Full Disclosure mailing list archives
vswitches: physical networks obsolete?
From: phocean <0x90 () phocean net>
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:47:39 +0100
Hi all, I would like to get some feedback about the vswitches and how to deal with physical network separation. I have an idea about this but I would like to know the consensus of the security community to feel more confortable with it. There is a great article summing up the possible architectures: http://bradhedlund.com/2010/02/10/vswitch-illusion-dmz-virtualization/ However, Brad carefully doesn't take position on whether physical separation of the DMZ is still a necessity. Somehow, as a Cisco employee, he may not be able to... He just mentions how vswitches are equivalent to VLAN on a physical switches and that the multiple vswitches on ESX are just an GUI illusion of physical separation. It is exactly the same code running in memory whether there is one or an infinite number of vswitches. Within the comments, one guy says physical networks are obsolete, but without stuff to support it. Personally, I am still convinced it is necessary and want to keep it like this : Internet--|FW|--[ESX/Nexus for DMZ]---|FW|---[ESX/Nexus for Secured LAN] I just can't trust the code and the idea of a single exploit compromising a whole datacenter is just frightening. I remember a black hat presentation that showed many ways to compromise the host. On the other hand, I couldn't find any good specifications or architecture documents from the editors describing their software design. It would be great to know what protections are in place to make exploits harder (memory management design, NX, randomization, MAC)... In short, what is your stake on it? Is physical networking obsolete and what can prove it is? Regards, - phocean _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html Hosted and sponsored by Secunia - http://secunia.com/
Current thread:
- vswitches: physical networks obsolete? phocean (Feb 06)
- Re: vswitches: physical networks obsolete? Luigi Rosa (Feb 06)
- Re: vswitches: physical networks obsolete? phocean (Feb 06)
- Message not available
- Re: vswitches: physical networks obsolete? phocean (Feb 06)
- Re: vswitches: physical networks obsolete? Luigi Rosa (Feb 06)
- Re: vswitches: physical networks obsolete? phocean (Feb 06)
- Re: vswitches: physical networks obsolete? Albert R. Campa (Feb 06)
- Re: vswitches: physical networks obsolete? phocean (Feb 06)
- Re: vswitches: physical networks obsolete? phocean (Feb 06)
- Re: vswitches: physical networks obsolete? Luigi Rosa (Feb 06)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: vswitches: physical networks obsolete? Elazar Broad (Feb 07)