Internet Engineering Task Force                               M. Lichvar
Internet-Draft                                                   Red Hat
Intended status: Standards Track                             A. Malhotra
Expires: June 15, 2018                                 Boston University
                                                       December 12, 2017


                         NTP Interleaved Modes
                draft-mlichvar-ntp-interleaved-modes-01

Abstract

   This document extends the specification of Network Time Protocol
   (NTP) version 4 in RFC 5905 with special modes called the NTP
   interleaved modes, that enable NTP servers to provide their clients
   and peers with more accurate transmit timestamps that are available
   only after transmitting NTP packets.  More specifically, this
   document describes three modes: interleaved client/server,
   interleaved symmetric, and interleaved broadcast.

Status of This Memo

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

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on June 15, 2018.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2017 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
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   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must



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   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.

1.  Introduction

   RFC 5905 [RFC5905] describes the operations of NTPv4 in basic client/
   server, symmetric, and broadcast mode.  The transmit timestamp is one
   of the four timestamps included in every NTP packet used for time
   synchronization.  A packet that strictly follows RFC 5905, i.e. it
   contains a transmit timestamp corresponding to the packet itself, is
   said to be in basic mode.

   There are, at least, four options where a transmit timestamp can be
   captured i.e. by NTP daemon, by network drivers, or at the MAC or
   physical layer of the OSI model.  A typical transmit timestamp in a
   software NTP implementation in the basic mode is the one captured by
   the NTP daemon using the system clock, before the computation of
   message digest and before the packet is passed to the operating
   system, and does not include any processing and queuing delays in the
   system, network drivers, and hardware.  These delays may add a
   significant error to the offset and network delay measured by clients
   and peers of the server.

   For best accuracy, the transmit timestamp should be captured as close
   to the wire as possible, but that is difficult to implement in the
   current packet since this timestamp is available only after the
   packet transmission.  The protocol described in RFC 5905 does not
   specify any mechanism for the server to provide its clients and peers
   with this more accurate timestamp.

   Different mechanisms could be used to exchange this more accurate
   timestamp.  This document describes interleaved modes, in which an
   NTP packet contains a transmit timestamp corresponding to the
   previous packet that was sent to the client or peer.  This transmit
   timestamp could be captured at one of the any four places mentioned
   above.  More specifically, this document:

   1.  Introduces and specifies a new interleaved client/server mode.

   2.  Specifies the interleaved symmetric mode based on the NTP
       reference implementation with some modifications.

   3.  Specifies the interleaved broadcast mode based purely on the NTP
       reference implementation.

   The protocol does not change the NTP packet header format.  Only the
   semantics of some timestamp fields is different.  NTPv4 that supports



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   client/server and broadcast interleaved modes is compatible with
   NTPv4 without this capability as well as with all previous NTP
   versions.

   The protocol requires both servers and clients/peers to keep some
   state specific to the interleaved mode.  It prevents traffic
   amplification that would be possible if the timestamp was sent in a
   separate message in order to keep the servers stateless.

   This document assumes familiarity with RFC 5905.

1.1.  Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

2.  Interleaved Client/server mode

   The interleaved client/server mode is similar to the basic client/
   server mode.  The only difference between the two modes is in the
   meaning of the transmit and origin timestamp fields.

   A client request in the basic mode has an origin timestamp equal to
   the transmit timestamp from the previous server response, or is zero.
   A server response in the basic mode has an origin timestamp equal to
   the transmit timestamp from the client's request.  The transmit
   timestamps correspond to the packets in which they are included.

   A client request in the interleaved mode has an origin timestamp
   equal to the receive timestamp from the previous server response.  A
   server response in the interleaved mode has an origin timestamp equal
   to the receive timestamp from the client's request.  The transmit
   timestamps correspond to the previous packets that were sent to the
   server or client.

   A server which supports the interleaved mode needs to save pairs of
   local receive and transmit timestamps.  The server SHOULD discard old
   timestamps to limit the amount of memory needed to support clients
   using the interleaved mode.  The server MAY separate the timestamps
   by IP addresses, but it SHOULD NOT separate them by port numbers,
   i.e.  clients are allowed to change their source port between
   requests.

   When the server receives a request, it SHOULD compare the origin
   timestamp with all receive timestamps it has saved (for the IP
   address).  If a match is found, the server SHOULD respond with a
   packet in the interleaved mode, which contains the transmit timestamp



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   corresponding to the packet which had the matching receive timestamp.
   If no match is found, the server MUST NOT respond in the interleaved
   mode.  The server MAY always respond in the basic mode.  In both
   cases, the server SHOULD save the new receive and transmit
   timestamps.

   Both servers and clients that support the interleaved mode MUST NOT
   send a packet that has a transmit timestamp equal to the receive
   timestamp in order to reliably detect whether received packets
   conform to the interleaved mode.

   The first request from a client is always in the basic mode and so is
   the server response.  It has a zero origin timestamp and zero receive
   timestamp.  Only when the client receives a valid response from the
   server, it will be able to send a request in the interleaved mode.
   The client SHOULD limit the number of requests in the interleaved
   mode per server response to prevent processing of very old timestamps
   in case a large number of packets is lost.

   An example of packets in a client/server exchange using the
   interleaved mode is shown in Figure 1.  The packets in the basic and
   interleaved mode are indicated with B and I respectively.  The
   timestamps t1', t3' and t11' point to the same transmissions as t1,
   t3 and t11, but they may be less accurate.  The first exchange is in
   the basic mode followed by a second exchange in the interleaved mode.
   For the third exchange, the client request is in the interleaved
   mode, but the server response is in the basic mode, because the
   server did not have the pair of timestamps t6 and t7 (e.g. they were
   dropped to save timestamps for other clients using the interleaved
   mode).

   Server   t2   t3               t6   t7              t10  t11
       -----+----+----------------+----+----------------+----+-----
           /      \              /      \              /      \
   Client /        \            /        \            /        \
       --+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+--
         t1         t4         t5         t8         t9        t12

   Mode: B         B           I         I           I         B
       +----+    +----+      +----+    +----+      +----+    +----+
   Org | 0  |    | t1'|      | t2 |    | t4 |      | t6 |    | t5 |
   Rx  | 0  |    | t2 |      | t4 |    | t6 |      | t8 |    |t10 |
   Tx  | t1'|    | t3'|      | t1 |    | t3 |      | t5 |    |t11'|
       +----+    +----+      +----+    +----+      +----+    +----+

       Figure 1: Packet timestamps in interleaved client/server mode





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   When the client receives a response, it performs all tests described
   in RFC 5905, except now the sanity check for bogus packet needs to
   compare the origin timestamp with both transmit and receive
   timestamps from the request in order to be able to detect if the
   response is in the basic or interleaved mode.  The client SHOULD NOT
   update its NTP state when an invalid response is received to not lose
   the timestamps which will be needed to complete a measurement when
   the following response in the interleaved mode is received.

   If the packet passed the tests and conforms to the interleaved mode,
   the client can compute the offset and delay using the formulas from
   RFC 5905 and one of two different sets of timestamps.  The first set
   is RECOMMENDED for clients that filter measurements based on the
   delay.  The corresponding timestamps from Figure 1 are written in
   parentheses.

      T1 - local transmit timestamp of the previous request (t1)

      T2 - remote receive timestamp from the previous response (t2)

      T3 - remote transmit timestamp from the latest response (t3)

      T4 - local receive timestamp of the previous response (t4)

   The second set gives a more accurate measurement of the current
   offset, but the delay is much more sensitive to a frequency error
   between the server and client due to a much longer interval between
   T1 and T4.

      T1 - local transmit timestamp of the latest request (t5)

      T2 - remote receive timestamp from the latest response (t6)

      T3 - remote transmit timestamp from the latest response (t3)

      T4 - local receive timestamp of the previous response (t4)

   Clients MAY filter measurements based on the mode.  The maximum
   number of dropped measurements in the basic mode SHOULD be limited in
   case the server does not support or is not able to respond in the
   interleaved mode.  Clients that filter measurements based on the
   delay will implicitly prefer measurements in the interleaved mode
   over the basic mode, because they have a shorter delay due to a more
   accurate transmit timestamp (T3).

   The server MAY limit saving of the receive and transmit timestamps to
   requests which have an origin timestamp specific to the interleaved
   mode in order to not waste resources on clients using the basic mode.



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   Such an optimization will delay the first interleaved response of the
   server to a client by one exchange.

   A check for a non-zero origin timestamp works with clients that
   implement NTP data minimization [I-D.ietf-ntp-data-minimization].  To
   detect requests in the basic mode from clients that do not implement
   the data minimization, the server can encode in low-order bits of the
   receive and transmit timestamps below precision of the clock a bit
   indicating whether the timestamp is a receive timestamp.  If the
   server receives a request with a non-zero origin timestamp which does
   not indicate it is receive timestamp of the server, the request is in
   the basic mode and it is not necessary to save the new receive and
   transmit timestamp.

3.  Interleaved Symmetric mode

   The interleaved symmetric mode uses the same principles as the
   interleaved client/server mode.  A packet in the interleaved
   symmetric mode has a transmit timestamp which corresponds to the
   previous packet sent to the peer and an origin timestamp equal to the
   receive timestamp from the last packet received from the peer.

   In order to prevent the peer from matching the transmit timestamp
   with an incorrect packet when the peers' transmissions do not
   alternate (e.g. they use different polling intervals) and a previous
   packet was lost, the use of the interleaved mode in symmetric
   associations requires additional restrictions.

   Peers which have an association need to count valid packets received
   between their transmissions to determine in which mode a packet
   should be formed.  A valid packet in this context is a packet which
   passed all NTP tests for duplicate, replayed, bogus, and
   unauthenticated packets.  Other received packets may update the NTP
   state to allow the (re)initialization of the association, but they do
   not change the selection of the mode.

   A peer A SHOULD send a peer B a packet in the interleaved mode only
   when the following conditions are met:

   1.  The peer A has an active association with the peer B which was
       specified with an option enabling the interleaved mode, OR the
       peer A received at least one valid packet in the interleaved mode
       from the peer B.

   2.  The peer A did not send a packet to the peer B since it received
       the last valid packet from the peer B.





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   3.  The previous packet that the peer A sent to the peer B was the
       only response to a packet received from the peer B.

   An example of packets exchanged in a symmetric association is shown
   in Figure 2.  The minimum polling interval of the peer A is twice as
   long as the maximum polling interval of the peer B.  The first
   packets sent by the peers are in the basic mode.  The second and
   third packet sent by the peer A is in the interleaved mode.  The
   second packet sent by the peer B is in the interleaved mode, but the
   following packets sent by the peer are in the basic mode, because
   multiple responses are sent per request.

   Peer A   t2 t3       t6          t8 t9      t12         t14 t15
       -----+--+--------+-----------+--+--------+-----------+--+-----
           /    \      /           /    \      /           /    \
   Peer B /      \    /           /      \    /           /      \
       --+--------+--+-----------+--------+--+-----------+--------+--
         t1       t4 t5          t7      t10 t11        t13      t16

   Mode: B      B      I         B      I      B         B      I
       +----+ +----+ +----+    +----+ +----+ +----+    +----+ +----+
   Org | 0  | | t1'| | t2 |    | t3'| | t4 | | t3 |    | t3 | |t10 |
   Rx  | 0  | | t2 | | t4 |    | t4 | | t8 | |t10 |    |t10 | |t14 |
   Tx  | t1'| | t3'| | t1 |    | t7'| | t3 | |t11'|    |t13'| | t9 |
       +----+ +----+ +----+    +----+ +----+ +----+    +----+ +----+

         Figure 2: Packet timestamps in interleaved symmetric mode

   If the peer A has no association with the peer B and it responds with
   symmetric passive packets, it does not need to count the packets in
   order to meet the restrictions, because each request has at most one
   response.  The peer SHOULD process the requests in the same way as a
   server which supports the interleaved client/server mode.  It MUST
   NOT respond in the interleaved mode if the request was not in the
   interleaved mode.

   The peers SHOULD compute the offset and delay using one the two sets
   of timestamps specified in the client/server section.  They MAY
   switch between them to minimize the interval between T1 and T4 in
   order to reduce the error in the measured delay.

4.  Interleaved Broadcast mode

   A packet in the interleaved broadcast mode contains two transmit
   timestamps.  One corresponds to the packet itself and is saved in the
   transmit timestamp field.  The other corresponds to the previous
   packet and is saved in the origin timestamp field.  The packet is
   compatible with the basic mode, which uses a zero origin timestamp.



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   A client which does not support the interleaved mode ignores the
   origin timestamp and processes all packets as if they were in the
   basic mode.

   A client which supports the interleaved mode SHOULD check if the
   origin timestamp is not zero to detect packets in the interleaved
   mode.  The client SHOULD also compare the origin timestamp with the
   transmit timestamp from the previous packet to detect lost packets.
   If the difference is larger than a specified maximum (e.g. 1 second),
   the packet SHOULD NOT be used for synchronization.

   The client SHOULD compute the offset using the origin timestamp from
   the received packet and the local receive timestamp of the previous
   packet.  If the client needs to measure the network delay, it SHOULD
   use the interleaved client/server mode.

5.  Acknowledgements

   The interleaved modes described in this document are based on the
   reference NTP implementation written by David Mills.

   The authors would like to thank Kristof Teichel for his useful
   comments.

6.  IANA Considerations

   This memo includes no request to IANA.

7.  Security Considerations

   Security issues that apply to the basic modes apply also to the
   interleaved modes.  They are described in The Security of NTP's
   Datagram Protocol [SECNTP].

   Clients and peers SHOULD NOT leak the receive timestamp in packets
   sent to other peers or clients (e.g. as a reference timestamp) to
   prevent off-path attackers from easily getting the origin timestamp
   needed to make a valid response in the interleaved mode.

   Clients SHOULD randomize all bits of both receive and transmit
   timestamps, as recommended for the transmit timestamp in the NTP
   client data minimization [I-D.ietf-ntp-data-minimization], to make it
   more difficult for off-path attackers to guess the origin timestamp.

   Protecting symmetric associations in the interleaved mode against
   replay attacks is even more difficult than in the basic mode, because
   the NTP state needs to be protected not only between the reception
   and transmission in order to send the peer a packet with a valid



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   origin timestamp, but all the time to not lose the timestamps which
   will be needed to complete a measurement when the following packet in
   the interleaved mode is received.

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC5905]  Mills, D., Martin, J., Ed., Burbank, J., and W. Kasch,
              "Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol and Algorithms
              Specification", RFC 5905, DOI 10.17487/RFC5905, June 2010,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5905>.

8.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-ntp-data-minimization]
              Franke, D. and A. Malhotra, "NTP Client Data
              Minimization", draft-ietf-ntp-data-minimization-01 (work
              in progress), July 2017.

   [SECNTP]   Malhotra, A., Gundy, M., Varia, M., Kennedy, H., Gardner,
              J., and S. Goldberg, "The Security of NTP's Datagram
              Protocol", 2016, <http://eprint.iacr.org/2016/1006>.

Authors' Addresses

   Miroslav Lichvar
   Red Hat
   Purkynova 115
   Brno  612 00
   Czech Republic

   Email: mlichvar@redhat.com


   Aanchal Malhotra
   Boston University
   111 Cummington St
   Boston  02215
   USA

   Email: aanchal4@bu.edu




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