Internet DRAFT - draft-bagnulo-mptcp-secure

draft-bagnulo-mptcp-secure







Network Working Group                                         M. Bagnulo
Internet-Draft                                                      UC3M
Intended status: Standards Track                       February 12, 2014
Expires: September 3, 2014


                              Secure MPTCP
                     draft-bagnulo-mptcp-secure-00

Abstract

   This memo contains some initial thoughts about how to secure MPTCP.
   As currently defined, MPTCP provides basic security features to
   protect the MPTCP signaling and the data flows unprotected.  In this
   note, we explore the possible use to tcpcrypt to provide enhanced
   security to MPTCP.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Initial SMTCP connection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Adding new subflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Exchanging data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  Backward compatibility  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   6.  Concluding remarks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   9.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   10. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     10.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     10.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8

1.  Introduction

   Multi-path TCP (MPTCP) [RFC6824] defines the extensions to TCP that
   allow transmitting data over multiple paths in a single TCP
   connection.  This is achieved by opening multiple subflows within the
   same TCP connection.  Each subflow is associated to a different
   address/port pair.  As currently defined, MPTCP provides basic
   security for the signaling used to establish the subflows.  A threat
   analysis for MPTCP is presented in [RFC6181] and a residual threat
   analysis is presented in [I-D.bagnulo-mptcp-attacks].  From these
   analysis we can extract that MPTCP as currently defined is vulnerable
   to attackers that can eavesdrop the initial connection establishment
   exchange and also to attackers that can intercept any subflow
   establishment exchange.  In addition, MPTCP does not provide any
   protection to the data stream (other than splitting the data stream
   over multiple paths), as this was a non goal of the MPTCP design.  In
   [I-D.bagnulo-mptcp-attacks] it is concluded that if a more secure
   version of MPTCP should be pursued, the path to follow would be to
   protect the data stream rather than trying to provide additional
   security to the signaling.  The reader is referred to the
   aforementioned reference for additional insight why this is the case.
   The goal of this document is provide initial considerations about how
   to provide enhanced security to MPTCP by securing the data stream.

   In this note, we analyze the use of tcpcryp [I-D.bittau-tcp-crypt] to
   secure MPTCP. tcpcrypt defines extensions to TCP so opportunistically
   encrypt the data stream of a TCP connection.  By using tcpcrypt in
   MPTCP, we would be able to provide enhanced security to MPTCP.  We
   note however, that the resulting solution would still be vulnerable
   to Man-in-the-Middle attacks during the initial key negotiation.
   However, the attacker in this case must be active and must remain
   located along the path during the whole lifetime of the connection.



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   We call SMTCP to the integration of MPTCP with tcpcryp.  This would
   provide stronger security of MPTCP, both for the signaling and for
   the data.  Since all the MPTCP signaling will be protected by
   tcpcrypt (i.e. encrypted and its integrity protected) there is no
   need for the existent MPTCP security mechanisms when used with
   tcpcrypt.  This means that there is no need to negotiate a the
   current MPTCP key and that the HMAC protection provided by the MPTCP
   protocol is not needed (except for backward compatibility issues).
   All the protection will be achieved with the tcpcrypt extensions.

2.  Initial SMTCP connection

   Suppose both A and B are SMTCP capable.  Suppose A has both IPA1 and
   IPA2.  Suppose A initiates a SMTCP connection with B.  The exchange
   would look like as follows:

   A -> B:  SYN + MP_CAPABLE (including A's key (ka) and C bit set) +
      CRYPT/Hello This contains 15 bytes of options (the motivation for
      including both the MP_CAPABLE and the CRYPT option is for backward
      compatibility, see Section 5 ).  SYN packets usually carry as well
      MSS (4 bytes), SACK (2 bytes) and Window-Scale (3 bytes).
      Negotiating timestamps would be 10 more bytes.  As options has a
      maximum length of 40 bytes, this would be compatible with all the
      mentioned options.

   B -> A:  SYN/ACK + MP_CAPABLE (including B's key (kb) and the C bit
      set) + CRYPT/PKCONF (with pub-cipher-list) Assuming we have 2
      algorithms in the list, this is 10 bytes, making a total of 22
      bytes.  This packet also usually carries the same options than the
      SYN packet, so in this case, not all the mentioned additional
      options would fit.

   A -> B:  INIT (3 bytes of options) plus crypto data in the payload
      (The MP_CAPABLE option is needed since the keys are generated by
      tcpcrypt)

   B -> A:  INIT (3 bytes of options) plus crypto data in the payload

   During the 3-way handshake MPTCP generates the following values:

      The key: session to key to protect the signaling (one per each
      side)

      The Token: used as connection identifier (one per each side)

      The IDSN: Initial Data Seq Number (one per each side)

   The idea would be to derive them from the tcpcrypt values.



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   o  The keys: tcpcrypt generates 4 keys, kec, kac, kes and kas.  These
      will be used to secure MPTCP, as discussed later on.  for the
      purposes of MPTCP signaling, the keys that will be used are the
      authentication keys, so the keys for MPTCP are kac and kas.

   o  The tokens: tcpcrypt generates a Session ID, which is the full
      length of a hash output.  The thing is that tcpcrypt generates a
      single SID for both endpoints, while MPTCP generates one per
      endpoint.  In addition, MPTCP needed to generate a pair of ISDNs.

   We could then generate the MPTCP values out of the tcpcrypt values as
   follows

      Key A= kac

      Key B= Kas

      Token A= 32 most significant bits of (hash(ka))

      Token B= 32 most significant bits of (hash(kb))

      IDSN A= 64 least significant bits of (hash(kac + SID))

      IDSN B= 64 least significant bits of (hash(kas + SID))

   DISCUSSION: We need to exchange ka in the MP_CAPABLE message because
   of backwards compatibility issues (see Section 5), so there is no
   easy way around it.  However, the reason to exchange kb in the
   MP_CAPABLE is because we need to be able to generate Token B in a way
   that is unique in host B. This seems an overkill (exchanging a 64 bit
   key to achieve a 32 bit unique token).  It could be possible to
   define a new MP_CAPABLE option that would exchange a 32 bit long
   token directly.  We also need to understand the security implications
   of exchanging the token in the clear.  Another alternative would be
   to generate the token as a hash of kas and the SID and if it happens
   to clash, restart the connection.  Tis may make sense depending how
   likely is this to happen.  TODO: work out the other flavors of
   tcpcrypt connection initiation, including the use of cached keys

3.  Adding new subflows

   The options for this is whether to treat a new subflow as a new
   tcpcrypt connection or not, the implication being that a new tcpcrypt
   connection uses a different shared secret and hence different keys
   (even though not new public key operations are needed).  Probably
   this is not the way to go.  All the flows of a MPTCP connection
   should be part of the same tcpcrypt session. (the other option would




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   imply that there are different keys for the same MPTCP session, which
   may be cumbersome?)

   So, one simple way of doing this would be to simply use the existent
   MPTCP exchange to add a new subflow with the MPTCP security measures.
   This implies sending an MP_JOIN containing the receiver's token and a
   random number which will be responded with another MP_JOIN and the
   final JOIN message.  The tcpcrypt keys are used instead of the
   regular MPTCP keys.

   (similar approach can be used for the ADD_ADDR option, which is
   secure using an HMAC using the tcpcryp derived key)

   A alternative approach would be to drop completely the MPTCP security
   mechanisms and use the tcpcryp MAC option to secure the MPTCP
   signaling.  This implies that the tcpcryp MAC option would need also
   to protect the MPTCP MP_JOIN option

4.  Exchanging data

   Once the keys and the other values have been negotiated, data can
   flow.  All data in the MPTCP connection will be encrypted with
   tcpcrypt keys and its integrity protected using the tcpcrypt MAC
   option.  This adds 22 bytes of options (assuming 160 bits long hash).

   Question: do we need to have a 160 bit long hash or can we live with
   less?

   Now, MPTCP includes the DSS option in order to synchronize the data
   sequence number with the sequence numbers of the subflows.  The DSS
   option max length is 28 bytes.  The results it that the MAC option
   plus the DSS option are 50 bytes, which is a problem.

   The good news is that the DSS does not need to be sent in every
   segment and that 28 bytes is the maximum length.

   Currently the DSS option includes information both about DSN mapping
   to subflow seq number and data ack.  In order to limit the size of
   the option, one option is to prevent that both Data Ack and DSN to
   subflow seq numbers mappings are sent in the same option.  This would
   result that when Data acks are sent, the DSS option has a maximum of
   12 bytes and when DSN to subflow seq number mapping are sent, the max
   length is 20 bytes.  This is still 2 bytes too long.  There are two
   ways we can shrink this.  One option is to prevent the use of
   Checksum when tcpcrypt is used. checksum is optional, so this could
   be done.  Moreover, it makes sense to do this, because all the
   information protected in this checksum is protected by the tcpcrypt
   MAC option. this results that the DSS option is now 18 bytes, which



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   with the tcpcrypt MAC option will make up to 40 bytes of tcp options.
   The other possible way to shrink this is to use the 4 bytes seq
   numbers rather than the 8 ones.  This would reduce the DSS option to
   14 bytes for the DSN to subflow seq number mapping and to 8 bytes in
   the case of Data acks.

   The DSS option will be sent in the clear i.e. not encrypted by
   tcpcrypt.  The MAC option must cover the DSS option (correct?).  This
   implies that we need to add to the MAC data structure the DSS option.

   Question: how often the DSS needs to be sent?  I mean, if we send the
   DSS and the MAC options, we will be using all the TCP option room,
   so, not SACK can be sent, which is bad.

5.  Backward compatibility

   There will be the following 5 types of node:

      MPTCP nodes: supports MPTCP as defined in RFC6824 or RFC6824bis
      but does not support tcpcrypt,

      tcpcryp nodes: supports tcpcrypt but does not support MPTCP,

      SMTCP capable nodes: support MPTCP and tcpcrypt and the use of
      tcpcrypt to secure MPTCP,

      legacy nodes: dont support neither tcpcrypt nor MPTCP,

      MPTCP/tcpcrypt nodes: supports both tcpcrypt and MPTCP but does
      not support the use of tcpcrypt to protect MPTCP.

   The expected behavior is as following:

   a.  SMTCP contacts a SMTCP node, SMTCP should be used

   b.  SMTCP contacts a MPTCP node, MPTCP should be used

   c.  SMTCP contacts a tcpcrypt node, tcpcrypt should be used

   d.  SMTCP contacts a MPTCP/tcpcrypt node, not sure what should
       happen... should MPTCP and tcpcrypt be used in a non integrated
       fashion? (not sure if there is enough space in the TCP options
       for this...)

   e.  SMTCP contacts a legacy node, TCP should be used.

   In order to achieve, we use the following approach.  In the initial
   SYN of the initial 3-way handshake, both the CRYPT/Hello option (3



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   bytes) plus the MP_CAPABLE option including the initiator's key (12
   bytes) should be sent.  This allows supporting b), c) and e) i.e.
   the receiver can discard either of the two options or both of them
   resulting in each of the mentioned cases.

   In order to support case a) (and to distinguish it from case d), we
   need to signal it in an explicit way.  I guess the easiest way is to
   use one of the flags C to H in the MP_CAPABLE message.  Let's assume
   it is the C(rypt) flag.  If the C flag is set and the CRYPT/Hello
   option is present, this means SMTCP (i.e. use tcpcrypt to protect
   MPTCP signaling and data).

6.  Concluding remarks

   One main challenge in order to use tcpcrypt to secure MPTCP is the
   option space.  There is little room for TCP options and this approach
   would consume most of it, which would prevent the use of other
   options like SACK.  One way to address this would be that tcpcrypt is
   changed to send the MAC as part of the data stream rather than an
   option.  As tcpcrypt is being discussed, this can be an option.

   A second issue to consider is how this would work with TSO.
   Currently MPTCP is compatible with TSO and it would be important that
   SMPTCP is also compatible.

   Another comment is that it would be possible to secure MPTCP using
   something like TLS opportunistically and transparently to the
   application.  This is TBD as an alternative approach.

7.  Security Considerations

   This whole document is about securing MPTCP.  In future versions of
   the document, this section could include a residual threat analysis.

8.  IANA Considerations

   TBD

9.  Acknowledgements

   The authors thank ...

10.  References








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10.1.  Normative References

   [I-D.bittau-tcp-crypt]
              Bittau, A., Boneh, D., Hamburg, M., Handley, M., Mazieres,
              D., and Q. Slack, "Cryptographic protection of TCP Streams
              (tcpcrypt)", draft-bittau-tcp-crypt-03 (work in progress),
              September 2012.

   [RFC6824]  Ford, A., Raiciu, C., Handley, M., and O. Bonaventure,
              "TCP Extensions for Multipath Operation with Multiple
              Addresses", RFC 6824, January 2013.

10.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.bagnulo-mptcp-attacks]
              Bagnulo, M., Paasch, C., Gont, F., Bonaventure, O., and C.
              Raiciu, "Analysis of MPTCP residual threats and possible
              fixes", draft-bagnulo-mptcp-attacks-01 (work in progress),
              October 2013.

   [RFC6181]  Bagnulo, M., "Threat Analysis for TCP Extensions for
              Multipath Operation with Multiple Addresses", RFC 6181,
              March 2011.

Author's Address

   Marcelo Bagnulo
   Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
   Av. Universidad 30
   Leganes, Madrid  28911
   SPAIN

   Phone: 34 91 6249500
   Email: marcelo@it.uc3m.es
   URI:   http://www.it.uc3m.es
















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