Reverting Security Association State After Rekey Failure
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Solution Overview
Problem
In Fibre Channel environments, errors during rekey operations can lead to inconsistent states and traffic loss due to the delay in transitioning back to the previous security association after a failure is detected, especially when the responder has already started using the new security association.
Innovation Solution
A method where the initiator sends a revert message to revert back to the previous security association upon detecting a failure in the rekey operation, with timers managing the transition to ensure all messages encrypted with the new association are flushed before invalidating it, allowing for consistent state recovery and retrying the rekey operation without encryption inconsistencies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the initiator delays transmission of data using the new security association until after receiving a delete request from the responder, then traffic loss during rekey operation is avoided, but inconsistent states and traffic loss may still occur if errors occur in the messaging to establish the new security associations
Solution Approach 1:
The initiator sends a revert message to the responder as soon as a failure is detected during rekey operation, before the responder has a chance to delete the old security association. This preliminary action ensures both parties are synchronized to use the old security association, preventing inconsistent states while minimizing delay.
Solution Approach 2:
The initiator monitors the rekey operation and provides feedback by sending a revert message when failure is detected. This feedback mechanism allows the system to dynamically adjust the security association state based on the actual outcome of the rekey operation, ensuring consistency between initiator and responder.
2Reliability
If the responder starts using the new security association immediately after establishment, then encryption security is improved, but inconsistencies result if the initiator detects failure and needs to revert
Solution Approach 1:
The revert message acts as an intermediary signal that coordinates the transition between security associations. When the initiator detects failure, this message mediates the synchronization between initiator and responder, allowing both to safely revert to the old security association without complexity of manual coordination.
3Reliability
If timers are used to ensure all messages encrypted with the new association are flushed before invalidating it, then data loss is prevented, but transition time is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The initiator sends the revert message immediately upon detecting failure, before the responder deletes the old security association. This preliminary action prevents the need for extended timers, as the old association is already available for immediate use, minimizing transition time while preventing data loss.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are a computer program product, system, and method embodiments for reverting from a new security association to a previous security association in response to an error during a rekey operation. An initiator maintains a first security association with the responder having a first key to use to encrypt and decrypt data transmitted with the responder. The initiator initiates a rekey operation to establish a second security association with the responder using a second key. The initiator detects a failure of the rekey operation after the responder started using the second key for transmissions. A revert message is sent to the responder to revert back to using the first security association and first key in response to detecting the failure of the rekey operation.