faqs.org - Internet FAQ Archives

RFC 4487 - Mobile IPv6 and Firewalls: Problem Statement


Or Display the document by number




Network Working Group                                              F. Le
Request for Comments: 4487                                           CMU
Category: Informational                                        S. Faccin
                                                                B. Patil
                                                                   Nokia
                                                           H. Tschofenig
                                                                 Siemens
                                                                May 2006

              Mobile IPv6 and Firewalls: Problem Statement

Status of This Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

Abstract

   This document captures the issues that may arise in the deployment of
   IPv6 networks when they support Mobile IPv6 and firewalls.  The
   issues are not only applicable to firewalls protecting enterprise
   networks, but are also applicable in 3G mobile networks such as
   General Packet Radio Service / Universal Mobile Telecommunications
   System (GPRS/UMTS) and CDMA2000 networks.

   The goal of this document is to highlight the issues with firewalls
   and Mobile IPv6 and act as an enabler for further discussion.  Issues
   identified here can be solved by developing appropriate solutions.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................3
   2. Terminology .....................................................4
   3. Abbreviations ...................................................4
   4. Overview of Firewalls ...........................................4
   5. Analysis of Various Scenarios Involving MIP6 Nodes and
      Firewalls .......................................................6
      5.1. Scenario Where the Mobile Node Is in a Network
           Protected by Firewall(s) ...................................7
      5.2. Scenario Where the Correspondent Node Is in a
           Network Protected by Firewall(s) ...........................9
      5.3. Scenario Where the HA Is in a Network Protected by
           Firewall(s) ...............................................12
      5.4. Scenario Where the MN Moves to a Network Protected by
           Firewall(s) ...............................................12
   6. Conclusions ....................................................13
   7. Security Considerations ........................................14
   8. Acknowledgements ...............................................14
   9. References .....................................................14
      9.1. Normative References ......................................14
      9.2. Informative References ....................................14
   Appendix A. Applicability to 3G Networks ..........................15

1.  Introduction

   Network elements such as firewalls are an integral aspect of a
   majority of IP networks today, given the state of security in the
   Internet, threats, and vulnerabilities to data networks.  Current IP
   networks are predominantly based on IPv4 technology, and hence
   firewalls have been designed for these networks.  Deployment of IPv6
   networks is currently progressing, albeit at a slower pace.
   Firewalls for IPv6 networks are still maturing and in development.

   Mobility support for IPv6 has been standardized as specified in RFC
   3775.  Given the fact that Mobile IPv6 is a recent standard, most
   firewalls available for IPv6 networks do not support Mobile IPv6.

   Unless firewalls are aware of Mobile IPv6 protocol details, these
   security devices will interfere with the smooth operation of the
   protocol and can be a detriment to deployment.

   Mobile IPv6 enables IP mobility for IPv6 nodes.  It allows a mobile
   IPv6 node to be reachable via its home IPv6 address irrespective of
   any link that the mobile attaches to.  This is possible as a result
   of the extensions to IPv6 defined in the Mobile IPv6 specification
   [1].

   Mobile IPv6 protocol design also incorporates a feature termed Route
   Optimization.  This set of extensions is a fundamental part of the
   protocol that enables optimized routing of packets between a mobile
   node and its correspondent node and therefore optimized performance
   of the communication.

   In most cases, current firewall technologies, however, do not support
   Mobile IPv6 or are not even aware of Mobile IPv6 headers and
   extensions.  Since most networks in the current business environment
   deploy firewalls, this may prevent future large-scale deployment of
   the Mobile IPv6 protocol.

   This document presents in detail some of the issues that firewalls
   present for Mobile IPv6 deployment, as well as the impact of each
   issue.

2.  Terminology

   Return Routability Test (RRT): The Return Routability Test is a
      procedure defined in RFC 3775 [1].  It is performed prior to the
      Route Optimization (RO), where a mobile node (MN) instructs a
      correspondent node (CN) to direct the mobile node's data traffic
      to its claimed care-of address (CoA).  The Return Routability
      procedure provides some security assurance and prevents the misuse
      of Mobile IPv6 signaling to maliciously redirect the traffic or to
      launch other attacks.

3.  Abbreviations

   This document uses the following abbreviations:

   o  CN: Correspondent Node

   o  CoA: Care of Address

   o  CoTI: Care of Test Init

   o  HA: Home Agent

   o  HoA: Home Address

   o  HoTI: Home Test Init

   o  HoT: Home Test

   o  MN: Mobile Node

   o  RO: Route Optimization

   o  RRT: Return Routability Test

4.  Overview of Firewalls

   The following section provides a brief overview of firewalls.  It is
   intended as background information so that issues with the Mobile
   IPv6 protocol can then be presented in detail in the following
   sections.

   There are different types of firewalls, and state can be created in
   these firewalls through different methods.  Independent of the
   adopted method, firewalls typically look at five parameters of the
   traffic arriving at the firewalls:

   o  Source IP address

   o  Destination IP address

   o  Protocol type

   o  Source port number

   o  Destination port number

   Based on these parameters, firewalls usually decide whether to allow
   the traffic or to drop the packets.  Some firewalls may filter only
   incoming traffic, while others may also filter outgoing traffic.

   According to Section 3.29 of RFC 2647 [2], stateful packet filtering
   refers to the process of forwarding or rejecting traffic based on the
   contents of a state table maintained by a firewall.  These types of
   firewalls are commonly deployed to protect networks from different
   threats, such as blocking unsolicited incoming traffic from the
   external networks.  The following briefly describes how these
   firewalls work since they can create additional problems with the
   Mobile IPv6 protocol as described in the subsequent sections.

   In TCP, an MN sends a TCP SYN message to connect to another host in
   the Internet.

   Upon receiving that SYN packet, the firewall records the source IP
   address, the destination IP address, the Protocol type, the source
   port number, and the destination port number indicated in that packet
   before transmitting it to the destination.

   When an incoming message from the external networks reaches the
   firewall, it searches the packet's source IP address, destination IP
   address, Protocol type, source port number, and destination port
   number in its entries to see if the packet matches the
   characteristics of a request sent previously.  If so, the firewall
   allows the packet to enter the network.  If the packet was not
   solicited from an internal node, the packet is blocked.

   When the TCP close session packets are exchanged or after some
   configurable period of inactivity, the associated entry in the
   firewall is deleted.  This mechanism prevents entries from remaining
   when TCP are abruptly terminated.

   A similar entry is created when using UDP.  The difference with this
   transport protocol is that UDP is connectionless and does not have
   packets signaling the initiation or termination of a session.
   Consequently, the duration of the entries relies solely on timers.

5.  Analysis of Various Scenarios Involving MIP6 Nodes and Firewalls

   The following section describes various scenarios involving MIP6
   nodes and firewalls and also presents the issues related to each
   scenario.

   The Mobile IPv6 specifications define three main entities: the mobile
   node (MN), the correspondent node (CN), and the home agent (HA).
   Each of these entities may be in a network protected by one or many
   firewalls:

   o  Section 5.1 analyzes the issues when the MN is in a network
      protected by firewall(s)

   o  Section 5.2 analyzes the issues when the CN is in a network
      protected by firewall(s)

   o  Section 5.3 analyzes the issues when the HA is in a network
      protected by firewall(s)

   The MN may also be moving from an external network, to a network
   protected by firewall(s).  The issues of this case are described in
   Section 5.4.

   Some of the described issues (e.g., Sections 5.1 and 5.2) may require
   modifications to the protocols or to the firewalls, and others (e.g.,
   Section 5.3) may require only that appropriate rules and
   configuration be in place.

5.1.  Scenario Where the Mobile Node Is in a Network Protected by
      Firewall(s)

   Let's consider MN A, in a network protected by firewall(s).

     +----------------+       +----+
     |                |       | HA |
     |                |       +----+
     |                |      Home Agent
     |  +---+      +----+      of A               +---+
     |  | A |      | FW |                         | B |
     |  +---+      +----+                         +---+
     |Internal        |                         External
     |   MN           |                           Node
     |                |
     +----------------+
     Network protected

   Figure 1: Issues between MIP6 and firewalls when MN is in a network
             protected by firewalls

   A number of issues need to be considered:

   Issue 1: When MN A connects to the network, it should acquire a local
      IP address (CoA) and send a Binding Update (BU) to its Home Agent
      to update the HA with its current point of attachment.  The
      Binding Updates and Acknowledgements should be protected by IPsec
      ESP according to the MIPv6 specifications [1].  However, as a
      default rule, many firewalls drop IPsec ESP packets because they
      cannot determine whether inbound ESP packets are legitimate.  It
      is difficult or impossible to create useful state by observing the
      outbound ESP packets.  This may cause the Binding Updates and
      Acknowledgements between the mobile nodes and their home agent to
      be dropped.

   Issue 2: Let's now consider a node in the external network, B, trying
      to establish a communication with MN A.

      *  B sends a packet to the mobile node's home address.

      *  The packet is intercepted by the MN's home agent, which tunnels
         it to the MN's CoA [1].

      *  When arriving at the firewall(s) protecting MN A, the packet
         may be dropped since the incoming packet may not match any
         existing state.  As described in Section 4, stateful inspection
         packet filters (for example) typically drop unsolicited
         incoming traffic.

      *  B will thus not be able to contact MN A and establish a
         communication.

      Even though the HA is updated with the location of an MN,
      firewalls may prevent correspondent nodes from establishing
      communications when the MN is in a network protected by
      firewall(s).

   Issue 3: Let's assume a communication between MN A and an external
      node B.  MN A may want to use Route Optimization (RO) so that
      packets can be directly exchanged between the MN and the CN
      without passing through the HA.  However, the firewalls protecting
      the MN might present issues with the Return Routability procedure
      that needs to be performed prior to using RO.

      According to the MIPv6 specifications, the Home Test message of
      the RRT must be protected by IPsec in tunnel mode.  However,
      firewalls might drop any packet protected by ESP, since the
      firewalls cannot analyze the packets encrypted by ESP (e.g., port
      numbers).  The firewalls may thus drop the Home Test messages and
      prevent the completion of the RRT procedure.

   Issue 4: Let's assume that MN A successfully sends a Binding Update
      to its home agent (resp. correspondent nodes) -- which solves
      issue 1 (resp. issue 3) -- and that the subsequent traffic is sent
      from the HA (resp. CN) to the MN's CoA.  However there may not be
      any corresponding state in the firewalls.  The firewalls
      protecting A may thus drop the incoming packets.

      The appropriate states for the traffic to the MN's CoA need to be
      created in the firewall(s).

   Issue 5: When MN A moves, it may move to a link that is served by a
      different firewall.  MN A might be sending a BU to its CN;
      however, incoming packets may be dropped at the firewall, since
      the firewall on the new link that the MN attaches to does not have
      any state that is associated with the MN.

   The issues described above result from the fact that the MN is behind
   the firewall.  Consequently, the MN's communication capability with
   other nodes is affected by the firewall rules.

5.2.  Scenario Where the Correspondent Node Is in a Network Protected by
      Firewall(s)

   Let's consider an MN in a network, communicating with a Correspondent
   Node C in a network protected by firewall(s).  There are no issues
   with the presence of a firewall in the scenario where the MN is
   sending packets to the CN via a reverse tunnel that is set up between
   the MN and HA.  However, firewalls may present different issues to
   Route Optimization.

     +----------------+                +----+
     |                |                | HA |
     |                |                +----+
     |                |              Home Agent
     |  +---+      +----+               of B
     |  |CN |      | FW |
     |  | C |      +----+
     |  +---+         |                +---+
     |                |                | B |
     |                |                +---+
     +----------------+           External Mobile
     Network protected                  Node
       by a firewall

   Figure 2: Issues between MIP6 and firewalls when a CN is in a network
             protected by firewalls

   The following issues need to be considered:

   Issue 1: The MN (MN B) should use its Home Address (HoA B) when
      establishing the communication with the CN (CN C), if MN B wants
      to take advantage of the mobility support provided by the Mobile
      IPv6 protocol for its communication with CN C.  The state created
      by the firewall protecting CN C is therefore created based on the
      IP address of C (IP C) and the home address of Node B (IP HoA B).
      The states may be created via different means, and the protocol
      type as well as the port numbers depend on the connection setup.

         Uplink packet filters (1)

            Source IP address: IP C

            Destination IP address: HoA B

            Protocol Type: TCP/UDP

            Source Port Number: #1

            Destination Port Number: #2

         Downlink packet filters (2)

            Source IP address: HoA B

            Destination IP address: IP C

            Protocol Type: TCP/UDP

            Source Port Number: #2

            Destination Port Number: #1

      Nodes C and B might be topologically close to each other, while
      B's home agent may be far away, resulting in a trombone effect
      that can create delay and degrade the performance.  MN B may
      decide to initiate the route optimization procedure with Node C.
      Route optimization requires MN B to send a Binding Update to Node
      C in order to create an entry in its binding cache that maps the
      MN's home address to its current care-of-address.  However, prior
      to sending the binding update, the mobile node must first execute
      a Return Routability Test:

      *  Mobile Node B has to send a Home Test Init (HoTI) message via
         its home agent and

      *  a Care of Test Init (COTI) message directly to its
         Correspondent Node C.

      The Care of Test Init message is sent using the CoA of B as the
      source address.  Such a packet does not match any entry in the
      protecting firewall (2).  The CoTi message will thus be dropped by
      the firewall.

      The HoTI is a Mobility Header packet, and as the protocol type
      differs from the established state in the firewall (see (2)), the
      HoTI packet will also be dropped.

      As a consequence, the RRT cannot be completed, and route
      optimization cannot be applied.  Every packet has to go through
      Node B's home agent and tunneled between B's home agent and B.

             +----------------+
             |             +----+     HoTI (HoA)  +----+
             |             | FW |X<---------------|HA B|
             |             +----X                 +----+
             |  +------+      | ^ CoTI & HoTI        ^
             |  | CN C |      | |  dropped by FW     |
             |  +------+      | |                    | HoTI
             |                | |                    |
             |                | |        CoTI (CoA)+------+
             |                | +------------------| MN B |
             +----------------+                    +------+
             Network protected                External Mobile
               by a firewall                        Node

      Figure 3: Issues with Return Routability Test

   Issue 2: Let's assume that the Binding Update to the CN is
      successful; the firewall(s) might still drop packets that are:

      1.  coming from the CoA, since these incoming packets are sent
          from the CoA and do not match the Downlink Packet filter (2).

      2.  sent from the CN to the CoA if uplink packet filters are
          implemented.  The uplink packets are sent to the MN's CoA and
          do not match the uplink packet filter (1).

      The packet filters for the traffic sent to (resp. from) the CoA
      need to be created in the firewall(s).

      Requiring the firewalls to update the connection state upon
      detecting Binding Update messages from a node outside the network
      protected by the firewall does not appear feasible or desirable,
      since currently the firewall does not have any means to verify the
      validity of Binding Update messages and therefore to modify the
      state information securely.  Changing the firewall states without
      verifying the validity of the Binding Update messages could lead
      to denial of service attacks.  Malicious nodes may send fake
      binding updates, forcing the firewall to change its state
      information, and therefore leading the firewall to drop packets
      from the connections that use the legitimate addresses.  An
      adversary might also use an address update to enable its own
      traffic to pass through the firewall and enter the network.

   Issue 3: Let's assume that the Binding Update to the CN is
      successful.  The CN may be protected by different firewalls, and
      as a result of the MN's change of IP address, incoming and
      outgoing traffic may pass through a different firewall.  The new

      firewall may not have any state associated with the CN, and
      incoming packets (and potentially outgoing traffic as well) may be
      dropped at the firewall.

      Firewall technology allows clusters of firewalls to share state
      [3].  This, for example, allows the support of routing asymmetry.
      However, if the previous and the new firewalls, through which the
      packets are routed after the Binding Update has been sent, do not
      share state, this may result in packets being dropped at the new
      firewall.  As the new firewall does not have any state associated
      with the CN, incoming packets (and potentially outgoing traffic as
      well) may be dropped at the new firewall.

5.3.  Scenario Where the HA Is in a Network Protected by Firewall(s)

   In the scenarios where the home agent is in a network protected by
   firewall(s), the following issues may exist:

   Issue 1: If the firewall(s) protecting the home agent block ESP
      traffic, much of the MIPv6 signaling (e.g., Binding Update, HoT)
      may be dropped at the firewall(s), preventing MN(s) from updating
      their binding cache and performing Route Optimization, since
      Binding Update, HoT, and other MIPv6 signaling must be protected
      by IPsec ESP.

   Issue 2: If the firewall(s) protecting the home agent block
      unsolicited incoming traffic (e.g., as stateful inspection packet
      filters do), the firewall(s) may drop connection setup requests
      from CNs, and packets from MNs.

   Issue 3: If the home agent is in a network protected by several
      firewalls, an MN/CN's change of IP address may result in the
      passage of traffic to and from the home agent through a different
      firewall that may not have the states corresponding to the flows.
      As a consequence, packets may be dropped at the firewall.

5.4.  Scenario Where the MN Moves to a Network Protected by Firewall(s)

   Let's consider an HA in a network protected by firewall(s).  The
   following issues need to be investigated:

   Issue 1: Similarly to issue 1 described in Section 5.1, the MN will
      send a Binding Update to its home agent after acquiring a local IP
      address (CoA).  The Binding Updates and Acknowledgements should be
      protected by IPsec ESP according to the MIPv6 specifications [1].
      However, as a default rule, many firewalls drop ESP packets.  This
      may cause the Binding Updates and Acknowledgements between the
      mobile nodes and their home agent to be dropped.

   Issue 2: The MN may be in a communication with a CN, or a CN may be
      attempting to establish a connection with the MN.  In both cases,
      packets sent from the CN will be forwarded by the MN's HA to the
      MN's CoA.  However, when the packets arrive at the firewall(s),
      the incoming traffic may not match any existing state, and the
      firewall(s) may therefore drop it.

   Issue 3: If the MN is in a communication with a CN, the MN may
      attempt to execute an RRT for packets to be route optimized.
      Similarly to issue 3, Section 5.1, the Home Test message that
      should be protected by ESP may be dropped by firewall(s)
      protecting the MN.  Firewall(s) may as a default rule drop any ESP
      traffic.  As a consequence, the RRT cannot be completed.

   Issue 4: If the MN is in a communication with a CN, and assuming that
      the MN successfully sent a Binding Update to its CN to use Route
      Optimization, packets will then be sent from the CN to the MN's
      CoA and from the MN's CoA to the CN.

      Packets sent from the CN to the MN's CoA may, however, not match
      any existing entry in the firewall(s) protecting the MN, and
      therefore be dropped by the firewall(s).

      If packet filtering is applied to uplink traffic (i.e., traffic
      sent by the MN), packets sent from the MN's CoA to the CN may not
      match any entry in the firewall(s) either and may be dropped as
      well.

6.  Conclusions

   Current firewalls may not only prevent route optimization but may
   also prevent regular TCP and UDP sessions from being established in
   some cases.  This document describes some of the issues between the
   Mobile IPv6 protocol and current firewall technologies.

   This document captures the various issues involved in the deployment
   of Mobile IPv6 in networks that would invariably include firewalls.
   A number of different scenarios are described, which include
   configurations where the mobile node, correspondent node, and home
   agent exist across various boundaries delimited by the firewalls.
   This enables a better understanding of the issues when deploying
   Mobile IPv6 as well as the issues for firewall design and policies to
   be installed therein.

7.  Security Considerations

   This document describes several issues that exist between the Mobile
   IPv6 protocol and firewalls.

   Firewalls may prevent Mobile IP6 signaling in addition to dropping
   incoming/outgoing traffic.

   If the firewall configuration is modified in order to support the
   Mobile IPv6 protocol but not properly configured, many attacks may be
   possible as outlined above: malicious nodes may be able to launch
   different types of denial of service attacks.

8.  Acknowledgements

   We would like to thank James Kempf, Samita Chakrabarti, Giaretta
   Gerardo, Steve Bellovin, Henrik Levkowetz, and Spencer Dawkins for
   their valuable comments.  Their suggestions have helped improve both
   the presentation and the content of the document.

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

   [1]  Johnson, D., Perkins, C., and J. Arkko, "Mobility Support in
        IPv6", RFC 3775, June 2004.

9.2.  Informative References

   [2]  Newman, D., "Benchmarking Terminology for Firewall Performance",
        RFC 2647, August 1999.

   [3]  Noble, J., Doug, D., Hourihan, K., Hourihan, K., Stephens, R.,
        Stiefel, B., Amon, A., and C. Tobkin, "Check Point NG VPN-1/
        Firewall-1 Advanced Configuration and Troubleshooting", Syngress
        Publishing Inc., 2003.

   [4]  Chen, X., Rinne, J., Wiljakka, J., and M. Watson, "Problem
        Statement for MIPv6 Interactions with GPRS/UMTS Packet
        Filtering", Work in Progress, January 2006.

Appendix A.  Applicability to 3G Networks

   In 3G networks, different packet filtering functionalities may be
   implemented to prevent malicious nodes from flooding or launching
   other attacks against the 3G subscribers.  The packet filtering
   functionality of 3G networks is further described in [4].  Packet
   filters are set up and applied to both uplink and downlink traffic:
   outgoing and incoming data not matching the packet filters is
   dropped.  The issues described in this document also apply to 3G
   networks.

Authors' Addresses

   Franck Le
   Carnegie Mellon University
   5000 Forbes Avenue
   Pittsburgh, PA  15213
   USA

   EMail: franckle@cmu.edu

   Stefano Faccin
   Nokia Research Center
   6000 Connection Drive
   Irving, TX  75039
   USA

   EMail: sfaccinstd@gmail.com

   Basavaraj Patil
   Nokia
   6000 Connection Drive
   Irving, TX  75039
   USA

   EMail: Basavaraj.Patil@nokia.com

   Hannes Tschofenig
   Siemens
   Otto-Hahn-Ring 6
   Munich, Bavaria  81739
   Germany

   EMail: Hannes.Tschofenig@siemens.com
   URI:   http://www.tschofenig.com

Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

   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
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Intellectual Property

   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
   made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  Information
   on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
   found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
   this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at
   ietf-ipr@ietf.org.

Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
   Administrative Support Activity (IASA).

 

User Contributions:

Comment about this RFC, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: