Minimal Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2) Initiator Implementation
RFC 7815

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                        T. Kivinen
Request for Comments: 7815                                 INSIDE Secure
Category: Informational                                       March 2016
ISSN: 2070-1721

Minimal Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2) Initiator Implementation

Abstract

   This document describes a minimal initiator version of the Internet
   Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2) protocol for constrained nodes.  IKEv2
   is a component of IPsec used for performing mutual authentication and
   establishing and maintaining Security Associations (SAs).  IKEv2
   includes several optional features, which are not needed in minimal
   implementations.  This document describes what is required from the
   minimal implementation and also describes various optimizations that
   can be done.  The protocol described here is interoperable with a
   full IKEv2 implementation using shared secret authentication (IKEv2
   does not require the use of certificate authentication).  This
   minimal initiator implementation can only talk to a full IKEv2
   implementation acting as the responder; thus, two minimal initiator
   implementations cannot talk to each other.

   This document does not update or modify RFC 7296 but provides a more
   compact description of the minimal version of the protocol.  If this
   document and RFC 7296 conflict, then RFC 7296 is the authoritative
   description.

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.

   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/rfc7815.

Kivinen                       Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 7815         Minimal IKEv2 Initiator Implementation       March 2016

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 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.

   This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
   Contributions published or made publicly available before November
   10, 2008.  The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this
   material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow
   modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process.
   Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
   the copyright in such materials, this document may not be modified
   outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may
   not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
   it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
   than English.

Kivinen                       Informational                     [Page 2]
RFC 7815         Minimal IKEv2 Initiator Implementation       March 2016

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     1.1.  Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   2.  Exchanges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.1.  Initial Exchange  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.2.  Other Exchanges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     2.3.  Generating Keying Material  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   3.  Conformance Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   4.  Implementation Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   6.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     6.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     6.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   Appendix A.  Header and Payload Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
     A.1.  The IKE Header  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
     A.2.  Generic Payload Header  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     A.3.  Security Association Payload  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21