4 Network Working Group S. Weiler
5 Internet-Draft SPARTA, Inc.
6 Updates: 4033, 4034, 4035, 5155 D. Blacka
7 (if approved) VeriSign, Inc.
8 Intended status: Standards Track September 5, 2009
12 Clarifications and Implementation Notes for DNSSECbis
13 draft-ietf-dnsext-dnssec-bis-updates-09
17 This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the
18 provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
20 Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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25 Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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27 time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
28 material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
30 The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
31 http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.
33 The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
34 http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
36 This Internet-Draft will expire on March 9, 2010.
40 Copyright (c) 2009 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
41 document authors. All rights reserved.
43 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
44 Provisions Relating to IETF Documents in effect on the date of
45 publication of this document (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info).
46 Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
47 and restrictions with respect to this document.
51 This document is a collection of technical clarifications to the
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57 Internet-Draft DNSSECbis Implementation Notes September 2009
60 DNSSECbis document set. It is meant to serve as a resource to
61 implementors as well as a repository of DNSSECbis errata.
66 1. Introduction and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
67 1.1. Structure of this Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
68 1.2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
69 2. Important Additions to DNSSSECbis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
70 2.1. NSEC3 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
71 2.2. SHA-256 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
72 3. Security Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
73 3.1. Clarifications on Non-Existence Proofs . . . . . . . . . . 4
74 3.2. Validating Responses to an ANY Query . . . . . . . . . . . 4
75 3.3. Check for CNAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
76 3.4. Insecure Delegation Proofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
77 4. Interoperability Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
78 4.1. Errors in Canonical Form Type Code List . . . . . . . . . 5
79 4.2. Unknown DS Message Digest Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . 5
80 4.3. Private Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
81 4.4. Caution About Local Policy and Multiple RRSIGs . . . . . . 7
82 4.5. Key Tag Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
83 4.6. Setting the DO Bit on Replies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
84 4.7. Setting the AD bit on Replies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
85 4.8. Setting the CD bit on Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
86 4.9. Nested Trust Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
87 5. Minor Corrections and Clarifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
88 5.1. Finding Zone Cuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
89 5.2. Clarifications on DNSKEY Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
90 5.3. Errors in Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
91 5.4. Errors in RFC 5155 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
92 6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
93 7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
94 8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
95 8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
96 8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
97 Appendix A. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
98 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
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116 1. Introduction and Terminology
118 This document lists some additions, clarifications and corrections to
119 the core DNSSECbis specification, as originally described in
120 [RFC4033], [RFC4034], and [RFC4035].
122 It is intended to serve as a resource for implementors and as a
123 repository of items that need to be addressed when advancing the
124 DNSSECbis documents from Proposed Standard to Draft Standard.
126 1.1. Structure of this Document
128 The clarifications to DNSSECbis are sorted according to their
129 importance, starting with ones which could, if ignored, lead to
130 security problems and progressing down to clarifications that are
131 expected to have little operational impact.
135 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
136 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
137 document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
140 2. Important Additions to DNSSSECbis
142 This section updates the set of core DNSSEC protocol documents
143 originally specified in Section 10 of [RFC4033].
147 [RFC5155] describes the use and behavior of the NSEC3 and NSEC3PARAM
148 records for hashed denial of existence. Validator implementations
149 are strongly encouraged to include support for NSEC3 because a number
150 of highly visible zones are expected to use it. Validators that do
151 not support validation of responses using NSEC3 will likely be
152 hampered in validating large portions of the DNS space.
154 [RFC5155] should be considered part of the DNS Security Document
155 Family as described by [RFC4033], Section 10.
159 [RFC4509] describes the use of SHA-256 as a digest algorithm for use
160 with Delegation Signer (DS) RRs. [I-D.ietf-dnsext-dnssec-rsasha256]
161 describes the use of the RSASHA256 algorithm for use in DNSKEY and
162 RRSIG RRs. Validator implementations are strongly encouraged to
163 include support for this algorithm for DS, DNSKEY, and RRSIG records.
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172 Both [RFC4509] and [I-D.ietf-dnsext-dnssec-rsasha256] should also be
173 considered part of the DNS Security Document Family as described by
174 [RFC4033], Section 10.
179 This section provides clarifications that, if overlooked, could lead
182 3.1. Clarifications on Non-Existence Proofs
184 [RFC4035] Section 5.4 under-specifies the algorithm for checking non-
185 existence proofs. In particular, the algorithm as presented would
186 incorrectly allow an NSEC or NSEC3 RR from an ancestor zone to prove
187 the non-existence of RRs in the child zone.
189 An "ancestor delegation" NSEC RR (or NSEC3 RR) is one with:
192 o the SOA bit clear, and
193 o a signer field that is shorter than the owner name of the NSEC RR,
194 or the original owner name for the NSEC3 RR.
196 Ancestor delegation NSEC or NSEC3 RRs MUST NOT be used to assume non-
197 existence of any RRs below that zone cut, which include all RRs at
198 that (original) owner name other than DS RRs, and all RRs below that
199 owner name regardless of type.
201 Similarly, the algorithm would also allow an NSEC RR at the same
202 owner name as a DNAME RR, or an NSEC3 RR at the same original owner
203 name as a DNAME, to prove the non-existence of names beneath that
204 DNAME. An NSEC or NSEC3 RR with the DNAME bit set MUST NOT be used
205 to assume the non-existence of any subdomain of that NSEC/NSEC3 RR's
206 (original) owner name.
208 3.2. Validating Responses to an ANY Query
210 [RFC4035] does not address how to validate responses when QTYPE=*.
211 As described in Section 6.2.2 of [RFC1034], a proper response to
212 QTYPE=* may include a subset of the RRsets at a given name. That is,
213 it is not necessary to include all RRsets at the QNAME in the
216 When validating a response to QTYPE=*, all received RRsets that match
217 QNAME and QCLASS MUST be validated. If any of those RRsets fail
218 validation, the answer is considered Bogus. If there are no RRsets
219 matching QNAME and QCLASS, that fact MUST be validated according to
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228 the rules in [RFC4035] Section 5.4 (as clarified in this document).
229 To be clear, a validator must not expect to receive all records at
230 the QNAME in response to QTYPE=*.
234 Section 5 of [RFC4035] says little about validating responses based
235 on (or that should be based on) CNAMEs. When validating a NOERROR/
236 NODATA response, validators MUST check the CNAME bit in the matching
237 NSEC or NSEC3 RR's type bitmap in addition to the bit for the query
238 type. Without this check, an attacker could successfully transform a
239 positive CNAME response into a NOERROR/NODATA response.
241 3.4. Insecure Delegation Proofs
243 [RFC4035] Section 5.2 specifies that a validator, when proving a
244 delegation is not secure, needs to check for the absence of the DS
245 and SOA bits in the NSEC (or NSEC3) type bitmap. The validator also
246 needs to check for the presence of the NS bit in the matching NSEC
247 (or NSEC3) RR (proving that there is, indeed, a delegation), or
248 alternately make sure that the delegation is covered by an NSEC3 RR
249 with the Opt-Out flag set. If this is not checked, spoofed unsigned
250 delegations might be used to claim that an existing signed record is
254 4. Interoperability Concerns
256 4.1. Errors in Canonical Form Type Code List
258 When canonicalizing DNS names, DNS names in the RDATA section of NSEC
259 and RRSIG resource records are not downcased.
261 [RFC4034] Section 6.2 item 3 has a list of resource record types for
262 which DNS names in the RDATA are downcased for purposes of DNSSEC
263 canonical form (for both ordering and signing). That list
264 erroneously contains NSEC and RRSIG. According to [RFC3755], DNS
265 names in the RDATA of NSEC and RRSIG should not be downcased.
267 The same section also erroneously lists HINFO, and twice at that.
268 Since HINFO records contain no domain names, they are not subject to
271 4.2. Unknown DS Message Digest Algorithms
273 Section 5.2 of [RFC4035] includes rules for how to handle delegations
274 to zones that are signed with entirely unsupported public key
275 algorithms, as indicated by the key algorithms shown in those zone's
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284 DS RRsets. It does not explicitly address how to handle DS records
285 that use unsupported message digest algorithms. In brief, DS records
286 using unknown or unsupported message digest algorithms MUST be
287 treated the same way as DS records referring to DNSKEY RRs of unknown
288 or unsupported public key algorithms.
290 The existing text says:
292 If the validator does not support any of the algorithms listed in
293 an authenticated DS RRset, then the resolver has no supported
294 authentication path leading from the parent to the child. The
295 resolver should treat this case as it would the case of an
296 authenticated NSEC RRset proving that no DS RRset exists, as
299 To paraphrase the above, when determining the security status of a
300 zone, a validator disregards any DS records listing unknown or
301 unsupported algorithms. If none are left, the zone is treated as if
304 Modified to consider DS message digest algorithms, a validator also
305 disregards any DS records using unknown or unsupported message digest
308 4.3. Private Algorithms
310 As discussed above, section 5.2 of [RFC4035] requires that validators
311 make decisions about the security status of zones based on the public
312 key algorithms shown in the DS records for those zones. In the case
313 of private algorithms, as described in [RFC4034] Appendix A.1.1, the
314 eight-bit algorithm field in the DS RR is not conclusive about what
315 algorithm(s) is actually in use.
317 If no private algorithms appear in the DS set or if any supported
318 algorithm appears in the DS set, no special processing will be
319 needed. In the remaining cases, the security status of the zone
320 depends on whether or not the resolver supports any of the private
321 algorithms in use (provided that these DS records use supported hash
322 functions, as discussed in Section 4.2). In these cases, the
323 resolver MUST retrieve the corresponding DNSKEY for each private
324 algorithm DS record and examine the public key field to determine the
325 algorithm in use. The security-aware resolver MUST ensure that the
326 hash of the DNSKEY RR's owner name and RDATA matches the digest in
327 the DS RR. If they do not match, and no other DS establishes that
328 the zone is secure, the referral should be considered Bogus data, as
329 discussed in [RFC4035].
331 This clarification facilitates the broader use of private algorithms,
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340 as suggested by [RFC4955].
342 4.4. Caution About Local Policy and Multiple RRSIGs
344 When multiple RRSIGs cover a given RRset, [RFC4035] Section 5.3.3
345 suggests that "the local resolver security policy determines whether
346 the resolver also has to test these RRSIG RRs and how to resolve
347 conflicts if these RRSIG RRs lead to differing results." In most
348 cases, a resolver would be well advised to accept any valid RRSIG as
349 sufficient. If the first RRSIG tested fails validation, a resolver
350 would be well advised to try others, giving a successful validation
351 result if any can be validated and giving a failure only if all
352 RRSIGs fail validation.
354 If a resolver adopts a more restrictive policy, there's a danger that
355 properly-signed data might unnecessarily fail validation, perhaps
356 because of cache timing issues. Furthermore, certain zone management
357 techniques, like the Double Signature Zone-signing Key Rollover
358 method described in section 4.2.1.2 of [RFC4641] might not work
361 4.5. Key Tag Calculation
363 [RFC4034] Appendix B.1 incorrectly defines the Key Tag field
364 calculation for algorithm 1. It correctly says that the Key Tag is
365 the most significant 16 of the least significant 24 bits of the
366 public key modulus. However, [RFC4034] then goes on to incorrectly
367 say that this is 4th to last and 3rd to last octets of the public key
368 modulus. It is, in fact, the 3rd to last and 2nd to last octets.
370 4.6. Setting the DO Bit on Replies
372 [RFC4035] does not provide any instructions to servers as to how to
373 set the DO bit. Some authoritative server implementations have
374 chosen to copy the DO bit settings from the incoming query to the
375 outgoing response. Others have chosen to never set the DO bit in
376 responses. Either behavior is permitted. To be clear, in replies to
377 queries with the DO-bit set servers may or may not set the DO bit.
379 4.7. Setting the AD bit on Replies
381 Section 3.2.3 of [RFC4035] describes under which conditions a
382 validating resolver should set or clear the AD bit in a response. In
383 order to protect legacy stub resolvers and middleboxes, validating
384 resolvers SHOULD only set the AD bit when a response both meets the
385 conditions listed in RFC 4035, section 3.2.3, and the request
386 contained either a set DO bit or a set AD bit.
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396 Note that the use of the AD bit in the query was previously
397 undefined. This document defines it as a signal indicating that the
398 requester understands and is interested in the value of the AD bit in
399 the response. This allows a requestor to indicate that it
400 understands the AD bit without also requesting DNSSEC data via the DO
403 4.8. Setting the CD bit on Requests
405 When processing a request with the CD bit set, the resolver MUST set
406 the CD bit on its upstream queries.
408 4.9. Nested Trust Anchors
410 A DNSSEC validator may be configured such that, for a given response,
411 more than one trust anchor could be used to validate the chain of
412 trust to the response zone. For example, imagine a validator
413 configured with trust anchors for "example." and "zone.example."
414 When the validator is asked to validate a response to
415 "www.sub.zone.example.", either trust anchor could apply.
417 When presented with this situation, DNSSEC validators SHOULD try all
418 applicable trust anchors until one succeeds.
420 There are some scenarios where different behaviors, such as choosing
421 the trust anchor closest to the QNAME of the response, may be
422 desired. A DNSSEC validator MAY enable such behaviors as
423 configurable overrides.
426 5. Minor Corrections and Clarifications
428 5.1. Finding Zone Cuts
430 Appendix C.8 of [RFC4035] discusses sending DS queries to the servers
431 for a parent zone. To do that, a resolver may first need to apply
432 special rules to discover what those servers are.
434 As explained in Section 3.1.4.1 of [RFC4035], security-aware name
435 servers need to apply special processing rules to handle the DS RR,
436 and in some situations the resolver may also need to apply special
437 rules to locate the name servers for the parent zone if the resolver
438 does not already have the parent's NS RRset. Section 4.2 of
439 [RFC4035] specifies a mechanism for doing that.
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452 5.2. Clarifications on DNSKEY Usage
454 Questions of the form "can I use a different DNSKEY for signing this
455 RRset" have occasionally arisen.
457 The short answer is "yes, absolutely". You can even use a different
458 DNSKEY for each RRset in a zone, subject only to practical limits on
459 the size of the DNSKEY RRset. However, be aware that there is no way
460 to tell resolvers what a particularly DNSKEY is supposed to be used
461 for -- any DNSKEY in the zone's signed DNSKEY RRset may be used to
462 authenticate any RRset in the zone. For example, if a weaker or less
463 trusted DNSKEY is being used to authenticate NSEC RRsets or all
464 dynamically updated records, that same DNSKEY can also be used to
465 sign any other RRsets from the zone.
467 Furthermore, note that the SEP bit setting has no effect on how a
468 DNSKEY may be used -- the validation process is specifically
469 prohibited from using that bit by [RFC4034] section 2.1.2. It is
470 possible to use a DNSKEY without the SEP bit set as the sole secure
471 entry point to the zone, yet use a DNSKEY with the SEP bit set to
472 sign all RRsets in the zone (other than the DNSKEY RRset). It's also
473 possible to use a single DNSKEY, with or without the SEP bit set, to
474 sign the entire zone, including the DNSKEY RRset itself.
476 5.3. Errors in Examples
478 The text in [RFC4035] Section C.1 refers to the examples in B.1 as
479 "x.w.example.com" while B.1 uses "x.w.example". This is painfully
480 obvious in the second paragraph where it states that the RRSIG labels
481 field value of 3 indicates that the answer was not the result of
482 wildcard expansion. This is true for "x.w.example" but not for
483 "x.w.example.com", which of course has a label count of 4
484 (antithetically, a label count of 3 would imply the answer was the
485 result of a wildcard expansion).
487 The first paragraph of [RFC4035] Section C.6 also has a minor error:
488 the reference to "a.z.w.w.example" should instead be "a.z.w.example",
489 as in the previous line.
491 5.4. Errors in RFC 5155
493 A NSEC3 record that matches an Empty Non-Terminal effectively has no
494 type associated with it. This NSEC3 record has an empty type bit
495 map. Section 3.2.1 of [RFC5155] contains the statement:
497 Blocks with no types present MUST NOT be included.
499 However, the same section contains a regular expression:
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508 Type Bit Maps Field = ( Window Block # | Bitmap Length | Bitmap )+
510 The plus sign in the regular expression indicates that there is one
511 or more of the preceding element. This means that there must be at
512 least one window block. If this window block has no types, it
513 contradicts with the first statement. Therefore, the correct text in
514 RFC 5155 3.2.1 should be:
516 Type Bit Maps Field = ( Window Block # | Bitmap Length | Bitmap )*
519 6. IANA Considerations
521 This document specifies no IANA Actions.
524 7. Security Considerations
526 This document adds two cryptographic features to the core DNSSEC
527 protocol. Additionally, it addresses some ambiguities and omissions
528 in the core DNSSEC documents that, if not recognized and addressed in
529 implementations, could lead to security failures. In particular, the
530 validation algorithm clarifications in Section 3 are critical for
531 preserving the security properties DNSSEC offers. Furthermore,
532 failure to address some of the interoperability concerns in Section 4
533 could limit the ability to later change or expand DNSSEC, including
534 adding new algorithms.
539 8.1. Normative References
541 [I-D.ietf-dnsext-dnssec-rsasha256]
542 Jansen, J., "Use of SHA-2 algorithms with RSA in DNSKEY
543 and RRSIG Resource Records for DNSSEC",
544 draft-ietf-dnsext-dnssec-rsasha256-14 (work in progress),
547 [RFC1034] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - concepts and facilities",
548 RFC 1034, STD 13, November 1987.
550 [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
551 Requirement Levels", RFC 2119, BCP 14, March 1997.
553 [RFC4033] Arends, R., Austein, R., Larson, M., Massey, D., and S.
554 Rose, "DNS Security Introduction and Requirements",
555 RFC 4033, March 2005.
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564 [RFC4034] Arends, R., Austein, R., Larson, M., Massey, D., and S.
565 Rose, "Resource Records for the DNS Security Extensions",
566 RFC 4034, March 2005.
568 [RFC4035] Arends, R., Austein, R., Larson, M., Massey, D., and S.
569 Rose, "Protocol Modifications for the DNS Security
570 Extensions", RFC 4035, March 2005.
572 [RFC4509] Hardaker, W., "Use of SHA-256 in DNSSEC Delegation Signer
573 (DS) Resource Records (RRs)", RFC 4509, May 2006.
575 [RFC5155] Laurie, B., Sisson, G., Arends, R., and D. Blacka, "DNS
576 Security (DNSSEC) Hashed Authenticated Denial of
577 Existence", RFC 5155, March 2008.
579 8.2. Informative References
581 [RFC3755] Weiler, S., "Legacy Resolver Compatibility for Delegation
582 Signer (DS)", RFC 3755, May 2004.
584 [RFC4641] Kolkman, O. and R. Gieben, "DNSSEC Operational Practices",
585 RFC 4641, September 2006.
587 [RFC4955] Blacka, D., "DNS Security (DNSSEC) Experiments", RFC 4955,
591 Appendix A. Acknowledgments
593 The editors would like the thank Rob Austein for his previous work as
594 an editor of this document.
596 The editors are extremely grateful to those who, in addition to
597 finding errors and omissions in the DNSSECbis document set, have
598 provided text suitable for inclusion in this document.
600 The lack of specificity about handling private algorithms, as
601 described in Section 4.3, and the lack of specificity in handling ANY
602 queries, as described in Section 3.2, were discovered by David
605 The error in algorithm 1 key tag calculation, as described in
606 Section 4.5, was found by Abhijit Hayatnagarkar. Donald Eastlake
607 contributed text for Section 4.5.
609 The bug relating to delegation NSEC RR's in Section 3.1 was found by
610 Roy Badami. Roy Arends found the related problem with DNAME.
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620 The errors in the [RFC4035] examples were found by Roy Arends, who
621 also contributed text for Section 5.3 of this document.
623 The editors would like to thank Ed Lewis, Danny Mayer, Olafur
624 Gudmundsson, Suzanne Woolf, and Scott Rose for their substantive
625 comments on the text of this document.
632 7110 Samuel Morse Drive
633 Columbia, Maryland 21046
636 Email: weiler@tislabs.com
641 21345 Ridgetop Circle
645 Email: davidb@verisign.com
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