What's (Not) Validating Network Paths: A Survey

Abstract

Validating network paths taken by packets is critical for a secure Internet architecture. Any feasible solution must both enforce packet forwarding along endhost-specified paths and verify whether packets have taken those paths. However, neither enforcement nor verification is supported by the current Internet. Due likely to a long-standing confusion between routing and forwarding, only limited solutions for path validation exist in the literature. This survey article aims to reinvigorate research in to the significant and essential topic of path validation. It crystallizes not only how path validation works but also where seemingly qualified solutions fall short. The analyses explore future research directions in path validation toward improving security, privacy, and efficiency.

Modelling Agent-Skipping Attacks in Message Forwarding Protocols

“…Secure Routing. Secure Routing protocols form the simplest class of protocols where a notion of Path Integrity is a goal -with several different well-studied and comparable definitions, including Path Enforcement [7] or Path Compliance. In these protocols, a path is often set by using a set of path headers, along with some series of verification checks at intermediate nodes.…”