Phasing out MAIL-FROM auth scheme

Dear Colleagues,

[apologies for duplicate messages]

The MAIL-FROM authentication scheme is very weak. Forging RFC2822
headers can be done very easily. With the existence of more secure
"auth" schemes in the RIPE Database, it does not make much sense to
support it any more.

The proposal to phase out the MAIL-FROM authentication scheme was
presented to the to the Database Working group. You may find the
original proposal at
http://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail-archives/db-wg/20020101-20020401/msg00066.html

The timeline for this transition presented below was discussed and
approved at the RIPE 42 meeting. Please see the minutes of the DB-WG
session http://www.ripe.net/ripe/wg/db/minutes/ripe-42.html.

To make this transition more smooth we prepared a page with step by step
instructions how to update the mntner objects to remove the MAIL-FROM
auth scheme. It can be found at http://www.ripe.net/db/MD5-HOWTO.html


Regards,

Andrei Robachevsky
DB Group Manager
RIPE NCC


Transition phases
==================

Use of MAIL-FROM is phased out in four steps, on the following dates:

Phase 1: 16 May 2002 - 12 June 2002
Notifying mntners with MAIL-FROM auth scheme
--------------------------------------------

An announcement presenting this transition and encouraging the owners of 
  the mntners to remove MAIL-FROM auth scheme from their objects will be 
sent on 16 May, 2002. The announcement will point to instructions how to 
  update the mntner objects to remove the MAIL-FROM auth scheme.

The distribution list will be compiled from e-mail addresses listed in 
"upd-to:", "mnt-nfy:" attributes of the mntners, as well as using 
contact information (e-mail) from "admin-c:" and "tech-c:" references.


Phase 2: 13 June 2002 - 10 July 2002
Rejecting updates for mntner objects containing MAIL-FROM auth scheme
---------------------------------------------------------------------

When updating maintainers the new version must not contain MAIL-FROM 
"auth:" attributes, otherwise this will be reported as a syntax error. 
This means that you cannot create any new MAIL-FROM "auth:" attributes, 
either in new or existing maintainers.


Phase 3: 11 July 2002 - 7 August 2002
Rejecting using the MAIL-FROM auth scheme for authorisation
-----------------------------------------------------------

When processing an update for an object protected by a mntner that 
contains MAIL-FROM auth scheme, this scheme will be ignored. That means 
that if mntner defines other auth schemes different from MAIL-FROM, the 
credentials relevant to these schemes may be used. If the only auth 
scheme defined is MAIL-FROM, no update can be authorised by such mntner.


Phase 4: 8 August 2002
Cleanup
-------

The mntners still containing "auth:" attribute with the MAIL-FROM auth 
scheme will be modified so that such attributes will be removed from the 
objects. Before this a final call will be sent to the owners of these 
mntners ("upd-to:", "mnt-nfy:" attributes of the mntners, as well as to 
the contacts from "admin-c:" and "tech-c:" references).

A "remarks:" attribute will be added with clear explanation of the 
situation.

In case a mntner contains only one "auth" scheme, which is MAIL-FROM, it
will be locked and cannot be used by the owner.