ANALYSIS OF EUI-64'BASED ADDRESSING AND ASSOCIATED VULNERABILITIES

Abstract

Despite the adoption of security extensions in IPv6 addressing, usage of EUI-64'based addresses are known to be prevalent throughout the IPv6 address space. In particular, a high concentration of EUI-64 addresses are found on Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) infrastructure, including home gateways and routers. This thesis seeks to deepen current understanding of the IPv6 topology through an in-depth examination of EUI-64 addressing. Recent research has produced a series of rich IPv6 topology data sets that have yet to be fully leveraged for their insight into EUI-64 usage characteristics. Employing IPv6 topology data, this paper extracts and analyzes prefix assignment patterns and device identifications within EUI-64'rich networks. This thesis uses a combination of statistical and predictive analysis to execute the following research objectives: measure the distribution of device manufacturer/model on a given prefix; identify, describe, and predict EUI-64'based prefix rotation patterns; and apply findings within a cyber security context so as to further evaluate the security and privacy risks of EUI-64'based addresses in existing IPv6 addressing schemes.