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INFORMATIONAL
Errata Exist
Network Working Group                                       P. SrisureshRequest for Comments: 5128                                Kazeon SystemsCategory: Informational                                          B. Ford                                                                  M.I.T.                                                                D. Kegel                                                               kegel.com                                                              March 2008State of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Communication acrossNetwork Address Translators (NATs)Status of This Memo   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this   memo is unlimited.Abstract   This memo documents the various methods known to be in use by   applications to establish direct communication in the presence of   Network Address Translators (NATs) at the current time.  Although   this memo is intended to be mainly descriptive, the Security   Considerations section makes some purely advisory recommendations   about how to deal with security vulnerabilities the applications   could inadvertently create when using the methods described.  This   memo covers NAT traversal approaches used by both TCP- and UDP-based   applications.  This memo is not an endorsement of the methods   described, but merely an attempt to capture them in a document.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                      [Page 1]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008Table of Contents1. Introduction and Scope ..........................................32. Terminology and Conventions Used ................................42.1. Endpoint ...................................................52.2. Endpoint Mapping ...........................................52.3. Endpoint-Independent Mapping ...............................52.4. Endpoint-Dependent Mapping .................................52.5. Endpoint-Independent Filtering .............................62.6. Endpoint-Dependent Filtering ...............................62.7. P2P Application ............................................72.8. NAT-Friendly P2P Application ...............................72.9. Endpoint-Independent Mapping NAT (EIM-NAT) .................72.10. Hairpinning ...............................................73. Techniques Used by P2P Applications to Traverse NATs ............73.1. Relaying ...................................................83.2. Connection Reversal ........................................93.3. UDP Hole Punching .........................................113.3.1. Peers behind Different NATs ........................123.3.2. Peers behind the Same NAT ..........................143.3.3. Peers Separated by Multiple NATs ...................163.4. TCP Hole Punching .........................................183.5. UDP Port Number Prediction ................................193.6. TCP Port Number Prediction ................................214. Recent Work on NAT Traversal ...................................225. Summary of Observations ........................................235.1. TCP/UDP Hole Punching .....................................235.2. NATs Employing Endpoint-Dependent Mapping .................235.3. Peer Discovery ............................................245.4. Hairpinning ...............................................246. Security Considerations ........................................246.1. Lack of Authentication Can Cause Connection Hijacking .....246.2. Denial-of-Service Attacks .................................256.3. Man-in-the-Middle Attacks .................................266.4. Security Impact from EIM-NAT Devices ......................267. Acknowledgments ................................................278. References .....................................................278.1. Normative References ......................................278.2. Informative References ....................................27Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                      [Page 2]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 20081.  Introduction and Scope   The present-day Internet has seen ubiquitous deployment of Network   Address Translators (NATs).  There are a variety of NAT devices and a   variety of network topologies utilizing NAT devices in deployments.   The asymmetric addressing and connectivity regimes established by   these NAT devices have created unique problems for peer-to-peer (P2P)   applications and protocols, such as teleconferencing and multiplayer   online gaming.  These issues are likely to persist even into the IPv6   world.  During the transition to IPv6, some form of NAT may be   required to enable IPv4-only nodes to communicate with IPv6-only   nodes [NAT-PT], although the appropriate protocols and guidelines for   this use of NAT are still unresolved [NAT-PT-HIST].  Even a future   "pure IPv6 world" may still include firewalls, which employ similar   filtering behavior of NATs but without the address translation   [V6-CPE-SEC].  The filtering behavior interferes with the functioning   of P2P applications.  For this reason, IPv6 applications that use the   techniques described in this document for NAT traversal may also work   with some firewalls that have filtering behavior similar to NATs.   Currently deployed NAT devices are designed primarily around the   client/server paradigm, in which relatively anonymous client machines   inside a private network initiate connections to public servers with   stable IP addresses and DNS names.  NAT devices encountered en route   provide dynamic address assignment for the client machines.  The   illusion of anonymity (private IP addresses) and inaccessibility of   the internal hosts behind a NAT device is not a problem for   applications such as Web browsers, which only need to initiate   outgoing connections.  This illusion of anonymity and inaccessibility   is sometimes perceived as a privacy benefit.  As noted inSection 2.2   of [RFC4941], this perceived privacy may be illusory in a majority of   cases utilizing Small-Office-Home-Office (SOHO) NATs.   In the peer-to-peer paradigm, Internet hosts that would normally be   considered "clients" not only initiate sessions to peer nodes, but   also accept sessions initiated by peer nodes.  The initiator and the   responder might lie behind different NAT devices with neither   endpoint having a permanent IP address or other form of public   network presence.  A common online gaming architecture, for example,   involves all participating application hosts contacting a publicly   addressable rendezvous server for registering themselves and   discovering peer hosts.  Subsequent to the communication with the   rendezvous server, the hosts establish direct connections with each   other for fast and efficient propagation of updates during game play.   Similarly, a file sharing application might contact a well-known   rendezvous server for resource discovery or searching, but establish   direct connections with peer hosts for data transfer.  NAT devices   create problems for peer-to-peer connections because hosts behind aSrisuresh, et al.            Informational                      [Page 3]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   NAT device normally have no permanently visible public ports on the   Internet to which incoming TCP or UDP connections from other peers   can be directed.RFC 3235 [NAT-APPL] briefly addresses this issue.   NAT traversal strategies that involve explicit signaling between   applications and NAT devices, namely [NAT-PMP], [NSIS-NSLP], [SOCKS],   [RSIP], [MIDCOM], and [UPNP] are out of the scope of this document.   These techniques, if available, are a complement to the techniques   described in the document.  [UNSAF] is in scope.   In this document, we summarize the currently known methods by which   applications work around the presence of NAT devices, without   directly altering the NAT devices.  The techniques described predate   BEHAVE documents ([BEH-UDP], [BEH-TCP], and [BEH-ICMP]).  The scope   of the document is restricted to describing currently known   techniques used to establish 2-way communication between endpoints of   an application.  Discussion of timeouts, RST processing, keepalives,   and so forth that concern a running session are outside the scope of   this document.  The scope is also restricted to describing techniques   for TCP- and UDP-based applications.  It is not the objective of this   document to provide solutions to NAT traversal problems for   applications in general [BEH-APP] or to a specific class of   applications [ICE].2.  Terminology and Conventions Used   In this document, the IP addresses 192.0.2.1, 192.0.2.128, and   192.0.2.254 are used as example public IP addresses [RFC3330].   Although these addresses are all from the same /24 network, this is a   limitation of the example addresses available in [RFC3330].  In   practice, these addresses would be on different networks.  As for the   notation for ports usage, all clients use ports in the range of   1-2000 and servers use ports in the range of 20000-21000.  NAT   devices use ports 30000 and above for endpoint mapping.   Readers are urged to refer to [NAT-TERM] for information on NAT   taxonomy and terminology.  Unless prefixed with a NAT type or   explicitly stated otherwise, the term NAT, used throughout this   document, refers to Traditional NAT [NAT-TRAD].  Traditional NAT has   two variations, namely, Basic NAT and Network Address Port Translator   (NAPT).  Of these, NAPT is by far the most commonly deployed NAT   device.  NAPT allows multiple private hosts to share a single public   IP address simultaneously.   An issue of relevance to P2P applications is how the NAT behaves when   an internal host initiates multiple simultaneous sessions from a   single endpoint (private IP, private port) to multiple distinct   endpoints on the external network.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                      [Page 4]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   [STUN] further classifies NAT implementations using the terms "Full   Cone", "Restricted Cone", "Port Restricted Cone", and "Symmetric".   Unfortunately, this terminology has been the source of much   confusion.  For this reason, this document adapts terminology from   [BEH-UDP] to distinguish between NAT implementations.   Listed below are terms used throughout this document.2.1.  Endpoint   An endpoint is a session-specific tuple on an end host.  An endpoint   may be represented differently for each IP protocol.  For example, a   UDP or TCP session endpoint is represented as a tuple of (IP address,   UDP/TCP port).2.2.  Endpoint Mapping   When a host in a private realm initiates an outgoing session to a   host in the public realm through a NAT device, the NAT device assigns   a public endpoint to translate the private endpoint so that   subsequent response packets from the external host can be received by   the NAT, translated, and forwarded to the private endpoint.  The   assignment by the NAT device to translate a private endpoint to a   public endpoint and vice versa is called Endpoint Mapping.  NAT uses   Endpoint Mapping to perform translation for the duration of the   session.2.3.  Endpoint-Independent Mapping   "Endpoint-Independent Mapping" is defined in [BEH-UDP] as follows:        The NAT reuses the port mapping for subsequent packets sent from        the same internal IP address and port (X:x) to any external IP        address and port.2.4.  Endpoint-Dependent Mapping   "Endpoint-Dependent Mapping" refers to the combination of "Address-   Dependent Mapping" and "Address and Port-Dependent Mapping" as   defined in [BEH-UDP]:   Address-Dependent Mapping        The NAT reuses the port mapping for subsequent packets sent from        the same internal IP address and port (X:x) to the same external        IP address, regardless of the external port.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                      [Page 5]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   Address and Port-Dependent Mapping        The NAT reuses the port mapping for subsequent packets sent from        the same internal IP address and port (X:x) to the same external        IP address and port while the mapping is still active.2.5.  Endpoint-Independent Filtering   "Endpoint-Independent Filtering" is defined in [BEH-UDP] as follows:        The NAT filters out only packets not destined to the internal        address and port X:x, regardless of the external IP address and        port source (Z:z).  The NAT forwards any packets destined to        X:x.  In other words, sending packets from the internal side of        the NAT to any external IP address is sufficient to allow any        packets back to the internal endpoint.   A NAT device employing the combination of "Endpoint-Independent   Mapping" and "Endpoint-Independent Filtering" will accept incoming   traffic to a mapped public port from ANY external endpoint on the   public network.2.6.  Endpoint-Dependent Filtering   "Endpoint-Dependent Filtering" refers to the combination of "Address-   Dependent Filtering" and "Address and Port-Dependent Filtering" as   defined in [BEH-UDP].   Address-Dependent Filtering        The NAT filters out packets not destined to the internal address        X:x.  Additionally, the NAT will filter out packets from Y:y        destined for the internal endpoint X:x if X:x has not sent        packets to Y:any previously (independently of the port used by        Y).  In other words, for receiving packets from a specific        external endpoint, it is necessary for the internal endpoint to        send packets first to that specific external endpoint's IP        address.   Address and Port-Dependent Filtering        The NAT filters out packets not destined for the internal        address X:x.  Additionally, the NAT will filter out packets from        Y:y destined for the internal endpoint X:x if X:x has not sent        packets to Y:y previously.  In other words, for receiving        packets from a specific external endpoint, it is necessary for        the internal endpoint to send packets first to that external        endpoint's IP address and port.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                      [Page 6]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   A NAT device employing "Endpoint-Dependent Filtering" will accept   incoming traffic to a mapped public port from only a restricted set   of external endpoints on the public network.2.7.  P2P Application   A P2P application is an application that uses the same endpoint to   initiate outgoing sessions to peering hosts as well as accept   incoming sessions from peering hosts.  A P2P application may use   multiple endpoints for peer-to-peer communication.2.8.  NAT-Friendly P2P Application   A NAT-friendly P2P application is a P2P application that is designed   to work effectively even as peering nodes are located in distinct IP   address realms, connected by one or more NATs.   One common way P2P applications establish peering sessions and remain   NAT-friendly is by using a publicly addressable rendezvous server for   registration and peer discovery purposes.2.9. Endpoint-Independent Mapping NAT (EIM-NAT)   An Endpoint-Independent Mapping NAT (EIM-NAT, for short) is a NAT   device employing Endpoint-Independent Mapping.  An EIM-NAT can have   any type of filtering behavior.  BEHAVE-compliant NAT devices are   good examples of EIM-NAT devices.  A NAT device employing Address-   Dependent Mapping is an example of a NAT device that is not EIM-NAT.2.10.  Hairpinning   Hairpinning is defined in [BEH-UDP] as follows:        If two hosts (called X1 and X2) are behind the same NAT and        exchanging traffic, the NAT may allocate an address on the        outside of the NAT for X2, called X2':x2'.  If X1 sends traffic        to X2':x2', it goes to the NAT, which must relay the traffic        from X1 to X2.  This is referred to as hairpinning.   Not all currently deployed NATs support hairpinning.3.  Techniques Used by P2P Applications to Traverse NATs   This section reviews in detail the currently known techniques for   implementing peer-to-peer communication over existing NAT devices,   from the perspective of the application or protocol designer.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                      [Page 7]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 20083.1.  Relaying   The most reliable, but least efficient, method of implementing peer-   to-peer communication in the presence of a NAT device is to make the   peer-to-peer communication look to the network like client/server   communication through relaying.  Consider the scenario in figure 1.   Two client hosts, A and B, have each initiated TCP or UDP connections   to a well-known rendezvous server S.  The Rendezvous Server S has a   publicly addressable IP address and is used for the purposes of   registration, discovery, and relay.  Hosts behind NAT register with   the server.  Peer hosts can discover hosts behind NATs and relay all   end-to-end messages using the server.  The clients reside on separate   private networks, and their respective NAT devices prevent either   client from directly initiating a connection to the other.                           Registry, Discovery                           Combined with Relay                                 Server S                            192.0.2.128:20001                                     |        +----------------------------+----------------------------+        | ^ Registry/              ^   ^ Registry/              ^ |        | | Relay-Req Session(A-S) |   | Relay-Req Session(B-S) | |        | | 192.0.2.128:20001      |   |  192.0.2.128:20001     | |        | | 192.0.2.1:62000        |   |  192.0.2.254:31000     | |        |                                                         |      +--------------+                                 +--------------+      | 192.0.2.1    |                                 | 192.0.2.254  |      |              |                                 |              |      |    NAT A     |                                 |    NAT B     |      +--------------+                                 +--------------+        |                                                         |        | ^ Registry/              ^   ^ Registry/              ^ |        | | Relay-Req Session(A-S) |   | Relay-Req Session(B-S) | |        | |  192.0.2.128:20001     |   |  192.0.2.128:20001     | |        | |     10.0.0.1:1234      |   |     10.1.1.3:1234      | |        |                                                         |     Client A                                                 Client B     10.0.0.1:1234                                        10.1.1.3:1234         Figure 1: Use of a Relay Server to communicate with peers   Instead of attempting a direct connection, the two clients can simply   use the server S to relay messages between them.  For example, to   send a message to client B, client A simply sends the message to   server S along its already established client/server connection, and   server S then sends the message on to client B using its existing   client/server connection with B.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                      [Page 8]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   This method has the advantage that it will always work as long as   both clients have connectivity to the server.  The enroute NAT device   is not required to be EIM-NAT.  The obvious disadvantages of relaying   are that it consumes the server's processing power and network   bandwidth, and communication latency between the peering clients is   likely to be increased even if the server has sufficient I/O   bandwidth and is located correctly topology-wise.  The TURN protocol   [TURN] defines a method of implementing application agnostic,   session-oriented, packet relay in a relatively secure fashion.3.2.  Connection Reversal   The following connection reversal technique for a direct   communication works only when one of the peers is behind a NAT device   and the other is not.  For example, consider the scenario in figure   2.  Client A is behind a NAT, but client B has a publicly addressable   IP address.  Rendezvous Server S has a publicly addressable IP   address and is used for the purposes of registration and discovery.   Hosts behind a NAT register their endpoints with the server.  Peer   hosts discover endpoints of hosts behind a NAT using the server.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                      [Page 9]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008                          Registry and Discovery                                 Server S                            192.0.2.128:20001                                     |        +----------------------------+----------------------------+        | ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^     ^ Registry Session(B-S) ^ |        | | 192.0.2.128:20001     |     |  192.0.2.128:20001    | |        | | 192.0.2.1:62000       |     |  192.0.2.254:1234     | |        |                                                         |        | ^ P2P Session (A-B)     ^     |  P2P Session (B-A)    | |        | | 192.0.2.254:1234      |     |  192.0.2.1:62000      | |        | | 192.0.2.1:62000       |     v  192.0.2.254:1234     v |        |                                                         |      +--------------+                                            |      | 192.0.2.1    |                                            |      |              |                                            |      |    NAT A     |                                            |      +--------------+                                            |        |                                                         |        | ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^                               |        | |  192.0.2.128:20001    |                               |        | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |                               |        |                                                         |        | ^ P2P Session (A-B)     ^                               |        | |  192.0.2.254:1234     |                               |        | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |                               |        |                                                         |     Private Client A                                 Public Client B     10.0.0.1:1234                                    192.0.2.254:1234           Figure 2: Connection reversal using Rendezvous server   Client A has private IP address 10.0.0.1, and the application is   using TCP port 1234.  This client has established a connection with   server S at public IP address 192.0.2.128 and port 20001.  NAT A has   assigned TCP port 62000, at its own public IP address 192.0.2.1, to   serve as the temporary public endpoint address for A's session with   S; therefore, server S believes that client A is at IP address   192.0.2.1 using port 62000.  Client B, however, has its own permanent   IP address, 192.0.2.254, and the application on B is accepting TCP   connections at port 1234.   Now suppose client B wishes to establish a direct communication   session with client A.  B might first attempt to contact client A   either at the address client A believes itself to have, namely,   10.0.0.1:1234, or at the address of A as observed by server S,   namely, 192.0.2.1:62000.  In either case, the connection will fail.   In the first case, traffic directed to IP address 10.0.0.1 willSrisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 10]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   simply be dropped by the network because 10.0.0.1 is not a publicly   routable IP address.  In the second case, the TCP SYN request from B   will arrive at NAT A directed to port 62000, but NAT A will reject   the connection request because only outgoing connections are allowed.   After attempting and failing to establish a direct connection to A,   client B can use server S to relay a request to client A to initiate   a "reversed" connection to client B.  Client A, upon receiving this   relayed request through S, opens a TCP connection to client B at B's   public IP address and port number.  NAT A allows the connection to   proceed because it is originating inside the firewall, and client B   can receive the connection because it is not behind a NAT device.   A variety of current peer-to-peer applications implement this   technique.  Its main limitation, of course, is that it only works so   long as only one of the communicating peers is behind a NAT device.   If the NAT device is EIM-NAT, the public client can contact external   server S to determine the specific public endpoint from which to   expect Client-A-originated connection and allow connections from just   those endpoints.  If the NAT device is EIM-NAT, the public client can   contact the external server S to determine the specific public   endpoint from which to expect connections originated by client A, and   allow connections from just that endpoint.  If the NAT device is not   EIM-NAT, the public client cannot know the specific public endpoint   from which to expect connections originated by client A.  In the   increasingly common case where both peers can be behind NATs, the   Connection Reversal method fails.  Connection Reversal is not a   general solution to the peer-to-peer connection problem.  If neither   a "forward" nor a "reverse" connection can be established,   applications often fall back to another mechanism such as relaying.3.3.  UDP Hole Punching   UDP hole punching relies on the properties of EIM-NATs to allow   appropriately designed peer-to-peer applications to "punch holes"   through the NAT device(s) enroute and establish direct connectivity   with each other, even when both communicating hosts lie behind NAT   devices.  When one of the hosts is behind a NAT that is not EIM-NAT,   the peering host cannot predictably know the mapped endpoint to which   to initiate a connection.  Further, the application on the host   behind non-EIM-NAT would be unable to reuse an already established   endpoint mapping for communication with different external   destinations, and the hole punching technique would fail.   This technique was mentioned briefly inSection 5.1 of RFC 3027   [NAT-PROT], first described in [KEGEL], and used in some recent   protocols [TEREDO,ICE].  Readers may refer toSection 3.4 for   details on "TCP hole punching".Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 11]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   We will consider two specific scenarios, and how applications are   designed to handle both of them gracefully.  In the first situation,   representing the common case, two clients desiring direct peer-to-   peer communication reside behind two different NATs.  In the second,   the two clients actually reside behind the same NAT, but do not   necessarily know that they do.3.3.1.  Peers behind Different NATs   Consider the scenario in figure 3.  Clients A and B both have private   IP addresses and lie behind different NAT devices.  Rendezvous Server   S has a publicly addressable IP address and is used for the purposes   of registration, discovery, and limited relay.  Hosts behind a NAT   register their public endpoints with the server.  Peer hosts discover   the public endpoints of hosts behind a NAT using the server.  Unlike   inSection 3.1, peer hosts use the server to relay just connection   initiation control messages, instead of end-to-end messages.   The peer-to-peer application running on clients A and B use UDP port   1234.  The rendezvous server S uses UDP port 20001.  A and B have   each initiated UDP communication sessions with server S, causing NAT   A to assign its own public UDP port 62000 for A's session with S, and   causing NAT B to assign its port 31000 to B's session with S,   respectively.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 12]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008                      Registry and Discovery Combined                            with Limited Relay                                 Server S                             192.0.2.128:20001                                     |        +----------------------------+----------------------------+        | ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^     ^ Registry Session(B-S) ^ |        | | 192.0.2.128:20001     |     |  192.0.2.128:20001    | |        | | 192.0.2.1:62000       |     |  192.0.2.254:31000    | |        |                                                         |        | ^ P2P Session (A-B)     ^     ^  P2P Session (B-A)    ^ |        | | 192.0.2.254:31000     |     |  192.0.2.1:62000      | |        | | 192.0.2.1:62000       |     |  192.0.2.254:31000    | |        |                                                         |      +--------------+                                 +--------------+      | 192.0.2.1    |                                 | 192.0.2.254  |      |              |                                 |              |      | EIM-NAT A    |                                 | EIM-NAT B    |      +--------------+                                 +--------------+        |                                                         |        | ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^     ^ Registry Session(B-S) ^ |        | |  192.0.2.128:20001    |     |  192.0.2.128:20001    | |        | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |     |     10.1.1.3:1234     | |        |                                                         |        | ^ P2P Session (A-B)     ^     ^  P2P Session (B-A)    ^ |        | |  192.0.2.254:31000    |     |  192.0.2.1:62000      | |        | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |     |     10.1.1.3:1234     | |        |                                                         |     Client A                                                 Client B     10.0.0.1:1234                                        10.1.1.3:1234         Figure 3: UDP Hole Punching to set up direct connectivity   Now suppose that client A wants to establish a UDP communication   session directly with client B.  If A simply starts sending UDP   messages to B's public endpoint 192.0.2.254:31000, then NAT B will   typically discard these incoming messages (unless it employs   Endpoint-Independent Filtering), because the source address and port   number do not match those of S, with which the original outgoing   session was established.  Similarly, if B simply starts sending UDP   messages to A's public endpoint, then NAT A will typically discard   these messages.   Suppose A starts sending UDP messages to B's public endpoint, and   simultaneously relays a request through server S to B, asking B to   start sending UDP messages to A's public endpoint.  A's outgoing   messages directed to B's public endpoint (192.0.2.254:31000) cause   EIM-NAT A to open up a new communication session between A's privateSrisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 13]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   endpoint and B's public endpoint.  At the same time, B's messages to   A's public endpoint (192.0.2.1:62000) cause EIM-NAT B to open up a   new communication session between B's private endpoint and A's public   endpoint.  Once the new UDP sessions have been opened up in each   direction, clients A and B can communicate with each other directly   without further burden on the server S.  Server S, which helps with   relaying connection initiation requests to peer nodes behind NAT   devices, ends up like an "introduction" server to peer hosts.   The UDP hole punching technique has several useful properties.  Once   a direct peer-to-peer UDP connection has been established between two   clients behind NAT devices, either party on that connection can in   turn take over the role of "introducer" and help the other party   establish peer-to-peer connections with additional peers, minimizing   the load on the initial introduction server S.  The application does   not need to attempt to detect the kind of NAT device it is behind,   since the procedure above will establish peer-to-peer communication   channels equally well if either or both clients do not happen to be   behind a NAT device.  The UDP hole punching technique even works   automatically with multiple NATs, where one or both clients are   distant from the public Internet via two or more levels of address   translation.3.3.2.  Peers behind the Same NAT   Now consider the scenario in which the two clients (probably   unknowingly) happen to reside behind the same EIM-NAT, and are   therefore located in the same private IP address space, as in figure   4.  A well-known Rendezvous Server S has a publicly addressable IP   address and is used for the purposes of registration, discovery, and   limited relay.  Hosts behind the NAT register with the server.  Peer   hosts discover hosts behind the NAT using the server and relay   messages using the server.  Unlike inSection 3.1, peer hosts use the   server to relay just control messages, instead of all end-to-end   messages.   Client A has established a UDP session with server S, to which the   common EIM-NAT has assigned public port number 62000.  Client B has   similarly established a session with S, to which the EIM-NAT has   assigned public port number 62001.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 14]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008                     Registry and Discovery Combined                           with Limited Relay                                Server S                            192.0.2.128:20001                                    |         ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^  | ^ Registry Session(B-S) ^         | 192.0.2.128:20001     |  | |  192.0.2.128:20001    |         | 192.0.2.1:62000       |  | |  192.0.2.1:62001      |                                    |                             +--------------+                             | 192.0.2.1    |                             |              |                             |   EIM-NAT    |                             +--------------+                                    |      +-----------------------------+----------------------------+      | ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^      ^ Registry Session(B-S) ^ |      | |  192.0.2.128:20001    |      |  192.0.2.128:20001    | |      | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |      |     10.1.1.3:1234     | |      |                                                          |      | ^ P2P Session-try1(A-B) ^      ^ P2P Session-try1(B-A) ^ |      | | 192.0.2.1:62001       |      |  192.0.2.1:62000      | |      | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |      |     10.1.1.3:1234     | |      |                                                          |      | ^ P2P Session-try2(A-B) ^      ^ P2P Session-try2(B-A) ^ |      | |     10.1.1.3:1234     |      |     10.0.0.1:1234     | |      | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |      |     10.1.1.3:1234     | |      |                                                          |   Client A                                                   Client B   10.0.0.1:1234                                         10.1.1.3:1234   Figure 4: Use of local and public endpoints to communicate with peers   Suppose that A and B use the UDP hole punching technique as outlined   above to establish a communication channel using server S as an   introducer.  Then A and B will learn each other's public endpoints as   observed by server S, and start sending each other messages at those   public endpoints.  The two clients will be able to communicate with   each other this way as long as the NAT allows hosts on the internal   network to open translated UDP sessions with other internal hosts and   not just with external hosts.  This situation is referred to as   "Hairpinning", because packets arriving at the NAT from the private   network are translated and then looped back to the private network   rather than being passed through to the public network.   For example, consider P2P session-try1 above.  When A sends a UDP   packet to B's public endpoint, the packet initially has a source   endpoint of 10.0.0.1:1234 and a destination endpoint ofSrisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 15]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   192.0.2.1:62001.  The NAT receives this packet, translates it to have   a source endpoint of 192.0.2.1:62000 and a destination endpoint of   10.1.1.3:1234, and then forwards it on to B.   Even if the NAT device supports hairpinning, this translation and   forwarding step is clearly unnecessary in this situation, and adds   latency to the dialog between A and B, besides burdening the NAT.   The solution to this problem is straightforward and is described as   follows.   When A and B initially exchange address information through the   Rendezvous server S, they include their own IP addresses and port   numbers as "observed" by themselves, as well as their public   endpoints as observed by S.  The clients then simultaneously start   sending packets to each other at each of the alternative addresses   they know about, and use the first address that leads to successful   communication.  If the two clients are behind the same NAT, as is the   case in figure 4 above, then the packets directed to their private   endpoints (as attempted using P2P session-try2) are likely to arrive   first, resulting in a direct communication channel not involving the   NAT.  If the two clients are behind different NATs, then the packets   directed to their private endpoints will fail to reach each other at   all, but the clients will hopefully establish connectivity using   their respective public endpoints.  It is important that these   packets be authenticated in some way, however, since in the case of   different NATs it is entirely possible for A's messages directed at   B's private endpoint to reach some other, unrelated node on A's   private network, or vice versa.   The [ICE] protocol employs this technique effectively, in that   multiple candidate endpoints (both private and public) are   communicated between peering end hosts during an offer/answer   exchange.  Endpoints that offer the most efficient end-to-end   connection(s) are selected eventually for end-to-end data transfer.3.3.3.  Peers Separated by Multiple NATs   In some topologies involving multiple NAT devices, it is not possible   for two clients to establish an "optimal" P2P route between them   without specific knowledge of the topology.  Consider for example the   scenario in figure 5.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 16]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008                     Registry and Discovery Combined                           with Limited Relay                                Server S                           192.0.2.128:20001                                   |         ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^ | ^ Registry Session(B-S) ^         | 192.0.2.128:20001     | | | 192.0.2.128:20001     |         | 192.0.2.1:62000       | | | 192.0.2.1:62001       |                                   |                            +--------------+                            | 192.0.2.1    |                            |              |                            |  EIM-NAT X   |                            | (Supporting  |                            | Hairpinning) |                            +--------------+                                   |      +----------------------------+----------------------------+      | ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^     ^ Registry Session(B-S) ^ |      | |  192.0.2.128:20001    |     |  192.0.2.128:20001    | |      | |  192.168.1.1:30000    |     |  192.168.1.2:31000    | |      |                                                         |      | ^ P2P Session (A-B)     ^     ^ P2P Session (B-A)     ^ |      | |  192.0.2.1:62001      |     |  192.0.2.1:62000      | |      | |  192.168.1.1:30000    |     |  192.168.1.2:31000    | |      |                                                         |   +--------------+                                  +--------------+   | 192.168.1.1  |                                  | 192.168.1.2  |   |              |                                  |              |   | EIM-NAT A    |                                  | EIM-NAT B    |   +--------------+                                  +--------------+       |                                                        |       | ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^    ^ Registry Session(B-S) ^ |       | |  192.0.2.128:20001    |    |  192.0.2.128:20001    | |       | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |    |     10.1.1.3:1234     | |       |                                                        |       | ^ P2P Session (A-B)     ^    ^  P2P Session (B-A)    ^ |       | |  192.0.2.1:62001      |    |  192.0.2.1:62000      | |       | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |    |     10.1.1.3:1234     | |       |                                                        |   Client A                                                  Client B   10.0.0.1:1234                                        10.1.1.3:1234      Figure 5: Use of Hairpinning in setting up direct communication   Suppose NAT X is an EIM-NAT deployed by a large Internet Service   Provider (ISP) to multiplex many customers onto a few public IP   addresses, and NATs A and B are small consumer NAT gateways deployedSrisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 17]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   independently by two of the ISP's customers to multiplex their   private home networks onto their respective ISP-provided IP   addresses.  Only server S and NAT X have globally routable IP   addresses; the "public" IP addresses used by NAT A and NAT B are   actually private to the ISP's addressing realm, while client A's and   B's addresses in turn are private to the addressing realms of NATs A   and B, respectively.  Just as in the previous section, server S is   used for the purposes of registration, discovery, and limited relay.   Peer hosts use the server to relay connection initiation control   messages, instead of all end-to-end messages.   Now suppose clients A and B attempt to establish a direct peer-to-   peer UDP connection.  The optimal method would be for client A to   send messages to client B's public address at NAT B,   192.168.1.2:31000 in the ISP's addressing realm, and for client B to   send messages to A's public address at NAT B, namely,   192.168.1.1:30000.  Unfortunately, A and B have no way to learn these   addresses, because server S only sees the "global" public endpoints   of the clients, 192.0.2.1:62000 and 192.0.2.1:62001.  Even if A and B   had some way to learn these addresses, there is still no guarantee   that they would be usable because the address assignments in the   ISP's private addressing realm might conflict with unrelated address   assignments in the clients' private realms.  The clients therefore   have no choice but to use their global public endpoints as seen by S   for their P2P communication, and rely on NAT X to provide   hairpinning.3.4.  TCP Hole Punching   In this section, we will discuss the "TCP hole punching" technique   used for establishing direct TCP connection between a pair of nodes   that are both behind EIM-NAT devices.  Just as with UDP hole   punching, TCP hole punching relies on the properties of EIM-NATs to   allow appropriately designed peer-to-peer applications to "punch   holes" through the NAT device and establish direct connectivity with   each other, even when both communicating hosts lie behind NAT   devices.  This technique is also known sometimes as "Simultaneous TCP   Open".   Most TCP sessions start with one endpoint sending a SYN packet, to   which the other party responds with a SYN-ACK packet.  It is   permissible, however, for two endpoints to start a TCP session by   simultaneously sending each other SYN packets, to which each party   subsequently responds with a separate ACK.  This procedure is known   as "Simultaneous TCP Open" technique and may be found in figure 6 of   the original TCP specification ([TCP]).  However, "Simultaneous TCP   Open" is not implemented correctly on many systems, including NAT   devices.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 18]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   If a NAT device receives a TCP SYN packet from outside the private   network attempting to initiate an incoming TCP connection, the NAT   device will normally reject the connection attempt by either dropping   the SYN packet or sending back a TCP RST (connection reset) packet.   In the case of SYN timeout or connection reset, the application   endpoint will continue to resend a SYN packet, until the peer does   the same from its end.   Let us consider the case where a NAT device supports "Simultaneous   TCP Open" sessions.  When a SYN packet arrives with source and   destination endpoints that correspond to a TCP session that the NAT   device believes is already active, then the NAT device would allow   the packet to pass through.  In particular, if the NAT device has   just recently seen and transmitted an outgoing SYN packet with the   same address and port numbers, then it will consider the session   active and allow the incoming SYN through.  If clients A and B can   each initiate an outgoing TCP connection with the other client timed   so that each client's outgoing SYN passes through its local NAT   device before either SYN reaches the opposite NAT device, then a   working peer-to-peer TCP connection will result.   This technique may not always work reliably for the following   reason(s).  If either node's SYN packet arrives at the remote NAT   device too quickly (before the peering node had a chance to send the   SYN packet), then the remote NAT device may either drop the SYN   packet or reject the SYN with a RST packet.  This could cause the   local NAT device in turn to close the new NAT session immediately or   initiate end-of-session timeout (refer to Section 2.6 of [NAT-TERM])   so as to close the NAT session at the end of the timeout.  Even as   both peering nodes simultaneously initiate continued SYN   retransmission attempts, some remote NAT devices might not let the   incoming SYNs through if the NAT session is in an end-of-session   timeout state.  This in turn would prevent the TCP connection from   being established.   In reality, the majority of NAT devices (more than 50%) support   Endpoint-Independent Mapping and do not send ICMP errors or RSTs in   response to unsolicited incoming SYNs.  As a result, the Simultaneous   TCP Open technique does work across NAT devices in the majority of   TCP connection attempts ([P2P-NAT], [TCP-CHARACT]).3.5.  UDP Port Number Prediction   A variant of the UDP hole punching technique exists that allows   peer-to-peer UDP sessions to be created in the presence of some NATs   implementing Endpoint-Dependent Mapping.  This method is sometimes   called the "N+1" technique [BIDIR] and is explored in detail by   Takeda [SYM-STUN].  The method works by analyzing the behavior of theSrisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 19]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   NAT and attempting to predict the public port numbers it will assign   to future sessions.  The public ports assigned are often predictable   because most NATs assign mapping ports in sequence.   Consider the scenario in figure 6.  Two clients, A and B, each behind   a separate NAT, have established separate UDP connections with   rendezvous server S.  Rendezvous server S has a publicly addressable   IP address and is used for the purposes of registration and   discovery.  Hosts behind a NAT register their endpoints with the   server.  Peer hosts discover endpoints of the hosts behind NAT using   the server.                          Registry and Discovery                                 Server S                             192.0.2.128:20001                                     |                                     |        +----------------------------+----------------------------+        | ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^     ^ Registry Session(B-S) ^ |        | | 192.0.2.128:20001     |     |  192.0.2.128:20001    | |        | | 192.0.2.1:62000       |     |  192.0.2.254:31000    | |        |                                                         |        | ^ P2P Session (A-B)     ^     ^  P2P Session (B-A)    ^ |        | | 192.0.2.254:31001     |     |  192.0.2.1:62001      | |        | | 192.0.2.1:62001       |     |  192.0.2.254:31001    | |        |                                                         |   +---------------------+                       +--------------------+   | 192.0.2.1           |                       |        192.0.2.254 |   |                     |                       |                    |   |    NAT A            |                       |        NAT B       |   | (Endpoint-Dependent |                       | (Endpoint-Dependent|   |  Mapping)           |                       |  Mapping)          |   +---------------------+                       +--------------------+        |                                                         |        | ^ Registry Session(A-S) ^     ^ Registry Session(B-S) ^ |        | |  192.0.2.128:20001    |     |  192.0.2.128:20001    | |        | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |     |     10.1.1.3:1234     | |        |                                                         |        | ^ P2P Session (A-B)     ^     ^ P2P Session (B-A)     ^ |        | |  192.0.2.254:31001    |     |  192.0.2.1:62001      | |        | |     10.0.0.1:1234     |     |     10.1.1.3:1234     | |        |                                                         |     Client A                                                 Client B     10.0.0.1:1234                                        10.1.1.3:1234        Figure 6: UDP Port Prediction to set up direct connectivitySrisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 20]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   NAT A has assigned its UDP port 62000 to the communication session   between A and S, and NAT B has assigned its port 31000 to the session   between B and S.  By communicating with server S, A and B learn each   other's public endpoints as observed by S.  Client A now starts   sending UDP messages to port 31001 at address 192.0.2.254 (note the   port number increment), and client B simultaneously starts sending   messages to port 62001 at address 192.0.2.1.  If NATs A and B assign   port numbers to new sessions sequentially, and if not much time has   passed since the A-S and B-S sessions were initiated, then a working   bidirectional communication channel between A and B should result.   A's messages to B cause NAT A to open up a new session, to which NAT   A will (hopefully) assign public port number 62001, because 62001 is   next in sequence after the port number 62000 it previously assigned   to the session between A and S.  Similarly, B's messages to A will   cause NAT B to open a new session, to which it will (hopefully)   assign port number 31001.  If both clients have correctly guessed the   port numbers each NAT assigns to the new sessions, then a   bidirectional UDP communication channel will have been established.   Clearly, there are many things that can cause this trick to fail.  If   the predicted port number at either NAT already happens to be in use   by an unrelated session, then the NAT will skip over that port number   and the connection attempt will fail.  If either NAT sometimes or   always chooses port numbers non-sequentially, then the trick will   fail.  If a different client behind NAT A (or B, respectively) opens   up a new outgoing UDP connection to any external destination after A   (B) establishes its connection with S but before sending its first   message to B (A), then the unrelated client will inadvertently   "steal" the desired port number.  This trick is therefore much less   likely to work when either NAT involved is under load.   Since in practice an application implementing this trick would still   need to work even when one of the NATs employs Endpoint-Independent   Mapping, the application would need to detect beforehand what kind of   NAT is involved on either end and modify its behavior accordingly,   increasing the complexity of the algorithm and the general   brittleness of the network.  Finally, port number prediction has   little chance of working if either client is behind two or more   levels of NAT and the NAT(s) closest to the client employs Endpoint-   Dependent Mapping.3.6.  TCP Port Number Prediction   This is a variant of the "TCP Hole Punching" technique to set up   direct peer-to-peer TCP sessions across NATs employing Address-   Dependent Mapping.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 21]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   Unfortunately, this trick may be even more fragile and timing-   sensitive than the UDP port number prediction trick described   earlier.  First, predicting the public port a NAT would assign could   be wrong.  In addition, if either client's SYN arrives at the   opposite NAT device too quickly, then the remote NAT device may   reject the SYN with a RST packet, causing the local NAT device in   turn to close the new session and make future SYN retransmission   attempts using the same port numbers futile.4.  Recent Work on NAT Traversal   [P2P-NAT] has a detailed discussion on the UDP and TCP hole punching   techniques for NAT traversal.  [P2P-NAT] also lists empirical results   from running a test program [NAT-CHECK] across a number of commercial   NAT devices.  The results indicate that UDP hole punching works   widely on more than 80% of the NAT devices, whereas TCP hole punching   works on just over 60% of the NAT devices tested.  The results also   indicate that TCP or UDP hairpinning is not yet widely available on   commercial NAT devices, as less than 25% of the devices passed the   tests ([NAT-CHECK]) for Hairpinning.  Readers may also refer to   [JENN-RESULT] and [SAIK-RESULT] for empirical test results in   classifying publicly available NAT devices.  [JENN-RESULT] provides   results of NAT classification using tests spanning across different   IP protocols.  [SAIK-RESULT] focuses exclusively on classifying NAT   devices by the TCP behavioral characteristics.   [TCP-CHARACT] and [NAT-BLASTER] focus on TCP hole punching, exploring   and comparing several alternative approaches.  [NAT-BLASTER] takes an   analytical approach, analyzing different cases of observed NAT   behavior and ways applications might address them.  [TCP-CHARACT]   adopts a more empirical approach, measuring the commonality of   different types of NAT behavior relevant to TCP hole punching.  This   work finds that using more sophisticated techniques than those used   in [P2P-NAT], up to 88% of currently deployed NATs can support TCP   hole punching.   [TEREDO] is a NAT traversal service that uses relay technology to   connect IPv4 nodes behind NAT devices to IPv6 nodes, external to the   NAT devices.  [TEREDO] provides for peer communication across NAT   devices by tunneling packets over UDP, across the NAT device(s) to a   relay node.  Teredo relays act as Rendezvous servers to relay traffic   from private IPv4 nodes to the nodes in the external realm and vice   versa.   [ICE] is a NAT traversal protocol for setting up media sessions   between peer nodes for a class of multi-media applications.  [ICE]   requires peering nodes to run the Simple Traversal of the UDP   Protocol through NAT (STUN) protocol [STUN] on the same port numberSrisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 22]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   used to terminate media session(s).  Applications that use signaling   protocols such as SIP ([SIP]) may embed the NAT traversal attributes   for the media session within the signaling sessions and use the   offer/answer type of exchange between peer nodes to set up end-to-end   media session(s) across NAT devices.  [ICE-TCP] is an extension of   ICE for TCP-based media sessions.   A number of online gaming and media-over-IP applications, including   Instant Messaging applications, use the techniques described in the   document for peer-to-peer connection establishment.  Some   applications may use multiple distinct rendezvous servers for   registration, discovery, and relay functions for load balancing,   among other reasons.  For example, the well-known media-over-IP   application "Skype" uses a central public server for login and   different public servers for end-to-end relay function.5.  Summary of Observations5.1.  TCP/UDP Hole Punching   TCP/UDP hole punching appears to be the most efficient existing   method of establishing direct TCP/UDP peer-to-peer communication   between two nodes that are both behind NATs.  This technique has been   used with a wide variety of existing NATs.  However, applications may   need to prepare to fall back to simple relaying when direct   communication cannot be established.   The TCP/UDP hole punching technique has a caveat in that it works   only when the traversing NAT is EIM-NAT.  When the NAT device enroute   is not EIM-NAT, the application is unable to reuse an already   established endpoint mapping for communication with different   external destinations and the technique would fail.  However, many of   the NAT devices deployed in the Internet are EIM-NAT devices.  That   makes the TCP/UDP hole punching technique broadly applicable   [P2P-NAT].  Nevertheless, a substantial fraction of deployed NATs do   employ Endpoint-Dependent Mapping and do not support the TCP/UDP hole   punching technique.5.2.  NATs Employing Endpoint-Dependent Mapping   NATs Employing Endpoint-Dependent Mapping weren't a problem with   client-server applications such as Web browsers, which only need to   initiate outgoing connections.  However, in recent times, P2P   applications such as Instant Messaging and Voice-over-IP have been in   wide use.  NATs employing Endpoint-Dependent Mapping are not suitable   for P2P applications as techniques such as TCP/UDP hole punching will   not work across these NAT devices.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 23]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 20085.3.  Peer Discovery   Application peers may be present within the same NAT domain or   external to the NAT domain.  In order for all peers (those within or   external to the NAT domain) to discover the application endpoint, an   application may choose to register its private endpoints in addition   to public endpoints with the rendezvous server.5.4.  Hairpinning   Support for hairpinning is highly beneficial to allow hosts behind   EIM-NAT to communicate with other hosts behind the same NAT device   through their public, possibly translated, endpoints.  Support for   hairpinning is particularly useful in the case of large-capacity NATs   deployed as the first level of a multi-level NAT scenario.  As   described inSection 3.3.3, hosts behind the same first-level NAT but   different second-level NATs do not have a way to communicate with   each other using TCP/UDP hole punching techniques, unless the first-   level NAT also supports hairpinning.  This would be the case even   when all NAT devices in a deployment preserve endpoint identities.6.  Security Considerations   This document does not inherently create new security issues.   Nevertheless, security risks may be present in the techniques   described.  This section describes security risks the applications   could inadvertently create in attempting to support direct   communication across NAT devices.6.1.  Lack of Authentication Can Cause Connection Hijacking   Applications must use appropriate authentication mechanisms to   protect their connections from accidental confusion with other   connections as well as from malicious connection hijacking or   denial-of-service attacks.  Applications effectively must interact   with multiple distinct IP address domains, but are not generally   aware of the exact topology or administrative policies defining these   address domains.  While attempting to establish connections via   TCP/UDP hole punching, applications send packets that may frequently   arrive at an entirely different host than the intended one.   For example, many consumer-level NAT devices provide Dynamic Host   Configuration Protocol (DHCP) services that are configured by default   to hand out site-local IP addresses in a particular address range.   Say, a particular consumer NAT device, by default, hands out IP   addresses starting with 192.168.1.100.  Most private home networks   using that NAT device will have a host with that IP address, and many   of these networks will probably have a host at address 192.168.1.101Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 24]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   as well.  If host A at address 192.168.1.101 on one private network   attempts to establish a connection by UDP hole punching with host B   at 192.168.1.100 on a different private network, then as part of this   process host A will send discovery packets to address 192.168.1.100   on its local network, and host B will send discovery packets to   address 192.168.1.101 on its network.  Clearly, these discovery   packets will not reach the intended machine since the two hosts are   on different private networks, but they are very likely to reach SOME   machine on these respective networks at the standard UDP port numbers   used by this application, potentially causing confusion, especially   if the application is also running on those other machines and does   not properly authenticate its messages.   This risk due to aliasing is therefore present even without a   malicious attacker.  If one endpoint, say, host A, is actually   malicious, then without proper authentication the attacker could   cause host B to connect and interact in unintended ways with another   host on its private network having the same IP address as the   attacker's (purported) private address.  Since the two endpoint hosts   A and B presumably discovered each other through a public rendezvous   server S, providing registration, discovery, and limited relay   services, and neither S nor B has any means to verify A's reported   private address, applications may be advised to assume that any IP   address they find to be suspect until they successfully establish   authenticated two-way communication.6.2.  Denial-of-Service Attacks   Applications and the public servers that support them must protect   themselves against denial-of-service attacks, and ensure that they   cannot be used by an attacker to mount denial-of-service attacks   against other targets.  To protect themselves, applications and   servers must avoid taking any action requiring significant local   processing or storage resources until authenticated two-way   communication is established.  To avoid being used as a tool for   denial-of-service attacks, applications and servers must minimize the   amount and rate of traffic they send to any newly discovered IP   address until after authenticated two-way communication is   established with the intended target.   For example, applications that register with a public rendezvous   server can claim to have any private IP address, or perhaps multiple   IP addresses.  A well-connected host or group of hosts that can   collectively attract a substantial volume of connection attempts   (e.g., by offering to serve popular content) could mount a denial-   of-service attack on a target host C simply by including C's IP   address in its own list of IP addresses it registers with the   rendezvous server.  There is no way the rendezvous server can verifySrisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 25]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   the IP addresses, since they could well be legitimate private network   addresses useful to other hosts for establishing network-local   communication.  The application protocol must therefore be designed   to size- and rate-limit traffic to unverified IP addresses in order   to avoid the potential damage such a concentration effect could   cause.6.3.  Man-in-the-Middle Attacks   Any network device on the path between a client and a public   rendezvous server can mount a variety of man-in-the-middle attacks by   pretending to be a NAT.  For example, suppose host A attempts to   register with rendezvous server S, but a network-snooping attacker is   able to observe this registration request.  The attacker could then   flood server S with requests that are identical to the client's   original request except with a modified source IP address, such as   the IP address of the attacker itself.  If the attacker can convince   the server to register the client using the attacker's IP address,   then the attacker can make itself an active component on the path of   all future traffic from the server AND other hosts to the original   client, even if the attacker was originally only able to snoop the   path from the client to the server.   The client cannot protect itself from this attack by authenticating   its source IP address to the rendezvous server, because in order to   be NAT-friendly the application must allow intervening NATs to change   the source address silently.  This appears to be an inherent security   weakness of the NAT paradigm.  The only defense against such an   attack is for the client to authenticate and potentially encrypt the   actual content of its communication using appropriate higher-level   identities, so that the interposed attacker is not able to take   advantage of its position.  Even if all application-level   communication is authenticated and encrypted, however, this attack   could still be used as a traffic analysis tool for observing who the   client is communicating with.6.4.  Security Impact from EIM-NAT Devices   Designing NAT devices to preserve endpoint identities does not weaken   the security provided by the NAT device.  For example, a NAT device   employing Endpoint-Independent Mapping and Endpoint-Dependent   Filtering is no more "promiscuous" than a NAT device employing   Endpoint-Dependent Mapping and Endpoint-Dependent Filtering.   Filtering incoming traffic aggressively using Endpoint-Dependent   Filtering while employing Endpoint-Independent Mapping allows a NAT   device to be friendly to applications without compromising the   principle of rejecting unsolicited incoming traffic.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 26]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   Endpoint-Independent Mapping could arguably increase the   predictability of traffic emerging from the NAT device, by revealing   the relationships between different TCP/UDP sessions and hence about   the behavior of applications running within the enclave.  This   predictability could conceivably be useful to an attacker in   exploiting other network- or application-level vulnerabilities.  If   the security requirements of a particular deployment scenario are so   critical that such subtle information channels are of concern, then   perhaps the NAT device was not to have been configured to allow   unrestricted outgoing TCP/UDP traffic in the first place.  A NAT   device configured to allow communication originating from specific   applications at specific ports, or via tightly controlled   application-level gateways, may accomplish the security requirements   of such deployment scenarios.7.  Acknowledgments   The authors wish to thank Henrik Bergstrom, David Anderson, Christian   Huitema, Dan Wing, Eric Rescorla, and other BEHAVE work group members   for their valuable feedback on early versions of this document.  The   authors also wish to thank Francois Audet, Kaushik Biswas, Spencer   Dawkins, Bruce Lowekamp, and Brian Stucker for agreeing to be   technical reviewers for this document.8.  References8.1.  Normative References   [NAT-TERM]    Srisuresh, P. and M. Holdrege, "IP Network Address                 Translator (NAT) Terminology and Considerations",RFC2663, August 1999.   [NAT-TRAD]    Srisuresh, P. and K. Egevang, "Traditional IP Network                 Address Translator (Traditional NAT)",RFC 3022,                 January 2001.   [BEH-UDP]     Audet, F., Ed., and C. Jennings, "Network Address                 Translation (NAT) Behavioral Requirements for Unicast                 UDP",BCP 127,RFC 4787, January 2007.8.2.  Informative References   [BEH-APP]     Ford, B., Srisuresh, P., and D. Kegel, "Application                 Design Guidelines for Traversal through Network Address                 Translators", Work in Progress, March 2007.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 27]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   [BEH-ICMP]    Srisuresh, P., Ford, B., Sivakumar, S., and S. Guha,                 "NAT Behavioral Requirements for ICMP protocol", Work                 in Progress, February 2008.   [BEH-TCP]     Guha, S., Biswas, K., Ford, B., Sivakumar, S., and P.                 Srisuresh, "NAT Behavioral Requirements for TCP", Work                 in Progress, April 2007.   [BIDIR]       Peer-to-Peer Working Group, NAT/Firewall Working                 Committee, "Bidirectional Peer-to-Peer Communication                 with Interposing Firewalls and NATs", August 2001.http://www.peer-to-peerwg.org/tech/nat/   [ICE]         Rosenberg, J., "Interactive Connectivity Establishment                 (ICE): A Methodology for Network Address Translator                 (NAT) Traversal for Offer/Answer Protocols", Work in                 Progress, October 2007.   [ICE-TCP]     Rosenberg, J., "TCP Candidates with Interactive                 Connectivity Establishment (ICE)", Work in Progress,                 July 2007.   [JENN-RESULT] Jennings, C.,"NAT Classification Test Results", Work                 in Progress, July 2007.   [KEGEL]       Kegel, D., "NAT and Peer-to-Peer Networking", July                 1999.http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~dank/peer-nat.html   [MIDCOM]      Srisuresh, P., Kuthan, J., Rosenberg, J., Molitor, A.,                 and A. Rayhan, "Middlebox communication architecture                 and framework",RFC 3303, August 2002.   [NAT-APPL]    Senie, D., "Network Address Translator (NAT)-Friendly                 Application Design Guidelines",RFC 3235, January 2002.   [NAT-BLASTER] Biggadike, A., Ferullo, D., Wilson, G., and Perrig, A.,                 "Establishing TCP Connections Between Hosts Behind                 NATs", ACM SIGCOMM ASIA Workshop, April 2005.   [NAT-CHECK]   Ford, B., "NAT check Program" available online ashttp://midcom-p2p.sourceforge.net, February 2005.   [NAT-PMP]     Cheshire, S., Krochmal, M., and K. Sekar, "NAT Port                 Mapping Protocol (NAT-PMP)", Work in Progress, October                 2006.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 28]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   [NAT-PROT]    Holdrege, M. and P. Srisuresh, "Protocol Complications                 with the IP Network Address Translator",RFC 3027,                 January 2001.   [NAT-PT]      Tsirtsis, G. and P. Srisuresh, "Network Address                 Translation - Protocol Translation (NAT-PT)",RFC 2766,                 February 2000.   [NAT-PT-HIST] Aoun, C. and E. Davies, "Reasons to Move the Network                 Address Translator - Protocol Translator (NAT-PT) to                 Historic Status",RFC 4966, July 2007.   [NSIS-NSLP]   Stiemerling, M., Tschofenig, H., Aoun, C., and E.                 Davies, "NAT/Firewall NSIS Signaling Layer Protocol                 (NSLP)", Work in Progress, July 2007.   [P2P-NAT]     Ford, B., Srisuresh, P., and Kegel, D., "Peer-to-Peer                 Communication Across Network Address Translators",                 Proceedings of the USENIX Annual Technical Conference                 (Anaheim, CA), April 2005.   [RFC3330]     IANA, "Special-Use IPv4 Addresses",RFC 3330, September                 2002.   [RFC4941]     Narten, T., Draves, R., and S. Krishnan, "Privacy                 Extensions for Stateless Address Autoconfiguration in                 IPv6",RFC 4941, September 2007.   [RSIP]        Borella, M., Lo, J., Grabelsky, D., and G. Montenegro,                 "Realm Specific IP: Framework",RFC 3102, October 2001.   [SAIK-RESULT] Guha, Saikat,  "NAT STUNT Results" available online ashttps://www.guha.cc/saikat/stunt-results.php.   [SIP]         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.   [SOCKS]       Leech, M., Ganis, M., Lee, Y., Kuris, R., Koblas, D.,                 and L. Jones, "SOCKS Protocol Version 5",RFC 1928,                 March 1996.   [STUN]        Rosenberg, J., Weinberger, J., Huitema, C., and R.                 Mahy, "STUN - Simple Traversal of User Datagram                 Protocol (UDP) Through Network Address Translators                 (NATs)",RFC 3489, March 2003.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 29]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008   [SYM-STUN]    Takeda, Y.,"Symmetric NAT Traversal using STUN", Work                 in Progress, June 2003.   [TCP]         Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol", STD 7,RFC793, September 1981.   [TCP-CHARACT] Guha, S., and Francis, P., "Characterization and                 Measurement of TCP Traversal through NATs and                 Firewalls", Proceedings of Internet Measurement                 Conference (IMC), Berkeley, CA, October 2005, pp. 199-                 211.   [TEREDO]      Huitema, C., "Teredo: Tunneling IPv6 over UDP through                 Network Address Translations (NATs)",RFC 4380,                 February 2006.   [TURN]        Rosenberg, J., Mahy, R., and P. Matthews, "Traversal                 Using Relays around NAT (TURN): Relay Extensions to                 Session Traversal Utilities for NAT (STUN)", Work in                 Progress, January 2008.   [UNSAF]       Daigle, L., Ed., and IAB, "IAB Considerations for                 UNilateral Self-Address Fixing (UNSAF) Across Network                 Address Translation",RFC 3424, November 2002.   [UPNP]        UPnP Forum, "Internet Gateway Device (IGD) Standardized                 Device Control Protocol V 1.0", November 2001,http://www.upnp.org/standardizeddcps/igd.asp   [V6-CPE-SEC]  Woodyatt, J., "Recommended Simple Security Capabilities                 in Customer Premises Equipment for Providing                 Residential IPv6 Internet Service", Work in Progress,                 June 2007.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 30]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008Authors' Addresses   Pyda Srisuresh   Kazeon Systems, Inc.   1161 San Antonio Rd.   Mountain View, CA 94043   USA   Phone: (408)836-4773   EMail: srisuresh@yahoo.com   Bryan Ford   Laboratory for Computer Science   Massachusetts Institute of Technology   77 Massachusetts Ave.   Cambridge, MA 02139   USA   Phone: (617) 253-5261   EMail: baford@mit.edu   Web:http://www.brynosaurus.com/   Dan Kegel   Kegel.com   901 S. Sycamore Ave.   Los Angeles, CA 90036   USA   Phone: 323 931-6717   EMail: dank@kegel.com   Web:http://www.kegel.com/Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 31]

RFC 5128         State of P2P Communication across NATs       March 2008Full Copyright Statement   Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008).   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions   contained inBCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors   retain all their rights.   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY, THE IETF TRUST AND   THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS   OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF   THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.Intellectual Property   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has   made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  Information   on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be   found inBCP 78 andBCP 79.   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository athttp://www.ietf.org/ipr.   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement   this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at   ietf-ipr@ietf.org.Srisuresh, et al.            Informational                     [Page 32]

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