I have reviewed this document as part of the security directorate's
ongoing effort to review all IETF documents being processed by the
IESG. These comments were written primarily for the benefit of the
security area directors. Document editors and WG chairs should treat
these comments just like any other last call comments.
This document defines a data format that routers can use to export
information about routing state (e.g., routing tables), and about
routing protocol messages that they have received. The security
considerations in the document note that the fields in an MRT object
are descriptive, so because they do not lead to any particular action
by a recipient, they do not create any security concerns. This is
mostly correct.
My only concern is that some of the information in an MRT object could
be considered private, especially given that MRT is commonly used to
publish router dumps (e.g., through RouteViews [1]). For example, BGP
neighbors that advertise paths to their peers might not expect these
paths to be published in an MRT dump. There is also a proposed
extension to MRT that would add geolocation information about the
router and its peers [2]. I would suggest that the document add a
brief note that some information contained in MRT dumps might be
considered private. Suggested text based on the above:
"
Some information contained in an MRT data structure might be
considered sensitive or private. For example, a BGP peer that sends a
message to an MRT-enabled router might not expect that message to be
shared beyond the AS to which it is sent. The proposed geolocation
extension to MRT could reveal the location of an MRT router's peers [I-
D.ietf-grow-geomrt]. An organization that intends to use the MRT
structure to export routing information beyond the domain where it
normally accessible (e.g., publishing MRT dumps for use by
researchers) should verify with any peers whose information might be
included, and possibly remove sensitive fields.
"
Other than that, I do not believe this document raises any security
concerns.
[1] <http://www.routeviews.org/>
[2] <http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-grow-geomrt-00>
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