All posts tagged IPsec

DirectAccess IP-HTTPS Preauthentication using Citrix NetScaler

Note: For information about configuring the F5 BIG-IP to perform IP-HTTPS preauthentication, click here. For information about configuring Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 to perform IP-HTTPS preauthentication natively, click here.

Introduction

DirectAccess IP-HTTPS Preauthentication using Citrix NetScalerIP-HTTPS is an IPv6 transition technology used by DirectAccess. It enables DirectAccess clients to communicate with the DirectAccess server using IPv6 over the public IPv4 Internet by encapsulating IPv6 packets in HTTP and authenticating (and optionally encrypting) them using SSL/TLS. IP-HTTPS is supported for all DirectAccess network deployment configurations and is enabled by default.

When a DirectAccess client connection is established, only the server is authenticated by the client. The client is not authenticated by the server. The DirectAccess server will thus accept IP-HTTPS connections from any client, valid or not.

IP-HTTPS Connection

Once a client has established an IP-HTTPS transition tunnel, it will go through the standard IPv6 neighbor discovery process to identify routers and obtain an IPv6 prefix for the link. It will use this information to build its own IPv6 address, which it uses to communicate with the DirectAccess server and begin establishing IPsec security associations for DirectAccess.

ICMP and IPsec

By design, ICMP is exempt from DirectAccess IPsec policy processing. If an unauthorized client were to establish an IP-HTTPS transition tunnel, even without authentication (Kerberos Proxy or certificate) it would be able to ping the DirectAccess server tunnel endpoint IPv6 addresses, the DNS64 IPv6 address, and any intranet hosts (assuming host firewalls allow this access).

Security Risk

This default posture opens up the DirectAccess server and intranet to unauthorized remote network reconnaissance and some IPv6-related Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. These were demonstrated by security researcher Ali Hardudi at the recent Troopers16 security conference. You can view his very informative session here.

Note: DirectAccess IPsec data connections are unaffected and are completely secure. Data is never exposed at any time with the default configuration.

IP-HTTPS Preauthentication

DirectAccess IP-HTTPS Preauthentication using Citrix NetScalerTo mitigate these risks, it is recommended that an Application Delivery Controller (ADC) such as the Citrix NetScaler be configured to preauthenticate DirectAccess clients prior to establishing the IP-HTTPS transition tunnel.

Note: To configure the F5 BIG-IP to perform IP-HTTPS preauthentication, click here.

Citrix NetScaler Configuration

To perform DirectAccess preauthentication, it will be necessary to configure the Citrix NetScaler to perform SSL termination for IP-HTTPS. The virtual server on the NetScaler must use the SSL protocol. In addition, a CA certificate must be bound to the virtual server. Also, Client Authentication must be enabled under SSL Parameters and be set to Mandatory.

DirectAccess IP-HTTPS Preauthentication using Citrix NetScaler

Once configured, the NetScaler appliance will ensure that the DirectAccess IPsec certificate is present on the client before establishing the IP-HTTPS IPv6 transition tunnel. This will prevent unauthorized connections to the DirectAccess server.

Important Considerations

Performing IP-HTTPS preauthentication on the Citrix NetScaler is formally unsupported by Microsoft. In addition, terminating IP-HTTPS on the NetScaler appliance breaks OTP authentication.

Summary

The default security posture of DirectAccess leaves the internal network open to unauthorized network reconnaissance, and exposes the DirectAccess infrastructure to potential denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. To mitigate these security risks, implement the Citrix NetScaler ADC and enable client certificate authentication.

References

Security Assessment of Microsoft DirectAccess [Overview] – https://www.insinuator.net/2016/04/security-assessment-of-microsoft-directaccess/

Security Assessment of Microsoft DirectAccess [Full Document] – https://www.ernw.de/newsfeed/newsletter-53-may-2016-security-assessment-of-microsoft-directaccess/index.html

Security Assessment of Microsoft DirectAccess Troopers16 Presentation by Ali Hardudi [Video] – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW1x7ow0V9w

Chiron IPv6 Penetration Testing Framework – https://www.insinuator.net/2014/10/chiron-an-all-in-one-ipv6-penetration-testing-framework/

IP-HTTPS specification on MSDN – https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd358571.aspx

Configure F5 BIG-IP to Perform IP-HTTPS Preauthentication – https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2016/05/23/directaccess-ip-https-preauthentication-using-f5-big-ip/

Configure Windows Server 2012 R2  and Windows Server 2016 to Perform IP-HTTPS Preauthentication – https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2016/06/13/directaccess-ip-https-preauthentication/

23 Comments
by Richard M. Hicks on May 10, 2016  •  Permalink
Posted in ADC, application delivery controller, DirectAccess, IP-HTTPS, IPv6, IPv6 Transition, Load Balancing, Netscaler, Remote Access, Security, SSL and TLS, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016
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Posted by Richard M. Hicks on May 10, 2016

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2016/05/10/directaccess-ip-https-preauthentication-using-citrix-netscaler/

ISP Address Field is Blank in DirectAccess Status and Reports

When viewing DirectAccess client status in the Remote Access Management console, you will notice that the ISP address field is blank for clients using the IP-HTTPS IPv6 transition protocol. However, the ISP Address information is displayed for clients using the 6to4 or Teredo IPv6 transition protocols.

ISP Address Field is Blank in DirectAccess Status and Reports

This is expected behavior and occurs as a result of the way in which the DirectAccess reports obtain the client’s public ISP address information. The ISP address is derived from the IPv6 address used to establish the DirectAccess client’s IPsec Security Associations (SAs) on the DirectAccess server. For clients using the 6to4 or Teredo IPv6 transition protocols, the client’s public IPv4 address is embedded in its IPv6 address. This information is displayed in the ISP Address field. However, the IP-HTTPS IPv6 transition protocol uses completely random IPv6 addresses. Without an embedded IPv4 address, the Remote Access Management console lacks the information to display in the ISP Address field.

Updated 3/22/2015: With a little extra work it is possible to find the IPv4 ISP address for DirectAccess clients using the IP-HTTPS IPv6 transition protocol. For more information, please refer to Microsoft PFE Martin Solis’ excellent blog post on the subject here.

16 Comments
by Richard M. Hicks on March 16, 2015  •  Permalink
Posted in DirectAccess, IP-HTTPS, IPv6, IPv6 Transition, Teredo, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2
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Posted by Richard M. Hicks on March 16, 2015

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2015/03/16/isp-address-field-is-blank-in-directaccess-status-and-reports/

DirectAccess IPv6 Transition Protocols Explained

Introduction

From a client perspective, DirectAccess is an IPv6-only solution. The DirectAccess client communicates with the DirectAccess server exclusively using IPv6. However, IPv6 is not widely deployed, so the most common scenario will find your DirectAccess clients and servers on the IPv4 Internet.

To facilitate DirectAccess client to server communication with IPv6 when the client is on the IPv4 Internet, IPv6 transition protocols are employed. These protocols effectively tunnel IPv6 packets in IPv4 packets. DirectAccess makes use of three IPv6 transition protocols for client to server connections – 6to4, Teredo, and IP-HTTPS.

DirectAccess Transition Protocols

6to4 – The 6to4 IPv6 transition protocol works by encapsulating IPv6 packets in IPv4 packets using IP protocol 41. 6to4 does not work when the client or the server is behind a NAT, so this IPv6 transition protocol is only used when the client and server are assigned public IPv4 addresses. DirectAccess clients with public IPv4 addresses aren’t common though, and there are some challenges with the stability of 6to4. From experience I can tell you that 6to4 often fails when clients use a cellular Wi-Fi hotspot, for example. For this reason it is generally recommended that you proactively disable this transition protocol to avoid potential issues in the future.

Teredo – Teredo is an IPv6 transition protocol that is designed to work when a DirectAccess client (but not the DirectAccess server) is behind a NAT. It works by encapsulating IPv6 packets in IPv4 packets using UDP on port 3544. Teredo will be used any time the DirectAccess client has a private IPv4 address, or when the client has a public IPv4 address and the 6to4 protocol is unavailable (e.g. 6to4 is disabled, or outbound access to IP protocol 41 is restricted by firewall policy). To support Teredo, the DirectAccess server must be configured with two consecutive public IPv4 addresses. In addition, Teredo uses ICMP for NAT detection (e.g. cone, restricted, symmetric), so ICMPv4 echo requests must be allowed inbound to any host with which the DirectAccess client communicates.

IP-HTTPS – IP-HTTPS is an IPv6 transition protocol that works by encapsulating IPv6 packets in IPv4 packets using HTTP with SSL/TLS. It is the IPv6 transition protocol of last resort, and will be used any time that 6to4 or Teredo aren’t available. The advantage to using IP-HTTPS is ubiquitous firewall access. Any network with access to the public Internet should, at a minimum, allow outbound HTTP and HTTPS. In some deployment scenarios, IP-HTTPS can be disadvantageous. For example, when Windows 7 DirectAccess clients leverage this IPv6 transition protocol, IPsec-encrypted traffic is encrypted again using SSL/TLS. This double encryption results in high processing overhead and often translates to poor performance and limited scalability. Windows 8 and later clients do not suffer this limitation, as they support null encryption which eliminates the negative effects imposed by double encryption. For the best results using IP-HTTPS, use an application delivery controller to offload SSL, or deploy Windows 8 or later clients. In any case, do not collocate the client-based VPN role on the DirectAccess server, as doing so will remove support for null encryption completely and force even Windows 8 and later clients to perform double encryption for IP-HTTPS traffic.

DirectAccess Server Configuration

To support the 6to4 and Teredo IPv6 transition protocols, the DirectAccess server must be configured with two network interfaces; one internal and one external. The DirectAccess server must have public IPv4 addresses assigned to its external network interface. For Teredo in particular, the DirectAccess server requires two consecutive public IPv4 addresses. Beginning with Windows Server 2012, DirectAccess provides support for DMZ/perimeter network deployment behind a NAT device using RFC1918 private IPv4 addresses with either one or two network interfaces. In this deployment scenario, the DirectAccess server only supports the use of the IP-HTTPS IPv6 transition protocol. 6to4 and Teredo are not available when the DirectAccess server is located behind a NAT device and these IPv6 transition protocols should be disabled on all DirectAccess clients.

11 Comments
by Richard M. Hicks on October 28, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in 6to4, DirectAccess, IP-HTTPS, IPv6, IPv6 Transition, Remote Access, Teredo, VPN, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2
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Posted by Richard M. Hicks on October 28, 2014

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2014/10/28/directaccess-ipv6-transition-protocols-explained/

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