Re: [babel] [Babel-users] key rotation take #2

On Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 12:23 PM Toke Høiland-Jørgensen <toke@toke.dk> wrote:
>
> Dave Taht <dave@taht.net> writes:
>
> > Toke Høiland-Jørgensen <toke@toke.dk> writes:
> >
> >> Dave Taht <dave@taht.net> writes:
> >>
> >>> so we invent a new keyword "serial".
> >>
> >> So what you're trying to express here is the notion of a "receive-only"
> >> key that is not used for signing outgoing packets, right?
> >
> >
> > No... the old key is retired from active use in the protocol after
> > concensus is achieved on the new key by the protocol, and not used
> > again unless a router comes up with an unreadable hmac. In that case
> > we go back to at least trying to verify (periodically?) that it's not
> > using the old key (if we still have it around) and if it's using the
> > old key, we go back to signing stuff with that key.
> >
> > Does that concept need to be in the protocol spec?
>
> This reads to me like a specific operational procedure for deployment;
> don't think that should go into the spec, no.
>
> >> it would be better to express that explicitly as a property of the key
> >> config that can be changed on a per-key basis. For one thing, 'serial'
> >> is misleading as it sounds like something that affects the wire
> >> format,
> >
> > OK. how about "new" and "old" as keywords? That implies two states and
> > two states only. I liked 0 and X as numbers, so long as the ascending
> > property is maintained. As for why not 0 and 1, see below.
> >
> > Totally open to bikeshedding the name. :) babeltowerno?
>
> Don't care what they are called. My point is just that it's a property
> of a particular key.
>
> Bird already has this, BTW: each key can be set to "generate" signatures
> and "accept" signatures, where the former puts them on the wire, and the
> latter will accept packets signed with that key. You can set time ranges
> for each or both. See
> https://bird.network.cz/?get_doc&v=20&f=bird-3.html (search for
> "password option"). The Babel HMAC implementation inherits this.

That is essentially my first proposal... in bird syntax. :) Aside from
needing good time, there are really good reasons to stage key
rotations that way....

while the odds are much better that a boot/bootstrapping bird router
has a working rtc, your typical home router doesn't.

>
> -Toke
>
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-- 

Dave Täht
CTO, TekLibre, LLC
http://www.teklibre.com
Tel: 1-831-205-9740