Information About OSPFv3 Authentication Support with IPsec
The following sections provide information about OSPFv3 authentication support with IPsec and OSPFv3 virtual links.
Overview of OSPFv3 Authentication Support with IPsec
In order to ensure that OSPFv3 packets are not altered and resent to the device, causing the device to behave in a way not desired by its system administrators, OSPFv3 packets must be authenticated. OSPFv3 uses the IPsec secure socket to add authentication to OSPFv3 packets.
OSPFv3 requires the use of IPsec to enable authentication. Crypto images are required to use authentication because only crypto images include the IPsec needed for use with OSPFv3.
In OSPFv3, authentication fields have been removed from OSPFv3 packet headers. When OSPFv3 runs on IPv6, OSPFv3 requires the IPv6 authentication header or IPv6 Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) header to ensure integrity, authentication, and confidentiality of routing exchanges. IPv6 authentication header and ESP extension headers can be used to provide authentication and confidentiality to OSPFv3.
To use the IPsec authentication header, you must enable the ipv6 ospf authentication command. To use the IPsec ESP header, you must enable the ipv6 ospf encryption command. The ESP header can be applied alone or along with the authentication header, and when ESP is used, both encryption and authentication are provided. Security services can be provided between a pair of communicating hosts, between a pair of communicating security gateways, or between a security gateway and a host.
To configure IPsec, you should configure a security policy, which is a combination of the security policy index (SPI) and the key (the key is used to create and validate the hash value). IPsec for OSPFv3 can be configured on an interface or on an OSPFv3 area. For higher security, you should configure a different policy on each interface that is configured with IPsec. If you configure IPsec for an OSPFv3 area, the policy is applied to all the interfaces in that area, except for the interfaces that have IPsec configured directly. After IPsec is configured for OSPFv3, IPsec is invisible to you.
The IPsecure socket is used by applications to secure traffic by allowing the application to open, listen, and close secure sockets. The binding between the application and the secure socket layer also allows the secure socket layer to inform the application of changes to the socket, such as connection open and close events. The IPsecure socket is able to identify the socket, that is, it can identify the local and remote addresses, masks, ports, and protocol that carry the traffic requiring security.
Each interface has a secure socket state, which can be one of the following:
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NULL: Do not create a secure socket for the interface if authentication is configured for the area.
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DOWN: IPsec has been configured for the interface (or the area that contains the interface), but OSPFv3 has either not requested IPsec to create a secure socket for this interface, or there is an error condition.
Note
OSPFv3 does not send or accept packets while in the DOWN state.
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GOING UP: OSPFv3 has requested a secure socket from IPsec and is waiting for a CRYPTO_SS_SOCKET_UP message from IPsec.
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UP: OSPFv3 has received a CRYPTO_SS_SOCKET_UP message from IPsec.
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CLOSING: The secure socket for the interface has been closed. A new socket can be opened for the interface, in which case, the current secure socket makes the transition to the DOWN state. Otherwise, the interface becomes UNCONFIGURED.
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UNCONFIGURED: Authentication is not configured on the interface.
OSPFv3 Virtual Links
For each virtual link, a primary security information data block is created. Because a secure socket must be opened on each interface, there will be a corresponding security information datablock for each interface in the transit area. The secure socket state is kept in the interface’s security information datablock. The state field in the primary security information datablock shows the status of all the secure sockets opened for the corresponding virtual link. If all the secure sockets are UP, the security state for the virtual link is set to UP.
Packets sent on a virtual link with IPsec must use predetermined source and destination addresses. The first local area address found in the device’s intra-area-prefix Link-State Advertisement (LSA) for the area is used as the source address. This source address is saved in the area's data structure and used when secure sockets are opened and packets sent over the corresponding virtual link. The virtual link does not transition to the point-to-point state until a source address is selected. Also, when the source or destination address changes, the previous secure sockets must be closed and new secure sockets opened.
Note |
Virtual links are not supported for the IPv4 address family. |