diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/rfc/rfc7340.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/rfc/rfc7340.txt | 1403 |
1 files changed, 1403 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/rfc/rfc7340.txt b/doc/rfc/rfc7340.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a72b41 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/rfc/rfc7340.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1403 @@ + + + + + + +Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) J. Peterson +Request for Comments: 7340 NeuStar, Inc. +Category: Informational H. Schulzrinne +ISSN: 2070-1721 Columbia University + H. Tschofenig + September 2014 + + + Secure Telephone Identity Problem Statement and Requirements + +Abstract + + Over the past decade, Voice over IP (VoIP) systems based on SIP have + replaced many traditional telephony deployments. Interworking VoIP + systems with the traditional telephone network has reduced the + overall level of calling party number and Caller ID assurances by + granting attackers new and inexpensive tools to impersonate or + obscure calling party numbers when orchestrating bulk commercial + calling schemes, hacking voicemail boxes, or even circumventing + multi-factor authentication systems trusted by banks. Despite + previous attempts to provide a secure assurance of the origin of SIP + communications, we still lack effective standards for identifying the + calling party in a VoIP session. This document examines the reasons + why providing identity for telephone numbers on the Internet has + proven so difficult and shows how changes in the last decade may + provide us with new strategies for attaching a secure identity to SIP + sessions. It also gives high-level requirements for a solution in + this space. + +Status of This Memo + + This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is + published for informational purposes. + + This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force + (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has + received public review and has been approved for publication by the + Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents + approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet + Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741. + + Information about the current status of this document, any errata, + and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at + http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7340. + + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 1] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + +Copyright Notice + + Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the + document authors. All rights reserved. + + This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal + Provisions Relating to IETF Documents + (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of + publication of this document. Please review these documents + carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect + to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must + include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of + the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as + described in the Simplified BSD License. + +Table of Contents + + 1. Introduction ....................................................3 + 2. Problem Statement ...............................................4 + 3. Terminology .....................................................6 + 4. Use Cases .......................................................6 + 4.1. VoIP-to-VoIP Call ..........................................7 + 4.2. VoIP-PSTN-VoIP Call ........................................7 + 4.3. PSTN-to-VoIP Call ..........................................8 + 4.4. VoIP-to-PSTN Call ..........................................9 + 4.5. PSTN-VoIP-PSTN Call .......................................10 + 4.6. PSTN-to-PSTN Call .........................................11 + 5. Limitations of Current Solutions ...............................11 + 5.1. P-Asserted-Identity .......................................12 + 5.2. SIP Identity ..............................................14 + 5.3. VIPR ......................................................17 + 6. Environmental Changes ..........................................19 + 6.1. Shift to Mobile Communication .............................19 + 6.2. Failure of Public ENUM ....................................19 + 6.3. Public Key Infrastructure Developments ....................20 + 6.4. Prevalence of B2BUA Deployments ...........................20 + 6.5. Stickiness of Deployed Infrastructure .....................20 + 6.6. Concerns about Pervasive Monitoring .......................21 + 6.7. Relationship with Number Assignment and Management ........21 + 7. Basic Requirements .............................................22 + 8. Acknowledgments ................................................23 + 9. Security Considerations ........................................23 + 10. Informative References ........................................23 + + + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 2] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + +1. Introduction + + In many communication architectures that allow users to communicate + with other users, the need arises for identifying the originating + party that initiates a call or a messaging interaction. The desire + to identify communication parties in end-to-end communication derives + from the need to implement authorization policies (to grant or reject + call attempts) but has also been utilized for charging. While there + are a number of ways to enable identification, this functionality has + been provided by the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) [RFC3261] by + using two main types of approaches, namely, P-Asserted-Identity (PAI) + [RFC3325] and SIP Identity [RFC4474], which are described in more + detail in Section 5. The goal of these mechanisms is to validate + that the originator of a call is authorized to claim an originating + identifier. Protocols like the Extensible Messaging and Presence + Protocol (XMPP) use mechanisms that are conceptually similar to those + offered by SIP. + + Although solutions have been standardized, it turns out that the + current deployment situation is unsatisfactory, and even worse, there + is little indication that it will improve in the future. In + [SECURE-ORIGIN], we illustrate what challenges arise. In particular, + interworking with different communication architectures (e.g., SIP, + Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), XMPP, Real-Time + Communications on the Web (RTCWeb)) or other forms of mediation + breaks the end-to-end semantic of the communication interaction and + destroys any identification capabilities. (In this document, we use + the term "PSTN" colloquially rather than in a legal or policy sense, + as a common shorthand for the circuit-switched analog and time- + division multiplexing (TDM) digital telephone system, often using + Signaling System #7 (SS7) to control call setup and teardown.) + Furthermore, the use of different identifiers (e.g., E.164 numbers + vs. SIP URIs) creates challenges for determining who is able to claim + "ownership" for a specific identifier; although domain-based + identifiers (sip:user@example.com) might use certificate or DNS- + related approaches to determine who is able to claim "ownership" of + the URI, telephone numbers do not yet have any similar mechanism + defined. + + After the publication of the PAI and SIP Identity specifications + ([RFC3325] and [RFC4474], respectively), further attempts have been + made to tackle the topic but, unfortunately, with little success, due + to the complexity of deploying solutions and the long list of (often + conflicting) requirements. A number of years have passed since the + last attempts were made to improve the situation, and we therefore + believe it is time to give it another try. With this document, we + would like to start to develop a common understanding of the problem + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 3] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + statement as well as basic requirements to develop a vision on how to + advance the state of the art and to initiate technical work to enable + secure call origin identification. + +2. Problem Statement + + In the classical Public Switched Telephone Network, there were a + limited number of carriers, all of whom trusted each other to provide + accurate caller origination information in an environment without any + cryptographic validation. In some cases, national telecommunication + regulation codified these obligations. This model worked as long as + the number of entities was relatively small, easily identified (e.g., + in the manner carriers are certified in the United States), and + subject to effective legal sanctions in case of misbehavior. + However, for some time, these assumptions have no longer held true. + For example, entities that are not traditional telecommunication + carriers, possibly located outside the country whose country code + they are using, can act as voice service providers. While there was + a clear distinction between customers and service providers in the + past, VoIP service providers can now easily act as customers or + either originating or transit providers. Moreover, the problem is + not limited to voice communications, as growth in text messaging has + made it another vector for bulk unsolicited commercial messaging + relying on impersonation of a source telephone number or, sometimes, + an SMS short code. For telephony, Caller ID spoofing has become + common, with a small subset of entities either ignoring abuse of + their services or willingly serving to enable fraud and other illegal + behavior. + + For example, recently, enterprises and public safety organizations + have been subjected to telephony denial-of-service attacks [TDOS]. + In this case, an individual claiming to represent a collections + company for payday loans starts the extortion scheme with a phone + call to an organization. Failing to get payment from an individual + or organization, the criminal organization launches a barrage of + phone calls with spoofed numbers, preventing the targeted + organization from receiving legitimate phone calls. Other boiler- + room organizations use number spoofing to place illegal "robocalls" + (automated telemarketing; see, for example, the US Federal + Communications Commission webpage on this topic [ROBOCALL-FCC]). + Robocalls are a problem that has been recognized already by various + regulators; for example, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) + recently organized a robocall competition to solicit ideas for + creating solutions that will block illegal robocalls + [ROBOCALL-CHALLENGE]. Criminals may also use number spoofing to + impersonate banks or bank customers to gain access to information or + financial accounts. + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 4] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + In general, number spoofing is used in two ways: impersonation and + anonymization. For impersonation, the attacker pretends to be a + specific individual. Impersonation can be used for pretexting, where + the attacker obtains information about the individual impersonated + and, for example, activates credit cards, or for harassment, e.g., + causing utility services to be disconnected, take-out food to be + delivered, or police to respond to a non-existing hostage situation + ("swatting"; see [SWATTING]). Some voicemail systems can be set up + so that they grant access to stored messages without a password, + relying solely on the caller identity. As an example, in the News + International phone-hacking scandal [NEWS-HACK], employees of the + newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking by utilizing + Caller ID spoofing to get access to voicemail. For numbers where the + caller has suppressed textual caller identification, number spoofing + can be used to retrieve this information, stored in the so-called + Calling Name (CNAM) database. For anonymization, the caller does not + necessarily care whether the number is in service or who it is + assigned to and may switch rapidly and possibly randomly between + numbers. Anonymization facilitates automated illegal telemarketing + or telephony denial-of-service attacks, as described above, as it + makes it difficult to identify perpetrators and craft policies to + block them. It also makes tracing such calls much more labor- + intensive, as each call has to be identified in each transit carrier + hop-by-hop, based on destination number and time of call. + + It is insufficient to simply outlaw all spoofing of originating + telephone numbers because the entities spoofing numbers are already + committing other crimes and are thus unlikely to be deterred by legal + sanctions. Secure origin identification should prevent impersonation + and, to a lesser extent, anonymization. However, if numbers are easy + and cheap to obtain, and if the organizations assigning identifiers + cannot or will not establish the true corporate or individual + identity of the entity requesting such identifiers, robocallers will + still be able to switch between many different identities. + + The problem space is further complicated by a number of use cases + where entities in the telephone network legitimately send calls on + behalf of others, including "Find-Me/Follow-Me" services. + Ultimately, any SIP entity can receive an INVITE request and forward + it to any other entity, and the recipient of a forwarded message has + little means to ascertain which recipient a call should legitimately + target (see [SIP-SECURITY]). Also, in some cases, third parties may + + + + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 5] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + need to temporarily use the identity of another individual or + organization with full consent of the "owner" of the identifier. For + example: + + Doctors' offices: Physicians calling their patients using their cell + phones would like to replace their mobile phone number with the + number of their office to avoid being called back by patients on + their personal phone. + + Call centers: Call centers operate on behalf of companies, and the + called party expects to see the Caller ID of the company, not the + call center. + +3. Terminology + + The following terms are defined in this document: + + In-band Identity Conveyance: In-band conveyance is the presence of + call origin identification information conveyed within the control + plane protocol(s) setting up a call. Any in-band solution must + accommodate in-band intermediaries such as Back-to-Back User + Agents (B2BUAs). + + Out-of-Band Identity Verification: Out-of-band verification + determines whether the telephone number used by the calling party + actually exists, whether the calling entity is entitled to use the + number, and whether a call has recently been made from this phone + number. This approach is needed because the in-band technique + does not work in all cases, as when certain intermediaries are + involved or due to interworking with circuit-switched networks. + + Authority Delegation Infrastructure: The delegation authority + infrastructure determines how the authority over telephone numbers + is used when numbers are ported and delegated. It also describes + how the existing numbering infrastructure is reused to maintain + the lifecycle of number assignments. + + Canonical Telephone Number: In order for either in-band conveyance + or out-of-band verification to work, entities must be able to + canonicalize telephone numbers to arrive at a common syntactical + form. + +4. Use Cases + + In order to explain the requirements and other design assumptions, we + will explain some of the scenarios that need to be supported by any + solution. To reduce clutter, the figures do not show call-routing + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 6] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + elements such as SIP proxies of voice or text service providers. We + generally assume that the PSTN component of any call path cannot be + altered. + +4.1. VoIP-to-VoIP Call + + For the VoIP-to-VoIP communication case, a group of service providers + that offer interconnected VoIP service exchange calls using SIP end- + to-end but may also deliver some calls via circuit-switched + facilities, as described in separate use cases below. These service + providers use telephone numbers as source and destination + identifiers, either as the user component of a SIP URI (e.g., + sip:12125551234@example.com) or as a tel URI [RFC3966]. + + As illustrated in Figure 1, if Alice calls Bob, the call will use SIP + end-to-end. (The call may or may not traverse the Internet.) + + +------------+ + | IP-based | + | SIP Phone |<--+ + | of Bob | | + |+19175551234| | + +------------+ | + | + +------------+ | + | IP-based | | + | SIP Phone | ------------ + | of Alice | / | \ + |+12121234567| // | \\ + +------------+ // ,' \\\ + | /// / ----- + | //// ,' \\\\ + | / ,' \ + | | ,' | + +---->|......: IP-based | + | Network | + \ / + \\\\ //// + ------------------------- + + Figure 1: VoIP-to-VoIP Call + +4.2. VoIP-PSTN-VoIP Call + + Frequently, two VoIP-based service providers are not directly + connected by VoIP and use Time Division Multiplexer (TDM) circuits to + exchange calls, leading to the IP-PSTN-IP use case. In this use + case, Dan's Voice Service Provider (VSP) is not a member of the + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 7] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + interconnect federation Alice's and Bob's VSP belongs to. As far as + Alice is concerned, Dan is not accessible via IP, and the PSTN is + used as an interconnection network. Figure 2 shows the resulting + exchange. + + -------- + //// \\\\ + +--- >| PSTN | + | | | + | \\\\ //// + | -------- + | | + | | + | | + +------------+ +--+----+ | + | IP-based | | PSTN | | + | SIP Phone | --+ VoIP +- v + | of Alice | / | GW | \ +---+---+ + |+12121234567| // `''''''' \\| PSTN | + +------------+ // | \+ VoIP + + | /// | | GW |\ + | //// | `'''''''\\ +------------+ + | / | | \ | IP-based | + | | | | | | Phone | + +---->|---------------+ +------|---->| of Dan | + | | |+12039994321| + \ IP-based / +------------+ + \\\\ Network //// + ------------------------- + + Figure 2: IP-PSTN-IP Call + + Note: A B2BUA/Session Border Controller (SBC) exhibits behavior that + looks similar to this scenario since the original call content would, + in the worst case, be re-created on the call origination side. + +4.3. PSTN-to-VoIP Call + + Consider Figure 3, where Carl is using a PSTN phone and initiates a + call to Alice. Alice is using a VoIP-based phone. The call from + Carl traverses the PSTN and enters the Internet via a PSTN/VoIP + gateway. This gateway attaches some identity information to the + call, for example, based on the caller identification information it + had received through the PSTN, if available. + + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 8] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + -------- + //// \\\\ + +->| PSTN |--+ + | | | | + | \\\\ //// | + | -------- | + | | + | v + | +----+-------+ + +---+------+ |PSTN / VoIP | +-----+ + |PSTN Phone| |Gateway | |SIP | + |of Carl | +----+-------+ |UA | + +----------+ | |Alice| + INVITE +-----+ + | ^ + V | + +---------------+ INVITE + |VoIP | | + |Interconnection| INVITE +-------+ + |Provider(s) |----------->+ | + +---------------+ |Alice's| + |VSP | + | | + +-------+ + + Figure 3: PSTN-to-VoIP Call + +4.4. VoIP-to-PSTN Call + + Consider Figure 4, where Alice calls Carl. Carl uses a PSTN phone, + and Alice uses an IP-based phone. When Alice initiates the call, the + E.164 number is translated to a SIP URI and subsequently to an IP + address. The call of Alice traverses her VoIP provider, where the + call origin identification information is added. It then hits the + PSTN/VoIP gateway. It is desirable that the gateway verify that + Alice can claim the E.164 number she is using before it populates the + corresponding calling party number field in telephone network + signaling. Carl's phone must be able to verify that it is receiving + a legitimate call from the calling party number it will render to + Carl. + + + + + + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 9] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + +-------+ +-----+ -C + |PSTN | |SIP | |a + |Phone |<----------------+ |UA | |l + |of Carl| | |Alice| |l + +-------+ | +-----+ |i + --------------------------- | |n + //// \\\\ | |g + | PSTN | INVITE | + | | | |P + \\\\ //// | |a + --------------------------- | |r + ^ | |t + | v |y + +------------+ +--------+| + |PSTN / VoIP |<--INVITE----|VoIP ||D + |Gateway | |Service ||o + +------------+ |Provider||m + |of Alice||a + +--------+|i + -n + + Figure 4: VoIP-to-PSTN Call + +4.5. PSTN-VoIP-PSTN Call + + Consider Figure 5, where Carl calls Alice. Both users have PSTN + phones, but interconnection between the two circuit-switched parts of + the PSTN is accomplished via an IP network. Consequently, Carl's + operator uses a PSTN-to-VoIP gateway to route the call via an IP + network to a gateway to break out into the PSTN again. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 10] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + +----------+ + |PSTN Phone| + -------- |of Alice | + //// \\\\ +----------+ + +->| PSTN |------+ ^ + | | | | | + | \\\\ //// | | + | -------- | -------- + | v //// \\\\ + | ,-------+ | PSTN | + | |PSTN | | | + +---+------+ __|VoIP GW|_ \\\\ //// + |PSTN Phone| / '`''''''' \ -------- + |of Carl | // | \\ ^ + +----------+ // | \\\ | + /// -. INVITE ----- | + //// `-. \\\\ | + / `.. \ | + | IP-based `._ ,--+----+ + | Network `.....>|VoIP | + | |PSTN GW| + \ '`''''''' + \\\\ //// + ------------------------- + + Figure 5: PSTN-VoIP-PSTN Call + +4.6. PSTN-to-PSTN Call + + For the "legacy" case of a PSTN-to-PSTN call, otherwise beyond + improvement, we may be able to use out-of-band IP connectivity at + both the originating and terminating carrier to validate the call + information. + +5. Limitations of Current Solutions + + From the inception of SIP, the From header field value has held an + arbitrary user-supplied identity, much like the From header field + value of an SMTP email message. During work on [RFC3261], efforts + began to provide a secure origin for SIP requests as an extension to + SIP. The so-called "short term" solution, the P-Asserted-Identity + header described in [RFC3325], is deployed fairly widely, even though + it is limited to closed trusted networks where end-user devices + cannot alter or inspect SIP messages and offers no cryptographic + validation. As P-Asserted-Identity is used increasingly across + multiple networks, it cannot offer any protection against identity + spoofing by intermediaries or entities that allow untrusted entities + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 11] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + to set the P-Asserted-Identity information. An overview of + addressing spam in SIP and an explanation of how it differs from + similar problems with email appeared in [RFC5039]. + + Subsequent efforts to prevent calling-origin identity spoofing in SIP + include the SIP Identity effort (the "long-term" identity solution) + [RFC4474] and Verification Involving PSTN Reachability (VIPR) + [VIPR-OVERVIEW]. SIP Identity attaches a new header field to SIP + requests containing a signature over the From header field value + combined with other message components to prevent replay attacks. + SIP Identity is meant to prevent both (a) SIP UAs from originating + calls with spoofed From headers and (b) intermediaries, such as SIP + proxies, from launching man-in-the-middle attacks by altering calls + as they pass through the intermediaries. The VIPR architecture + attacked a broader range of problems relating to spam, routing, and + identity with a new infrastructure for managing rendezvous and + security, which operated alongside of SIP deployments. + + As we will describe in more detail below, both SIP Identity and VIPR + suffer from serious limitations that have prevented their deployment + on a significant scale, but they may still offer ideas and protocol + building blocks for a solution. + +5.1. P-Asserted-Identity + + The P-Asserted-Identity header field of SIP [RFC3325] provides a way + for trusted network entities to share with one another an + authoritative identifier for the originator of a call. The value of + P-Asserted-Identity cannot be populated by a user, though if a user + wants to suggest an identity to the trusted network, a separate + header (P-Preferred-Identity) enables them to do so. The features of + the P-Asserted-Identity header evolved as part of a broader effort to + reach parity with traditional telephone network signaling mechanisms + for selectively sharing and restricting presentation of the calling + party number at the user level while still allowing core network + elements to know the identity of the user for abuse prevention and + accounting. + + In order for P-Asserted-Identity to have these properties, it + requires the existence of a trust domain as described in [RFC3324]. + Any entity in the trust domain may add a P-Asserted-Identity header + to a SIP message, and any entity in the trust domain may forward a + message with a P-Asserted-Identity header to any other entity in the + trust domain. If a trusted entity forwards a SIP request to an + untrusted entity, however, the P-Asserted-Identity header must first + be removed; most end-user devices are outside trust domains. Sending + a P-Asserted-Identity request to an untrusted entity could leak + potentially private information, such as the network-asserted calling + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 12] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + party number in a case where a caller has requested presentation + restriction. This concept of a trust domain is modeled on the + trusted network of devices that operate the traditional telephone + network. + + P-Asserted-Identity has been very successful in telephone replacement + deployments of SIP. It is an extremely simple in-band mechanism, + requiring no cryptographic operations. Since it is so reminiscent of + legacy mechanisms in the traditional telephone network and interworks + so seamlessly with those protocols, it has naturally been favored by + providers comfortable with these operating principles. + + In practice, a trust domain exhibits many of the same merits and + flaws as the traditional telephone network when it comes to securing + a calling party number. Any trusted entity may provide P-Asserted- + Identity, and a recipient of a SIP message has no direct assurance of + who generated the P-Asserted-Identity header field value: all trust + is transitive. Trust domains are dictated by business arrangements + more than by security standards; thus, the level of assurance of + P-Asserted-Identity is only as good as the least trustworthy member + of a trust domain. Since the contents of P-Asserted-Identity are not + intended for consumption by end users, end users must trust that + their service provider participates in an appropriate trust domain, + as there will be no direct evidence of the trust domain in the SIP + signaling that end-user devices receive. Since the mechanism is so + closely modeled on the traditional telephone network, it is unlikely + to provide a higher level of security than that. + + Since [RFC3325] was written, the whole notion of "P-" headers + intended for use in private SIP domains has also been deprecated (see + [RFC5727]) largely because of overwhelming evidence that these + headers were being used outside of private contexts and leaking into + the public Internet. It is unclear how many deployments that make + use of P-Asserted-Identity in fact conform to the Spec(T) + requirements of [RFC3324]. + + P-Asserted-Identity also complicates the question of which URI should + be presented to a user when a call is received. Per [RFC3261], SIP + user agents would render the contents of the From header field to a + user when receiving an INVITE request, but what if the P-Asserted- + Identity contains a more trustworthy URI, and presentation is not + restricted? Subsequent proposals have suggested additional header + fields to carry different forms of identity related to the caller, + including billing identities. As the calling identities in a SIP + request proliferate, the question of how to select one to render to + the end user becomes more difficult to answer. + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 13] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + +5.2. SIP Identity + + The SIP Identity mechanism [RFC4474] provides two header fields for + securing identity information in SIP requests: the Identity and + Identity-Info header fields. Architecturally, the SIP Identity + mechanism assumes a classic "SIP trapezoid" deployment in which an + authentication service, acting on behalf of the originator of a SIP + request, attaches identity information to the request that provides + partial integrity protection; a verification service acting on behalf + of the recipient validates the integrity of the request when it is + received. + + The Identity header field value contains a signature over a hash of + selected elements of a SIP request, including several header field + values (most significantly, the From header field value) and the + entirety of the body of the request. The set of header field values + was chosen specifically to prevent cut-and-paste attacks; it requires + the verification service to retain some state to guard against + replays. The signature over the body of a request has different + properties for different SIP methods, but all prevent tampering by + man-in-the-middle attacks. For a SIP MESSAGE request, for example, + the signature over the body covers the actual message conveyed by the + request: it is pointless to guarantee the source of a request if a + man in the middle can change the content of the message, as in that + case the message content is created by an attacker. Similar threats + exist against the SIP NOTIFY method. For a SIP INVITE request, a + signature over the Session Description Protocol (SDP) body is + intended to prevent a man in the middle from changing properties of + the media stream, including the IP address and port to which media + should be sent, as this provides a means for the man in the middle to + direct session media to a resource that the originator did not + specify and thus impersonate an intended listener. + + The Identity-Info header field value contains a URI designating the + location of the certificate corresponding to the private key that + signed the hash in the Identity header. That certificate could be + passed by-value along with the SIP request, in which case a cid URI + appears in Identity-Info, or by-reference, for example, when the + Identity-Info header field value has the URL of a service that + delivers the certificate. [RFC4474] imposes further constraints + governing the subject of that certificate, namely, that it must cover + the domain name indicated in the domain component of the URI in the + From header field value of the request. + + + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 14] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + The SIP Identity mechanism, however, has two fundamental limitations + that have precluded its deployment: first, it provides identity only + for domain names rather than other identifiers, and second, it does + not tolerate intermediaries that alter the bodies, or certain header + fields, of SIP requests. + + As deployed, SIP predominantly mimics the structures of the telephone + network and thus uses telephone numbers as identifiers. Telephone + numbers in the From header field value of a SIP request may appear as + the user part of a SIP URI or, alternatively, in an independent tel + URI. The certificate designated by the Identity-Info header field as + specified, however, corresponds only to the domain portion of a SIP + URI in the From header field. As such, [RFC4474] does not have any + provision to identify the assignee of a telephone number. While it + could be the case that the domain name portion of a SIP URI signifies + a carrier (like "att.com") to whom numbers are assigned, the SIP + Identity mechanism provides no assurance that a particular number has + been assigned to any specific carrier. For a tel URI, moreover, it + is unclear in [RFC4474] what entity should hold a corresponding + certificate. A caller may not want to reveal the identity of its + service provider to the callee and may thus prefer tel URIs in the + From header field. + + This lack of authority gives rise to a whole class of SIP Identity + problems when dealing with telephone numbers, as is explored in + [CONCERNS]. That document shows how the Identity header of a SIP + request targeting a telephone number (embedded in a SIP URI) could be + dropped by an intermediate domain, which then modifies and re-signs + the request, all without alerting the verification service: the + verification service has no way of knowing which original domain + signed the request. Provided that the local authentication service + is complicit, an originator can claim virtually any telephone number, + impersonating any chosen Caller ID from the perspective of the + verifier. Both of these attacks are rooted in the inability of the + verification service to ascertain a specific certificate that is + authoritative for a telephone number. + + Moreover, as deployed, SIP is highly mediated and is mediated in ways + that [RFC3261] did not anticipate. As request routing commonly + depends on policies dissimilar to [RFC3263], requests transit + multiple intermediate domains to reach a destination; some forms of + intermediaries in those domains may effectively reinitiate the + session. + + One of the main reasons that SIP deployments mimic the PSTN + architecture is because the requirement for interconnection with the + PSTN remains paramount: a call may originate in SIP and terminate on + the PSTN, or vice versa. Worse still, a PSTN-to-PSTN call may + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 15] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + transit a SIP network in the middle, or vice versa. This necessarily + reduces SIP's feature set to the least common denominator of the + telephone network and mandates support for telephone numbers as a + primary calling identifier. + + Interworking with non-SIP networks makes end-to-end identity + problematic. When a PSTN gateway sends a call to a SIP network, it + creates the INVITE request anew, regardless of whether a previous leg + of the call originated in a SIP network that later delivered the call + to the PSTN. As these gateways are not necessarily operated by + entities that have any relationship to the number assignee, it is + unclear how they could provide an identity signature that a verifier + should trust. Moreover, how could the gateway know that the calling + party number it receives from the PSTN is actually authentic? And + when a gateway receives a call via SIP and terminates a call to the + PSTN, how can that gateway verify that a telephone number in the From + header field value is authentic before it presents that number as the + calling party number in the PSTN? + + Similarly, some SIP networks deploy intermediaries that act as back- + to-back user agents (B2BUAs), typically in order to provide policy or + interworking functions at network boundaries (hence, the nickname + "Session Border Controller"). These functions range from topology + hiding, to alterations necessary to interoperate successfully with + particular SIP implementations, to simple network address translation + from private address space. To implement these functions, these + entities modify SIP INVITE requests in transit, potentially changing + the From, Contact, and Call-ID header field values, as well as + aspects of the SDP, including especially the IP addresses and ports + associated with media. Consequently, a SIP request exiting a B2BUA + does not necessarily bear much resemblance to the original request + received by the B2BUA, just as an SS7 request exiting a PSTN gateway + may transform all aspects of the SIP request in the VoIP leg of the + call. An Identity signature provided for the original INVITE has no + bearing on the post-B2BUA INVITE, and, were the B2BUA to preserve the + original Identity header, any verification service would detect a + violation of the integrity protection. + + The SIP community has long been aware of these problems with + [RFC4474] in practical deployments. Some have therefore proposed + weakening the security constraints of [RFC4474] so that at least some + deployments of B2BUAs will be compatible with integrity protection of + SIP requests. However, such solutions do not address the key + problems identified above: the lack of any clear authority for + telephone numbers and the fact that some INVITE requests are + generated by intermediaries rather than endpoints. Removing the + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 16] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + signature over the SDP from the Identity header will not, for + example, make it any clearer how a PSTN gateway should assert + identity in an INVITE request. + +5.3. VIPR + + Verification Involving PSTN Reachability (VIPR) directly attacks the + twin problems of identifying number assignees on the Internet and + coping with intermediaries that may modify signaling. To address the + first problem, VIPR relies on the PSTN itself: it discovers which + endpoints on the Internet are reachable via a particular PSTN number + by calling the number on the PSTN to determine whom a call to that + number will reach. As VIPR-enabled Internet endpoints associated + with PSTN numbers are discovered, VIPR provides a rendezvous service + that allows the endpoints of a call to form an out-of-band connection + over the Internet; this connection allows the endpoints to exchange + information that secures future communications and permits direct, + unmediated SIP connections. + + VIPR provides these services within a fairly narrow scope of + applicability. Its seminal use case is the enterprise IP Private + Branch Exchange (IPBX), a device that has both PSTN connectivity and + Internet connectivity, which serves a set of local users with + telephone numbers; after a PSTN call has connected successfully and + then ended, the PBX searches a distributed hash table to see if any + VIPR-compatible devices have advertised themselves as a route for the + unfamiliar number on the Internet. If advertisements exist, the + originating PBX then initiates a verification process to determine + whether the entity claiming to be the assignee of the unfamiliar + number in fact received the successful call: this involves verifying + details such as the start and stop times of the call. If the + destination verifies successfully, the originating PBX provisions a + local database with a route for that telephone number to the URI + provided by the proven destination. Moreover, the destination gives + a token to the originator that can be inserted in future call setup + messages to authenticate the source of future communications. + + Through this mechanism, the VIPR system provides a suite of + properties, ones that go well beyond merely securing the origins of + communications. It also provides a routing system that dynamically + discovers mappings between telephone numbers and URIs, effectively + building an ad hoc ENUM database in every VIPR implementation. The + tokens exchanged over the out-of-band connection established by VIPR + also provide an authorization mechanism for accepting calls over the + Internet, which significantly reduces the potential for spam. + Because the token can act as a cookie due to the presence of this + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 17] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + out-of-band connectivity, the VIPR token is less susceptible to cut- + and-paste attacks and thus needs to cover far less of a SIP request + with its signature. + + Due to its narrow scope of applicability and the details of its + implementation, VIPR has some significant limitations. The most + salient for the purposes of this document is that it only has bearing + on repeated communications between entities: it has no solution to + the classic "robocall" problem, where the target typically receives a + call from a number that has never called before. All of VIPR's + strengths in establishing identity and spam prevention kick in only + after an initial PSTN call has been completed and subsequent attempts + at communication begin. Every VIPR-compliant entity, moreover, + maintains its own stateful database of previous contacts and + authorizations, which lends itself more to aggregators like IP PBXs + that may front for thousands of users than to individual phones. + That database must be refreshed by periodic PSTN calls to determine + that control over the number has not shifted to some other entity; + figuring out when data has grown stale is one of the challenges of + the architecture. As VIPR requires compliant implementations to + operate both a PSTN interface and an IP interface, it has little + apparent applicability to ordinary desktop PCs or similar devices + with no ability to place direct PSTN calls. + + The distributed hash table (DHT) also creates a new attack surface + for impersonation. Attackers who want to pose as the owners of + telephone numbers can advertise themselves as routes to a number in + the hash table. VIPR has no inherent restriction on the number of + entities that may advertise themselves as routes for a number; thus, + an originator may find multiple advertisements for a number on the + DHT even when an attack is not in progress. Attackers may learn from + these validation attempts which VIPR entities recently placed calls + to the target number, even if they cannot impersonate the target + since they lack the PSTN call detail information. It may be that + this information is all the attacker hopes to glean. The fact that + advertisements and verifications are public results from the public + nature of the DHT that VIPR creates. The public DHT prevents any + centralized control or attempts to impede communications, but those + come at the cost of apparently unavoidable privacy losses. + + Because of these limitations, VIPR, much like SIP Identity, has had + little impact in the marketplace. Ultimately, VIPR's utility as an + identity mechanism is limited by its reliance on the PSTN, especially + its need for an initial PSTN call to complete before any of VIPR's + benefits can be realized, and by the drawbacks of the highly public + exchanges required to create the out-of-band connection between VIPR + entities. As such, there is no obvious solution to providing secure + origin services for SIP on the Internet today. + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 18] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + +6. Environmental Changes + +6.1. Shift to Mobile Communication + + In the years since [RFC4474] was conceived, there have been a number + of fundamental shifts in the communications marketplace. The most + transformative has been the precipitous rise of mobile smartphones, + which are now arguably the dominant communications device in the + developed world. Smart phones have both a PSTN and an IP interface, + as well as SMS and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) capabilities. + This suite of tools suggests that some of the techniques proposed by + VIPR could be adapted to the smartphone environment. The installed + base of smartphones is, moreover, highly upgradable and permits rapid + adoption of out-of-band rendezvous services for smartphones that + bypass the PSTN. Mobile messaging services that use telephone + numbers as identities allow smartphone users to send text messages to + one another over the Internet rather than over the PSTN. Like VIPR, + such services create an out-of-band connection over the Internet + between smartphones; unlike VIPR, the rendezvous service is provided + by a trusted centralized database rather than by a DHT, and it is the + centralized database that effectively verifies and asserts the + telephone number of the sender of a message. While such messaging + services are specific to the users of the specific service, it seems + clear that similar databases could be provided by neutral third + parties in a position to coordinate between endpoints. + +6.2. Failure of Public ENUM + + At the time [RFC4474] was written, the hopes for establishing a + certificate authority for telephone numbers on the Internet largely + rested on public ENUM deployment. The e164.arpa DNS tree established + for ENUM could have grown to include certificates for telephone + numbers or at least for number ranges. It is now clear, however, + that public ENUM as originally envisioned has little prospect for + adoption. That said, some national authorities for telephone numbers + are migrating their provisioning services to the Internet and issuing + credentials that express authority for telephone numbers to secure + those services. These new authorities for numbers could provide to + the public Internet the necessary signatory authority for securing + calling party numbers. While these systems are far from universal, + the authors of this document believe that a solution devised for the + North American Numbering Plan could have applicability to other + country codes. + + + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 19] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + +6.3. Public Key Infrastructure Developments + + There have been a number of recent high-profile compromises of web + certificate authorities. The presence of numerous (in some cases, + hundreds) trusted certificate authorities in modern web browsers has + become a significant security liability. As [RFC4474] relied on web + certificate authorities, this too provides new lessons for any work + on revising [RFC4474], namely, that innovations like DNS-Based + Authentication of Named Entities (DANE) [RFC6698], which designate a + specific certificate preferred by the owner of a DNS name, could + greatly improve the security of a SIP Identity mechanism and, + moreover, that when considering new certificate authorities for + telephone numbers, we should be wary of excessive pluralism. While a + chain of delegation with a progressively narrowing scope of authority + (e.g., from a regulatory entity, to a carrier, to a reseller, to an + end user) is needed to reflect operational practices, there is no + need to have multiple roots or peer entities that both claim + authority for the same telephone number or number range. + +6.4. Prevalence of B2BUA Deployments + + Given the prevalence of established B2BUA deployments, we may have a + further opportunity to review the elements signed using the SIP + Identity mechanism [RFC4474] and to decide on the value of + alternative signature mechanisms. Separating the elements necessary + for (a) securing the From header field value and preventing replays + from (b) the elements necessary to prevent men-in-the-middle from + tampering with messages may also yield a strategy for identity that + will be practicable in some highly mediated networks. Solutions in + this space must, however, remain mindful of the requirements for + securing cryptographic material necessary to support Datagram + Transport Layer Security for Secure RTP (DTLS-SRTP) or future + security mechanisms. + +6.5. Stickiness of Deployed Infrastructure + + One thing that has not changed, and is not likely to change in the + future, is the transitive nature of trust in the PSTN. When a call + from the PSTN arrives at a SIP gateway with a calling party number, + the gateway will have little chance of determining whether the + originator of the call was authorized to claim that calling party + number. Due to roaming and countless other factors, calls on the + PSTN may emerge from administrative domains that were not assigned + the originating number. This use case will remain the most difficult + to tackle for an identity system and may prove beyond repair. It + does, however, seem that with the changes in the solution space, and + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 20] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + a better understanding of the limits of [RFC4474] and VIPR, we are + today in a position to reexamine the problem space and find solutions + that can have a significant impact on the secure origins problem. + +6.6. Concerns about Pervasive Monitoring + + While spoofing the origins of communication is a source of numerous + security concerns, solutions for identifying communications must also + be mindful of the security risks of pervasive monitoring (see + [RFC7258]). Identifying information, once it is attached to + communications, can potentially be inspected by parties other than + the intended recipient and collected for any number of reasons. As + stated above, the purpose of this work is not to eliminate anonymity; + furthermore, to be viable and in the public interest, solutions + should not facilitate the unauthorized collection of calling data. + +6.7. Relationship with Number Assignment and Management + + Currently, telephone numbers are typically managed in a loose + delegation hierarchy. For example, a national regulatory agency may + task a private, neutral entity with administering numbering + resources, such as area codes, and a similar entity with assigning + number blocks to carriers and other authorized entities, who in turn + then assign numbers to customers. Resellers with looser regulatory + obligations can complicate the picture, and in many cases, it is + difficult to distinguish the roles of enterprises from carriers. In + many countries, individual numbers are portable between carriers, at + least within the same technology (e.g., wireline-to-wireline). + Separate databases manage the mapping of numbers to switch + identifiers, companies, and textual Caller ID information. + + As the PSTN transitions to using VoIP technologies, new assignment + policies and management mechanisms are likely to emerge. For + example, it has been proposed that geography could play a smaller + role in number assignments, that individual numbers could be assigned + to end users directly rather than only to service providers, and that + the assignment of numbers does not have to depend on providing actual + call delivery services. + + Databases today already map telephone numbers to entities that have + been assigned the number, e.g., through the LERG (Local Exchange + Routing Guide) in the United States. Thus, the transition to IP- + based networks may offer an opportunity to integrate cryptographic + bindings between numbers or number ranges and service providers into + databases. + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 21] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + +7. Basic Requirements + + This section describes only the high-level requirements of the STIR + effort, which we expect will be further articulated as work + continues: + + Generation: Intermediaries as well as end systems must be able to + generate the source identity information. + + Validation: Intermediaries as well as end systems must be able to + validate the source identity information. + + Usability: Any validation mechanism must work without human + intervention, for example, without mechanisms like CAPTCHA + (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and + Humans Apart). + + Deployability: Must survive transition of the call to the PSTN and + the presence of B2BUAs. + + Reflecting existing authority: Must stage credentials on existing + national-level number delegations, without assuming the need for + an international golden root on the Internet. + + Accommodating current practices: Must allow number portability among + carriers and must support legitimate usage of number spoofing + (e.g., doctors' offices and call centers). + + Minimal payload overhead: Must lead to minimal expansion of SIP + header fields to avoid fragmentation in deployments that use UDP. + + Efficiency: Must minimize RTTs for any network lookups and minimize + any necessary cryptographic operations. + + Privacy: A solution must minimize the amount of information that an + unauthorized party can learn about what numbers have been called + by a specific caller and what numbers have called a specific + called party. + + Some requirements specifically outside the scope of the effort + include: + + Display name: This effort does not consider how the display name of + the caller might be validated. + + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 22] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + Response authentication: This effort only considers the problem of + providing secure telephone identity for requests, not for + responses to requests; no solution is proposed for the problem of + determining to which number a call has connected [RFC4916]. + +8. Acknowledgments + + We would like to thank Sanjay Mishra, Fernando Mousinho, David + Frankel, Penn Pfautz, Mike Hammer, Dan York, Andrew Allen, Philippe + Fouquart, Hadriel Kaplan, Richard Shockey, Russ Housley, Alissa + Cooper, Bernard Aboba, Sean Turner, Brian Rosen, Eric Burger, and + Eric Rescorla for the discussion and input that contributed to this + document. + +9. Security Considerations + + This document is about improving the security of call origin + identification; security considerations for specific solutions will + be discussed in solutions documents. + +10. Informative References + + [CONCERNS] Rosenberg, J., "Concerns around the Applicability of RFC + 4474", Work in Progress, February 2008. + + [NEWS-HACK] Wikipedia, "News International phone hacking scandal", + June 2014, + <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=News + _International_phone_hacking_scandal&oldid=614607591>. + + [RFC3261] Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, + A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E. + Schooler, "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261, + June 2002. + + [RFC3263] Rosenberg, J. and H. Schulzrinne, "Session Initiation + Protocol (SIP): Locating SIP Servers", RFC 3263, June + 2002. + + [RFC3324] Watson, M., "Short Term Requirements for Network + Asserted Identity", RFC 3324, November 2002. + + [RFC3325] Jennings, C., Peterson, J., and M. Watson, "Private + Extensions to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for + Asserted Identity within Trusted Networks", RFC 3325, + November 2002. + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 23] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + [RFC3966] Schulzrinne, H., "The tel URI for Telephone Numbers", + RFC 3966, December 2004. + + [RFC4474] Peterson, J. and C. Jennings, "Enhancements for + Authenticated Identity Management in the Session + Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 4474, August 2006. + + [RFC4916] Elwell, J., "Connected Identity in the Session + Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 4916, June 2007. + + [RFC5039] Rosenberg, J. and C. Jennings, "The Session Initiation + Protocol (SIP) and Spam", RFC 5039, January 2008. + + [RFC5727] Peterson, J., Jennings, C., and R. Sparks, "Change + Process for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and + the Real- time Applications and Infrastructure Area", + BCP 67, RFC 5727, March 2010. + + [RFC6698] Hoffman, P. and J. Schlyter, "The DNS-Based + Authentication of Named Entities (DANE) Transport Layer + Security (TLS) Protocol: TLSA", RFC 6698, August 2012. + + [RFC7258] Farrell, S. and H. Tschofenig, "Pervasive Monitoring Is + an Attack", BCP 188, RFC 7258, May 2014. + + [ROBOCALL-CHALLENGE] + Federal Trade Commission (FTC), "FTC Robocall + Challenge", <http://robocall.challenge.gov/>. + + [ROBOCALL-FCC] + Federal Communications Commission (FCC), "Robocalls", + April 2013, <http://www.fcc.gov/guides/robocalls>. + + [SECURE-ORIGIN] + Cooper, A., Tschofenig, H., Peterson, J., and B. Aboba, + "Secure Call Origin Identification", Work in Progress, + November 2012. + + [SIP-SECURITY] + Peterson, J., "Retargeting and Security in SIP: A + Framework and Requirements", Work in Progress, February + 2005. + + [SWATTING] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), "Don't Make + the Call: The New Phenomenon of 'Swatting'", February + 2008, <http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2008/february/ + swatting020408>. + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 24] + +RFC 7340 STIR Problem Statement September 2014 + + + [TDOS] Krebs, B., "DHS Warns of 'TDoS' Extortion Attacks on + Public Emergency Networks", April 2013, + <http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/04/dhs-warns-of-tdos- + extortion-attacks-on-public-emergency-networks/>. + + [VIPR-OVERVIEW] + Barnes, M., Jennings, C., Rosenberg, J., and M. Petit- + Huguenin, "Verification Involving PSTN Reachability: + Requirements and Architecture Overview", Work in + Progress, December 2013. + +Authors' Addresses + + Jon Peterson + NeuStar, Inc. + 1800 Sutter St Suite 570 + Concord, CA 94520 + US + + EMail: jon.peterson@neustar.biz + + + Henning Schulzrinne + Columbia University + Department of Computer Science + 450 Computer Science Building + New York, NY 10027 + US + + Phone: +1 212 939 7004 + EMail: hgs@cs.columbia.edu + URI: http://www.cs.columbia.edu + + + Hannes Tschofenig + Hall, Tirol 6060 + Austria + + EMail: Hannes.Tschofenig@gmx.net + URI: http://www.tschofenig.priv.at + + + + + + + + + + + +Peterson, et al. Informational [Page 25] + |