Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) A. Malhotra Request for Comments: 8573 S. Goldberg Updates: 5905 Boston University Category: Standards Track June 2019 ISSN: 2070-1721
Message Authentication Code for the Network Time Protocol
Abstract
The Network Time Protocol (NTP), as described in RFC 5905, states that NTP packets should be authenticated by appending NTP data to a 128-bit key and hashing the result with MD5 to obtain a 128-bit tag. This document deprecates MD5-based authentication, which is considered too weak, and recommends the use of AES-CMAC as described in RFC 4493 as a replacement.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
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). Further information on Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8573.
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The Network Time Protocol [RFC5905] states that NTP packets should be authenticated by appending NTP data to a 128-bit key and hashing the result with MD5 to obtain a 128-bit tag. This document deprecates MD5-based authentication, which is considered too weak, and recommends the use of AES-CMAC [RFC4493] as a replacement.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
RFC 5905 [RFC5905] defines how the MD5 digest algorithm described in RFC 1321 [RFC1321] can be used as a Message Authentication Code (MAC) for authenticating NTP packets. However, as discussed in [BCK] and RFC 6151 [RFC6151], this is not a secure MAC and therefore MUST be deprecated.
If NTP authentication is implemented, then AES-CMAC as specified in RFC 4493 [RFC4493] MUST be computed over all fields in the NTP header and any extension fields that are present in the NTP packet as described in RFC 5905 [RFC5905]. The MAC key for NTP MUST be an AES-128 key that is 128 bits in length, and the resulting MAC tag
The hosts that wish to use NTP authentication share a symmetric key out of band. So they MUST implement AES-CMAC and share the corresponding symmetric key. A symmetric key is a triplet of ID, type (e.g., MD5 and AES-CMAC) and the key itself. All three have to match in order to successfully authenticate packets between two hosts. Old implementations that don't support AES-CMAC will not accept and will not send packets authenticated with such a key.
Refer to Appendices A, B, and C of the NIST document [NIST] for a recommendation for the CMAC mode of authentication; see the Security Considerations of RFC 4493 [RFC4493] for discussion on security guarantees of AES-CMAC.
[NIST] Dworkin, M., "Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation: The CMAC Mode for Authentication", NIST Special Publication 800-38B, DOI 10.6028/NIST.SP.800-38B, October 2016, <https://www.nist.gov/publications/recommendation- block-cipher-modes-operation-cmac-mode-authentication-0>.
[BCK] Bellare, M., Canetti, R., and H. Krawczyk, "Keying Hash Functions and Message Authentication", Advances in Cryptology - Crypto 96 Proceedings, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1109, N. Koblitz ed, Springer- Verlag, 1996.
[GUE] Geuron, S., "Intel Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) New Instructions Set", May 2010, <https://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/white-paper/ advanced-encryption-standard-new-instructions-set- paper.pdf>.
The authors wish to acknowledge useful discussions with Leen Alshenibr, Daniel Franke, Ethan Heilman, Kenny Paterson, Leonid Reyzin, Harlan Stenn, and Mayank Varia.
Authors' Addresses
Aanchal Malhotra Boston University 111 Cummington St Boston, MA 02215 United States of America
Email: aanchal4@bu.edu
Sharon Goldberg Boston University 111 Cummington St Boston, MA 02215 United States of America