SPA Scalability in Software Defined Perimeter

Krmelj, Gregor Robert (author), Ciglarič, Mojca (mentor), Pančur, Matjaž (comentor)

Single Packet Authorization (SPA) is a method of gaining network access to a network service by sending a single IP packet which contains all the necessary data to authenticate and authorize a particular client. The result of the exchange is a temporary firewall rule that enables the client access to the requested service. OpenSPA is an implementation of SPA which we have re-implemented from the ground up with countermeasures for Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and replaced the binary encoding protocol with a TLV variant. Using our testing environment with a 100 Gbit/s network we were able to defend against a 6.7 Mpps DoS attacks using a single CPU core and a 106 Mpps attack using 16 CPU cores.

• Language: English
• Keywords: SPA, Firewall, Network Security, eBPF, XDP, Network Protocol Design, Hidden Services
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.09 - Master's Thesis
• Organization: FRI - Faculty of Computer and Information Science
• Year: 2022
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-142965
• COBISS.SI-ID: 136683779
• Publication date in RUL: 06.12.2022

KRMELJ, Gregor Robert, 2022, SPA Scalability in Software Defined Perimeter [online]. Master’s thesis. [Accessed 26 April 2025]. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=142965

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Skalabilnost protokola SPA v programsko določenem robu omrežja

Abstract

Preverjanje pristnosti z enim paketom (ang. Single Packet Authorization -- SPA) je metoda, s katero lahko pridobimo dostop do storitve izključno na podlagi enega paketa IP. V ta paket shranimo vse informacije, ki jih strežnik potrebuje, da lahko preveri pristnost zahtevka. V primeru, da imamo pravico do željene storitve, strežnik v požarnem zidu določi začasno pravilo, ki nam (odjemalcu) omogoči dostop. Med odprtokodne implementacije principa SPA spada tudi OpenSPA. V magistrski nalogi bomo predstavili našo novo implementacijo protokola OpenSPA. Novosti protokola sta zaščita ob napadih ohromitev storitve (ang. Denial of Service -- DoS) in binarno kodiranje podatkov v formatu TLV. Znotraj testnega okolja z omrežjem hitrosti 100 Gbit/s smo lahko obranili napad DoS velikosti 6.7 Mpps z uporabo 1 jedra in napad DoS velikosti 106 Mpps z uporabo 16 jeder.

• Keywords: SPA, požarni zid, omrežna varnost, eBPF, XDP, omrežni protokoli, skrite storitve