A Survey of the Main Security Issues and Solutions for the SDN Architecture

Abstract

The software-defined networking (SDN) paradigm proposes the decoupling of control and data planes and a centralized software-oriented management approach based on a central controller, easing the development of new applications and services. These design principles pave the way for a more flexible, fast, and dynamic software-controlled network. However, in terms of security, the elements that comprise the SDN architecture present several vulnerabilities, which could be exploited by attackers to carry out malicious actions and thus affect the network and its services. Although for several years, some studies have already focused on identifying the weaknesses of the SDN layer structure, the nature of the attacks, and possible solutions for this paradigm, the literature contains few contributions that review and discuss this topic in an integral fashion. This paper provides a comprehensive, updated, and detailed review of the main security issues and mitigating measures for all layers and interfaces of the SDN architecture, classifying the contributions according to the STRIDE threat modeling methodology categories. Finally, this manuscript identifies, discusses, and synthesizes open challenges and future research directions in this area.

On the Road to 6G: Visions, Requirements, Key Technologies, and Testbeds

“…2) SDN: Different from decoupling software and hardware in NFV, the SDN is based on the idea of decoupling the control plane and the forwarding plane, aiming to separate network control functions from forwarding functions [52], [175], [176]. The SDN architecture mainly includes the application plane, control plane, and data (forwarding) plane [175].…”

“…Note that, while SDN has the advantages of programmability, flexibility and openness, it will also lead to new security issues that can be easily overlooked. A detailed review and analysis on typical security issues and solutions in SDN were conducted in [176] according to the STRIDE threat model [185]. Moreover, in order to take full advantage of SDN, the challenges of deploying SDN in 6G include switch forwarding schemes in hybrid SDN [186], service virtualization and flow management [187], energy-efficiency optimization [181], handover schemes [182] and freshness-aware age optimization [188] for multipath transmission control protocol (TCP) in SDNs.…”

Proposed Multi-Layer Firewall to Improve the Security of Software Defined Networks

“…Installation of Mininet and the POX controller are necessary for developing an SDNbased firewall, where both are open source and free [28]. It emphasizes the creation of a simple network topology using POX in Python [29].…”

Cyber Threats Detection in Smart Environments Using SDN-Enabled DNN-LSTM Hybrid Framework

“…SDN comprises three basic layers that transparently govern its communication architecture. These layers are widely categorized as the control plane, data plane and the application plane [22,23]. The application plane is strategically different from the rest of the planes and it only provides a comprehensive implementation of commands made by the other planes [24].…”