Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                      F. Andreasen
Request for Comments: 5898                                 Cisco Systems
Category: Standards Track                                   G. Camarillo
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                 Ericsson
                                                                D. Oran
                                                                D. Wing
                                                          Cisco Systems
                                                              July 2010


  Connectivity Preconditions for Session Description Protocol (SDP)
                            Media Streams

Abstract

  This document defines a new connectivity precondition for the Session
  Description Protocol (SDP) precondition framework.  A connectivity
  precondition can be used to delay session establishment or
  modification until media stream connectivity has been successfully
  verified.  The method of verification may vary depending on the type
  of transport used for the media.  For unreliable datagram transports
  such as UDP, verification involves probing the stream with data or
  control packets.  For reliable connection-oriented transports such as
  TCP, verification can be achieved simply by successful connection
  establishment or by probing the connection with data or control
  packets, depending on the situation.

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 5741.

  Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
  and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
  http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5898.











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Copyright Notice

  Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
  document authors.  All rights reserved.

  This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
  Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
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  publication of this document.  Please review these documents
  carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
  to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
  include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
  the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
  described in the Simplified BSD License.

  This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
  Contributions published or made publicly available before November
  10, 2008.  The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this
  material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow
  modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process.
  Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
  the copyright in such materials, this document may not be modified
  outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may
  not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
  it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
  than English.

























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Table of Contents

  1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
  2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
  3.  Connectivity Precondition Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
    3.1.  Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
    3.2.  Operational Semantics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
    3.3.  Status Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
    3.4.  Direction Tag  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
    3.5.  Precondition Strength  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
  4.  Verifying Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
    4.1.  Correlation of Dialog to Media Stream  . . . . . . . . . .  7
    4.2.  Explicit Connectivity Verification Mechanisms  . . . . . .  7
    4.3.  Verifying Connectivity for Connection-Oriented
          Transports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
  5.  Connectivity and Other Precondition Types  . . . . . . . . . .  9
  6.  Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
  7.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  8.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  9.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
    9.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
    9.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

1.  Introduction

  The concept of a Session Description Protocol (SDP) [RFC4566]
  precondition in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) [RFC3261] is
  defined in RFC 3312 [RFC3312] (updated by RFC 4032 [RFC4032]).  A
  precondition is a condition that has to be satisfied for a given
  media stream in order for session establishment or modification to
  proceed.  When the precondition is not met, session progress is
  delayed until the precondition is satisfied or the session
  establishment fails.  For example, RFC 3312 [RFC3312] defines the
  Quality of Service precondition, which is used to ensure availability
  of network resources prior to establishing a session (i.e., prior to
  starting to alert the callee).

  SIP sessions are typically established in order to set up one or more
  media streams.  Even though a media stream may be negotiated
  successfully through an SDP offer-answer exchange, the actual media
  stream itself may fail.  For example, when there is one or more
  Network Address Translators (NATs) or firewalls in the media path,
  the media stream may not be received by the far end.  In cases where
  the media is carried over a connection-oriented transport such as TCP
  [RFC0793], the connection-establishment procedures may fail.  The
  connectivity precondition defined in this document ensures that
  session progress is delayed until media stream connectivity has been
  verified.



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  The connectivity precondition type defined in this document follows
  the guidelines provided in RFC 4032 [RFC4032] to extend the SIP
  preconditions framework.

2.  Terminology

  The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
  "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
  document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

3.  Connectivity Precondition Definition

3.1.  Syntax

  The connectivity precondition type is defined by the string "conn",
  and hence we modify the grammar found in RFC 3312 [RFC3312] and RFC
  5027 [RFC5027] as follows:

     precondition-type = "conn" / "sec" / "qos" / token

  This precondition tag is registered with the IANA in Section 8.

3.2.  Operational Semantics

  According to RFC 4032 [RFC4032], documents defining new precondition
  types need to describe the behavior of UAs (User Agents) from the
  moment session establishment is suspended due to a set of
  preconditions, until it is resumed when these preconditions are met.
  An entity that wishes to delay session establishment or modification
  until media stream connectivity has been established uses this
  precondition-type in an offer.  When a mandatory connectivity
  precondition is received in an offer, session establishment or
  modification is delayed until the connectivity precondition has been
  met (i.e., until media stream connectivity has been established in
  the desired direction or directions).  The delay of session
  establishment defined here implies that alerting of the called party
  does not occur until the precondition has been satisfied.

  Packets may be both sent and received on the media streams in
  question.  However, such packets SHOULD be limited to packets that
  are necessary to verify connectivity between the two endpoints
  involved on the media stream.  That is, the underlying media stream
  SHOULD NOT be cut through.  For example, Interactive Connectivity
  Establishment (ICE) connectivity checks [RFC5245] and TCP SYN, SYN-
  ACK, and ACK packets can be exchanged on media streams that support
  them as a way of verifying connectivity.





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  Some media streams are described by a single 'm' line but,
  nevertheless, involve multiple addresses.  For example, RFC 5109
  [RFC5109] specifies how to send FEC (Forward Error Correction)
  information as a separate stream (the address for the FEC stream is
  provided in an 'a=fmtp' line).  When a media stream consists of
  multiple destination addresses, connectivity to all of them MUST be
  verified in order for the precondition to be met.  In the case of RTP
  media streams [RFC3550] that use RTCP, connectivity MUST be verified
  for both RTP and RTCP; the RTCP transmission interval rules MUST
  still be adhered to.

3.3.  Status Type

  RFC 3312 [RFC3312] defines support for two kinds of status types --
  namely, segmented and end-to-end.  The connectivity precondition-type
  defined here MUST be used with the end-to-end status type; use of the
  segmented status type is undefined.

3.4.  Direction Tag

  The direction attributes defined in RFC 3312 [RFC3312] are
  interpreted as follows:

  o  send: the party that generated the session description is sending
     packets on the media stream to the other party, and the other
     party has received at least one of those packets.  That is, there
     is connectivity in the forward (sending) direction.

  o  recv: the other party is sending packets on the media stream to
     the party that generated the session description, and this party
     has received at least one of those packets.  That is, there is
     connectivity in the backwards (receiving) direction.

  o  sendrecv: both the send and recv conditions hold.

  Note that a "send" connectivity precondition from the offerer's point
  of view corresponds to a "recv" connectivity precondition from the
  answerer's point of view, and vice versa.  If media stream
  connectivity in both directions is required before session
  establishment or modification continues, the desired status needs to
  be set to "sendrecv".

3.5.  Precondition Strength

  Connectivity preconditions may have a strength-tag of either
  "mandatory" or "optional".





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  When a mandatory connectivity precondition is offered and the
  answerer cannot satisfy the connectivity precondition (e.g., because
  the offer does not include parameters that enable connectivity to be
  verified without media cut through) the offer MUST be rejected as
  described in RFC 3312 [RFC3312].

  When an optional connectivity precondition is offered, the answerer
  MUST generate its answer SDP as soon as possible.  Since session
  progress is not delayed in this case, it is not known whether the
  associated media streams will have connectivity.  If the answerer
  wants to delay session progress until connectivity has been verified,
  the answerer MUST increase the strength of the connectivity
  precondition by using a strength-tag of "mandatory" in the answer.

  Note that use of a mandatory precondition requires the presence of a
  SIP "Require" header with the option tag "precondition".  Any SIP UA
  that does not support a mandatory precondition will reject such
  requests.  To get around this issue, an optional connectivity
  precondition and the SIP "Supported" header with the option tag
  "precondition" can be used instead.

  Offers with connectivity preconditions in re-INVITEs or UPDATEs
  follow the rules given in Section 6 of RFC 3312 [RFC3312].  That is:

     Both user agents SHOULD continue using the old session parameters
     until all the mandatory preconditions are met.  At that moment,
     the user agents can begin using the new session parameters.

4.  Verifying Connectivity

  Media stream connectivity is ascertained by use of a connectivity
  verification mechanism between the media endpoints.  A connectivity
  verification mechanism may be an explicit mechanism, such as ICE
  [RFC5245] or ICE TCP [ICE-TCP], or it may be an implicit mechanism,
  such as TCP.  Explicit mechanisms provide specifications for when
  connectivity between two endpoints using an offer/answer exchange is
  ascertained, whereas implicit mechanisms do not.  The verification
  mechanism is negotiated as part of the normal offer/answer exchange;
  however, it is not identified explicitly.  More than one mechanism
  may be negotiated, but the offerer and answerer need not use the
  same.  The following rules guide which connectivity verification
  mechanism to use:

  o  If an explicit connectivity verification mechanism (e.g., ICE) is
     negotiated, the precondition is met when the mechanism verifies
     connectivity successfully.





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  o  Otherwise, if a connection-oriented transport (e.g., TCP) is
     negotiated, the precondition is met when the connection is
     established.

  o  Otherwise, if an implicit verification mechanism is provided by
     the transport itself or the media stream data using the transport,
     the precondition is met when the mechanism verifies connectivity
     successfully.

  o  Otherwise, connectivity cannot be verified reliably, and the
     connectivity precondition will never be satisfied if requested.

  This document does not mandate any particular connectivity
  verification mechanism; however, in the following, we provide
  additional considerations for verification mechanisms.

4.1.  Correlation of Dialog to Media Stream

  SIP and SDP do not provide any inherent capabilities for associating
  an incoming media stream packet with a particular dialog.  Thus, when
  an offerer is trying to ascertain connectivity, and an incoming media
  stream packet is received, the offerer may not know which dialog had
  its "recv" connectivity verified.  Explicit connectivity verification
  mechanisms therefore typically provide a means to correlate the media
  stream, whose connectivity is being verified, with a particular SIP
  dialog.  However, some connectivity verification mechanisms may not
  provide such a correlation.  In the absence of a mechanism for the
  correlation of dialog to media stream (e.g., ICE), a UAS (User Agent
  Server) MUST NOT require the offerer to confirm a connectivity
  precondition.

4.2.  Explicit Connectivity Verification Mechanisms

  Explicit connectivity verification mechanisms typically use probe
  traffic with some sort of feedback to inform the sender whether
  reception was successful.  Below we provide two examples of such
  mechanisms, and how they are used with connectivity preconditions:

  Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) [RFC5245] provides one
  or more candidate addresses in signaling between the offerer and the
  answerer and then uses STUN (Simple Traversal of the UDP Protocol
  through NAT) Binding Requests to determine which pairs of candidate
  addresses have connectivity.  Each STUN Binding Request contains a
  password that is communicated in the SDP as well; this enables
  correlation between STUN Binding Requests and candidate addresses for
  a particular media stream.  It also provides correlation with a
  particular SIP dialog.




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  ICE implementations may be either full or lite (see [RFC5245]).  Full
  implementations generate and respond to STUN Binding Requests,
  whereas lite implementations only respond to them.  With ICE, one
  side is a controlling agent, and the other side is a controlled
  agent.  A full implementation can take on either role, whereas a lite
  implementation can only be a controlled agent.  The controlling agent
  decides which valid candidate to use and informs the controlled agent
  of it by identifying the pair as the nominated pair.  This leads to
  the following connectivity precondition rules:

  o  A full implementation ascertains both "send" and "recv"
     connectivity when it operates as a STUN client and has sent a STUN
     Binding Request that resulted in a successful check for all the
     components of the media stream (as defined further in ICE).

  o  A full or a lite implementation ascertains "recv" connectivity
     when it operates as a STUN server and has received a STUN Binding
     Request that resulted in a successful response for all the
     components of the media stream (as defined further in ICE).

  o  A lite implementation ascertains "send" and "recv" connectivity
     when the controlling agent has informed it of the nominated pair
     for all the components of the media stream.

  A simpler and slightly more delay-prone alternative to the above
  rules is for all ICE implementations to ascertain "send" and "recv"
  connectivity for a media stream when the ICE state for that media
  stream has moved to Completed.

  Note that there is never a need for the answerer to request
  confirmation of the connectivity precondition when using ICE: the
  answerer can determine the status locally.  Also note, that when ICE
  is used to verify connectivity preconditions, the precondition is not
  satisfied until connectivity has been verified for all the component
  transport addresses used by the media stream.  For example, with an
  RTP-based media stream where RTCP is not suppressed, connectivity
  MUST be ascertained for both RTP and RTCP.  Finally, it should be
  noted, that although connectivity has been ascertained, a new offer/
  answer exchange may be required before media can flow (per ICE).

  The above are merely examples of explicit connectivity verification
  mechanisms.  Other techniques can be used as well.  It is however
  RECOMMENDED that ICE be supported by entities that support
  connectivity preconditions.  Use of ICE has the benefit of working
  for all media streams (not just RTP) as well as facilitating NAT and
  firewall traversal, which may otherwise interfere with connectivity.
  Furthermore, the ICE recommendation provides a baseline to ensure




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  that all entities that require probe traffic to support the
  connectivity preconditions have a common way of ascertaining
  connectivity.

4.3.  Verifying Connectivity for Connection-Oriented Transports

  Connection-oriented transport protocols generally provide an implicit
  connectivity verification mechanism.  Connection establishment
  involves sending traffic in both directions thereby verifying
  connectivity at the transport-protocol level.  When a three-way (or
  more) handshake for connection establishment succeeds, bi-directional
  communication is confirmed and both the "send" and "recv"
  preconditions are satisfied whether requested or not.  In the case of
  TCP for example, once the TCP three-way handshake has completed (SYN,
  SYN-ACK, ACK), the TCP connection is established and data can be sent
  and received by either party (i.e., both a send and a receive
  connectivity precondition has been satisfied).  SCTP (Stream Control
  Transmission Protocol) [RFC4960] connections have similar semantics
  as TCP and SHOULD be treated the same.

  When a connection-oriented transport is part of an offer, it may be
  passive, active, or active/passive [RFC4145].  When it is passive,
  the offerer expects the answerer to initiate the connection
  establishment, and when it is active, the offerer wants to initiate
  the connection establishment.  When it is active/passive, the
  answerer decides.  As noted earlier, lack of a media-stream-to-dialog
  correlation mechanism can make it difficult to guarantee with whom
  connectivity has been ascertained.  When the offerer takes on the
  passive role, the offerer will not necessarily know which SIP dialog
  originated an incoming connection request.  If the offerer instead is
  active, this problem is avoided.

5.  Connectivity and Other Precondition Types

  The role of a connectivity precondition is to ascertain media stream
  connectivity before establishing or modifying a session.  The
  underlying intent is for the two parties to be able to exchange media
  packets successfully.  However, connectivity by itself may not fully
  satisfy this.  Quality of Service, for example, may be required for
  the media stream; this can be addressed by use of the "qos"
  precondition defined in RFC 3312 [RFC3312].  Similarly, successful
  security parameter negotiation may be another prerequisite; this can
  be addressed by use of the "sec" precondition defined in RFC 5027
  [RFC5027].







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6.  Examples

  The first example uses the connectivity precondition with TCP in the
  context of a session involving a wireless access medium.  Both UAs
  use a radio access network that does not allow them to send any data
  (not even a TCP SYN) until a radio bearer has been set up for the
  connection.  Figure 1 shows the message flow of this example (the
  required PRACK transaction has been omitted for clarity -- see
  [RFC3312] for details):

              A                                    B
              |  INVITE                            |
              |  a=curr:conn e2e none              |
              |  a=des:conn mandatory e2e sendrecv |
              |  a=setup:holdconn                  |
              |----------------------------------->|
              |                                    |
              |  183 Session Progress              |
              |  a=curr:conn e2e none              |
              |  a=des:conn mandatory e2e sendrecv |
              |  a=setup:holdconn                  |
              |<-----------------------------------|
              |                                    |
              |  UPDATE                            |
              |  a=curr:conn e2e none              |
              |  a=des:conn mandatory e2e sendrecv |
    A's radio |  a=setup:actpass                   |
    bearer is +----------------------------------->|
    up        |                                    |
              |  200 OK                            |
              |  a=curr:conn e2e none              |
              |  a=des:conn mandatory e2e sendrecv |
              |  a=setup:active                    |
              |<-----------------------------------|
              |                                    |
              |                                    |
              |                                    |
              |                                    | B's radio
              |<---TCP Connection Establishment--->+ bearer is up
              |                                    | B sends TCP SYN
              |                                    |
              |                                    |
              |  180 Ringing                       | TCP connection
              |<-----------------------------------+ is up
              |                                    | B alerts the user
              |                                    |

         Figure 1: Message Flow with Two Types of Preconditions



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  A sends an INVITE requesting connection-establishment preconditions.
  The setup attribute in the offer is set to holdconn [RFC4145] because
  A cannot send or receive any data before setting up a radio bearer
  for the connection.

  B agrees to use the connectivity precondition by sending a 183
  (Session Progress) response.  The setup attribute in the answer is
  also set to holdconn because B, like A, cannot send or receive any
  data before setting up a radio bearer for the connection.

  When A's radio bearer is ready, A sends an UPDATE to B with a setup
  attribute with a value of actpass.  This attribute indicates that A
  can perform an active or a passive TCP open.  A is letting B choose
  which endpoint will initiate the connection.

  Since B's radio bearer is not ready yet, B chooses to be the one
  initiating the connection and indicates this with a setup attribute
  with a value of active.  At a later point, when B's radio bearer is
  ready, B initiates the TCP connection towards A.

  Once the TCP connection is established successfully, B knows the
  "sendrecv" precondition is satisfied, and B proceeds with the session
  (i.e., alerts the Callee), and sends a 180 (Ringing) response.

  The second example shows a basic SIP session establishment using SDP
  connectivity preconditions and ICE (the required PRACK transaction
  and some SDP details have been omitted for clarity).  The offerer (A)
  is a full ICE implementation whereas the answerer (B) is a lite ICE
  implementation.  The message flow for this scenario is shown in
  Figure 2 below.





















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                 A                                            B

                 |                                            |
                 |-------------(1) INVITE SDP1--------------->|
                 |                                            |
                 |<------(2) 183 Session Progress SDP2--------|
                 |                                            |
                 |~~~~~ Connectivity check to B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~>|
                 |<~~~~ Connectivity to B OK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
                 |                                            |
                 |-------------(3) UPDATE SDP3--------------->|
                 |                                            |
                 |<--------(4) 200 OK (UPDATE) SDP4-----------|
                 |                                            |
                 |<-------------(5) 180 Ringing---------------|
                 |                                            |
                 |                                            |

    Figure 2: Connectivity Precondition with ICE Connectivity Checks

  SDP1: A includes a mandatory end-to-end connectivity precondition
  with a desired status of "sendrecv"; this will ensure media stream
  connectivity in both directions before continuing with the session
  setup.  Since media stream connectivity in either direction is
  unknown at this point, the current status is set to "none".  A's
  local status table (see [RFC3312]) for the connectivity precondition
  is as follows:

      Direction |  Current | Desired Strength |  Confirm
     -----------+----------+------------------+----------
        send    |    no    |   mandatory      |    no
        recv    |    no    |   mandatory      |    no

  and the resulting offer SDP is:

    a=ice-pwd:asd88fgpdd777uzjYhagZg
    a=ice-ufrag:8hhY
    m=audio 20000 RTP/AVP 0
    c=IN IP4 192.0.2.1
    a=rtcp:20001
    a=curr:conn e2e none
    a=des:conn mandatory e2e sendrecv
    a=candidate:1 1 UDP 2130706431 192.0.2.1 20000 typ host

  SDP2: When B receives the offer, B sees the mandatory sendrecv
  connectivity precondition.  B is a lite ICE implementation and hence
  B can only ascertain "recv" connectivity (from B's point of view)




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RFC 5898                Connectivity Precondition              July 2010


  from A; thus, B wants A to inform it about connectivity in the other
  direction ("send" from B's point of view).  B's local status table
  therefore looks as follows:

      Direction |  Current | Desired Strength |  Confirm
     -----------+----------+------------------+----------
        send    |    no    |   mandatory      |    no
        recv    |    no    |   mandatory      |    no

  Since B is a lite ICE implementation and B wants to ask A for
  confirmation about the "send" (from B's point of view) connectivity
  precondition, the resulting answer SDP becomes:

    a=ice-lite
    a=ice-pwd:qrCA8800133321zF9AIj98
    a=ice-ufrag:H92p
    m=audio 30000 RTP/AVP 0
    c=IN IP4 192.0.2.4
    a=rtcp:30001
    a=curr:conn e2e none
    a=des:conn mandatory e2e sendrecv
    a=conf:conn e2e send
    a=candidate:1 1 UDP 2130706431 192.0.2.4 30000 typ host

  Since the "send" and the "recv" connectivity precondition (from B's
  point of view) are still not satisfied, session establishment remains
  suspended.

  SDP3: When A receives the answer SDP, A notes that B is a lite ICE
  implementation and that confirmation was requested for B's "send"
  connectivity precondition, which is the "recv" precondition from A's
  point of view.  A performs a successful send and recv connectivity
  check to B by sending an ICE connectivity check to B and receiving
  the corresponding response.  A's local status table becomes:

      Direction |  Current | Desired Strength |  Confirm
     -----------+----------+------------------+----------
        send    |    yes   |   mandatory      |    no
        recv    |    yes   |   mandatory      |    yes

  whereas B's local status table becomes:

      Direction | Current  | Desired Strength | Confirm
     -----------+----------+------------------+----------
        send    |    no    |   mandatory      |   no
        recv    |    yes   |   mandatory      |   no





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RFC 5898                Connectivity Precondition              July 2010


  Since B asked for confirmation about the "recv" connectivity (from
  A's point of view), A now sends an UPDATE (5) to B to confirm the
  connectivity from A to B:

    a=ice-pwd:asd88fgpdd777uzjYhagZg
    a=ice-ufrag:8hhY
    m=audio 20000 RTP/AVP 0
    c=IN IP4 192.0.2.1
    a=rtcp:20001
    a=curr:conn e2e sendrecv
    a=des:conn mandatory e2e sendrecv
    a=candidate:1 1 UDP 2130706431 192.0.2.1 20000 typ host

  B knows it has recv connectivity (verified by ICE as well as A's
  UPDATE) and send connectivity (confirmed by A's UPDATE) at this
  point.  B's local status table becomes:

      Direction | Current  | Desired Strength | Confirm
     -----------+----------+------------------+----------
        send    |    yes   |   mandatory      |   no
        recv    |    yes   |   mandatory      |   no

  and the session can continue.

7.  Security Considerations

  General security considerations for preconditions are discussed in
  RFC 3312 [RFC3312] and RFC 4032 [RFC4032].  As discussed in RFC 4032
  [RFC4032], it is strongly RECOMMENDED that S/MIME [RFC3853] integrity
  protection be applied to the SDP session descriptions.  When the user
  agent provides identity services (rather than the proxy server), the
  SIP identity mechanism specified in RFC 4474 [RFC4474] provides an
  alternative end-to-end integrity protection.  Additionally, the
  following security issues relate specifically to connectivity
  preconditions.

  Connectivity preconditions rely on mechanisms beyond SDP, such as TCP
  [RFC0793] connection establishment or ICE connectivity checks
  [RFC5245], to establish and verify connectivity between an offerer
  and an answerer.  An attacker that prevents those mechanisms from
  succeeding (e.g., by keeping ICE connectivity checks from arriving at
  their destination) can prevent media sessions from being established.
  While this attack relates to connectivity preconditions, it is
  actually an attack against the connection-establishment mechanisms
  used by the endpoints.  This attack can be performed in the presence
  or in the absence of connectivity preconditions.  In their presence,
  the whole session setup will be disrupted.  In their absence, only
  the establishment of the particular stream under attack will be



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RFC 5898                Connectivity Precondition              July 2010


  disrupted.  This specification does not provide any mechanism against
  attackers able to block traffic between the endpoints involved in the
  session because such an attacker will always be able to launch DoS
  (Denial-of-Service) attacks.

  Instead of blocking the connectivity checks, the attacker can
  generate forged connectivity checks that would cause the endpoints to
  assume that there was connectivity when there was actually no
  connectivity.  This attack would result in the user experience being
  poor because the session would be established without all the media
  streams being ready.  The same attack can be used, regardless of
  whether or not connectivity preconditions are used, to attempt to
  hijack a connection.  The forged connectivity checks would trick the
  endpoints into sending media to the wrong direction.  To prevent
  these attacks, it is RECOMMENDED that the mechanisms used to check
  connectivity are adequately secured by message authentication and
  integrity protection.  For example, Section 2.5 of [RFC5245]
  discusses how message integrity and data origin authentication are
  implemented in ICE connectivity checks.

8.  IANA Considerations

  IANA has registered a new precondition type under the Precondition
  Types used with SIP subregistry, which is located under the Session
  Initiation Protocol (SIP) Parameters registry.

  Precondition-Type  Description                          Reference
  -----------------  -----------------------------------  ---------
  conn               Connectivity precondition            [RFC5898]

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

  [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
             Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

  [RFC3261]  Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston,
             A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E.
             Schooler, "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261,
             June 2002.

  [RFC3312]  Camarillo, G., Marshall, W., and J. Rosenberg,
             "Integration of Resource Management and Session Initiation
             Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3312, October 2002.






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RFC 5898                Connectivity Precondition              July 2010


  [RFC3853]  Peterson, J., "S/MIME Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
             Requirement for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)",
             RFC 3853, July 2004.

  [RFC4032]  Camarillo, G. and P. Kyzivat, "Update to the Session
             Initiation Protocol (SIP) Preconditions Framework",
             RFC 4032, March 2005.

  [RFC4474]  Peterson, J. and C. Jennings, "Enhancements for
             Authenticated Identity Management in the Session
             Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 4474, August 2006.

  [RFC4566]  Handley, M., Jacobson, V., and C. Perkins, "SDP: Session
             Description Protocol", RFC 4566, July 2006.

  [RFC5027]  Andreasen, F. and D. Wing, "Security Preconditions for
             Session Description Protocol (SDP) Media Streams",
             RFC 5027, October 2007.

  [RFC5245]  Rosenberg, J., "Interactive Connectivity Establishment
             (ICE): A Protocol for Network Address Translator (NAT)
             Traversal for Offer/Answer Protocols", RFC 5245,
             April 2010.

9.2.  Informative References

  [RFC0793]  Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol", STD 7,
             RFC 793, September 1981.

  [RFC3550]  Schulzrinne, H., Casner, S., Frederick, R., and V.
             Jacobson, "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time
             Applications", STD 64, RFC 3550, July 2003.

  [RFC4145]  Yon, D. and G. Camarillo, "TCP-Based Media Transport in
             the Session Description Protocol (SDP)", RFC 4145,
             September 2005.

  [RFC4960]  Stewart, R., "Stream Control Transmission Protocol",
             RFC 4960, September 2007.

  [RFC5109]  Li, A., "RTP Payload Format for Generic Forward Error
             Correction", RFC 5109, December 2007.

  [ICE-TCP]  Perreault, S., Ed. and J. Rosenberg, "TCP Candidates with
             Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE)", Work
             in Progress, October 2009.





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Authors' Addresses

  Flemming Andreasen
  Cisco Systems, Inc.
  499 Thornall Street, 8th Floor
  Edison, NJ  08837
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]


  Gonzalo Camarillo
  Ericsson
  Hirsalantie 11
  Jorvas  02420
  Finland

  EMail: [email protected]


  David Oran
  Cisco Systems, Inc.
  7 Ladyslipper Lane
  Acton, MA  01720
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]


  Dan Wing
  Cisco Systems, Inc.
  170 West Tasman Drive
  San Jose, CA  95134
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]















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