7. Security Considerations

When the IPv4 ID is ignored on receipt (e.g., for atomic datagrams), its value becomes unconstrained; therefore, that field can more easily be used as a covert channel. For some atomic datagrams it is now possible, and may be desirable, to rewrite the IPv4 ID field to avoid its use as such a channel. Rewriting would be prohibited for datagrams protected by the IPsec Authentication Header (AH), although we do not recommend use of the AH to achieve this result [RFC4302].

The IPv4 ID also now adds much less to the entropy of the header of a datagram. Such entropy might be used as input to cryptographic algorithms or pseudorandom generators, although IDs have never been assured sufficient entropy for such purposes. The IPv4 ID had previously been unique (for a given source/address pair, and protocol field) within one MDL, although this requirement was not enforced and clearly is typically ignored. The IPv4 ID of atomic datagrams is not required unique and so contributes no entropy to the header.

The deprecation of the IPv4 ID field's uniqueness for atomic datagrams can defeat the ability to count devices behind a NAT/ASM/rewriter [Be02]. This is not intended as a security feature, however.