Re: DHCID and the use of MD5

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 



Sam:

Maybe I should have stayed quiet a bit longer. I fully support Steve's approach, and maybe that is what you wanted too.

Steve asked the authors to describe

      1.   which attacks are out of scope (and why!)
      2.   which attacks are in-scope
           2.1  and the protocol is susceptible to
           2.2  and the protocol protects against

This is better than us each making our own assessment of the hash function security requirements.

Russ


Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 10:26:27 -0500
To: Sam Hartman <hartmans-ietf@xxxxxxx>
From: Russ Housley <housley@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: DHCID and the use of MD5
Cc: smb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, ietf@xxxxxxxx

Sam:

I have been hoping to stay out of this discussion. I was hoping that it would naturally come to closure, but I do not see it doing so.

As you know, I am really pushing for algorithm agility, and I fully support your efforts to get it in this case.

Here is my understanding of the Random Oracle Model formulated by Bellare and Rogaway. First, one designs an ideal system in which all parties have oracle access to a truly random function, and then one proves the security of this ideal system. Next, one replaces the random oracle by a the hash function that is being studied (MD5 in this case), and all parties know the hash function that is being used. Then one sees the impact (if any) of replacing the random function with the hash function.

Why is this theoretical stuff important in this context? The hash function security requirements in this application appear pretty weak to me. It is certainly no where near the requirements imposed in the digital signature context, which is where I am really worried about a transition away from MD5 and SHA-1.

I am unclear what else you want the authors to do. Can you help me understand you objective?

Russ


At 12:00 AM 11/29/2005, Ted Lemon wrote:
> I am not happy with a protocol whose security depends on treating md5
> as a random oracle.

Again, very inspiring to meet someone who knows about md5, random oracles, et
cetera.   However, this protocol's security does not rely in any way on md5
or any other hash.   The hash is present as a privacy mask.   It has limited
value since the thing being protected is broadcast over the wire on a regular
basis, but we put it in because we were asked to.   The security of the
protocol rests on the security of the DNS update mechanism; if you are
concerned about DNS update security with your DHCP server, I suggest using
some kind of cryptographic authentication.   I use TSIG, and am reasonably
happy with it.


_______________________________________________

Ietf@xxxxxxxx
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf

[Index of Archives]     [IETF Annoucements]     [IETF]     [IP Storage]     [Yosemite News]     [Linux SCTP]     [Linux Newbies]     [Fedora Users]