



SIDR Operations                                                 H. Zhang
Internet-Draft                                                     CNNIC
Intended status: Best Current Practice                            H. Zou
Expires: 16 April 2026                                              CNIC
                                                                L. Zhang
                                                                 X. Yang
                                                                   CNNIC
                                                                   D. Ma
                                                                    ZDNS
                                                                   Y. Li
                                                                    CNIC
                                                            October 2025


      Best Current Practice for ROA Issuance Restrictions in RPKI
                  draft-zhang-sidrops-rpki-roa-bcp-01

Abstract

   This document specifies best current practices for Resource Public
   Key Infrastructure (RPKI) operators regarding Route Origin
   Authorizations (ROAs).  It mandates that a parent Certification
   Authority (CA) MUST NOT issue ROAs for Internet number resources
   delegated to a child CA.  RPKI certification authorities(CA software)
   and relying party software are required to enforce this restriction
   by rejecting or flagging invalid ROAs issued outside of resource
   allocations.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 4 April 2026.







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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2025 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Best Current Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  Special Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6

1.  Introduction

   The Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) [RFC6480] provides a
   framework to secure the Internet routing by associating IP address
   blocks with public key certificates.  Route Origin
   Authorizations(ROAs) [RFC9582] allow the holder of an IP prefix to
   authorize an Autonomous System (AS) to originate routes for that
   prefix.

   In the RPKI hierarchy, IP resources are delegated from a parent
   Certification Authority (CA) to a child CA, transferring exclusive
   authority over those resources.  However, some RPKI implementations
   permit parent CAs to issue ROAs for delegated resources, leading to
   conflicts and undermining the RPKI trust model.

   This document establishes a Best Current Practice (BCP) to specify
   that only the entity holding the resource certificate with effective
   authority for a prefix may issue ROAs for that prefix.  Effective
   authority is transferred to the child CA upon delegation, and the
   parent CA MUST NOT issue ROAs for those resources.



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1.1.  Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

2.  Problem Statement

   When a parent CA delegates resources to a child CA, authority over
   those resources is exclusively transferred.  According to the RPKI
   architecture [RFC6480], the parent CA relinquishes operational
   control and MUST NOT issue ROAs for delegated resources.  However, in
   practice, some RPKI systems permit this leading to the following
   issues:

   *  Competing ROAs [RFC8211]: Multiple ROAs may exist for the same IP
      prefix, issued by both parent and child CAs.

   *  Validation ambiguity: Relying party (RP) software cannot
      prioritize between competing ROAs, including all valid ROAs in
      validated ROA payloads(VRPs).  This may lead to routing decisions
      that conflict with the delegation model(e.g., a parent CA's ROA
      for 192.0.2.0/24 authorizing AS1, and a child CA's ROA for the
      same prefix authorizing AS2).

   *  Security risk: A malicious or compromised parent CA could issue
      ROAs to hijack routes or disrupt legitimate routing.

   These issues directly affect the security and stability of the
   Internet routing system, as RPKI data is used to validate route
   origins and influence routing decisions.

3.  Best Current Practice

   To ensure consistency, security in the RPKI ecosystem, the following
   practices are RECOMMENDED:

   *  Parent CAs MUST NOT issue ROAs for resources delegated to a child
      CA.  If legacy ROAs exist, the parent CA SHOULD revoke them in
      coordination with the child CA to minimize disruption.

   *  RPKI CA software MUST reject ROAs issued for resources outside the
      issuer's certified resources, defined as those resources in the
      CA's active certificate, excluding delegated portions.





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   *  Relying party (RP) software SHOULD flag ROAs issued by a parent CA
      for resources delegated to a child CA, issuing warnings during
      validation.  The detection rule is:verify if a parent CA's ROA
      prefix overlaps with resources delegated to a child CA.

   *  It is RECOMMENDED that only leaf CAs(CAs that have not delegated
      resources further) issue ROAs.  Restricting ROA issuance to leaf
      CAs clarifies authority, prevents overlapping or competing ROAs
      between parent and child CAs, and reduces risks of
      misconfiguration or misuse that could lead to routing incidents.
      If a non-leaf CA issues a ROA, RP software triggers an warning
      during validation.  This recommendation is consistent with the
      above restriction on parent CAs and extends the principle by
      specifying that only CAs without further delegation (leaf CAs)
      should perform ROA issuance.

   *  In cases where a parent CA, such as a Regional Internet Registry
      (RIR), operates its own network and needs to issue ROAs for the
      resources it directly holds (i.e., resources not delegated to
      child CAs), it is RECOMMENDED that the parent CA create a
      dedicated subordinate CA for those resources.  ROAs should then be
      issued from this subordinate CA, maintaining clear separation
      between allocation and operational roles.

   *  Operators of RPKI CAs SHOULD implement monitoring to detect ROA
      misconfigurations, with automated alerts for unauthorized
      issuance.

   *  Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) and other certification
      authorities are encouraged to update their RPKI documentation and
      user interfaces to clearly communicate these restrictions to end
      users.

4.  IANA Considerations

   This memo includes no request to IANA.

5.  Security Considerations

   Failure to enforce ROA issuance restrictions can lead to serious
   security consequences, including:

   *  Route hijacking: An compromised parent CA could issue ROAs to
      redirect traffic.







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   *  Routing blackhole: If a parent CA issues an ROA for a delegated
      prefix (e.g., 192.0.2.0/24 authorizing AS1) and the child CA,
      holding the same prefix, does not issue an ROA but announces via
      AS2, the route may be marked "Invalid" per [RFC6811], causing
      traffic to be dropped and resulting in a routing blackhole.

   *  Erosion of trust: Ambibuities in ROA authority reduce confidence
      in RPKI.

   Strict enforcement at both the CA and relying party levels is
   essential to maintaining the integrity of the global routing system.
   This document reinforces the principle of least authority within the
   RPKI hierarchy.

6.  Special Considerations

   In some operational environments, organizations may delegate
   resources internally to subsidiaries or business units.  In such
   cases, the parent organization may still need to issue ROAs that
   cover subsidiary resources.  The recommended practice is to avoid
   using the parent/child CA model for this purpose.  Instead, the
   parent and subsidiary should share a common CA certificate within the
   same administrative domain, and implement internal controls to ensure
   that ROAs are issued according to IP allocation rules.  This prevents
   conflicts and ensures compliance with the principle of least
   authority within the global RPKI framework.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.

   [RFC9582]  Snijders, J., Maddison, B., Lepinski, M., Kong, D., and S.
              Kent, "A Profile for Route Origin Authorizations (ROAs)",
              BCP 14, RFC 9582, DOI 10.17487/RFC9582, May 2024,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9582>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

7.2.  Informative References





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   [RFC6480]  Lepinski, M. and S. Kent, "An Infrastructure to Support
              Secure Internet Routing", RFC 6480, DOI 10.17487/RFC6480,
              February 2012, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6480>.

   [RFC6811]  Bush, B., "BGP Prefix Origin Validation", RFC 6811,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6811, January 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6811>.

   [RFC8211]  Kent, S. and A. Chi, "Adverse Actions by a Certification
              Authority (CA) or Repository Manager in the Resource
              Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI)", RFC 8211,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8211, September 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8211>.

Authors' Addresses

   Heng Zhang
   CNNIC
   Email: zhangheng@cnnic.cn


   Hui Zou
   CNIC
   Email: zouhui@cnic.cn


   Likun Zhang
   CNNIC
   Email: zhanglikun@cnnic.cn


   Xue Yang
   CNNIC
   Email: yangx@cnnic.cn


   Di Ma
   ZDNS
   Email: madi@zdns.cn


   Yanbiao Li
   CNIC
   Email: lybmath@cnic.cn







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