Re: [TLS] DTLS Handshake race condition

On Aug 11, 2013, at 4:19 PM, Andy Wilson <andrewgwilson@gmail.com> wrote:

> After looking over the RFC a bit, wouldn't the client be expecting a HelloVerifyRequest after its ClientHello?
I don't think this is necessary, since the client and the server have already
a relation. So there is no need to use the cookie mechanism.

However, the question is the same. In your case
* The server sends a HelloRequest(MsgSeqNo = 0) and starts the retransmission
  timer, since this is a flight.
* The HelloRequest is dropped by the network.
* The client sends a ClientHello(MsgSeqNo = 0) and start a retransmission timer,
  since it is its first flight.
* The server sends a HelloVerifyRequest(MsgSeqNo = 1)
* The client doesn't process the ServerHello, since it expects the
  MsgSeqNo == 0.

Therefore, the server retransmits the flight consisting of the HelloVerifyRequest
and the client retransmits the flight containing the ClientHello.
So the solution would be that the client accepts
* ServerHellos with MsgSeqNo=0 and MsgSeqNo=1.
* HelloVerifyRequest with MsgSeqNo=0 and MsgSeqNo=1.

Am I missing something?

Best regards
Michael
> 
> On 12 August 2013 01:17, Michael Tuexen <Michael.Tuexen@lurchi.franken.de> wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> while fixing a bug in OpenSSL regarding the DTLS handshake, I thought about
> the following scenario (both sides decide to renegotiate at about the same
> time):
> 
> * A DTLS connection is established.
> * The server sends a HelloRequest(MsgSeqNo = 0) and starts the retransmission
>   timer, since this is a flight.
> * The HelloRequest is dropped by the network.
> * The client sends a ClientHello(MsgSeqNo = 0) and start a retransmission timer,
>   since it is its first flight.
> * The server receives the ClientHello, stops the retransmission timer
>   and sends the next flight starting with ServerHello(MsgSeqNo = 1)
>   since it considers the received ClientHello as an ack for the flight.
> * The client doesn't process the ServerHello, since it expects the
>   MsgSeqNo == 0.
> 
> Therefore the client retransmits its ClientHello and the server retransmits
> its flight containing the ServerHello. Am I missing something?
> 
> The problem is that the server has no way to figure out if the received
> ClientHello is a reaction to a HelloRequest or not.
> The only way out I see is that the client accepts ServerHellos with
> MsgSeqNo=0 and MsgSeqNo=1.
> I don't think this is covered in http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6347
> 
> Any opinions?
> 
> Best regards
> Michael
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> 
> -- 
> Regards
> 
> Andy