netdev - Re: [PATCH net-next v4 0/5] Add support for locked bridge ports (for 802.1X)

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Date:   Tue, 22 Feb 2022 11:15:23 -0800
From:   Jakub Kicinski <kuba@...nel.org>
To:     Hans Schultz <schultz.hans@...il.com>
Cc:     davem@...emloft.net, netdev@...r.kernel.org,
        Hans Schultz <schultz.hans+netdev@...il.com>,
        Andrew Lunn <andrew@...n.ch>,
        Vivien Didelot <vivien.didelot@...il.com>,
        Florian Fainelli <f.fainelli@...il.com>,
        Vladimir Oltean <olteanv@...il.com>,
        Roopa Prabhu <roopa@...dia.com>,
        Nikolay Aleksandrov <nikolay@...dia.com>,
        Shuah Khan <shuah@...nel.org>,
        Stephen Suryaputra <ssuryaextr@...il.com>,
        David Ahern <dsahern@...nel.org>,
        Ido Schimmel <idosch@...dia.com>,
        Petr Machata <petrm@...dia.com>,
        Amit Cohen <amcohen@...dia.com>,
        Po-Hsu Lin <po-hsu.lin@...onical.com>,
        Baowen Zheng <baowen.zheng@...igine.com>,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, bridge@...ts.linux-foundation.org,
        linux-kselftest@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH net-next v4 0/5] Add support for locked bridge ports
 (for 802.1X)

On Tue, 22 Feb 2022 14:28:13 +0100 Hans Schultz wrote:
> This series starts by adding support for SA filtering to the bridge,
> which is then allowed to be offloaded to switchdev devices. Furthermore
> an offloading implementation is supplied for the mv88e6xxx driver.
> 
> Public Local Area Networks are often deployed such that there is a
> risk of unauthorized or unattended clients getting access to the LAN.
> To prevent such access we introduce SA filtering, such that ports
> designated as secure ports are set in locked mode, so that only
> authorized source MAC addresses are given access by adding them to
> the bridges forwarding database. Incoming packets with source MAC
> addresses that are not in the forwarding database of the bridge are
> discarded. It is then the task of user space daemons to populate the
> bridge's forwarding database with static entries of authorized entities.
> 
> The most common approach is to use the IEEE 802.1X protocol to take
> care of the authorization of allowed users to gain access by opening
> for the source address of the authorized host.
> 
> With the current use of the bridge parameter in hostapd, there is
> a limitation in using this for IEEE 802.1X port authentication. It
> depends on hostapd attaching the port on which it has a successful
> authentication to the bridge, but that only allows for a single
> authentication per port. This patch set allows for the use of
> IEEE 802.1X port authentication in a more general network context with
> multiple 802.1X aware hosts behind a single port as depicted, which is
> a commonly used commercial use-case, as it is only the number of
> available entries in the forwarding database that limits the number of
> authenticated clients.
> 
>       +--------------------------------+
>       |                                |
>       |      Bridge/Authenticator      |
>       |                                |
>       +-------------+------------------+
>        802.1X port  |
>                     |
>                     |
>              +------+-------+
>              |              |
>              |  Hub/Switch  |
>              |              |
>              +-+----------+-+
>                |          |
>             +--+--+    +--+--+
>             |     |    |     |
>     Hosts   |  a  |    |  b  |   . . .
>             |     |    |     |
>             +-----+    +-----+
> 
> The 802.1X standard involves three different components, a Supplicant
> (Host), an Authenticator (Network Access Point) and an Authentication
> Server which is typically a Radius server. This patch set thus enables
> the bridge module together with an authenticator application to serve
> as an Authenticator on designated ports.
> 
> 
> For the bridge to become an IEEE 802.1X Authenticator, a solution using
> hostapd with the bridge driver can be found at
> https://github.com/westermo/hostapd/tree/bridge_driver .
> 
> 
> The relevant components work transparently in relation to if it is the
> bridge module or the offloaded switchcore case that is in use.

You still haven't answer my question. Is the data plane clear text in
the deployment you describe?