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Multi Provider DNSSEC models
draft-ietf-dnsop-multi-provider-dnssec-00

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 8901.
Authors Shumon Huque , Pallavi Aras , John Dickinson , Jan Včelák , David Blacka
Last updated 2019-01-07
Replaces draft-huque-dnsop-multi-provider-dnssec
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draft-ietf-dnsop-multi-provider-dnssec-00
Internet Engineering Task Force                                 S. Huque
Internet-Draft                                                   P. Aras
Intended status: Informational                                Salesforce
Expires: July 11, 2019                                      J. Dickinson
                                                                 Sinodun
                                                               J. Vcelak
                                                                     NS1
                                                               D. Blacka
                                                                Verisign
                                                         January 7, 2019

                      Multi Provider DNSSEC models
               draft-ietf-dnsop-multi-provider-dnssec-00

Abstract

   Many enterprises today employ the service of multiple DNS providers
   to distribute their authoritative DNS service.  Deploying DNSSEC in
   such an environment may present some challenges depending on the
   configuration and feature set in use.  This document will present
   several deployment models that may be suitable.

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 July 11, 2019.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2019 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

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   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 and Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Deployment Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  Multiple Signer models  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
       2.1.1.  Model 1: Common KSK, Unique ZSK per provider  . . . .   4
       2.1.2.  Model 2: Unique KSK and ZSK per provider  . . . . . .   4
   3.  Validating Resolver Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Signing Algorithm Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  Authenticated Denial Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     5.1.  Single Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     5.2.  Mixing Methods  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   6.  Key Rollover Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.1.  Model 1: Common KSK, Unique ZSK per provider  . . . . . .   8
     6.2.  Model 2: Unique KSK and ZSK per provider  . . . . . . . .   8
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   9.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   10. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     10.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     10.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10

1.  Introduction and Motivation

   RFC EDITOR: PLEASE REMOVE THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH BEFORE PUBLISHING:
   The source for this draft is maintained in GitHub at:
   https://github.com/shuque/multi-provider-dnssec

   Many enterprises today employ the service of multiple DNS providers
   to distribute their authoritative DNS service.  This allows the DNS
   service to survive a complete failure of any single provider.
   Additionally, enterprises or providers occasionally have requirements
   that preclude standard zone transfer techniques [RFC1995] [RFC5936] :
   either non-standardized DNS features are in use that are incompatible
   with zone transfer, or operationally a provider must be able to
   (re)sign DNS records using their own keys.  This document outlines
   some possible models of DNSSEC [RFC4033] [RFC4034] [RFC4035]
   deployment in such an environment.

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2.  Deployment Models

   If a zone owner is able to use standard zone transfer techniques,
   then the presence of multiple providers does not present any need to
   substantially modify normal deployment models.  In these deployments
   there is a single signing entity (which may be the zone owner, one of
   the providers, or a separate entity), while the providers act as
   secondary authoritative servers for the zone.

   Occasionally, however, standard zone transfer techniques cannot be
   used.  This could be due to the use of non-standard DNS features, or
   due to operational requirements of a given provider (e.g., a provider
   that only supports "online signing".)  In these scenarios, the
   multiple providers each act like primary servers, independently
   signing data received from the zone owner and serving it to DNS
   queriers.  This configuration presents some novel challenges and
   requirements.

2.1.  Multiple Signer models

   In this category of models, multiple providers each independently
   sign and serve the same zone.  The zone owner typically uses
   provider-specific APIs to update zone content at each of the
   providers, and relies on the provider to perform signing of the data.
   A key requirement here is to manage the contents of the DNSKEY and DS
   RRset in such a way that validating resolvers always have a viable
   path to authenticate the DNSSEC signature chain no matter which
   provider is queried.  This requirement is achieved by having each
   provider import the public Zone Signing Keys (ZSKs) of all other
   providers into their DNSKEY RRsets.

   These models can support DNSSEC even for the non-standard features
   mentioned previously, if the DNS providers have the capability of
   signing the response data generated by those features.  Since these
   responses are often generated dynamically at query time, one method
   is for the provider to perform online signing (also known as online
   or on-the-fly signing).  However, another possible approach is to
   pre-compute all the possible response sets and associated signatures
   and then algorithmically determine at query time which response set
   needs to be returned.

   In the first two of these models, the function of coordinating the
   DNSKEY or DS RRset does not involve the providers communicating
   directly with each other, which they are unlikely to do since they
   typically have a contractual relationship only with the zone owner.

   The following descriptions consider the case of two DNS providers,
   but the model is generalizable to any number.

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2.1.1.  Model 1: Common KSK, Unique ZSK per provider

   o  Zone owner holds the KSK, manages the DS record, and is
      responsible for signing the DNSKEY RRset and distributing the
      signed DNSKEY RRset to the providers.

   o  Each provider has their own ZSK which is used to sign data.

   o  Providers have an API that owner uses to query the ZSK public key,
      and insert a combined DNSKEY RRset that includes both ZSKs and the
      KSK, signed by the KSK.

   o  Key rollovers need coordinated participation of the zone owner to
      update the DNSKEY RRset (for KSK or ZSK), and the DS RRset (for
      KSK).

2.1.2.  Model 2: Unique KSK and ZSK per provider

   o  Each provider has their own KSK and ZSK.

   o  Each provider offers an API that the Zone Owner uses to import the
      ZSK of the other provider into their DNSKEY RRset.

   o  DNSKEY RRset is signed independently by each provider using their
      own KSK.

   o  Zone Owner manages the DS RRset that includes both KSKs.

   o  Key rollovers need coordinated participation of the zone owner to
      update the DS RRset (for KSK), and the DNSKEY RRset (for ZSK).

3.  Validating Resolver Behavior

   The central requirement for both of the Multiple Signer models
   (Section 2.1) is to ensure that the ZSKs from all providers are
   present in each provider's apex DNSEY RRset, and is vouched for by
   either the single KSK (in model 1) or each provider's KSK (in model
   2.)  If this is not done, the following situation can arise (assuming
   two providers A and B):

   o  The validating resolver follows a referral (delegation) to the
      zone in question.

   o  It retrieves the zone's DNSKEY RRset from one of provider A's
      nameservers.

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   o  At some point in time, the resolver attempts to resolve a name in
      the zone, while the DNSKEY RRset received from provider A is still
      viable in its cache.

   o  It queries one of provider B's nameservers to resolve the name,
      and obtains a response that is signed by provider B's ZSK, which
      it cannot authenticate because this ZSK is not present in its
      cached DNSKEY RRset for the zone that it received from provider A.

   o  The resolver will not accept this response.  It may still be able
      to ultimately authenticate the name by querying other nameservers
      for the zone until it elicits a response from one of provider A's
      nameservers.  But it has incurred the penalty of additional
      roundtrips with other nameservers, with the corresponding latency
      and processing costs.  The exact number of additional roundtrips
      depends on details of the resolver's nameserver selection
      algorithm and the number of nameservers configured at provider B.

   o  It may also be the case that a resolver is unable to provide an
      authenticated response because it gave up after a certain number
      of retries or a certain amount of delay.  Or that downstream
      clients of the resolver that originated the query timed out
      waiting for a response.

   Zone owners will want to deploy a DNS service that responds as
   efficiently as possible with validatable answers only, and hence it
   is important that the DNSKEY RRset at each provider is maintained
   with the active ZSKs of all participating providers.  This ensures
   that resolvers can validate a response no matter which provider's
   nameservers it came from.

   Details of how the DNSKEY RRset itself is validated differs.  In
   model 1 (Section 2.1.1), one unique KSK managed by the Zone Owner
   signs an identical DNSKEY RRset deployed at each provider, and the
   signed DS record in the parent zone refers to this KSK.  In model 2
   (Section 2.1.2), each provider has a distinct KSK and signs the
   DNSKEY RRset with it.  The Zone Owner deploys a DS RRset at the
   parent zone that contains multiple DS records, each referring to a
   distinct provider's KSK.  Hence it does not matter which provider's
   nameservers the resolver obtains the DNSKEY RRset from, the signed DS
   record in each model can authenticate the associated KSK.

4.  Signing Algorithm Considerations

   It is RECOMMENDED that the providers use a common signing algorithm
   (and common keysizes for algorithms that support variable key sizes).
   This ensures that the multiple providers have identical security

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   postures and no provider is more vulnerable to cryptanalytic attack
   than the others.

   It may however be possible to deploy a configuration where different
   providers use different signing algorithms.  The main impediment is
   that current DNSSEC specifications require that if there are multiple
   algorithms in the DNSKEY RRset, then RRsets in the zone need to be
   signed with at least one DNSKEY of each algorithm, as described in
   RFC 4035 [RFC4035], Section 2.2.  However RFC 6781 [RFC6781],
   Section 4.1.4, also describes both a conservative and liberal
   interpretation of this requirement.  When validating DNS resolvers
   follow the liberal approach, they do not expect that zone RRsets are
   signed by every signing algorithm in the DNSKEY RRset, and responses
   with single algorithm signatures can be validated corectly assuming a
   valid chain of trust exists.  In fact, testing by the .BR Top Level
   domain for their planned algorithm rollover [BR-ROLLOVER],
   demonstrates that the liberal approach works.

5.  Authenticated Denial Considerations

   Authentiated denial of existence enables a resolver to validate that
   a record does not exist.  For this purpose, an authoritative server
   presents in a response to the resolver special NSEC (Section 3.1.3 of
   [RFC4035]) or NSEC3 (Section 7.2 of [RFC5155]) records.  The NSEC3
   method enhances NSEC by providing opt-out for signing insecure
   delegations and also adds limited protection against zone enumeration
   attacks.

   An authoritative server response carrying records for authenticated
   denial is always self-contained and the receiving resolver doesn't
   need to send additional queries to complete the denial proof data.
   For this reason, no rollover is needed when switching between NSEC
   and NSEC3 for a signed zone.

   Since authenticated denial responses are self-contained, NSEC and
   NSEC3 can be used by different providers to serve the same zone.
   Doing so however defeats the protection against zone enumeration
   provided by NSEC3.  A better configuration involves multiple
   providers using different authenticated denial of existence
   mechanisms that all provide zone enumeration defense, such as pre-
   computed NSEC3, NSEC3 White Lies [RFC7129], NSEC Black Lies
   [BLACKLIES], etc.  Note however that having multiple providers
   offering different authenticated denial mechanisms may impact how
   effectively resolvers are able to make use of the caching of negative
   responses.

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5.1.  Single Method

   Usually, the NSEC and NSEC3 methods are used exclusively (i.e. the
   methods are not used at the same time by different servers).  This
   configuration is prefered because the behavior is well-defined and
   it's closest to the current operational practice.

5.2.  Mixing Methods

   Compliant resolvers should be able to serve zones when different
   authoritative servers for the same zone respond with different
   authentiated denial methods because this is normally observed when
   NSEC and NSEC3 are being switched or when NSEC3PARAM is updated.

   Resolver software may be however designed to handle a single
   transition between two authenticated denial configurations more
   optimally than permanent setup with mixed authenticated denial
   methods.  This could make caching on the resolver side less efficient
   and the authoritative servers may observe higher number of queries.
   This aspect should be considered especially in context of Aggresive
   Use of DNSSEC-Validated Cache [RFC8198].

   In case all providers cannot be configured for a matching
   authentiated denial, it is advised to find lowest number of possible
   configurations possible across all used providers.

   Note that NSEC3 configuration on all providers with different
   NSEC3PARAM values is considered a mixed setup.

6.  Key Rollover Considerations

   The Multiple Signer (Section 2.1) models introduce some new
   requirements for DNSSEC key rollovers.  Since this process
   necessarily involves coordinated actions on the part of providers and
   the Zone Owner, one reasonable strategy is for the Zone Owner to
   initiate key rollover operations.  But other operationally plausible
   models may also suit, such as a DNS provider initiating a key
   rollover and signaling their intent to the Zone Owner in some manner.

   The descriptions in this section assume that KSK rollovers employ the
   commonly used Double Signature KSK Rollover Method, and that ZSK
   rollovers employ the Pre-Publish ZSK Rollover Method, as described in
   detail in [RFC6781].  With minor modifications, they can also be
   easily adapted to other models, such as Double DS KSK Rollover or
   Double Signature ZSK rollover, if desired.

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6.1.  Model 1: Common KSK, Unique ZSK per provider

   o  Key Signing Key Rollover: In this model, the two managed DNS
      providers share a common KSK which is held by the Zone Owner.  To
      initiate the rollover, the Zone Owner generates a new KSK and
      obtains the DNSKEY RRset of each DNS provider using their
      respective APIs.  The new KSK is added to each provider's DNSKEY
      RRset and the RRset is re-signed with both the new and the old
      KSK.  This new DNSKEY RRset is then transferred to each provider.
      The Zone Owner then updates the DS RRset in the parent zone to
      point to the new KSK, and after the necessary DS record TTL period
      has expired, proceeds with updating the DNSKEY RRSet to remove the
      old KSK.

   o  Zone Signing Key Rollover: In this model, each DNS provider has
      separate Zone Signing Keys.  Each provider can choose to roll
      their ZSK independently by co-ordinating with the Zone Owner.
      Provider A would generate a new ZSK and communicate their intent
      to perform a rollover (note that Provider A cannot immediately
      insert this new ZSK into their DNSKEY RRset because the RRset has
      to be signed by the Zone Owner).  The Zone Owner obtains the new
      ZSK from Provider A.  It then obtains the current DNSKEY RRset
      from each provider (including Provider A), inserts the new ZSK
      into each DNSKEY RRset, re-signs the DNSKEY RRset, and sends it
      back to each provider for deployment via their respective key
      management APIs.  Once the necessary time period is elapsed (i.e.
      all zone data has been re-signed by the new ZSK and propagated to
      all authoritative servers for the zone, plus the maximum zone TTL
      value of any of the data in the zone signed by the old ZSK),
      Provider A and the zone owner can initiate the next phase of
      removing the old ZSK.

6.2.  Model 2: Unique KSK and ZSK per provider

   o  Key Signing Key Rollover: In Model 2, each managed DNS provider
      has their own KSK.  A KSK roll for provider A does not require any
      change in the DNSKEY RRset of provider B, but does require co-
      ordination with the Zone Owner in order to get the DS record set
      in the parent zone updated.  The KSK roll starts with Provider A
      generating a new KSK and including it in their DNSKEY RRSet.  The
      DNSKey RRset would then be signed by both the new and old KSK.
      The new KSK is communicated to the Zone Owner, after which the
      Zone Owner updates the DS RRset to replace the DS record for the
      old KSK with a DS record for the new KSK.  After the necessary DS
      RRset TTL period has elapsed, the old KSK can be removed from
      provider A's DNSKEY RRset.

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   o  Zone Signing Key Rollover: In Model 2, each managed DNS provider
      has their own ZSK.  The ZSK roll for provider A would start with
      them generating new ZSK and including it in their DNSKEY RRset and
      re-signing the new DNSKEY RRset with their KSK.  The new ZSK of
      provider A would then be communicated to the Zone Owner, who will
      initiate the process of importing this ZSK into the DNSKEY RRsets
      of the other providers, using their respective APIs.  Once the
      necessary Pre-Publish key rollover time periods have elapsed,
      provider A and the Zone Owner can initiate the process of removing
      the old ZSK from the DNSKEY RRset of all providers.

7.  IANA Considerations

   This document includes no request to IANA.

8.  Security Considerations

   [TBD]

9.  Acknowledgments

   The initial version of this document benefited from discussions with
   and review from Duane Wessels.  Additional helpful comments were
   provided by Steve Crocker, Ulrich Wisser, Tony Finch, and Olafur
   Gudmundsson.

10.  References

10.1.  Normative References

   [RFC4033]  Arends, R., Austein, R., Larson, M., Massey, D., and S.
              Rose, "DNS Security Introduction and Requirements",
              RFC 4033, DOI 10.17487/RFC4033, March 2005,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4033>.

   [RFC4034]  Arends, R., Austein, R., Larson, M., Massey, D., and S.
              Rose, "Resource Records for the DNS Security Extensions",
              RFC 4034, DOI 10.17487/RFC4034, March 2005,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4034>.

   [RFC4035]  Arends, R., Austein, R., Larson, M., Massey, D., and S.
              Rose, "Protocol Modifications for the DNS Security
              Extensions", RFC 4035, DOI 10.17487/RFC4035, March 2005,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4035>.

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   [RFC5155]  Laurie, B., Sisson, G., Arends, R., and D. Blacka, "DNS
              Security (DNSSEC) Hashed Authenticated Denial of
              Existence", RFC 5155, DOI 10.17487/RFC5155, March 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5155>.

   [RFC6781]  Kolkman, O., Mekking, W., and R. Gieben, "DNSSEC
              Operational Practices, Version 2", RFC 6781,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6781, December 2012,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6781>.

   [RFC8198]  Fujiwara, K., Kato, A., and W. Kumari, "Aggressive Use of
              DNSSEC-Validated Cache", RFC 8198, DOI 10.17487/RFC8198,
              July 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8198>.

10.2.  Informative References

   [BLACKLIES]
              Valsorda, F. and O. Gudmundsson, "Compact DNSSEC Denial of
              Existence or Black Lies", <https://tools.ietf.org/html/
              draft-valsorda-dnsop-black-lies>.

   [BR-ROLLOVER]
              Neves, F., ".br DNSSEC Algorithm Rollover Update",
              in ICANN 62 DNSSEC Workshop, June 2018,
              <https://static.ptbl.co/static/
              attachments/179548/1529933472.pdf>.

   [RFC1995]  Ohta, M., "Incremental Zone Transfer in DNS", RFC 1995,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC1995, August 1996,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1995>.

   [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>.

   [RFC7129]  Gieben, R. and W. Mekking, "Authenticated Denial of
              Existence in the DNS", RFC 7129, DOI 10.17487/RFC7129,
              February 2014, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7129>.

Authors' Addresses

   Shumon Huque
   Salesforce

   Email: shuque@gmail.com

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   Pallavi Aras
   Salesforce

   Email: paras@salesforce.com

   John Dickinson
   Sinodun

   Email: jad@sinodun.com

   Jan Vcelak
   NS1

   Email: jvcelak@ns1.com

   David Blacka
   Verisign

   Email: davidb@verisign.com

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