220 lines
8.2 KiB
XML
220 lines
8.2 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
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<!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM "rfc2629.dtd">
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<?rfc comments="yes"?>
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<?rfc compact="yes"?>
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<?rfc subcompact="no"?>
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<?rfc inline="yes"?>
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<?rfc sortrefs="yes"?>
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<?rfc symrefs="yes"?>
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<?rfc toc="yes"?>
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<?rfc tocdepth="6"?>
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<?rfc tocindent="yes"?>
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<?rfc tocompact="yes"?>
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<rfc category="std" docName="draft-ymbk-sidrops-rpki-has-no-identity-00" ipr="trust200902">
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<front>
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<title>The I in RPKI does not stand for Identity</title>
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<author fullname="Randy Bush" initials="R." surname="Bush">
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<organization>Arrcus & Internet Initiative Japan</organization>
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<address>
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<postal>
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<street>5147 Crystal Springs</street>
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<city>Bainbridge Island</city>
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<region>WA</region>
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<code>98110</code>
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<country>US</country>
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</postal>
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<email>randy@psg.com</email>
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</address>
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</author>
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<date />
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<abstract>
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<t>There is a false notion that internet number resource in the RPKI
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can be associated with the real world identity of the 'owner' of an
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internet number resource, and may therefore be used to authenticate
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real world documents or transactions. This document attempts to put
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that notion to rest.</t>
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</abstract>
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<note title="Requirements Language">
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<t>The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
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"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
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"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
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BCP 14 <xref target="RFC2119"/> <xref target="RFC8174"/> when,
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and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.</t>
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</note>
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</front>
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<middle>
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<section anchor="intro" title="Introduction">
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<t>The Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), see <xref
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target="RFC6480"/>, "represents the allocation hierarchy of IP
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address space and Autonomous System (AS) numbers."</t>
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<t>In security terms the phrase "Public Key" implies there are also
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private keys, a la <xref target="RFC2459"/>. And, as the RPKI has
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strong authority over ownership of Internet Number Resources (INRs),
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there is a desire to use these private keys to sign arbitrary
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documents to attest that the 'owner' of those resources has
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authorized or authenticated a real world document or
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transaction.</t>
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<t>The desire is to authenticate real world business transactions
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with the signatures of INR holders. E.g. for Bill's Bait and Sushi
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to use their AS in the RPKI to sign a Letter of Authorization (LOA)
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for some other party to rack and stack hardware owned by BB&S.
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Unfortunately, this is not formally feasible.</t>
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<t>The I in RPKI actually stands for "Infrastructure," as in
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Resource Public Key Infrastructure, not for "Identity". In fact,
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the RPKI does not provide any association between INRs and the real
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world holder(s) of those INRs.</t>
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</section>
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<section anchor="bottom" title="The Bottom Line">
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<t>The RPKI base document, <xref target="RFC6480"/>, Section 2.1
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says explicitly "An important property of this PKI is that
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certificates do not attest to the identity of the subject."</t>
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<t>The "Template for a Certification Practice Statement (CPS) for
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the Resource PKI (RPKI)" <xref target="RFC7382"/> Section 3.1,
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Naming, makes very clear that "The Subject name in each certificate
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SHOULD NOT be meaningful;" and goes on to do so at some length.</t>
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<t>That the RPKI does not authenticate real world identity is a
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feature not a bug. If it tried to do so, it would end in a world of
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complexity with no proof of termination, as X.400 learned.</t>
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<t>RPKI-based credentials of INRs MUST NOT be used to authenticate
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real world documents or transactions without some formal external
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authentication of the INR and the authority for the actually
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anonymous INR holder to authenticate the particular document or
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transaction.</t>
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<t>If there is sufficient external, i.e. non-RPKI, verifcation of
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authority, then use of RPKI-based credentials seems superfluous.</t>
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</section>
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<section anchor="discuss" title="Discussion">
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<t>An INR holder does not actually hold the private key attesting to
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their resources; a Certification Authority (CA) does. The INR
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holder has a real world business relationship with the CA for which
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they have likely signed real world documents.</t>
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<t>As the INR owner does not have the keying material, they rely on
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the CA, to which they presumably must present credentials, in order
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to manipulate their INRs. These credentials may be userid/password
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(with two factor authentication one hopes), hardware tokens, client
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browser certificates, etc.</t>
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<t>Hence schemes such as <xref target="I-D.ietf-sidrops-rpki-rta"/>
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and <xref target="I-D.ietf-sidrops-rpki-rsc"/> must go to great
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lengths to extract the supposedly relevant keys from the CA.</t>
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<t>For some particular INR, say Bill's Bait and Sushi's Autonompus
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System (AS) number, someone out on the net probably has the
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credentials to the CA account in which BB&S's INRs are
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registered. That could be the owner of BB&S, Roberto's Taco
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Stand, or the Government of Elbonia. One simply can not know.</t>
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<t>In large operations, INR management is often compartmentalized
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with no authority over anything beyond dealing with INR
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registration. The INR manager for Bill's Bait and Sushi is unlikely
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to be authorized to conduct bank transactions for BB&S, or even
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to authorize access to BB&S's servers in some colocation
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facility.</t>
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<t>There is the temporal issue that the owner of an INR may be
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BB&S today when some document was signed, and could be the
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Government of Elbonia tomorrow. Or the resource could have been
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administratively moved from one CA to another, likely requiring a
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change of keys. If so, how does one determine if the signature on
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the real world document is still valid?</t>
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<t>While Ghostbuster Records <xref target="RFC6493"/> may seem to
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identify real world entities, their semantic content is completely
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arbitrary, and does not attest to INR ownership. They are merely
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clues for operational support contact in case of technical RPKI
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problems.</t>
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<t>Usually, before registering INRs, CAs require proof of INR
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ownership via external documentation and authorities. It is
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somewhat droll that the CPS Template, <xref target="RFC7382"/>, does
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not mention any diligence the CA must, or even might, conduct to
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assure the INRs are in fact owned by a registrant.</t>
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</section>
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<section anchor="security" title="Security Considerations">
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<t>Attempts to use RPKI data to authenticate real world documents or
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other artifacts requiring identity are inappropriate and
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dangerous.</t>
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<t>Control of INRs for an entity could be used to falsely authorize
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transactions or documents for which the INR manager has no
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authority.</t>
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<t>RPKI-based credentials of INRs MUST NOT be used to authenticate
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real world documents or transactions without some formal external
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authentication of the INR and the authority for the actually
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anonymous INR holder to authenticate the particular document or
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transaction.</t>
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</section>
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<section anchor="iana" title="IANA Considerations">
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<t>This document has no IANA Considerations.</t>
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<!--
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<t>Note to RFC Editor: this section may be replaced on publication
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as an RFC.</t>
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-->
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</section>
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<section anchor="acks" title="Acknowledgments">
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<t>The authors thank George Michaelson and Job Snijders for lively
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discussion; and last but not least, Biff for the loan of Bill's Bait
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and Sushi.</t>
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</section>
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</middle>
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<back>
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<references title="Normative References">
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<?rfc include="reference.RFC.2119"?>
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<?rfc include="reference.RFC.2459"?>
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<?rfc include="reference.RFC.6480"?>
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<?rfc include="reference.RFC.7382"?>
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<?rfc include="reference.RFC.8174"?>
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</references>
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<references title="Informative References">
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<?rfc include="reference.RFC.6493"?>
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<?rfc include="reference.I-D.ietf-sidrops-rpki-rsc"?>
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<?rfc include="reference.I-D.ietf-sidrops-rpki-rta"?>
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</references>
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</back>
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</rfc>
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