netlink: Generate ICMP correctly if point-to-point
[secnet] / README
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1secnet - flexible VPN software
2
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3* Copying
4
3b83c932 5secnet is Copyright (C) 1995--2003 Stephen Early <steve@greenend.org.uk>
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6It is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License,
7version 2 or later. See the file COPYING for more information.
8
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9The IP address handling library in ipaddr.py is Copyright (C)
101996--2000 Cendio Systems AB, and is distributed under the terms of
11the GPL.
12
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13* Introduction
14
15secnet allows large virtual private networks to be constructed
16spanning multiple separate sites. It is designed for the case where a
17private network connecting many hosts is 'hidden' behind a single
18globally-routable IP address, but can also be applied in other
19circumstances. It communicates entirely using UDP, and works well
20with gateways that implement network address translation.
21
22If you are installing secnet to join an existing VPN, you should read
23the 'INSTALL' file and your particular VPN's documentation now. You
24may need to refer back to this file for information on the netlink and
25comm sections of the configuration file.
26
27If you are thinking about setting up a new VPN of any size (from one
28providing complete links between multiple sites to a simple
29laptop-to-host link), read the section in this file on 'Creating a
30VPN'.
31
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32* Mailing lists and bug reporting
33
34There are two mailing lists associated with secnet: an 'announce' list
35and a 'discuss' list. Their addresses are:
36http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/secnet-announce
37http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/secnet-discuss
38
39The -announce list receives one message per secnet release. The
40-discuss list is for general discussion, including help with
41configuration, bug reports, feature requests, etc.
42
43Bug reports should be sent to <steve@greenend.org.uk>; they will be
44forwarded to the -discuss list by me.
45
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46* Creating a VPN
47
48XXX TODO
49
50* secnet configuration file format
51
52By default secnet on linux reads /etc/secnet/secnet.conf. The default
53may be different on other platforms.
54
55This file defines a dictionary (a mapping from keys to values) full of
56configuration information for secnet. Two keys must be defined in
57this file for secnet to start. One is "system", a dictionary
58containing systemwide control parameters. The other is "sites", a
59list of all the sites that you intend to communicate with.
60
61The configuration file has a very simple syntax; keys are defined as
62follows:
63
64key definition;
65or
66key = definition;
67
68(the "=" is optional)
69
70Keys must match the following regular expression:
71[[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]\-_]*
72
73i.e. the first character must be an alpha or an underscore, and the
74remaining characters may be alphanumeric, '-' or '_'.
75
76Keys can be defined to be a comma-separated list of any of the
77following types:
78
79 a boolean
80 a string, in quotes
81 a number, in decimal
82 a dictionary of definitions, enclosed in { }
83 a "closure", followed by arguments
84 a path to a key that already exists, to reference that definition
85
86Note that dictionaries can be nested: a key in one dictionary can
87refer to another dictionary. When secnet looks for a key in a
88particular directory and can't find it, it looks in the dictionary's
89lexical 'parents' in turn until it finds it (or fails to find it at
90all and stops with an error).
91
92Definitions can refer to previous definitions by naming them with a
93path. Paths are key1/key2/key3... (starting from wherever we find
94key1, i.e. in the current dictionary or any of its parents), or
95alternatively /key1/key2/key3... (to start from the root).
96Definitions cannot refer to future definitions.
97
98Example:
99
100a=1;
101b=2;
102c={ d=3; e=a; };
103f={ a=4; g=c; };
104
105The following paths are valid:
106a is 1
107b is 2
108c is a dictionary:
109 c/d is 3
110 c/e is 1
111f is a dictionary:
112 f/a is 4
113 f/g is a dictionary:
114 f/g/d is 3
115 f/g/e is 1
116
117Note that f/g/e is NOT 4.
118
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119Elements that are lists are inserted into lists in definitions, not
120referenced by them (i.e. you can't have lists of lists).
121
122Some closures may be followed by an argument list in ( ), and may
123return any number of whatever type they like (including other
124closures). Some types of closure (typically those returned from
125invokations of other closures) cannot be invoked.
126
127closure { definitions } is short for closure({definitions}).
128
129The main body of secnet, and all the additional modules, predefine
130some keys in the root dictionary. The main ones are:
131
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132 yes, true, True, TRUE, on: the boolean value True
133 no, false, False, FALSE, off: the boolean value False
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134 makelist: turns a dictionary (arg1) into a list of definitions
135 (ignoring the keys)
136 readfile: reads a file (arg1) and returns it as a string
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137 map: applies the closure specified as arg1 to each of the
138 remaining elements in the list in turn. Returns a list
139 made up of the outputs of the closure.
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140
141Keys defined by modules are described below, in the module
142documentation.
143
144Other configuration files can be included inline by writing "include
145filename" at the start of a line.
146
147After the configuration file is read, secnet looks for particular keys
148in configuration space to tell it what to do:
149
150 system: a dictionary which can contain the following keys:
151 log (log closure): a destination for system messages
152 userid (string): the userid for secnet to run as once it drops privileges
153 pidfile (string): where to store its PID
154
155 sites: a list of closures of type 'site', which define other tunnel
156 endpoints that secnet will attempt to communicate with
157
158* secnet command line options
159
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160Usage: secnet [OPTION]...
161
162 -f, --silent, --quiet suppress error messages
163 -w, --nowarnings suppress warnings
164 -v, --verbose output extra diagnostics
165 -c, --config=filename specify a configuration file
166 -j, --just-check-config stop after reading configfile
167 -n, --nodetach do not run in background
168 -d, --debug=item,... set debug options
169 --help display this help and exit
170 --version output version information and exit
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171
172* secnet builtin modules
173
174** resolver
175
176Defines:
177 adns (closure => resolver closure)
178
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179adns: dict argument
180 config (string): optional, a resolv.conf for ADNS to use
181
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182** random
183
184Defines:
185 randomsrc (closure => randomsrc closure)
186
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187randomsrc: string[,bool]
188 arg1: filename of random source
189 arg2: if True then source is blocking
190
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191** udp
192
193Defines:
194 udp (closure => comm closure)
195
3454dce4 196udp: dict argument
3b83c932 197 address (string): IP address to listen and send on
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198 port (integer): UDP port to listen and send on
199 buffer (buffer closure): buffer for incoming packets
b2a56f7c 200 authbind (string): optional, path to authbind-helper program
3454dce4 201
042a8da9 202** log
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203
204Defines:
205 logfile (closure => log closure)
b2a56f7c 206 syslog (closure => log closure)
558fa3fb 207
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208logfile: dict argument
209 filename (string): where to log to
210 class (string list): what type of messages to log
211 { "debug-config", M_DEBUG_CONFIG },
212 { "debug-phase", M_DEBUG_PHASE },
213 { "debug", M_DEBUG },
214 { "all-debug", M_DEBUG|M_DEBUG_PHASE|M_DEBUG_CONFIG },
215 { "info", M_INFO },
216 { "notice", M_NOTICE },
217 { "warning", M_WARNING },
218 { "error", M_ERROR },
219 { "security", M_SECURITY },
220 { "fatal", M_FATAL },
221 { "default", M_WARNING|M_ERROR|M_SECURITY|M_FATAL },
222 { "verbose", M_INFO|M_NOTICE|M_WARNING|M_ERROR|M_SECURITY|M_FATAL },
223 { "quiet", M_FATAL }
224
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225logfile will close and reopen its file upon receipt of SIGHUP.
226
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227syslog: dict argument
228 ident (string): include this string in every log message
229 facility (string): facility to log as
230 { "authpriv", LOG_AUTHPRIV },
231 { "cron", LOG_CRON },
232 { "daemon", LOG_DAEMON },
233 { "kern", LOG_KERN },
234 { "local0", LOG_LOCAL0 },
235 { "local1", LOG_LOCAL1 },
236 { "local2", LOG_LOCAL2 },
237 { "local3", LOG_LOCAL3 },
238 { "local4", LOG_LOCAL4 },
239 { "local5", LOG_LOCAL5 },
240 { "local6", LOG_LOCAL6 },
241 { "local7", LOG_LOCAL7 },
242 { "lpr", LOG_LPR },
243 { "mail", LOG_MAIL },
244 { "news", LOG_NEWS },
245 { "syslog", LOG_SYSLOG },
246 { "user", LOG_USER },
247 { "uucp", LOG_UUCP }
248
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249** util
250
251Defines:
252 sysbuffer (closure => buffer closure)
253
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254sysbuffer: integer[,dict]
255 arg1: buffer length
256 arg2: options:
257 lockdown (boolean): if True, mlock() the buffer
258
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259** site
260
261Defines:
262 site (closure => site closure)
263
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264site: dict argument
265 local-name (string): this site's name for itself
266 name (string): the name of the site's peer
469fd1d9 267 link (netlink closure)
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268 comm (one or more comm closures): if there is more than one, the
269 first one will be used for any key setups initiated by us using the
270 configured address. Others are only used if our peer talks to
271 them.
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272 resolver (resolver closure)
273 random (randomsrc closure)
274 local-key (rsaprivkey closure)
275 address (string): optional, DNS name used to find our peer
276 port (integer): mandatory if 'address' is specified: the port used
277 to contact our peer
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278 key (rsapubkey closure): our peer's public key
279 transform (transform closure): how to mangle packets sent between sites
280 dh (dh closure)
281 hash (hash closure)
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282 key-lifetime (integer): max lifetime of a session key, in ms
283 [one hour; mobile: 2 days]
3454dce4 284 setup-retries (integer): max number of times to transmit a key negotiation
e57264d6 285 packet [5; mobile: 30]
3454dce4 286 setup-timeout (integer): time between retransmissions of key negotiation
e57264d6 287 packets, in ms [2000; mobile: 1000]
3454dce4 288 wait-time (integer): after failed key setup, wait this long (in ms) before
e57264d6 289 allowing another attempt [20000; mobile: 10000]
3454dce4 290 renegotiate-time (integer): if we see traffic on the link after this time
e7f8ec2a 291 then renegotiate another session key immediately (in ms)
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292 [half key-lifetime, or key-lifetime minus 5 mins (mobile: 12 hours),
293 whichever is longer].
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294 keepalive (bool): if True then attempt always to keep a valid session key.
295 Not actually currently implemented. [false]
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296 log-events (string list): types of events to log for this site
297 unexpected: unexpected key setup packets (may be late retransmissions)
298 setup-init: start of attempt to setup a session key
299 setup-timeout: failure of attempt to setup a session key, through timeout
300 activate-key: activation of a new session key
301 timeout-key: deletion of current session key through age
302 security: anything potentially suspicious
303 state-change: steps in the key setup protocol
304 packet-drop: whenever we throw away an outgoing packet
305 dump-packets: every key setup packet we see
306 errors: failure of name resolution, internal errors
446353cd 307 peer-addrs: changes to sets of peer addresses (interesting for mobile peers)
3454dce4 308 all: everything (too much!)
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309 mobile (bool): if True then peer is "mobile" ie we assume it may
310 change its apparent IP address and port number without either it
311 or us being aware of the change; so, we remember the last several
312 port/addr pairs we've seen and send packets to all of them
313 (subject to a timeout). We maintain one set of addresses for key
314 setup exchanges, and another for data traffic. Two communicating
315 peers must not each regard the other as mobile, or all the traffic
316 in each direction will be triplicated (strictly, transmitted
317 mobile-peers-max times) and anyway two peers whose public contact
318 address may suddenly change couldn't communicate reliably because
319 their contact addresses might both change at once. [false]
320 mobile-peers-max (integer): Maximum number of peer port/addr pairs we
321 remember and send to. Must be at least 1 and no more than 5. [3]
322 mobile-peer-expiry (integer): For "mobile" peers only, the length
323 of time (in seconds) for which we will keep sending to multiple
324 address/ports from which we have not seen incoming traffic. [120]
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325 local-mobile (bool): if True then other peers have been told we are
326 "mobile". This should be True iff the peers' site configurations
327 for us have "mobile True" (and if we find a site configuration for
328 ourselves in the config, we insist on this). The effect is to
329 check that there are no links both ends of which are allegedly
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330 mobile (which is not supported, so those links are ignored) and
331 to change some of the tuning parameter defaults. [false]
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332 mtu-target (integer): Desired value of the inter-site MTU for this
333 peering. This value will be advertised to the peer (which ought
334 to affect incoming packets), and if the peer advertises an MTU its
335 value will be combined with this setting to compute the inter-site
336 MTU. (secnet will still accept packets which exceed the
337 (negotiated or assumed) inter-site MTU.) Setting a lower
338 inter-site MTU can be used to try to restrict the sizes of the
339 packets sent over the underlying public network (e.g. to work
340 around network braindamage). It is not normally useful to set a
341 larger value for mtu-target than the VPN's general MTU (which
342 should be reflected in the local private interface MTU, ie the mtu
343 parameter to netlink). If this parameter is not set, or is set
344 to 0, the default is to use the local private link mtu.
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345
346Links involving mobile peers have some different tuning parameter
347default values, which are generally more aggressive about retrying key
348setup but more relaxed about using old keys. These are noted with
349"mobile:", above, and apply whether the mobile peer is local or
350remote.
3454dce4 351
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352** transform-eax
353
354Defines:
355 eax-serpent (closure => transform closure)
356
92a7d254 357** transform-cbcmac
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358
359Defines:
360 serpent256-cbc (closure => transform closure)
361
362** netlink
363
364Defines:
469fd1d9 365 null-netlink (closure => closure or netlink closure)
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366
367null-netlink: dict argument
368 name (string): name for netlink device, used in log messages
369 networks (string list): networks on the host side of the netlink device
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370 remote-networks (string list): networks that may be claimed
371 by the remote site using this netlink device
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372 local-address (string): IP address of host's tunnel interface
373 secnet-address (string): IP address of this netlink device
c6f79b17 374 ptp-address (string): IP address of the other end of a point-to-point link
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375 mtu (integer): MTU of host's tunnel interface
376
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377Only one of secnet-address or ptp-address may be specified. If
378point-to-point mode is in use then the "routes" option must also be
379specified, and netlink returns a netlink closure that should be used
380directly with the "link" option to the site closure. If
381point-to-point mode is not in use then netlink returns a closure that
382may be invoked using a dict argument with the following keys to yield
383a netlink closure:
384 routes (string list): networks reachable down the tunnel attached to
385 this instance of netlink
386 options (string list):
387 allow-route: allow packets coming from this tunnel to be routed to
388 other tunnels as well as the host (used for mobile devices like laptops)
0e212483 389 soft: remove these routes from the host's routing table when
469fd1d9 390 the tunnel link quality is zero
3ed1846a 391 mtu (integer): MTU of host's tunnel interface
c6f79b17 392
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393Netlink will dump its current routing table to the system/log on
394receipt of SIGUSR1.
395
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396** slip
397
398Defines:
558fa3fb 399 userv-ipif (closure => netlink closure)
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400
401userv-ipif: dict argument
402 userv-path (string): optional, where to find userv ["userv"]
403 service-user (string): optional, username for userv-ipif service ["root"]
404 service-name (string): optional, name of userv-ipif service ["ipif"]
405 buffer (buffer closure): buffer for assembly of host->secnet packets
406 plus generic netlink options, as for 'null-netlink'
407
408** tun
409
410Defines:
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411 tun (closure => netlink closure) [only on linux-2.4]
412 tun-old (closure => netlink closure)
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413
414tun: dict argument
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415 flavour (string): optional, type of TUN interface to use
416 ("guess","linux","bsd","streams")
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417 device (string): optional, path of TUN/TAP device file ["/dev/net/tun"]
418 interface (string): optional, name of tunnel network interface
419 ifconfig-path (string): optional, path to ifconfig command
420 route-path (string): optional, path to route command
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421 ifconfig-type (string): optional, how to perform ifconfig
422 route-type (string): optional, how to add and remove routes
423 types are: "guess", "ioctl", "bsd", "linux", "solaris-2.5"
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424 buffer (buffer closure): buffer for host->secnet packets
425 plus generic netlink options, as for 'null-netlink'
426
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427I recommend you don't specify the 'interface' option unless you're
428doing something that requires the interface name to be constant.
c6f79b17 429
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430** rsa
431
432Defines:
433 rsa-private (closure => rsaprivkey closure)
434 rsa-public (closure => rsapubkey closure)
435
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436rsa-private: string[,bool]
437 arg1: filename of SSH private key file (version 1, no password)
438 arg2: whether to check that the key is usable [default True]
439
440rsa-public: string,string
441 arg1: encryption key (decimal)
442 arg2: modulus (decimal)
443
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444** dh
445
446Defines:
447 diffie-hellman (closure => dh closure)
448
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449diffie-hellman: string,string[,bool]
450 arg1: modulus (hex)
451 arg2: generator (hex)
452 arg3: whether to check that the modulus is prime [default True]
453
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454** md5
455
456Defines:
457 md5 (hash closure)
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458
459** sha1
460
461Defines:
462 sha1 (hash closure)
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463
464** conffile
465
466Defines:
467 makelist (dictionary => list of definitions)
468 readfile (string => string)
469 map (closure,list => list)
470
471makelist: dictionary
472 returns a list consisting of the definitions in the dictionary. The keys
473 are discarded.
474
475readfile: string
476 reads the named file and returns its contents as a string
477
478map:
479 applies the closure specified as arg1 to each of the elements in the list.
480 Returns a list made up of the outputs of the closure.