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rfc:rfc4303

Network Working Group S. Kent Request for Comments: 4303 BBN Technologies Obsoletes: 2406 December 2005 Category: Standards Track

              IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)

Status of This Memo

 This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
 Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
 improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
 Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
 and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

Abstract

 This document describes an updated version of the Encapsulating
 Security Payload (ESP) protocol, which is designed to provide a mix
 of security services in IPv4 and IPv6.  ESP is used to provide
 confidentiality, data origin authentication, connectionless
 integrity, an anti-replay service (a form of partial sequence
 integrity), and limited traffic flow confidentiality.  This document
 obsoletes RFC 2406 (November 1998).

Table of Contents

 1. Introduction ....................................................3
 2. Encapsulating Security Payload Packet Format ....................5
    2.1. Security Parameters Index (SPI) ...........................10
    2.2. Sequence Number ...........................................12
         2.2.1. Extended (64-bit) Sequence Number ..................12
    2.3. Payload Data ..............................................13
    2.4. Padding (for Encryption) ..................................14
    2.5. Pad Length ................................................15
    2.6. Next Header ...............................................16
    2.7. Traffic Flow Confidentiality (TFC) Padding ................17
    2.8. Integrity Check Value (ICV) ...............................17
 3. Encapsulating Security Protocol Processing .....................18
    3.1. ESP Header Location .......................................18
         3.1.1. Transport Mode Processing ..........................18
         3.1.2. Tunnel Mode Processing .............................19

Kent Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

    3.2. Algorithms ................................................20
         3.2.1. Encryption Algorithms ..............................21
         3.2.2. Integrity Algorithms ...............................21
         3.2.3. Combined Mode Algorithms ...........................22
    3.3. Outbound Packet Processing ................................22
         3.3.1. Security Association Lookup ........................22
         3.3.2. Packet Encryption and Integrity Check Value
                (ICV) Calculation ..................................22
                3.3.2.1. Separate Confidentiality and
                         Integrity Algorithms ......................23
                3.3.2.2. Combined Confidentiality and
                         Integrity Algorithms ......................24
         3.3.3. Sequence Number Generation .........................25
         3.3.4. Fragmentation ......................................26
    3.4. Inbound Packet Processing .................................27
         3.4.1. Reassembly .........................................27
         3.4.2. Security Association Lookup ........................27
         3.4.3. Sequence Number Verification .......................28
         3.4.4. Integrity Check Value Verification .................30
                3.4.4.1. Separate Confidentiality and
                         Integrity Algorithms ......................30
                3.4.4.2. Combined Confidentiality and
                         Integrity Algorithms ......................32
 4. Auditing .......................................................33
 5. Conformance Requirements .......................................34
 6. Security Considerations ........................................34
 7. Differences from RFC 2406 ......................................34
 8. Backward-Compatibility Considerations ..........................35
 9. Acknowledgements ...............................................36
 10. References ....................................................36
    10.1. Normative References .....................................36
    10.2. Informative References ...................................37
 Appendix A: Extended (64-bit) Sequence Numbers ....................38
    A1. Overview ...................................................38
    A2. Anti-Replay Window .........................................38
        A2.1. Managing and Using the Anti-Replay Window ............39
        A2.2. Determining the Higher-Order Bits (Seqh) of the
              Sequence Number ......................................40
        A2.3. Pseudo-Code Example ..................................41
    A3. Handling Loss of Synchronization due to Significant
        Packet Loss ................................................42
        A3.1. Triggering Re-synchronization ........................43
        A3.2. Re-synchronization Process ...........................43

Kent Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

1. Introduction

 This document assumes that the reader is familiar with the terms and
 concepts described in the "Security Architecture for the Internet
 Protocol" [Ken-Arch], hereafter referred to as the Security
 Architecture document.  In particular, the reader should be familiar
 with the definitions of security services offered by the
 Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) and the IP Authentication Header
 (AH), the concept of Security Associations, the ways in which ESP can
 be used in conjunction with AH, and the different key management
 options available for ESP and AH.
 The keywords MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD,
 SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL, when they appear in this
 document, are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [Bra97].
 The Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) header is designed to
 provide a mix of security services in IPv4 and IPv6 [DH98].  ESP may
 be applied alone, in combination with AH [Ken-AH], or in a nested
 fashion (see the Security Architecture document [Ken-Arch]).
 Security services can be provided between a pair of communicating
 hosts, between a pair of communicating security gateways, or between
 a security gateway and a host.  For more details on how to use ESP
 and AH in various network environments, see the Security Architecture
 document [Ken-Arch].
 The ESP header is inserted after the IP header and before the next
 layer protocol header (transport mode) or before an encapsulated IP
 header (tunnel mode).  These modes are described in more detail
 below.
 ESP can be used to provide confidentiality, data origin
 authentication, connectionless integrity, an anti-replay service (a
 form of partial sequence integrity), and (limited) traffic flow
 confidentiality.  The set of services provided depends on options
 selected at the time of Security Association (SA) establishment and
 on the location of the implementation in a network topology.
 Using encryption-only for confidentiality is allowed by ESP.
 However, it should be noted that in general, this will provide
 defense only against passive attackers.  Using encryption without a
 strong integrity mechanism on top of it (either in ESP or separately
 via AH) may render the confidentiality service insecure against some
 forms of active attacks [Bel96, Kra01].  Moreover, an underlying
 integrity service, such as AH, applied before encryption does not
 necessarily protect the encryption-only confidentiality against
 active attackers [Kra01].  ESP allows encryption-only SAs because
 this may offer considerably better performance and still provide

Kent Standards Track [Page 3] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 adequate security, e.g., when higher-layer authentication/integrity
 protection is offered independently.  However, this standard does not
 require ESP implementations to offer an encryption-only service.
 Data origin authentication and connectionless integrity are joint
 services, hereafter referred to jointly as "integrity".  (This term
 is employed because, on a per-packet basis, the computation being
 performed provides connectionless integrity directly; data origin
 authentication is provided indirectly as a result of binding the key
 used to verify the integrity to the identity of the IPsec peer.
 Typically, this binding is effected through the use of a shared,
 symmetric key.)  Integrity-only ESP MUST be offered as a service
 selection option, e.g., it must be negotiable in SA management
 protocols and MUST be configurable via management interfaces.
 Integrity-only ESP is an attractive alternative to AH in many
 contexts, e.g., because it is faster to process and more amenable to
 pipelining in many implementations.
 Although confidentiality and integrity can be offered independently,
 ESP typically will employ both services, i.e., packets will be
 protected with regard to confidentiality and integrity.  Thus, there
 are three possible ESP security service combinations involving these
 services:
  1. confidentiality-only (MAY be supported)
  2. integrity only (MUST be supported)
  3. confidentiality and integrity (MUST be supported)
 The anti-replay service may be selected for an SA only if the
 integrity service is selected for that SA.  The selection of this
 service is solely at the discretion of the receiver and thus need not
 be negotiated.  However, to make use of the Extended Sequence Number
 feature in an interoperable fashion, ESP does impose a requirement on
 SA management protocols to be able to negotiate this feature (see
 Section 2.2.1 below).
 The traffic flow confidentiality (TFC) service generally is effective
 only if ESP is employed in a fashion that conceals the ultimate
 source and destination addresses of correspondents, e.g., in tunnel
 mode between security gateways, and only if sufficient traffic flows
 between IPsec peers (either naturally or as a result of generation of
 masking traffic) to conceal the characteristics of specific,
 individual subscriber traffic flows.  (ESP may be employed as part of
 a higher-layer TFC system, e.g., Onion Routing [Syverson], but such
 systems are outside the scope of this standard.)  New TFC features
 present in ESP facilitate efficient generation and discarding of
 dummy traffic and better padding of real traffic, in a backward-
 compatible fashion.

Kent Standards Track [Page 4] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 Section 7 provides a brief review of the differences between this
 document and RFC 2406.

2. Encapsulating Security Payload Packet Format

 The (outer) protocol header (IPv4, IPv6, or Extension) that
 immediately precedes the ESP header SHALL contain the value 50 in its
 Protocol (IPv4) or Next Header (IPv6, Extension) field (see IANA web
 page at http://www.iana.org/assignments/protocol-numbers).  Figure 1
 illustrates the top-level format of an ESP packet.  The packet begins
 with two 4-byte fields (Security Parameters Index (SPI) and Sequence
 Number).  Following these fields is the Payload Data, which has
 substructure that depends on the choice of encryption algorithm and
 mode, and on the use of TFC padding, which is examined in more detail
 later.  Following the Payload Data are Padding and Pad Length fields,
 and the Next Header field.  The optional Integrity Check Value (ICV)
 field completes the packet.

0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ —-

Security Parameters Index (SPI)

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ |Cov-

Sequence Number

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | —-

Payload Data* (variable)

~ ~ | |

+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ |Cov-

Padding (0-255 bytes)

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | |

Pad Length Next Header

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ ——

Integrity Check Value-ICV (variable)

~ ~

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

          Figure 1.  Top-Level Format of an ESP Packet
  • If included in the Payload field, cryptographic synchronization

data, e.g., an Initialization Vector (IV, see Section 2.3),

    usually is not encrypted per se, although it often is referred
    to as being part of the ciphertext.

Kent Standards Track [Page 5] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 The (transmitted) ESP trailer consists of the Padding, Pad Length,
 and Next Header fields.  Additional, implicit ESP trailer data (which
 is not transmitted) is included in the integrity computation, as
 described below.
 If the integrity service is selected, the integrity computation
 encompasses the SPI, Sequence Number, Payload Data, and the ESP
 trailer (explicit and implicit).
 If the confidentiality service is selected, the ciphertext consists
 of the Payload Data (except for any cryptographic synchronization
 data that may be included) and the (explicit) ESP trailer.
 As noted above, the Payload Data may have substructure.  An
 encryption algorithm that requires an explicit Initialization Vector
 (IV), e.g., Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode, often prefixes the
 Payload Data to be protected with that value.  Some algorithm modes
 combine encryption and integrity into a single operation; this
 document refers to such algorithm modes as "combined mode
 algorithms".  Accommodation of combined mode algorithms requires that
 the algorithm explicitly describe the payload substructure used to
 convey the integrity data.
 Some combined mode algorithms provide integrity only for data that is
 encrypted, whereas others can provide integrity for some additional
 data that is not encrypted for transmission.  Because the SPI and
 Sequence Number fields require integrity as part of the integrity
 service, and they are not encrypted, it is necessary to ensure that
 they are afforded integrity whenever the service is selected,
 regardless of the style of combined algorithm mode employed.
 When any combined mode algorithm is employed, the algorithm itself is
 expected to return both decrypted plaintext and a pass/fail
 indication for the integrity check.  For combined mode algorithms,
 the ICV that would normally appear at the end of the ESP packet (when
 integrity is selected) may be omitted.  When the ICV is omitted and
 integrity is selected, it is the responsibility of the combined mode
 algorithm to encode within the Payload Data an ICV-equivalent means
 of verifying the integrity of the packet.
 If a combined mode algorithm offers integrity only to data that is
 encrypted, it will be necessary to replicate the SPI and Sequence
 Number as part of the Payload Data.
 Finally, a new provision is made to insert padding for traffic flow
 confidentiality after the Payload Data and before the ESP trailer.
 Figure 2 illustrates this substructure for Payload Data.  (Note: This

Kent Standards Track [Page 6] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 diagram shows bits-on-the-wire.  So even if extended sequence numbers
 are being used, only 32 bits of the Sequence Number will be
 transmitted (see Section 2.2.1).)
   0                   1                   2                   3
   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |               Security Parameters Index (SPI)                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                      Sequence Number                          |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+---
 |                    IV (optional)                              | ^ p
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | a
 |                    Rest of Payload Data  (variable)           | | y
 ~                                                               ~ | l
 |                                                               | | o
 +               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | a
 |               |         TFC Padding * (optional, variable)    | v d
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+---
 |                         |        Padding (0-255 bytes)        |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                               |  Pad Length   | Next Header   |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |         Integrity Check Value-ICV   (variable)                |
 ~                                                               ~
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
             Figure 2. Substructure of Payload Data
  • If tunnel mode is being used, then the IPsec implementation

can add Traffic Flow Confidentiality (TFC) padding (see

         Section 2.4)  after the Payload Data and before the Padding
         (0-255 bytes) field.
 If a combined algorithm mode is employed, the explicit ICV shown in
 Figures 1 and 2 may be omitted (see Section 3.3.2.2 below).  Because
 algorithms and modes are fixed when an SA is established, the
 detailed format of ESP packets for a given SA (including the Payload
 Data substructure) is fixed, for all traffic on the SA.
 The tables below refer to the fields in the preceding figures and
 illustrate how several categories of algorithmic options, each with a
 different processing model, affect the fields noted above.  The
 processing details are described in later sections.

Kent Standards Track [Page 7] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

        Table 1. Separate Encryption and Integrity Algorithms
                                          What    What    What
                        # of     Requ'd  Encrypt Integ    is
                        bytes      [1]   Covers  Covers  Xmtd
                        ------   ------  ------  ------  ------
 SPI                       4        M              Y     plain
 Seq# (low-order bits)     4        M              Y     plain       p
                                                              ------ a
 IV                     variable    O              Y     plain     | y
 IP datagram [2]        variable  M or D    Y      Y     cipher[3] |-l
 TFC padding [4]        variable    O       Y      Y     cipher[3] | o
                                                              ------ a
 Padding                 0-255      M       Y      Y     cipher[3]   d
 Pad Length                1        M       Y      Y     cipher[3]
 Next Header               1        M       Y      Y     cipher[3]
 Seq# (high-order bits)    4     if ESN [5]        Y     not xmtd
 ICV Padding            variable if need           Y     not xmtd
 ICV                    variable   M [6]                 plain
         [1] M = mandatory; O = optional; D = dummy
         [2] If tunnel mode -> IP datagram
             If transport mode -> next header and data
         [3] ciphertext if encryption has been selected
         [4] Can be used only if payload specifies its "real" length
         [5] See section 2.2.1
         [6] mandatory if a separate integrity algorithm is used

Kent Standards Track [Page 8] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

                Table 2. Combined Mode Algorithms
                                           What    What    What
                          # of     Requ'd  Encrypt Integ    is
                          bytes      [1]   Covers  Covers  Xmtd
                          ------   ------  ------  ------  ------
  SPI                        4        M                    plain
  Seq# (low-order bits)      4        M                    plain    p
                                                                --- a
  IV                      variable    O              Y     plain  | y
  IP datagram [2]         variable  M or D    Y      Y     cipher |-l
  TFC padding [3]         variable    O       Y      Y     cipher | o
                                                                --- a
  Padding                  0-255      M       Y      Y     cipher   d
  Pad Length                 1        M       Y      Y     cipher
  Next Header                1        M       Y      Y     cipher
  Seq# (high-order bits)     4     if ESN [4]        Y     [5]
  ICV Padding             variable if need           Y     [5]
  ICV                     variable    O [6]                plain
          [1] M = mandatory; O = optional; D = dummy
          [2] If tunnel mode -> IP datagram
              If transport mode -> next header and data
          [3] Can be used only if payload specifies its "real" length
          [4] See Section 2.2.1
          [5] The algorithm choices determines whether these are
              transmitted, but in either case, the result is invisible
              to ESP
          [6] The algorithm spec determines whether this field is
              present
 The following subsections describe the fields in the header format.
 "Optional" means that the field is omitted if the option is not
 selected, i.e., it is present in neither the packet as transmitted
 nor as formatted for computation of an ICV (see Section 2.7).
 Whether or not an option is selected is determined as part of
 Security Association (SA) establishment.  Thus, the format of ESP
 packets for a given SA is fixed, for the duration of the SA.  In
 contrast, "mandatory" fields are always present in the ESP packet
 format, for all SAs.
 Note: All of the cryptographic algorithms used in IPsec expect their
 input in canonical network byte order (see Appendix of RFC 791
 [Pos81]) and generate their output in canonical network byte order.
 IP packets are also transmitted in network byte order.

Kent Standards Track [Page 9] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 ESP does not contain a version number, therefore if there are
 concerns about backward compatibility, they MUST be addressed by
 using a signaling mechanism between the two IPsec peers to ensure
 compatible versions of ESP (e.g., Internet Key Exchange (IKEv2)
 [Kau05]) or an out-of-band configuration mechanism.

2.1. Security Parameters Index (SPI)

 The SPI is an arbitrary 32-bit value that is used by a receiver to
 identify the SA to which an incoming packet is bound.  The SPI field
 is mandatory.
 For a unicast SA, the SPI can be used by itself to specify an SA, or
 it may be used in conjunction with the IPsec protocol type (in this
 case ESP).  Because the SPI value is generated by the receiver for a
 unicast SA, whether the value is sufficient to identify an SA by
 itself or whether it must be used in conjunction with the IPsec
 protocol value is a local matter.  This mechanism for mapping inbound
 traffic to unicast SAs MUST be supported by all ESP implementations.
 If an IPsec implementation supports multicast, then it MUST support
 multicast SAs using the algorithm below for mapping inbound IPsec
 datagrams to SAs.  Implementations that support only unicast traffic
 need not implement this de-multiplexing algorithm.
 In many secure multicast architectures (e.g., [RFC3740]), a central
 Group Controller/Key Server unilaterally assigns the group security
 association's SPI.  This SPI assignment is not negotiated or
 coordinated with the key management (e.g., IKE) subsystems that
 reside in the individual end systems that comprise the group.
 Consequently, it is possible that a group security association and a
 unicast security association can simultaneously use the same SPI.  A
 multicast-capable IPsec implementation MUST correctly de-multiplex
 inbound traffic even in the context of SPI collisions.
 Each entry in the Security Association Database (SAD) [Ken-Arch] must
 indicate whether the SA lookup makes use of the destination, or
 destination and source, IP addresses, in addition to the SPI.  For
 multicast SAs, the protocol field is not employed for SA lookups.
 For each inbound, IPsec-protected packet, an implementation must
 conduct its search of the SAD such that it finds the entry that
 matches the "longest" SA identifier.  In this context, if two or more
 SAD entries match based on the SPI value, then the entry that also
 matches based on destination, or destination and source, address
 comparison (as indicated in the SAD entry) is the "longest" match.
 This implies a logical ordering of the SAD search as follows:

Kent Standards Track [Page 10] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

       1. Search the SAD for a match on {SPI, destination address,
          source address}.  If an SAD entry matches, then process the
          inbound ESP packet with that matching SAD entry.  Otherwise,
          proceed to step 2.
       2. Search the SAD for a match on {SPI, destination address}.
          If the SAD entry matches, then process the inbound ESP
          packet with that matching SAD entry.  Otherwise, proceed to
          step 3.
       3. Search the SAD for a match on only {SPI} if the receiver has
          chosen to maintain a single SPI space for AH and ESP, or on
          {SPI, protocol} otherwise.  If an SAD entry matches, then
          process the inbound ESP packet with that matching SAD entry.
          Otherwise, discard the packet and log an auditable event.
 In practice, an implementation MAY choose any method to accelerate
 this search, although its externally visible behavior MUST be
 functionally equivalent to having searched the SAD in the above
 order.  For example, a software-based implementation could index into
 a hash table by the SPI.  The SAD entries in each hash table bucket's
 linked list are kept sorted to have those SAD entries with the
 longest SA identifiers first in that linked list.  Those SAD entries
 having the shortest SA identifiers are sorted so that they are the
 last entries in the linked list.  A hardware-based implementation may
 be able to effect the longest match search intrinsically, using
 commonly available Ternary Content-Addressable Memory (TCAM)
 features.
 The indication of whether source and destination address matching is
 required to map inbound IPsec traffic to SAs MUST be set either as a
 side effect of manual SA configuration or via negotiation using an SA
 management protocol, e.g., IKE or Group Domain of Interpretation
 (GDOI) [RFC3547].  Typically, Source-Specific Multicast (SSM) [HC03]
 groups use a 3-tuple SA identifier composed of an SPI, a destination
 multicast address, and source address.  An Any-Source Multicast group
 SA requires only an SPI and a destination multicast address as an
 identifier.
 The set of SPI values in the range 1 through 255 are reserved by the
 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for future use; a reserved
 SPI value will not normally be assigned by IANA unless the use of the
 assigned SPI value is specified in an RFC.  The SPI value of zero (0)
 is reserved for local, implementation-specific use and MUST NOT be
 sent on the wire.  (For example, a key management implementation
 might use the zero SPI value to mean "No Security Association Exists"

Kent Standards Track [Page 11] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 during the period when the IPsec implementation has requested that
 its key management entity establish a new SA, but the SA has not yet
 been established.)

2.2. Sequence Number

 This unsigned 32-bit field contains a counter value that increases by
 one for each packet sent, i.e., a per-SA packet sequence number.  For
 a unicast SA or a single-sender multicast SA, the sender MUST
 increment this field for every transmitted packet.  Sharing an SA
 among multiple senders is permitted, though generally not
 recommended.  ESP provides no means of synchronizing packet counters
 among multiple senders or meaningfully managing a receiver packet
 counter and window in the context of multiple senders.  Thus, for a
 multi-sender SA, the anti-replay features of ESP are not available
 (see Sections 3.3.3 and 3.4.3.)
 The field is mandatory and MUST always be present even if the
 receiver does not elect to enable the anti-replay service for a
 specific SA.  Processing of the Sequence Number field is at the
 discretion of the receiver, but all ESP implementations MUST be
 capable of performing the processing described in Sections 3.3.3 and
 3.4.3. Thus, the sender MUST always transmit this field, but the
 receiver need not act upon it (see the discussion of Sequence Number
 Verification in the "Inbound Packet Processing" section (3.4.3)
 below).
 The sender's counter and the receiver's counter are initialized to 0
 when an SA is established.  (The first packet sent using a given SA
 will have a sequence number of 1; see Section 3.3.3 for more details
 on how the sequence number is generated.)  If anti-replay is enabled
 (the default), the transmitted sequence number must never be allowed
 to cycle.  Thus, the sender's counter and the receiver's counter MUST
 be reset (by establishing a new SA and thus a new key) prior to the
 transmission of the 2^32nd packet on an SA.

2.2.1. Extended (64-bit) Sequence Number

 To support high-speed IPsec implementations, Extended Sequence
 Numbers (ESNs) SHOULD be implemented, as an extension to the current,
 32-bit sequence number field.  Use of an ESN MUST be negotiated by an
 SA management protocol.  Note that in IKEv2, this negotiation is
 implicit; the default is ESN unless 32-bit sequence numbers are
 explicitly negotiated.  (The ESN feature is applicable to multicast
 as well as unicast SAs.)

Kent Standards Track [Page 12] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 The ESN facility allows use of a 64-bit sequence number for an SA.
 (See Appendix A, "Extended (64-bit) Sequence Numbers", for details.)
 Only the low-order 32 bits of the sequence number are transmitted in
 the plaintext ESP header of each packet, thus minimizing packet
 overhead.  The high-order 32 bits are maintained as part of the
 sequence number counter by both transmitter and receiver and are
 included in the computation of the ICV (if the integrity service is
 selected).  If a separate integrity algorithm is employed, the high
 order bits are included in the implicit ESP trailer, but are not
 transmitted, analogous to integrity algorithm padding bits.  If a
 combined mode algorithm is employed, the algorithm choice determines
 whether the high-order ESN bits are transmitted or are included
 implicitly in the computation.  See Section 3.3.2.2 for processing
 details.

2.3. Payload Data

 Payload Data is a variable-length field containing data (from the
 original IP packet) described by the Next Header field.  The Payload
 Data field is mandatory and is an integral number of bytes in length.
 If the algorithm used to encrypt the payload requires cryptographic
 synchronization data, e.g., an Initialization Vector (IV), then this
 data is carried explicitly in the Payload field, but it is not called
 out as a separate field in ESP, i.e., the transmission of an explicit
 IV is invisible to ESP.  (See Figure 2.)  Any encryption algorithm
 that requires such explicit, per-packet synchronization data MUST
 indicate the length, any structure for such data, and the location of
 this data as part of an RFC specifying how the algorithm is used with
 ESP.  (Typically, the IV immediately precedes the ciphertext.  See
 Figure 2.)  If such synchronization data is implicit, the algorithm
 for deriving the data MUST be part of the algorithm definition RFC.
 (If included in the Payload field, cryptographic synchronization
 data, e.g., an Initialization Vector (IV), usually is not encrypted
 per se (see Tables 1 and 2), although it sometimes is referred to as
 being part of the ciphertext.)
 Note that the beginning of the next layer protocol header MUST be
 aligned relative to the beginning of the ESP header as follows.  For
 IPv4, this alignment is a multiple of 4 bytes.  For IPv6, the
 alignment is a multiple of 8 bytes.
 With regard to ensuring the alignment of the (real) ciphertext in the
 presence of an IV, note the following:
       o For some IV-based modes of operation, the receiver treats
         the IV as the start of the ciphertext, feeding it into the
         algorithm directly.  In these modes, alignment of the start
         of the (real) ciphertext is not an issue at the receiver.

Kent Standards Track [Page 13] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

       o In some cases, the receiver reads the IV in separately from
         the ciphertext.  In these cases, the algorithm specification
         MUST address how alignment of the (real) ciphertext is to be
         achieved.

2.4. Padding (for Encryption)

 Two primary factors require or motivate use of the Padding field.
    o If an encryption algorithm is employed that requires the
      plaintext to be a multiple of some number of bytes, e.g.,
      the block size of a block cipher, the Padding field is used
      to fill the plaintext (consisting of the Payload Data,
      Padding, Pad Length, and Next Header fields) to the size
      required by the algorithm.
    o Padding also may be required, irrespective of encryption
      algorithm requirements, to ensure that the resulting
      ciphertext terminates on a 4-byte boundary.  Specifically,
      the Pad Length and Next Header fields must be right aligned
      within a 4-byte word, as illustrated in the ESP packet
      format figures above, to ensure that the ICV field (if
      present) is aligned on a 4-byte boundary.
 Padding beyond that required for the algorithm or alignment reasons
 cited above could be used to conceal the actual length of the
 payload, in support of TFC.  However, the Padding field described is
 too limited to be effective for TFC and thus should not be used for
 that purpose.  Instead, the separate mechanism described below (see
 Section 2.7) should be used when TFC is required.
 The sender MAY add 0 to 255 bytes of padding.  Inclusion of the
 Padding field in an ESP packet is optional, subject to the
 requirements noted above, but all implementations MUST support
 generation and consumption of padding.
    o For the purpose of ensuring that the bits to be encrypted
      are a multiple of the algorithm's block size (first bullet
      above), the padding computation applies to the Payload Data
      exclusive of any IV, but including the ESP trailer
      fields.  If a combined algorithm mode requires transmission
      of the SPI and Sequence Number to effect integrity, e.g.,
      replication of the SPI and Sequence Number in the Payload
      Data, then the replicated versions of these data items, and
      any associated, ICV-equivalent data, are included in the
      computation of the pad length.  (If the ESN option is

Kent Standards Track [Page 14] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

      selected, the high-order 32 bits of the ESN also would enter
      into the computation, if the combined mode algorithm
      requires their transmission for integrity.)
    o For the purposes of ensuring that the ICV is aligned on a
      4-byte boundary (second bullet above), the padding
      computation applies to the Payload Data inclusive of the IV,
      the Pad Length, and Next Header fields.  If a combined mode
      algorithm is used, any replicated data and ICV-equivalent
      data are included in the Payload Data covered by the padding
      computation.
 If Padding bytes are needed but the encryption algorithm does not
 specify the padding contents, then the following default processing
 MUST be used.  The Padding bytes are initialized with a series of
 (unsigned, 1-byte) integer values.  The first padding byte appended
 to the plaintext is numbered 1, with subsequent padding bytes making
 up a monotonically increasing sequence: 1, 2, 3, ....  When this
 padding scheme is employed, the receiver SHOULD inspect the Padding
 field.  (This scheme was selected because of its relative simplicity,
 ease of implementation in hardware, and because it offers limited
 protection against certain forms of "cut and paste" attacks in the
 absence of other integrity measures, if the receiver checks the
 padding values upon decryption.)
 If an encryption or combined mode algorithm imposes constraints on
 the values of the bytes used for padding, they MUST be specified by
 the RFC defining how the algorithm is employed with ESP.  If the
 algorithm requires checking of the values of the bytes used for
 padding, this too MUST be specified in that RFC.

2.5. Pad Length

 The Pad Length field indicates the number of pad bytes immediately
 preceding it in the Padding field.  The range of valid values is 0 to
 255, where a value of zero indicates that no Padding bytes are
 present.  As noted above, this does not include any TFC padding
 bytes.  The Pad Length field is mandatory.

Kent Standards Track [Page 15] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

2.6. Next Header

 The Next Header is a mandatory, 8-bit field that identifies the type
 of data contained in the Payload Data field, e.g., an IPv4 or IPv6
 packet, or a next layer header and data.  The value of this field is
 chosen from the set of IP Protocol Numbers defined on the web page of
 the IANA, e.g., a value of 4 indicates IPv4, a value of 41 indicates
 IPv6, and a value of 6 indicates TCP.
 To facilitate the rapid generation and discarding of the padding
 traffic in support of traffic flow confidentiality (see Section 2.4),
 the protocol value 59 (which means "no next header") MUST be used to
 designate a "dummy" packet.  A transmitter MUST be capable of
 generating dummy packets marked with this value in the next protocol
 field, and a receiver MUST be prepared to discard such packets,
 without indicating an error.  All other ESP header and trailer fields
 (SPI, Sequence Number, Padding, Pad Length, Next Header, and ICV)
 MUST be present in dummy packets, but the plaintext portion of the
 payload, other than this Next Header field, need not be well-formed,
 e.g., the rest of the Payload Data may consist of only random bytes.
 Dummy packets are discarded without prejudice.
 Implementations SHOULD provide local management controls to enable
 the use of this capability on a per-SA basis.  The controls should
 allow the user to specify if this feature is to be used and also
 provide parametric controls; for example, the controls might allow an
 administrator to generate random-length or fixed-length dummy
 packets.
 DISCUSSION: Dummy packets can be inserted at random intervals to mask
 the absence of actual traffic.  One can also "shape" the actual
 traffic to match some distribution to which dummy traffic is added as
 dictated by the distribution parameters.  As with the packet length
 padding facility for Traffic Flow Security (TFS), the most secure
 approach would be to generate dummy packets at whatever rate is
 needed to maintain a constant rate on an SA.  If packets are all the
 same size, then the SA presents the appearance of a constant bit rate
 data stream, analogous to what a link crypto would offer at layer 1
 or 2.  However, this is unlikely to be practical in many contexts,
 e.g., when there are multiple SAs active, because it would imply
 reducing the allowed bandwidth for a site, based on the number of
 SAs, and that would undermine the benefits of packet switching.
 Implementations SHOULD provide controls to enable local
 administrators to manage the generation of dummy packets for TFC
 purposes.

Kent Standards Track [Page 16] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

2.7. Traffic Flow Confidentiality (TFC) Padding

 As noted above, the Padding field is limited to 255 bytes in length.
 This generally will not be adequate to hide traffic characteristics
 relative to traffic flow confidentiality requirements.  An optional
 field, within the payload data, is provided specifically to address
 the TFC requirement.
 An IPsec implementation SHOULD be capable of padding traffic by
 adding bytes after the end of the Payload Data, prior to the
 beginning of the Padding field.  However, this padding (hereafter
 referred to as TFC padding) can be added only if the Payload Data
 field contains a specification of the length of the IP datagram.
 This is always true in tunnel mode, and may be true in transport mode
 depending on whether the next layer protocol (e.g., IP, UDP, ICMP)
 contains explicit length information.  This length information will
 enable the receiver to discard the TFC padding, because the true
 length of the Payload Data will be known.  (ESP trailer fields are
 located by counting back from the end of the ESP packet.)
 Accordingly, if TFC padding is added, the field containing the
 specification of the length of the IP datagram MUST NOT be modified
 to reflect this padding.  No requirements for the value of this
 padding are established by this standard.
 In principle, existing IPsec implementations could have made use of
 this capability previously, in a transparent fashion.  However,
 because receivers may not have been prepared to deal with this
 padding, the SA management protocol MUST negotiate this service prior
 to a transmitter employing it, to ensure backward compatibility.
 Combined with the convention described in Section 2.6 above, about
 the use of protocol ID 59, an ESP implementation is capable of
 generating dummy and real packets that exhibit much greater length
 variability, in support of TFC.
 Implementations SHOULD provide local management controls to enable
 the use of this capability on a per-SA basis.  The controls should
 allow the user to specify if this feature is to be used and also
 provide parametric controls for the feature.

2.8. Integrity Check Value (ICV)

 The Integrity Check Value is a variable-length field computed over
 the ESP header, Payload, and ESP trailer fields.  Implicit ESP
 trailer fields (integrity padding and high-order ESN bits, if
 applicable) are included in the ICV computation.  The ICV field is
 optional.  It is present only if the integrity service is selected
 and is provided by either a separate integrity algorithm or a
 combined mode algorithm that uses an ICV.  The length of the field is

Kent Standards Track [Page 17] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 specified by the integrity algorithm selected and associated with the
 SA.  The integrity algorithm specification MUST specify the length of
 the ICV and the comparison rules and processing steps for validation.

3. Encapsulating Security Protocol Processing

3.1. ESP Header Location

 ESP may be employed in two ways: transport mode or tunnel mode.

3.1.1. Transport Mode Processing

 In transport mode, ESP is inserted after the IP header and before a
 next layer protocol, e.g., TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc.  In the context of
 IPv4, this translates to placing ESP after the IP header (and any
 options that it contains), but before the next layer protocol.  (If
 AH is also applied to a packet, it is applied to the ESP header,
 Payload, ESP trailer, and ICV, if present.)  (Note that the term
 "transport" mode should not be misconstrued as restricting its use to
 TCP and UDP.)  The following diagram illustrates ESP transport mode
 positioning for a typical IPv4 packet, on a "before and after" basis.
 (This and subsequent diagrams in this section show the ICV field, the
 presence of which is a function of the security services and the
 algorithm/mode selected.)
                BEFORE APPLYING ESP
           ----------------------------
     IPv4  |orig IP hdr  |     |      |
           |(any options)| TCP | Data |
           ----------------------------
                AFTER APPLYING ESP
           -------------------------------------------------
     IPv4  |orig IP hdr  | ESP |     |      |   ESP   | ESP|
           |(any options)| Hdr | TCP | Data | Trailer | ICV|
           -------------------------------------------------
                               |<---- encryption ---->|
                         |<-------- integrity ------->|
 In the IPv6 context, ESP is viewed as an end-to-end payload, and thus
 should appear after hop-by-hop, routing, and fragmentation extension
 headers.  Destination options extension header(s) could appear
 before, after, or both before and after the ESP header depending on
 the semantics desired.  However, because ESP protects only fields
 after the ESP header, it generally will be desirable to place the
 destination options header(s) after the ESP header.  The following
 diagram illustrates ESP transport mode positioning for a typical IPv6
 packet.

Kent Standards Track [Page 18] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

                    BEFORE APPLYING ESP
           ---------------------------------------
     IPv6  |             | ext hdrs |     |      |
           | orig IP hdr |if present| TCP | Data |
           ---------------------------------------
                    AFTER APPLYING ESP
           ---------------------------------------------------------
     IPv6  | orig |hop-by-hop,dest*,|   |dest|   |    | ESP   | ESP|
           |IP hdr|routing,fragment.|ESP|opt*|TCP|Data|Trailer| ICV|
           ---------------------------------------------------------
                                        |<--- encryption ---->|
                                    |<------ integrity ------>|
  • = if present, could be before ESP, after ESP, or both
 Note that in transport mode, for "bump-in-the-stack" or "bump-in-
 the-wire" implementations, as defined in the Security Architecture
 document, inbound and outbound IP fragments may require an IPsec
 implementation to perform extra IP reassembly/fragmentation in order
 to both conform to this specification and provide transparent IPsec
 support.  Special care is required to perform such operations within
 these implementations when multiple interfaces are in use.

3.1.2. Tunnel Mode Processing

 In tunnel mode, the "inner" IP header carries the ultimate (IP)
 source and destination addresses, while an "outer" IP header contains
 the addresses of the IPsec "peers", e.g., addresses of security
 gateways.  Mixed inner and outer IP versions are allowed, i.e., IPv6
 over IPv4 and IPv4 over IPv6.  In tunnel mode, ESP protects the
 entire inner IP packet, including the entire inner IP header.  The
 position of ESP in tunnel mode, relative to the outer IP header, is
 the same as for ESP in transport mode.  The following diagram
 illustrates ESP tunnel mode positioning for typical IPv4 and IPv6
 packets.

Kent Standards Track [Page 19] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

               BEFORE APPLYING ESP
          ----------------------------
    IPv4  |orig IP hdr  |     |      |
          |(any options)| TCP | Data |
          ----------------------------
               AFTER APPLYING ESP
  1. ———————————————————-

IPv4 | new IP hdr* | | orig IP hdr* | | | ESP | ESP|

          |(any options)| ESP | (any options) |TCP|Data|Trailer| ICV|
          -----------------------------------------------------------
                              |<--------- encryption --------->|
                        |<------------- integrity ------------>|
                    BEFORE APPLYING ESP
          ---------------------------------------
    IPv6  |             | ext hdrs |     |      |
          | orig IP hdr |if present| TCP | Data |
          ---------------------------------------
                   AFTER APPLYING ESP
  1. ———————————————————–

IPv6 | new* |new ext | | orig*|orig ext | | | ESP | ESP|

          |IP hdr| hdrs*  |ESP|IP hdr| hdrs *  |TCP|Data|Trailer| ICV|
          ------------------------------------------------------------
                              |<--------- encryption ---------->|
                          |<------------ integrity ------------>|
  • = if present, construction of outer IP hdr/extensions and

modification of inner IP hdr/extensions is discussed in

              the Security Architecture document.

3.2. Algorithms

 The mandatory-to-implement algorithms for use with ESP are described
 in a separate RFC, to facilitate updating the algorithm requirements
 independently from the protocol per se.  Additional algorithms,
 beyond those mandated for ESP, MAY be supported.  Note that although
 both confidentiality and integrity are optional, at least one of
 these services MUST be selected, hence both algorithms MUST NOT be
 simultaneously NULL.

Kent Standards Track [Page 20] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

3.2.1. Encryption Algorithms

 The encryption algorithm employed to protect an ESP packet is
 specified by the SA via which the packet is transmitted/received.
 Because IP packets may arrive out of order, and not all packets may
 arrive (packet loss), each packet must carry any data required to
 allow the receiver to establish cryptographic synchronization for
 decryption.  This data may be carried explicitly in the payload
 field, e.g., as an IV (as described above), or the data may be
 derived from the plaintext portions of the (outer IP or ESP) packet
 header.  (Note that if plaintext header information is used to derive
 an IV, that information may become security critical and thus the
 protection boundary associated with the encryption process may grow.
 For example, if one were to use the ESP Sequence Number to derive an
 IV, the Sequence Number generation logic (hardware or software) would
 have to be evaluated as part of the encryption algorithm
 implementation.  In the case of FIPS 140-2 [NIST01], this could
 significantly extend the scope of a cryptographic module evaluation.)
 Because ESP makes provision for padding of the plaintext, encryption
 algorithms employed with ESP may exhibit either block or stream mode
 characteristics.  Note that because encryption (confidentiality) MAY
 be an optional service (e.g., integrity-only ESP), this algorithm MAY
 be "NULL" [Ken-Arch].
 To allow an ESP implementation to compute the encryption padding
 required by a block mode encryption algorithm, and to determine the
 MTU impact of the algorithm, the RFC for each encryption algorithm
 used with ESP must specify the padding modulus for the algorithm.

3.2.2. Integrity Algorithms

 The integrity algorithm employed for the ICV computation is specified
 by the SA via which the packet is transmitted/received.  As was the
 case for encryption algorithms, any integrity algorithm employed with
 ESP must make provisions to permit processing of packets that arrive
 out of order and to accommodate packet loss.  The same admonition
 noted above applies to use of any plaintext data to facilitate
 receiver synchronization of integrity algorithms.  Note that because
 the integrity service MAY be optional, this algorithm may be "NULL".
 To allow an ESP implementation to compute any implicit integrity
 algorithm padding required, the RFC for each algorithm used with ESP
 must specify the padding modulus for the algorithm.

Kent Standards Track [Page 21] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

3.2.3. Combined Mode Algorithms

 If a combined mode algorithm is employed, both confidentiality and
 integrity services are provided.  As was the case for encryption
 algorithms, a combined mode algorithm must make provisions for per-
 packet cryptographic synchronization, to permit decryption of packets
 that arrive out of order and to accommodate packet loss.  The means
 by which a combined mode algorithm provides integrity for the
 payload, and for the SPI and (Extended) Sequence Number fields, may
 vary for different algorithm choices.  In order to provide a uniform,
 algorithm-independent approach to invocation of combined mode
 algorithms, no payload substructure is defined.  For example, the SPI
 and Sequence Number fields might be replicated within the ciphertext
 envelope and an ICV may be appended to the ESP trailer.  None of
 these details should be observable externally.
 To allow an ESP implementation to determine the MTU impact of a
 combined mode algorithm, the RFC for each algorithm used with ESP
 must specify a (simple) formula that yields encrypted payload size,
 as a function of the plaintext payload and sequence number sizes.

3.3. Outbound Packet Processing

 In transport mode, the sender encapsulates the next layer protocol
 information between the ESP header and the ESP trailer fields, and
 retains the specified IP header (and any IP extension headers in the
 IPv6 context).  In tunnel mode, the outer and inner IP
 header/extensions can be interrelated in a variety of ways.  The
 construction of the outer IP header/extensions during the
 encapsulation process is described in the Security Architecture
 document.

3.3.1. Security Association Lookup

 ESP is applied to an outbound packet only after an IPsec
 implementation determines that the packet is associated with an SA
 that calls for ESP processing.  The process of determining what, if
 any, IPsec processing is applied to outbound traffic is described in
 the Security Architecture document.

3.3.2. Packet Encryption and Integrity Check Value (ICV) Calculation

 In this section, we speak in terms of encryption always being applied
 because of the formatting implications.  This is done with the
 understanding that "no confidentiality" is offered by using the NULL
 encryption algorithm (RFC 2410).  There are several algorithmic
 options.

Kent Standards Track [Page 22] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

3.3.2.1. Separate Confidentiality and Integrity Algorithms

 If separate confidentiality and integrity algorithms are employed,
 the Sender proceeds as follows:
       1. Encapsulate (into the ESP Payload field):
               - for transport mode -- just the original next layer
                 protocol information.
               - for tunnel mode -- the entire original IP datagram.
       2. Add any necessary padding -- Optional TFC padding and
          (encryption) Padding
       3. Encrypt the result using the key, encryption algorithm,
          and algorithm mode specified for the SA and using any
          required cryptographic synchronization data.
               - If explicit cryptographic synchronization data,
                 e.g., an IV, is indicated, it is input to the
                 encryption algorithm per the algorithm specification
                 and placed in the Payload field.
               - If implicit cryptographic synchronization data is
                 employed, it is constructed and input to the
                 encryption algorithm as per the algorithm
                 specification.
               - If integrity is selected, encryption is performed
                 first, before the integrity algorithm is applied, and
                 the encryption does not encompass the ICV field.
                 This order of processing facilitates rapid detection
                 and rejection of replayed or bogus packets by the
                 receiver, prior to decrypting the packet, hence
                 potentially reducing the impact of denial of service
                 (DoS) attacks.  It also allows for the possibility of
                 parallel processing of packets at the receiver, i.e.,
                 decryption can take place in parallel with integrity
                 checking.  Note that because the ICV is not protected
                 by encryption, a keyed integrity algorithm must be
                 employed to compute the ICV.
       4. Compute the ICV over the ESP packet minus the ICV field.
          Thus, the ICV computation encompasses the SPI, Sequence
          Number, Payload Data, Padding (if present), Pad Length, and
          Next Header.  (Note that the last 4 fields will be in
          ciphertext form, because encryption is performed first.)  If
          the ESN option is enabled for the SA, the high-order 32
          bits of the sequence number are appended after the Next
          Header field for purposes of this computation, but are not
          transmitted.

Kent Standards Track [Page 23] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 For some integrity algorithms, the byte string over which the ICV
 computation is performed must be a multiple of a block size specified
 by the algorithm.  If the length of ESP packet (as described above)
 does not match the block size requirements for the algorithm,
 implicit padding MUST be appended to the end of the ESP packet.
 (This padding is added after the Next Header field, or after the
 high-order 32 bits of the sequence number, if ESN is selected.)  The
 block size (and hence the length of the padding) is specified by the
 integrity algorithm specification.  This padding is not transmitted
 with the packet.  The document that defines an integrity algorithm
 MUST be consulted to determine if implicit padding is required as
 described above.  If the document does not specify an answer to this
 question, then the default is to assume that implicit padding is
 required (as needed to match the packet length to the algorithm's
 block size.)  If padding bytes are needed but the algorithm does not
 specify the padding contents, then the padding octets MUST have a
 value of zero.

3.3.2.2. Combined Confidentiality and Integrity Algorithms

 If a combined confidentiality/integrity algorithm is employed, the
 Sender proceeds as follows:
       1. Encapsulate into the ESP Payload Data field:
               - for transport mode -- just the original next layer
                 protocol information.
               - for tunnel mode -- the entire original IP datagram.
       2. Add any necessary padding -- includes optional TFC padding
          and (encryption) Padding.
       3. Encrypt and integrity protect the result using the key
          and combined mode algorithm specified for the SA and using
          any required cryptographic synchronization data.
               - If explicit cryptographic synchronization data,
                 e.g., an IV, is indicated, it is input to the
                 combined mode algorithm per the algorithm
                 specification and placed in the Payload field.
               - If implicit cryptographic synchronization data is
                 employed, it is constructed and input to the
                 encryption algorithm as per the algorithm
                 specification.
               - The Sequence Number (or Extended Sequence Number, as
                 appropriate) and the SPI are inputs to the
                 algorithm, as they must be included in the integrity
                 check computation.  The means by which these values
                 are included in this computation are a function of

Kent Standards Track [Page 24] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

                 the combined mode algorithm employed and thus not
                 specified in this standard.
               - The (explicit) ICV field MAY be a part of the ESP
                 packet format when a combined mode algorithm is
                 employed.  If one is not used, an analogous field
                 usually will be a part of the ciphertext payload.
                 The location of any integrity fields, and the means
                 by which the Sequence Number and SPI are included in
                 the integrity computation, MUST be defined in an RFC
                 that defines the use of the combined mode algorithm
                 with ESP.

3.3.3. Sequence Number Generation

 The sender's counter is initialized to 0 when an SA is established.
 The sender increments the sequence number (or ESN) counter for this
 SA and inserts the low-order 32 bits of the value into the Sequence
 Number field.  Thus, the first packet sent using a given SA will
 contain a sequence number of 1.
 If anti-replay is enabled (the default), the sender checks to ensure
 that the counter has not cycled before inserting the new value in the
 Sequence Number field.  In other words, the sender MUST NOT send a
 packet on an SA if doing so would cause the sequence number to cycle.
 An attempt to transmit a packet that would result in sequence number
 overflow is an auditable event.  The audit log entry for this event
 SHOULD include the SPI value, current date/time, Source Address,
 Destination Address, and (in IPv6) the cleartext Flow ID.
 The sender assumes anti-replay is enabled as a default, unless
 otherwise notified by the receiver (see Section 3.4.3).  Thus,
 typical behavior of an ESP implementation calls for the sender to
 establish a new SA when the Sequence Number (or ESN) cycles, or in
 anticipation of this value cycling.
 If the key used to compute an ICV is manually distributed, a
 compliant implementation SHOULD NOT provide anti-replay service.  If
 a user chooses to employ anti-replay in conjunction with SAs that are
 manually keyed, the sequence number counter at the sender MUST be
 correctly maintained across local reboots, etc., until the key is
 replaced.  (See Section 5.)
 If anti-replay is disabled (as noted above), the sender does not need
 to monitor or reset the counter.  However, the sender still
 increments the counter and when it reaches the maximum value, the
 counter rolls over back to zero.  (This behavior is recommended for
 multi-sender, multicast SAs, unless anti-replay mechanisms outside

Kent Standards Track [Page 25] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 the scope of this standard are negotiated between the sender and
 receiver.)
 If ESN (see Appendix) is selected, only the low-order 32 bits of the
 sequence number are transmitted in the Sequence Number field,
 although both sender and receiver maintain full 64-bit ESN counters.
 The high order 32 bits are included in the integrity check in an
 algorithm/mode-specific fashion, e.g., the high-order 32 bits may be
 appended after the Next Header field when a separate integrity
 algorithm is employed.
 Note: If a receiver chooses to not enable anti-replay for an SA, then
 the receiver SHOULD NOT negotiate ESN in an SA management protocol.
 Use of ESN creates a need for the receiver to manage the anti-replay
 window (in order to determine the correct value for the high-order
 bits of the ESN, which are employed in the ICV computation), which is
 generally contrary to the notion of disabling anti-replay for an SA.

3.3.4. Fragmentation

 If necessary, fragmentation is performed after ESP processing within
 an IPsec implementation.  Thus, transport mode ESP is applied only to
 whole IP datagrams (not to IP fragments).  An IP packet to which ESP
 has been applied may itself be fragmented by routers en route, and
 such fragments must be reassembled prior to ESP processing at a
 receiver.  In tunnel mode, ESP is applied to an IP packet, which may
 be a fragment of an IP datagram.  For example, a security gateway or
 a "bump-in-the-stack" or "bump-in-the-wire" IPsec implementation (as
 defined in the Security Architecture document) may apply tunnel mode
 ESP to such fragments.
 NOTE: For transport mode -- As mentioned at the end of Section 3.1.1,
 bump-in-the-stack and bump-in-the-wire implementations may have to
 first reassemble a packet fragmented by the local IP layer, then
 apply IPsec, and then fragment the resulting packet.
 NOTE: For IPv6 -- For bump-in-the-stack and bump-in-the-wire
 implementations, it will be necessary to examine all the extension
 headers to determine if there is a fragmentation header and hence
 that the packet needs reassembling prior to IPsec processing.
 Fragmentation, whether performed by an IPsec implementation or by
 routers along the path between IPsec peers, significantly reduces
 performance.  Moreover, the requirement for an ESP receiver to accept
 fragments for reassembly creates denial of service vulnerabilities.
 Thus, an ESP implementation MAY choose to not support fragmentation
 and may mark transmitted packets with the DF bit, to facilitate Path
 MTU (PMTU) discovery.  In any case, an ESP implementation MUST

Kent Standards Track [Page 26] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 support generation of ICMP PMTU messages (or equivalent internal
 signaling for native host implementations) to minimize the likelihood
 of fragmentation.  Details of the support required for MTU management
 are contained in the Security Architecture document.

3.4. Inbound Packet Processing

3.4.1. Reassembly

 If required, reassembly is performed prior to ESP processing.  If a
 packet offered to ESP for processing appears to be an IP fragment,
 i.e., the OFFSET field is non-zero or the MORE FRAGMENTS flag is set,
 the receiver MUST discard the packet; this is an auditable event.
 The audit log entry for this event SHOULD include the SPI value,
 date/time received, Source Address, Destination Address, Sequence
 Number, and (in IPv6) the Flow ID.
 NOTE: For packet reassembly, the current IPv4 spec does NOT require
 either the zeroing of the OFFSET field or the clearing of the MORE
 FRAGMENTS flag.  In order for a reassembled packet to be processed by
 IPsec (as opposed to discarded as an apparent fragment), the IP code
 must do these two things after it reassembles a packet.

3.4.2. Security Association Lookup

 Upon receipt of a packet containing an ESP Header, the receiver
 determines the appropriate (unidirectional) SA via lookup in the SAD.
 For a unicast SA, this determination is based on the SPI or the SPI
 plus protocol field, as described in Section 2.1.  If an
 implementation supports multicast traffic, the destination address is
 also employed in the lookup (in addition to the SPI), and the sender
 address also may be employed, as described in Section 2.1.  (This
 process is described in more detail in the Security Architecture
 document.)  The SAD entry for the SA also indicates whether the
 Sequence Number field will be checked, whether 32- or 64-bit sequence
 numbers are employed for the SA, and whether the (explicit) ICV field
 should be present (and if so, its size).  Also, the SAD entry will
 specify the algorithms and keys to be employed for decryption and ICV
 computation (if applicable).
 If no valid Security Association exists for this packet, the receiver
 MUST discard the packet; this is an auditable event.  The audit log
 entry for this event SHOULD include the SPI value, date/time
 received, Source Address, Destination Address, Sequence Number, and
 (in IPv6) the cleartext Flow ID.

Kent Standards Track [Page 27] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 (Note that SA management traffic, such as IKE packets, does not need
 to be processed based on SPI, i.e., one can demultiplex this traffic
 separately based on Next Protocol and Port fields, for example.)

3.4.3. Sequence Number Verification

 All ESP implementations MUST support the anti-replay service, though
 its use may be enabled or disabled by the receiver on a per-SA basis.
 This service MUST NOT be enabled unless the ESP integrity service
 also is enabled for the SA, because otherwise the Sequence Number
 field has not been integrity protected.  Anti-replay is applicable to
 unicast as well as multicast SAs.  However, this standard specifies
 no mechanisms for providing anti-replay for a multi-sender SA
 (unicast or multicast).  In the absence of negotiation (or manual
 configuration) of an anti-replay mechanism for such an SA, it is
 recommended that sender and receiver checking of the sequence number
 for the SA be disabled (via negotiation or manual configuration), as
 noted below.
 If the receiver does not enable anti-replay for an SA, no inbound
 checks are performed on the Sequence Number.  However, from the
 perspective of the sender, the default is to assume that anti-replay
 is enabled at the receiver.  To avoid having the sender do
 unnecessary sequence number monitoring and SA setup (see section
 3.3.3), if an SA establishment protocol is employed, the receiver
 SHOULD notify the sender, during SA establishment, if the receiver
 will not provide anti-replay protection.
 If the receiver has enabled the anti-replay service for this SA, the
 receive packet counter for the SA MUST be initialized to zero when
 the SA is established.  For each received packet, the receiver MUST
 verify that the packet contains a Sequence Number that does not
 duplicate the Sequence Number of any other packets received during
 the life of this SA.  This SHOULD be the first ESP check applied to a
 packet after it has been matched to an SA, to speed rejection of
 duplicate packets.
 ESP permits two-stage verification of packet sequence numbers.  This
 capability is important whenever an ESP implementation (typically the
 cryptographic module portion thereof) is not capable of performing
 decryption and/or integrity checking at the same rate as the
 interface(s) to unprotected networks.  If the implementation is
 capable of such "line rate" operation, then it is not necessary to
 perform the preliminary verification stage described below.
 The preliminary Sequence Number check is effected utilizing the
 Sequence Number value in the ESP Header and is performed prior to
 integrity checking and decryption.  If this preliminary check fails,

Kent Standards Track [Page 28] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 the packet is discarded, thus avoiding the need for any cryptographic
 operations by the receiver.  If the preliminary check is successful,
 the receiver cannot yet modify its local counter, because the
 integrity of the Sequence Number has not been verified at this point.
 Duplicates are rejected through the use of a sliding receive window.
 How the window is implemented is a local matter, but the following
 text describes the functionality that the implementation must
 exhibit.
 The "right" edge of the window represents the highest, validated
 Sequence Number value received on this SA.  Packets that contain
 sequence numbers lower than the "left" edge of the window are
 rejected.  Packets falling within the window are checked against a
 list of received packets within the window.  If the ESN option is
 selected for an SA, only the low-order 32 bits of the sequence number
 are explicitly transmitted, but the receiver employs the full
 sequence number computed using the high-order 32 bits for the
 indicated SA (from his local counter) when checking the received
 Sequence Number against the receive window.  In constructing the full
 sequence number, if the low-order 32 bits carried in the packet are
 lower in value than the low-order 32 bits of the receiver's sequence
 number, the receiver assumes that the high-order 32 bits have been
 incremented, moving to a new sequence number subspace.  (This
 algorithm accommodates gaps in reception for a single SA as large as
 2**32-1 packets.  If a larger gap occurs, additional, heuristic
 checks for re-synchronization of the receiver sequence number counter
 MAY be employed, as described in the Appendix.)
 If the received packet falls within the window and is not a
 duplicate, or if the packet is to the right of the window, and if a
 separate integrity algorithm is employed, then the receiver proceeds
 to integrity verification.  If a combined mode algorithm is employed,
 the integrity check is performed along with decryption.  In either
 case, if the integrity check fails, the receiver MUST discard the
 received IP datagram as invalid; this is an auditable event.  The
 audit log entry for this event SHOULD include the SPI value,
 date/time received, Source Address, Destination Address, the Sequence
 Number, and (in IPv6) the Flow ID.  The receive window is updated
 only if the integrity verification succeeds.  (If a combined mode
 algorithm is being used, then the integrity protected Sequence Number
 must also match the Sequence Number used for anti-replay protection.)
 A minimum window size of 32 packets MUST be supported when 32-bit
 sequence numbers are employed; a window size of 64 is preferred and
 SHOULD be employed as the default.  Another window size (larger than
 the minimum) MAY be chosen by the receiver.  (The receiver does NOT
 notify the sender of the window size.)  The receive window size

Kent Standards Track [Page 29] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 should be increased for higher-speed environments, irrespective of
 assurance issues.  Values for minimum and recommended receive window
 sizes for very high-speed (e.g., multi-gigabit/second) devices are
 not specified by this standard.

3.4.4. Integrity Check Value Verification

 As with outbound processing, there are several options for inbound
 processing, based on features of the algorithms employed.

3.4.4.1. Separate Confidentiality and Integrity Algorithms

 If separate confidentiality and integrity algorithms are employed
 processing proceeds as follows:
       1. If integrity has been selected, the receiver computes the
          ICV over the ESP packet minus the ICV, using the specified
          integrity algorithm and verifies that it is the same as the
          ICV carried in the packet.  Details of the computation are
          provided below.
          If the computed and received ICVs match, then the datagram
          is valid, and it is accepted.  If the test fails, then the
          receiver MUST discard the received IP datagram as invalid;
          this is an auditable event.  The log data SHOULD include the
          SPI value, date/time received, Source Address, Destination
          Address, the Sequence Number, and (for IPv6) the cleartext
          Flow ID.
          Implementation Note:
          Implementations can use any set of steps that results in the
          same result as the following set of steps.  Begin by
          removing and saving the ICV field.  Next check the overall
          length of the ESP packet minus the ICV field.  If implicit
          padding is required, based on the block size of the
          integrity algorithm, append zero-filled bytes to the end of
          the ESP packet directly after the Next Header field, or
          after the high-order 32 bits of the sequence number if ESN
          is selected.  Perform the ICV computation and compare the
          result with the saved value, using the comparison rules
          defined by the algorithm specification.
       2. The receiver decrypts the ESP Payload Data, Padding, Pad
          Length, and Next Header using the key, encryption algorithm,
          algorithm mode, and cryptographic synchronization data (if
          any), indicated by the SA.  As in Section 3.3.2, we speak
          here in terms of encryption always being applied because of

Kent Standards Track [Page 30] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

          the formatting implications.  This is done with the
          understanding that "no confidentiality" is offered by using
          the NULL encryption algorithm (RFC 2410).
  1. If explicit cryptographic synchronization data, e.g.,

an IV, is indicated, it is taken from the Payload

                 field and input to the decryption algorithm as per
                 the algorithm specification.
  1. If implicit cryptographic synchronization data is

indicated, a local version of the IV is constructed

                 and input to the decryption algorithm as per the
                 algorithm specification.
       3. The receiver processes any Padding as specified in the
          encryption algorithm specification.  If the default padding
          scheme (see Section 2.4) has been employed, the receiver
          SHOULD inspect the Padding field before removing the padding
          prior to passing the decrypted data to the next layer.
       4. The receiver checks the Next Header field.  If the value is
          "59" (no next header), the (dummy) packet is discarded
          without further processing.
       5. The receiver reconstructs the original IP datagram from:
  1. for transport mode – outer IP header plus the

original next layer protocol information in the ESP

                 Payload field
               - for tunnel mode -- the entire IP datagram in the ESP
                 Payload field.
          The exact steps for reconstructing the original datagram
          depend on the mode (transport or tunnel) and are described
          in the Security Architecture document.  At a minimum, in an
          IPv6 context, the receiver SHOULD ensure that the decrypted
          data is 8-byte aligned, to facilitate processing by the
          protocol identified in the Next Header field.  This
          processing "discards" any (optional) TFC padding that has
          been added for traffic flow confidentiality.  (If present,
          this will have been inserted after the IP datagram (or
          transport-layer frame) and before the Padding field (see
          Section 2.4).)
 If integrity checking and encryption are performed in parallel,
 integrity checking MUST be completed before the decrypted packet is
 passed on for further processing.  This order of processing
 facilitates rapid detection and rejection of replayed or bogus

Kent Standards Track [Page 31] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 packets by the receiver, prior to decrypting the packet, hence
 potentially reducing the impact of denial of service attacks.
 Note: If the receiver performs decryption in parallel with integrity
 checking, care must be taken to avoid possible race conditions with
 regard to packet access and extraction of the decrypted packet.

3.4.4.2. Combined Confidentiality and Integrity Algorithms

 If a combined confidentiality and integrity algorithm is employed,
 then the receiver proceeds as follows:
       1. Decrypts and integrity checks the ESP Payload Data, Padding,
          Pad Length, and Next Header, using the key, algorithm,
          algorithm mode, and cryptographic synchronization data (if
          any), indicated by the SA.  The SPI from the ESP header, and
          the (receiver) packet counter value (adjusted as required
          from the processing described in Section 3.4.3) are inputs
          to this algorithm, as they are required for the integrity
          check.
  1. If explicit cryptographic synchronization data, e.g.,

an IV, is indicated, it is taken from the Payload

                 field and input to the decryption algorithm as per
                 the algorithm specification.
  1. If implicit cryptographic synchronization data, e.g.,

an IV, is indicated, a local version of the IV is

                 constructed and input to the decryption algorithm as
                 per the algorithm specification.
       2. If the integrity check performed by the combined mode
          algorithm fails, the receiver MUST discard the received IP
          datagram as invalid; this is an auditable event.  The log
          data SHOULD include the SPI value, date/time received,
          Source Address, Destination Address, the Sequence Number,
          and (in IPv6) the cleartext Flow ID.
       3. Process any Padding as specified in the encryption algorithm
          specification, if the algorithm has not already done so.
       4. The receiver checks the Next Header field.  If the value is
          "59" (no next header), the (dummy) packet is discarded
          without further processing.
       5. Extract the original IP datagram (tunnel mode) or
          transport-layer frame (transport mode) from the ESP Payload
          Data field.  This implicitly discards any (optional) padding

Kent Standards Track [Page 32] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

          that has been added for traffic flow confidentiality.  (If
          present, the TFC padding will have been inserted after the
          IP payload and before the Padding field (see Section 2.4).)

4. Auditing

 Not all systems that implement ESP will implement auditing.  However,
 if ESP is incorporated into a system that supports auditing, then the
 ESP implementation MUST also support auditing and MUST allow a system
 administrator to enable or disable auditing for ESP.  For the most
 part, the granularity of auditing is a local matter.  However,
 several auditable events are identified in this specification and for
 each of these events a minimum set of information that SHOULD be
 included in an audit log is defined.
  1. No valid Security Association exists for a session. The

audit log entry for this event SHOULD include the SPI value,

         date/time received, Source Address, Destination Address,
         Sequence Number, and (for IPv6) the cleartext Flow ID.
  1. A packet offered to ESP for processing appears to be an IP

fragment, i.e., the OFFSET field is non-zero or the MORE

         FRAGMENTS flag is set.  The audit log entry for this event
         SHOULD include the SPI value, date/time received, Source
         Address, Destination Address, Sequence Number, and (in IPv6)
         the Flow ID.
  1. Attempt to transmit a packet that would result in Sequence

Number overflow. The audit log entry for this event SHOULD

         include the SPI value, current date/time, Source Address,
         Destination Address, Sequence Number, and (for IPv6) the
         cleartext Flow ID.
  1. The received packet fails the anti-replay checks. The audit

log entry for this event SHOULD include the SPI value,

         date/time received, Source Address, Destination Address, the
         Sequence Number, and (in IPv6) the Flow ID.
  1. The integrity check fails. The audit log entry for this

event SHOULD include the SPI value, date/time received,

         Source Address, Destination Address, the Sequence Number, and
         (for IPv6) the Flow ID.
 Additional information also MAY be included in the audit log for each
 of these events, and additional events, not explicitly called out in
 this specification, also MAY result in audit log entries.  There is
 no requirement for the receiver to transmit any message to the

Kent Standards Track [Page 33] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 purported sender in response to the detection of an auditable event,
 because of the potential to induce denial of service via such action.

5. Conformance Requirements

 Implementations that claim conformance or compliance with this
 specification MUST implement the ESP syntax and processing described
 here for unicast traffic, and MUST comply with all additional packet
 processing requirements levied by the Security Architecture document
 [Ken-Arch].  Additionally, if an implementation claims to support
 multicast traffic, it MUST comply with the additional requirements
 specified for support of such traffic.  If the key used to compute an
 ICV is manually distributed, correct provision of the anti-replay
 service requires correct maintenance of the counter state at the
 sender (across local reboots, etc.), until the key is replaced, and
 there likely would be no automated recovery provision if counter
 overflow were imminent.  Thus, a compliant implementation SHOULD NOT
 provide anti-replay service in conjunction with SAs that are manually
 keyed.
 The mandatory-to-implement algorithms for use with ESP are described
 in a separate document [Eas04], to facilitate updating the algorithm
 requirements independently from the protocol per se.  Additional
 algorithms, beyond those mandated for ESP, MAY be supported.
 Because use of encryption in ESP is optional, support for the "NULL"
 encryption algorithm also is required to maintain consistency with
 the way ESP services are negotiated.  Support for the
 confidentiality-only service version of ESP is optional.  If an
 implementation offers this service, it MUST also support the
 negotiation of the "NULL" integrity algorithm.  NOTE that although
 integrity and encryption may each be "NULL" under the circumstances
 noted above, they MUST NOT both be "NULL".

6. Security Considerations

 Security is central to the design of this protocol, and thus security
 considerations permeate the specification.  Additional security-
 relevant aspects of using the IPsec protocol are discussed in the
 Security Architecture document.

7. Differences from RFC 2406

 This document differs from RFC 2406 in a number of significant ways.
      o Confidentiality-only service -- now a MAY, not a MUST.

Kent Standards Track [Page 34] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

      o SPI -- modified to specify a uniform algorithm for SAD lookup
        for unicast and multicast SAs, covering a wider range of
        multicast technologies.  For unicast, the SPI may be used
        alone to select an SA, or may be combined with the protocol,
        at the option of the receiver.  For multicast SAs, the SPI is
        combined with the destination address, and optionally the
        source address, to select an SA.
      o Extended Sequence Number -- added a new option for a 64-bit
        sequence number for very high-speed communications.  Clarified
        sender and receiver processing requirements for multicast SAs
        and multi-sender SAs.
      o Payload data -- broadened model to accommodate combined mode
        algorithms.
      o Padding for improved traffic flow confidentiality -- added
        requirement to be able to add bytes after the end of the IP
        Payload, prior to the beginning of the Padding field.
      o Next Header -- added requirement to be able to generate and
        discard dummy padding packets (Next Header = 59)
      o ICV -- broadened model to accommodate combined mode
        algorithms.
      o Algorithms -- Added combined confidentiality mode algorithms.
      o Moved references to mandatory algorithms to a separate
        document.
      o Inbound and Outbound packet processing -- there are now two
        paths: (1) separate confidentiality and integrity
        algorithms and (2) combined confidentiality mode
        algorithms.  Because of the addition of combined mode
        algorithms, the encryption/decryption and integrity sections
        have been combined for both inbound and outbound packet
        processing.

8. Backward-Compatibility Considerations

 There is no version number in ESP and no mechanism enabling IPsec
 peers to discover or negotiate which version of ESP each is using or
 should use.  This section discusses consequent backward-compatibility
 issues.
 First, if none of the new features available in ESP v3 are employed,
 then the format of an ESP packet is identical in ESP v2 and v3.  If a
 combined mode encryption algorithm is employed, a feature supported
 only in ESP v3, then the resulting packet format may differ from the
 ESP v2 spec.  However, a peer who implements only ESP v2 would never
 negotiate such an algorithm, as they are defined for use only in the
 ESP v3 context.

Kent Standards Track [Page 35] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 Extended Sequence Number (ESN) negotiation is supported by IKE v2 and
 has been addressed for IKE v1 by the ESN Addendum to the IKE v1
 Domain of Interpretation (DOI).
 In the new ESP (v3), we make two provisions to better support traffic
 flow confidentiality (TFC):
  1. arbitrary padding after the end of an IP packet
  2. a discard convention using Next Header = 59
 The first feature is one that should not cause problems for a
 receiver, since the IP total length field indicates where the IP
 packet ends.  Thus, any TFC padding bytes after the end of the packet
 should be removed at some point during IP packet processing, after
 ESP processing, even if the IPsec software does not remove such
 padding.  Thus, this is an ESP v3 feature that a sender can employ
 irrespective of whether a receiver implements ESP v2 or ESP v3.
 The second feature allows a sender to send a payload that is an
 arbitrary string of bytes that do not necessarily constitute a well-
 formed IP packet, inside of a tunnel, for TFC purposes.  It is an
 open question as to what an ESP v2 receiver will do when the Next
 Header field in an ESP packet contains the value "59".  It might
 discard the packet when it finds an ill-formed IP header, and log
 this event, but it certainly ought not to crash, because such
 behavior would constitute a DoS vulnerability relative to traffic
 received from authenticated peers.  Thus this feature is an
 optimization that an ESP v3 sender can make use of irrespective of
 whether a receiver implements ESP v2 or ESP v3.

9. Acknowledgements

 The author would like to acknowledge the contributions of Ran
 Atkinson, who played a critical role in initial IPsec activities, and
 who authored the first series of IPsec standards: RFCs 1825-1827.
 Karen Seo deserves special thanks for providing help in the editing
 of this and the previous version of this specification.  The author
 also would like to thank the members of the IPSEC and MSEC working
 groups who have contributed to the development of this protocol
 specification.

10. References

10.1. Normative References

 [Bra97]    Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
            Requirement Level", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

Kent Standards Track [Page 36] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 [DH98]     Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6
            (IPv6) Specification", RFC 2460, December 1998.
 [Eas04]    3rd Eastlake, D., "Cryptographic Algorithm Implementation
            Requirements for Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) and
            Authentication Header (AH)", RFC 4305, December 2005.
 [Ken-Arch] Kent, S. and K. Seo, "Security Architecture for the
            Internet Protocol", RFC 4301, December 2005.
 [Pos81]    Postel, J., "Internet Protocol", STD 5, RFC 791, September
            1981.

10.2. Informative References

 [Bel96]    Steven M. Bellovin, "Problem Areas for the IP Security
            Protocols", Proceedings of the Sixth Usenix Unix Security
            Symposium, July, 1996.
 [HC03]     Holbrook, H. and B. Cain, "Source-Specific Multicast for
            IP", Work in Progress, November 3, 2002.
 [Kau05]    Kaufman, C., Ed., "The Internet Key Exchange (IKEv2)
            Protocol", RFC 4306, December 2005.
 [Ken-AH]   Kent, S., "IP Authentication Header", RFC 4302, December
            2005.
 [Kra01]    Krawczyk, H., "The Order of Encryption and Authentication
            for Protecting Communications (Or: How Secure Is SSL?)",
            CRYPTO' 2001.
 [NIST01]   Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 140-2
            (FIPS PUB 140-2), "Security Requirements for Cryptographic
            Modules", Information Technology Laboratory, National
            Institute of Standards and Technology, May 25, 2001.
 [RFC3547]  Baugher, M., Weis, B., Hardjono, T., and H. Harney, "The
            Group Domain of Interpretation", RFC 3547, July 2003.
 [RFC3740]  Hardjono, T. and B. Weis, "The Multicast Group Security
            Architecture", RFC 3740, March 2004.
 [Syverson] P. Syverson, D. Goldschlag, and M. Reed, "Anonymous
            Connections and Onion Routing", Proceedings of the
            Symposium on Security and Privacy, Oakland, CA, May 1997,
            pages 44-54.

Kent Standards Track [Page 37] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

Appendix A: Extended (64-bit) Sequence Numbers

A1. Overview

 This appendix describes an extended sequence number (ESN) scheme for
 use with IPsec (ESP and AH) that employs a 64-bit sequence number,
 but in which only the low-order 32 bits are transmitted as part of
 each packet.  It covers both the window scheme used to detect
 replayed packets and the determination of the high-order bits of the
 sequence number that are used both for replay rejection and for
 computation of the ICV.  It also discusses a mechanism for handling
 loss of synchronization relative to the (not transmitted) high-order
 bits.

A2. Anti-Replay Window

 The receiver will maintain an anti-replay window of size W.  This
 window will limit how far out of order a packet can be, relative to
 the packet with the highest sequence number that has been
 authenticated so far.  (No requirement is established for minimum or
 recommended sizes for this window, beyond the 32- and 64-packet
 values already established for 32-bit sequence number windows.
 However, it is suggested that an implementer scale these values
 consistent with the interface speed supported by an implementation
 that makes use of the ESN option.  Also, the algorithm described
 below assumes that the window is no greater than 2^31 packets in
 width.)  All 2^32 sequence numbers associated with any fixed value
 for the high-order 32 bits (Seqh) will hereafter be called a sequence
 number subspace.  The following table lists pertinent variables and
 their definitions.
      Var.   Size
      Name  (bits)            Meaning
      ----  ------  ---------------------------
      W       32    Size of window
      T       64    Highest sequence number authenticated so far,
                    upper bound of window
        Tl      32    Lower 32 bits of T
        Th      32    Upper 32 bits of T
      B       64    Lower bound of window
        Bl      32    Lower 32 bits of B
        Bh      32    Upper 32 bits of B
      Seq     64    Sequence Number of received packet
        Seql    32    Lower 32 bits of Seq
        Seqh    32    Upper 32 bits of Seq

Kent Standards Track [Page 38] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 When performing the anti-replay check, or when determining which
 high-order bits to use to authenticate an incoming packet, there are
 two cases:
   + Case A: Tl >= (W - 1). In this case, the window is within one
                            sequence number subspace.  (See Figure 1)
   + Case B: Tl < (W - 1).  In this case, the window spans two
                            sequence number subspaces.  (See Figure 2)
 In the figures below, the bottom line ("----") shows two consecutive
 sequence number subspaces, with zeros indicating the beginning of
 each subspace.  The two shorter lines above it show the higher-order
 bits that apply.  The "====" represents the window.  The "****"
 represents future sequence numbers, i.e., those beyond the current
 highest sequence number authenticated (ThTl).
      Th+1                         *********
      Th               =======*****
  1. -0——–+—–+—–0——–+———–0–

Bl Tl Bl

                                      (Bl+2^32) mod 2^32
                          Figure 1 -- Case A
      Th                           ====**************
      Th-1                      ===
  1. -0—————–+–0–+————–+–0–

Bl Tl Bl

                                               (Bl+2^32) mod 2^32
                          Figure 2 -- Case B

A2.1. Managing and Using the Anti-Replay Window

 The anti-replay window can be thought of as a string of bits where
 `W' defines the length of the string.  W = T - B + 1 and cannot
 exceed 2^32 - 1 in value.  The bottom-most bit corresponds to B and
 the top-most bit corresponds to T, and each sequence number from Bl
 through Tl is represented by a corresponding bit.  The value of the
 bit indicates whether or not a packet with that sequence number has
 been received and authenticated, so that replays can be detected and
 rejected.

Kent Standards Track [Page 39] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

 When a packet with a 64-bit sequence number (Seq) greater than T is
 received and validated,
    + B is increased by (Seq - T)
    + (Seq - T) bits are dropped from the low end of the window
    + (Seq - T) bits are added to the high end of the window
    + The top bit is set to indicate that a packet with that sequence
      number has been received and authenticated
    + The new bits between T and the top bit are set to indicate that
      no packets with those sequence numbers have been received yet.
    + T is set to the new sequence number
 In checking for replayed packets,
    + Under Case A: If Seql >= Bl (where Bl = Tl - W + 1) AND Seql <=
      Tl, then check the corresponding bit in the window to see if
      this Seql has already been seen.  If yes, reject the packet.  If
      no, perform integrity check (see Appendix A2.2. below for
      determination of Seqh).
    + Under Case B: If Seql >= Bl (where Bl = Tl - W + 1) OR Seql <=
      Tl, then check the corresponding bit in the window to see if
      this Seql has already been seen.  If yes, reject the packet.  If
      no, perform integrity check (see Appendix A2.2. below for
      determination of Seqh).

A2.2. Determining the Higher-Order Bits (Seqh) of the Sequence Number

 Because only `Seql' will be transmitted with the packet, the receiver
 must deduce and track the sequence number subspace into which each
 packet falls, i.e., determine the value of Seqh.  The following
 equations define how to select Seqh under "normal" conditions; see
 Section A3 for a discussion of how to recover from extreme packet
 loss.
    + Under Case A (Figure 1):
      If Seql >= Bl (where Bl = Tl - W + 1), then Seqh = Th
      If Seql <  Bl (where Bl = Tl - W + 1), then Seqh = Th + 1
    + Under Case B (Figure 2):
      If Seql >= Bl (where Bl = Tl - W + 1), then Seqh = Th - 1
      If Seql <  Bl (where Bl = Tl - W + 1), then Seqh = Th

Kent Standards Track [Page 40] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

A2.3. Pseudo-Code Example

 The following pseudo-code illustrates the above algorithms for anti-
 replay and integrity checks.  The values for `Seql', `Tl', `Th' and
 `W' are 32-bit unsigned integers.  Arithmetic is mod 2^32.
      If (Tl >= W - 1)                            Case A
          If (Seql >= Tl - W + 1)
              Seqh = Th
              If (Seql <= Tl)
                  If (pass replay check)
                      If (pass integrity check)
                          Set bit corresponding to Seql
                          Pass the packet on
                      Else reject packet
                  Else reject packet
              Else
                  If (pass integrity check)
                      Tl = Seql (shift bits)
                      Set bit corresponding to Seql
                      Pass the packet on
                  Else reject packet
          Else
              Seqh = Th + 1
              If (pass integrity check)
                  Tl = Seql (shift bits)
                  Th = Th + 1
                  Set bit corresponding to Seql
                  Pass the packet on
              Else reject packet
      Else                                    Case B
          If (Seql >= Tl - W + 1)
              Seqh = Th - 1
              If (pass replay check)
                  If (pass integrity check)
                      Set the bit corresponding to Seql
                      Pass packet on
                  Else reject packet
              Else reject packet
          Else
              Seqh = Th
              If (Seql <= Tl)
                  If (pass replay check)
                      If (pass integrity check)
                          Set the bit corresponding to Seql
                          Pass packet on
                      Else reject packet
                  Else reject packet

Kent Standards Track [Page 41] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

              Else
                  If (pass integrity check)
                      Tl = Seql (shift bits)
                      Set the bit corresponding to Seql
                      Pass packet on
                  Else reject packet

A3. Handling Loss of Synchronization due to Significant Packet Loss

 If there is an undetected packet loss of 2^32 or more consecutive
 packets on a single SA, then the transmitter and receiver will lose
 synchronization of the high-order bits, i.e., the equations in
 Section A2.2. will fail to yield the correct value.  Unless this
 problem is detected and addressed, subsequent packets on this SA will
 fail authentication checks and be discarded.  The following procedure
 SHOULD be implemented by any IPsec (ESP or AH) implementation that
 supports the ESN option.
 Note that this sort of extended traffic loss is likely to be detected
 at higher layers in most cases, before IPsec would have to invoke the
 sort of re-synchronization mechanism described in A3.1 and A3.2. If
 any significant fraction of the traffic on the SA in question is TCP,
 the source would fail to receive ACKs and would stop sending long
 before 2^32 packets had been lost.  Also, for any bi-directional
 application, even ones operating above UDP, such an extended outage
 would likely result in triggering some form of timeout.  However, a
 unidirectional application, operating over UDP, might lack feedback
 that would cause automatic detection of a loss of this magnitude,
 hence the motivation to develop a recovery method for this case.
 Note that the above observations apply to SAs between security
 gateways, or between hosts, or between host and security gateways.
 The solution we've chosen was selected to:
   + minimize the impact on normal traffic processing
   + avoid creating an opportunity for a new denial of service attack
     such as might occur by allowing an attacker to force diversion of
     resources to a re-synchronization process
   + limit the recovery mechanism to the receiver -- because anti-
     replay is a service only for the receiver, and the transmitter
     generally is not aware of whether the receiver is using sequence
     numbers in support of this optional service, it is preferable for
     recovery mechanisms to be local to the receiver.  This also
     allows for backward compatibility.

Kent Standards Track [Page 42] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

A3.1. Triggering Re-synchronization

 For each SA, the receiver records the number of consecutive packets
 that fail authentication.  This count is used to trigger the re-
 synchronization process, which should be performed in the background
 or using a separate processor.  Receipt of a valid packet on the SA
 resets the counter to zero.  The value used to trigger the re-
 synchronization process is a local parameter.  There is no
 requirement to support distinct trigger values for different SAs,
 although an implementer may choose to do so.

A3.2. Re-synchronization Process

 When the above trigger point is reached, a "bad" packet is selected
 for which authentication is retried using successively larger values
 for the upper half of the sequence number (Seqh).  These values are
 generated by incrementing by one for each retry.  The number of
 retries should be limited, in case this is a packet from the "past"
 or a bogus packet.  The limit value is a local parameter.  (Because
 the Seqh value is implicitly placed after the ESP (or AH) payload, it
 may be possible to optimize this procedure by executing the integrity
 algorithm over the packet up to the endpoint of the payload, then
 compute different candidate ICVs by varying the value of Seqh.)
 Successful authentication of a packet via this procedure resets the
 consecutive failure count and sets the value of T to that of the
 received packet.
 This solution requires support only on the part of the receiver,
 thereby allowing for backward compatibility.  Also, because re-
 synchronization efforts would either occur in the background or
 utilize an additional processor, this solution does not impact
 traffic processing and a denial of service attack cannot divert
 resources away from traffic processing.

Author's Address

 Stephen Kent
 BBN Technologies
 10 Moulton Street
 Cambridge, MA  02138
 USA
 Phone: +1 (617) 873-3988
 EMail: kent@bbn.com

Kent Standards Track [Page 43] RFC 4303 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) December 2005

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Kent Standards Track [Page 44]

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