Identification MIB
RFC 1414

Network Working Group                                       M. St. Johns
Request for Comments: 1414                      US Department of Defense
                                                                 M. Rose
                                            Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
                                                           February 1993

                           Identification MIB

Status of this Memo

   This RFC specifies an IAB standards track protocol for the Internet
   community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
   Please refer to the current edition of the "IAB Official Protocol
   Standards" for the standardization state and status of this protocol.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This memo defines a MIB for use with identifying the users associated
   with TCP connections.  It provides functionality approximately
   equivalent to that provided by the protocol defined in RFC 1413 [1].
   This document is a product of the TCP Client Identity Protocol
   Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Table of Contents

   1. The Network Management Framework .......................    2
   2. Identification MIB .....................................    3
   3. Definitions ............................................    3
   3.1 Conformance Groups ....................................    3
   3.2 Textual Conventions ...................................    3
   3.3 The Ident information Group ...........................    3
   4. Security Considerations ................................    6
   5. References .............................................    6
   6. Authors' Addresses .....................................    7

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1.  The Network Management Framework

   The Internet-standard Network Management Framework consists of three
   components.  They are:

      STD 16/RFC 1155 [2] which defines the SMI, the mechanisms used for
      describing and naming objects for the purpose of management.  STD
      16/RFC 1212 [3] defines a more concise description mechanism,
      which is wholly consistent with the SMI.

      STD 17/RFC 1213 [4] which defines MIB-II, the core set of managed
      objects for the Internet suite of protocols.

      STD 15/RFC 1157 [5] which defines the SNMP, the protocol used for
      network access to managed objects.

   The Framework permits new objects to be defined for the purpose of
   experimentation and evaluation.

   Managed objects are accessed via a virtual information store, termed
   the Management Information Base or MIB.  Within a given MIB module,
   objects are defined using RFC 1212's OBJECT-TYPE macro.  At a
   minimum, each object has a name, a syntax, an access-level, and an
   implementation-status.

   The name is an object identifier, an administratively assigned name,
   which specifies an object type.  The object type together with an
   object instance serves to uniquely identify a specific instantiation
   of the object.  For human convenience, we often use a textual string,
   termed the object descriptor, to also refer to the object type.

   The syntax of an object type defines the abstract data structure
   corresponding to that object type.  The ASN.1 [6] language is used
   for this purpose.  However, RFC 1155 purposely restricts the ASN.1
   constructs which may be used.  These restrictions are explicitly made
   for simplicity.

   The access-level of an object type defines whether it makes "protocol
   sense" to read and/or write the value of an instance of the object
   type.  (This access-level is independent of any administrative
   authorization policy.)

   The implementation-status of an object type indicates whether the
   object is mandatory, optional, obsolete, or deprecated.

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2.  Identification MIB

   The Identification MIB defines a uniform set of objects useful for
   identifying users associated with TCP connections.  End-systems which
   support TCP may, at their option, implement this MIB.  However,
   administrators should read Section 4 ("Security Considerations")
   before enabling these MIB objects.

3.  Definitions

          RFC1414-MIB DEFINITIONS ::= BEGIN

          IMPORTS
              OBJECT-TYPE
                  FROM RFC-1212
              tcpConnLocalAddress, tcpConnLocalPort,
              tcpConnRemAddress, tcpConnRemPort
                      FROM RFC1213-MIB;

          ident   OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { mib-2 24 }

          -- conformance groups

          identInfo       OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { ident 1 }

          -- textual conventions

          -- none

          -- the ident information system group
          --
          -- implementation of this group is mandatory

          identTable OBJECT-TYPE
                  SYNTAX  SEQUENCE OF IdentEntry
                  ACCESS  not-accessible
                  STATUS  mandatory
                  DESCRIPTION
                      "A table containing user information for TCP
                      connections.

                      Note that this table contains entries for all TCP
                      connections on a managed system.  The
                      corresponding instance of tcpConnState (defined in
                      MIB-II) indicates the state of a particular

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                      connection."
                  ::= { identInfo 1 }

          identEntry OBJECT-TYPE
                  SYNTAX  IdentEntry
                  ACCESS  not-accessible
                  STATUS  mandatory
                  DESCRIPTION
                      "User information about a particular TCP
                      connection."
                  INDEX   { tcpConnLocalAddress, tcpConnLocalPort,
                            tcpConnRemAddress, tcpConnRemPort }
                  ::= { identTable 1 }

          IdentEntry ::=
              SEQUENCE {
                  identStatus     INTEGER,
                  identOpSys      OCTET STRING,
                  identCharset    OCTET STRING,
                  identUserid     OCTET STRING,
                  identMisc       OCTET STRING
              }

          identStatus OBJECT-TYPE
                  SYNTAX  INTEGER {
                              noError(1),
                              unknownError(2)
                          }
                  ACCESS  read-only
                  STATUS  mandatory
                  DESCRIPTION
                      "Indicates whether user information for the
                      associated TCP connection can be determined.  A
                      value of `noError(1)' indicates that user
                      information is available.  A value of
                      `unknownError(2)' indicates that user information
                      is not available."
                  ::= { identEntry 1 }

          identOpSys OBJECT-TYPE
                  SYNTAX  OCTET STRING (SIZE(0..40))
                  ACCESS  read-only
                  STATUS  mandatory
                  DESCRIPTION
                      "Indicates the type of operating system in use.
                      In addition to identifying an operating system,
                      each assignment made for this purpose also
                      (implicitly) identifies the textual format and

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                      maximum size of the corresponding identUserid and
                      identMisc objects.

                      The legal values for the `indentOpSys' strings
                      are those listed in the SYSTEM NAMES section of
                      the most recent edition of the ASSIGNED NUMBERS
                      RFC [8]."
                  ::= { identEntry 2 }

          identCharset OBJECT-TYPE
                  SYNTAX  OCTET STRING (SIZE(0..40))
                  ACCESS  read-only
                  STATUS  mandatory
                  DESCRIPTION
                      "Indicates the repertoire of the corresponding
                      identUserid and identMisc objects.

                      The legal values for the `identCharset' strings
                      are those listed in the CHARACTER SET section of
                      the most recent edition of the ASSIGNED NUMBERS
                      RFC [8]."
                  ::= { identEntry 3 }

          identUserid OBJECT-TYPE
                  SYNTAX  OCTET STRING (SIZE (0..255))
                  ACCESS  read-only
                  STATUS  mandatory
                  DESCRIPTION
                      "Indicates the user's identity.  Interpretation of
                      this object requires examination of the
                      corresponding value of the identOpSys and
                      identCharset objects."
                  ::= { identEntry 4 }

          identMisc OBJECT-TYPE
                  SYNTAX  OCTET STRING (SIZE (0..255))
                  ACCESS  read-only
                  STATUS  mandatory
                  DESCRIPTION
                      "Indicates miscellaneous information about the
                      user.  Interpretation of this object requires
                      examination of the corresponding value of the
                      identOpSys and identCharset objects."
                  ::= { identEntry 5 }

          END

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4.  Security Considerations

   The information available through this MIB is at most as trustworthy
   as the host providing it OR the organization operating the host.  For
   example, a PC in an open lab has few if any controls on it to prevent
   a user from having an SNMP query return any identifier the user
   wants.  Likewise, if the host has been compromised the information
   returned may be completely erroneous and misleading.

   This portion of the MIB space should only be used to gain hints as to
   who "owns" a particular TCP connection -- information returned should
   NOT be considered authoritative for at least the reasons described
   above.  At best, this MIB provides some additional auditing
   information with respect to TCP connections.  At worse it can provide
   misleading, incorrect or maliciously incorrect information.

   The use of the information contained in this MIB for other than
   auditing or normal network management functions is strongly
   discouraged.  Specifically, using information from this MIB space to
   make access control decisions - either as the primary method (i.e.,
   no other checks) or as an adjunct to other methods may result in a
   weakening of normal system security.

   This MIB provides access to information about users, entities,
   objects or processes which some systems might normally consider
   private.  The information accessible through this MIB is a rough
   analog of the CallerID services provided by some phone companies and
   many of the same privacy consideration and arguments that apply to
   CallerID service apply to this MIB space.  If you wouldn't run a
   "finger" server [7] due to privacy considerations, you might not want
   to provide access to this MIB space on a general basis.  Access to
   this portion of the MIB tree may be controlled under the normal
   methods available through SNMP agent implementations.

7.  References

   [1] St. Johns, M., "Identification Protocol", RFC 1413, US Department
       of Defense, February 1993.

   [2] Rose M., and K. McCloghrie, "Structure and Identification of
       Management Information for TCP/IP-based internets", STD 16, RFC
       1155, Performance Systems International, Hughes LAN Systems, May
       1990.

   [3] Rose, M., and K. McCloghrie, Editors, "Concise MIB Definitions",
       STD 16, RFC 1212, Performance Systems International, Hughes LAN
       Systems, March 1991.

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   [4] McCloghrie K., and M. Rose, Editors, "Management Information Base
       for Network Management of TCP/IP-based internets", STD 17, RFC
       1213, Performance Systems International, March 1991.

   [5] Case, J., Fedor, M., Schoffstall, M., and J. Davin, "Simple
       Network Management Protocol", STD 15, RFC 1157, SNMP Research,
       Performance Systems International, Performance Systems
       International, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, May 1990.

   [6] Information processing systems - Open Systems Interconnection -
       Specification of Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1),
       International Organization for Standardization, International
       Standard 8824, December 1987.

   [7] Zimmerman, D., "The Finger User Information Protocol", RFC 1288,
       Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science,
       December 1991.

   [8] Reynolds, J., and J. Postel, "Assigned Numbers", STD 2, RFC 1340,
       USC/Information Sciences Institute, July 1992.

8. Authors' Addresses

       Michael C. St. Johns
       U.S. Department of Defense
       DARPA/CSTO
       3701 N. Fairfax Dr
       Arlington, VA 22203

       Phone: (703) 696-2271
       EMail: stjohns@DARPA.MIL

       Marshall T. Rose
       Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
       420 Whisman Court
       Mountain View, CA 94043-2186

       Phone: (415) 968-1052
       EMail: mrose@dbc.mtview.ca.us

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