UDP Large-Payload Capability Detection for DNSSEC

Abstract

Domain Name System (DNS) is a major target for the network security attacks due to the weak authentication. A security extension DNSSEC has been proposed to introduce the public-key authentication, but it is still on the deployment phase. DNSSEC assumes IP fragmentation allowance for exchange of its messages over UDP large payloads. IP fragments are often blocked on network packet filters for administrative reasons, and the blockage may prevent fast exchange of DNSSEC messages. In this paper, we propose a scheme to detect the UDP large-payload transfer capability between two DNSSEC hosts. The proposed detection scheme does not require new protocol elements of DNS and DNSSEC, so it is applicable by solely modifying the application software and configuration. The scheme allows faster capability detection to probe the end-to-end communication capability between two DNS hosts by transferring a large UDP DNS message. The DNS software can choose the maximum transmission unit (MTU) on the application level using the probed detection results. Implementation test results show that the proposed scheme shortens the detection and transition time on fragment-blocked transports.