Subject: [Netconf] Secdir last call review of draft-ietf-netconf-nmda-netconf-06

From: Christian Huitema <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 05 Aug 2018 17:28:02 -0700

Reviewer: Christian Huitema
Review result: Ready

I have reviewed this document as part of the security directorate's 
ongoing effort to review all IETF documents being processed by the 
IESG.  These comments were written primarily for the benefit of the 
security area directors.  Document editors and WG chairs should treat 
these comments just like any other last call comments.

The summary of the review is Ready

The document (draft-ietf-netconf-nmda-netconf-06) presents extentions to the original
NETCONG protocol (RFC 6241). RFC 6241 defined operations to "get-config" and
"edit-config". The proposed revision defines "get-data" and "edit-data" that
have more parameters than "get-config" and "edit-config", allowing for
more precise filtering of the data being retrieved or edited.

The security consideration section essentially points to the security
considerations of the original NETCONF protocol, enhanced by the access
control procedures defined in RFC 8341. The security of NETCONF depends on
operation over a secure transport, the default being SSH, with NETCONF
over SSH defined in RFC 6242.

In my mind, the newly defined operations are similar to the
previously defined operation, with an option for more narrow targeting to a 
subset of the configuration data. If the security of NETCONF was adequate,
it will still be adequate after these extensions.