aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/doc/contrib
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorNick Mathewson <nickm@torproject.org>2007-03-15 15:55:26 +0000
committerNick Mathewson <nickm@torproject.org>2007-03-15 15:55:26 +0000
commita9d0479d96b456f64b0a5404ba29a9b342776671 (patch)
tree7c47635769b52bc05928d2f4924bba62296b0628 /doc/contrib
parent136c0f5431cca5bbea74277238ff9223f5b7831d (diff)
downloadtor-a9d0479d96b456f64b0a5404ba29a9b342776671.tar
tor-a9d0479d96b456f64b0a5404ba29a9b342776671.tar.gz
Add a doc/contrib directory; throw in torbl-design.txt
svn:r9828
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/contrib')
-rw-r--r--doc/contrib/torbl-design.txt160
1 files changed, 160 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/contrib/torbl-design.txt b/doc/contrib/torbl-design.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ee6e6aac5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/contrib/torbl-design.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+Design For A Tor RBL {DRAFT}
+
+Status:
+
+ This is a suggested design for a DNSBL for Tor exit nodes. It hasn't been
+ implemented.
+
+Why?
+
+ It's useful for third parties to be able to tell when they've got a
+ connection from a Tor exit node. Potential aplications range from
+ "anonymous user" cloaks on IRC networks like oftc, to networks like
+ Freenode that apply special authentication rules to users from these
+ IPs, to systems like Wikipedia that want to make a priority of
+ _unblocking_ shared IPs more liberally than non-shared IPs, since shared
+ IPs presumably have non-abusive users as well as abusive ones.
+
+ Since Tor provides exit policies, not every Tor server will connect to
+ every address:port combination on the Internet. Unless you're trying to
+ penalize hosts for supporting anonymity, it makes more sense to answer
+ the fine-grained question "which Tor servers will connect to _me_" than
+ the coarse-grained question "which Tor servers exist?" The fine-grained
+ approach also helps Tor server ops who share an IP with their Tor
+ server: if they want to access a site that blocks Tor users, they can
+ add that site to their exit policy, and the site can learn that they
+ won't send it anonymous connections.
+
+ Tor already ships with a tool (the "exitlist" script) to identify which
+ Tor nodes might open anonymous connections to any given exit address.
+ But this is a bit tricky to set up, and isn't seeing much use.
+ Conversely, providers of some DNSBL implementations are providing
+ coarse-grained lists of Tor hosts -- sometimes even listing servers that
+ permit no exit connections at all. This is rather a problem, since
+ support for DNSBL is pretty ubiquitous.
+
+
+How?
+
+ Keep a running Tor instance, and parse the cached-routers and
+ cached-routers.new files as new routers arrive. To tell whether a given
+ server allows connections to a certain address:port combo, look at the
+ definitions in dir-spec.txt or follow the logic of the current exitlist
+ script.
+
+ FetchUselessDescriptors would probably be a good option to enable.
+
+ If you're also running a directory cache, you get extra-fresh
+ information.
+
+
+The DNS interface
+
+ DNSBL, if I understand right, looks like this: There's some host at
+ foo.example.com. You want to know if 1.2.3.4 is in the list, so you
+ query for an A record for 4.3.2.1.foo.example.com. If the record
+ exists, 1.2.3.4 is in the list. If you get an NXDOMAIN error, 1.2.3.4
+ is not in the list.
+
+ Assume that the DNSBL sits at some host, torhosts.example.com. Below
+ are some queries that could be supported, though some of them are
+ possibly a bad idea.
+
+
+ "General IP:Port"
+
+ Format:
+ {IP1}.{port}.{IP2}.ip-port.torhosts.example.com
+
+ Rule:
+ Iff {IP1} is a Tor server that permits connections to {port} on
+ {IP2}, then there should be an A record.
+
+ Example:
+ "1.0.0.10.80.4.3.2.1.ip-port.torhosts.example.com" should exist
+ if and only if there is a Tor server at 10.0.0.1 that allows
+ connections to port 80 on 1.2.3.4.
+
+ Example use:
+ I'm running an IRC server at w.x.y.z:9999, and I want to tell
+ whether an incoming connections are from Tor servers. I set
+ up my IRC server to give a special mask to any user coming from
+ an IP listed in 9999.z.y.x.w.ip-port.torhosts.example.com.
+
+ Later, when I get a connection from a.b.c.d, my ircd looks up
+ "d.c.b.a.9999.z.y.x.w.ip-port.torhosts.example.com" to see
+ if it's a Tor server that allows connections to my ircd.
+
+
+ "IP-port group."
+
+ Format:
+ {IP}.{listname}.list.torhosts.example.com
+
+ Rule:
+ Iff this Tor server is configured with an IP:Port list named
+ {listname}, and {IP} is a Tor server that permits connections to
+ any member of {listname}, then there exists an A record.
+
+ Example:
+ Suppose torhosts.example.com has a list of IP:Port called "foo".
+ There is an A record for 4.3.2.1.foo.list.torhosts.example.com
+ if and only if 1.2.3.4 is a Tor server that permits connections
+ to one of the addresses in list "foo|.
+
+ Example use:
+ Suppose torhosts.example.com has a list of hosts in "examplenet",
+ a popular IRC network. Rather than having them each set up to
+ query the appropriate "ip-port" list, they could instead all be
+ set to query a central examplenet.list.torhosts.example.com.
+
+ Problems:
+ We'd be better off if each individual server queried about hosts
+ that allowed connections to itself. That way, if I wanted to
+ allow anonymous connections to foonet, but I wanted to be able to
+ connect to foonet from my own IP without being marked, I could add
+ just a few foonet addresses to my exit policy.
+
+
+ "My IP, with port."
+
+ Format:
+ {IP}.{port}.me.torhosts.example.com
+
+ Rule:
+ An A record exists iff there is a tor server at {IP} that permits
+ connections to {port} on the host that requested the lookup.
+
+ Example:
+ "4.3.2.1.80.me.torhosts.example.com" should have an A record if
+ and only if there is a Tor server at 1.2.3.4 that allows
+ connections to port 80 of the querying host.
+
+ Example use:
+ Somebody wants to set up a quick-and-dirty Tor detector for a
+ single webserver: just point them at 80.me.torhosts.example.com.
+
+ Problem:
+ This would be easiest to use, but DNS gets in the way. If you
+ create DNS records that give different results depending on who is
+ asking, you mess up caching. There could be a fix here, but might
+ now.
+ here.
+
+
+ RECOMMENDATION: Just build ip-port for now, and see what demand is
+ like. There's no point in building mechanisms nobody wants.
+
+Web interface:
+
+ Should provide the same data as the dns interface.
+
+Other issues:
+
+ 30-60 minutes is not an unreasonable TTL.
+
+ There could be some demand for address masks and port lists. Address
+ masks wider than /8 make me nervous here, as do port ranges.
+
+ We need an answer for what to do about hosts which exit from different
+ IPs than their advertised IP.