protocol where:

   o Two or more clocks authenticate each other.

   o The clocks generate and agree on a cryptographic session key.

Discussion

   The security requirements in 4.1.  and 4.2. require usage of
   cryptographich mechanisms, deploying cryptographic keys. A security
   association is an essential building block in these mechanisms.

4.5.2. Unicast and Multicast

Requirement

   The security mechanism MUST support security association protocols
   for unicast and for multicast associations.

Discussion





Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                [Page 10]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


   A unicast protocol requires an association protocol between two
   clocks, whereas a multicast protocol requires an association protocol
   among two or more clocks, where one of the clocks is a master.

4.5.3. Key Freshness

Requirement

   The cryptographic keys MUST be refreshed periodically.

Requirement

   The association protocol MUST be invoked periodically, where each
   instance of the association protocol MUST produce a different session
   key.

4.6. Performance

Requirement

   The security mechanism MUST be designed in such a way that it does
   not degrade the quality of the time transfer.

Requirement

   The mechanism SHOULD be relatively lightweight, as client
   restrictions often dictate a low processing and memory footprint, and
   because the server may have extensive fan-out.

Requirement

   The mechanism also SHOULD not require excessive storage of client
   state in the master, nor significantly increase bandwidth
   consumption.

4.7. Confidentiality

Requirement

   The security mechanism MAY provide confidentiality protection of the
   protocol packets.

Discussion

   In the context of time synchronization, confidentiality is typically
   of low importance, since timing information is typically not
   considered secret information.


Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                [Page 11]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


   Confidentiality can play an important role when service providers
   charge payment for time synchronization services, but these cases are
   rather esoteric.

   Confidentiality can also prevent an MITM attacker from identifying
   protocol packets. Thus, confidentiality can assist in protecting the
   timing protocol against packet delay attacks, where the attacker
   selectively adds delay to time protocol packets.

4.8. Protection against packet delay attacks

Requirement

   The security mechanism MAY include a means to detect packet delay
   attacks.

Requirement

   The security mechanism MAY include a protection switching mechanism
   that allows a node that detects a delay attack to switch over to a
   secondary master.

5. Summary of Requirements

   +-----------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
   | Section   | Requirement                          | Type          |
   +-----------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
   | 4.1.      | Authentication of sender.            | MUST          |
   |           +--------------------------------------+---------------+
   |           | Proventication.                      | MUST          |
   |           +--------------------------------------+---------------+
   |           | Authentication of slaves.            | SHOULD        |
   |           +--------------------------------------+---------------+
   |           | PTP: Authentication of TCs.          | SHOULD        |
   |           +--------------------------------------+---------------+
   |           | PTP: Authentication of Announce      | SHOULD        |
   |           | messages.                            |               |
   +-----------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
   | 4.2.      | Integrity protection.                | MUST          |
   |           +--------------------------------------+---------------+
   |           | PTP: hop-by-hop integrity protection.| MUST          |
   |           +--------------------------------------+---------------+
   |           | PTP: end-to-end integrity protection.| SHOULD        |
   +-----------+--------------------------------------+---------------+


Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                [Page 12]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


   | 4.3.      | Protection against DoS attacks.      | MUST          |
   +-----------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
   | 4.4.      | Replay protection.                   | MUST          |
   +-----------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
   | 4.5.      | Security association.                | MUST          |
   |           +--------------------------------------+---------------+
   |           | Unicast and multicast associations.  | MUST          |
   |           +--------------------------------------+---------------+
   |           | Key freshness.                       | MUST          |
   +-----------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
   | 4.6.      | Performance: no degradation in       | MUST          |
   |           | quality of time transfer.            |               |
   |           +--------------------------------------+---------------+
   |           | Performance: lightweight.            | SHOULD        |
   |           +--------------------------------------+---------------+
   |           | Performance: storage, bandwidth.     | MUST          |
   +-----------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
   | 4.7.      | Confidentiality protection.          | MAY           |
   +-----------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
   | 4.8.      | Protection against delay attacks.    | MAY           |
   +-----------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
                 Table 1 Summary of Security Requirements

6. Additional security implications

   This section will discuss additional security implications as
   outlined in the questions below. Contributions are welcome and
   encouraged.

   o What external security practices impact the security and
      performance of time keeping? (and what can be done to mitigate
      these impacts?)

   o What are the security impacts of time synchronization protocol
      practices?  (e.g. on-the-fly modification of timestamps)

   o What are the dependencies between other security services and time
      synchronization?

7. Issues for Further Discussion

   This section will discuss additional issues as identified below.
   Again, contributions are welcome and encouraged.



Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                [Page 13]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


   o Integrity - end-to-end vs. hop-by-hop.

   o Supporting a hybrid network, where some nodes are security enabled
      and others are not.

   o The key distribution is outside the scope of this document.
      Although this is a cardinal element in any security system, it is
      not a security requirement, and is thus not described here.

8. Security Considerations

   The security considerations of network timing protocols are presented
   throughout this document.

9. IANA Considerations

   There are no new IANA considerations implied by this document.

10. Acknowledgments

   This document was prepared using 2-Word-v2.0.template.dot.

11. References

11.1. Normative References

   [KEYWORDS]    Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
                 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [NTPv4]       Mills, D., Delaware, U., Martin, J., Burbank, J.,
                 Kasch, W., "Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol
                 and Algorithms Specification", RFC 5905, June 2010.

   [AutoKey]     Haberman, B., Mills, D., "Network Time Protocol
                 Version 4: Autokey Specification", RFC 5906, June
                 2010.

   [Traps]       Treytl, A., Gaderer, G., Hirschler, B., Cohen, R.,
                 "Traps and pitfalls in secure clock synchronization"
                 in Proceedings of 2007 International Symposium for
                 Precision Clock Synchronization for Measurement,
                 Control and Communication, ISPCS 2007, pp. 18-24,
                 2007.






Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                [Page 14]


Internet-Draft      TICTOC Security Requirements          October 2011


11.2. Informative References

   [IEEE 1588]   IEEE TC 9 Test and Measurement Society 2000, "1588
                 IEEE Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization
                 Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems
                 Version 2", IEEE Standard, 2008.

Authors' Addresses

   Tal Mizrahi
   Marvell
   6 Hamada St.
   Yokneam, 20692 Israel

   Email: talmi@marvell.com



   Karen O'Donoghue
   7167 Goby Lane
   King George, VA 22485

   Email: odonoghue@isoc.org

























Mizrahi, O'Donoghue    Expires April 24, 2012                [Page 15]