Original text:
When a DTLS implementation receives a handshake message fragment corresponding to the next expected handshake message sequence number, <del> it MUST buffer it until it has the entire handshake message.  DTLS implementations MUST be able to handle overlapping fragment ranges. This allows senders to retransmit handshake messages with smaller fragment sizes if the PMTU estimate changes.  Senders MUST NOT change handshake message bytes upon retransmission.  Receivers MAY check that retransmitted bytes are identical and SHOULD abort the handshake with an "illegal_parameter" alert if the value of a byte changes. </del>  Note that as with TLS, multiple handshake messages may be placed in the same DTLS record, provided that there is room and that they are

Reviewer comments:
NAME here is another try at this.
I did not realize that the intent of your text was to allow out of order processing. IMO that's off the fairway and we shouldn't allow that any more than we let you reach into the TCP stack and pull out forward messages.
NAME I don't think the comparison with TCP works - the handshake protocol is internal. We should not force a particular implementation unless there's good reason to. In this case, as explained on the list, there's potential merit of allowing out of order processing of very large handshake messages with known structure. NAME What's your opinion?
Again, this is a last minute change during Auth48, so the bar is much higher than "potential merit"
This isn't motivated by security-related reasons like , so I agree with NAME that this does not raise to the level of an AUTH48 change. I propose we land this PR and close out .
Thanks NAME NAME for considering this in the first place. As I understood NAME since this does not impact the wire-format, we can revisit once the RFC has been finalized?
Once the RFC is finalized, it's final. Changes can be requested via the , or via a new document that updates the RFC in question.
Ok, thank you. I was referring to NAME comment on the list
Yes. What I was saying is that you could just write an RFC that said "you can process out of order"
corresponding to the next expected handshake message sequence number, it MUST buffer it until it has the entire handshake message. As discussed in URL The spec mandates buffering all handshake fragments, but some implementations (e.g. GnuTLS) choose to implement simpler reassembly schemes. It has been argued by Ekr that such should be discouraged because they aren't efficient. On the other hand, as Rich Salz remarks, the choice of reassembly mechanism isn't something the peer could tell (the effects of poor reassembly performance are more retransmissions, which could also be due to poor network reliability), so it does feel like we're overspecifying things here. Weakening the MUST to a SHOULD isn't good either as it allows dropping fragments altogether. There's a tension between the desire for a concrete operational guidance, which the current text clearly provides, and a more abstract formulation along the line of "implementations MUST use a reassembly scheme ensuring forward progress". As suggested by Ekr, taking this off the mailing list and continuing discussion here. To be clear: This has no bearing on the protocol itself, it's about how much implementation details the spec should enforce.
As mentioned on the list, I don't like the in-order qualification. I agree it's debatable whether there will be cases where it makes sense to process data out of order, but (see list again) it is not inconceivable, and I see no reason to exclude this here. I would therefore prefer to drop the in-order qualification. Hi all, Both DTLS 1.2 and DTLS 1.3 mandate: Can someone explain the underlying rationale? It seems that in the context of very large key material or certificate chains (think e.g. PQC), gradual processing of handshake messages (where possible) is useful to reduce RAM usage. Is there a security risk in doing this? It would also be useful for stateless handling of fragmented ClientHello messages. I'm sure this was discussed before but I don't remember where and who said it, but a server implementation could peek into the initial fragment of a ClientHello, check if it contains a valid cookie, and if so, allocate state for subsequent full reassembly. That wouldn't be compliant with the above MUST, though, as far as I understand it. Thanks! Hanno IMPORTANT NOTICE: The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose the contents to any other person, use it for any purpose, or store or copy the information in any medium. Thank you.

Revised text:
When a DTLS implementation receives a handshake message fragment corresponding to the next expected handshake message sequence number,  <ins> it MUST process it, either by buffering it until it has the entire handshake message or by processing any in-order portions of the message.  DTLS implementations MUST be able to handle overlapping fragment ranges.  This allows senders to retransmit handshake messages with smaller fragment sizes if the PMTU estimate changes. Senders MUST NOT change handshake message bytes upon retransmission. Receivers MAY check that retransmitted bytes are identical and SHOULD abort the handshake with an "illegal_parameter" alert if the value of a byte changes. </ins> Note that as with TLS, multiple handshake messages may be placed in the same DTLS record, provided that there is room and that they are