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DNS Transport over TCP - Operational Requirements
draft-ietf-dnsop-dns-tcp-requirements-02

The information below is for an old version of the document.
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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 9210.
Expired & archived
Authors John Kristoff , Duane Wessels
Last updated 2018-11-18 (Latest revision 2018-05-17)
Replaces draft-kristoff-dnsop-dns-tcp-requirements
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draft-ietf-dnsop-dns-tcp-requirements-02
Domain Name System Operations                                J. Kristoff
Internet-Draft                                         DePaul University
Updates: 1123 (if approved)                                   D. Wessels
Intended status: Best Current Practice                          Verisign
Expires: November 17, 2018                                  May 16, 2018

           DNS Transport over TCP - Operational Requirements
                draft-ietf-dnsop-dns-tcp-requirements-02

Abstract

   This document encourages the practice of permitting DNS messages to
   be carried over TCP on the Internet.  It also considers the
   consequences with this form of DNS communication and the potential
   operational issues that can arise when this best common practice is
   not upheld.

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 https://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
   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 17, 2018.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2018 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
   (https://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

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   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Background  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  Uneven Transport Usage and Preference . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.2.  Waiting for Large Messages and Reliability  . . . . . . .   4
     2.3.  EDNS0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.4.  Fragmentation and Truncation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.5.  "Only Zone Transfers Use TCP" . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   3.  DNS over TCP Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   4.  Network and System Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     4.1.  Connection Admission  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     4.2.  Connection Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     4.3.  Connection Termination  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   5.  DNS over TCP Filtering Risks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     5.1.  DNS Wedgie  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     5.2.  DNS Root Zone KSK Rollover  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     5.3.  DNS-over-TLS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   6.  Logging and Monitoring  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   7.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   9.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   10. Privacy Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   11. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     11.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     11.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   Appendix A.  Standards Related to DNS Transport over TCP  . . . .  17
     A.1.  TODO - additional, relevant RFCs  . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
     A.2.  IETF RFC 5936 - DNS Zone Transfer Protocol (AXFR) . . . .  17
     A.3.  IETF RFC 6304 - AS112 Nameserver Operations . . . . . . .  17
     A.4.  IETF RFC 6762 - Multicast DNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
     A.5.  IETF RFC 6950 - Architectural Considerations on
           Application Features in the DNS . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     A.6.  IETF RFC 7477 - Child-to-Parent Synchronization in DNS  .  18
     A.7.  IETF RFC 7720 - DNS Root Name Service Protocol and
           Deployment Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     A.8.  IETF RFC 7766 - DNS Transport over TCP - Implementation
           Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     A.9.  IETF RFC 7828 - The edns-tcp-keepalive EDNS0 Option . . .  18
     A.10. IETF RFC 7858 - Specification for DNS over Transport
           Layer Security (TLS)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     A.11. IETF RFC 7873 - Domain Name System (DNS) Cookies  . . . .  19
     A.12. IETF RFC 7901 - CHAIN Query Requests in DNS . . . . . . .  19
     A.13. IETF RFC 8027 - DNSSEC Roadblock Avoidance  . . . . . . .  19

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     A.14. IETF RFC 8094 - DNS over Datagram Transport Layer
           Security (DTLS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     A.15. IETF RFC 8162 - Using Secure DNS to Associate
           Certificates with Domain Names for S/MIME . . . . . . . .  19
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20

1.  Introduction

   DNS messages may be delivered using UDP or TCP communications.  While
   most DNS transactions are carried over UDP, some operators have been
   led to believe that any DNS over TCP traffic is unwanted or
   unnecessary for general DNS operation.  As usage and features have
   evolved, TCP transport has become increasingly important for correct
   and safe operation of the Internet DNS.  Reflecting modern usage, the
   DNS standards were recently updated to declare support for TCP is now
   a required part of the DNS implementation specifications in
   [RFC7766].  This document is the formal requirements equivalent for
   the operational community, encouraging operators to ensure DNS over
   TCP communications support is on par with DNS over UDP
   communications.

1.1.  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].

2.  Background

   The curious state of disagreement in operational best practices and
   guidance for DNS transport protocols derives from conflicting
   messages operators have gotten from other operators, implementors,
   and even the IETF.  Sometimes these mixed signals have been explicit,
   on other occasions they have suspiciously implicit.  Here we
   summarize our interpretation of the storied and conflicting history
   that has brought us to this document.

2.1.  Uneven Transport Usage and Preference

   In the original suite of DNS specifications, [RFC1034] and [RFC1035]
   clearly specified that DNS messages could be carried in either UDP or
   TCP, but they also made clear a preference for UDP as the transport
   for queries in the general case.  As stated in [RFC1035]:

      "While virtual circuits can be used for any DNS activity,
      datagrams are preferred for queries due to their lower overhead
      and better performance."

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   Another early, important, and influential document, [RFC1123],
   detailed the preference for UDP more explicitly:

      "DNS resolvers and recursive servers MUST support UDP, and SHOULD
      support TCP, for sending (non-zone-transfer) queries."

   and further stipulated:

      "A name server MAY limit the resources it devotes to TCP queries,
      but it SHOULD NOT refuse to service a TCP query just because it
      would have succeeded with UDP."

   Culminating in [RFC1536], DNS over TCP came to be associated
   primarily with the zone transfer mechanism, while most DNS queries
   and responses were seen as the dominion of UDP.

2.2.  Waiting for Large Messages and Reliability

   In the original specifications, the maximum DNS over UDP message size
   was enshrined at 512 bytes.  However, even while [RFC1123] made a
   clear preference for UDP, it foresaw DNS over TCP becoming more
   popular in the future to overcome this limitation:

      "[...] it is also clear that some new DNS record types defined in
      the future will contain information exceeding the 512 byte limit
      that applies to UDP, and hence will require TCP.

   At least two new, widely anticipated developments were set to elevate
   the need for DNS over TCP transactions.  The first was dynamic
   updates defined in [RFC2136] and the second was the set of extensions
   collectively known as DNSSEC originally specified in [RFC2541].  The
   former suggested "requestors who require an accurate response code
   must use TCP", while the later warned "[...] larger keys increase the
   size of KEY and SIG RRs.  This increases the chance of DNS UDP packet
   overflow and the possible necessity for using higher overhead TCP in
   responses."

   Yet defying some expectations, DNS over TCP remained little used in
   real traffic across the Internet.  Dynamic updates saw little
   deployment between autonomous networks.  Around the time DNSSEC was
   first defined, another new feature helped solidify UDP's transport
   dominance for message transactions.

2.3.  EDNS0

   In 1999 the IETF published the Extension Mechanisms for DNS (EDNS0)
   in [RFC2671] (superseded in 2013 by an update in [RFC6891]).  This
   document standardized a way for communicating DNS nodes to perform

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   rudimentary capabilities negotiation.  One such capability written
   into the base specification and present in every ENDS0 compatible
   message is the value of the maximum UDP payload size the sender can
   support.  This unsigned 16-bit field specifies in bytes the maximum
   (possibly fragmented) DNS message size a node is capable of
   receiving.  In practice, typical values are a subset of the 512 to
   4096 byte range.  EDNS0 became widely deployed over the next several
   years and numerous surveys have shown many systems currently support
   larger UDP MTUs [CASTRO2010], [NETALYZR] with EDNS0.

   The natural effect of EDNS0 deployment meant DNS messages larger than
   512 bytes would be less reliant on TCP than they might otherwise have
   been.  While a non-negligible population of DNS systems lack EDNS0 or
   may still fall back to TCP for some transactions, DNS over TCP
   transactions remain a very small fraction of overall DNS traffic
   [VERISIGN].

2.4.  Fragmentation and Truncation

   Although EDNS0 provides a way for endpoints to signal support for DNS
   messages exceeding 512 bytes, the realities of a diverse and
   inconsistently deployed Internet may result in some large messages
   being unable to reach their destination.  Any IP datagram whose size
   exceeds the MTU of a link it transits will be fragmented and then
   reassembled by the receiving host.  Unfortunately, it is not uncommon
   for middleboxes and firewalls to block IP fragments.  If one or more
   fragments do not arrive, the application does not receive the message
   and the request times out.

   For IPv4-connected hosts, the de-facto MTU is often the Ethernet
   payload size of 1500 bytes.  This means that the largest unfragmented
   UDP DNS message that can be sent over IPv4 is likely 1472 bytes.  For
   IPv6, the situation is a little more complicated.  First, IPv6
   headers are 40 bytes (versus 20 without option in IPv4).  Second, it
   seems as though some people have mis-interpreted IPv6's required
   minimum MTU of 1280 as a required maximum.  Third, fragmentation in
   IPv6 can only be done by the host originating the datagram.  The need
   to fragment is conveyed in an ICMPv6 "packet too big" message.  The
   originating host indicates a fragmented datagram with IPv6 extension
   headers.  Unfortunately, it is quite common for both ICMPv6 and IPv6
   extension headers to be blocked by middleboxes.  According to
   [HUSTON] some 35% of IPv6-capable recursive resolvers are unable to
   receive a fragmented IPv6 packet.

   The practical consequence of all this is that DNS requestors must be
   prepared to retry queries with different EDNS0 maximum message size
   values.  Administrators of BIND are likely to be familiar with seeing

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   "success resolving ... after reducing the advertised EDNS0 UDP packet
   size to 512 octets" messages in their system logs.

   Often, reducing the EDNS0 UDP packet size leads to a successful
   response.  That is, the necessary data fits within the smaller
   message size.  However, when the data does not fit, the server sets
   the truncated flag in its response, indicating the client should
   retry over TCP to receive the whole response.  This is undesirable
   from the client's point of view because it adds more latency, and
   potentially undesirable from the server's point of view due to the
   increased resource requirements of TCP.

   The issues around fragmentation, truncation, and TCP are driving
   certain implementation and policy decisions in the DNS.  Notably,
   Cloudflare implemented what it calls "DNSSEC black lies" [CLOUDFLARE]
   and uses ECDSA algorithms, such that their signed responses fit
   easily in 512 bytes.  The KSK Rollover design team [DESIGNTEAM] spent
   a lot of time thinking and worrying about response sizes.  There is
   growing sentiment in the DNSSEC community that RSA key sizes beyond
   2048-bits are impractical and that critical infrastructure zones
   should transition to elliptic curve algorithms to keep response sizes
   manageable.

2.5.  "Only Zone Transfers Use TCP"

   Today, the majority of the DNS community expects, or at least has a
   desire, to see DNS over TCP transactions to occur without
   interference.  However there has also been a long held belief by some
   operators, particularly for security-related reasons, that DNS over
   TCP services should be purposely limited or not provided at all
   [CHES94], [DJBDNS].  A popular meme has also held the imagination of
   some that DNS over TCP is only ever used for zone transfers and is
   generally unnecessary otherwise, with filtering all DNS over TCP
   traffic even described as a best practice.

   The position on restricting DNS over TCP had some justification given
   that historic implementations of DNS nameservers provided very little
   in the way of TCP connection management (for example see
   Section 6.1.2 of [RFC7766] for more details).  However modern
   standards and implementations are moving to align with the more
   sophisticated TCP management techniques employed by, for example,
   HTTP(S) servers and load balancers.

3.  DNS over TCP Requirements

   An average increase in DNS message size, the continued development of
   new DNS features and a denial of service mitigation technique (see
   Section 9) have suggested that DNS over TCP transactions are as

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   important to the correct and safe operation of the Internet DNS as
   ever, if not more so.  Furthermore, there has been serious research
   that has suggested connection-oriented DNS transactions may provide
   security and privacy advantages over UDP transport [TDNS].  In fact,
   [RFC7858], a Standards Track document is just this sort of
   specification.  Therefore, we now believe it is undesirable for
   network operators to artificially inhibit the potential utility and
   advances in the DNS such as these.

   TODO: I think the text below needs some work/discussion because 7766
   already updated 1123 in a very similar way except that 7766 speaks of
   "implement" and this one speaks of "service".  1123 speaks of
   "support" and doesn't distinguish between implement/service.

   Section 6.1.3.2 in [RFC1123] is updated: All general-purpose DNS
   servers MUST be able to service both UDP and TCP queries.

   o  Authoritative servers MUST service TCP queries so that they do not
      limit the size of responses to what fits in a single UDP packet.

   o  Recursive servers (or forwarders) MUST service TCP queries so that
      they do not prevent large responses from a TCP-capable server from
      reaching its TCP-capable clients.

   Regarding the choice of limiting the resources a server devotes to
   queries, Section 6.1.3.2 in [RFC1123] also says:

      "A name server MAY limit the resources it devotes to TCP queries,
      but it SHOULD NOT refuse to service a TCP query just because it
      would have succeeded with UDP."

   This requirement is hereby updated: A name server MAY limit the the
   resources it devotes to queries, but it MUST NOT refuse to service a
   query just because it would have succeeded with another transport
   protocol.

   Filtering of DNS over TCP is considered harmful in the general case.
   DNS resolver and server operators MUST provide DNS service over both
   UDP and TCP transports.  Likewise, network operators MUST allow DNS
   service over both UDP and TCP transports.  It must be acknowledged
   that DNS over TCP service can pose operational challenges that are
   not present when running DNS over UDP alone, and vice-versa.
   However, it is the aim of this document to argue that the potential
   damage incurred by prohibiting DNS over TCP service is more
   detrimental to the continued utility and success of the DNS than when
   its usage is allowed.

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4.  Network and System Considerations

   This section describes measures that systems and applications can
   take to optimize performance over TCP and to protect themselves from
   TCP-based resource exhaustion and attacks.

4.1.  Connection Admission

   The SYN flooding attack is a denial-of-service method affecting hosts
   that run TCP server processes [RFC4987].  This attack can be very
   effective if not mitigated.  One of the most effective mitigation
   techniques is SYN cookies, which allows the server to avoid
   allocating any state until the successful completion of the three-way
   handshake.

   Services not intended for use by the public Internet, such as most
   recursive name servers, SHOULD be protected with access controls.
   Ideally these controls are placed in the network, well before before
   any unwanted TCP packets can reach the DNS server host or
   application.  If this is not possible, the controls can be placed in
   the application itself.  In some situations (e.g. attacks) it may be
   necessary to deploy access controls for DNS services that should
   otherwise be globally reachable.

   The FreeBSD operating system has an "accept filter" feature that
   postpones delivery of TCP connections to applications until a
   complete, valid request has been received.  The dns_accf(9) filter
   ensures that a valid DNS message is received.  If not, the bogus
   connection never reaches the application.  Applications must be coded
   and configured to make use of this filter.

   Per [RFC7766], applications and administrators are advised to
   remember that TCP MAY be used before sending any UDP queries.
   Networks and applications MUST NOT be configured to refuse TCP
   queries that were not preceded by a UDP query.

   TCP Fast Open [RFC7413] (TFO) allows TCP clients to shorten the
   handshake for subsequent connections to the same server.  TFO saves
   one round-trip time in the connection setup.  DNS servers SHOULD
   enable TFO when possible.  Furthermore, DNS servers clustered behind
   a single service address (e.g., anycast or load-balancing), SHOULD
   use the same TFO server key on all instances.

   DNS clients SHOULD also enable TFO when possible.  Currently, on some
   operating systems it is not implemented or disabled by default.
   [WIKIPEDIA_TFO] describes applications and operating systems that
   support TFO.

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4.2.  Connection Management

   Since host memory for TCP state is a finite resource, DNS servers
   MUST actively manage their connections.  Applications that do not
   actively manage their connections can encounter resource exhaustion
   leading to denial of service.  For DNS, as in other protocols, there
   is a tradeoff between keeping connections open for potential future
   use and the need to free up resources for new connections that will
   arrive.

   DNS server software SHOULD provide a configurable limit on the total
   number of established TCP connections.  If the limit is reached, the
   application is expected to either close existing (idle) connections
   or refuse new connections.  Operators SHOULD ensure the limit is
   configured appropriately for their particular situation.

   DNS server software MAY provide a configurable limit on the number of
   established connections per source IP address or subnet.  This can be
   used to ensure that a single or small set of users can not consume
   all TCP resources and deny service to other users.  Operators SHOULD
   ensure this limit is configured appropriately, based on their number
   of diversity of users.

   DNS server software SHOULD provide a configurable timeout for idle
   TCP connections.  For very busy name servers this might be set to a
   low value, such as a few seconds.  For less busy servers it might be
   set to a higher value, such as tens of seconds.  DNS clients and
   servers SHOULD signal their timeout values using the edns-tcp-
   keepalive option [RFC7828].

   DNS server software MAY provide a configurable limit on the number of
   transactions per TCP connection.  This document does not offer advice
   on particular values for such a limit.

   Similarly, DNS server software MAY provide a configurable limit on
   the total duration of a TCP connection.  This document does not offer
   advice on particular values for such a limit.

   Since clients may not be aware of server-imposed limits, clients
   utilizing TCP for DNS need to always be prepared to re-establish
   connections or otherwise retry outstanding queries.

4.3.  Connection Termination

   In general, it is preferable for clients to initiate the close of a
   TCP connection.  The TCP peer that initiates a connection close
   retains the socket in the TIME_WAIT state for some amount of time,
   possibly a few minutes.  On a busy server, the accumulation of many

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   sockets in TIME_WAIT can cause performance problems or even denial of
   service.

   On systems where large numbers of sockets in TIME_WAIT are observed,
   it may be beneficial to tune the local TCP parameters.  For example,
   the Linux kernel provides a number of "sysctl" parameters related to
   TIME_WAIT, such as net.ipv4.tcp_fin_timeout, net.ipv4.tcp_tw_recycle,
   and net.ipv4.tcp_tw_reuse.  In extreme cases, implementors and
   operators of very busy servers may find it necessary to utilize the
   SO_LINGER socket option ([Stevens] Section 7.5) with a value of zero
   so that the server doesn't accumulate TIME_WAIT sockets.

5.  DNS over TCP Filtering Risks

   Networks that filter DNS over TCP risk losing access to significant
   or important pieces of the DNS name space.  For a variety of reasons
   a DNS answer may require a DNS over TCP query.  This may include
   large message sizes, lack of EDNS0 support, DDoS mitigation
   techniques, or perhaps some future capability that is as yet
   unforeseen will also demand TCP transport.

   For example, [RFC7901] describes a latency-avoiding technique that
   sends extra data in DNS responses.  This makes responses larger and
   potentially increases the risk of DDoS reflection attacks.  The
   specification mandates the use of TCP or DNS Cookies ([RFC7873]).

   Even if any or all particular answers have consistently been returned
   successfully with UDP in the past, this continued behavior cannot be
   guaranteed when DNS messages are exchanged between autonomous
   systems.  Therefore, filtering of DNS over TCP is considered harmful
   and contrary to the safe and successful operation of the Internet.
   This section enumerates some of the known risks we know about at the
   time of this writing when networks filter DNS over TCP.

5.1.  DNS Wedgie

   Networks that filter DNS over TCP may inadvertently cause problems
   for third party resolvers as experienced by [TOYAMA].  If for
   instance a resolver receives a truncated answer from a server, but
   when the resolver resends the query using TCP and the TCP response
   never arrives, not only will full answer be unavailable, but the
   resolver will incur the full extent of TCP retransmissions and time
   outs.  This situation might place extreme strain on resolver
   resources.  If the number and frequency of these truncated answers
   are sufficiently high, we refer to the steady-state of lost resources
   as a result a "DNS" wedgie".  A DNS wedgie is often not easily or
   completely mitigated by the affected DNS resolver operator.

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5.2.  DNS Root Zone KSK Rollover

   Recent plans for a new root zone DNSSEC KSK have highlighted a
   potential problem in retrieving the keys [LEWIS].  Some packets in
   the KSK rollover process will be larger than 1280 bytes, the IPv6
   minimum MTU for links carrying IPv6 traffic.[RFC2460]  While studies
   have shown that problems due to fragment filtering or an inability to
   generate and receive these larger messages are negligible, any DNS
   server that is unable to receive large DNS over UDP messages or
   perform DNS over TCP may experience severe disruption of DNS service
   if performing DNSSEC validation.

   TODO: Is this "overcome by events" now?  We've had 1414 byte DNSKEY
   responses at the three ZSK rollover periods since KSK-2017 became
   published in the root zone.

5.3.  DNS-over-TLS

   DNS messages may be sent over TLS to provide privacy between stubs
   and recursive resolvers.  [RFC7858] is a standards track document
   describing how this works.  Although it utilizes TCP port 853 instead
   of port 53, this document applies equally well to DNS-over-TLS.
   Note, however, DNS-over-TLS is currently only defined between stubs
   and recursives.

   The use of TLS places even strong operational burdens on DNS clients
   and servers.  Cryptographic functions for authentication and
   encryption require additional processing.  Unoptimized connection
   setup takes two additional round-trips compared to TCP, but can be
   reduced with Fast TLS connection resumption [RFC5077] and TLS False
   Start [RFC7918].

6.  Logging and Monitoring

   Developers of applications that log or monitor DNS are advised to not
   ignore TCP because it is rarely used or because it is hard to
   process.  Operators are advised to ensure that their monitoring and
   logging applications properly capture DNS-over-TCP messages.
   Otherwise, attacks, exfiltration attempts, and normal traffic may go
   undetected.

   DNS messages over TCP are in no way guaranteed to arrive in single
   segments.  In fact, a clever attacker may attempt to hide certain
   messages by forcing them over very small TCP segments.  Applications
   that capture network packets (e.g., with libpcap) should be prepared
   to implement and perform full TCP segment reassembly.  dnscap
   [dnscap] is an open-source example of a DNS logging program that
   implements TCP reassembly.

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   Developers should also keep in mind connection reuse, pipelining, and
   out-of-order responses when building and testing DNS monitoring
   applications.

7.  Acknowledgments

   This document was initially motivated by feedback from students who
   pointed out that they were hearing contradictory information about
   filtering DNS over TCP messages.  Thanks in particular to a teaching
   colleague, JPL, who perhaps unknowingly encouraged the initial
   research into the differences of what the community has historically
   said and did.  Thanks to all the NANOG 63 attendees who provided
   feedback to an early talk on this subject.

   The following individuals provided an array of feedback to help
   improve this document: Sara Dickinson, Bob Harold, Tatuya Jinmei, and
   Paul Hoffman.  The authors are indebted to their contributions.  Any
   remaining errors or imperfections are the sole responsibility of the
   document authors.

8.  IANA Considerations

   This memo includes no request to IANA.

9.  Security Considerations

   Ironically, returning truncated DNS over UDP answers in order to
   induce a client query to switch to DNS over TCP has become a common
   response to source address spoofed, DNS denial-of-service attacks
   [RRL].  Historically, operators have been wary of TCP-based attacks,
   but in recent years, UDP-based flooding attacks have proven to be the
   most common protocol attack on the DNS.  Nevertheless, a high rate of
   short-lived DNS transactions over TCP may pose challenges.  While
   many operators have provided DNS over TCP service for many years
   without duress, past experience is no guarantee of future success.

   DNS over TCP is not unlike many other Internet TCP services.  TCP
   threats and many mitigation strategies have been well documented in a
   series of documents such as [RFC4953], [RFC4987], [RFC5927], and
   [RFC5961].

10.  Privacy Considerations

   TODO: Does this document warrant privacy considerations?

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11.  References

11.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

11.2.  Informative References

   [CASTRO2010]
              Castro, S., Zhang, M., John, W., Wessels, D., and k.
              claffy, "Understanding and preparing for DNS evolution",
              2010.

   [CHES94]   Cheswick, W. and S. Bellovin, "Firewalls and Internet
              Security: Repelling the Wily Hacker", 1994.

   [CLOUDFLARE]
              Grant, D., "Economical With The Truth: Making DNSSEC
              Answers Cheap", June 2016,
              <https://blog.cloudflare.com/black-lies/>.

   [DESIGNTEAM]
              Design Team Report, "Root Zone KSK Rollover Plan",
              December 2015, <https://www.iana.org/reports/2016/
              root-ksk-rollover-design-20160307.pdf>.

   [DJBDNS]   D.J. Bernstein, "When are TCP queries sent?", 2002,
              <https://cr.yp.to/djbdns/tcp.html#why>.

   [dnscap]   DNS-OARC, "DNSCAP", May 2018,
              <https://www.dns-oarc.net/tools/dnscap>.

   [HUSTON]   Huston, G., "Dealing with IPv6 fragmentation in the DNS",
              August 2017, <https://blog.apnic.net/2017/08/22/
              dealing-ipv6-fragmentation-dns/>.

   [LEWIS]    Lewis, E., "2017 DNSSEC KSK Rollover", RIPE 74 Budapest,
              Hungary, May 2017, <https://ripe74.ripe.net/
              presentations/25-RIPE74-lewis-submission.pdf>.

   [NETALYZR]
              Kreibich, C., Weaver, N., Nechaev, B., and V. Paxson,
              "Netalyzr: Illuminating The Edge Network", 2010.

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   [RFC1034]  Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - concepts and facilities",
              STD 13, RFC 1034, DOI 10.17487/RFC1034, November 1987,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1034>.

   [RFC1035]  Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - implementation and
              specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, DOI 10.17487/RFC1035,
              November 1987, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1035>.

   [RFC1123]  Braden, R., Ed., "Requirements for Internet Hosts -
              Application and Support", STD 3, RFC 1123,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC1123, October 1989,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1123>.

   [RFC1536]  Kumar, A., Postel, J., Neuman, C., Danzig, P., and S.
              Miller, "Common DNS Implementation Errors and Suggested
              Fixes", RFC 1536, DOI 10.17487/RFC1536, October 1993,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1536>.

   [RFC2136]  Vixie, P., Ed., Thomson, S., Rekhter, Y., and J. Bound,
              "Dynamic Updates in the Domain Name System (DNS UPDATE)",
              RFC 2136, DOI 10.17487/RFC2136, April 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2136>.

   [RFC2460]  Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6
              (IPv6) Specification", RFC 2460, DOI 10.17487/RFC2460,
              December 1998, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2460>.

   [RFC2541]  Eastlake 3rd, D., "DNS Security Operational
              Considerations", RFC 2541, DOI 10.17487/RFC2541, March
              1999, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2541>.

   [RFC2671]  Vixie, P., "Extension Mechanisms for DNS (EDNS0)",
              RFC 2671, DOI 10.17487/RFC2671, August 1999,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2671>.

   [RFC4953]  Touch, J., "Defending TCP Against Spoofing Attacks",
              RFC 4953, DOI 10.17487/RFC4953, July 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4953>.

   [RFC4987]  Eddy, W., "TCP SYN Flooding Attacks and Common
              Mitigations", RFC 4987, DOI 10.17487/RFC4987, August 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4987>.

   [RFC5077]  Salowey, J., Zhou, H., Eronen, P., and H. Tschofenig,
              "Transport Layer Security (TLS) Session Resumption without
              Server-Side State", RFC 5077, DOI 10.17487/RFC5077,
              January 2008, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5077>.

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   [RFC5927]  Gont, F., "ICMP Attacks against TCP", RFC 5927,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5927, July 2010,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5927>.

   [RFC5936]  Lewis, E. and A. Hoenes, Ed., "DNS Zone Transfer Protocol
              (AXFR)", RFC 5936, DOI 10.17487/RFC5936, June 2010,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5936>.

   [RFC5961]  Ramaiah, A., Stewart, R., and M. Dalal, "Improving TCP's
              Robustness to Blind In-Window Attacks", RFC 5961,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5961, August 2010,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5961>.

   [RFC6304]  Abley, J. and W. Maton, "AS112 Nameserver Operations",
              RFC 6304, DOI 10.17487/RFC6304, July 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6304>.

   [RFC6762]  Cheshire, S. and M. Krochmal, "Multicast DNS", RFC 6762,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6762, February 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6762>.

   [RFC6891]  Damas, J., Graff, M., and P. Vixie, "Extension Mechanisms
              for DNS (EDNS(0))", STD 75, RFC 6891,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6891, April 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6891>.

   [RFC6950]  Peterson, J., Kolkman, O., Tschofenig, H., and B. Aboba,
              "Architectural Considerations on Application Features in
              the DNS", RFC 6950, DOI 10.17487/RFC6950, October 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6950>.

   [RFC7413]  Cheng, Y., Chu, J., Radhakrishnan, S., and A. Jain, "TCP
              Fast Open", RFC 7413, DOI 10.17487/RFC7413, December 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7413>.

   [RFC7477]  Hardaker, W., "Child-to-Parent Synchronization in DNS",
              RFC 7477, DOI 10.17487/RFC7477, March 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7477>.

   [RFC7720]  Blanchet, M. and L-J. Liman, "DNS Root Name Service
              Protocol and Deployment Requirements", BCP 40, RFC 7720,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7720, December 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7720>.

   [RFC7766]  Dickinson, J., Dickinson, S., Bellis, R., Mankin, A., and
              D. Wessels, "DNS Transport over TCP - Implementation
              Requirements", RFC 7766, DOI 10.17487/RFC7766, March 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7766>.

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   [RFC7828]  Wouters, P., Abley, J., Dickinson, S., and R. Bellis, "The
              edns-tcp-keepalive EDNS0 Option", RFC 7828,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7828, April 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7828>.

   [RFC7858]  Hu, Z., Zhu, L., Heidemann, J., Mankin, A., Wessels, D.,
              and P. Hoffman, "Specification for DNS over Transport
              Layer Security (TLS)", RFC 7858, DOI 10.17487/RFC7858, May
              2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7858>.

   [RFC7873]  Eastlake 3rd, D. and M. Andrews, "Domain Name System (DNS)
              Cookies", RFC 7873, DOI 10.17487/RFC7873, May 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7873>.

   [RFC7901]  Wouters, P., "CHAIN Query Requests in DNS", RFC 7901,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7901, June 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7901>.

   [RFC7918]  Langley, A., Modadugu, N., and B. Moeller, "Transport
              Layer Security (TLS) False Start", RFC 7918,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7918, August 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7918>.

   [RFC8027]  Hardaker, W., Gudmundsson, O., and S. Krishnaswamy,
              "DNSSEC Roadblock Avoidance", BCP 207, RFC 8027,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8027, November 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8027>.

   [RFC8094]  Reddy, T., Wing, D., and P. Patil, "DNS over Datagram
              Transport Layer Security (DTLS)", RFC 8094,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8094, February 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8094>.

   [RFC8162]  Hoffman, P. and J. Schlyter, "Using Secure DNS to
              Associate Certificates with Domain Names for S/MIME",
              RFC 8162, DOI 10.17487/RFC8162, May 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8162>.

   [RRL]      Vixie, P. and V. Schryver, "DNS Response Rate Limiting
              (DNS RRL)", ISC-TN 2012-1 Draft1, April 2012.

   [Stevens]  Stevens, W., Fenner, B., and A. Rudoff, "UNIX Network
              Programming Volume 1, Third Edition: The Sockets
              Networking API", November 2003.

   [TDNS]     Zhu, L., Heidemann, J., Wessels, D., Mankin, A., and N.
              Somaiya, "Connection-oriented DNS to Improve Privacy and
              Security", 2015.

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   [TOYAMA]   Toyama, K., Ishibashi, K., Ishino, M., Yoshimura, C., and
              K. Fujiwara, "DNS Anomalies and Their Impacts on DNS Cache
              Servers", NANOG 32 Reston, VA USA, 2004.

   [VERISIGN]
              Thomas, M. and D. Wessels, "An Analysis of TCP Traffic in
              Root Server DITL Data", DNS-OARC 2014 Fall Workshop Los
              Angeles, 2014.

   [WIKIPEDIA_TFO]
              Wikipedia, "TCP Fast Open", May 2018,
              <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP_Fast_Open>.

Appendix A.  Standards Related to DNS Transport over TCP

   This section enumerates all known IETF RFC documents that are
   currently of status standard, informational, best common practice or
   experimental and either implicitly or explicitly make assumptions or
   statements about the use of TCP as a transport for the DNS germane to
   this document.

A.1.  TODO - additional, relevant RFCs

A.2.  IETF RFC 5936 - DNS Zone Transfer Protocol (AXFR)

   The [RFC5936] standards track document provides a detailed
   specification for the zone transfer protocol, as originally outlined
   in the early DNS standards.  AXFR operation is limited to TCP and not
   specified for UDP.  This document discusses TCP usage at length.

A.3.  IETF RFC 6304 - AS112 Nameserver Operations

   [RFC6304] is an informational document enumerating the requirements
   for operation of AS112 project DNS servers.  New AS112 nodes are
   tested for their ability to provide service on both UDP and TCP
   transports, with the implication that TCP service is an expected part
   of normal operations.

A.4.  IETF RFC 6762 - Multicast DNS

   This standards track document [RFC6762] the TC bit is deemed to have
   essentially the same meaning as described in the original DNS
   specifications.  That is, if a response with the TCP bit set is
   receiver "[...] the querier SHOULD reissue its query using TCP in
   order to receive the larger response."

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A.5.  IETF RFC 6950 - Architectural Considerations on Application
      Features in the DNS

   An informational document [RFC6950] that draws attention to large
   data in the DNS.  TCP is referenced in the context as a common
   fallback mechnanism and counter to some spoofing attacks.

A.6.  IETF RFC 7477 - Child-to-Parent Synchronization in DNS

   This standards track document [RFC7477] specifies a RRType and
   protocol to signal and synchronize NS, A, and AAAA resource record
   changes from a child to parent zone.  Since this protocol may require
   multiple requests and responses, it recommends utilizing DNS over TCP
   to ensure the conversation takes place between a consistent pair of
   end nodes.

A.7.  IETF RFC 7720 - DNS Root Name Service Protocol and Deployment
      Requirements

   This best current practice[RFC7720] declares root name service "MUST
   support UDP [RFC768] and TCP [RFC793] transport of DNS queries and
   responses."

A.8.  IETF RFC 7766 - DNS Transport over TCP - Implementation
      Requirements

   The standards track document [RFC7766] might be considered the direct
   ancestor of this operational requirements document.  The
   implementation requirements document codifies mandatory support for
   DNS over TCP in compliant DNS software.

A.9.  IETF RFC 7828 - The edns-tcp-keepalive EDNS0 Option

   This standards track document [RFC7828] defines an EDNS0 option to
   negotiate an idle timeout value for long-lived DNS over TCP
   connections.  Consequently, this document is only applicable and
   relevant to DNS over TCP sessions and between implementations that
   support this option.

A.10.  IETF RFC 7858 - Specification for DNS over Transport Layer
       Security (TLS)

   This standards track document [RFC7858] defines a method for putting
   DNS messages into a TCP-based encrypted channel using TLS.  This
   specification is noteworthy for explicitly targetting the stub-to-
   recursive traffic, but does not preclude its application from
   recursive-to-authoritative traffic.

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A.11.  IETF RFC 7873 - Domain Name System (DNS) Cookies

   This standards track document [RFC7873] describes an EDNS0 option to
   provide additional protection against query and answer forgery.  This
   specification mentions DNS over TCP as a reasonable fallback
   mechanism when DNS Cookies are not available.  The specification does
   make mention of DNS over TCP processing in two specific situations.
   In one, when a server receives only a client cookie in a request, the
   server should consider whether the request arrived over TCP and if
   so, it should consider accepting TCP as sufficient to authenticate
   the request and respond accordingly.  In another, when a client
   receives a BADCOOKIE reply using a fresh server cookie, the client
   should retry using TCP as the transport.

A.12.  IETF RFC 7901 - CHAIN Query Requests in DNS

   This experimental specification [RFC7901] describes an EDNS0 option
   that can be used by a security-aware validating resolver to request
   and obtain a complete DNSSEC validation path for any single query.
   This document requires the use of DNS over TCP or a source IP address
   verified transport mechanism such as EDNS-COOKIE.[RFC7873]

A.13.  IETF RFC 8027 - DNSSEC Roadblock Avoidance

   This document [RFC8027] details observed problems with DNSSEC
   deployment and mitigation techniques.  Network traffic blocking and
   restrictions, including DNS over TCP messages, are highlighted as one
   reason for DNSSEC deployment issues.  While this document suggests
   these sorts of problems are due to "non-compliant infrastructure" and
   is of type BCP, the scope of the document is limited to detection and
   mitigation techniques to avoid so-called DNSSEC roadblocks.

A.14.  IETF RFC 8094 - DNS over Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS)

   This experimental specification [RFC8094] details a protocol that
   uses a datagram transport (UDP), but stipulates that "DNS clients and
   servers that implement DNS over DTLS MUST also implement DNS over TLS
   in order to provide privacy for clients that desire Strict Privacy
   [...]".  This requirement implies DNS over TCP must be supported in
   case the message size is larger than the path MTU.

A.15.  IETF RFC 8162 - Using Secure DNS to Associate Certificates with
       Domain Names for S/MIME

   This experimental specification [RFC8162] describes a technique to
   authenticate user X.509 certificates in an S/MIME system via the DNS.
   The document points out that the new experimental resource record
   types are expected to carry large payloads, resulting in the

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   suggestion that "applications SHOULD use TCP -- not UDP -- to perform
   queries for the SMIMEA resource record."

Authors' Addresses

   John Kristoff
   DePaul University
   Chicago, IL  60604
   US

   Phone: +1 312 493 0305
   Email: jtk@depaul.edu
   URI:   https://aharp.iorc.depaul.edu

   Duane Wessels
   Verisign
   12061 Bluemont Way
   Reston, VA  20190
   US

   Phone: +1 703 948 3200
   Email: dwessels@verisign.com
   URI:   http://verisigninc.com

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