<- BCP Index (1..100)
BCP 84
(also RFC 3704, RFC 8704)
[Note that this file is a concatenation of more than one RFC.]
Network Working Group F. Baker
Request for Comments: 3704 Cisco Systems
Updates: 2827 P. Savola
BCP: 84 CSC/FUNET
Category: Best Current Practice March 2004
Ingress Filtering for Multihomed Networks
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
BCP 38, RFC 2827, is designed to limit the impact of distributed
denial of service attacks, by denying traffic with spoofed addresses
access to the network, and to help ensure that traffic is traceable
to its correct source network. As a side effect of protecting the
Internet against such attacks, the network implementing the solution
also protects itself from this and other attacks, such as spoofed
management access to networking equipment. There are cases when this
may create problems, e.g., with multihoming. This document describes
the current ingress filtering operational mechanisms, examines
generic issues related to ingress filtering, and delves into the
effects on multihoming in particular. This memo updates RFC 2827.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Different Ways to Implement Ingress Filtering . . . . . . . . 4
2.1 Ingress Access Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Strict Reverse Path Forwarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Feasible Path Reverse Path Forwarding . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4 Loose Reverse Path Forwarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.5 Loose Reverse Path Forwarding Ignoring Default Routes . . 7
3. Clarifying the Applicability of Ingress Filtering . . . . . . 8
3.1 Ingress Filtering at Multiple Levels . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2 Ingress Filtering to Protect Your Own Infrastructure . . . 8
3.3 Ingress Filtering on Peering Links . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4. Solutions to Ingress Filtering with Multihoming . . . . . . . 9
4.1 Use Loose RPF When Appropriate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.2 Ensure That Each ISP's Ingress Filter Is Complete . . . . 11
4.3 Send Traffic Using a Provider Prefix Only to That Provider 11
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6. Conclusions and Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
9. Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
10. Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
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1. Introduction
BCP 38, RFC 2827 [1], is designed to limit the impact of distributed
denial of service attacks, by denying traffic with spoofed addresses
access to the network, and to help ensure that traffic is traceable
to its correct source network. As a side effect of protecting the
Internet against such attacks, the network implementing the solution
also protects itself from this and other attacks, such as spoofed
management access to networking equipment. There are cases when this
may create problems, e.g., with multihoming. This document describes
the current ingress filtering operational mechanisms, examines
generic issues related to ingress filtering and delves into the
effects on multihoming in particular.
RFC 2827 recommends that ISPs police their customers' traffic by
dropping traffic entering their networks that is coming from a source
address not legitimately in use by the customer network. The
filtering includes but is in no way limited to the traffic whose
source address is a so-called "Martian Address" - an address that is
reserved [3], including any address within 0.0.0.0/8, 10.0.0.0/8,
127.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16, 224.0.0.0/4, or
240.0.0.0/4.
The reasoning behind the ingress filtering procedure is that
Distributed Denial of Service Attacks frequently spoof other systems'
source addresses, placing a random number in the field. In some
attacks, this random number is deterministically within the target
network, simultaneously attacking one or more machines and causing
those machines to attack others with ICMP messages or other traffic;
in this case, the attacked sites can protect themselves by proper
filtering, by verifying that their prefixes are not used in the
source addresses in packets received from the Internet. In other
attacks, the source address is literally a random 32 bit number,
resulting in the source of the attack being difficult to trace. If
the traffic leaving an edge network and entering an ISP can be
limited to traffic it is legitimately sending, attacks can be
somewhat mitigated: traffic with random or improper source addresses
can be suppressed before it does significant damage, and attacks can
be readily traced back to at least their source networks.
This document is aimed at ISP and edge network operators who 1) would
like to learn more of ingress filtering methods in general, or 2) are
already using ingress filtering to some degree but who would like to
expand its use and want to avoid the pitfalls of ingress filtering in
the multihomed/asymmetric scenarios.
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In section 2, several different ways to implement ingress filtering
are described and examined in the generic context. In section 3,
some clarifications on the applicability of ingress filtering methods
are made. In section 4, ingress filtering is analyzed in detail from
the multihoming perspective. In section 5, conclusions and potential
future work items are identified.
2. Different Ways to Implement Ingress Filtering
This section serves as an introduction to different operational
techniques used to implement ingress filtering as of writing this
memo. The mechanisms are described and analyzed in general terms,
and multihoming-specific issues are described in Section 4.
There are at least five ways one can implement RFC 2827, with varying
impacts. These include (the names are in relatively common usage):
o Ingress Access Lists
o Strict Reverse Path Forwarding
o Feasible Path Reverse Path Forwarding
o Loose Reverse Path Forwarding
o Loose Reverse Path Forwarding ignoring default routes
Other mechanisms are also possible, and indeed, there are a number of
techniques that might profit from further study, specification,
implementation, and/or deployment; see Section 6. However, these are
out of scope.
2.1. Ingress Access Lists
An Ingress Access List is a filter that checks the source address of
every message received on a network interface against a list of
acceptable prefixes, dropping any packet that does not match the
filter. While this is by no means the only way to implement an
ingress filter, it is the one proposed by RFC 2827 [1], and in some
sense the most deterministic one.
However, Ingress Access Lists are typically maintained manually; for
example, forgetting to have the list updated at the ISPs if the set
of prefixes changes (e.g., as a result of multihoming) might lead to
discarding the packets if they do not pass the ingress filter.
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Naturally, this problem is not limited to Ingress Access Lists -- it
is inherent to Ingress Filtering when the ingress filter is not
complete. However, usually Ingress Access Lists are more difficult
to maintain than the other mechanisms, and having an outdated list
can prevent legitimate access.
2.2. Strict Reverse Path Forwarding
Strict Reverse Path Forwarding (Strict RPF) is a simple way to
implement an ingress filter. It is conceptually identical to using
access lists for ingress filtering, with the exception that the
access list is dynamic. This may also be used to avoid duplicate
configuration (e.g., maintaining both static routes or BGP prefix-
list filters and interface access-lists). The procedure is that the
source address is looked up in the Forwarding Information Base (FIB)
- and if the packet is received on the interface which would be used
to forward the traffic to the source of the packet, it passes the
check.
Strict Reverse Path Forwarding is a very reasonable approach in front
of any kind of edge network; in particular, it is far superior to
Ingress Access Lists when the network edge is advertising multiple
prefixes using BGP. It makes for a simple, cheap, fast, and dynamic
filter.
But Strict Reverse Path Forwarding has some problems of its own.
First, the test is only applicable in places where routing is
symmetrical - where IP datagrams in one direction and responses from
the other deterministically follow the same path. While this is
common at edge network interfaces to their ISP, it is in no sense
common between ISPs, which normally use asymmetrical "hot potato"
routing. Also, if BGP is carrying prefixes and some legitimate
prefixes are not being advertised or not being accepted by the ISP
under its policy, the effect is the same as ingress filtering using
an incomplete access list: some legitimate traffic is filtered for
lack of a route in the filtering router's Forwarding Information
Base.
There are operational techniques, especially with BGP but somewhat
applicable to other routing protocols as well, to make strict RPF
work better in the case of asymmetric or multihomed traffic. The ISP
assigns a better metric which is not propagated outside of the
router, either a vendor-specific "weight" or a protocol distance to
prefer the directly received routes. With BGP and sufficient
machinery in place, setting the preferences could even be automated,
using BGP Communities [2]. That way, the route will always be the
best one in the FIB, even in the scenarios where only the primary
connectivity would be used and typically no packets would pass
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through the interface. This method assumes that there is no strict
RPF filtering between the primary and secondary edge routers; in
particular, when applied to multihoming to different ISPs, this
assumption may fail.
2.3. Feasible Path Reverse Path Forwarding
Feasible Path Reverse Path Forwarding (Feasible RPF) is an extension
of Strict RPF. The source address is still looked up in the FIB (or
an equivalent, RPF-specific table) but instead of just inserting one
best route there, the alternative paths (if any) have been added as
well, and are valid for consideration. The list is populated using
routing-protocol specific methods, for example by including all or N
(where N is less than all) feasible BGP paths in the Routing
Information Base (RIB). Sometimes this method has been implemented
as part of a Strict RPF implementation.
In the case of asymmetric routing and/or multihoming at the edge of
the network, this approach provides a way to relatively easily
address the biggest problems of Strict RPF.
It is critical to understand the context in which Feasible RPF
operates. The mechanism relies on consistent route advertisements
(i.e., the same prefix(es), through all the paths) propagating to all
the routers performing Feasible RPF checking. For example, this may
not hold e.g., in the case where a secondary ISP does not propagate
the BGP advertisement to the primary ISP e.g., due to route-maps or
other routing policies not being up-to-date. The failure modes are
typically similar to "operationally enhanced Strict RPF", as
described above.
As a general guideline, if an advertisement is filtered, the packets
will be filtered as well.
In consequence, properly defined, Feasible RPF is a very powerful
tool in certain kinds of asymmetric routing scenarios, but it is
important to understand its operational role and applicability
better.
2.4. Loose Reverse Path Forwarding
Loose Reverse Path Forwarding (Loose RPF) is algorithmically similar
to strict RPF, but differs in that it checks only for the existence
of a route (even a default route, if applicable), not where the route
points to. Practically, this could be considered as a "route
presence check" ("loose RPF is a misnomer in a sense because there is
no "reverse path" check in the first place).
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The questionable benefit of Loose RPF is found in asymmetric routing
situations: a packet is dropped if there is no route at all, such as
to "Martian addresses" or addresses that are not currently routed,
but is not dropped if a route exists.
Loose Reverse Path Forwarding has problems, however. Since it
sacrifices directionality, it loses the ability to limit an edge
network's traffic to traffic legitimately sourced from that network,
in most cases, rendering the mechanism useless as an ingress
filtering mechanism.
Also, many ISPs use default routes for various purposes such as
collecting illegitimate traffic at so-called "Honey Pot" systems or
discarding any traffic they do not have a "real" route to, and
smaller ISPs may well purchase transit capabilities and use a default
route from a larger provider. At least some implementations of Loose
RPF check where the default route points to. If the route points to
the interface where Loose RPF is enabled, any packet is allowed from
that interface; if it points nowhere or to some other interface, the
packets with bogus source addresses will be discarded at the Loose
RPF interface even in the presence of a default route. If such
fine-grained checking is not implemented, presence of a default route
nullifies the effect of Loose RPF completely.
One case where Loose RPF might fit well could be an ISP filtering
packets from its upstream providers, to get rid of packets with
"Martian" or other non-routed addresses.
If other approaches are unsuitable, loose RPF could be used as a form
of contract verification: the other network is presumably certifying
that it has provided appropriate ingress filtering rules, so the
network doing the filtering need only verify the fact and react if
any packets which would show a breach in the contract are detected.
Of course, this mechanism would only show if the source addresses
used are "martian" or other unrouted addresses -- not if they are
from someone else's address space.
2.5. Loose Reverse Path Forwarding Ignoring Default Routes
The fifth implementation technique may be characterized as Loose RPF
ignoring default routes, i.e., an "explicit route presence check".
In this approach, the router looks up the source address in the route
table, and preserves the packet if a route is found. However, in the
lookup, default routes are excluded. Therefore, the technique is
mostly usable in scenarios where default routes are used only to
catch traffic with bogus source addresses, with an extensive (or even
full) list of explicit routes to cover legitimate traffic.
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Like Loose RPF, this is useful in places where asymmetric routing is
found, such as on inter-ISP links. However, like Loose RPF, since it
sacrifices directionality, it loses the ability to limit an edge
network's traffic to traffic legitimately sourced from that network.
3. Clarifying the Applicability of Ingress Filtering
What may not be readily apparent is that ingress filtering is not
applied only at the "last-mile" interface between the ISP and the end
user. It's perfectly fine, and recommended, to also perform ingress
filtering at the edges of ISPs where appropriate, at the routers
connecting LANs to an enterprise network, etc. -- this increases the
defense in depth.
3.1. Ingress Filtering at Multiple Levels
Because of wider deployment of ingress filtering, the issue is
recursive. Ingress filtering has to work everywhere where it's used,
not just between the first two parties. That is, if a user
negotiates a special ingress filtering arrangement with his ISP, he
should also ensure (or make sure the ISP ensures) that the same
arrangements also apply to the ISP's upstream and peering links, if
ingress filtering is being used there -- or will get used, at some
point in the future; similarly with the upstream ISPs and peers.
In consequence, manual models which do not automatically propagate
the information to every party where the packets would go and where
ingress filtering might be applied have only limited generic
usefulness.
3.2. Ingress Filtering to Protect Your Own Infrastructure
Another feature stemming from wider deployment of ingress filtering
may not be readily apparent. The routers and other ISP
infrastructure are vulnerable to several kinds of attacks. The
threat is typically mitigated by restricting who can access these
systems.
However, unless ingress filtering (or at least, a limited subset of
it) has been deployed at every border (towards the customers, peers
and upstreams) -- blocking the use of your own addresses as source
addresses -- the attackers may be able to circumvent the protections
of the infrastructure gear.
Therefore, by deploying ingress filtering, one does not just help the
Internet as a whole, but protects against several classes of threats
to your own infrastructure as well.
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3.3. Ingress Filtering on Peering Links
Ingress filtering on peering links, whether by ISPs or by end-sites,
is not really that much different from the more typical "downstream"
or "upstream" ingress filtering.
However, it's important to note that with mixed upstream/downstream
and peering links, the different links may have different properties
(e.g., relating to contracts, trust, viability of the ingress
filtering mechanisms, etc.). In the most typical case, just using an
ingress filtering mechanism towards a peer (e.g., Strict RPF) works
just fine as long as the routing between the peers is kept reasonably
symmetric. It might even be considered useful to be able to filter
out source addresses coming from an upstream link which should have
come over a peering link (implying something like Strict RPF is used
towards the upstream) -- but this is a more complex topic and
considered out of scope; see Section 6.
4. Solutions to Ingress Filtering with Multihoming
First, one must ask why a site multihomes; for example, the edge
network might:
o use two ISPs for backing up the Internet connectivity to ensure
robustness,
o use whichever ISP is offering the fastest TCP service at the
moment,
o need several points of access to the Internet in places where no
one ISP offers service, or
o be changing ISPs (and therefore multihoming only temporarily).
One can imagine a number of approaches to working around the
limitations of ingress filters for multihomed networks. Options
include:
1. Do not multihome.
2. Do not use ingress filters.
3. Accept that service will be incomplete.
4. On some interfaces, weaken ingress filtering by using an
appropriate form of loose RPF check, as described in Section 4.1.
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5. Ensure, by BGP or by contract, that each ISP's ingress filter is
complete, as described in Section 4.2.
6. Ensure that edge networks only deliver traffic to their ISPs that
will in fact pass the ingress filter, as described in Section
4.3.
The first three of these are obviously mentioned for completeness;
they are not and cannot be viable positions; the final three are
considered below.
The fourth and the fifth must be ensured in the upstream ISPs as
well, as described in Section 3.1.
Next, we now look at the viable ways for dealing with the side-
effects of ingress filters.
4.1. Use Loose RPF When Appropriate
Where asymmetric routing is preferred or is unavoidable, ingress
filtering may be difficult to deploy using a mechanism such as strict
RPF which requires the paths to be symmetrical. In many cases, using
operational methods or feasible RPF may ensure the ingress filter is
complete, like described below. Failing that, the only real options
are to not perform ingress filtering, use a manual access-list
(possibly in addition to some other mechanisms), or to using some
form of Loose RPF check.
Failing to provide any ingress filter at all essentially trusts the
downstream network to behave itself, which is not the wisest course
of action. However, especially in the case of very large networks of
even hundreds or thousands of prefixes, maintaining manual access-
lists may be too much to ask.
The use of Loose RPF does not seem like a good choice between the
edge network and the ISP, since it loses the directionality of the
test. This argues in favor of either using a complete filter in the
upstream network or ensuring in the downstream network that packets
the upstream network will reject will never reach it.
Therefore, the use of Loose RPF cannot be recommended, except as a
way to measure whether "martian" or other unrouted addresses are
being used.
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4.2. Ensure That Each ISP's Ingress Filter Is Complete
For the edge network, if multihoming is being used for robustness or
to change routing from time to time depending on measured ISP
behavior, the simplest approach will be to ensure that its ISPs in
fact carry its addresses in routing. This will often require the
edge network to use provider-independent prefixes and exchange routes
with its ISPs with BGP, to ensure that its prefix is carried upstream
to the major transit ISPs. Of necessity, this implies that the edge
network will be of a size and technical competence to qualify for a
separate address assignment and an autonomous system number from its
RIR.
There are a number of techniques which make it easier to ensure the
ISP's ingress filter is complete. Feasible RPF and Strict RPF with
operational techniques both work quite well for multihomed or
asymmetric scenarios between the ISP and an edge network.
When a routing protocol is not being used, but rather the customer
information is generated from databases such as Radius, TACACS, or
Diameter, the ingress filtering can be the most easily ensured and
kept up-to-date with Strict RPF or Ingress Access Lists generated
automatically from such databases.
4.3. Send Traffic Using a Provider Prefix Only to That Provider
For smaller edge networks that use provider-based addressing and
whose ISPs implement ingress filters (which they should do), the
third option is to route traffic being sourced from a given
provider's address space to that provider.
This is not a complicated procedure, but requires careful planning
and configuration. For robustness, the edge network may choose to
connect to each of its ISPs through two or more different Points of
Presence (POPs), so that if one POP or line experiences an outage,
another link to the same ISP can be used. Alternatively, a set of
tunnels could be configured instead of multiple connections to the
same ISP [4][5]. This way the edge routers are configured to first
inspect the source address of a packet destined to an ISP and shunt
it into the appropriate tunnel or interface toward the ISP.
If such a scenario is applied exhaustively, so that an exit router is
chosen in the edge network for every prefix the network uses, traffic
originating from any other prefix can be summarily discarded instead
of sending it to an ISP.
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5. Security Considerations
Ingress filtering is typically performed to ensure that traffic
arriving on one network interface legitimately comes from a computer
residing on a network reachable through that interface.
The closer to the actual source ingress filtering is performed, the
more effective it is. One could wish that the first hop router would
ensure that traffic being sourced from its neighboring end system was
correctly addressed; a router further away can only ensure that it is
possible that there is such a system within the indicated prefix.
Therefore, ingress filtering should be done at multiple levels, with
different level of granularity.
It bears to keep in mind that while one goal of ingress filtering is
to make attacks traceable, it is impossible to know whether the
particular attacker "somewhere in the Internet" is being ingress
filtered or not. Therefore, one can only guess whether the source
addresses have been spoofed or not: in any case, getting a possible
lead -- e.g., to contact a potential source to ask whether they're
observing an attack or not -- is still valuable, and more so when the
ingress filtering gets more and more widely deployed.
In consequence, every administrative domain should try to ensure a
sufficient level of ingress filtering on its borders.
Security properties and applicability of different ingress filtering
types differ a lot.
o Ingress Access Lists require typically manual maintenance, but are
the most bulletproof when done properly; typically, ingress access
lists are best fit between the edge and the ISP when the
configuration is not too dynamic if strict RPF is not an option,
between ISPs if the number of used prefixes is low, or as an
additional layer of protection.
o Strict RPF check is a very easy and sure way to implement ingress
filtering. It is typically fit between the edge network and the
ISP. In many cases, a simple strict RPF can be augmented by
operational procedures in the case of asymmetric traffic patterns,
or the feasible RPF technique to also account for other
alternative paths.
o Feasible Path RPF check is an extension of Strict RPF. It is
suitable in all the scenarios where Strict RPF is, but multihomed
or asymmetric scenarios in particular. However, one must remember
that Feasible RPF assumes the consistent origination and
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propagation of routing information to work; the implications of
this must be understood especially if a prefix advertisement
passes through third parties.
o Loose RPF primarily filters out unrouted prefixes such as Martian
addresses. It can be applied in the upstream interfaces to reduce
the size of DoS attacks with unrouted source addresses. In the
downstream interfaces it can only be used as a contract
verification, that the other network has performed at least some
ingress filtering.
When weighing the tradeoffs of different ingress filtering
mechanisms, the security properties of a more relaxed approach should
be carefully considered before applying it. Especially when applied
by an ISP towards an edge network, there don't seem to be many
reasons why a stricter form of ingress filtering would not be
appropriate.
6. Conclusions and Future Work
This memo describes ingress filtering techniques in general and the
options for multihomed networks in particular.
It is important for ISPs to implement ingress filtering to prevent
spoofed addresses being used, both to curtail DoS attacks and to make
them more traceable, and to protect their own infrastructure. This
memo describes mechanisms that could be used to achieve that effect,
and the tradeoffs of those mechanisms.
To summarize:
o Ingress filtering should always be done between the ISP and a
single-homed edge network.
o Ingress filtering with Feasible RPF or similar Strict RPF
techniques could almost always be applied between the ISP and
multi-homed edge networks as well.
o Both the ISPs and edge networks should verify that their own
addresses are not being used in source addresses in the packets
coming from outside their network.
o Some form of ingress filtering is also reasonable between ISPs,
especially if the number of prefixes is low.
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This memo will lower the bar for the adoption of ingress filtering
especially in the scenarios like asymmetric/multihomed networks where
the general belief has been that ingress filtering is difficult to
implement.
One can identify multiple areas where additional work would be
useful:
o Specify the mechanisms in more detail: there is some variance
between implementations e.g., on whether traffic to multicast
destination addresses will always pass the Strict RPF filter or
not. By formally specifying the mechanisms the implementations
might get harmonized.
o Study and specify Routing Information Base (RIB) -based RPF
mechanisms, e.g., Feasible Path RPF, in more detail. In
particular, consider under which assumptions these mechanisms work
as intended and where they don't.
o Write a more generic note on the ingress filtering mechanisms than
this memo, after the taxonomy and the details or the mechanisms
(points above) have been fleshed out.
o Consider the more complex case where a network has connectivity
with different properties (e.g., peers and upstreams), and wants
to ensure that traffic sourced with a peer's address should not be
accepted from the upstream.
7. Acknowledgements
Rob Austein, Barry Greene, Christoph Reichert, Daniel Senie, Pedro
Roque, and Iljitsch van Beijnum reviewed this document and helped in
improving it. Thomas Narten, Ted Hardie, and Russ Housley provided
good feedback which boosted the document in its final stages.
8. References
8.1. Normative References
[1] Ferguson, P. and D. Senie, "Network Ingress Filtering: Defeating
Denial of Service Attacks which employ IP Source Address
Spoofing", BCP 38, RFC 2827, May 2000.
8.2. Informative References
[2] Chandrasekeran, R., Traina, P. and T. Li, "BGP Communities
Attribute", RFC 1997, August 1996.
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[3] IANA, "Special-Use IPv4 Addresses", RFC 3330, September 2002.
[4] Bates, T. and Y. Rekhter, "Scalable Support for Multi-homed
Multi-provider Connectivity", RFC 2260, January 1998.
[5] Hagino, J. and H. Snyder, "IPv6 Multihoming Support at Site Exit
Routers", RFC 3178, October 2001.
9. Authors' Addresses
Fred Baker
Cisco Systems
Santa Barbara, CA 93117
US
EMail: fred@cisco.com
Pekka Savola
CSC/FUNET
Espoo
Finland
EMail: psavola@funet.fi
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10. Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). This document is subject
to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78 and
except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.
This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
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Baker & Savola Best Current Practice [Page 16]
=========================================================================
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) K. Sriram
Request for Comments: 8704 D. Montgomery
BCP: 84 USA NIST
Updates: 3704 J. Haas
Category: Best Current Practice Juniper Networks, Inc.
ISSN: 2070-1721 February 2020
Enhanced Feasible-Path Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding
Abstract
This document identifies a need for and proposes improvement of the
unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (uRPF) techniques (see RFC 3704) for
detection and mitigation of source address spoofing (see BCP 38).
Strict uRPF is inflexible about directionality, the loose uRPF is
oblivious to directionality, and the current feasible-path uRPF
attempts to strike a balance between the two (see RFC 3704).
However, as shown in this document, the existing feasible-path uRPF
still has shortcomings. This document describes enhanced feasible-
path uRPF (EFP-uRPF) techniques that are more flexible (in a
meaningful way) about directionality than the feasible-path uRPF (RFC
3704). The proposed EFP-uRPF methods aim to significantly reduce
false positives regarding invalid detection in source address
validation (SAV). Hence, they can potentially alleviate ISPs'
concerns about the possibility of disrupting service for their
customers and encourage greater deployment of uRPF techniques. This
document updates RFC 3704.
Status of This Memo
This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
BCPs is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8704.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2020 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
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Terminology
1.2. Requirements Language
2. Review of Existing Source Address Validation Techniques
2.1. SAV Using Access Control List
2.2. SAV Using Strict Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding
2.3. SAV Using Feasible-Path Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding
2.4. SAV Using Loose Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding
2.5. SAV Using VRF Table
3. SAV Using Enhanced Feasible-Path uRPF
3.1. Description of the Method
3.1.1. Algorithm A: Enhanced Feasible-Path uRPF
3.2. Operational Recommendations
3.3. A Challenging Scenario
3.4. Algorithm B: Enhanced Feasible-Path uRPF with Additional
Flexibility across Customer Cone
3.5. Augmenting RPF Lists with ROA and IRR Data
3.6. Implementation and Operations Considerations
3.6.1. Impact on FIB Memory Size Requirement
3.6.2. Coping with BGP's Transient Behavior
3.7. Summary of Recommendations
3.7.1. Applicability of the EFP-uRPF Method with Algorithm A
4. Security Considerations
5. IANA Considerations
6. References
6.1. Normative References
6.2. Informative References
Acknowledgements
Authors' Addresses
1. Introduction
Source address validation (SAV) refers to the detection and
mitigation of source address (SA) spoofing [RFC2827]. This document
identifies a need for and proposes improvement of the unicast Reverse
Path Forwarding (uRPF) techniques [RFC3704] for SAV. Strict uRPF is
inflexible about directionality (see [RFC3704] for definitions), the
loose uRPF is oblivious to directionality, and the current feasible-
path uRPF attempts to strike a balance between the two [RFC3704].
However, as shown in this document, the existing feasible-path uRPF
still has shortcomings. Even with the feasible-path uRPF, ISPs are
often apprehensive that they may be dropping customers' data packets
with legitimate source addresses.
This document describes enhanced feasible-path uRPF (EFP-uRPF)
techniques that aim to be more flexible (in a meaningful way) about
directionality than the feasible-path uRPF. It is based on the
principle that if BGP updates for multiple prefixes with the same
origin AS were received on different interfaces (at border routers),
then incoming data packets with source addresses in any of those
prefixes should be accepted on any of those interfaces (presented in
Section 3). For some challenging ISP-customer scenarios (see
Section 3.3), this document also describes a more relaxed version of
the enhanced feasible-path uRPF technique (presented in Section 3.4).
Implementation and operations considerations are discussed in
Section 3.6.
Throughout this document, the routes under consideration are assumed
to have been vetted based on prefix filtering [RFC7454] and possibly
origin validation [RFC6811].
The EFP-uRPF methods aim to significantly reduce false positives
regarding invalid detection in SAV. They are expected to add greater
operational robustness and efficacy to uRPF while minimizing ISPs'
concerns about accidental service disruption for their customers. It
is expected that this will encourage more deployment of uRPF to help
realize its Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed DoS (DDoS)
prevention benefits network wide.
1.1. Terminology
The Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) list is the list of permissible
source-address prefixes for incoming data packets on a given
interface.
Peering relationships considered in this document are provider-to-
customer (P2C), customer-to-provider (C2P), and peer-to-peer (P2P).
Here, "provider" refers to a transit provider. The first two are
transit relationships. A peer connected via a P2P link is known as a
lateral peer (non-transit).
AS A's customer cone is A plus all the ASes that can be reached from
A following only P2C links [Luckie].
A stub AS is an AS that does not have any customers or lateral peers.
In this document, a single-homed stub AS is one that has a single
transit provider and a multihomed stub AS is one that has multiple
(two or more) transit providers.
1.2. Requirements Language
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
2. Review of Existing Source Address Validation Techniques
There are various existing techniques for the mitigation of DoS/DDoS
attacks with spoofed addresses [RFC2827] [RFC3704]. SAV is performed
in network edge devices, such as border routers, Cable Modem
Termination Systems (CMTS) [RFC4036], and Packet Data Network
Gateways (PDN-GWs) in mobile networks [Firmin]. Ingress Access
Control List (ACL) and uRPF are techniques employed for implementing
SAV [RFC2827] [RFC3704] [ISOC].
2.1. SAV Using Access Control List
Ingress/egress ACLs are maintained to list acceptable (or
alternatively, unacceptable) prefixes for the source addresses in the
incoming/outgoing Internet Protocol (IP) packets. Any packet with a
source address that fails the filtering criteria is dropped. The
ACLs for the ingress/egress filters need to be maintained to keep
them up to date. Updating the ACLs is an operator-driven manual
process; hence, it is operationally difficult or infeasible.
Typically, the egress ACLs in access aggregation devices (e.g., CMTS,
PDN-GW) permit source addresses only from the address spaces
(prefixes) that are associated with the interface on which the
customer network is connected. Ingress ACLs are typically deployed
on border routers and drop ingress packets when the source address is
spoofed (e.g., belongs to obviously disallowed prefix blocks, IANA
special-purpose prefixes [SPAR-v4][SPAR-v6], provider's own prefixes,
etc.).
2.2. SAV Using Strict Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding
Note: In the figures (scenarios) in this section and the subsequent
sections, the following terminology is used:
* "fails" means drops packets with legitimate source addresses.
* "works (but not desirable)" means passes all packets with
legitimate source addresses but is oblivious to directionality.
* "works best" means passes all packets with legitimate source
addresses with no (or minimal) compromise of directionality.
* The notation Pi[ASn ASm ...] denotes a BGP update with prefix Pi
and an AS_PATH as shown in the square brackets.
In the strict uRPF method, an ingress packet at a border router is
accepted only if the Forwarding Information Base (FIB) contains a
prefix that encompasses the source address and forwarding information
for that prefix points back to the interface over which the packet
was received. In other words, the reverse path for routing to the
source address (if it were used as a destination address) should use
the same interface over which the packet was received. It is well
known that this method has limitations when networks are multihomed,
routes are not symmetrically announced to all transit providers, and
there is asymmetric routing of data packets. Asymmetric routing
occurs (see Figure 1) when a customer AS announces one prefix (P1) to
one transit provider (ISP-a) and a different prefix (P2) to another
transit provider (ISP-b) but routes data packets with source
addresses in the second prefix (P2) to the first transit provider
(ISP-a) or vice versa. Then, data packets with a source address in
prefix P2 that are received at AS2 directly from AS1 will get
dropped. Further, data packets with a source address in prefix P1
that originate from AS1 and traverse via AS3 to AS2 will also get
dropped at AS2.
+------------+ ---- P1[AS2 AS1] ---> +------------+
| AS2(ISP-a) | <----P2[AS3 AS1] ---- | AS3(ISP-b) |
+------------+ +------------+
/\ /\
\ /
\ /
\ /
P1[AS1]\ /P2[AS1]
\ /
+-----------------------+
| AS1(customer) |
+-----------------------+
P1, P2 (prefixes originated)
Consider data packets received at AS2
(1) from AS1 with a source address (SA) in P2, or
(2) from AS3 that originated from AS1 with a SA in P1:
* Strict uRPF fails
* Feasible-path uRPF fails
* Loose uRPF works (but not desirable)
* Enhanced feasible-path uRPF works best
Figure 1: Scenario 1 for Illustration of Efficacy of uRPF Schemes
2.3. SAV Using Feasible-Path Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding
The feasible-path uRPF technique helps partially overcome the problem
identified with the strict uRPF in the multihoming case. The
feasible-path uRPF is similar to the strict uRPF, but in addition to
inserting the best-path prefix, additional prefixes from alternative
announced routes are also included in the RPF list. This method
relies on either (a) announcements for the same prefixes (albeit some
may be prepended to effect lower preference) propagating to all
transit providers performing feasible-path uRPF checks or (b)
announcement of an aggregate less-specific prefix to all transit
providers while announcing more-specific prefixes (covered by the
less-specific prefix) to different transit providers as needed for
traffic engineering.
As an example, in the multihoming scenario (see Scenario 2 in
Figure 2), if the customer AS announces routes for both prefixes (P1,
P2) to both transit providers (with suitable prepends if needed for
traffic engineering), then the feasible-path uRPF method works. It
should be mentioned that the feasible-path uRPF works in this
scenario only if customer routes are preferred at AS2 and AS3 over a
shorter non-customer route. However, the feasible-path uRPF method
has limitations as well. One form of limitation naturally occurs
when the recommendation (a) or (b) mentioned above regarding
propagation of prefixes is not followed.
Another form of limitation can be described as follows. In Scenario
2 (described here, illustrated in Figure 2), it is possible that the
second transit provider (ISP-b or AS3) does not propagate the
prepended route for prefix P1 to the first transit provider (ISP-a or
AS2). This is because AS3's decision policy permits giving priority
to a shorter route to prefix P1 via a lateral peer (AS2) over a
longer route learned directly from the customer (AS1). In such a
scenario, AS3 would not send any route announcement for prefix P1 to
AS2 (over the P2P link). Then, a data packet with a source address
in prefix P1 that originates from AS1 and traverses via AS3 to AS2
will get dropped at AS2.
+------------+ routes for P1, P2 +------------+
| AS2(ISP-a) |<-------------------->| AS3(ISP-b) |
+------------+ (P2P) +------------+
/\ /\
\ /
P1[AS1]\ /P2[AS1]
\ /
P2[AS1 AS1 AS1]\ /P1[AS1 AS1 AS1]
\ /
+-----------------------+
| AS1(customer) |
+-----------------------+
P1, P2 (prefixes originated)
Consider data packets received at AS2 via AS3
that originated from AS1 and have a source address in P1:
* Feasible-path uRPF works (if the customer route to P1
is preferred at AS3 over the shorter path)
* Feasible-path uRPF fails (if the shorter path to P1
is preferred at AS3 over the customer route)
* Loose uRPF works (but not desirable)
* Enhanced feasible-path uRPF works best
Figure 2: Scenario 2 for Illustration of Efficacy of uRPF Schemes
2.4. SAV Using Loose Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding
In the loose uRPF method, an ingress packet at the border router is
accepted only if the FIB has one or more prefixes that encompass the
source address. That is, a packet is dropped if no route exists in
the FIB for the source address. Loose uRPF sacrifices
directionality. It only drops packets if the source address is
unreachable in the current FIB (e.g., IANA special-purpose prefixes
[SPAR-v4][SPAR-v6], unallocated, allocated but currently not routed).
2.5. SAV Using VRF Table
The Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) technology [RFC4364]
[Juniper] allows a router to maintain multiple routing table
instances separate from the global Routing Information Base (RIB).
External BGP (eBGP) peering sessions send specific routes to be
stored in a dedicated VRF table. The uRPF process queries the VRF
table (instead of the FIB) for source address validation. A VRF
table can be dedicated per eBGP peer and used for uRPF for only that
peer, resulting in strict mode operation. For implementing loose
uRPF on an interface, the corresponding VRF table would be global,
i.e., contains the same routes as in the FIB.
3. SAV Using Enhanced Feasible-Path uRPF
3.1. Description of the Method
The enhanced feasible-path uRPF (EFP-uRPF) method adds greater
operational robustness and efficacy to existing uRPF methods
discussed in Section 2. That is because it avoids dropping
legitimate data packets and compromising directionality. The method
is based on the principle that if BGP updates for multiple prefixes
with the same origin AS were received on different interfaces (at
border routers), then incoming data packets with source addresses in
any of those prefixes should be accepted on any of those interfaces.
The EFP-uRPF method can be best explained with an example, as
follows:
Let us say, in its Adj-RIBs-In [RFC4271], a border router of ISP-A
has the set of prefixes {Q1, Q2, Q3}, each of which has AS-x as its
origin and AS-x is in ISP-A's customer cone. In this set, the border
router received the route for prefix Q1 over a customer-facing
interface while it learned the routes for prefixes Q2 and Q3 from a
lateral peer and an upstream transit provider, respectively. In this
example scenario, the enhanced feasible-path uRPF method requires Q1,
Q2, and Q3 be included in the RPF list for the customer interface
under consideration.
Thus, the EFP-uRPF method gathers feasible paths for customer
interfaces in a more precise way (as compared to the feasible-path
uRPF) so that all legitimate packets are accepted while the
directionality property is not compromised.
The above-described EFP-uRPF method is recommended to be applied on
customer interfaces. It can also be extended to create the RPF lists
for lateral peer interfaces. That is, the EFP-uRPF method can be
applied (and loose uRPF avoided) on lateral peer interfaces. That
will help to avoid compromising directionality for lateral peer
interfaces (which is inevitable with loose uRPF; see Section 2.4).
Looking back at Scenarios 1 and 2 (Figures 1 and 2), the EFP-uRPF
method works better than the other uRPF methods. Scenario 3
(Figure 3) further illustrates the enhanced feasible-path uRPF method
with a more concrete example. In this scenario, the focus is on
operation of the EFP-uRPF at ISP4 (AS4). ISP4 learns a route for
prefix P1 via a C2P interface from customer ISP2 (AS2). This route
for P1 has origin AS1. ISP4 also learns a route for P2 via another
C2P interface from customer ISP3 (AS3). Additionally, AS4 learns a
route for P3 via a lateral P2P interface from ISP5 (AS5). Routes for
all three prefixes have the same origin AS (i.e., AS1). Using the
enhanced feasible-path uRPF scheme and given the commonality of the
origin AS across the routes for P1, P2, and P3, AS4 includes all of
these prefixes in the RPF list for the customer interfaces (from AS2
and AS3).
+----------+ P3[AS5 AS1] +------------+
| AS4(ISP4)|<---------------| AS5(ISP5) |
+----------+ (P2P) +------------+
/\ /\ /\
/ \ /
P1[AS2 AS1]/ \P2[AS3 AS1] /
(C2P)/ \(C2P) /
/ \ /
+----------+ +----------+ /
| AS2(ISP2)| | AS3(ISP3)| /
+----------+ +----------+ /
/\ /\ /
\ / /
P1[AS1]\ /P2[AS1] /P3[AS1]
(C2P)\ /(C2P) /(C2P)
\ / /
+----------------+ /
| AS1(customer) |/
+----------------+
P1, P2, P3 (prefixes originated)
Consider that data packets (sourced from AS1)
may be received at AS4 with a source address
in P1, P2, or P3 via any of the neighbors (AS2, AS3, AS5):
* Feasible-path uRPF fails
* Loose uRPF works (but not desirable)
* Enhanced feasible-path uRPF works best
Figure 3: Scenario 3 for Illustration of Efficacy of uRPF Schemes
3.1.1. Algorithm A: Enhanced Feasible-Path uRPF
The underlying algorithm in the solution method described above
(Section 3.1) can be specified as follows (to be implemented in a
transit AS):
1. Create the set of unique origin ASes considering only the routes
in the Adj-RIBs-In of customer interfaces. Call it Set A = {AS1,
AS2, ..., ASn}.
2. Considering all routes in Adj-RIBs-In for all interfaces
(customer, lateral peer, and transit provider), form the set of
unique prefixes that have a common origin AS1. Call it Set X1.
3. Include Set X1 in the RPF list on all customer interfaces on
which one or more of the prefixes in Set X1 were received.
4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 for each of the remaining ASes in Set A
(i.e., for ASi, where i = 2, ..., n).
The above algorithm can also be extended to apply the EFP-uRPF method
to lateral peer interfaces. However, it is left up to the operator
to decide whether they should apply the EFP-uRPF or loose uRPF method
on lateral peer interfaces. The loose uRPF method is recommended to
be applied on transit provider interfaces.
3.2. Operational Recommendations
The following operational recommendations will make the operation of
the enhanced feasible-path uRPF robust:
For multihomed stub AS:
* A multihomed stub AS should announce at least one of the prefixes
it originates to each of its transit provider ASes. (It is
understood that a single-homed stub AS would announce all prefixes
it originates to its sole transit provider AS.)
For non-stub AS:
* A non-stub AS should also announce at least one of the prefixes it
originates to each of its transit provider ASes.
* Additionally, from the routes it has learned from customers, a
non-stub AS SHOULD announce at least one route per origin AS to
each of its transit provider ASes.
3.3. A Challenging Scenario
It should be observed that in the absence of ASes adhering to above
recommendations, the following example scenario, which poses a
challenge for the enhanced feasible-path uRPF (as well as for
traditional feasible-path uRPF), may be constructed. In the scenario
illustrated in Figure 4, since routes for neither P1 nor P2 are
propagated on the AS2-AS4 interface (due to the presence of NO_EXPORT
Community), the enhanced feasible-path uRPF at AS4 will reject data
packets received on that interface with source addresses in P1 or P2.
(For a little more complex example scenario, see slide #10 in
[Sriram-URPF].)
+----------+
| AS4(ISP4)|
+----------+
/\ /\
/ \ P1[AS3 AS1]
P1 and P2 not / \ P2[AS3 AS1]
propagated / \ (C2P)
(C2P) / \
+----------+ +----------+
| AS2(ISP2)| | AS3(ISP3)|
+----------+ +----------+
/\ /\
\ / P1[AS1]
P1[AS1] NO_EXPORT \ / P2[AS1]
P2[AS1] NO_EXPORT \ / (C2P)
(C2P) \ /
+----------------+
| AS1(customer) |
+----------------+
P1, P2 (prefixes originated)
Consider that data packets (sourced from AS1)
may be received at AS4 with a source address
in P1 or P2 via AS2:
* Feasible-path uRPF fails
* Loose uRPF works (but not desirable)
* Enhanced feasible-path uRPF with Algorithm A fails
* Enhanced feasible-path uRPF with Algorithm B works best
Figure 4: Illustration of a Challenging Scenario
3.4. Algorithm B: Enhanced Feasible-Path uRPF with Additional
Flexibility across Customer Cone
Adding further flexibility to the enhanced feasible-path uRPF method
can help address the potential limitation identified above using the
scenario in Figure 4 (Section 3.3). In the following, "route" refers
to a route currently existing in the Adj-RIBs-In. Including the
additional degree of flexibility, the modified algorithm called
Algorithm B (implemented in a transit AS) can be described as
follows:
1. Create the set of all directly connected customer interfaces.
Call it Set I = {I1, I2, ..., Ik}.
2. Create the set of all unique prefixes for which routes exist in
Adj-RIBs-In for the interfaces in Set I. Call it Set P = {P1,
P2, ..., Pm}.
3. Create the set of all unique origin ASes seen in the routes that
exist in Adj-RIBs-In for the interfaces in Set I. Call it Set A
= {AS1, AS2, ..., ASn}.
4. Create the set of all unique prefixes for which routes exist in
Adj-RIBs-In of all lateral peer and transit provider interfaces
such that each of the routes has its origin AS belonging in Set
A. Call it Set Q = {Q1, Q2, ..., Qj}.
5. Then, Set Z = Union(P,Q) is the RPF list that is applied for
every customer interface in Set I.
When Algorithm B (which is more flexible than Algorithm A) is
employed on customer interfaces, the type of limitation identified in
Figure 4 (Section 3.3) is overcome and the method works. The
directionality property is minimally compromised, but the proposed
EFP-uRPF method with Algorithm B is still a much better choice (for
the scenario under consideration) than applying the loose uRPF
method, which is oblivious to directionality.
So, applying the EFP-uRPF method with Algorithm B is recommended on
customer interfaces for the challenging scenarios, such as those
described in Section 3.3.
3.5. Augmenting RPF Lists with ROA and IRR Data
It is worth emphasizing that an indirect part of the proposal in this
document is that RPF filters may be augmented from secondary sources.
Hence, the construction of RPF lists using a method proposed in this
document (Algorithm A or B) can be augmented with data from Route
Origin Authorization (ROA) [RFC6482], as well as Internet Routing
Registry (IRR) data. Special care should be exercised when using IRR
data because it is not always accurate or trusted. In the EFP-uRPF
method with Algorithm A (see Section 3.1.1), if a ROA includes prefix
Pi and ASj, then augment the RPF list of each customer interface on
which at least one route with origin ASj was received with prefix Pi.
In the EFP-uRPF method with Algorithm B, if ASj belongs in Set A (see
Step #3 Section 3.4) and if a ROA includes prefix Pi and ASj, then
augment the RPF list Z in Step 5 of Algorithm B with prefix Pi.
Similar procedures can be followed with reliable IRR data as well.
This will help make the RPF lists more robust about source addresses
that may be legitimately used by customers of the ISP.
3.6. Implementation and Operations Considerations
3.6.1. Impact on FIB Memory Size Requirement
The existing RPF checks in edge routers take advantage of existing
line card implementations to perform the RPF functions. For
implementation of the enhanced feasible-path uRPF, the general
necessary feature would be to extend the line cards to take arbitrary
RPF lists that are not necessarily the same as the existing FIB
contents. In the algorithms (Sections 3.1.1 and 3.4) described here,
the RPF lists are constructed by applying a set of rules to all
received BGP routes (not just those selected as best path and
installed in the FIB). The concept of uRPF querying an RPF list
(instead of the FIB) is similar to uRPF querying a VRF table (see
Section 2.5).
The techniques described in this document require that there should
be additional memory (i.e., ternary content-addressable memory
(TCAM)) available to store the RPF lists in line cards. For an ISP's
AS, the RPF list size for each line card will roughly equal the total
number of originated prefixes from ASes in its customer cone
(assuming Algorithm B in Section 3.4 is used). (Note: EFP-uRPF with
Algorithm A (see Section 3.1.1) requires much less memory than EFP-
uRPF with Algorithm B.)
The following table shows the measured customer cone sizes in number
of prefixes originated (from all ASes in the customer cone) for
various types of ISPs [Sriram-RIPE63]:
+------------+---------------------------------------+
| Type of | Measured Customer Cone Size in # |
| ISP | Prefixes (in turn this is an estimate |
| | for RPF list size on the line card) |
+============+=======================================+
| Very Large | 32393 |
| Global ISP | |
| #1 | |
+------------+---------------------------------------+
| Very Large | 29528 |
| Global ISP | |
| #2 | |
+------------+---------------------------------------+
| Large | 20038 |
| Global ISP | |
+------------+---------------------------------------+
| Mid-size | 8661 |
| Global ISP | |
+------------+---------------------------------------+
| Regional | 1101 |
| ISP (in | |
| Asia) | |
+------------+---------------------------------------+
Table 1: Customer Cone Sizes (# Prefixes) for
Various Types of ISPs
For some super large global ISPs that are at the core of the
Internet, the customer cone size (# prefixes) can be as high as a few
hundred thousand [CAIDA], but uRPF is most effective when deployed at
ASes at the edges of the Internet where the customer cone sizes are
smaller, as shown in Table 1.
A very large global ISP's router line card is likely to have a FIB
size large enough to accommodate 2 million routes [Cisco1].
Similarly, the line cards in routers corresponding to a large global
ISP, a midsize global ISP, and a regional ISP are likely to have FIB
sizes large enough to accommodate about 1 million, 0.5 million, and
100k routes, respectively [Cisco2]. Comparing these FIB size numbers
with the corresponding RPF list size numbers in Table 1, it can be
surmised that the conservatively estimated RPF list size is only a
small fraction of the anticipated FIB memory size under relevant ISP
scenarios. What is meant here by relevant ISP scenarios is that only
smaller ISPs (and possibly some midsize and regional ISPs) are
expected to implement the proposed EFP-uRPF method since it is most
effective closer to the edges of the Internet.
3.6.2. Coping with BGP's Transient Behavior
BGP routing announcements can exhibit transient behavior. Routes may
be withdrawn temporarily and then reannounced due to transient
conditions, such as BGP session reset or link failure recovery. To
cope with this, hysteresis should be introduced in the maintenance of
the RPF lists. Deleting entries from the RPF lists SHOULD be delayed
by a predetermined amount (the value based on operational experience)
when responding to route withdrawals. This should help suppress the
effects due to the transients in BGP.
3.7. Summary of Recommendations
Depending on the scenario, an ISP or enterprise AS operator should
follow one of the following recommendations concerning uRPF/SAV:
1. For directly connected networks, i.e., subnets directly connected
to the AS, the AS under consideration SHOULD perform ACL-based
SAV.
2. For a directly connected single-homed stub AS (customer), the AS
under consideration SHOULD perform SAV based on the strict uRPF
method.
3. For all other scenarios:
* The EFP-uRPF method with Algorithm B (see Section 3.4) SHOULD
be applied on customer interfaces.
* The loose uRPF method SHOULD be applied on lateral peer and
transit provider interfaces.
It is also recommended that prefixes from registered ROAs and IRR
route objects that include ASes in an ISP's customer cone SHOULD be
used to augment the pertaining RPF lists (see Section 3.5 for
details).
3.7.1. Applicability of the EFP-uRPF Method with Algorithm A
The EFP-uRPF method with Algorithm A is not mentioned in the above
set of recommendations. It is an alternative to EFP-uRPF with
Algorithm B and can be used in limited circumstances. The EFP-uRPF
method with Algorithm A is expected to work fine if an ISP deploying
it has only multihomed stub customers. It is trivially equivalent to
strict uRPF if an ISP deploys it for a single-homed stub customer.
More generally, it is also expected to work fine when there is
absence of limitations, such as those described in Section 3.3.
However, caution is required for use of EFP-uRPF with Algorithm A
because even if the limitations are not expected at the time of
deployment, the vulnerability to change in conditions exists. It may
be difficult for an ISP to know or track the extent of use of
NO_EXPORT (see Section 3.3) on routes within its customer cone. If
an ISP decides to use EFP-uRPF with Algorithm A, it should make its
direct customers aware of the operational recommendations in
Section 3.2. This means that the ISP notifies direct customers that
at least one prefix originated by each AS in the direct customer's
customer cone must propagate to the ISP.
On a lateral peer interface, an ISP may choose to apply the EFP-uRPF
method with Algorithm A (with appropriate modification of the
algorithm). This is because stricter forms of uRPF (than the loose
uRPF) may be considered applicable by some ISPs on interfaces with
lateral peers.
4. Security Considerations
The security considerations in BCP 38 [RFC2827] and RFC 3704
[RFC3704] apply for this document as well. In addition, if
considering using the EFP-uRPF method with Algorithm A, an ISP or AS
operator should be aware of the applicability considerations and
potential vulnerabilities discussed in Section 3.7.1.
In augmenting RPF lists with ROA (and possibly reliable IRR)
information (see Section 3.5), a trade-off is made in favor of
reducing false positives (regarding invalid detection in SAV) at the
expense of another slight risk. The other risk being that a
malicious actor at another AS in the neighborhood within the customer
cone might take advantage (of the augmented prefix) to some extent.
This risk also exists even with normal announced prefixes (i.e.,
without ROA augmentation) for any uRPF method other than the strict
uRPF. However, the risk is mitigated if the transit provider of the
other AS in question is performing SAV.
Though not within the scope of this document, security hardening of
routers and other supporting systems (e.g., Resource PKI (RPKI) and
ROA management systems) against compromise is extremely important.
The compromise of those systems can affect the operation and
performance of the SAV methods described in this document.
5. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA actions.
6. References
6.1. 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>.
[RFC2827] Ferguson, P. and D. Senie, "Network Ingress Filtering:
Defeating Denial of Service Attacks which employ IP Source
Address Spoofing", BCP 38, RFC 2827, DOI 10.17487/RFC2827,
May 2000, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2827>.
[RFC3704] Baker, F. and P. Savola, "Ingress Filtering for Multihomed
Networks", BCP 84, RFC 3704, DOI 10.17487/RFC3704, March
2004, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3704>.
[RFC4271] Rekhter, Y., Ed., Li, T., Ed., and S. Hares, Ed., "A
Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271,
DOI 10.17487/RFC4271, January 2006,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4271>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
6.2. Informative References
[CAIDA] CAIDA, "Information for AS 174 (COGENT-174)", October
2019, <https://spoofer.caida.org/as.php?asn=174>.
[Cisco1] Cisco, "Internet Routing Table Growth Causes %ROUTING-FIB-
4-RSRC_LOW Message on Trident-Based Line Cards", January
2014, <https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/routers/
asr-9000-series-aggregation-services-routers/116999-
problem-line-card-00.html>.
[Cisco2] Cisco, "Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Unicast Routing
Configuration Guide, Release 5.x (Chapter 15: 'Managing
the Unicast RIB and FIB')", March 2018,
<https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/
datacenter/sw/5_x/nx-
os/unicast/configuration/guide/l3_cli_nxos/
l3_NewChange.html>.
[Firmin] Firmin, F., "The Evolved Packet Core",
<https://www.3gpp.org/technologies/keywords-acronyms/100-
the-evolved-packet-core>.
[ISOC] Internet Society, "Addressing the challenge of IP
spoofing", September 2015,
<https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2015/
addressing-the-challenge-of-ip-spoofing/>.
[Juniper] Juniper Networks, "Creating Unique VPN Routes Using VRF
Tables", May 2019,
<https://www.juniper.net/documentation/en_US/junos/topics/
topic-map/l3-vpns-routes-vrf-tables.html#id-understanding-
virtual-routing-and-forwarding-tables>.
[Luckie] Luckie, M., Huffaker, B., Dhamdhere, A., Giotsas, V., and
kc. claffy, "AS Relationships, customer cones, and
validation", In Proceedings of the 2013 Internet
Measurement Conference, DOI 10.1145/2504730.2504735,
October 2013,
<https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2504730.2504735>.
[RFC4036] Sawyer, W., "Management Information Base for Data Over
Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) Cable Modem
Termination Systems for Subscriber Management", RFC 4036,
DOI 10.17487/RFC4036, April 2005,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4036>.
[RFC4364] Rosen, E. and Y. Rekhter, "BGP/MPLS IP Virtual Private
Networks (VPNs)", RFC 4364, DOI 10.17487/RFC4364, February
2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4364>.
[RFC6482] Lepinski, M., Kent, S., and D. Kong, "A Profile for Route
Origin Authorizations (ROAs)", RFC 6482,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6482, February 2012,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6482>.
[RFC6811] Mohapatra, P., Scudder, J., Ward, D., Bush, R., and R.
Austein, "BGP Prefix Origin Validation", RFC 6811,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6811, January 2013,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6811>.
[RFC7454] Durand, J., Pepelnjak, I., and G. Doering, "BGP Operations
and Security", BCP 194, RFC 7454, DOI 10.17487/RFC7454,
February 2015, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7454>.
[SPAR-v4] IANA, "IANA IPv4 Special-Purpose Address Registry",
<https://www.iana.org/assignments/iana-ipv4-special-
registry/>.
[SPAR-v6] IANA, "IANA IPv6 Special-Purpose Address Registry",
<https://www.iana.org/assignments/iana-ipv6-special-
registry/>.
[Sriram-RIPE63]
Sriram, K. and R. Bush, "Estimating CPU Cost of BGPSEC on
a Router", Presented at RIPE 63 and at the SIDR WG meeting
at IETF 83, March 2012,
<http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/83/slides/slides-83-sidr-
7.pdf>.
[Sriram-URPF]
Sriram, K., Montgomery, D., and J. Haas, "Enhanced
Feasible-Path Unicast Reverse Path Filtering", Presented
at the OPSEC WG meeting at IETF 101, March 2018,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/101/materials/
slides-101-opsec-draft-sriram-opsec-urpf-improvements-00>.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Sandy Murphy, Alvaro Retana, Job
Snijders, Marco Marzetti, Marco d'Itri, Nick Hilliard, Gert Doering,
Fred Baker, Igor Gashinsky, Igor Lubashev, Andrei Robachevsky, Barry
Greene, Amir Herzberg, Ruediger Volk, Jared Mauch, Oliver Borchert,
Mehmet Adalier, and Joel Jaeggli for comments and suggestions. The
comments and suggestions received from the IESG reviewers are also
much appreciated.
Authors' Addresses
Kotikalapudi Sriram
USA National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
United States of America
Email: ksriram@nist.gov
Doug Montgomery
USA National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
United States of America
Email: dougm@nist.gov
Jeffrey Haas
Juniper Networks, Inc.
1133 Innovation Way
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
United States of America
Email: jhaas@juniper.net