Network Working Group S. Kelly Internet-Draft Aruba Wireless Networks Intended status: Informational T. Clancy Expires: February 2, 2007 Laboratory for Telecommunications Sciences August 2006 CAPWAP Threat Analysis for 802.11 Deployments draft-kelly-capwap-threat-analysis-00 Status of this Memo By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on February 2, 2007. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006). Abstract Early Wireless LAN (WLAN) deployments feature a "fat" Access Point (AP) which serves as a standalone interface between the wired and wireless network segments. However, this model raises scaling, mobility, and manageability issues, and the CAPWAP protocol [CAPWAP] is being developed in reponse. CAPWAP effectively splits the fat AP functionality into two network elements, and the communication Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 1] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 channel between these components may traverse potentially hostile hops. This document analyzes the security exposure resulting from the introduction of CAPWAP, and summarizes the associated security considerations for CAPWAP implementations and deployments. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2. CAPWAP Security Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3. Overview of 802.11 and AAA Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.1. 802.11 Authentication and AAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.2. 802.11 Link Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4. Structure of the Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5. Representative CAPWAP Deployment Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . 9 5.1. Preliminary Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5.1.1. Split MAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 5.1.2. Local MAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 5.1.3. Remote MAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5.1.4. Data Tunneling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5.2. Example Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5.2.1. Localized Modular Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5.2.2. Internet Hotspot or Temporary Network . . . . . . . . 12 5.2.3. Distributed Deployments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 6. General Adversary Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 6.1. Passive vs Active Adversaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 7. Vulnerabilities Introduced by CAPWAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 7.1. The Session Establishment Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 7.1.1. The Discovery Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 7.1.2. Forming an Association (Joining) . . . . . . . . . . . 18 7.2. The Connected Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 8. Adversary Goals in CAPWAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 8.1. Eavesdrop on AC-WTP Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 8.2. WTP Impersonation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 8.3. AC Impersonation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 8.4. Other Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 9. Countermeasures and Their Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.1. Communications Security Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.1.1. Mutual Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.1.2. Data Origin Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.1.3. Data Integrity Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 9.1.4. Antireplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 9.1.5. Confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 9.2. Putting the Elements Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 9.2.1. Control Channel Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 9.2.2. Data Channel Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 10. Countermeasures Provided By DTLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 11. Issues Not Addressed By DTLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 2] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 11.1. DoS Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 11.2. Passive Monitoring (Sniffing) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 11.3. Traffic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 11.4. Active MitM Interference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 11.5. Other Active Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 12. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 12.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 12.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 28 Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 3] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 1. Introduction Wireless LAN (WLAN) deployments are increasingly common as the technology matures and wireless interface chips become standard equipment in laptops and various handheld computing devices. In the simplest deployments, WLAN access is entirely provided by a wireless Access Point (AP), which is essentially a bridge between the client system (the "STA") and the Distribution System (DS) or wired network. +------+ |client| +--------+ | |(STA) | | Access | | +------+ +------+ ) ) ) ) | Point |-----| /optional\ +-------+ / / +--------+ |--( L3 )---| AAA | +------+ | \ cloud / +-------+ | +------+ figure 1 In this architecture the AP serves as a gatekeeper, facilitating client access to the wired LAN. Typically, the client must somehow authenticate prior to being granted access, and in enterprise deployments this is frequently accomplished using 802.1X [8021X]. In the parlance of 802.1X, the client is the "supplicant", the AP is the "authenticator", and either the AP or an external Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) server fulfill the role of "authentication server", depending on the authentication mechanism in use. From the perspective of the network administrator, the wired LAN to which the AP is attached is typically considered to be trusted, either because there is some physical boundary around the wired segment (i.e. the building walls), or because it is otherwise secured somehow (perhaps cryptographically). The AAA server may reside within this same physical administrative domain, or it may be remote. CAPWAP modifies this architecture, and perhaps the simplest way to think of this is in terms of splitting the AP into two pieces (the Wireless Termination Point or WTP, and the Access Controller or AC) and creating a communications link between the two new components. In this model, the WTP implements the WLAN edge functions with respect to the user (wireless transmit/receive), while the AC implements the wired-side edge functions. For a complete description of CAPWAP architecture, see [RFC4118]. Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 4] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 +------+ +=================================+ |client| | +------+ | | +------+ |(STA) | | +-----+ / \ +------+ | | /optional\ +-------+ +------+ ) ) ) )|)| WTP |--( L3 )--| AC |-|---|--( L3 )---| AAA | / / | +-----+ \ cloud / +------+ | | \ cloud / +-------+ +------+ | +------+ | | +------+ +=================================+ AP equivalence boundary figure 2 For our purposes, it is useful to think of the entire CAPWAP system as a sort of "AP equivalent", and the figure above illustrates this concept. This view is something of an over-simplification, but it is still quite useful. With this model in mind, our ideal is to ensure that CAPWAP introduces no vulnerabilities which aren't present in the original fat AP scenario. As we will see, this is not entirely possible, but from a security perspective we should nonetheless strive to achieve this equivalence as nearly as we can. 2. CAPWAP Security Goals As noted above, it should be the aim of CAPWAP to avoid introducing any degradation of the system security properties when compared to the fat AP scenario which is being replaced. In the ideal case, the simple act of splitting AP functions between the WTP and AC introduces no new security considerations beyond those relating to the added complexity of the split. However, in actuality this depends on the security properties of the cloud between the AC and WTP. Limiting our goals in this way implies that over-the-air security is largely out of scope for this analysis, as is AC-AAA security. This is appropriate, as CAPWAP generally does not directly interact with these protocols (at least, no more so than a fat AP does). However, it is important to note that CAPWAP interacts indirectly with these in a number of ways which could potentially introduce subtle new security exposures. Hence, before commencing with the threat analysis, we briely overview the relevant elements of 802.11 and AAA infrastructure security. 3. Overview of 802.11 and AAA Security While this document is not directly concerned with 802.11 or AAA security, there are some subtle interactions introduced by CAPWAP, and there will be related terminology we must touch on in discussing Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 5] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 these. The following figure illustrates some of the complex relationships between the various protocols, and illustrates where CAPWAP sits in this mix: +-----+ RADIUS | AAA |<==============\\ +-----+ || | || +-----------+------------+ || | | || +-----+ +----+ || | AC | | AC |<==// +-----+ +----+ +---| |---+ +---| |---+ | | | | | | | CAPWAP | +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ | WTP | | WTP | | WTP | | WTP | +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ ^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ 802.11i, ^^ ^^ 802.1X, WPA, +-----+ +-----+ WEP | STA | | STA | +-----+ +-----+ / / / / +-----+ +-----+ As you can see, CAPWAP is being inserted directly in between the 802.ll link security mechanism and the authentication server communication, so to provide supporting context, we give a very brief overview of 802.11 and AAA security below. It is very important to note that we only cover those topics which are relevant to our discussion, so what follows is not by any means exhaustive. For more detailed coverage of 802.11-related security, topics see e.g. [80211SEC] 3.1. 802.11 Authentication and AAA In general, 802.11 provides for multiple methods of authentication prior to granting access to the network. In the simplest case, 'open' authentication is used, and this is equivalent to 'no authentication whatsover'. However, if 802.11 link security (described further below) is to be provided, then in general, some sort of authentication is required in order to bootstrap the trust relationship which underlies the associated key establishment Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 6] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 process. In some cases, this authentication is implemented through use of a shared secret. In such cases the authentication may be implicitly tied to the link security mechanism, (e.g. when Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is used with open authentication), or it may be explicit, e.g. when Wi-fi Protected Access is used with a Pre-Shared Key (WPA-PSK). In other cases, authentication requires an explicit cryptographic exchange, and from this operation link security is bootstrapped. In most such cases, 802.1X is used in conjunction with the Extensible Authentication Protocol [EAP1] to authenticate either the client or both the client and the authentication server, and this exchange produces cryptographic keying material for use with 802.11 security mechnisms. The resulting trust relationships are complex, as can be seen from the following (simplified) figure: /--------------------------------------------\ | PTK (6) | EAP Credentials, V /--------------\ | PMK (3) +------+ | PSK/Cert(1) | | |client| V | V |(STA) | +--------+ | | +-----+ +------+ ) ) ) ) | WTP |-----| +----+ |--| AAA | / / +--------+ |--| AC |--| +-----+ +------+ ^ | +----+ | ^ ^ ^ | ^ ^ (2,4) | | | PTK (7) | | \----------/ | \----------------/ | Radius PSK, \-----------------------------------/ PMK 4-Way Handshake (w/PMK) (5) figure 3 1. WTP and AC establish secure link 2. AC establishes secure link with AAA server 3. STA and AAA server conduct EAP, produce PMK 4. AAA server pushes PMK to AC 5. AC and STA conduct 4-way handshake (producing PTK) Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 7] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 6. AC pushes PTK to WTP 7. WTP/STA use PTK-derived keys for 802.11 security 3.2. 802.11 Link Security [This section is TBD...] 4. Structure of the Analysis In order to conduct a comprehensive threat analysis, there are some basic questions we must answer: o Exactly what are we trying to protect? o What are the risks? * What are the capabilities of would-be attackers? * What might be goals of would-be attackers? * What are the vulnerabilities or conditions they might attempt to exploit? * For various attackers, what is the likelihood of attempting to exploit a given vulnerability given the cost of the the exloit vs. the value of attack? o What potential mitigation strategies are available to us? o What kinds of trade-offs do these mitigation strategies offer, and do they introduce any new risks? This is a very simplistic overview of what we must accomplish below, but it should give some insight into the manner in which the discussion proceeds. As a preliminary, we describe some representative CAPWAP deployment scenarios. This helps to frame subsequent discussion, so that we better understand what we are trying to protect. Following this, we describe a threat model in terms of adversary capabilities, vulnerabilities introduced by the CAPWAP functionality split, and a representative sampling of adversary goals. Note that we do not spend a lot of time speculating about specific attackers here, as this is a very general analysis, and there are many different circumstances under which a WLAN might be deployed. Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 8] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 Following the development of the general threat model, we describe appropriate countermeasures, and discuss how these are implemented through various means within the CAPWAP protocol. Finally, we discuss those issues which are not (or cannot be) completely addressed, and we give recommendations for mitigating the resulting exposure. 5. Representative CAPWAP Deployment Scenarios In this section, we describe some representative CAPWAP deployment scenarios, and in particular, those scenarios which have been taken into consideration for the current CAPWAP protocol security design. For clarity, we first provide some preliminary definitions, along with descriptions of common deployment configurations which span multiple scenarios. Following this is a sampling of individual deployment scenarios. 5.1. Preliminary Definitions The IEEE 802.11 standard describes several frame types, and variations in WLAN architectures dictate where these frame types originate and/or terminate (i.e. at the WTP or AC). There are three basic 802.11 frame types currently defined: o Control - in general, these are for managing the transmission medium (i.e. the airwaves). Examples include RTS, CTS, ACK, PS- POLL, CF-POLL, CF-END, and CF-ACK o Management - in general, these are for managing access to the logical network, as opposed to the physical medium. Example functions include association, disassociation, reassociation, deauthentication, beacons, and probes o Data - transit data (network packets) There are a number of other services provided by the WLAN infrastructure, including these: o Packet distribution o Synchronization o Retransmissions o Transmission Rate Adaptation Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 9] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 o Privacy/Confidentiality/Integrity (e.g. 802.11i) The manner in which these (and other) services are divided among the AC and WTP is collectively referred to in terms of "MAC-splitting" characteristics. For convenience, we briefly describe various forms of MAC-splitting below. For further detail, see [RFC4118] and [CAPWAP]. 5.1.1. Split MAC Split-MAC scenarios are characterized by the fact that some 802.11 MAC messages are processed by the WTP, while some are processed by the AC. For example, a split MAC implementation might divide 802.11 frame processing as follows: WTP * Beacons * Probes * RTS, CTS, ACK, PS-POLL, CF-POLL,CF-END, CF-ACK AC * Association/Reassociation/Disassociation * Authentication/Deauthentication * Key Management * 802.11 Link Security (WEP, TKIP, 802.11i) The split MAC model is not confined to any one particular deployment scenario, as we'll see below, and vendors have considerable leeway in choosing how to distribute the 802.11 functionality. 5.1.2. Local MAC Local-MAC scenarios are characterized by the fact that all 802.11 MAC messages are processed by the WTP. Copies of some may be forwarded to the AC as a matter of convenience (i.e. when the AC needs to record some info from the frame, for example when providing accounting services), but the primary function of CAPWAP in local MAC scenarios is to provide centralized control and management for the WTPs, and STA packets are generally bridged locally. Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 10] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 5.1.3. Remote MAC Remote MAC scenarios are characterized by the fact that all 802.11 MAC messages are forwarded to the AC - the WTP does not process any of these locally. This model supports very light-weight WTP's which need be little more than smart antennas. 5.1.4. Data Tunneling Regardless of the approach to MAC-splitting, there is also the matter of where user data packets are translated between wired and wireless frame formats, i.e. where the bridging function occurs. In some cases, user data frames are tunneled back to the AC, and in others, they are locally bridged by the WTP. While one might expect remote MAC implementations to always tunnel data packets back to the AC, for local and split MAC modes the decision is not so clear. Also, it's important to note that there are no rules or standards in place which rigidly define these terms and associated handling. Data tunneling is further discussed for each scenario below. 5.2. Example Scenarios In this section we describe a number of example deployment scenarios. This is not meant to be an exhaustive enumeration; rather, it is intended to give a general sense of how WLANs currently are or may be deployed. This will provide important context when we discuss adversaries and threats in subsequent sections below. 5.2.1. Localized Modular Deployment The localized modular model describes a WLAN which is deployed within a single domain of control, typically within either a single building or some otherwise physically contained area. This would be typical of a small to medium-sized organization. In general, the LAN enjoys some sort of physical security (e.g. it's within the confines of a building for which access is somehow limited), although the actual level of physical security is often far less than is assumed. In such deployments, the WLAN is typically an extension of a wired LAN. However, its interface to the wired LAN can vary. For example, the interconnection between the WTPs and ACs can have its own wiring, and its only connection to the LAN is via the AC's Distribution System (DS) port(s). In such cases, the WLAN frequently occupies its own distinct addressing partition(s) in order to facilitate routing, and the AC often acts as a forwarding element. In other cases, the WTPs may be mingled with the existing LAN elements, perhaps sharing address space, or perhaps somehow logically Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 11] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 isolated from other wired elements (e.g. by VLAN). Under these circumstances, it is possible that traffic destined to/from the WLAN is mixed with traffic to/from the LAN. Localized deployments such as these could potentially choose any one of the MAC-splitting scenarios, depending on the size of the deployment, mobility requirements, and other considerations. In many cases, any one of the various MAC-splitting approaches would be sufficient. This implies that user data may be bridged by either the WTP or the AC. 5.2.2. Internet Hotspot or Temporary Network The Internet hotspot scenario is representative of a more general deployment model one might find at cafes, hotels, or airports. It is also quite similar to temporary WLANs which are created for conferences, conventions, and the like. Some common characteristics of these networks include the following: o Primary function is to provide Internet access o Authentication may be very weak o There frequently is no 802.11 link security Sometimes, the local-MAC model is used. In such cases the AC may be "in the cloud" (out on the Internet somewhere), and user data traffic will typically be locally bridged, rather than tunneled back to the AC. Some 802.11 management traffic may be tunneled back to the AC, but frequently the authentication consists in simply knowing the SSID and perhaps a shared key for use with WEP or WPA-PSK. In other cases, a split-MAC model may be used. This is more common in airport and hotel scenarios, where users may have an account which requires verification with some back-end infrastructure prior to access. In these cases, 802.11 management frames are tunneled back to the AC (e.g. user authentication), and stronger 802.11 link security may be provided (e.g. WPA), but user data is still typically locally bridged, as the primary goal is to provide Internet access. A third variation on this scenario entails tunneling user data through a local AC in order to apply centralized policy. For example, in a hotel or airport scenarios, there is no reason to provide direct access between WLAN users (who typically are within a private address space), and in fact, allowing such access might invite various sorts of malicious behavior. In such cases, tunneling all user data back to the (local) AC provides a security choke point Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 12] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 at which policy may be applied to the traffic. 5.2.3. Distributed Deployments The distributed deployment model describes a more complex WLAN topology which features network segments that are typically somehow spatially separated, although not necessarily so. These segments might be connected in a physically secure manner, or (if they are widely separated) they might be connected across potentially hostile hops. Below we discuss several subgroups of this model. 5.2.3.1. Large Physically-Contained Organization One distributed deployment example involves a single large organization which is physically contained, typically within one large building. The network might feature logically distinct (e.g. per-department or per-floor) network segments, and in some cases, there might be firewalls between the segments for access control. In such deployments, the AC is typically in a centralized datacenter, but there might also be a hierarchy of ACs, with a master in the datacenter, and subordinate ACs distributed among the network segments. Such deployments typically assume some level of physical security for the network infrastructure. 5.2.3.2. Campus Deployments Some large organizations have networks which span multiple buildings. The interconnections between these buildings might be wired (e.g. underground cables), or might be wireless (e.g. a point to point MAN link). The interconnections may be secured, but sometimes they are not. The organization may be providing outdoor wireless access to users, in which case some WTPs will typically be located outdoors, and these may or may not be within physically secure space. For example, college campuses frequently provide outdoor wireless access, and the associated WTPs may simply be mounted on a light post. For such deployments, ACs may be centrally located in a datacenter, or they may be distributed. User data traffic may be locally bridged, but more frequently it is tunneled back to AC, as this facilitates mobility and centralized policy enforcement. 5.2.3.3. Branch Offices A common deployment model entails an enterprise consisting of a headquarters and one or more branch offices, with the branches connected to the central HQ. In some cases, the site-to-site connection is via a private WAN link, and in others it is across the Internet. For connections crossing potentially hostile hops (e.g. Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 13] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 the Internet), some sort of VPN is typically employed as a protective measure. In some simple branch office scenarios, there are only WTP's at the remote site, and these are managed by a controller residing at the central site. In other cases, a branch site may have its own subordinate controller, with the master controller again residing at the central site. In the first case, local bridging is often the best choice for user data, due to latency and link capacity issues. In the second case, traffic may be locally bridged by the WTPs, or it may be forwarded to the local subordinate controller for centralized policy enforcement. The choice depends on many factors, including local topology and security policy. 5.2.3.4. Telecommuter or Remote Office It is becoming increasingly common to send WTPs home with employees for use as a telecommuting solution. While there are not yet any standards or hard rules for how these work, a fairly typical configuration provides split MAC with all user data tunneled back to the controller in the organization's datacenter so that the WTP is essentially providing wireless VPN services. These devices may in some cases provide their own channel security (e.g. IPsec), but alternative approaches are possible. For example, there may be a standalone VPN gateway between the WTP and the Internet which forwards all organization-bound traffic to the VPN gateway. Similarly, it is becoming increasingly common for travelers to plug a WTP into a hotel broadband connection. While in many cases, these WTPs are standalone fat AP's, in some cases they are configured to create a secure connection to a centralized controller back at headquarters, essentially forming a VPN connection. In such scenarios, a split-MAC approach is typical, but split-tunneling may also be suppported (i.e. only data traffic destined for the headquarters is tunneled back to the controller, with Internet-bound traffic locally bridged). 5.2.3.5. Tactical Networks In some instances, there is a need to quickly establish a temporary network "in the field". For example, during disaster relief operations (such as might occur following a natural disaster), it would be very helpful to be able to quickly establish secure connectivity between a temporary location in the field and a central office. In some cases, it may be possible to quickly establish an insecure uplink of some sort (e.g. DSL/cable modem, satellite uplink, cellular modem, etc), and then to create a WLAN at the site for convenient access. This is very similar to telecommuter Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 14] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 scenarios, except that there may be far more people using the WLAN. A typical configuration for such scenarios might utilize split MAC, with all user data tunneled back to the controller in the datacenter. Again, a separate VPN gateway might be placed between the WTP and the device providing Internet connectivity, or the WTP may be expected to provide its own channel security. 6. General Adversary Capabilities This section describes general capabilities we might expect an adversary to have in various CAPWAP scenarios. Obviously, it is possible to limit what an adversary can do through various deployment restrictions (e.g. provide strict physical security for the AC-WTP link), but such restrictions are simply not always feasible. For example, it is not possible to provide strict physical security for various aspects of the telecommuter scenario. Thus, we must consider what capabilities an adversary might have in the worst case, and plan accordingly. 6.1. Passive vs Active Adversaries One way to classify adversaries is in terms of their ability to interact with AC/WTP communications. For example, a passive adversary is one who can observe and perhaps record traffic, but cannot interact with it. They can "see" the traffic as it goes by, but they cannot interfere in any way, and they cannot inject traffic of their own. Note that such an adversary does not necessarily see all traffic - they may miss portions of a communication e.g. because some packets traverse a different path, or because the network is so busy that the adversary can't keep up (and drops packets as a result). An active adversary, on the other hand, can directly interact with the traffic in realtime. There are two modes in which an active adversary might operate: Pass-by (or sniffer) * Can observe/record traffic * Can inject packets * Can replay packets * Can reflect packets (i.e. send duplicate packets to a different destination, including the to the packet source) Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 15] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 * Can cause redirection (e.g. via ARP/DNS poisoning) Inline (Man in the Middle, or MitM) * Can observe/record traffic * Can inject packets * Can replay packets * Can reflect packets (with or without duplication) * Can delete packets * Can modify packets A passive adversary could be located anywere along the path between the AC and WTP, and is characterized by the fact that it only listens: +------+ |client| +--------+ | |(STA) | | WTP | | +------+ +------+ ) ) ) ) | |-----| / \ +------+ / / +--------+ |-x-( optional )---| AC | +------+ | | \ cloud / +------+ | | +------+ | | +-----------+ +--| pass-by | | listener | +-----------+ An active adversary may attach in the same manner as the passive adversary (in which case it is in pass-by mode), or it may be lodged directly in the path between the AC and WTP (inline mode): +------+ |client| +--------+ | |(STA) | | WTP | | +------+ +------+ +------+ ) ) ) | |---| |active| / \ +------+ / / +--------+ |-| MitM |--( optional )---| AC | +------+ | +------+ \ cloud / +------+ | +------+ If it is not inline, it can only observe and create traffic; if it is inline, it can do whatever it wishes with the traffic it sees. Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 16] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 It is important to recognize that becoming a MitM does not necessarily require physical insertion directly into the transmission path. Alternatively, the adversary can cause traffic to be diverted to the MitM system, e.g. via ARP or DNS poisoning. Hence, launching a MitM attack is not so difficult as it might first appear. 7. Vulnerabilities Introduced by CAPWAP In this section we discuss vulnerabilities which arise as a result of splitting the AP function across potentially hostile hops. We primarily consider network-based vulnerabilities, and while in particular we do not address how an adversary might affect a physical compromise of the WTP and/or AC, we do consider the potential effects of such compromises with respect to CAPWAP and the operational changes it introduces when compared to standalone AP deployments. Functionally, we are interested in two general "states of being" with respect to AC-WTP communications: the session establishment phase or state, and the "connected" (or session established) state. We discuss each of these further below. Also, it is important to note that we first describe vulnerabilites assuming that the CAPWAP communications lack security of any kind. Later, we will evaluate the protocol given the security mechanisms currently planned for CAPWAP. 7.1. The Session Establishment Phase The session establishment phase consists of two subordinate phases: discovery, and association or joining. These are treated individually in the following sections. 7.1.1. The Discovery Phase Discovery consists of an information exchange between the AC and WTP. There are several potential areas of exposure: Information Leakage: During discovery, information about the WTP and AC hardware and software are exchanged, as well as information about the AC's current operational state. This could provide an adversary with valuable insights. DoS Potential: During Discovery, there are several opportunities for Denial of Service (DoS), beyond those inherently available to an inline adversary. For example, an adversary might respond to a WTP more quickly than a valid AC, causing the WTP to attempt to join with a non-existent AC, or one which is currently at maximum load. Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 17] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 Redirection Potential: There are multiple ways in which an adversary might redirect a WTP during discovery. For example, the adversary might pretend to be a valid AC, and entice the WTP to connect to it. Or, the adversary might instead cause the WTP to associate with the AC of the adversary's choosing, by posing as a DNS or DHCP server, injecting a spoofed discovery response, or by modifying valid AC responses. Misdirection: An adversary might mislead either the WTP or AC by modifying the discovery request or response in flight. In this way, the AC and/or WTP will have a false view of the other's capabilities, and this might cause a change in the way they interact (e.g. they might not use important features not supported by earlier versions). 7.1.2. Forming an Association (Joining) The association phase begins once the WTP has determined with which AC it wishes to join. There are several potential areas of exposure during this phase: Information Leakage: During association, the adversary could glean useful information about hardware, software, current configuration, etc. that could be used in various ways. DoS Potential: During formation of a WTP-AC association, there are several opportunities for Denial of Service (DoS), beyond those inherently available to an inline adversary. For example, the adversary could flood the AC with connection setup requests. Or, it could respond to the WTP with invalid connection setup responses, causing a connection reset. An adversary with MitM capability could delete critical session establishment packets. Misdirection: An adversary might mislead either the WTP or AC by modifying the association request(s) or response(s) in flight. In this way, the AC and/or WTP will have an inaccurate view of the other's capabilities, and this might cause a change in the way they interact. Some of these types of exposure are extremely difficult to prevent. However, there are things we can do to mitigate the effects, as we will see below. 7.2. The Connected Phase Once the WTP and AC have established an association, the adversary's attention will turn to the network connection. If we assume a passive adversary, the primary concern for established connections is Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 18] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 eavesdropping. If we assume an active adversary, there are several other potential areas of exposure: Connection Hijacking: An adversary may assume the identity of one end of the connection and take over the conversation. There are numerous ways in which the true owner of the identity may be taken offline, including DoS or MitM attacks. Eavesdropping: An adversary may glean useful information from knowledge of the contents of CAPWAP control and/or data traffic. Modification of User Data: An adversary with MitM capabilities could modify, delete, or insert user data frames. Modification of Control/Monitoring Messages: An adversary with MitM capability could modify control traffic such as statistics, status information, etc. to create a false impression at the recipient. 8. Adversary Goals in CAPWAP This section gives an sampling of potential adversary goals. It is not exhaustive, and makes no judgement as to the relative likelihood or value of each individual goal. Rather, it is meant to give some idea of what is possible. It is important to remember that clever attacks often result when seemingly innocuous flaws or vulnerabilities are combined in some non-intuitive way. Hence, we don't rule out some goal that, taken alone, might not seem to make sense from an adversarial perspective. 8.1. Eavesdrop on AC-WTP Traffic There are numerous reasons why an adversary might want to eavesdrop on AC-WTP traffic. For example, it allows for reconnaissance, providing answers to the following questions: o Where are the ACs? o Where are the WTPs? o Who owns them? o Who manufactured them? o What version of firmware do they run? o What cryptographic capabilities do they have? Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 19] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 o etc... Similarly, snooping on tunneled data traffic might potentially reveal a great deal about the network, including answers to the following: o Who's using the WLAN? o When, and for how long? o What addresses are they using? o What protocols are they using? o What over-the-air security are they using? o Who/what are they talking to? o etc... Additionally, access to tunneled user data could allow the attacker to see confidential information being exchanged by applications (e.g. financial transactions). An eavesdropper may gain access to valuable information that either provides the basis for another perhaps more sophisticated attack, or which has its own intrinsic value. 8.2. WTP Impersonation An adversary might want to impersonate an authorized WTP for many reasons, some of which we might realistically imagine today, and perhaps others about which we have no clue at this point. Examples we might reasonably imagine include the following: o to facilitate MitM attacks against WLAN users o to give an inaccurate view of the state of the WLAN o to gain access to a trusted channel to an AC, through which various protocol attacks might be launched (e.g. hijack client sessions from other WTPs) 8.3. AC Impersonation For reasons similar to the WTP impersonation discussed above, an adversary might want to impersonate an authorized AC for many reasons. Examples we might reasonably imagine include the following: o to facilitate DoS attack against WLAN Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 20] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 o to facilitate MitM attacks against WLAN users o to intercept user mobility context (possibly including security- sensitive information such as cryptographic keys) o to facilitate selective control of one or more WTPs * modify WTP configuration * load tainted firmware onto WTP o to assist in controlling which AC associates with which WTP o to facilitate 802.11 association of unauthorized WLAN user(s) o to exploit inter-AC trust in order facilitate attacks on other ACs In general, AC impersonation opens the door to a large measure of control over the WLAN, and could be used as the foundation to many other attacks. 8.4. Other Goals There are many less concrete goals an adversary might have which, taken alone, might not seem to have any purpose, but when combined with other goals/attacks, might have very definite and undesireable consquences. Here are some examples: o cause CAPWAP de-association of WTP/AC o cause 802.11 deassociation of authorized user o inject/modify/delete tunneled 802.11 user traffic * to interact with a specific application * to launch various attacks on WLAN user systems * to launch protocol fuzzing or other attacks on the AC which bridges between 802.11 and 802.3 frame formats o control DNS responses o control DHCP/BOOTP responses Anticipating all of the things an adversary might want to do is a daunting task. Part of the difficulty stems from the fact that we are analyzing CAPWAP in a very general sense, rather than in a Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 21] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 specific deployment scenario with specific assets and very specific adversary goals. However, we have no choice but to take this approach if we are to provide reasonably good security across the board. 9. Countermeasures and Their Effects In the previous sections we described numerous vulnerabilities which result from splitting the AP function in two, and also discussed a number of adversary goals which could be realized by exploiting one or more of those vulnerabilities. In this section, we describe countermeasures we can apply to mitigate the risks that come with the introduction of CAPWAP into WLAN deployment scenarios. 9.1. Communications Security Elements 9.1.1. Mutual Authentication Mutual authentication consists in each side proving its identity to the other. There are numerous authentication protocols which accomplish this, typically using either a shared secret (e.g. a preshared key) or by relying on a trusted third party (e.g. with digital credentials such as X.509 certificates). Strong mutual authentication accomplishes the following: o helps prevent AC/WTP impersonation o helps prevent MitM attacks o can be used to limit DoS attacks 9.1.2. Data Origin Authentication Data origin authentication typically depends on first authenticating the party at the other end of the channel, and then binding the identity derived from that authentication process to the data origin authentication process. Data origin authentication primarily prevents an attacker from injecting data into the communication channel and pretending it was originated by a valid endpoint. This mitigates risk by preventing the following: o packet injection o connection hijacking Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 22] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 o modification of control and/or user data o impersonation 9.1.3. Data Integrity Verification Data integrity verification provides assurance that data has not been altered in transit, and is another link in the trust chain beginning from mutual authentication, extending to data origin authentication, and ending with integrity verification. This prevents the adversary from undetectably modifying otherwise valid data while in transit. It effectively prevents reflection and modification, and in some cases may help to prevent re-ordering. 9.1.4. Antireplay Antireplay is somewhat self-explanatory: it prevents replay of valid packets at a later time, or to a different recipient. It may also prevent limited re-ordering of packets. It is typically accomplished by assigning monotonically increasing sequence numbers to packets. 9.1.5. Confidentiality Data confidentiality prevents eavesdropping by protecting data as it passes over the network. This is typically accomplished using encryption. 9.2. Putting the Elements Together Above we described various security elements and their properties. Below, we discuss combinations of these elements in terms of CAPWAP. 9.2.1. Control Channel Security The CAPWAP control channel is used for forming an association between a WTP and AC, and subsequently it allows the AC to provision and monitor the WTP. This channel is critical for the control, management, and monitoring of the WLAN, and thus requires all of the security elements described above. With these elements in place, we can effectively create a secure channel which mitigates almost all of the vulnerabilities described above. 9.2.2. Data Channel Security The CAPWAP data channel contains some 802.11 management traffic including association/disassociation, reassociation, and deathentication. It also may contain potentially sensitive user data. If we assume that threats to this channel exist (i.e. it Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 23] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 traverses potentially hostile hops), then providing strong mutual authentication coupled with data origin/integrity verification would prevent an adversary from injecting and/or modifying transit data, or impersonating a valid AC or WTP. Adding confidentiality would prevent eavesdropping. 10. Countermeasures Provided By DTLS Datagram TLS (DTLS) is the currently proposed security solution for CAPWAP. DTLS supports the following security functionality: o Mutual Authentication (preshared secrets or X.509 Certificates) o Data Origin Authentication o Data Integrity Verification o Antireplay o Confidentiality (supports strong cryptographic algorithms) Using DTLS for both the control and data channels mitigates nearly all risks resulting from splitting the AP function in two. 11. Issues Not Addressed By DTLS Unfortunately, DTLS is not a magic elixir that dispenses with all of our CAPWAP security concerns. There are some things it just cannot prevent. These are enumerated below. 11.1. DoS Attacks Even with the security provided by DTLS, CAPWAP is still susceptible to various types of DoS attack: o Session Initialization: an adversary could initiate thousands of DTLS handshakes simultaneously in order to exhaust memory resources on the AC; DTLS provides a mitigation tool via the HelloVerifyRequest, which ensures that the initiator can receive packets at the claimed source address prior to allocating resources. However, this would not thwart a botnet-style attack. o Cryptographic DoS: an adversary could flood either the AC or WTP with properly formed DTLS records containing garbage, causing the recipient to waste compute cycles decrypting and authenticating the traffic Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 24] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 o Session interference: a MitM could either drop important session establishment packets, or inject bogus connection resets during session establishment phase. It could also interfere with other traffic in an established session. These attacks can be mitigated thorugh various mechanisms, but not entirely avoided. For example, session initialization can be rate- limited, and in case of resource exhaustion, some number of incompletely initialized sessions could be discarded. Also, such events should be strictly audited. Likewise, cryptographic DoS attacks are detectable if appropriate auditing and monitoring controls are implemented. When detected, these events should (at minimum) trigger an alert. Additional mitigation might be realized by randomly discarding packets. Session interference is probably the most difficult of DoS attacks. It is very difficult to detect in realtime, although it may be detected if exceeding a lost packet threshhold triggers an alert. However, this depends on the MitM not being in a position to delete the alert before it reaches it's appropriate destination. 11.2. Passive Monitoring (Sniffing) CAPWAP protocol security cannot prevent (or detect) passive monitoring. The best we can do is provide a confidentiality mechanism. 11.3. Traffic Analysis DTLS provides no defense for traffic analysis. If this is a concern, there are traffic generation and padding techniques designed to mitigate this threat, but none of these are currently specified for CAPWAP. 11.4. Active MitM Interference This was discussed in more limited scope in the section above on DoS attacks. An active MitM can delete or re-order packets in a manner which is very difficult to detect, and there is little the CAPWAP protocol can do in such cases. If packet loss is reported upon exceeding some threshold, then perhaps detection might be possible, but this is not guaranteed. 11.5. Other Active Attacks In addition to the issues raised above, there are other active attacks that can be mounted if the adversary has access to the wired Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 25] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 medium. For example, the adversary may be able to impersonate a DNS or DHCP server, or to poison either a DNS or ARP cache. Such attacks are beyond the scope of CAPWAP, and point to an underlying LAN security problem. 12. References 12.1. Normative References [8021X] "IEEE Std 802.1X: Port-based Network Access Control", June 2001. [CAPWAP] Calhoun, P., Montemurro, M., and D. Stanley, "CAPWAP Protocol Specification", draft-ietf-capwap-protocol-specification-02 (work in progress). [EAP1] Aboba, B., Blunk, L., Vollbrecht, J., Carlson, J., and H. Levkowetz, "Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)", RFC 3748, June 2004. [RFC4118] Yang, L., Zerfos, P., and E. Sadot, "Architecture Taxonomy for Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP)", June 2005. 12.2. Informative References [80211SEC] Edney, J. and W. Arbaugh, "Real 802.11 Security - Wi-Fi protected Access and 802.11i", 2004. Authors' Addresses Scott G. Kelly Aruba Wireless Networks 1322 Crossman Ave Sunnyvale, CA 94089 US Email: scott@hyperthought.com Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 26] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 T. Charles Clancy Laboratory for Telecommunications Sciences 8080 Greenmeade Drive College Park, MD 20740 US Email: clancy@ltsnet.net Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 27] Internet-Draft CAPWAP 802.11 Threat Analysis August 2006 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. 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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. Acknowledgment Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA). Kelly & Clancy Expires February 2, 2007 [Page 28]