Unresolved Issues: Prevalence, Persistence, and Perils of Lame Delegations

Gautam Akiwate, Mattijs Jonker, Raffaele Sommese, Ian Foster, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Stefan Savage, Kimberley Claffy

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)
277 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The modern Internet relies on the Domain Name System (DNS) to convert between human-readable domain names and IP addresses. However, the correct and efficient implementation of this function is jeopardized when the configuration data binding domains, nameservers and glue records is faulty. In particular lame delegations, which occur when a nameserver responsible for a domain is unable to provide authoritative information about it, introduce both performance and security risks. We perform a broad-based measurement study of lame delegations, using both longitudinal zone data and active querying. We show that lame delegations of various kinds are common (affecting roughly 14% of domains we queried), that they can significantly degrade lookup latency (when they do not lead to outright failure), and that they expose hundreds of thousands of domains to adversarial takeover. We also explore circumstances that give rise to this surprising prevalence of lame delegations, including unforeseen interactions between the operational procedures of registrars and registries.
Original languageEnglish
Pages281-294
Number of pages14
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Oct 2020
EventACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2020 - Online
Duration: 27 Oct 202029 Oct 2020

Conference

ConferenceACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2020
Abbreviated titleIMC
Period27/10/2029/10/20

Keywords

  • DNS
  • security
  • Cybersecurity
  • misconfiguration
  • Internet measurement
  • Measurement

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