[secdir] SECDIR review of draft-ietf-pals-seamless-vccv-02

[Phillip Hallam-Baker <[e-mail]>]

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 is an incremental change to a layer 2 virtualization
layer (Software Defined Networking). As such it properly references
RFC5085 for security considerations.

That said, I am a bit surprised at the security considerations in
RFC5085 which points out that denial of service is an issue but not
the introduction of a new set of opportunities for interception. This
is surprising given that BGP interception had already been used in
international hostilities when the RFC was published.

Further the proposed solution is to sprinkle on some magic IPSEC dust
or equivalent. While that might be an appropriate approach in an
experimental protocol, it is hardly adequate for a production protocol
with implications for Internet security as a whole.

Given the critical function of this layer and the date of its
inception, I would expect to see a comprehensive security architecture
developed as part of the overall scheme.