Re: [secdir] SECDIR review of draft-ietf-eman-energy-aware-mib-15

Benoit Claise <bclaise@cisco.com> Tue, 08 July 2014 07:15 UTC

Return-Path: <bclaise@cisco.com>
X-Original-To: secdir@ietfa.amsl.com
Delivered-To: secdir@ietfa.amsl.com
Received: from localhost (ietfa.amsl.com [127.0.0.1]) by ietfa.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7E4DA1B2A7B for <secdir@ietfa.amsl.com>; Tue, 8 Jul 2014 00:15:51 -0700 (PDT)
X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at amsl.com
X-Spam-Flag: NO
X-Spam-Score: -15.151
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-15.151 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[BAYES_00=-1.9, DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, HTML_MESSAGE=0.001, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_HI=-5, RP_MATCHES_RCVD=-0.651, SPF_PASS=-0.001, USER_IN_DEF_DKIM_WL=-7.5] autolearn=ham
Received: from mail.ietf.org ([4.31.198.44]) by localhost (ietfa.amsl.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id v6djONq8Ow7e for <secdir@ietfa.amsl.com>; Tue, 8 Jul 2014 00:15:49 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from aer-iport-4.cisco.com (aer-iport-4.cisco.com [173.38.203.54]) (using TLSv1 with cipher RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by ietfa.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 120B91B2A5C for <secdir@ietf.org>; Tue, 8 Jul 2014 00:15:47 -0700 (PDT)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=cisco.com; i=@cisco.com; l=32918; q=dns/txt; s=iport; t=1404803748; x=1406013348; h=message-id:date:from:mime-version:to:subject:references: in-reply-to; bh=W/8+Zoi7ehUxlyxG64dx1KlyJ/VMjqHjP5Q4B+quaSY=; b=fmqgjVe+bzMiQPM5/UBeT71tsHfpl+fsZ0H5ZVwdG0QQEi6dwdfX2wbT vlmEqk1HaLvzdbQoyWULimogjb/Ue9Y7d5xHwgtHWupJwQm+xPtbbwufR Z8Y4LAathljmJv6kVYYZ/Oc3ZNIvAmnLTxAWeGTITvKnLG9yrTL+QVYJk o=;
X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="5.01,624,1400025600"; d="scan'208,217";a="102341140"
Received: from aer-iport-nat.cisco.com (HELO aer-core-3.cisco.com) ([173.38.203.22]) by aer-iport-4.cisco.com with ESMTP; 08 Jul 2014 07:15:46 +0000
Received: from [10.60.67.84] (ams-bclaise-8913.cisco.com [10.60.67.84]) by aer-core-3.cisco.com (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id s687Fi5L005265; Tue, 8 Jul 2014 07:15:45 GMT
Message-ID: <53BB9A9F.1090601@cisco.com>
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 09:15:43 +0200
From: Benoit Claise <bclaise@cisco.com>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:24.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/24.6.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Stephen Kent <kent@bbn.com>, secdir <secdir@ietf.org>, jparello@cisco.com, moulchan@cisco.com, n.brownlee@auckland.ac.nz, tnadeau@lucidvision.com, joel jaeggli <joelja@bogus.com>
References: <53A99DB2.5050707@bbn.com>
In-Reply-To: <53A99DB2.5050707@bbn.com>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------000607030408020401050601"
Archived-At: http://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/secdir/tXpVOfSXexlyVIujND8L7jcnUnw
Subject: Re: [secdir] SECDIR review of draft-ietf-eman-energy-aware-mib-15
X-BeenThere: secdir@ietf.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.15
Precedence: list
List-Id: Security Area Directorate <secdir.ietf.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/options/secdir>, <mailto:secdir-request@ietf.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/secdir/>
List-Post: <mailto:secdir@ietf.org>
List-Help: <mailto:secdir-request@ietf.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/secdir>, <mailto:secdir-request@ietf.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 07:15:51 -0000

Stephen,

draft-ietf-eman-energy-aware-mib-v16 has been posted with the correct 
Security boilerplate.

Regards, Benoit
>
> I 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. Since I am not a MIB expert, 
> my comments are strictly related to the security-relevant aspects of 
> this document.
>
> This document, as its name implies, defines a MIB for energy 
> management devices. Given increasing concern over security in the 
> so-called "cyber-physical" realm, a MIB for such devices clearly 
> merits scrutiny. Also, to the extent that such devices (e.g., meters) 
> might be associated with residences, there are personal privacy issues 
> that ought to be addressed, in the PERPASS era.
>
> The document is clearly written; my compliments to the authors in that 
> regard. The one odd thing I noted was that Sections 11.1 and 11.2 
> appear between Sections 6 and 7! I think this was a cut and paste 
> error that is easily remedied.
>
> The Security Considerations section (7) is about one-half page in 
> length. I have several concerns with the text here.
>
> First, the text says "It is thus important to control even GET and/or 
> NOTIFY access to these objects and possibly to even encrypt the values 
> of these objects when sending them over the network via SNMP." This 
> seems to be an understatement. I'd like to see the text here RECOMMEND 
> use of encryption to provide confidentiality. This would be supportive 
> of personal privacy, in residential contexts, and physical security in 
> residential and enterprise settings. I can imagine a movie in which 
> burglars use a lack of encryption to gain critical information about 
> building infrastructure from a an energy MIB J.
>
> The text later says "There are a number of management objects defined 
> in these MIB modules with a MAX-ACCESS clause of read-write and/or 
> read-create.Such objects MAY be considered sensitive or vulnerable in 
> some network environments.The support for SET operations in a 
> non-secure environment without proper protection can have a negative 
> effect on network operations. Again, this strikes me as a significant 
> understatement, i.e., the scope of the "negative effect" could be much 
> broader that just a network. (Power outlets are cited as examples of 
> objects, so anything plugged into an outlet could be effected, right?) 
> There should be more emphasis on the need for access control.
>
> The text later says "SNMP versions prior to SNMPv3 did not include 
> adequate security. Even if the network itself is secure (for example, 
> by using IPsec), there is still no secure control over who on the 
> secure network is allowed to access and GET/SET 
> (read/change/create/delete) the objects in these MIB modules." This is 
> a misleading. IPsec natively provides access control. It would be 
> accurate to say that the access controls offered by IPsec would only 
> limit who could access the MIB. What the authors seem to suggest here 
> is finer-grained access control, so that one can manage GET/SET 
> privileges for the set of individuals who are authorized to connect to 
> the MIB via the SMTP port, right?
>
> The text discussing use of SNMPv3 security is a bit confusing.
>
> It RECOMMENDS that implementers "consider" SMNPv3 security features, 
> but then says deployment of SNMP versions prior to v3 is NOT 
> RECOMMENDED. The first paragraph discussing this topic deals with 
> thinking about support (vs. use) of SNMPv3, while the second paragraph 
> makes a much stronger statement about deployment. It would be more 
> consistent to mandate support (MUST or SHOULD) for SNMPv3 in entities 
> that incorporate this MIB. Separately the document can RECOMMEND 
> enabling SNMPv3 security features in deployments, for the reasons cited.