IP Library Granted Patent US 11,711,345
Granted Patent B2
US 11,711,345 · App. 16/913,048 · Granted Jul 25, 2023

Split tunnel-based security

Inventors: Harsha Ramamurthy Joshi (Bangalore, IN); Shashank Jain (Bangalore, IN); Himanshu Srivastava (Bangalore, IN); Dattatraya Kulkarni (Bangalore, IN); Srikanth Nalluri (Karnataka, IN)
Assignee: McAfee, LLC
H04L63/0272H04L12/4633H04L12/4641H04L61/4511H04L61/5007
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,711,345
App. No.
16/913,048
Granted
Jul 25, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

There is disclosed in one example a computing apparatus, including: a hardware platform including a processor and a memory; a network interface; an operating system including a native internet protocol (IP) stack; and a security agent, including instructions encoded within the memory to instruct the processor to: establish a split virtual private network (VPN) tunnel with a remote VPN service; receive outgoing network traffic; direct a first portion of the outgoing traffic to the VPN tunnel, including determining that the first portion includes an outgoing domain name service (DNS) request; and direct a second portion of the outgoing traffic to the native IP stack.

Claims (31)

1. A method of providing a security agent application to a computing apparatus, comprising:

within a closed operating system, wherein the closed operating system sandboxes applications from one another, establishing a split tunnel over a native internet protocol (IP) stack, wherein a first tunnel of the split tunnel redirects to a cloud security service, and a second tunnel of the split tunnel is a passthrough to the native IP stack;

receiving network traffic from a sandboxed application, directing at least some domain name system (DNS) traffic through the first tunnel, and directing non-DNS traffic through the second tunnel;

wherein directing at least some DNS traffic through the first tunnel comprises sending a DNS query to resolve a domain name to a cloud-based security service and receiving in response an extensible DNS (EDNS) packet comprising reputation data for the domain name, and acting on the reputation data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing apparatus is a mobile computing device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein directing at least some domain name system (DNS) traffic through the first tunnel further comprises determining that a DNS request is for a domain name that has a cached reputation, and directing the DNS request through the second tunnel.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein directing at least some DNS traffic through the first tunnel comprises determining that a packet has a destination port is 53.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying a class of traffic for tunneling, and directing all packets of the class of traffic to the first tunnel.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a DNS response via the first tunnel.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the EDNS packet includes an OPT pseudo-resource record.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprises parsing the EDNS packet before acting on the reputation data.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein parsing the EDNS packet comprises parsing a domain name reputation.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising caching the domain name reputation.

11. One or more tangible, nontransitory computer-readable storage media having stored thereon executable instructions to instruct a processor circuit to:

within a closed operating system of a computing apparatus, wherein the closed operating system sandboxes applications from one another, establish a split tunnel over a native internet protocol (IP) stack, wherein a first tunnel of the split tunnel redirects to a cloud security service, and a second tunnel of the split tunnel is a passthrough to the native IP stack;

receiving network traffic from a sandboxed application, direct at least some domain name system (DNS) traffic through the first tunnel, and direct non-DNS traffic through the second tunnel;

wherein directing at least some DNS traffic through the first tunnel comprises sending a DNS query to resolve a domain name to a cloud-based security service and receiving in response an extensible DNS (EDNS) packet comprising reputation data for the domain name, and acting on the reputation data.

12. The one or more tangible, nontransitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein the computing apparatus is a mobile computing device.

13. The one or more tangible, nontransitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein directing at least some domain name system (DNS) traffic through the first tunnel further comprises determining that a DNS request is for a domain name that has a cached reputation, and directing the DNS request through the second tunnel.

14. The one or more tangible, nontransitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , further comprising identifying a class of traffic for tunneling, and directing all packets of the class of traffic to the first tunnel.

15. The one or more tangible, nontransitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein the EDNS packet includes an OPT pseudo-resource record.

16. The one or more tangible, nontransitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , further comprising caching a domain name reputation received via the EDNS packet.

17. A computing apparatus, comprising:

a processor circuit and a memory; and

instruction encoded within the memory to instruct the processor circuit to:

within a closed operating system, wherein the closed operating system sandboxes applications from one another, establish a split tunnel over a native internet protocol (IP) stack, wherein a first tunnel of the split tunnel redirects to a cloud security service, and a second tunnel of the split tunnel is a passthrough to the native IP stack;

receiving network traffic from a sandboxed application, direct at least some domain name system (DNS) traffic through the first tunnel, and direct non-DNS traffic through the second tunnel;

wherein directing at least some DNS traffic through the first tunnel comprises sending a DNS query to resolve a domain name to a cloud-based security service and receiving in response an extensible DNS (EDNS) packet comprising reputation data for the domain name, and acting on the reputation data.

18. The one or more tangible, nontransitory computer-readable storage media of claim 17 , wherein directing at least some domain name system (DNS) traffic through the first tunnel further comprises determining that a DNS request is for a domain name that has a cached reputation, and directing the DNS request through the second tunnel.

19. The one or more tangible, nontransitory computer-readable storage media of claim 18 , further comprising identifying a class of traffic for tunneling, and directing all packets of the class of traffic to the first tunnel.

20. The one or more tangible, nontransitory computer-readable storage media of claim 17 , wherein the EDNS packet includes an OPT pseudo-resource record.

Assignments (3)
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE THE PATENT TITLES AND REMOVE DUPLICATES IN THE SCHEDULE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 059354 FRAME: 0335. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: MCAFEE, LLC
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 060792/0307 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 3, 2022
From: MCAFEE, LLC
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT AND COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 059354/0335 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 26, 2020
From: JOSHI, HARSHA RAMAMURTHY; JAIN, SHASHANK; SRIVASTAVA, HIMANSHU; KULKARNI, DATTATRAYA; NALLURI, SRIKANTHA
To: MCAFEE, LLC
Reel/Frame 053048/0087 →