The Initial Network Entry procedure in the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) network

The Initial Network Entry procedure is the first stage in establishing a connection in an IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) network. The process involves the transmission of unencrypted management messages, which constitutes a major security flaw that is exploited by the Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack. This security defect necessitates the implementation of appropriate security protocols. Research has shown that developing secure protocols is a difficult task as is evident from the presence of flaws in published protocols such as the Needham-Schroeder public key authentication protocol that had a bug that remained undetected for 17 years. With the use of formal verification techniques, bugs can be discovered very early in the design of the system and automatically validated, thereby increasing confidence in their use. In this paper, we analyse a security protocol proposed to mitigate the MITM attack at the initial network entry point in WiMAX referred to as Secure Initial Network Entry Protocol (SINEP), and model the protocol and an intruder process with MITM capabilities in Process/Protocol Meta-language (PROMELA) formalism. We then use Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) to define the attributes the protocol should satisfy and carry out verification by use of the SPIN model checker. Using our intruder model, we conclude that the protocol fulfils its confidentiality objective by concealing the most valuable messages in the protocol run.