Operations and Management Area Working Group F. Hu
Internet-Draft D. Hong
Intended status: Informational China Southern Power Grid
Expires: 3 April 2025 L. Xia
Huawei Technologies
30 September 2024
A YANG Data Model for Network Element Threat Surface Management
draft-hu-opsawg-network-element-tsm-yang-00
Abstract
This document defines a base YANG data model for network element
threat surface management that is application- and technology-
agnostic.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Terminology and Notations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2. Requirements Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3. Tree Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4. Prefix in Data Node Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Definition of Threat Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2. Interface Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3. Service Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4. Account Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5. Version and Vulnerability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3. YANG Data Model for Network Element Threat Surface
Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4. Manageability Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Appendix A. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1. Introduction
With more and more advanced network attacks on network
infrastructures, one important thing of network device security
management is to increase the security visibility. To achieve this,
on the one hand, the device normal security posture should be defined
in advance, so that the abnormal security status or operation of the
device can be identified timely. On the other hand, from the
attacker perspective, how to comprehensively define the threat
surface of device, and manage potential risks through timely
monitoring is becoming vital.
Network element threat surface management has a similar concept as
External Attack Surface Management (EASM) which is defines as "refers
to the processes, technology and managed services deployed to
discover internet-facing enterprise assets and systems and associated
exposures which include misconfigured public cloud services and
servers, exposed enterprise data such as credentials and third-party
partner software code vulnerabilities that could be exploited by
adversaries.". Comparing with EASM as a larger system and
methodology, this document presents a specific implementation for
network device threat surface management. Furthermore, the
difference between the threat surface and attack surface is clarified
briefly here: The threat surface may not have vulnerabilities or be
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an attack surface. However, it is exposed to the attackers and faces
threats from them. Therefore, its security risk is high. However,
the attack surface can be accessed by attackers and has
vulnerabilities, that is, it is both exposed and vulnerable, and the
security risk is very high. In summary, not all threat surfaces will
become attack surfaces, only exploitable threat surfaces with
corresponding attack vectors will become an attack surface.
In the past, the IETF has existing work about security posture
definition, collection, and assessment, including the concluded
Network Endpoint Assessment (NEA) and Security Automation and
Continuous Monitoring (SACM) working groups [RFC5209][RFC8248]. They
have mainly finished the standard definition of general use cases and
requirements, architecture and communication protocols, and software
inventory attribute definition and so on. Recently, the extended MUD
YANG model for SBOM and vulnerability information of devices defined
in [RFC9472], and the extended MUD YANG model for (D)TLS profiles for
IoT devices proposed in [I-D.ietf-opsawg-mud-tls], are all aiming to
propose the specific security posture model definition. Similarly,
this document proposes the device threat surface YANG model.
Section 2 of this document defines the basic framework of the threat
surface management.
Based on the above definitions, Section 3 of this document defines
the YANG model for the device threat surface management.
1.1. Terminology and Notations
The following terms are defined in [RFC7950] and are not redefined
here:
* client
* server
* augment
* data model
* data node
The following terms are defined in [RFC6241] and are not redefined
here:
* configuration data
* state data
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The terminology for describing YANG data models is found in
[RFC7950].
Following terms are used for the representation of the hierarchies in
the network inventory.
Network Element:
a manageable network entity that contains hardware and software
units, e.g. a network device installed on one or several chassis
Chassis:
a holder of the device installation.
Slot:
a holder of the board.
Component:
a unit of the network element, e.g. hardware components like
chassis, card, port, software components like software-patch,
bios, and boot-loader
Board/Card:
a pluggable equipment can be inserted into one or several slots/
sub-slots and can afford a specific transmission function
independently.
Port:
an interface on board
1.2. Requirements Notation
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.
1.3. Tree Diagram
The meaning of the symbols in this diagram is defined in [RFC8340].
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1.4. Prefix in Data Node Names
In this document, names of data nodes and other data model objects
are prefixed using the standard prefix associated with the
corresponding YANG imported modules, as shown in the following table.
+========+========================+=============+
| Prefix | Yang Module | Reference |
+========+========================+=============+
| inet | ietf-inet-types | [RFC6991] |
+--------+------------------------+-------------+
| yang | ietf-yang-types | [RFC6991] |
+--------+------------------------+-------------+
| ianahw | iana-hardware | [IANA_YANG] |
+--------+------------------------+-------------+
| ni | ietf-network-inventory | RFC XXXX |
+--------+------------------------+-------------+
Table 1: Prefixes and corresponding YANG modules
RFC Editor Note: Please replace XXXX with the RFC number assigned to
this document. Please remove this note.
2. Definition of Threat Surface
2.1. Overview
Figure 1 depicts the overall framework of the network element threat
surface management:
+------------------+
| Threat Surface |
+--------+---------+
|
+-------------+----+-------+------------+
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
+----v----+ +-----v---+ +-----v---+ +------v------+
|Interface| | Service | | Account | | Version & |
|Exposure | |Exposure | |Exposure | |Vulnerability|
+---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +-------------+
Figure 1: Network Element Threat Surface Management Framework
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2.2. Interface Exposure
Device interfaces include physical interfaces (such as Gigabit
Ethernet interfaces) and logical interfaces (such as POS, tunnel, and
loopback), and IP management layer interfaces for local access.
Interface exposure is classified as follows:
* Unused Interfaces:
- Definition: The physical status of the interface is Down, but
the administrative status is not shutdown.
- Recommended security hardening operation: Set the interface
management status to shutdown.
* IP interface exposure:
- Definition: The interface has the IP (including primary and
secondary IP addresses) configured for local access.
- Recommended security hardening operation: If the address does
not have service requirements, delete the management interface.
Otherwise, check and set the corresponding access control
policy, such as ACL, is configured.
With the existing definitions of A YANG Data Model for Interface
Management [RFC8343] and A YANG Data Model for IP Management
[RFC8344], the interface exposure information can be retrieved with
NETCONF [RFC6241] Subtree Filtering mechanism as following example:
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ds:operational
In addition, the realtime change of the above information can be
notified on time with NETCONF pub/sub mechanisms
[RFC8639][RFC8640][RFC8641] as following examples:
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ds:operational
2.3. Service Exposure
Here, services refer to the corresponding protocols running on
devices, including SNMP, FTP, Telnet, SSH, TFTP, NTP, RADIUS, TACACS,
SYSLOG, PORTAL, NETCONF, RESTCONF, SFTP, HTTP, HTTPS, and RPC.
Service exposure is classified as follows:
* Insecure protocols:
- Definition: The protocol used by the service is insecure, such
as Telnet and SNMPv2.
- Recommended security hardening operation: Disable the service
or replace the protocol with a secure one, for example, replace
Telnet with SSH.
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* Abnormal service IP address:
- Definition: The service binding IP address is invalid or is not
within the predefined management address range.
- Recommended security hardening operation: Change the IP address
bound to the service to a valid address and set the
corresponding security policy.
* Weak service security configuration:
- Definition: The security configuration of the corresponding
service is insufficient. For example, weak algorithms or
passwords are used, or ACLs are not configured.
- Recommended security hardening operation: Modify all weak
security configurations.
* Abnormal Service port:
- Definition: It is found that the service uses an invalid,
incorrect, or redundant port, or there is a port that cannot
correspond to the service.
- Recommended security hardening operations: Reconfigure all
incorrect ports and disable invalid and redundant ports.
2.4. Account Exposure
To add.
2.5. Version and Vulnerability
The software version and vulnerability information directly affect
the device threat surface. The any above threat surface may have
specific problems in a specific version. The problems may be caused
by the device itself or the third-party open-source implementation.
With the existing definitions of A YANG Data Model for Network
Inventory [I-D.ietf-ivy-network-inventory-yang], the version and
vulnerability information can be retrieved with NETCONF [RFC6241]
Subtree Filtering mechanism as following example:
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3. YANG Data Model for Network Element Threat Surface Management
To add.
4. Manageability Considerations
5. Security Considerations
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6. IANA Considerations
7. References
7.1. Normative References
[IANA_YANG]
IANA, "YANG Parameters", n.d.,
.
[RFC5209] Sangster, P., Khosravi, H., Mani, M., Narayan, K., and J.
Tardo, "Network Endpoint Assessment (NEA): Overview and
Requirements", RFC 5209, DOI 10.17487/RFC5209, June 2008,
.
[RFC8248] Cam-Winget, N. and L. Lorenzin, "Security Automation and
Continuous Monitoring (SACM) Requirements", RFC 8248,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8248, September 2017,
.
[RFC7950] Bjorklund, M., Ed., "The YANG 1.1 Data Modeling Language",
RFC 7950, DOI 10.17487/RFC7950, August 2016,
.
[RFC6241] Enns, R., Ed., Bjorklund, M., Ed., Schoenwaelder, J., Ed.,
and A. Bierman, Ed., "Network Configuration Protocol
(NETCONF)", RFC 6241, DOI 10.17487/RFC6241, June 2011,
.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, .
[RFC8340] Bjorklund, M. and L. Berger, Ed., "YANG Tree Diagrams",
BCP 215, RFC 8340, DOI 10.17487/RFC8340, March 2018,
.
[RFC6991] Schoenwaelder, J., Ed., "Common YANG Data Types",
RFC 6991, DOI 10.17487/RFC6991, July 2013,
.
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[RFC8343] Bjorklund, M., "A YANG Data Model for Interface
Management", RFC 8343, DOI 10.17487/RFC8343, March 2018,
.
[RFC8344] Bjorklund, M., "A YANG Data Model for IP Management",
RFC 8344, DOI 10.17487/RFC8344, March 2018,
.
[RFC8639] Voit, E., Clemm, A., Gonzalez Prieto, A., Nilsen-Nygaard,
E., and A. Tripathy, "Subscription to YANG Notifications",
RFC 8639, DOI 10.17487/RFC8639, September 2019,
.
[RFC8640] Voit, E., Clemm, A., Gonzalez Prieto, A., Nilsen-Nygaard,
E., and A. Tripathy, "Dynamic Subscription to YANG Events
and Datastores over NETCONF", RFC 8640,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8640, September 2019,
.
[RFC8641] Clemm, A. and E. Voit, "Subscription to YANG Notifications
for Datastore Updates", RFC 8641, DOI 10.17487/RFC8641,
September 2019, .
7.2. Informative References
[RFC9472] Lear, E. and S. Rose, "A YANG Data Model for Reporting
Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs) and Vulnerability
Information", RFC 9472, DOI 10.17487/RFC9472, October
2023, .
[I-D.ietf-opsawg-mud-tls]
Reddy.K, T., Wing, D., and B. Anderson, "Manufacturer
Usage Description (MUD) (D)TLS Profiles for IoT Devices",
Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-opsawg-mud-
tls-18, 23 August 2024,
.
[I-D.ietf-ivy-network-inventory-yang]
Yu, C., Belotti, S., Bouquier, J., Peruzzini, F., and P.
Bedard, "A YANG Data Model for Network Inventory", Work in
Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-ivy-network-
inventory-yang-03, 7 July 2024,
.
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Appendix A. Acknowledgments
This document was prepared using kramdown.
Authors' Addresses
Feifei Hu
China Southern Power Grid
Email: huff@csg.cn
Danke Hong
China Southern Power Grid
Email: hongdk@csg.cn
Liang Xia
Huawei Technologies
Email: frank.xialiang@huawei.com
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