Internet DRAFT - draft-thomson-nea-problem-statement

draft-thomson-nea-problem-statement







Network Working Group                                           S. Hanna
Internet-Draft                                          Juniper Networks
Expires: December 26, 2006                                   T. Hardjono
                                                           Signacert Inc
                                                             S. Thomson
                                                           Cisco Systems
                                                           June 24, 2006


          Network Endpoint Assessment (NEA) Problem Statement
               draft-thomson-nea-problem-statement-03.txt

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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

Abstract

   Network Endpoint Assessment (NEA) architectures have been implemented
   in the industry, e.g.  [TNC, NAP, NAC], to assess the software or
   hardware configuration of endpoint devices for the purposes of
   monitoring compliance of endpoints to an organization's policy for
   access to the network, and optionally restricting or denying access



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   until the endpoint has been updated to satisfy the requirements.
   While these architectures share common components and interfaces to
   support network endpoint assessment, these components are not
   interoperable because not all required protocols are standards.

   This document describes the problem these architectures are intending
   to address, defines common terminology and concepts, and identifies
   interfaces that are candidates for standardization.


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].




































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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  Problem Statement  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   4.  Goals  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   5.  Deployment Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     5.1.  Wired LAN access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     5.2.  Wireless LAN Access  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     5.3.  Remote access VPN  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     5.4.  Gateway Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   6.  Components and Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     6.1.  Mapping to existing architectures  . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     6.2.  Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
       6.2.1.  NEA Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
       6.2.2.  Network enforcement device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
       6.2.3.  NEA server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     6.3.  Protocols  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
       6.3.1.  Posture Attribute Protocol (PA)  . . . . . . . . . . . 14
       6.3.2.  Posture Broker Protocol  (PB)  . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
       6.3.3.  Posture Transport Protocol (PT)  . . . . . . . . . . . 14
       6.3.4.  Network Enforcement Protocol (NE)  . . . . . . . . . . 15
       6.3.5.  Posture Validation Protocol (PV) . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   7.  Scope of Standardization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   8.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   9.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   10. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   11. Change Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   12. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     12.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     12.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 22


















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1.  Introduction

   Network Endpoint Assessment (NEA) architectures have been implemented
   in the industry, e.g.  [TNC, NAP, NAC], to assess the "posture" of
   endpoint devices for the purposes of monitoring compliance of
   endpoints to an organization's policy on access to the network, and
   optionally restricting or denying access until the endpoint has been
   updated to satisfy the requirements.  Posture refers to the hardware
   or software configuration of an endpoint as it pertains to an
   organization's security policy.  Posture may include knowledge about
   the types of software installed and their configurations, e.g.  OS
   name and version, patch levels, and anti-virus signature file
   version.  While these architectures share common components and
   interfaces to support the collection, reporting and evaluation of
   posture information, these components are not interoperable because
   not all required protocols are standards.

   This document describes the problem these architectures are intending
   to address, defines common terminology and concepts, and identifies
   interfaces that are candidates for standardization.

   Note that this document is not intended to define a new architecture
   or framework for network endpoint assessment.  There are already
   several existing architectures for this purpose.  The network
   endpoint assessment effort aims only to identify common interfaces
   that are used in these architectures, and define standard protocols
   that can be used by the existing architectures to reduce duplication
   and achieve interoperability.


2.  Terminology

   Endpoint: An endpoint is a host connected to the network.  This broad
   definition includes (but is not limited to) desktop or laptop
   computers, servers, phones, printers.

   Posture: Posture refers to the hardware or software configuration of
   an endpoint as it pertains to an organization's security policy.
   Posture may include knowledge about the types of hardware and
   software installed and their configurations, e.g.  OS name and
   version, application patch levels, and anti-virus signature file
   version.

   NEA client: The NEA client is a set of software components on the
   endpoint that request access to the network.  The NEA client
   comprises three logical components: Posture collector, Posture broker
   client and Network access requestor.




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   Posture collector: A Posture collector is the component of the NEA
   client that is responsible for collecting and maintaining posture
   information about the endpoint device.  There may be multiple NEA
   Posture collectors on an endpoint device each targeted at a
   particular security application from a particular vendor.

   Posture broker client: A Posture broker client is the component of
   the NEA client that aggregates posture information from multiple
   Posture collectors.

   Network access requestor: The Network access requestor is the
   component of the NEA client responsible for requesting access to the
   network.

   Network enforcement device: The Network enforcement device is a
   network component that controls endpoint access to the upstream
   network.  It enforces network authorization decisions from the
   network access authority.

   NEA server: The NEA server is a server that evaluates the posture of
   an endpoint device and provides network authorization decisions.  The
   NEA server comprises three logical components: Posture validator,
   Posture broker server and Network access authority.

   Posture validator: A Posture validator is the logical component of
   the NEA server that assesses posture information from a Posture
   collector and determines the result of the assessment.  There may be
   multiple Posture validators each targeted at a particular security
   application from a particular vendor.

   Posture broker server: A Posture broker server is the component of
   the NEA server that aggregates posture information from multiple
   posture servers.

   Network access authority: The Network access authority is the
   component of the NEA server that authorizes endpoints based on a
   number of criteria including the identity of an endpoint machine
   and/or user as well as the results of posture assessment.


3.  Problem Statement

   NEA technology may be used for several purposes.  One use is to
   facilitate endpoint compliance to an organization's security policy
   when endpoints connect to the network.  Organizations often require
   endpoints to run an IT-specified OS configuration and have certain
   security applications enabled, e.g. anti-virus software, host
   intrusion protection systems, personal firewalls, and patch



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   management software.  An endpoint that is not compliant with IT
   policy may be vulnerable to a number of known threats that might
   exist on the network.  Without NEA technology, ensuring compliance of
   endpoints to corporate policy is a time-consuming and difficult task.
   Not all endpoints are managed by a corporation's IT organization,
   e.g. lab assets, guest machines.  Even for assets that are managed,
   they may not receive updates in a timely fashion because they are not
   permanently attached to the corporate network, e.g. laptops.  With
   NEA technology, the network is able to assess an endpoint as soon as
   it accesses the network and while connected, providing an opportunity
   to monitor compliance of all endpoints in a timely fashion, and
   facilitate endpoint upgrade where needed.  The decision for how to
   handle non-compliant endpoints is up to the network administrator.
   Remediation instructions or warnings may be sent to the endpoint.
   Also, network access may be restricted (or denied completely) so that
   vulnerabilities can be addressed before a host is exposed to attack.

   Another use of NEA technology may be to supplement information in
   inventory databases.  In organizations that attempt to keep track of
   their assets, inventory databases tend to be incomplete and out-of-
   date.  NEA technology may be used to verify or supplement information
   stored about an organization's assets.

   An NEA system is intended to benefit endpoints that report accurate
   posture information in an effort to make them less vulnerable to
   compromised endpoints on the network .  Handling compromised
   endpoints that report inaccurate posture information is out of scope.

   NEA architectures have been developed to address the above problem
   covering a range of ways of connecting to the network including (but
   not limited to) wired and wireless LAN access, remote access via
   IPSEC or SSL VPN, or gateway access.  Across all these architectures,
   there are a set of NEA-specific components and interfaces that are
   common.  In particular, a NEA client on the endpoint contains
   components that collect and report posture information, and a NEA
   server contains components that validates posture and provides the
   result.  Interoperability is needed between these client and server
   components.

   In addition, a protocol is needed to transport the encoded posture
   information between a NEA client and NEA server at the time of
   network access and while an endpoint is connected to the network.
   Many NEA architectures extend existing standards used in network
   access control, such as the EAP framework, to enable posture
   assessment to be done at the time of network admission, and also to
   allow endpoint authentication and posture assessment to be done at
   the same time.  Posture assessment rules may depend on endpoint
   identity e.g. different assessment rules may be applied depending on



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   whether a user is an employee or guest, and both the authentication
   and posture result (along with other criteria) may determine the
   level of network access received.  To enable interoperability,
   requirements for protocols to transport posture information need to
   be specified.  Note that, to the extent these transport protocols are
   not specific to NEA, and need to satisfy a broader range of
   requirements than just posture transport, it is likely that any
   needed standardization of such protocols would fall outside the NEA
   scope.


4.  Goals

   The goals of architectures that support network assessment technology
   include some or all of the following:

   o  Support assessment of endpoints across a range of network access
      technologies, leveraging existing technology to the extent
      possible

   o  Support authorization decisions based on authentication of user or
      endpoint device, assessment of the state of the endpoint device,
      and other criteria

   o  Support endpoint assessment at various locations in the network
      i.e. at a L2 hop or a L3 hop, both of which may be a single hop or
      multiple hops away from the endpoint.

   o  Support endpoint assessment at possibly multiple hops on a path
      e.g. at both a L2 and a L3 hop

   o  Support network isolation of non-compliant endpoints from
      compliant endpoints for remediation or other purposes

   o  Support endpoint re-assessment when state of endpoints change, or
      rules in the NEA server change

   o  Enable integration of 3rd-party security applications so that one
      or more applications can assess the posture of an endpoint and the
      aggregate of all results can be used in network admission
      decisions.


5.  Deployment Scenarios

   Deployment scenarios for NEA include the following (not necessarily
   limited to these):




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5.1.  Wired LAN access

   In this deployment scenario, network admission control would
   typically take place at the first L2 hop from the endpoint i.e. a
   switch port.  However, there are cases where the first L2 device may
   not support network endpoint assessment for some reason, and network
   endpoint assessment may happen behind the first hop, e.g. a switch
   behind a wireless access point.

   Wired LAN access deployment scenarios may need to support single or
   multiple hosts per switch port.  Deployment scenarios with multiple
   hosts per port include IP phones + PC, or multiple PCs connected
   behind a hub.

   802.1X is an example of a standards-based network access technology
   that supports access control based on authentication for a single
   host per port in first L2 hop deployment scenarios.

5.2.  Wireless LAN Access

   In this deployment scenario, network admission control would
   typically take place at the first L2 hop from the endpoint i.e. a
   wireless access point.  Wireless LAN access supports multiple hosts
   per wireless access point.

   802.1i is a standards-based network access technology that supports
   wireless access control based on authenticating the endpoint.

5.3.  Remote access VPN

   In this deployment scenario, network admission control is done at the
   VPN concentrator that acts as the gateway between remote users and
   access to the enterprise network.

   IPSEC VPN and SSL VPN are example of network access technologies that
   support remote access VPN deployment scenarios.

5.4.  Gateway Access

   In this deployment scenario, network admission control is enforced at
   a L3 boundary in a distributed campus network.  The L3 boundary may
   be one or more L3 hops away from the endpoint.

   This deployment scenario may be used during the transition period
   while an organization gradually upgrades network equipment to support
   network endpoint assessment.  In some cases, the technology may not
   be available immediately for first-hop L2 or L3 deployments and a
   general-purpose gateway deployment e.g. at a router behind a VPN



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   concentrator, may be a reasonable first step.

   This deployment scenario may also be used between network security
   domains e.g. at the border between a less trusted/managed branch
   office and main campus, at the border between main campus or a
   visitor site and access to the Internet, at the border between
   extranet and intranet, and on access to protected servers in a data
   center.

   It follows from this deployment scenario that there may be multiple
   Network enforcement devices on any path that an endpoint may use in a
   network, thus resulting in it being authorized more than once.  It is
   also possible that different posture rules may be assessed at
   different network locations and a different authorization decision
   made.


6.  Components and Protocols

   This section provides a high-level overview of a general NEA
   architecture, describing the components and the interfaces.  This
   architecture is generic in that it is independent of the underlying
   posture transport in use.

   In addition, this section also describes a particular instantiation
   of the architecture based on an EAP transport, to support deployments
   that use EAP for both authentication and posture assessment.  (Note:
   This is not intended to preclude the usage of non-EAP posture
   transports.)

   Figure 1 shows the components of a general NEA system and identifies
   specific interfaces.



















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   |-------------|                          |----------------|
   | Posture     |  <---------PA-------->   |   Posture      |
   | Collectors  |                          |   Validators   |
   | (1 ...N)    |                          |   (1 ...N)     |
   |-------------|                          |----------------|
         |                                          |
         |                                          | PV
         |                                          |
   |-------------|                          |----------------|
   |   Posture   |                          |     Posture    |
   |   Broker    |  <--------PB--------->   |     Broker     |
   |   Client    |                          |     Server     |
   |--------- ---|                          |----------------|
         |                                          |
         |                                          |
   |-------------|  <--------PT-------->    |----------------|
   |             |    |-----------|         |                |
   | Network     |    |Network    |         |   Network      |
   | Access      |----|Enforcement|---------|   Access       |
   | Requestor   |    |Device     | <-NE-> |   Authority    |
   |-------------|    |-----------|         |----------------|

      NEA CLIENT                                  NEA SERVER
   Figure 1: NEA Components and Interfaces

6.1.  Mapping to existing architectures

   For convenience, we map the terms used in this document with that of
   three architectures developed in the industry : Trusted Network
   Connect (TNC) architecture [TNC], Microsoft's Network Access
   Protection (NAP) architecture [NAP], and Cisco's Network Admission
   Control (NAC) architecture [NAC].



















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   Table 1: Terminology used in various architectures
      NEA          TNC             NAP             NAC

   Posture       Integrity       System           Posture
   Collector     Measurement     Health           Plug-in
                 Collector       Agent


   Posture       TNC             NAP              Posture
   Broker        Client          Agent            Agent
   Client

   Network       Network         NAP              Posture
   Access        Access          Enforcement      Agent
   Requestor     Requestor       Client

   Network       Policy          NAP              Network
   Enforcement   Enforcement     Enforcement      Access
   Device        Point           Server           Device

   Posture       Integrity       System           Posture
   Validator     Measurement     Health           Validation
                 Verifier        Validator        Server

   Posture       TNC             NAP              Access
   Broker        Server          Administration   Control
   Server                        Server           Server

   Network       Network         Network          Access
   Access        Access          Policy           Control
   Authority     Authority       Server           Server


6.2.  Components

6.2.1.  NEA Client

   The NEA client resides on an endpoint device and comprises the
   following components:

   o  Posture collector

   o  Posture broker client

   o  Network access requestor






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6.2.1.1.  Posture Collector

   The Posture collector is software that provides posture information
   about the endpoint device to the Posture broker client.  There may be
   many Posture collectors on an endpoint, one per vendor and
   application type.  Examples of Posture collectors include a host
   Posture collector that provides information about the OS and patch
   levels, anti-virus Posture collector that provides information about
   the anti-virus application, firewall Posture collector that provides
   information about the configuration of the personal firewall.

   A Posture collector is responsible for:

   o  Receiving and responding to requests for posture information on a
      per vendor and application type basis

   o  Receiving a notification of the result of the posture assessment
      and any information that may be needed by the endpoint to
      remediate itself , e.g.  URL of a remediation server

   o  Indicating when the posture of the host has changed

6.2.1.2.  Posture broker client

   The Posture broker client aggregates posture information from
   multiple Posture collectors.  There is one Posture broker client for
   every Network access requestor on the endpoint device (typically one
   for all Network access requestors).  The Posture broker client is
   responsible for:

   o  Maintaining a record of Posture collectors

   o  Multiplexing and demultiplexing posture messages between the NEA
      server and the relevant Posture collectors

   o  Determining from Posture collectors when posture has changed and
      triggering re-assessment where supported by the underlying
      transport

   o  Providing user notifications

6.2.1.3.  Network access requestor

   The Network access requestor is responsible for communicating with
   the NEA server to transport the necessary information to gain access
   to the network and for subsequent re-assessment.  There may be
   multiple Network access requestors on an endpoint representing
   different technologies for accessing the network.



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6.2.2.  Network enforcement device

   The Network enforcement device is a network component that controls
   access of endpoints to the upstream network.  The Network enforcement
   device may be a network device or a logical component on an endpoint.
   The NEA enforcer enforces network authorization decisions from the
   Network access authority.  There are different types of Network
   enforcement devices supporting different technologies for accessing
   the network.

6.2.3.  NEA server

   The NEA server comprises the following logical components:

   o  Network access authority

   o  Posture broker server

   o  Posture validator

6.2.3.1.  Network access authority

   The Network access authority is responsible for authorizing endpoints
   based on a number of criteria including the identity of an endpoint
   and/or user as well as the results of posture assessment from the
   Posture broker server.

6.2.3.2.  Posture broker server

   The Posture broker server aggregates posture information from
   potentially multiple Posture validators into an overall system
   result, and provides this information to the Network access
   authority.  Responsibilities of the Posture broker server include:

   o  Maintaining a record of Posture validators

   o  Multiplexing and demultiplexing posture messages between the NEA
      client and the relevant Posture validators

   o  Aggregating posture assessment results from all Posture validators
      into an overall system result

   o  Triggering posture reassessment where supported

6.2.3.3.  Posture validator

   A Posture validator is a server that is responsible for assessing
   information from the corresponding Posture collector and determining



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   the result of the assessment.  There may be multiple Posture
   validators each targeted at a particular security application from a
   particular vendor.

   A Posture validator is responsible for the following:

   o  Requesting and receiving posture information from a particular
      Posture collector

   o  Assessing the endpoint posture and providing a result to the
      Posture broker server

   o  Sending to the Posture collector information on remediation
      actions to be taken

   o  Indicating to the Posture broker server when posture reassessment
      may be needed

6.3.  Protocols

6.3.1.  Posture Attribute Protocol (PA)

   PA is a protocol between a Posture collector and the associated
   Posture validator for the particular vendor and application.  The
   interface is used to pass information gathered by a Posture collector
   to the Posture validator, and to pass the results of the assessment
   and information needed for remediation from the Posture validator to
   the Posture collector.

6.3.2.  Posture Broker Protocol  (PB)

   PB is a protocol that carries aggregated posture information between
   all requested Posture collectors on an endpoint and the corresponding
   Posture validators.  This protocol also carries the overall system
   posture result from the Posture broker server to the Posture broker
   client.

6.3.3.  Posture Transport Protocol (PT)

   PT is a protocol (or stack of protocols) between the Network access
   requestor and the Network access authority that is suitable for
   carrying the PB protocol at or after network connection.

   In EAP instantiations of this architecture, the PT interfaces
   consists of two protocols: 1) Posture Transport Tunnel (PTT), which
   is an EAP tunneling method between the Network access requestor in
   the NEA client and the Network access authority in the NEA server
   that can carry posture information in addition to authentication



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   information, and 2) Posture Transport Carrier (PTC), a protocol that
   carries EAP, e.g.  EAP over 802.1X, EAP over RADIUS.  Please see
   Figure 2.

6.3.4.  Network Enforcement Protocol (NE)

   NE is the protocol between the Network enforcement device and Network
   access authority used to carry network authorization decisions
   between the Network enforcement device and the Network access
   authority.

   In EAP Instantiations of this architecture, existing standards for
   the NE interface include RADIUS and Diameter.

6.3.5.  Posture Validation Protocol (PV)

   The components of the NEA server need not be co-located.  The PV
   protocol between the Posture broker server and Posture validator
   forwards posture information and returns posture validation results.
































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   |-------------|                          |----------------|
   | Posture     |  <---------PA-------->   |   Posture      |
   | Collectors  |                          |   Validators   |
   | (1 ...N)    |                          |   (1 ...N)     |
   |-------------|                          |----------------|
         |                                          |
         |                                          | PV
         |                                          |
   |-------------|                          |----------------|
   |   Posture   |                          |     Posture    |
   |   Broker    |  <---------PB-------->   |     Broker     |
   |   Client    |                          |     Server     |
   |--------- ---|                          |----------------|
         |                                          |
         |                                          |
   |-------------|  <--------PTT------->    |----------------|
   |             |        |------------|    |                |
   | Network     |        |Network     |    |   Network      |
   | Access      |------- |Enforcement |----|   Access       |
   | Requestor   |        |Device      |    |   Authority    |
   |-------------|        |------------|    |----------------|
                  <-PTC->             <-PTC->
                                      <-NE->

      NEA CLIENT                                  NEA SERVER
   Figure 2: EAP instantiation of general NEA architecture


7.  Scope of Standardization

   Protocols that are candidates for standardization in the IETF (not
   necessarily in a NEA WG) include the following :

   o  Posture attributes protocol (PA): This protocol is specific to NEA
      and can be defined independently of the underlying transport
      protocols, while keeping in mind performance and other constraints
      imposed by the underlying protocols.  Many of the posture
      attributes will be vendor-specific and need only be understood by
      the corresponding Posture collector and its associated Posture
      validator.  However, there may be common attributes that would
      benefit from standardization, e.g. commonly needed measurements
      such as software name, and the result of evaluating posture
      information from a Posture collector.

   o  Posture broker protocol (PB): This protocol is specific to NEA and
      also largely independent of the underlying transport, although
      there are encapsulations that are posture transport-specific.  It
      should be defined in such a way that it can be used in posture



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      transport protocols that are likely to be used, such as EAP
      tunneling methods based on TLS.

   o  Posture Transport protocol (PT): This protocol (or stack of
      protocols) is dependent on the instantiation of the NEA
      architecture used.  In the case of the EAP instantiation, PT
      consists of PTT and PTC described below.  PT is not likely to be
      specific to NEA since it may be designed to support the transport
      of information besides posture, such as authentication
      information.

   o  Posture transport tunnel protocol (PTT): In an EAP instantiation
      of an NEA architecture, an EAP tunneling method is needed to carry
      posture information in addition to authentication credentials.
      Standardization of certain EAP methods for authentication is the
      proposed charter of the EMU WG.  The need to support posture
      assessment in addition to authentication may place additional
      requirements on EAP methods.

   o  Posture transport carrier protocol (PTC): Some EAP carrier methods
      are standards today e.g. 802.1X and RADIUS.  Thus, for deployment
      scenarios that use these protocols, interoperability at this layer
      exists.  However, there is no standard EAP transport to support
      gateway and other "multi-hop" deployment scenarios as defined in
      this document.  The PANA WG [PANA] has proposed a specification of
      EAP over a UDP transport, although not explicitly for this use
      case.  Other protocols have been designed and used for this
      purpose e.g.  Network Access control Protocol [NACP].

   o  Network enforcement protocol (NE): Existing standards exist
      including RADIUS and Diameter.  It is possible that new attributes
      may need to be defined in the future for certain deployment
      scenarios.  The Radext WG has the charter to standardize new
      RADIUS attributes.

   o  Posture validator protocol (PV): This protocol can be defined
      independently of the posture transport used between NEA client and
      server.  There is no existing protocol for this protocol which
      acts as a carrier for posture attributes between a Posture broker
      server and a Posture validator that is not co-located in the NEA
      server.

   Given the large number of protocols involved a NEA system, it is
   likely that work will be chartered in stages to achieve
   interoperability between a NEA client and NEA server.  While NEA may
   take on the task of specifying requirements for all the above
   protocols, any needed standardization of protocols that make up the
   PT layer and NE layer might well fall under the (re-)charter of



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   existing or new WGs, since the protocols needed are not necessarily
   specific to NEA.  The precise initial scope of the NEA effort will be
   defined as part of the normal WG chartering process.


8.  IANA Considerations

   This document makes no request of IANA.


9.  Security Considerations

   The intent of the protocols in the NEA architecture is to provide the
   ability to exchange posture-related information securely between the
   NEA client and NEA server over an untrusted network.  The intent of
   the NEA architecture is not to provide integrity protection for the
   proper operation of the NEA client itself.  In particular, the
   endpoint may be compromised in such a way that a Posture collector
   does not report accurate information.  NEA does not address such
   endpoints; it is intended to benefit endpoints that do provide
   accurate posture measurements for the purpose of helping make such
   hosts less vulnerable to those endpoints on the network that are
   compromised.

   Posture information is considered sensitive information and should
   not be disclosed to unauthorized parties.  To this end, the
   communications channel between the NEA client and NEA server should
   support integrity and confidentiality.  In addition, the NEA server
   should be authenticated before the client provides posture
   information.  It is also beneficial to authenticate the endpoint so
   the origin of the posture information is known and there is
   accountability.


10.  Acknowledgements

   We acknowledge the contributions from members of the NEA mailing
   list.


11.  Change Log

   Revision 01 to 02:

   o  Section 7: Omitted specifying proposed initial scope of WG since
      this is the job of a charter.  Replaced with more general text.





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   o  Clarified in Section 2 and 7 NEA-specific components/protocols
      from transport part of architecture

   o  Updates to reflect Mauricio Sanchez's comments to mailing list 03/
      08/2006 and response 03/13/2006

   o  Updated figures to have "vertical" line for PV protocol

   o  Editorial updates

   Revision 02 to 03:

   o  Section 2: Updated terminology: Client broker -> Posture broker
      client; Server broker -> Posture broker server; Network enforcer
      -> Network enforcement device; Network access enforcement (NAE)
      protocol -> Network enforcement protocol (NE)

   o  Section 3: Updated to clarify use case targeted at uncompromised
      hosts, and scope of NEA standards effort targeted at NEA-specific
      components and interfaces

   o  Section 9: Updated to clarify scope of security considerations


12.  References

12.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

12.2.  Informative References

   [802.1X]   IEEE, "Local and Metropolitan Area Networks:Port-based
              Network Access Control", 2004.

   [I-D.ietf-pana-pana]
              Forsberg, D., "Protocol for Carrying Authentication for
              Network Access (PANA)", draft-ietf-pana-pana-11 (work in
              progress), March 2006.

   [I-D.thomson-nacp]
              Salowey, J., Thomson, S., Wu, F., Yarlagadda, V., and H.
              Zhou, "Network Access Control Protocol (NACP)",
              draft-thomson-nacp-02 (work in progress), March 2006.

   [NAC]      Cisco Systems, "Network Admission Control Technical
              Overview", 2005.



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   [NAP]      Microsoft Corporation, "Network Access Protection Platform
              Architecture", February 2006.

   [RFC2865]  Rigney, C., Willens, S., Rubens, A., and W. Simpson,
              "Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS)",
              RFC 2865, June 2000.

   [RFC3748]  Aboba, B., Blunk, L., Vollbrecht, J., Carlson, J., and H.
              Levkowetz, "Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)",
              RFC 3748, June 2004.

   [TNC]      TCG, "TNC Architecture for Interoperability Specification
              v1.0", May 2005.






































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Authors' Addresses

   Steve Hanna
   Juniper Networks
   35 Forest Ridge Road
   Concord, MA  01742
   U.S.A.

   Phone: 781-729-9559
   Email: shanna@juniper.net


   Thomas Hardjono
   Signacert Inc
   115 SW Ash Street
   Suite 430
   Portland, OR  97204
   U.S.A

   Phone: 781-729-9559
   Email: thardjono@signacert.com


   Susan Thomson
   Cisco Systems
   499 Thornall Street, 8th floor
   Edison, NJ  08837
   U.S.A.

   Phone: 732-635-3086
   Email: sethomso@cisco.com




















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