QASM: A Novel Framework for QUIC-Aware Stateful Middleboxes
Fuente:
arXiv
Enregistré dans:
| Auteurs principaux: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2026
|
| Sujets: | |
| Accès en ligne: | |
| Tags: |
Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
|
| _version_ | 1866912872115732480 |
|---|---|
| author | Selvam, Hari Hara Sudhan Kulkarni, Sameer G. |
| author_facet | Selvam, Hari Hara Sudhan Kulkarni, Sameer G. |
| contents | Stateful Middleboxes are integral part of enterprise and campus networks that provide essential in-network, security, and value-added services. These stateful middleboxes rely on precise network flow identification. However, the adoption of HTTP/3, which uses the QUIC protocol, poses significant challenges to the proper functioning of these devices. QUIC's encryption and connection migration features obscure flow semantics, disrupting middlebox visibility and functionality. We examine how QUIC disrupts middleboxes like Network Address Translators (NATs), Rate Limiters, Load Balancers, etc., and affects Kubernetes-based service deployments. To address these challenges, we propose a novel, generalized framework that enables stateful middleboxes to reliably track QUIC connections, even when the endpoints change their internet protocol (IP) address or port numbers. Our prototype implementation demonstrates that the proposed approach preserves middlebox functionality with HTTP/3 with negligible performance overhead (< 5%) on both throughput and latency, and works effectively even under high QUIC connection migration rates of up to 100 Hz. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_03354 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | QASM: A Novel Framework for QUIC-Aware Stateful Middleboxes Selvam, Hari Hara Sudhan Kulkarni, Sameer G. Networking and Internet Architecture Stateful Middleboxes are integral part of enterprise and campus networks that provide essential in-network, security, and value-added services. These stateful middleboxes rely on precise network flow identification. However, the adoption of HTTP/3, which uses the QUIC protocol, poses significant challenges to the proper functioning of these devices. QUIC's encryption and connection migration features obscure flow semantics, disrupting middlebox visibility and functionality. We examine how QUIC disrupts middleboxes like Network Address Translators (NATs), Rate Limiters, Load Balancers, etc., and affects Kubernetes-based service deployments. To address these challenges, we propose a novel, generalized framework that enables stateful middleboxes to reliably track QUIC connections, even when the endpoints change their internet protocol (IP) address or port numbers. Our prototype implementation demonstrates that the proposed approach preserves middlebox functionality with HTTP/3 with negligible performance overhead (< 5%) on both throughput and latency, and works effectively even under high QUIC connection migration rates of up to 100 Hz. |
| title | QASM: A Novel Framework for QUIC-Aware Stateful Middleboxes |
| topic | Networking and Internet Architecture |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.03354 |