bLIP: 32
Title: Onion Message DNS Resolution
Status: Active
Author: Matt Corallo <blmmesg@bluematt.me>
Created: 2024-02-10
License: CC0
This bLIP defines a simple protocol by which a node can request a DNSSEC proof of TXT records at a given domain in the global DNS.
This bLIP is licensed under the CC0 license.
Two new onion messages are defined, dnssec_query and dnssec_proof.
-
type: 65536 (
dnssec_query) -
data:
- [
u8:domain_name_len] - [
domain_name_len*byte:domain_name]
- [
-
type: 65538 (
dnssec_proof) -
data:
- [
u8:domain_name_len] - [
domain_name_len*byte:domain_name] - [
u16:proof_len] - [
proof_len*byte:proof]
- [
Nodes which accept and reply to dnssec_query-containing onion messages from any sender:
- SHOULD set the
dns_resolverfeature flag in theirnode_announcement.
Senders of a dnssec_query-containing onion message:
- MUST set
reply_pathin theonionmsg_tlvstream. - MUST set
domain_nameto a canonical DNS name, i.e. it MUST be entirely printable ASCII and MUST end in a ".".
Recipients of a dnssec_query-containing onion message:
- SHOULD attempt to resolve the given
domain_nameinto a TXT record response, considering any relevant CNAME or DNAME records. - MAY (but certainly are not required to) validate the required DNSSEC signatures required to validate the query responses.
- SHOULD attempt to resolve the given
domain_nameinto an RFC 9102-formatted DNSSEC proof (a concatenated series ofAuthenticationChainrecords, not including theExtSupportLifetimefield at the start of aDnssecChainExtension). - SHOULD return the RFC 9102-formatted DNSSEC proof proving the resulting TXT records in a
dnssec_proof-containing onion message to the sender using the providedreply_path.
Senders of a dnssec_proof-containing onion message:
- MUST set the
domain_nameto thedomain_nameincluded in thednssec_query-containing onion message being responded to.
Recipients of a dnssec_proof-containing onion message:
- MUST validate all DNSSEC signatures to ensure any contained records are signed in an unbroken chain from the DNSSEC root trust anchor.
- MUST NOT rely on any signatures which rely on SHA-1 or RSA keys shorter than 1024 bits but MAY accept SHA-1 DS records.
- MUST validate the inception and expiration timestamps of all signatures in the proof.
When resolving DNS-based payment instructions, lightning payers wish to resolve DNS names to TXT records (and associated DNSSEC proofs) in a private way. This bLIP defines a protocol by which payers can do so utilizing lightning's built-in onion messages, avoiding introducing any dependencies on native DNS resolution or directly-connected public DNS resolvers.
The overall DNS-based lightning payment instruction resolution protocol is broken across three separate documents as parts are relevant to different stakeholders. The protocol was originally sketched in a mailing list post by Bastien at https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/lightning-dev/2023-November/004204.html
First of all, the DNSSEC name resolution is defined in a BIP as it is generic across Bitcoin payment instructions. A current draft may be found at https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0353.mediawiki.
Secondly, this document describes a method of fetching DNSSEC proofs without exiting the lightning network.
Finally, BOLT 12 specifies the inclusion of name and domain parts in its invoice_requests.
A payer wishing to use these protocols to pay human-readable user-domain pairs first needs to
be configured with resolver(s) implementing this bLIP. The payer could alternatively find such
nodes by searching the lightning gossip network for nodes announcing the dns_resolver feature.
To look up payment instructions given a user, domain pair, a payer sends their configured
resolver a dnssec_query-containing onion message with a domain_name of
user.user._bitcoin-payment.domain.
Upon receipt of the responding dnssec_proof the payer validates the proof against the DNSSEC
root trust anchor and if it passes parses any TXT records which
user.user._bitcoin-payment.domain resolves to as a bitcoin: URI.
From there, a lightning payer will search for (case-insensitive) the lno query parameter in the
resulting URI. If it finds an lno query parameter, its value should contain a full offer, which
the payer can simply pay.
In order to allow for a static offer receiving funds on behalf of many users, the payer should
include the user and domain from their original query in the invoice_request they send the
recipient.
Recipient configuration is quite straightforward. For a recipient owning their own domain with a
personal offer, they simply add a TXT record at user.user._bitcoin-payment.domain with the
contents bitcoin:?lno=OFFER.
Alternatively, for recipients which do not wish to publish a unique offer for all possible payees,
a wildcard record may be provisioned as *.user._bitcoin-payment.domain with the same contents.
The node receiving the invoice_request can use the user field to determine for which user the
payment is intended and generate an invoice specific to that user.
- LDK-based resolver: https://git.bitcoin.ninja/index.cgi?p=lightning-resolver;a=summary