[secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo-conf-08

Yaron Sheffer <yaronf.ietf@gmail.com> Fri, 03 June 2016 17:04 UTC

From: Yaron Sheffer <yaronf.ietf@gmail.com>
To: IETF Security Directorate <secdir@ietf.org>, The IESG <iesg@ietf.org>, draft-ietf-dhc-topo-conf.all@tools.ietf.org
Message-ID: <5751B895.1070400@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 03 Jun 2016 20:04:21 +0300
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Archived-At: <http://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/secdir/1RS_iOIoLxL51QGcEg-r-vFJDzY>
Subject: [secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo-conf-08
Precedence: list

I have reviewed this document as part of the security directorate's 
ongoing effort to review all IETF documents being processed by the IESG.
These comments were written primarily for the benefit of the security
area directors.  Document editors and WG chairs should treat these
comments just like any other last call comments.

This document describes current practices for configuring DHCP in 
complex network scenarios, where the goal is to allow servers to 
configure DHCP clients differently depending on the client's network 
location.

Summary

This is a very extensive document, but the security considerations do 
not do it justice.

Details

The Security Considerations section is essentially empty, saying only 
that drafts that define DHCP options each include their own security 
considerations. However this document references 12 other RFCs (and they 
in fact do have substantial security considerations) so this leaves the 
reader to research the matter on her own.

Moreover, the technology covered spans more than 20 years (15 years, 
counting only Relay Agent Information), and security best practices have 
changed. Old security recommendations may not be today's best practices, 
and some previously recommended mechanisms may have never materialized 
in real-world deployment.

This document is basically a survey of best practices in deploying DHCP 
in complex networks. As such, I would expect the Security Considerations 
section to include:

- Recommendations about which configuration practices are to be 
preferred from a security point of view.
- Up to date security recommendations in summary form, at least for the 
main use cases covered.
- An architectural view, at the same level as the rest of the document, 
of how these configurations interact with common security practices like 
firewall-based network separation or NAC.

I realize that the document is 3 years old and everyone just wants to 
see it published, but in my opinion it is incomplete in its current form.

Thanks,
	Yaron

Re: [secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo… Bernie Volz (volz)
Re: [secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo… Tomek Mrugalski
Re: [secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo… Suresh Krishnan
Re: [secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo… Tomek Mrugalski
Re: [secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-isis-rfc… Les Ginsberg (ginsberg)
[secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-isis-rfc4971… Yaron Sheffer
Re: [secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo… Suresh Krishnan
[secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo-con… Yaron Sheffer
Re: [secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo… Ted Lemon
Re: [secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo… Tomek Mrugalski
Re: [secdir] SecDir review of draft-ietf-dhc-topo… Yaron Sheffer