The IPv6 Loopback Address Prefix
draft-kumari-ipv6-loopback-01
This document is an Internet-Draft (I-D).
Anyone may submit an I-D to the IETF.
This I-D is not endorsed by the IETF and has no formal standing in the
IETF standards process.
| Document | Type | Active Internet-Draft (individual) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Geoff Huston , Warren Kumari | ||
| Last updated | 2025-11-26 | ||
| RFC stream | (None) | ||
| Intended RFC status | (None) | ||
| Formats | |||
| Stream | Stream state | (No stream defined) | |
| Consensus boilerplate | Unknown | ||
| RFC Editor Note | (None) | ||
| IESG | IESG state | I-D Exists | |
| Telechat date | (None) | ||
| Responsible AD | (None) | ||
| Send notices to | (None) |
draft-kumari-ipv6-loopback-01
WG Working Group G. Huston
Internet-Draft APNIC
Intended status: Standards Track W. Kumari
Expires: 30 May 2026 Google, Inc.
26 November 2025
The IPv6 Loopback Address Prefix
draft-kumari-ipv6-loopback-01
Abstract
This document updates the IP Version 6 Address Architecture to define
the IPv6 address prefix ::/96 as the Loopback address prefix.
About This Document
This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.
The latest revision of this draft can be found at
https://wkumari.github.io/draft-kumari-ipv6-loopback/draft-kumari-
ipv6-loopback.html. Status information for this document may be
found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-kumari-
ipv6-loopback/.
Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
https://github.com/wkumari/draft-kumari-ipv6-loopback.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on 30 May 2026.
Huston & Kumari Expires 30 May 2026 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft IPv6 Loopback Prefix November 2025
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2025 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components
extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Loopback addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. The IPv6 Loopback Prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. Introduction
In the IP address architecture, a loopback address is a special IP
address used by hosts to send data to itself. Packets directed to a
loopback address are automatically routed back to the sending host's
network software stack without ever reaching a physical network
interface. This has use in some forms of testing and is used to
support a non-network method to facilitate local inter-process
communication within a host.
This document updates the IP Version 6 Address Architecture to define
the IPv6 address prefix ::/96 as the Loopback address prefix.
2. Conventions and Definitions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
Huston & Kumari Expires 30 May 2026 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft IPv6 Loopback Prefix November 2025
3. Loopback addresses
The IPv4 network 127.0.0.0/8 was reserved by the IANA in [RFC791]
where the class-based address architecture was described. It is
understood that it was the IANA's policy at the time to reserve the
first and last network of each class, and the address prefixes
0.0.0.0/8 and 127.0.0.0/8 from the Class A space were reserved in
accordance with this practice. [RFC990] listed the 127.0.0.0/8
address prefix as being used by the loopback function, and this
function was listed as a requirement for all Internet hosts in
[RFC1122].
The "loopback" function is defined such that an outbound packet whose
destination address triggers this loopback function should loop the
packet back to the packet ingress queue for processing by the same
host. No packet that is addresses to a loopback address should ever
to passed to any physical network.
[RFC1884], the original IPv6 Addressing Architecture document,
allocates a single local loopback address, ::1. This single address
allocation has been preserved in all subsequent revision to the IPv6
addressing specification ([RFC2373], [RFC3513], [RFC4291])
Loopback addresses enable localhost communication, network
diagnostics, and inter-process connections, making them essential for
various local functions.
Multiple loopback addresses can increase the number of distinct
sockets that can be used for inter-process communication within a
host. A larger local loopback prefix in IPv6 can permit large
numbers of distinct concurrent loopback TCP connections within a
single host, which is comparable to the functionality supported by
the IPv4 loopback address prefix.
4. The IPv6 Loopback Prefix
The IANA IPv6 Address registry denotes the address prefix ::/8 as
being reserved by the IETF in [RFC3513] [RFC4291]. This range has
been partially allocated with the prefix ::FFFF:0:0/96 being used in
the context of an IPv6 transition technology to map IPv4 addresses
into IPv6 addresses.
The document expands the set of IPv6 loopback addresses to span the
address prefix range ::0 through through ::FFFF:FFFF (or ::/96 in
prefix notation).
This RFC replaces section 2.5.2 and 2.5.3 of [RFC4291] as follows:
Huston & Kumari Expires 30 May 2026 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft IPv6 Loopback Prefix November 2025
The Loopback prefix
The unicast address prefix ::/96 is called the loopback address
prefix.
The first address of this address prefix block, 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
(::/128), is also termed the "unspecified address". This address
MUST NOT be assigned to any node, as it indicates the absence of
an address. One example of the use of this address is in the
Source Address field of any IPv6 packets sent by an initializing
host before it has learned its own address.
All other loopback addresses drawn from this loopback address
prefix may be used by a node as a destination address to send an
IPv6 packet to itself. These addresses MUST NOT be assigned to
any physical interface. These addresses are treated as having
Link-Local scope, and may be thought of as the Link-Local unicast
address prefix of a virtual interface (typically called the
"loopback interface") to an imaginary link that goes nowhere.
All loopback addresses other than the unspecified address MUST NOT
be used as the source address in IPv6 packets that are sent
outside of a single node. An IPv6 packet with a destination
address of loopback address MUST NOT be sent outside of a single
node and must never be forwarded by an IPv6 router. A packet
received on an interface with a destination loopback address MUST
be dropped.
((Geoff: I have gone for proposing a simple prefix that sits below
the IPv4-mapped address block of 0:0:0:0:0:FFFF::/96 - the
complication is that the prefix then includes the "unspecified
address" as well, so the RFC4291 text relating to the unspecificed
address is reproduced in this proposed amendment, as this text
proposes replacing the entirety of sections 2.5.2 and 2.5.3 of
RFC4291.))
((Geoff: David Farmer has proposed adding additional text noting that
this proposed address designation clashes with the now deprecated
IPv4-Compatible IPv6 Address designation in section 2.5.5.1. It is
noted that this was deprecated in RFC4291 twenty years ago and I'm
proposing no further mention of this deprecated historic address
designation. David suggests that this old designation should be
explicity noted in this text.))
5. Security Considerations
IPv6 addressing documents do not have any direct impact on Internet
infrastructure security.
Huston & Kumari Expires 30 May 2026 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft IPv6 Loopback Prefix November 2025
((heas: ::1/32 remains the primary loopback address and MUST
(SHOULD?) be assigned to a loopback interface.))
((WK: I don't think that we need to add anything about the
"Unspecified Address", nor the behavior of "packets with source
address of ::" since this is already covered in RFC 4291, but figured
I'd mention it here for completeness.))
6. IANA Considerations
The IANA is requested to amend the IPv6 Address registry and the IPv6
Special Purpose Address registry to record the designation of the
IPv6 address prefix ::/96 as denoting the IPV6 Loopback function.
The IANA is also requested to add an entry to the IPv6 Locally-Served
DNS Zone Registry for the entry
0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.IP6.ARPA
7. References
7.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.
[RFC4291] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing
Architecture", RFC 4291, DOI 10.17487/RFC4291, February
2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4291>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.
7.2. Informative References
[RFC1122] Braden, R., Ed., "Requirements for Internet Hosts -
Communication Layers", STD 3, RFC 1122,
DOI 10.17487/RFC1122, October 1989,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1122>.
[RFC1884] Hinden, R., Ed. and S. Deering, Ed., "IP Version 6
Addressing Architecture", RFC 1884, DOI 10.17487/RFC1884,
December 1995, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1884>.
Huston & Kumari Expires 30 May 2026 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft IPv6 Loopback Prefix November 2025
[RFC2373] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing
Architecture", RFC 2373, DOI 10.17487/RFC2373, July 1998,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2373>.
[RFC3513] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "Internet Protocol Version 6
(IPv6) Addressing Architecture", RFC 3513,
DOI 10.17487/RFC3513, April 2003,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3513>.
[RFC791] Postel, J., "Internet Protocol", STD 5, RFC 791,
DOI 10.17487/RFC0791, September 1981,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc791>.
[RFC990] Reynolds, J. and J. Postel, "Assigned numbers", RFC 990,
DOI 10.17487/RFC0990, November 1986,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc990>.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Alejandro Acosta, Brian Carpenter,
Antonis Chariton, Owen DeLong, Gert Doering, Jeremy Duncan, David
Farmer, Steinar Haug, Gábor Lencse, Terry Sweetser, Ole Trøan, and
Maciej Żenczykowski for their comments, discussions, and suggestions
on this topic.
Additional thanks to John Heasley for submitting Pull Requests.
We would also like to speciofically thank Mark Smith for an earlier
(2013) effort: draft-smith-v6ops-larger-ipv6-loopback-prefix-04,
which proposed a /32 designation.
The need for a loopback address prefix has long been a topic of
discussion in various forums, and we would like to acknowledge the
contributions of many individuals who have participated in these
discussions over the years. Unfortunately, at least one of the
authors has a terrible memory, and has lost track of all those who
have contributed to this topic over the years, and will be more than
happy to acknowledge their input if reminded of this :-)
Authors' Addresses
Geoff Huston
APNIC
Email: gih@apnic.net
W. Kumari
Google, Inc.
Huston & Kumari Expires 30 May 2026 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft IPv6 Loopback Prefix November 2025
Email: warren@kumari.net
Huston & Kumari Expires 30 May 2026 [Page 7]