research-article

Application Threats to Exploit Northbound Interface Vulnerabilities in Software Defined Networks

Authors:

Muhammad Usman,

Tanveer A. Zia,

Hammad AfzalAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), Volume 54, Issue 6

Article No.: 121, Pages 1 - 36

https://doi.org/10.1145/3453648

Published: 13 July 2021 Publication History

Abstract

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an evolving technology that decouples the control functionality from the underlying hardware managed by the control plane. The application plane supports programmers to develop numerous applications (such as networking, management, security, etc.) that can even be executed from remote locations. Northbound interface (NBI) bridges the control and application planes to execute the third-party applications business logic. Due to the software bugs in applications and existing vulnerabilities such as illegal function calling, resource exhaustion, lack of trust, and so on, NBIs are susceptible to different attacks. Based on the extensive literature review, we have identified that the researchers and academia have mainly focused on the security of the control plane, data plane, and southbound interface (SBI). NBI, in comparison, has received far less attention. In this article, the security of the least explored, but a critical component of the SDN architecture, i.e., NBI, is analyzed. The article provides a brief overview of SDN, followed by a detailed discussion on the categories of NBI, vulnerabilities of NBI, and threats posed by malicious applications to NBI. Efforts of the researchers to counter malicious applications and NBI issues are then discussed in detail. The standardization efforts for the single acceptable NBI and security requirements of SDN by Open Networking Foundation (ONF) are also presented. The article concludes with the future research directions for the security of a single acceptable NBI.

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Su YXiong DQian KWang Y(2024)A Comprehensive Survey of Distributed Denial of Service Detection and Mitigation Technologies in Software-Defined NetworkElectronics10.3390/electronics1304080713:4(807)Online publication date: 19-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13040807
Awan KUd Din IAlmogren ARodrigues J(2024)Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Synergies in Trust-Enhanced Consumer Applications for Software Defined NetworksIEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics10.1109/TCE.2024.336567370:1(791-799)Online publication date: 13-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TCE.2024.3365673
Wejin JAjao AOkokpujie K(2024)Comparative Simulation of TCP and TLS Protocols in SDN Network2024 International Conference on Science, Engineering and Business for Driving Sustainable Development Goals (SEB4SDG)10.1109/SEB4SDG60871.2024.10630034(1-7)Online publication date: 2-Apr-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/SEB4SDG60871.2024.10630034
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Index Terms

Application Threats to Exploit Northbound Interface Vulnerabilities in Software Defined Networks
1. Networks
  1. Network architectures
    1. Programming interfaces
2. Security and privacy
  1. Software and application security

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Published In

cover image ACM Computing Surveys

ACM Computing Surveys Volume 54, Issue 6

Invited Tutorial

July 2022

799 pages

ISSN:0360-0300

EISSN:1557-7341

DOI:10.1145/3475936

Editor:
Albert Zomaya
University of Sydney, Australia

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Copyright © 2021 ACM.

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Publication History

Published: 13 July 2021

Accepted: 01 March 2021

Revised: 01 March 2021

Received: 01 July 2020

Published in CSUR Volume 54, Issue 6

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Cited By

Su YXiong DQian KWang Y(2024)A Comprehensive Survey of Distributed Denial of Service Detection and Mitigation Technologies in Software-Defined NetworkElectronics10.3390/electronics1304080713:4(807)Online publication date: 19-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13040807
Awan KUd Din IAlmogren ARodrigues J(2024)Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Synergies in Trust-Enhanced Consumer Applications for Software Defined NetworksIEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics10.1109/TCE.2024.336567370:1(791-799)Online publication date: 13-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TCE.2024.3365673
Wejin JAjao AOkokpujie K(2024)Comparative Simulation of TCP and TLS Protocols in SDN Network2024 International Conference on Science, Engineering and Business for Driving Sustainable Development Goals (SEB4SDG)10.1109/SEB4SDG60871.2024.10630034(1-7)Online publication date: 2-Apr-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/SEB4SDG60871.2024.10630034
Rahman JSingh JNayak SJena BMohanty LSingh NLaird JSingh RGarg DKhanna NFouda MSaba LSuri J(2024)A Generalized and Robust Nonlinear Approach based on Machine Learning for Intrusion DetectionApplied Artificial Intelligence10.1080/08839514.2024.237698338:1Online publication date: 11-Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.1080/08839514.2024.2376983
Kim JSeo MLee SNam JYegneswaran VPorras PGu GShin S(2024)Enhancing security in SDNComputer Networks: The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking10.1016/j.comnet.2024.110203241:COnline publication date: 25-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.comnet.2024.110203
Khan AAhmad SAli IHayat BTian YLiu W(2024)Dynamic mobility and handover management in software‐defined networking‐based fifth‐generation heterogeneous networksInternational Journal of Network Management10.1002/nem.2268Online publication date: 28-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1002/nem.2268
Algarni SEassa FAlmarhabi KAlgarni AAlbeshri A(2022)BCNBI: A Blockchain-Based Security Framework for Northbound Interface in Software-Defined NetworkingElectronics10.3390/electronics1107099611:7(996)Online publication date: 23-Mar-2022
https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11070996
Daneshmand BLe T(2022)Software-Defined Networking: A New Approach to Fifth Generation Networks – Security Issues and Challenges Ahead2022 Thirteenth International Conference on Ubiquitous and Future Networks (ICUFN)10.1109/ICUFN55119.2022.9829621(307-313)Online publication date: 5-Jul-2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICUFN55119.2022.9829621
Hong YLi YTan H(2022)A noninterference trusted dual system security guarantee method based on secure memoryConcurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience10.1002/cpe.746335:2Online publication date: 12-Nov-2022
https://doi.org/10.1002/cpe.7463

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