Skip to main content

Recommendation on Stable IPv6 Interface Identifiers
draft-ietf-6man-default-iids-03

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 8064.
Authors Fernando Gont , Alissa Cooper , Dave Thaler , Will (Shucheng) LIU
Last updated 2015-05-06
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Formats
Reviews
Additional resources Mailing list discussion
Stream WG state WG Document
Document shepherd (None)
IESG IESG state Became RFC 8064 (Proposed Standard)
Consensus boilerplate Unknown
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD (None)
Send notices to (None)
draft-ietf-6man-default-iids-03
IPv6 maintenance Working Group (6man)                            F. Gont
Internet-Draft                                    SI6 Networks / UTN-FRH
Updates: 2464, 2467, 2470,  2491, 2492,                        A. Cooper
         2497, 2590, 3146, 3572, 4291,                             Cisco
         4338, 4391, 4944, 5072, 5121                          D. Thaler
         (if approved)                                         Microsoft
Intended status: Standards Track                                  W. Liu
Expires: November 7, 2015                            Huawei Technologies
                                                             May 6, 2015

          Recommendation on Stable IPv6 Interface Identifiers
                    draft-ietf-6man-default-iids-03

Abstract

   The IPv6 addressing architecture defines Modified EUI-64 format
   Interface Identifiers, and the existing IPv6 over various link-layers
   specify how such identifiers are derived from the underlying link-
   layer address (e.g., an IEEE LAN MAC address) when employing IPv6
   Stateless Address Autoconfiguration (SLAAC).  The security and
   privacy implications of embedding link-layer addresses in the
   Interface Identifier have been known and understood for some time
   now, and some popular IPv6 implementations have already deviated from
   such schemes to mitigate these issues.  This document changes the
   recommended default Interface Identifier generation scheme for SLAAC
   to that specified in RFC7217, and recommends against embedding link-
   layer addresses in IPv6 Interface Identifiers.  It formally updates
   RFC2464, RFC2467, RFC2470, RFC2491, RFC2492, RFC2497, RFC2590,
   RFC3146, RFC3572, RFC4291, RFC4338, RFC4391, RFC4944, RFC5072, and
   RFC5121, which require IPv6 Interface Identifiers to be derived from
   the underlying link-layer address.  Additionally, this document
   provides advice about the generation of Interface Identifiers with
   other address configuration mechanisms, such as Dynamic Host
   Configuration Protocol version 6 (DHCPv6) and manual configuration.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any

Gont, et al.            Expires November 7, 2015                [Page 1]
Internet-Draft            Default Interface-IDs                 May 2015

   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on November 7, 2015.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2015 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.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Generation of IPv6 Interface Identifiers with SLAAC . . . . .   4
   4.  Generation of IPv6 Interface Identifiers with DHCPv6  . . . .   4
   5.  Generation of IPv6 Interface Identifiers with Manual
       Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   9.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   10. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     10.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     10.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8

1.  Introduction

   [RFC4862] specifies Stateless Address Autoconfiguration (SLAAC) for
   IPv6 [RFC2460], which typically results in hosts configuring one or
   more "stable" addresses composed of a network prefix advertised by a
   local router, and an Interface Identifier (IID) [RFC4291] that
   typically embeds a link-layer address (e.g., an IEEE LAN MAC
   address).

   In some network technologies and adaptation layers, the use of an IID
   based on a link-layer address may offer some advantages.  For

Gont, et al.            Expires November 7, 2015                [Page 2]
Internet-Draft            Default Interface-IDs                 May 2015

   example, the IP-over-IEEE802.15.4 standard in [RFC6775] allows for
   compression of IPv6 addresses when the IID is based on the underlying
   link-layer address.

   The security and privacy implications of embedding a link-layer
   address in an IPv6 IID have been known for some time now, and are
   discussed in great detail in
   [I-D.ietf-6man-ipv6-address-generation-privacy]; they include:

   o  Network activity correlation

   o  Location tracking

   o  Address scanning

   o  Device-specific vulnerability exploitation

   Some popular IPv6 implementations have already deviated from the
   traditional stable IID generation scheme to mitigate the
   aforementioned security and privacy implications [Microsoft].

   As a result of the aforementioned issues, this document recommends
   the implementation of an alternative scheme ([RFC7217]) as the
   default stable IID generation scheme for SLAAC, such that the
   aforementioned issues are mitigated.

   NOTE: [RFC4291] defines the "Modified EUI-64 format" for IIDs.
   Appendix A of [RFC4291] then describes how to transform an IEEE
   EUI-64 identifier, or an IEEE 802 48-bit MAC address from which an
   EUI-64 identifier is derived, into an IID in the Modified EUI-64
   format.

   Finally this document provides advice about the generation of
   Interface Identifiers with other address configuration mechanisms,
   such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol version 6 (DHCPv6) and
   manual configuration.

2.  Terminology

   Stable address:
      An address that does not vary over time within the same network
      (as defined in [I-D.ietf-6man-ipv6-address-generation-privacy]).

   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].

Gont, et al.            Expires November 7, 2015                [Page 3]
Internet-Draft            Default Interface-IDs                 May 2015

3.  Generation of IPv6 Interface Identifiers with SLAAC

   Link layers MUST define a mechanism that provides mitigation of the
   security and privacy implications discussed in Section 1.  Nodes
   SHOULD implement and employ [RFC7217] as the default scheme for
   generating stable IPv6 addresses with SLAAC.  A link layer MAY also
   define a mechanism that is more efficient and does not address the
   security and privacy considerations discussed in Section 1.  The
   choice of whether to enable privacy or not SHOULD be configurable in
   such a case.

   By default, nodes SHOULD NOT employ IPv6 address generation schemes
   that embed the underlying link-layer address in the IID.  In
   particular, this document RECOMMENDS that nodes do not generate IIDs
   with the schemes specified in [RFC2464], [RFC2467], [RFC2470],
   [RFC2491], [RFC2492], [RFC2497], [RFC2590], [RFC3146], [RFC3572],
   [RFC4338], [RFC4391], [RFC4944], [RFC5121], and [RFC5072], and
   updates these documents with this recommendation.

   It is RECOMMENDED by this document that future specifications do not
   specify IPv6 address generation schemes that embed the underlying
   link-layer address in the IID.  Future specifications MAY use an IID
   based on a node's link-layer address if design and engineering
   considerations warrant.

4.  Generation of IPv6 Interface Identifiers with DHCPv6

   By default, DHCPv6 server implementations SHOULD NOT generate
   predictable IPv6 addresses (such as IPv6 addresses where the IIDs are
   consecutive small numbers).  [I-D.ietf-dhc-stable-privacy-addresses]
   specifies one possible algorithm that could be employed to comply
   with this requirement.  Another possible algorithm would be to select
   a pseudo-random value chosen from a discrete uniform distribution,
   while avoiding the reserved IPv6 Interface Identifiers [RFC5453]
   [IANA-RESERVED-IID].

5.  Generation of IPv6 Interface Identifiers with Manual Configuration

   Network administrators should be aware of the security implications
   of predictable Interface Identifiers
   [I-D.ietf-6man-ipv6-address-generation-privacy], and avoid the use of
   predictable addresses when the aforementioned issues are of concern.

6.  Future Work

   At the time of this writing, the mechanisms specified in the
   following documents might require updates to be fully compatible with
   the recommendations in this document:

Gont, et al.            Expires November 7, 2015                [Page 4]
Internet-Draft            Default Interface-IDs                 May 2015

   o  RFC 6282 [RFC6282]

   o  RFC 4944 [RFC4944]

   o  RFC 6755 [RFC6775]

   Future revisions or updates of these documents should take the issues
   of privacy and security mentioned in Section 1 and explain any design
   and engineering considerations that lead to the use of IIDs based on
   a node's link-layer address.

7.  IANA Considerations

   There are no IANA registries within this document.  The RFC-Editor
   can remove this section before publication of this document as an
   RFC.

8.  Security Considerations

   This document recommends [RFC7217] as the default scheme for
   generating IPv6 stable addresses with SLAAC, such that the security
   and privacy issues of IIDs that embed link-layer addresses are
   mitigated.

9.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Erik Nordmark and Ray Hunter for
   providing a detailed review of this document.

   The authors would like to thank (in alphabetical order) Fred Baker,
   Carsten Bormann, Scott Brim, Brian Carpenter, Samita Chakrabarti, Tim
   Chown, Lorenzo Colitti, Jean-Michel Combes, Greg Daley, Esko Dijk,
   Ralph Droms, David Farmer, Brian Haberman, Ulrich Herberg, Bob
   Hinden, Jahangir Hossain, Jonathan Hui, Ray Hunter, Sheng Jiang,
   Roger Jorgensen, Dan Luedtke, Kerry Lynn, George Mitchel, Erik
   Nordmark, Simon Perreault, Tom Petch, Alexandru Petrescu, Michael
   Richardson, Arturo Servin, Mark Smith, Tom Taylor, Ole Troan, Tina
   Tsou, Glen Turner, Randy Turner, and James Woodyatt, for providing
   valuable comments on earlier versions of this document.

10.  References

10.1.  Normative References

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

Gont, et al.            Expires November 7, 2015                [Page 5]
Internet-Draft            Default Interface-IDs                 May 2015

   [RFC2460]  Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6
              (IPv6) Specification", RFC 2460, December 1998.

   [RFC2464]  Crawford, M., "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Ethernet
              Networks", RFC 2464, December 1998.

   [RFC2467]  Crawford, M., "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over FDDI
              Networks", RFC 2467, December 1998.

   [RFC2470]  Crawford, M., Narten, T., and S. Thomas, "Transmission of
              IPv6 Packets over Token Ring Networks", RFC 2470, December
              1998.

   [RFC2492]  Armitage, G., Schulter, P., and M. Jork, "IPv6 over ATM
              Networks", RFC 2492, January 1999.

   [RFC3315]  Droms, R., Bound, J., Volz, B., Lemon, T., Perkins, C.,
              and M. Carney, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for
              IPv6 (DHCPv6)", RFC 3315, July 2003.

   [RFC4291]  Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing
              Architecture", RFC 4291, February 2006.

   [RFC4862]  Thomson, S., Narten, T., and T. Jinmei, "IPv6 Stateless
              Address Autoconfiguration", RFC 4862, September 2007.

   [RFC7217]  Gont, F., "A Method for Generating Semantically Opaque
              Interface Identifiers with IPv6 Stateless Address
              Autoconfiguration (SLAAC)", RFC 7217, April 2014.

   [RFC2491]  Armitage, G., Schulter, P., Jork, M., and G. Harter, "IPv6
              over Non-Broadcast Multiple Access (NBMA) networks", RFC
              2491, January 1999.

   [RFC2497]  Souvatzis, I., "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over ARCnet
              Networks", RFC 2497, January 1999.

   [RFC2590]  Conta, A., Malis, A., and M. Mueller, "Transmission of
              IPv6 Packets over Frame Relay Networks Specification", RFC
              2590, May 1999.

   [RFC3146]  Fujisawa, K. and A. Onoe, "Transmission of IPv6 Packets
              over IEEE 1394 Networks", RFC 3146, October 2001.

   [RFC3572]  Ogura, T., Maruyama, M., and T. Yoshida, "Internet
              Protocol Version 6 over MAPOS (Multiple Access Protocol
              Over SONET/SDH)", RFC 3572, July 2003.

Gont, et al.            Expires November 7, 2015                [Page 6]
Internet-Draft            Default Interface-IDs                 May 2015

   [RFC4338]  DeSanti, C., Carlson, C., and R. Nixon, "Transmission of
              IPv6, IPv4, and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Packets
              over Fibre Channel", RFC 4338, January 2006.

   [RFC4391]  Chu, J. and V. Kashyap, "Transmission of IP over
              InfiniBand (IPoIB)", RFC 4391, April 2006.

   [RFC4944]  Montenegro, G., Kushalnagar, N., Hui, J., and D. Culler,
              "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over IEEE 802.15.4
              Networks", RFC 4944, September 2007.

   [RFC5121]  Patil, B., Xia, F., Sarikaya, B., Choi, JH., and S.
              Madanapalli, "Transmission of IPv6 via the IPv6
              Convergence Sublayer over IEEE 802.16 Networks", RFC 5121,
              February 2008.

   [RFC5072]  Varada, S., Haskins, D., and E. Allen, "IP Version 6 over
              PPP", RFC 5072, September 2007.

   [RFC5453]  Krishnan, S., "Reserved IPv6 Interface Identifiers", RFC
              5453, February 2009.

   [RFC6282]  Hui, J. and P. Thubert, "Compression Format for IPv6
              Datagrams over IEEE 802.15.4-Based Networks", RFC 6282,
              September 2011.

   [RFC6775]  Shelby, Z., Chakrabarti, S., Nordmark, E., and C. Bormann,
              "Neighbor Discovery Optimization for IPv6 over Low-Power
              Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoWPANs)", RFC 6775,
              November 2012.

10.2.  Informative References

   [IANA-RESERVED-IID]
              IANA, "Reserved IPv6 Interface Identifiers",
              <http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv6-interface-ids>.

   [I-D.ietf-6man-ipv6-address-generation-privacy]
              Cooper, A., Gont, F., and D. Thaler, "Privacy
              Considerations for IPv6 Address Generation Mechanisms",
              draft-ietf-6man-ipv6-address-generation-privacy-05 (work
              in progress), April 2015.

Gont, et al.            Expires November 7, 2015                [Page 7]
Internet-Draft            Default Interface-IDs                 May 2015

   [I-D.ietf-dhc-stable-privacy-addresses]
              Gont, F. and W. Will, "A Method for Generating
              Semantically Opaque Interface Identifiers with Dynamic
              Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6)", draft-
              ietf-dhc-stable-privacy-addresses-02 (work in progress),
              April 2015.

   [Microsoft]
              Davies, J., "Understanding IPv6, 3rd. ed", page 83,
              Microsoft Press, 2012, <http://it-ebooks.info/book/1022/>.

Authors' Addresses

   Fernando Gont
   SI6 Networks / UTN-FRH
   Evaristo Carriego 2644
   Haedo, Provincia de Buenos Aires  1706
   Argentina

   Phone: +54 11 4650 8472
   Email: fgont@si6networks.com
   URI:   http://www.si6networks.com

   Alissa Cooper
   Cisco
   707 Tasman Drive
   Milpitas, CA  95035
   US

   Phone: +1-408-902-3950
   Email: alcoop@cisco.com
   URI:   https://www.cisco.com/

   Dave Thaler
   Microsoft
   Microsoft Corporation
   One Microsoft Way
   Redmond, WA  98052

   Phone: +1 425 703 8835
   Email: dthaler@microsoft.com

Gont, et al.            Expires November 7, 2015                [Page 8]
Internet-Draft            Default Interface-IDs                 May 2015

   Will Liu
   Huawei Technologies
   Bantian, Longgang District
   Shenzhen  518129
   P.R. China

   Email: liushucheng@huawei.com

Gont, et al.            Expires November 7, 2015                [Page 9]