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Securing the Network in Oracle Solaris 11.1     Oracle Solaris 11.1 Information Library
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Document Information

Preface

1.  Using Link Protection in Virtualized Environments

2.  Tuning Your Network (Tasks)

3.  Web Servers and the Secure Sockets Layer Protocol

4.  IP Filter in Oracle Solaris (Overview)

5.  IP Filter (Tasks)

6.  IP Security Architecture (Overview)

7.  Configuring IPsec (Tasks)

8.  IP Security Architecture (Reference)

IPsec Services

ipsecconf Command

ipsecinit.conf File

Sample ipsecinit.conf File

Security Considerations for ipsecinit.conf and ipsecconf

ipsecalgs Command

Security Associations Database for IPsec

Utilities for SA Generation in IPsec

Security Considerations for ipseckey

snoop Command and IPsec

9.  Internet Key Exchange (Overview)

10.  Configuring IKE (Tasks)

11.  Internet Key Exchange (Reference)

Glossary

Index

Utilities for SA Generation in IPsec

The IKE protocol provides automatic key management for IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. See Chapter 10, Configuring IKE (Tasks) for instructions on how to set up IKE. The manual keying utility is the ipseckey command, which is described in the ipseckey(1M) man page.

You use the ipseckey command to manually populate the security associations database (SADB). Typically, manual SA generation is used when IKE is unavailable for some reason. However, if the SPI values are unique, manual SA generation and IKE can be used at the same time.

The ipseckey command can be used to view all SAs that are known to the system, whether the keys were added manually or by IKE. With the -c option, the ipseckey command checks the syntax of the keys file that you provide as an argument.

IPsec SAs that are added by the ipseckey command are not persistent over system reboot. To enable manually added SAs at system boot, add entries to the /etc/inet/secret/ipseckeys file, then enable the svc:/network/ipsec/manual-key:default service. For the procedure, see How to Manually Create IPsec Keys.

While the ipseckey command has only a limited number of general options, the command supports a rich command language. You can specify that requests be delivered by means of a programmatic interface specific for manual keying. For additional information, see the pf_key(7P) man page.

Security Considerations for ipseckey

The ipseckey command enables a role with the Network Security or Network IPsec Management rights profile to enter sensitive cryptographic keying information. If an adversary gains access to this information, the adversary can compromise the security of IPsec traffic.


Note - Use IKE, not manual keying with ipseckey, if possible.


You should consider the following issues when you handle keying material and use the ipseckey command:

Security weaknesses often arise from the misapplication of tools, not from the actual tools. You should be cautious when using the ipseckey command. Use ssh, or a console or other hard-connected TTY for the safest mode of operation.