coredns-rfc2136/tsig.go
Ryan Malloy 6268e6eafd Sign responses to TSIG-signed UPDATEs (RFC 8945 §5.4.2)
When a request arrives with TSIG, attach a TSIG record to the response
so dns.ResponseWriter computes the MAC at write time using the secret
in TsigSecret. Without this, BIND nsupdate complains "expected a TSIG
or SIG(0)" on every UPDATE, even when the update applies successfully.

Two response paths fixed:
  - handleUpdate success/per-rcode replies (update.go)
  - ServeDNS rejection when TSIG verification fails (plugin.go)

The new helper in tsig.go is a no-op for unsigned requests. Unknown
keys still silently skip signing — we can't authenticate to a peer we
don't share a key with.

Tests verify both branches: signed request → response carries matching
TSIG (key name + algorithm); unsigned request → response stays plain.
2026-05-22 09:24:12 -06:00

95 lines
3.6 KiB
Go

package rfc2136
import (
"fmt"
"strings"
"time"
"github.com/miekg/dns"
)
// tsigResponseFudge is the time tolerance (seconds) embedded in
// responses we sign. RFC 8945 §10 suggests 300s; we mirror that.
const tsigResponseFudge = 300
// signResponseIfSigned attaches a TSIG record to resp using the
// request's key name and algorithm. This causes the downstream
// dns.ResponseWriter to compute and serialize the MAC at WriteMsg
// time (using the secret from the server's TsigSecret map, which
// setup.go populated). Per RFC 8945 §5.4.2, the response to a
// TSIG-signed message MUST itself be signed if the server knows the
// key — otherwise the client cannot authenticate the answer and
// rejects it with "expected a TSIG or SIG(0)" (BIND nsupdate's exact
// complaint).
//
// If the request was not TSIG-signed, this is a no-op. If the key is
// not in the server's TsigSecret map (e.g. unknown key), miekg/dns
// will skip signing at write time and the response goes back
// unsigned — that's the correct shape for "I don't have your key."
func signResponseIfSigned(resp, req *dns.Msg) {
tsig := req.IsTsig()
if tsig == nil {
return
}
resp.SetTsig(tsig.Hdr.Name, tsig.Algorithm, tsigResponseFudge, time.Now().Unix())
}
// checkTSIG verifies that the incoming UPDATE message is properly signed
// with a TSIG key we know about. The actual signature math has already
// been done by the underlying dns.Server (because setup.go registered
// our keys in dnsserver.Config.TsigSecret); this function just inspects
// the result and the key identity.
//
// Behavior matrix:
//
// No TSIG keys configured → updates are unauthenticated. Caller may
// still allow if it deems the network safe;
// we conservatively reject (REFUSED) since
// the practical use case (Caddy) always
// signs.
// TSIG keys configured but message has no TSIG → reject.
// TSIG present, key name not in our map → reject.
// TSIG present, signature failed at dns.Server → reject (TsigStatus()).
// All good → nil.
func (p *RFC2136) checkTSIG(w dns.ResponseWriter, r *dns.Msg) error {
tsig := r.IsTsig()
if len(p.TSIGKeys) == 0 {
return fmt.Errorf("no TSIG keys configured; refusing all UPDATEs as a safety default")
}
if tsig == nil {
return fmt.Errorf("TSIG required but not present")
}
keyName := strings.ToLower(tsig.Hdr.Name)
if !strings.HasSuffix(keyName, ".") {
keyName += "."
}
key, known := p.TSIGKeys[keyName]
if !known {
return fmt.Errorf("unknown TSIG key %q", keyName)
}
// Algorithm pinning: the incoming TSIG can in theory use any
// algorithm miekg/dns supports, but we only honour the one declared
// in Corefile. Rejecting algorithm-downgrade attempts is a small
// but important hardening — without this, an attacker who somehow
// got a key could downgrade to HMAC-MD5 (which we don't even
// configure but miekg/dns understands).
if !strings.EqualFold(tsig.Algorithm, key.Algorithm) {
return fmt.Errorf("TSIG algorithm mismatch: incoming=%s expected=%s", tsig.Algorithm, key.Algorithm)
}
// The underlying dns.Server verifies the TSIG MAC for us when it
// has the secret in its TsigSecret map (which setup.go wires up).
// A nil from TsigStatus means verification succeeded; any non-nil
// error means the signature was invalid, the time was outside the
// fudge window, or some other auth failure.
if status := w.TsigStatus(); status != nil {
return fmt.Errorf("TSIG verification failed for key %q: %w", keyName, status)
}
return nil
}