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torspec/proposals/279-naming-layer-api.txt
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Filename: 279-naming-layer-api.txt
Title: A Name System API for Tor Onion Services
Author: George Kadianakis, Yawning Angel, David Goulet
Created: 04-Oct-2016
Status: Needs-Revision
Table Of Contents:
1. Introduction
1.1. Motivation
1.2. Design overview and rationale
2. System Specification
2.1. System overview [SYSTEMOVERVIEW]
2.2. System Illustration
2.3. System configuration [TORRC]
2.3.1. Tor name resolution logic
2.4. Name system initialization [INITPROTOCOL]
2.5. Name resolution using NS API
2.5.1. Message format
2.5.2. RESOLVED status codes
2.5.3. Further name resolution behavior
2.6. Cancelling a name resolution request
2.7. Launching name plugins [INITENVVARS]
2.8. Name plugin workflow [NSBEHAVIOR]
2.8.1. Name plugin shutdown [NSSHUTDOWN]
2.9. Further details of stdin/stdout communication
2.9.1. Message Format
3. Discussion
3.1. Using second-level domains instead of tld
3.2. Name plugins handling all tlds '*'
3.3. Deployment strategy
3.4. Miscellaneous discussion topics
4. Acknowledgements
A.1: Example communication Tor <-> name plugin [PROTOEXAMPLE]
A.2: Example plugins [PLUGINEXAMPLES]
1. Introduction
This proposal specifies a modular API for integrating name systems with Tor.
1.1. Motivation
Tor onion service addresses are decentralized and self-authenticated but
they are not human-memorable (e.g. 3g2upl4pq6kufc4m.onion). This is a source
of poor usability, since Internet users are familiar with the convenient
naming of DNS and are not used to addresses being random text.
In particular, onion addresses are currently composed of 16 random base32
characters, and they look like this:
3g2upl4pq6kufc4m.onion
vwakviie2ienjx7t.onion
idnxcnkne4qt76tg.onion
vwakviie2ienjx6t.onion
When Proposal 224 gets deployed, onion addresses will become even
bigger: 53 base32 characters. That's:
llamanymityx4fi3l6x2gyzmtmgxjyqyorj9qsb5r543izcwymle.onion
lfels7g3rbceenuuqmpsz45z3lswakqf56n5i3bvqhc22d5rrsza.onion
odmmeotgcfx65l5hn6ejkaruvai222vs7o7tmtllszqk5xbysola.onion
qw3yvgovok3dsarhqephpu2pkiwzjdk2fgdfwwf3tb3vgzxr5kba.onion
Over the years Tor users have come up with various ad-hoc ways of handling
onion addresses. For example people memorize them, or use third-party
centralized directories, or just google them everytime.
We believe that the UX problem of non-human-memorable addresses is not
actually solved with the above ad-hoc solutions and remains a critical
usability barrier that prevents onion services from being used by a wider
audience.
1.2. Design overview and rationale
During the past years there has been lots of research on secure naming and
various such systems have been proposed (e.g. GNS, Namecoin, etc.).
Turns out securely naming things is a very hard research problem, and hence
none of the proposed systems is a clear winner: all of them carry various
trade-offs. Furthermore, none of the proposed systems has seen widespread use
so far, which makes it even harder to pick a single project.
Given the plenitude of options, one approach to decide which system
is best is to make various decent name systems available and let the
Tor community and the sands of time pick the winner. Also, it might
be that there is no single winner, and perhaps different specialized
name system should be used in different situations. We believe that
by getting secure name systems actually get utilized by real users,
the whole field will mature and existing systems will get battle-hardened.
Hence, the contribution of this proposal is a modular Name System API
(NSA) that allows developers to integrate their own name systems in
Tor. The interface design is name-system-agnostic, and it's heavily
based on the pluggable transports API (proposal 180). It should be
flexible enough to accommodate all sorts of name systems (see [PLUGINEXAMPLES]).
2. System Specification
A developer that wants to integrate a name system with Tor needs to first
write a wrapper that understands the Tor Name System API (NS API). Using the
Name System API, Tor asks the name system to perform name queries, and
receives the query results. The NS API works using environment variables and
stdin/stdout communication. It aims to be portable and easy to implement.
2.1. System overview [SYSTEMOVERVIEW]
Here is an overview of the Tor name system:
Alice, a Tor user, can activate various name systems by editing her
torrc file and specifying which tld each name system is responsible
for. For this section, let's consider a simple fictional name system,
unicorn, which magically maps domains with the .corn tld to the
correct onion address. Here it is:
OnionNamePlugin 0 .corn /usr/local/bin/unicorn
After Alice enables the unicorn plugin, she attempts connecting to
elephantforum.corn. Tor will intercept the SOCKS request, and use the
executable at /usr/local/bin/unicorn to query the unicorn name system
for elephantforum.corn. Tor communicates with the unicorn plugin
using the Tor NS API through which name queries and their results can
be transported using stdin/stdout.
If elephantforum.corn corresponds to an onion address in the unicorn
name system, unicorn should return the onion address to Tor using the
Tor NS API. Tor must then internally rewrite the elephantforum.corn
address to the actual onion address, and initiate a connection to it.
2.2. System Illustration
Here is a diagram illustrating how the Tor Name System API works. The name
system used in this example is GNS, but there is nothing GNS-specific here
and GNS could be swapped for any other name system (like hosts files, or
Namecoin).
The example below illustrates how a user who types debian.zkey in their Tor
browser gets redirected to sejnfjrq6szgca7v.onion after Tor consults the GNS
network.
Please revisit this illustration after reading the rest of the proposal.
| $~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~$
| 1. $ 4. GNS magic!! $
| User: SOCKS CONNECT to $ debian.zkey -> sejnfjrq6szgca7v.onion$
| http://debian.zkey/ $~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~$~~~~~~~$
| $
+-----|-----------------------------------------+ $
|+----v-----+ 2. +---------+| 3. $
||Tor | debian.zkey |Tor || debian.zkey +-$-------+
||Networking------------------------->Naming -------------------------> |
||Submodule | |Submodule|| Tor Name System API | GNS |
|| <------------------------- <------------------------- wrapper|
|| | 6. | ||5. | |
|+----|-----+ sejnfjrq6szgca7v.onion +---------+|sejnfjrq6szgca7v.onion +---------+
+-----|-----------------------------------------+
| 7.
| Tor: Connect to
| http://sejnfjrq6szgca7v.onion/
v
2.3. System configuration [TORRC]
As demonstrated in [SYSTEMOVERVIEW], a Tor user who wants to use a name
system has to edit their configuration file appropriately. Here is the torrc
line format:
OnionNamePlugin <priority> <tld> <path>
where <priority> is a positive integer denoting the priority with which this
name plugin should be consulted. <tld> is a string which restricts the scope
of this plugin to a particular tld. Finally, <path> is a filesystem path to
an executable that speaks the Tor Name System API and can act as an
intermediary between Tor and the name system.
For example here is a snippet from a torrc file:
OnionNamePlugin 0 .hosts /usr/local/bin/local-hosts-file
OnionNamePlugin 1 .zkey /usr/local/bin/gns-tor-wrapper
OnionNamePlugin 2 .bit /usr/local/bin/namecoin-tor-wrapper
OnionNamePlugin 3 .scallion /usr/local/bin/community-hosts-file
2.3.1. Tor name resolution logic
When Tor receives a SOCKS request to an address that has a name
plugin assigned to it, it needs to perform a query for that address
using that name plugin.
If there are multiple name plugins that correspond to the requested
address, Tor queries all relevant plugins sorted by their priority
value, until one of them returns a successful result. If two plugins
have the same priority value, Tor MUST abort.
If all plugins fail to successfuly perform the name resolution, Tor SHOULD
default to using the exit node for name resolution.
XXX or not? because of leaks?
2.4. Name system initialization [INITPROTOCOL]
When Tor finds OnionNamePlugin lines in torrc, it launches and initializes
their respective executables.
When launching name plugins, Tor sets various environment variables to pass
data to the name plugin (e.g. NS API version, state directory, etc.). More
information on the environment variables at [INITENVVARS].
After a name plugin initializes and parses all needed environment
variables, it communicates with Tor using its stdin/stdout.
The first line that a name plugin sends to stdout signifies that it's ready
to receive name queries. This line looks like this:
INIT <VERSION> <STATUS_CODE> [<STATUS_MSG>]
where VERSION is the Tor NS API protocol version that the plugin supports,
STATUS_CODE is an integer status code, and STATUS_MSG is an optional string
error message. STATUS_CODE value 0 is reserved for "success", and all other
integers are error codes.
See [PROTOEXAMPLE] for an example of this protocol.
2.5. Name resolution using NS API
Here is how actual name resolution requests are performed in NS API.
2.5.1. Message format
When Tor receives a SOCKS request to an address with a tld that has a name
plugin assigned to it, Tor performs an NS API name query for that address.
Tor does this by printing lines on the name plugin stdout as follows:
RESOLVE <QUERY_ID> <NAME_STRING>
where QUERY_ID is a unique integer corresponding to this query, and
NAME_STRING is the name to be queried.
When the name plugin completes the name resolution, it prints the following
line in its stdout:
RESOLVED <QUERY_ID> <STATUS_CODE> <RESULT>
where QUERY_ID is the corresponding query ID and STATUS_CODE is an integer
status code. RESULT is the resolution result (an onion address) or an error
message if the resolution was not succesful.
See [PROTOEXAMPLE] for an example of this protocol.
XXX Should <RESULT> be optional in the case of failure?
2.5.2. RESOLVED status codes
Name plugins can deliver the following status codes:
0 -- The name resolution was successful.
1 -- Name resolution generic failure.
2 -- Name tld not recognized.
3 -- Name not registered.
4 -- Name resolution timeout exceeded.
XXX add more status codes here as needed
2.5.3. Further name resolution behavior
Tor and name plugins MAY cache name resolution results in memory as
needed. Caching results on disk should be avoided.
Tor SHOULD abort (or cancel) an ongoing name resolution request, if it takes
more than NAME_RESOLUTION_TIMEOUT seconds.
XXX NAME_RESOLUTION_TIMEOUT = ???
Tor MUST validate that the resolution result is a valid .onion name.
XXX should we also accept IPs and regular domain results???
XXX perhaps we should make sure that results are not names that need
additional name resolution to avoid endless loops. e.g. imagine
some sort of loop like this:
debian.zkey -> debian-bla.zkey -> debian.zkey -> etc.
2.6. Cancelling a name resolution request
Tor might need to cancel an ongoing name resolution request
(e.g. because a timeout passed, or the client is not interested in
that address anymore). In this case, Tor sends the following line to
the plugin stdout as follows:
CANCEL <QUERY_ID>
to which the name plugin, after performing the cancellation, SHOULD
answer with:
CANCELED <QUERY_ID>
2.7. Launching name plugins [INITENVVARS]
As described in [INITPROTOCOL], when Tor launches a name plugin, it sets
certain environment variables. At a minimum, it sets (in addition to the
normal environment variables inherited from Tor):
"TOR_NS_STATE_LOCATION" -- A filesystem directory path where the
plugin should store state if it wants to. This directory is not
required to exist, but the plugin SHOULD be able to create it if
it doesn't. The plugin MUST NOT store state elsewhere.
Example: TOR_NS_STATE_LOCATION=/var/lib/tor/ns_state/
"TOR_NS_PROTO_VERSION" -- To tell the plugin which versions of this
configuration protocol Tor supports. Future versions will give a
comma-separated list. Plugins MUST accept comma-separated lists
containing any version that they recognize, and MUST work correctly even
if some of the versions they don't recognize are non-numeric. Valid
version characters are non-space, non-comma printing ASCII characters.
Example: TOR_NS_PROTO_VERSION=1,1a,2,4B
"TOR_NS_PLUGIN_OPTIONS" -- Specifies configuration options for this
name plugin as a semicolon-separated list of k=v strings with
options that are to be passed to the plugin.
Colons, semicolons, equal signs and backslashes MUST be escaped with a
backslash.
If there are no arguments that need to be passed to any of the
plugins, "TOR_NS_PLUGIN_OPTIONS" MAY be omitted.
For example consider the following options for the "banana" name plugin:
TOR_NS_PLUGIN_OPTIONS=timeout=5;url=https://bananacake.com
Will pass to banana the parameters 'timeout=5' and
'url=https://bananacake.com'.
XXX Do we like this option-passing interface? Do we have any lessons
from our PT experiences?
XXX Add ControlPort/SocksPort environment variables.
See [PROTOEXAMPLE] for an example of this environment
2.8. Name plugin workflow [NSBEHAVIOR]
Name plugins follow the following workflow:
1) Tor sets the required environment values and launches the name plugin
as a sub-process (fork()/exec()). See [INITENVVARS].
2) The name plugin checks its environment, and determines the supported NS
API versions using the env variable TOR_NS_PROTO_VERSION.
2.1) If there are no compatible versions, the name plugin writes
an INIT message with a failure status code as in
[INITPROTOCOL], and then shuts down.
3) The name plugin parses and handles the rest of the environment values.
3.1) If the environment variables are malformed, or otherwise
invalid, the name plugin writes an INIT message with a
failure status code as in [INITPROTOCOL], and then shuts
down.
4) After the name plugin completely initializes, it sends a successful
INIT message to stdout as in [INITPROTOCOL]. Then it continues
monitoring its stdin for incoming RESOLVE messages.
6) When the name plugin receives a RESOLVE message, it performs the name
resolution and replies with the appropriate RESOLVED message.
7) Upon being signaled to terminate by the parent process [NSSHUTDOWN], the
name plugin gracefully shuts down.
2.8.1. Name plugin shutdown [NSSHUTDOWN]
To ensure clean shutdown of all name plugins when Tor shuts down, the
following rules apply for name plugins:
Name plugins MUST handle OS specific mechanisms to gracefully terminate
(e.g. SIGTERM).
Name plugins SHOULD monitor their stdin and exit gracefully when it is
closed.
2.9. Further details of stdin/stdout communication
2.9.1. Message Format
Tor communicates with its name plugins by writing NL-terminated lines to
stdout. The line metaformat is
<Line> ::= <Keyword> <OptArgs> <NL>
<Keyword> ::= <KeywordChar> | <Keyword> <KeywordChar>
<KeyWordChar> ::= <any US-ASCII alphanumeric, dash, and underscore>
<OptArgs> ::= <Args>*
<Args> ::= <SP> <ArgChar> | <Args> <ArgChar>
<ArgChar> ::= <any US-ASCII character but NUL or NL>
<SP> ::= <US-ASCII whitespace symbol (32)>
<NL> ::= <US-ASCII newline (line feed) character (10)>
Tor MUST ignore lines with keywords that it doesn't recognize.
3. Discussion
3.1. Using second-level domains instead of tld
People have suggested that users should try to connect to reddit.zkey.onion
instead of reddit.zkey. That is, we should always preserve .onion as the
tld, and only utilize second-level domains for naming.
The argument for this is that this way users cannot accidentally leak
addresses to DNS, as the .onion domain is reserved by RFC 7686.
The counter-argument here is that this might be confusing to users since
they are not used to the second-level domain being special (e.g. co.uk).
Also, what happens when someone registers a 16-character name, that matches
the length of a vanilla onion address?
We should consider the concerns here and take the right decision.
3.2. Name plugins handling all tlds '*'
In [TORRC], we assigned a single tld to each name plugin. Should we also
accept catch-all tlds using '*'? I'm afraid that this way a name system
could try to resolve even normal domains like reddit.com .
Perhaps we trust the name plugin itself, but maybe the name system
network could exploit this? Also, the catch-all tld will probably
cause some engineering complications in this proposal (as it did for PTs).
3.3. Deployment strategy
We need to devise a deployment strategy that will allow us to improve
the UX of our users as soon as possible, but without taking hasty,
sloppy or uneducated decisions.
For starters, we should make it easy for developers to write wrappers around
their secure name systems. We should develop libraries that speak the NS API
protocol and can be used to quickly write wrappers. Similar libraries were quite
successful during pluggable transport deployment; see pyptlib and goptlib.
In the beginning, name plugins should be third-party applications that can
be installed by interested users manually or through package managers. Users
will also have to add the appropriate OnionNamePlugin line to their torrc.
This will be a testing phase, and also a community-growing phase.
After some time, and when we get a better idea of how name plugins
work for the community, we can start considering how to make them
more easily usable. For example, we can start by including some name
plugins into TBB in an optional opt-in fashion. We should be careful
here, as people have real incentives for attacking name systems and
we should not put our users unwillingly in danger.
3.4. Miscellaneous discussion topics
1. The PT spec tries hard so that a single executable can expose multiple
PTs. In this spec, it's clear that each executable is a single name
plugin. Is this OK or a bad idea? Should we change interfaces so that
each name plugin has an identifier, and then use that identifier for
things?
2. Should we make our initialization protocol _identical_ to the PT API
initialization protocol? That is, use ENV-ERROR etc. instead of INT?
3. Does it make sense to support reverse queries, from .onion to names? So
that people auto-learn the names of the onions they use?
4. Acknowledgements
Proposal details discussed during Tor hackfest in Seattle between
Yawning, David and me. Thanks to Lunar and indolering for more
discussion and feedback.
This research was supported in part by NSF grants CNS-1111539,
CNS-1314637, CNS-1526306, CNS-1619454, and CNS-1640548.
Appendix A.1: Example communication Tor <-> name plugin [PROTOEXAMPLE]
Environemnt variables:
TOR_NS_STATE_LOCATION=/var/lib/tor/ns_state
TOR_NS_PROTO_VERSION=1
TOR_NS_PLUGIN_OPTIONS=timeout=5;cache=/home/user/name_cache
Messages between Tor and the banana name plugin:
Name plugin (banana) -> Tor:
INIT 1 0
Tor -> Name plugin (banana):
RESOLVE 1 daewonskate.banana
Name plugin (banana) -> Tor:
RESOLVED 1 0 jqkscnkne4qt91iq.onion
Tor -> Name plugin (banana):
RESOLVE 1 architecturedirect.zkey
Name plugin (banana) -> Tor (banana):
RESOLVE 1 2 "zkey not recognized tld"
Tor -> Name plugin (banana):
RESOLVE 1 origamihub.banana
Name plugin (banana) -> Tor (banana):
RESOLVE 1 2 wdxfpaxar4dg12vd.onion
Appendix A.2: Example plugins [PLUGINEXAMPLES]
Here are a few examples of name plugins for brainstorming:
a) Simplest plugin: A local hosts file. Basically a local petname system
that maps names to onion addresses.
b) A remote hosts file. A centralized community hosts file that people trust.
c) Multiple remote hosts files. People can add their own favorite community
hosts file.
d) Multiple remote hosts files with notaries and reputation
trust. Like moxie's convergence tool but for names.
e) GNS
f) OnioNS
g) Namecoin/Blockstart
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