6 Internet-Draft Cisco Systems, Inc.
7 Expires: September 1, 2006 T. Lemon
10 Araneus Information Systems Oy
14 A DNS RR for Encoding DHCP Information (DHCID RR)
15 <draft-ietf-dnsext-dhcid-rr-12.txt>
19 By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
20 applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
21 have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
22 aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.
24 Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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29 Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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34 The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
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37 The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
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40 This Internet-Draft will expire on September 1, 2006.
44 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
48 It is possible for DHCP clients to attempt to update the same DNS
49 FQDN or attempt to update a DNS FQDN that has been added to the DNS
50 for another purpose as they obtain DHCP leases. Whether the DHCP
51 server or the clients themselves perform the DNS updates, conflicts
52 can arise. To resolve such conflicts, "Resolution of DNS Name
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61 Conflicts" [1] proposes storing client identifiers in the DNS to
62 unambiguously associate domain names with the DHCP clients to which
63 they refer. This memo defines a distinct RR type for this purpose
64 for use by DHCP clients and servers, the "DHCID" RR.
69 1. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
70 2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
71 3. The DHCID RR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
72 3.1. DHCID RDATA format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
73 3.2. DHCID Presentation Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
74 3.3. The DHCID RR Identifier Type Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
75 3.4. The DHCID RR Digest Type Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
76 3.5. Computation of the RDATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
77 3.5.1. Using the Client's DUID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
78 3.5.2. Using the Client Identifier Option . . . . . . . . . . 5
79 3.5.3. Using the Client's htype and chaddr . . . . . . . . . 6
80 3.6. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
81 3.6.1. Example 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
82 3.6.2. Example 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
83 3.6.3. Example 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
84 4. Use of the DHCID RR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
85 5. Updater Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
86 6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
87 7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
88 8. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
89 9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
90 9.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
91 9.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
92 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
93 Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 12
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119 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
120 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
121 document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [2].
126 A set of procedures to allow DHCP [6] [10] clients and servers to
127 automatically update the DNS (RFC 1034 [3], RFC 1035 [4]) is proposed
128 in "Resolution of DNS Name Conflicts" [1].
130 Conflicts can arise if multiple DHCP clients wish to use the same DNS
131 name or a DHCP client attempts to use a name added for another
132 purpose. To resolve such conflicts, "Resolution of DNS Name
133 Conflicts" [1] proposes storing client identifiers in the DNS to
134 unambiguously associate domain names with the DHCP clients using
135 them. In the interest of clarity, it is preferable for this DHCP
136 information to use a distinct RR type. This memo defines a distinct
137 RR for this purpose for use by DHCP clients or servers, the "DHCID"
140 In order to obscure potentially sensitive client identifying
141 information, the data stored is the result of a one-way SHA-256 hash
142 computation. The hash includes information from the DHCP client's
143 message as well as the domain name itself, so that the data stored in
144 the DHCID RR will be dependent on both the client identification used
145 in the DHCP protocol interaction and the domain name. This means
146 that the DHCID RDATA will vary if a single client is associated over
147 time with more than one name. This makes it difficult to 'track' a
148 client as it is associated with various domain names.
153 The DHCID RR is defined with mnemonic DHCID and type code [TBD]. The
154 DHCID RR is only defined in the IN class. DHCID RRs cause no
155 additional section processing. The DHCID RR is not a singleton type.
157 3.1. DHCID RDATA format
159 The RDATA section of a DHCID RR in transmission contains RDLENGTH
160 octets of binary data. The format of this data and its
161 interpretation by DHCP servers and clients are described below.
163 DNS software should consider the RDATA section to be opaque. DHCP
164 clients or servers use the DHCID RR to associate a DHCP client's
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173 identity with a DNS name, so that multiple DHCP clients and servers
174 may deterministically perform dynamic DNS updates to the same zone.
175 From the updater's perspective, the DHCID resource record RDATA
176 consists of a 2-octet identifier type, in network byte order,
177 followed by a 1-octet digest type, followed by one or more octets
178 representing the actual identifier:
180 < 2 octets > Identifier type code
181 < 1 octet > Digest type code
182 < n octets > Digest (length depends on digest type)
184 3.2. DHCID Presentation Format
186 In DNS master files, the RDATA is represented as a single block in
187 base 64 encoding identical to that used for representing binary data
188 in RFC 3548 [7]. The data may be divided up into any number of white
189 space separated substrings, down to single base 64 digits, which are
190 concatenated to form the complete RDATA. These substrings can span
191 lines using the standard parentheses.
193 3.3. The DHCID RR Identifier Type Codes
195 The DHCID RR Identifier Type Code specifies what data from the DHCP
196 client's request was used as input into the hash function. The
197 identifier type codes are defined in a registry maintained by IANA,
198 as specified in Section 7. The initial list of assigned values for
199 the identifier type code is:
201 0x0000 = htype, chaddr from a DHCPv4 client's DHCPREQUEST [6].
202 0x0001 = The data octets (i.e., the Type and Client-Identifier
203 fields) from a DHCPv4 client's Client Identifier option [9].
204 0x0002 = The client's DUID (i.e., the data octets of a DHCPv6
205 client's Client Identifier option [10] or the DUID field from a
206 DHCPv4 client's Client Identifier option [12]).
208 0x0003 - 0xfffe = Available to be assigned by IANA.
212 3.4. The DHCID RR Digest Type Code
214 The DHCID RR Digest Type Code is an identifier for the digest
215 algorithm used. The digest is calculated over an identifier and the
216 canonical FQDN as described in the next section.
218 The digest type codes are defined in a registry maintained by IANA,
219 as specified in Section 7. The initial list of assigned values for
220 the digest type codes is: value 0 is reserved and value 1 is SHA-256.
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229 Reserving other types requires IETF standards action. Defining new
230 values will also require IETF standards action to document how DNS
231 updaters are to deal with multiple digest types.
233 3.5. Computation of the RDATA
235 The DHCID RDATA is formed by concatenating the 2-octet identifier
236 type code with variable-length data.
238 The RDATA for all type codes other than 0xffff, which is reserved for
239 future expansion, is formed by concatenating the 2-octet identifier
240 type code, the 1-octet digest type code, and the digest value (32
243 < identifier-type > < digest-type > < digest >
245 The input to the digest hash function is defined to be:
247 digest = SHA-256(< identifier > < FQDN >)
249 The FQDN is represented in the buffer in unambiguous canonical form
250 as described in RFC 4034 [8], section 6.1. The identifier type code
251 and the identifier are related as specified in Section 3.3: the
252 identifier type code describes the source of the identifier.
254 A DHCPv4 updater uses the 0x0002 type code if a Client Identifier
255 option is present in the DHCPv4 messages and it is encoded as
256 specified in [12]. Otherwise, the updater uses 0x0001 if a Client
257 Identifier option is present and 0x0000 if not.
259 A DHCPv6 updater always uses the 0x0002 type code.
261 3.5.1. Using the Client's DUID
263 When the updater is using the Client's DUID (either from a DHCPv6
264 Client Identifier option or from a portion of the DHCPv4 Client
265 Identifier option encoded as specified in [12]), the first two octets
266 of the DHCID RR MUST be 0x0002, in network byte order. The third
267 octet is the digest type code (1 for SHA-256). The rest of the DHCID
268 RR MUST contain the results of computing the SHA-256 hash across the
269 octets of the DUID followed by the FQDN.
271 3.5.2. Using the Client Identifier Option
273 When the updater is using the DHCPv4 Client Identifier option sent by
274 the client in its DHCPREQUEST message, the first two octets of the
275 DHCID RR MUST be 0x0001, in network byte order. The third octet is
276 the digest type code (1 for SHA-256). The rest of the DHCID RR MUST
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285 contain the results of computing the SHA-256 hash across the data
286 octets (i.e., the Type and Client-Identifier fields) of the option,
287 followed by the FQDN.
289 3.5.3. Using the Client's htype and chaddr
291 When the updater is using the client's link-layer address as the
292 identifier, the first two octets of the DHCID RDATA MUST be zero.
293 The third octet is the digest type code (1 for SHA-256). To generate
294 the rest of the resource record, the updater computes a one-way hash
295 using the SHA-256 algorithm across a buffer containing the client's
296 network hardware type, link-layer address, and the FQDN data.
297 Specifically, the first octet of the buffer contains the network
298 hardware type as it appeared in the DHCP 'htype' field of the
299 client's DHCPREQUEST message. All of the significant octets of the
300 'chaddr' field in the client's DHCPREQUEST message follow, in the
301 same order in which the octets appear in the DHCPREQUEST message.
302 The number of significant octets in the 'chaddr' field is specified
303 in the 'hlen' field of the DHCPREQUEST message. The FQDN data, as
304 specified above, follows.
310 A DHCP server allocating the IPv4 address 10.0.0.1 to a client with
311 Ethernet MAC address 01:02:03:04:05:06 using domain name
312 "client.example.com" uses the client's link-layer address to identify
313 the client. The DHCID RDATA is composed by setting the two type
314 octets to zero, the 1-octet digest type to 1 for SHA-256, and
315 performing an SHA-256 hash computation across a buffer containing the
316 Ethernet MAC type octet, 0x01, the six octets of MAC address, and the
317 domain name (represented as specified in Section 3.5).
319 client.example.com. A 10.0.0.1
320 client.example.com. DHCID ( AAABxLmlskllE0MVjd57zHcWmEH3pCQ6V
323 If the DHCID RR type is not supported, the RDATA would be encoded
326 \# 35 ( 000001c4b9a5b249651343158dde7bcc77169841f7a4243a572b5c283
331 A DHCP server allocates the IPv4 address 10.0.12.99 to a client which
332 included the DHCP client-identifier option data 01:07:08:09:0a:0b:0c
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341 in its DHCP request. The server updates the name "chi.example.com"
342 on the client's behalf, and uses the DHCP client identifier option
343 data as input in forming a DHCID RR. The DHCID RDATA is formed by
344 setting the two type octets to the value 0x0001, the 1-octet digest
345 type to 1 for SHA-256, and performing a SHA-256 hash computation
346 across a buffer containing the seven octets from the client-id option
347 and the FQDN (represented as specified in Section 3.5).
349 chi.example.com. A 10.0.12.99
350 chi.example.com. DHCID ( AAEBOSD+XR3Os/0LozeXVqcNc7FwCfQdW
353 If the DHCID RR type is not supported, the RDATA would be encoded
356 \# 35 ( 0001013920fe5d1dceb3fd0ba3379756a70d73b17009f41d58bddbfcd
361 A DHCP server allocates the IPv6 address 2000::1234:5678 to a client
362 which included the DHCPv6 client-identifier option data 00:01:00:06:
363 41:2d:f1:66:01:02:03:04:05:06 in its DHCPv6 request. The server
364 updates the name "chi6.example.com" on the client's behalf, and uses
365 the DHCP client identifier option data as input in forming a DHCID
366 RR. The DHCID RDATA is formed by setting the two type octets to the
367 value 0x0002, the 1-octet digest type to 1 for SHA-256, and
368 performing a SHA-256 hash computation across a buffer containing the
369 14 octets from the client-id option and the FQDN (represented as
370 specified in Section 3.5).
372 chi6.example.com. AAAA 2000::1234:5678
373 chi6.example.com. DHCID ( AAIBY2/AuCccgoJbsaxcQc9TUapptP69l
376 If the DHCID RR type is not supported, the RDATA would be encoded
379 \# 35 ( 000201636fc0b8271c82825bb1ac5c41cf5351aa69b4febd94e8f17cd
383 4. Use of the DHCID RR
385 This RR MUST NOT be used for any purpose other than that detailed in
386 "Resolution of DNS Name Conflicts" [1]. Although this RR contains
387 data that is opaque to DNS servers, the data must be consistent
388 across all entities that update and interpret this record.
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397 Therefore, new data formats may only be defined through actions of
398 the DHC Working Group, as a result of revising [1].
403 The data in the DHCID RR allows updaters to determine whether more
404 than one DHCP client desires to use a particular FQDN. This allows
405 site administrators to establish policy about DNS updates. The DHCID
406 RR does not establish any policy itself.
408 Updaters use data from a DHCP client's request and the domain name
409 that the client desires to use to compute a client identity hash, and
410 then compare that hash to the data in any DHCID RRs on the name that
411 they wish to associate with the client's IP address. If an updater
412 discovers DHCID RRs whose RDATA does not match the client identity
413 that they have computed, the updater SHOULD conclude that a different
414 client is currently associated with the name in question. The
415 updater SHOULD then proceed according to the site's administrative
416 policy. That policy might dictate that a different name be selected,
417 or it might permit the updater to continue.
420 6. Security Considerations
422 The DHCID record as such does not introduce any new security problems
423 into the DNS. In order to obscure the client's identity information,
424 a one-way hash is used. And, in order to make it difficult to
425 'track' a client by examining the names associated with a particular
426 hash value, the FQDN is included in the hash computation. Thus, the
427 RDATA is dependent on both the DHCP client identification data and on
428 each FQDN associated with the client.
430 However, it should be noted that an attacker that has some knowledge,
431 such as of MAC addresses commonly used in DHCP client identification
432 data, may be able to discover the client's DHCP identify by using a
433 brute-force attack. Even without any additional knowledge, the
434 number of unknown bits used in computing the hash is typically only
437 Administrators should be wary of permitting unsecured DNS updates to
438 zones, whether or not they are exposed to the global Internet. Both
439 DHCP clients and servers SHOULD use some form of update
440 authentication (e.g., TSIG [11]) when performing DNS updates.
443 7. IANA Considerations
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453 IANA is requested to allocate a DNS RR type number for the DHCID
456 This specification defines a new number-space for the 2-octet
457 identifier type codes associated with the DHCID RR. IANA is
458 requested to establish a registry of the values for this number-
459 space. Three initial values are assigned in Section 3.3, and the
460 value 0xFFFF is reserved for future use. New DHCID RR identifier
461 type codes are assigned through Standards Action, as defined in RFC
464 This specification defines a new number-space for the 1-octet digest
465 type codes associated with the DHCID RR. IANA is requested to
466 establish a registry of the values for this number-space. Two
467 initial values are assigned in Section 3.4. New DHCID RR digest type
468 codes are assigned through Standards Action, as defined in RFC 2434
474 Many thanks to Harald Alvestrand, Ralph Droms, Olafur Gudmundsson,
475 Sam Hartman, Josh Littlefield, Pekka Savola, and especially Bernie
476 Volz for their review and suggestions.
481 9.1. Normative References
483 [1] Stapp, M. and B. Volz, "Resolution of DNS Name Conflicts Among
484 DHCP Clients (draft-ietf-dhc-dns-resolution-*)", February 2006.
486 [2] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
487 Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
489 [3] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - concepts and facilities",
490 STD 13, RFC 1034, November 1987.
492 [4] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - implementation and
493 specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, November 1987.
495 [5] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA
496 Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 2434, October 1998.
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509 9.2. Informative References
511 [6] Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol", RFC 2131,
514 [7] Josefsson, S., "The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings",
517 [8] Arends, R., Austein, R., Larson, M., Massey, D., and S. Rose,
518 "Resource Records for the DNS Security Extensions", RFC 4034,
521 [9] Alexander, S. and R. Droms, "DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor
522 Extensions", RFC 2132, March 1997.
524 [10] Droms, R., Bound, J., Volz, B., Lemon, T., Perkins, C., and M.
525 Carney, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6
526 (DHCPv6)", RFC 3315, July 2003.
528 [11] Vixie, P., Gudmundsson, O., Eastlake, D., and B. Wellington,
529 "Secret Key Transaction Authentication for DNS (TSIG)",
532 [12] Lemon, T. and B. Sommerfeld, "Node-specific Client Identifiers
533 for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Version Four (DHCPv4)",
534 RFC 4361, February 2006.
536 [13] Gustafsson, A., "Handling of Unknown DNS Resource Record (RR)
537 Types", RFC 3597, September 2003.
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569 1414 Massachusetts Ave.
580 Redwood City, CA 94063
583 Email: mellon@nominum.com
587 Araneus Information Systems Oy
592 Email: gson@araneus.fi
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