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Re: Re[2]: IPSEC and NAT



>      Once the packet is received by the target host, it would assume that 
>      it needs to setup an SA with the NAT instead of with a host with a 
>      private address (which has been changed by the NAT). Since the NAT was 
>      not the initiator of the ISAKMP exchange there is alot of confusion. 
>      One REALLY STUPID way of doing it is to share the private/public keys 
>      between the host and the NAT (I DO NOT RECCOMEND YOU TO DO THIS AT 
>      HOME). An alternative is for the NAT to run in tunnel mode on behalf 
>      of the initiator (but this assumes that the initiator trusts the NAT, 
>      which it probably does not).

But isn't this the same problem as when a Security Gateway sits in
front of a protected enclave on non-IPSEC aware hosts?  Is the SA
between the end-systems or between the Gateway and an end-system (or
between two Gateways)?  This also plays into one of the "IPSecond
useful" items as spelled out by Steve Bellovin last Friday -
dynamic discovery of IPSEC topologies.

The answer may be that for a installation using IPSEC, it should not
use an off-the-shelf NAT box but rather an IPSEC-aware security
gateway (e.g., an IPSEC firewall that also does NAT).  



-- 
 ___________________________________________________________________
|                                                                   |
|Howard Weiss                        phone (410) 381-9400 x201      |
|SPARTA, Inc.                              (301) 621-8145 x201 (DC) |
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