Best Practices for Deletion of Domain and Host Objects in the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) Verisign Labs
12061 Bluemont Way Reston VA 20190 United States of America shollenbeck@verisign.com https://www.verisignlabs.com/
Verisign Labs
12061 Bluemont Way Reston VA 20190 United States of America +1 703 948-3200 wicarroll@verisign.com https://verisign.com
Stanford University
450 Jane Stanford Way Stanford CA 94305 United States of America +1 650 723-2300 gakiwate@cs.stanford.edu https://cs.stanford.edu/~gakiwate/
ART regext EPP The Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) includes commands for clients to delete domain and host objects, both of which are used to publish information in the Domain Name System (DNS). EPP also includes guidance for deletions that is intended to avoid DNS resolution disruptions and maintain data consistency. However, operational relationships between objects can make that guidance difficult to implement. Some EPP clients have developed operational practices to delete those objects that have unintended impacts on DNS resolution and security. This document describes best current practices and proposes new potential practices to delete domain and host objects that reduce the risk of DNS resolution failure and maintain client-server data consistency.
Status of This Memo This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice. This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on BCPs is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841. Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at .
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Table of Contents
  • .  Introduction
  • .  Conventions Used in This Document
  • .  Rationale for "SHOULD NOT be deleted"
    • .  DNS Considerations
    • .  Client-Server Consistency Considerations
    • .  Relational Consistency Considerations
  • .  Host Object Renaming Risk
  • .  Analysis of Practices for Domain and Host Object Deletion
    • .  Renaming to Sacrificial Hosts
      • .  Practice Benefits
      • .  Practice Detriments
      • .  Observed Practices for Renaming to Sacrificial Hosts
        • .  Renaming to External, Presumed Non-Existent Hosts
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
        • .  Renaming to "AS112.ARPA"
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
        • .  Renaming to Non-Authoritative Hosts
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
        • .  Renaming to Client-Maintained Dedicated Sacrificial Name Server Host Objects
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
      • .  Potential Practices for Renaming to Sacrificial Hosts
        • .  Renaming to Pseudo-TLD
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
        • .  Renaming to Existing Special-Use TLD
          • .  Renaming to Reserved TLD
        • .  Renaming to a Special-Use Domain
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
        • .  Renaming to Community Sacrificial Name Server Service
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
    • .  Deletion of Hosts
      • .  Observed Practices for Deletion of Hosts
        • .  Implicit Deletion of Affected Host Objects
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
        • .  Inform Affected Clients
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
      • .  Potential Practices for Deletion of Hosts
        • .  Request Explicit Deletion of Affected Host Objects
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
        • .  Provide Additional Deletion Details
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
        • .  Allow Explicit Deletion of a Domain with Restore Capability
          • .  Practice Benefits
          • .  Practice Detriments
  • .  Recommendations
  • .  IANA Considerations
  • .  Security Considerations
  • .  References
    • .  Normative References
    • .  Informative References
  • Acknowledgments
  • Authors' Addresses
Introduction contains text that has led some domain name registrars (acting as EPP clients) to adopt an operational practice of renaming name server host objects so that they can delete domain objects:
A domain object SHOULD NOT be deleted if subordinate host objects are associated with the domain object. For example, if domain "example.com" exists and host object "ns1.example.com" also exists, then domain "example.com" SHOULD NOT be deleted until host "ns1.example.com" has either been deleted or renamed to exist in a different superordinate domain.
Similarly, contains this text regarding deletion of host objects:
A host name object SHOULD NOT be deleted if the host object is associated with any other object. For example, if the host object is associated with a domain object, the host object SHOULD NOT be deleted until the existing association has been broken. Deleting a host object without first breaking existing associations can cause DNS resolution failure for domain objects that refer to the deleted host object.
These recommendations create a dilemma when the sponsoring client for "example.com" intends to delete "example.com" but its associated host object "ns1.example.com" is also associated with domain objects sponsored by another client. It is advised not to delete the host object due to its associated domain objects. However, the associated domain objects cannot be directly updated because they are sponsored by another client. This situation affects all EPP operators that have implemented support for host objects. describes host object renaming:
Host name changes can have an impact on associated objects that refer to the host object. A host name change SHOULD NOT require additional updates of associated objects to preserve existing associations, with one exception: changing an external host object that has associations with objects that are sponsored by a different client. Attempts to update such hosts directly MUST fail with EPP error code 2305. The change can be provisioned by creating a new external host with a new name and any needed new attributes, and subsequently updating the other objects sponsored by the client.
includes a description of external hosts. Some EPP clients have developed operational practices that use host object renaming to break association between a domain object and host object. Note that the specific method used to rename the host object can create DNS delegation failures and introduce risks of loss of management control. If the new external host refers to an unregistered domain, then a malicious actor may register the domain and create the host object to gain control of DNS resolution for the domain previously associated with "ns1.example.com". If the new external host offers an authoritative DNS service but the domain is not assigned to an account, then a malicious actor may add the domain to a service account and gain control of (i.e., hijack) DNS resolution functionality. If the new external host offers recursive DNS service or no DNS service, then DNS requests for the domain will result in SERVFAIL messages or other errors. Aggressive requeries by DNS resolvers may then create large numbers of spurious DNS queries for an unresolvable domain. Note that renaming a host object to a name of an external host cannot be reversed by the EPP client. This document describes the rationale for the "SHOULD NOT be deleted" text in and as well as the risk associated with host object renaming. includes a detailed analysis of the practices that have been and can be used to mitigate that risk. includes specific recommendations for the best practices.
Conventions Used in This Document The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
Rationale for "SHOULD NOT be deleted"
DNS Considerations The primary consideration when deleting domain and host objects concerns the potential impact on DNS resolution. Deletion of a domain object will make all name servers associated with subordinate host objects unresolvable. Deletion of a host object will make any domain that has been delegated to the associated name server unresolvable. The text in and was written to encourage clients to take singular, discrete steps to delete objects in a way that avoids breaking DNS resolution functionality. Additionally, allowing host objects to exist after deletion of their superordinate domain object invites hijacking, as a malicious actor may reregister the domain object, potentially controlling resolution for the host objects and for their associated domain objects. It also creates orphan glue as described in .
Client-Server Consistency Considerations A server that implicitly deletes subordinate host objects in response to a request to delete a domain object can create a data inconsistency condition in which the EPP client and the EPP server have different views of what remains registered after processing a <delete> command. The text in and was written to encourage clients to take singular, discrete steps to delete objects in a way that maintains client-server data consistency. Experience suggests that this inconsistency poses little operational risk.
Relational Consistency Considerations Implementations of EPP can have dependencies on the hierarchical domain object / host object relationship, which can exist in a relational database. In such instances, deletion of a domain object without addressing the existing subordinate host objects can cause relational consistency and integrity issues. The text in and was written to reduce the risk of these issues arising as a result of implicit object deletion.
Host Object Renaming Risk As described in , it is possible to delete a domain object that has associated host objects that are managed by other clients by renaming the host object to exist in a different superordinate domain. This is commonly required when the sponsoring client is unable to disassociate a host object from a domain object managed by another client because only the second client is authorized to make changes to their domain object and the EPP server requires host object disassociation to process a request to delete a domain object. For example: Domain object "domain1.example" is registered by ClientX. Domain object "domain2.example" is registered by ClientY. Subordinate host object "ns1.domain1.example" is registered and associated with domain object "domain1.example" by ClientX. Host object "ns1.domain1.example" is associated with domain object "domain2.example" by ClientY. ClientX wishes to delete domain object "domain1.example". It can modify domain object "domain1.example" to remove the association of host object "ns1.domain1.example", but ClientX cannot remove the association of host object "ns1.domain1.example" from domain object "domain2.example" because "domain2.example" is sponsored by ClientY and ClientX is unable to determine that relationship. Only ClientY can modify domain object "domain2.example", and if they do not do so, ClientX will need to rename host object "ns1.domain1.example" so that "domain1.example" can be deleted. ClientX renames host object "ns1.domain1.example" to "ns1.example.org", creating an external host and meeting the EPP server's subordinate host object disassociation requirement. The renamed host object "ns1.example.org" is referred to as a "sacrificial" host . If domain "example.org" does not exist, this practice introduces a risk of DNS resolution hijacking if someone were to register the "example.org" domain and create a subordinate host object named "ns1.example.org". That name server would receive DNS queries for all domains delegated to it, allowing the operator of the name server to respond in potentially malicious ways.
Analysis of Practices for Domain and Host Object Deletion EPP servers can employ a range of practices for domain and host object deletion. Notably, the scope of any practice discussed here is the EPP server that adopts the practice, the domains managed by it, and the associated host objects where "associated" is described in and . The practices described in this document fall into two broad categories: renaming objects to use sacrificial hosts and allowing objects to be deleted even if there are existing data relationships. These practice categories are described in the following sections. For a broader consideration of practices and potential impacts on registries and registrars, offers some complementary insight.
Renaming to Sacrificial Hosts Sacrificial hosts are hosts whose name is intended to remove an existing relationship between domain and host objects. To that end, sacrificial hosts are either renamed to an external host or associated with a different domain object in the EPP server. The first group of deletion practices use sacrificial hosts leveraging existing EPP server support for renaming host objects.
Practice Benefits Affected domains remain delegated in the zone. Registrars and registrants of affected domains may be able to determine the intention of the change.
Practice Detriments Zones are crowded with irrelevant records. Registrars and registrants of affected domains are required to clean them up.
Observed Practices for Renaming to Sacrificial Hosts
Renaming to External, Presumed Non-Existent Hosts As described above, this practice renames subordinate host objects to an external host in order to allow the deletion of the superordinate domain object. The external host is presumed to be non-existent by the deleting EPP client, but no check for existence is typically performed. This practice has been observed in use. This practice MUST NOT be used.
Practice Benefits The primary benefit is convenience for the deleting EPP client. The deleting EPP client is not required to maintain an authoritative DNS service or receive traffic.
Practice Detriments Malicious actors have registered these parent domains and created child host objects to take control of DNS resolution for associated domains . Sponsoring clients of the associated domains are not informed of the change. Associated domains may no longer resolve if all their hosts are renamed. Associated domains may still resolve if they continue to be associated with existent hosts; in which case, their partial vulnerability to hijacking is more difficult to detect.
Renaming to "AS112.ARPA" Some domain registrars, acting as EPP clients, have renamed host objects to subdomains of "AS112.ARPA" or "EMPTY.AS112.ARPA" . This practice has been observed in use.
Practice Benefits The primary benefit is convenience for the deleting EPP client. The deleting EPP client is not required to maintain an authoritative DNS service or receive traffic.
Practice Detriments This is a misuse of AS112, which is for reverse lookups on non-unique IPs, primarily so local admins can sinkhole non-global traffic . "EMPTY.AS112.ARPA" is designed to be used with DNAME aliasing, not as a parent domain for sacrificial name servers (see ). Unexpected AS112 traffic has previously caused problems with intrusion detection systems and firewalls . Local administrators can potentially hijack requests. AS112 infrastructure must be maintained.
Renaming to Non-Authoritative Hosts Some domain registrars, acting as EPP clients, have maintained host objects with glue records pointing to prominent public recursive DNS services. This practice has been observed in use. This practice MUST NOT be used.
Practice Benefits The primary benefit is convenience for the deleting EPP client. The deleting EPP client is not required to maintain an authoritative DNS service or receive traffic.
Practice Detriments Queries for the associated domains result in SERVFAIL or other failure responses. Some recursive name server implementations may aggressively requery for these responses, potentially resulting in large numbers of queries for unresolvable domains .
Renaming to Client-Maintained Dedicated Sacrificial Name Server Host Objects EPP clients MAY rename the host object to be deleted to a sacrificial name server host object maintained by the client. This requires that the client maintain the registration of the sacrificial name server's superordinate domain. The client may consider long registration periods and the use of registrar and registry lock services to maintain and protect the superordinate domain and the host object. Failures to maintain these registrations have allowed domain hijacks . The client-maintained dedicated sacrificial name server MUST resolve to one or more IP addresses, and the client MUST operate an authoritative DNS name server on those addresses. The name server MAY provide any valid response. This practice has been observed in use.
Practice Benefits Associated domains are not able to be hijacked, remain in the zone, and have valid DNS records and a responsive DNS service. The service may provide responses that indicate problems with a domain's delegation, such as non-existence or including controlled interruption IP addresses .
Practice Detriments This requires that the client maintain the registration of the sacrificial name server's superordinate domain. The client may consider long registration periods and the use of registrar and registry lock services to maintain and protect the superordinate domain and the host object. Failures to maintain these registrations have allowed domain hijacks . Failure responses may cause aggressive requerying (see ).
Potential Practices for Renaming to Sacrificial Hosts
Renaming to Pseudo-TLD Clients may rename host objects to use ".alt" or another non-DNS pseudo-TLD (Top-Level Domain), as suggested in . This practice has not been observed in use. This practice MUST NOT be used.
Practice Benefits The primary benefit is convenience for the deleting EPP client. The deleting EPP client is not required to maintain an authoritative DNS service or receive traffic. Dependent domains cannot be hijacked through the registration of these identifiers and delegation in the DNS.
Practice Detriments The ".alt" pseudo-TLD is to be used "to signify that this is an alternative (non-DNS) namespace and should not be looked up in a DNS context" . Some EPP servers may restrict TLDs to valid IANA-delegated TLDs. These entries would mix DNS and non-DNS protocols, risk name collisions, create confusion, and potentially result in unpredictable resolver behaviors. These identifiers may be registered in non-DNS namespaces, potentially leading to hijacking vulnerabilities based in other systems.
Renaming to Existing Special-Use TLD Clients may rename host objects to a special-use TLD that cannot resolve in the DNS. Several variations have been suggested. This practice has not been observed in use.
Renaming to Reserved TLD Clients may rename host objects to use a reserved special-use TLD, as suggested in .
Practice Benefits The primary benefit is convenience for the deleting EPP client. These TLDs are already reserved and will not resolve. The deleting EPP client is not required to maintain an authoritative DNS service or receive traffic. Dependent domains cannot be hijacked.
Practice Detriments The use of TLDs reserved for special purposes may be confusing without a domain designated by the community for this purpose (see "sacrificial.invalid" in Sections and ). In addition, their use may be prevented by EPP server policy.
Renaming to a Special-Use Domain Clients would rename hosts to a special-use domain or subdomain thereof. The domain may be a special-use SLD (Second-Level Domain) (e.g., sacrificial.invalid) or a new reserved TLD (e.g., .sacrificial). Use of this domain would communicate the client's intention to create a sacrificial host. IANA would add this domain to the "Special-Use Domain Name" registry if such a new TLD is created using either IETF or ICANN processes. This practice has not been observed in use. In terms of the questions from :
  1. These names are not expected to be visible to human users. However, the purpose of these domains is expected to be semantically recognizable to human users.
  2. Application software is not expected to recognize these names as special or treat them differently than other allowed domain names.
  3. Name resolution APIs and libraries are not expected to recognize these names as special or treat them differently than other allowed domain names.
  4. Caching name servers are not expected to recognize these names as special or treat them differently than other allowed domain names.
  5. Authoritative name servers are not expected to recognize these names as special or treat them differently than other allowed domain names. Requests to the root for this domain would result in an NXDOMAIN response .
  6. DNS server operators will treat this domain and its subdomains as they would any other allowed names in the DNS.
  7. DNS registries/registrars will not be able to register this domain and must deny requests to register it or its subdomains.
Practice Benefits This option would offer clarity concerning the intentions of registrars that rename hosts. It would also enable registrars of affected domains ease of detection of renamed hosts. This option is also convenient for the deleting EPP client. The deleting EPP client is not required to maintain an authoritative DNS service or receive traffic. Dependent domains cannot be hijacked through the registration of these identifiers and delegation in the DNS.
Practice Detriments This would require cooperation and policy changes for registrars and registries.
Renaming to Community Sacrificial Name Server Service A new community-wide service could be created explicitly intended for use for renaming host records. This would require maintenance of name servers capable of authoritatively responding with NXDOMAIN or a controlled interruption IP addresses for all queries without delegating domains or records. This service could use a new special-use TLD created through ICANN or IETF processes (e.g., ".sacrificial"), as an IAB request that IANA delegate an SLD for ".arpa" (e.g., "sacrificial-nameserver.arpa"), or as a contracted sinkhole service by ICANN or other DNS ecosystem actors. This practice has not been observed in use.
Practice Benefits This is convenient for the deleting EPP client. The deleting EPP client is not required to maintain an authoritative DNS service or receive traffic. The associated domains are not vulnerable to hijacking. This would provide a well-understood, industry-standard solution, allowing registrars and registrants to easily identify associated domains that have been affected. Infrastructure operators could monitor traffic to identify affected associated domains that result in significant traffic and attempt to contact registrars and registrants. Economies of scale would allow reduced overall costs to the industry (in contrast to each client running an independent service).
Practice Detriments Some entity must maintain the infrastructure for the service.
Deletion of Hosts The second group of practices is based on EPP server support for allowing objects to be deleted even if there are existing data relationships. The recommendations in are intended to maintain consistency. However, they are not requirements.
Observed Practices for Deletion of Hosts
Implicit Deletion of Affected Host Objects EPP servers may relax their constraints and allow sponsoring clients to delete host objects without consideration of associations with domain objects sponsored by other clients. The registry automatically disassociates the deleted host objects from domain objects sponsored by other clients. This practice has been observed in use.
Practice Benefits This is convenient for the deleting EPP client. The deleting EPP client is not required to maintain an authoritative DNS service or receive traffic. The associated domains are not vulnerable to hijacking.
Practice Detriments This could result in domains with no name servers being removed from the zone or domains with only one name server remaining in the zone. Deletions could potentially affect large numbers of associated domains, placing strain on domain registries.
Inform Affected Clients The sponsoring clients of affected domain objects may also be informed of the change (e.g., through the EPP Change Poll extension ). This practice has been observed in use.
Practice Benefits Updates help achieve the goals of client-server data consistency and minimal interruptions to resolution. The sponsoring clients of affected domain objects are able to update their database to reflect the change and would be able to inform the domain's registrant. The sponsoring clients can automatically update the affected domains to use another authoritative host.
Practice Detriments This change requires additional development on the part of EPP servers and clients. There may be scalability concerns if large numbers of domain objects are updated in a single transaction.
Potential Practices for Deletion of Hosts
Request Explicit Deletion of Affected Host Objects Sponsoring clients requesting the deletion of host objects would explicitly request their disassociation from domain objects sponsored by other clients. This practice has not been observed in use.
Practice Benefits Registries would not be required to unilaterally take responsibility for deletion. The deleting EPP client is not required to maintain an authoritative DNS service or receive traffic. The associated domains are not vulnerable to hijacking.
Practice Detriments This could result in domains with no name servers being removed from the zone or domains with only one name server remaining in the zone. Deletions could potentially affect large numbers of associated domains, placing strain on domain registries.
Provide Additional Deletion Details The EPP server may provide the deleting EPP client with additional details of the affected objects. The deleting EPP client may receive a response (e.g., using msg, reason, or msgQ elements of the EPP response ) that deletion of the host object would affect domain objects sponsored by another client and may receive details about those objects (e.g., using the EPP poll command). This practice has not been observed in use.
Practice Benefits The deleting EPP client would be able to better understand and assess the potential harms of host object deletion. Depending on the content of the message, the deleting EPP client might choose additional actions, such as delaying the deletion until manual approval can be obtained, renaming the host objects, or informing affected EPP clients. This would give EPP clients greater flexibility with respect to deletion. For example, they may choose only to exercise deletions that have no impact on other clients.
Practice Detriments This change would require additional development on the part of EPP servers and clients. There may be scalability concerns if large numbers of domain objects are updated in a single transaction. The EPP server must determine the relevant information to provide for the EPP client's assessment.
Allow Explicit Deletion of a Domain with Restore Capability Explicit deletion of a domain name with a cascade purge of subordinate host objects and associations with other domains may be an unrecoverable operation, increasing the potential negative effects of malicious or accidental actions. To mitigate this risk, EPP servers can allow for the explicit deletion of a domain with subordinate host objects associated with other domains only when the associations can be restored by the <restore> operation described in . In order to allow restore, EPP servers may keep the subordinate host objects with a "pendingDelete" status and keep associations with other domains. This makes the objects unavailable in the DNS and provides a preview of the deletion. If the action was malicious, accidental, or had negative side effects, the domain, its subordinate host objects, and the associations with other domains can be restored with the <restore> operation during the redemption period. The purge of the domain will correspond with the purging of the subordinate hosts objects and the associations at the end of the pending delete period . Due to the potentially large number of associations, the server can asynchronously update (e.g., add and remove from DNS) and purge the associations. This practice has not been observed in use.
Practice Benefits This practice enables the clients to directly delete the domains that they need since the server will fully support restoration of the associations during the redemption period. The management of the domain and the subordinate hosts will be simplified for the client by supporting the explicit deletion of the domain with the capability of mitigating a destructive malicious or accidental action.
Practice Detriments By making it easier for a client to explicitly delete a domain having subordinate hosts with associations, there is higher risk of inadvertent side effects in a single delete command. There is existing risk in EPP of inadvertent side effects, such as adding the "clientHold" status to the domain that will impact the DNS resolution of the subordinate hosts and the associated delegations. The ability to easily roll back the command is key to minimize the impact of the side effects. Another issue is the potential size of the database transaction to disable, re-enable, or purge the subordinate host associations, since there is no limit to the number of associations to delegated domains. Servers can break up the disable, re-enable, or purge of the subordinate host associations into smaller transactions by implementing it asynchronously.
Recommendations EPP servers and clients MUST implement one of the following practices to delete domain and host objects with minimal undesired side effects:
  • Rename host objects to a sacrificial name server host object maintained by the client (see ).
  • Delete host objects and associations with the restore option (see ) based on explicit client requests (see ). Provide requesting clients additional deletion details (see ), and inform affected clients of changes (see ).
  • Rename host objects to a sacrificial name server host object that uses a special-use domain (see ) that avoids the special-use domain issues described in . Use of "sacrificial.invalid" (see ) as the parent domain for the host objects is RECOMMENDED to avoid the overhead of creating a new TLD using either IETF or ICANN processes that offers no additional operational benefit.
All other practices described in are NOT RECOMMENDED due to undesired side effects.
IANA Considerations This document has no IANA actions.
Security Considerations This document describes guidance found in and regarding the deletion of domain and host objects by EPP clients. That guidance sometimes requires that host objects be renamed such that they become "external" hosts (see ) in order to meet an EPP server's requirements for host object disassociation prior to domain object deletion. Host object renaming can introduce a risk of DNS resolution hijack under certain operational conditions. This document provides guidance that is intended to reduce the risk of DNS resolution failure or hijacking as part of the process of deleting EPP domain or host objects. Child domains that depend on host objects associated with domain objects sponsored by another EPP client for DNS resolution may be protected from hijacking through the use of DNSSEC. Their resolution may be protected from the effects of deletion by using host objects associated with multiple domain objects. DNSSEC and multiple host objects may interfere with the use of controlled interruption IP addresses to alert registrants to DNS changes. EPP clients can periodically scan sponsored domains for association with sacrificial name servers and alert end users concerning those domains. In absence of DNSSEC use by the victim, an attacker who gains control of a single name server can use DNSSEC to instead take over the victim domain completely if the registry operator and registrar process for automated DS maintenance neglects to check all name servers for consistency in CDS/CDNSKEY records. In this scenario, the domain will end up with DS records derived from the attacker CDS/CDNSKEY records if, by chance, the queries happen to hit the attacker-controlled name server. Subsequently, validating resolvers will no longer accept responses from the legitimate name servers. Moreover, with the use of CSYNC, an attacker may update the domain NS records, removing the legitimate name servers entirely.
References Normative References Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels In many standards track documents several words are used to signify the requirements in the specification. These words are often capitalized. This document defines these words as they should be interpreted in IETF documents. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Domain Registry Grace Period Mapping for the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) This document describes an Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) extension mapping for the management of Domain Name System (DNS) domain names subject to "grace period" policies defined by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Grace period policies exist to allow protocol actions to be reversed or otherwise revoked during a short period of time after the protocol action has been performed. Specified in XML, this mapping extends the EPP domain name mapping to provide additional features required for grace period processing. [STANDARDS-TRACK] Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) This document describes an application-layer client-server protocol for the provisioning and management of objects stored in a shared central repository. Specified in XML, the protocol defines generic object management operations and an extensible framework that maps protocol operations to objects. This document includes a protocol specification, an object mapping template, and an XML media type registration. This document obsoletes RFC 4930. [STANDARDS-TRACK] Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) Domain Name Mapping This document describes an Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) mapping for the provisioning and management of Internet domain names stored in a shared central repository. Specified in XML, the mapping defines EPP command syntax and semantics as applied to domain names. This document obsoletes RFC 4931. [STANDARDS-TRACK] Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) Host Mapping This document describes an Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) mapping for the provisioning and management of Internet host names stored in a shared central repository. Specified in XML, the mapping defines EPP command syntax and semantics as applied to host names. This document obsoletes RFC 4932. [STANDARDS-TRACK] Special-Use Domain Names This document describes what it means to say that a Domain Name (DNS name) is reserved for special use, when reserving such a name is appropriate, and the procedure for doing so. It establishes an IANA registry for such domain names, and seeds it with entries for some of the already established special domain names. Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words RFC 2119 specifies common key words that may be used in protocol specifications. This document aims to reduce the ambiguity by clarifying that only UPPERCASE usage of the key words have the defined special meanings. Special-Use Domain Names Problem Statement The policy defined in RFC 6761 for IANA registrations in the "Special-Use Domain Names" registry has been shown, through experience, to present challenges that were not anticipated when RFC 6761 was written. This memo presents a list, intended to be comprehensive, of the problems that have since been identified. In addition, it reviews the history of domain names and summarizes current IETF publications and some publications from other organizations relating to Special-Use Domain Names. This document should be considered required reading for IETF participants who wish to express an informed opinion on the topic of Special-Use Domain Names. The .alt Special-Use Top-Level Domain This document reserves a Top-Level Domain (TLD) label "alt" to be used in non-DNS contexts. It also provides advice and guidance to developers creating alternative namespaces. Informative References I'm Being Attacked by PRISONER.IANA.ORG! Many sites connected to the Internet make use of IPv4 addresses that are not globally unique. Examples are the addresses designated in RFC 1918 for private use within individual sites. Hosts should never normally send DNS reverse-mapping queries for those addresses on the public Internet. However, such queries are frequently observed. Authoritative servers are deployed to provide authoritative answers to such queries as part of a loosely coordinated effort known as the AS112 project. Since queries sent to AS112 servers are usually not intentional, the replies received back from those servers are typically unexpected. Unexpected inbound traffic can trigger alarms on intrusion detection systems and firewalls, and operators of such systems often mistakenly believe that they are being attacked. This document provides background information and technical advice to those firewall operators. This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes. AS112 Redirection Using DNAME AS112 provides a mechanism for handling reverse lookups on IP addresses that are not unique (e.g., RFC 1918 addresses). This document describes modifications to the deployment and use of AS112 infrastructure that will allow zones to be added and dropped much more easily, using DNAME resource records. This approach makes it possible for any DNS zone administrator to sink traffic relating to parts of the global DNS namespace under their control to the AS112 infrastructure without coordination with the operators of AS112 infrastructure. Report from the Workshop and Prize on Root Causes and Mitigation of Name Collisions This document provides context and a report on the workshop on "Root Causes and Mitigation of Name Collisions", which took place in London, United Kingdom, from March 8 to 10, 2014. The main goal of the workshop was to foster a discussion on the causes and potential mitigations of domain name collisions. This report provides a small amount of background and context; then, it provides a summary of the workshop's discussions. Change Poll Extension for the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) This document describes an Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) extension for notifying clients of operations on client-sponsored objects that were not initiated by the client through EPP. These operations may include contractual or policy requirements including, but not limited to, regular batch processes, customer support actions, Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) or Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) actions, court-directed actions, and bulk updates based on customer requests. Since the client is not directly involved or knowledgable of these operations, the extension is used along with an EPP object mapping to provide the resulting state of the postoperation object, and optionally a preoperation object, with the operation metadata of what, when, who, and why. DNS Terminology The Domain Name System (DNS) is defined in literally dozens of different RFCs. The terminology used by implementers and developers of DNS protocols, and by operators of DNS systems, has changed in the decades since the DNS was first defined. This document gives current definitions for many of the terms used in the DNS in a single document. This document updates RFC 2308 by clarifying the definitions of "forwarder" and "QNAME". It obsoletes RFC 8499 by adding multiple terms and clarifications. Comprehensive lists of changed and new definitions can be found in Appendices A and B. Negative Caching of DNS Resolution Failures In the DNS, resolvers employ caching to reduce both latency for end users and load on authoritative name servers. The process of resolution may result in one of three types of responses: (1) a response containing the requested data, (2) a response indicating the requested data does not exist, or (3) a non-response due to a resolution failure in which the resolver does not receive any useful information regarding the data's existence. This document concerns itself only with the third type. RFC 2308 specifies requirements for DNS negative caching. There, caching of TYPE 2 responses is mandatory and caching of TYPE 3 responses is optional. This document updates RFC 2308 to require negative caching for DNS resolution failures. RFC 4035 allows DNSSEC validation failure caching. This document updates RFC 4035 to require caching for DNSSEC validation failures. RFC 4697 prohibits aggressive requerying for NS records at a failed zone's parent zone. This document updates RFC 4697 to expand this requirement to all query types and to all ancestor zones. Risky BIZness: Risks Derived from Registrar Name Management IMC '21: Proceedings of the 21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference Risky BIZness: Risks Derived from Registrar Name Management IETF 115 Proceedings SSAC Comment on Orphan Glue Records in the Draft Applicant Guidebook ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee SSAC Report on Registrar Nameserver Management ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee
Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this document: , , , , , , , , and .
Authors' Addresses Verisign Labs
12061 Bluemont Way Reston VA 20190 United States of America shollenbeck@verisign.com https://www.verisignlabs.com/
Verisign Labs
12061 Bluemont Way Reston VA 20190 United States of America +1 703 948-3200 wicarroll@verisign.com https://verisign.com
Stanford University
450 Jane Stanford Way Stanford CA 94305 United States of America +1 650 723-2300 gakiwate@cs.stanford.edu https://cs.stanford.edu/~gakiwate/