A Systematic Treat Model for Software-Defined Networking

Abstract

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has three key features: separation of control and forwarding, centralized control, and network programmability. While improving network management flexibility, SDN has many security issues. This paper systemizes the security threats of SDN using spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, and elevation of privilege (STRIDE) model to understand the current security status of SDN. First, we introduce the network architecture and data flow of SDN. Second, we analyze security threats of the six types given in the STRIDE model, aiming to reveal the vulnerability mechanisms and assess the attack surface. Then, we briefly describe the corresponding defense technologies. Finally, we summarize the work of this paper and discuss the trends of SDN security research.