IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,165,748
Granted Patent B1
US 11,165,748 · App. 17/069,579 · Granted Nov 2, 2021

Network security from host and network impersonation

Inventors: Pascal Thubert (Roquefort les Pins, FR); Eric Levy-Abegnoli (Valbonne, FR); Jonas Zaddach (Antibes, FR); Patrick Wetterwald (Mouans Sartoux, FR)
Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
H04L61/302H04L45/02H04L61/3005H04L63/062H04L61/6022
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,165,748
App. No.
17/069,579
Granted
Nov 2, 2021
Kind
B1
Abstract

Systems and methods may include sending, to a network registrar, an extended duplicate address request (EDAR) message including a first nonce generated by a host computing device, and receiving, from the network registrar, an extended duplicate address confirmation (EDAC) message including a second nonce, the second nonce being signed by the network registrar via a private key of a first public key infrastructure (PM) key pair of the network registrar via a first signature. The method further includes sending a first neighbor advertisement (NA) message to the host computing device including the second nonce. The second nonce and the private key of the network registrar verifies the first signature from the network registrar, the verification of the first signature indicating that the router is not impersonating the network.

Claims (73)

1. A method comprising:

sending, to a network registrar, an extended duplicate address request (EDAR) message including a first nonce generated by a host computing device;

receiving, from the network registrar, an extended duplicate address confirmation (EDAC) message including a second nonce and a first signature, a first nonce pair including the first nonce and the second nonce being signed by the network registrar via a private key of a first public key infrastructure (PM) key pair of the network registrar via the first signature; and

sending a first neighbor advertisement (NA) message to the host computing device including the second nonce,

wherein the second nonce and a public key of the network registrar verifies the first signature from the network registrar, the verification of the first signature indicating that a router through which the host computing device connects to a network is not impersonating the network.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first NA message includes a network crypto-identification parameters option (CIPO) defining a network cryptographic identifier (crypto-ID), the network crypto-ID being derived from a public key of the first PKI key pair.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

pre-provisioning the host computing device with the network crypto-ID as an identification of the network that the host computing device is to join,

wherein sending the first NA message to the host computing device includes sending to the host computing device the public key to validate that the public key corresponds to the network crypto-ID, and that the first signature corresponds with the private key that forms the first PM key pair with the public key.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first signature signs the network crypto-ID via a neighbor discovery protocol signature option (NDPSO).

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, at the router, a first neighbor solicitation (NS) message from the host computing device, the first NS message including:

an address of the host computing device, and

a public key of a second PM key pair of the host computing device;

sending, from the router to the host computing device, a second neighbor advertisement (NA) message including:

a challenge to the address of the host computing device, and

a third nonce generated by the router;

receiving, at the router, a second NS message from the host computing device including the first nonce and a second signature, a second nonce pair including the first nonce and the second nonce being signed by the host computing device via the second signature; and

verifying the host computing device based at least in part on the first nonce and the public key of the host computing device to verify the second signature, the verification of the second signature indicating that the host computing device is authentic.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the address of the host computing device includes at least one of an internet protocol (IP) address of the host computing device, and a media access control address (MAC) address of the host computing device.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first NS message includes an extended address registration option (EARO), the EARO including a registration ownership verifier (ROVR), the ROVR including a host crypto-ID.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second NS message from the host computing device includes a CIPO including the host crypto-ID, the first nonce, and an NDPSO, the NDPSO carrying the first signature proving ownership of the host crypto-ID.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform operations, comprising:

sending, to a network registrar, an extended duplicate address request (EDAR) message including a first nonce generated by a host computing device;

receiving, from the network registrar, an extended duplicate address confirmation (EDAC) message including a second nonce and a first signature, a first nonce pair including the first nonce and the second nonce being signed by the network registrar via a private key of a first public key infrastructure (PM) key pair of the network registrar via the first signature; and

sending a first neighbor advertisement (NA) message to the host computing device including the second nonce,

wherein the second nonce and a public key of the network registrar verifies the first signature from the network registrar, the verification of the first signature indicating that a router through which the host computing device connects to a network is not impersonating the network.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first NA message includes a network crypto-identification parameters option (CIPO) defining a network cryptographic identifier (crypto-ID), the network crypto-ID being derived from the public key of the first PM key pair.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:

pre-provisioning the host computing device with the network crypto-ID as an identification of the network that the host computing device is to join,

wherein sending the first NA message to the host computing device includes sending to the host computing device the public key to validate that the public key corresponds to the network crypto-ID, and that the first signature corresponds with the private key that forms the first PM key pair with the public key.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the first signature signs the network crypto-ID via a neighbor discovery protocol signature option (NDPSO).

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:

receiving, at the router, a first neighbor solicitation (NS) message from the host computing device, the first NS message including:

an address of the host computing device, and

a public key of a second PM key pair of the host computing device;

sending, from the router to the host computing device, a second neighbor advertisement (NA) message including:

a challenge to the address of the host computing device, and

a third nonce generated by the router;

receiving, at the router, a second NS message from the host computing device including the first nonce and a second signature, a second nonce pair including the first nonce and the second nonce being signed by the host computing device via the second signature; and

verifying the host computing device based at least in part on the first nonce and the public key of the host computing device to verify the second signature, the verification of the second signature indicating that the host computing device is authentic.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 , the operations further comprising adding the network crypto-ID to the second NS message and the EDAR message as an additional message option,

wherein the network registrar groups the host computing device based at least in part on a network crypto token assigned to the host computing device to correlate the host computing device to a first group, and

wherein the network registrar assigns an access right to the first group to control access of the host computing device.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 , the operations further comprising:

with the router, inspecting the EDAR message for the network crypto token assigned to the host computing device, the network crypto token grouping the host computing device into the first group;

granting to the host computing device the access right assigned to the first group; and

controlling the access to the network of the host computing device based on the granted access right.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the second NS message from the host computing device includes a CIPO including the host crypto-ID, the first nonce, and an NDPSO, the NDPSO carrying the first signature proving ownership of the host crypto-ID.

17. A system, comprising:

a router; and

a network registrar communicatively coupled to the router;

the router including:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

sending, to a network registrar, an extended duplicate address request (EDAR) message including a first nonce generated by a host computing device;

receiving, from the network registrar, an extended duplicate address confirmation (EDAC) message including a second nonce and a first signature, a first nonce pair including the first nonce and the second nonce being signed by the network registrar via a private key of a first public key infrastructure (PM) key pair of the network registrar via the first signature; and

sending a first neighbor advertisement (NA) message to the host computing device including the second nonce,

wherein the second nonce and a public key of the network registrar verifies the first signature from the network registrar, the verification of the first signature indicating that a router through which the host computing device connects to a network is not impersonating the network.

18. The system of claim 17 , the operations further comprising:

receiving, at the router, a first neighbor solicitation (NS) message from the host computing device, the first NS message including:

an address of the host computing device, and

a public key of a second PM key pair of the host computing device;

sending, from the router to the host computing device, a second neighbor advertisement (NA) message including:

a challenge to the address of the host computing device, and

a third nonce generated by the router;

receiving, at the router, a second NS message from the host computing device including the first nonce and a second signature, a second nonce pair including the first nonce and the second nonce being signed by the host computing device via the second signature; and

verifying the host computing device based at least in part on the first nonce and the public key of the host computing device to verify the second signature, the verification of the second signature indicating that the host computing device is authentic.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the first NA message includes a network crypto-identification parameters option (CIPO) defining a network cryptographic identifier (crypto-ID), the network crypto-ID being derived from the public key of the first PM key pair.

20. The system of claim 18 , the operations further comprising:

pre-provisioning the host computing device with the network crypto-ID as an identification of the network that the host computing device is to join,

wherein sending the first NA message to the host computing device includes sending to the host computing device the public key to validate that the public key corresponds to the network crypto-ID, and that the first signature corresponds with the private key that forms the first PM key pair with the public key, and

wherein the first signature signs the CIPO via a neighbor discovery protocol signature option (NDPSO).

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 13, 2020
From: THUBERT, PASCAL; LEVY-ABEGNOLI, ERIC; ZADDACH, JONAS; WETTERWALD, PATRICK
To: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 054043/0309 →