Summary of Cryptographic Authentication Algorithm Implementation Requirements for Routing Protocols
RFC 6094

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                         M. Bhatia
Request for Comments: 6094                                Alcatel-Lucent
Category: Informational                                        V. Manral
ISSN: 2070-1721                                              IP Infusion
                                                           February 2011

    Summary of Cryptographic Authentication Algorithm Implementation
                   Requirements for Routing Protocols

Abstract

   The routing protocols Open Shortest Path First version 2 (OSPFv2),
   Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS), and Routing
   Information Protocol (RIP) currently define cleartext and MD5
   (Message Digest 5) methods for authenticating protocol packets.
   Recently, effort has been made to add support for the SHA (Secure
   Hash Algorithm) family of hash functions for the purpose of
   authenticating routing protocol packets for RIP, IS-IS, and OSPF.

   To encourage interoperability between disparate implementations, it
   is imperative that we specify the expected minimal set of algorithms,
   thereby ensuring that there is at least one algorithm that all
   implementations will have in common.

   Similarly, RIP for IPv6 (RIPng) and OSPFv3 support IPsec algorithms
   for authenticating their protocol packets.

   This document examines the current set of available algorithms, with
   interoperability and effective cryptographic authentication
   protection being the principal considerations.  Cryptographic
   authentication of these routing protocols requires the availability
   of the same algorithms in disparate implementations.  It is desirable
   that newly specified algorithms should be implemented and available
   in routing protocol implementations because they may be promoted to
   requirements at some future time.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

Bhatia & Manral               Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 6094            Crypto Reqs for Routing Protocols      February 2011

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6094.

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
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   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................3
   2. Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) ..............4
      2.1. Authentication Scheme Selection ............................4
      2.2. Authentication Algorithm Selection .........................5
   3. Open Shortest Path First Version 2 (OSPFv2) .....................5
      3.1. Authentication Scheme Selection ............................6
      3.2. Authentication Algorithm Selection .........................6
   4. Open Shortest Path First Version 3 (OSPFv3) .....................7
   5. Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2) ..................7
      5.1. Authentication Scheme Selection ............................7
      5.2. Authentication Algorithm Selection .........................8
   6. Routing Information Protocol for IPv6 (RIPng) ...................8
   7. Security Considerations .........................................9
   8. Acknowledgements ................................................9
   9. References .....................................................10
      9.1. Normative References ......................................10
      9.2. Informative References ....................................10

Bhatia & Manral               Informational                     [Page 2]
RFC 6094            Crypto Reqs for Routing Protocols      February 2011

1.  Introduction

   Most routing protocols include three different types of
   authentication schemes: Null authentication, cleartext password, and
   cryptographic authentication.  Null authentication is equivalent to