Network Working Group                                         Alan DeKok
INTERNET-DRAFT                                            Network RADIUS
Category: Proposed Standard                                     Avi Lior
Updates: 2865, 2866, 3575, 5176, 6158                                BWS
<draft-ietf-radext-radius-extensions-08.txt>
Expires: July 8, 2013
8 January 2013



      Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) Protocol
                               Extensions
               draft-ietf-radext-radius-extensions-08.txt

Abstract

   The Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) protocol is
   nearing exhaustion of its current 8-bit Attribute Type space.  In
   addition, experience shows a growing need for complex grouping, along
   with attributes which can carry more than 253 octets of data.  This
   document defines changes to RADIUS which address all of the above
   problems.

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
   other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
   Drafts.

   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."

   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.

   The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.

   This Internet-Draft will expire on June 26, 2013.

Copyright Notice




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   Copyright (c) 2013 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
   (http://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 Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.







































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Table of Contents

1.  Introduction .............................................    5
   1.1.  Caveats and Limitations .............................    6
      1.1.1.  Failure to Meet Certain Goals ..................    6
      1.1.2.  Implementation Recommendations .................    6
   1.2.  Terminology .........................................    7
   1.3.  Requirements Language ...............................    8
2.  Extensions to RADIUS .....................................    9
   2.1.  Extended Type .......................................   10
   2.2.  Long Extended Type ..................................   11
   2.3.  TLV Data Type .......................................   13
      2.3.1.  TLV Nesting ....................................   15
   2.4.  EVS Data Type .......................................   16
   2.5.  Integer64 Data Type .................................   17
   2.6.  Vendor-ID Field .....................................   18
   2.7.  Attribute Naming and Type Identifiers ...............   18
      2.7.1.  Attribute and TLV Naming .......................   18
      2.7.2.  Attribute Type Identifiers .....................   19
      2.7.3.  TLV Identifiers ................................   19
      2.7.4.  VSA Identifiers ................................   20
   2.8.  Invalid Attributes ..................................   20
3.  Attribute Definitions ....................................   21
   3.1.  Extended-Type-1 .....................................   22
   3.2.  Extended-Type-2 .....................................   23
   3.3.  Extended-Type-3 .....................................   23
   3.4.  Extended-Type-4 .....................................   24
   3.5.  Long-Extended-Type-1 ................................   25
   3.6.  Long-Extended-Type-2 ................................   26
4.  Vendor Specific Attributes ...............................   28
   4.1.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-1 ..........................   28
   4.2.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-2 ..........................   29
   4.3.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-3 ..........................   30
   4.4.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-4 ..........................   31
   4.5.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-5 ..........................   33
   4.6.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-6 ..........................   34
5.  Compatibility with traditional RADIUS ....................   35
   5.1.  Attribute Allocation ................................   36
   5.2.  Proxy Servers .......................................   37
6.  Guidelines ...............................................   38
   6.1.  Updates to RFC 6158 .................................   38
   6.2.  Guidelines for Simple Data Types ....................   38
   6.3.  Guidelines for Complex Data Types ...................   39
   6.4.  Guidelines For the New Types ........................   39
   6.5.  Allocation Request Guidelines .......................   40
   6.6.  TLV Guidelines ......................................   41
   6.7.  Implementation Guidelines ...........................   41
   6.8.  Vendor Guidelines ...................................   42



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7.  Rationale for This Design ................................   42
   7.1.  Attribute Audit .....................................   42
8.  Diameter Considerations ..................................   43
9.  Examples .................................................   43
   9.1.  Extended Type .......................................   45
   9.2.  Long Extended Type ..................................   46
10.  IANA Considerations .....................................   48
   10.1.  Attribute Allocations ..............................   49
   10.2.  RADIUS Attribute Type Tree .........................   49
   10.3.  Allocation Instructions ............................   50
      10.3.1.  Requested Allocation from the Standard Space ..   50
      10.3.2.  Requested Allocation from the short extended sp   50
      10.3.3.  Requested Allocation from the long extended spa   51
      10.3.4.  Allocation Preferences ........................   51
      10.3.5.  Extending the Type Space via TLV Data Type ....   51
      10.3.6.  Allocation within a TLV .......................   52
      10.3.7.  Allocation of Other Data Types ................   52
11.  Security Considerations .................................   52
12.  References ..............................................   53
   12.1.  Normative references ...............................   53
   12.2.  Informative references .............................   53
Appendix A - Extended Attribute Generator Program ............   55





























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1.  Introduction

   Under current allocation pressure, we expect that the RADIUS
   Attribute Type space will be exhausted by 2014 or 2015.  We therefore
   need a way to extend the type space, so that new specifications may
   continue to be developed.  Other issues have also been shown with
   RADIUS.  The attribute grouping method defined in [RFC2868] has been
   shown to be impractical, and a more powerful mechanism is needed.
   Multiple attributes have been defined which transport more than the
   253 octets of data originally envisioned with the protocol.  Each of
   these attributes is handled as a "special case" inside of RADIUS
   implementations, instead of as a general method.  We therefore also
   need a standardized method of transporting large quantities of data.
   Finally, some vendors are close to allocating all of the Attributes
   within their Vendor-Specific Attribute space.  It would be useful to
   leverage changes to the base protocol for extending the Vendor-
   Specific Attribute space.

   We satisfy all of these requirements through the following changes
   given in this document:

   * defining an "Extended Type" format, which adds 8 bits of "Extended
     Type" to the RADIUS Attribute Type space, by using one octet of the
     "Value" field.  This method gives us a general way of extending
     the Attribute Type Space.  (Section 2.1)

   * allocating 4 attributes as using the format of "Extended Type".
     This allocation extends the RADIUS Attribute Type Space by
     approximately 1000 values. (Sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4)

   * defining a "Long Extended Type" format, which inserts an additional
     octet between the "Extended Type" octet, and the "Value" field.
     This method gives us a general way of adding additional
     functionality to the protocol.  (Section 2.2)

   * defining a method which uses the additional octet in the "Long
     Extended Type" to indicate data fragmentation across multiple
     Attributes.  This method provides a standard way for an Attribute
     to carry more than 253 octets of data.  (Section 2.2)

   * allocating 2 attributes as using the format "Long Extended Type".
     This allocation extends the RADIUS Attribute Type Space
     by an additional 500 values.  (Sections 3.5 and 3.6)

   * defining a new "Type Length Value" (TLV) data type.  The data type
     allows an attribute to carry TLVs as "sub-attributes", which can in
     turn encapsulate other TLVs as "sub-sub-attributes."  This change
     creates a standard way to group a set of Attributes.  (Section 2.3)



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   * defining a new "extended Vendor-Specific" (EVS) data type.  The
     data type allows an attribute to carry Vendor-Specific Attributes
     (VSAs) inside of the new attribute formats.  (Section 2.4)

   * defining a new "integer64" data type.  The data type allows
     counters which track more than 2^32 octets of data.  (Section 2.5)

   * allocating 6 attributes using the new EVS data type.  This
     allocation extends the Vendor-Specific Attribute Type space by
     over 1500 values.  (Sections 4.1 through 4.6)

   * Define the "Vendor-ID" for Vendor-Specific attributes to encompass
     the entire 4 octets of the Vendor field.  [RFC2865] Section 5.26
     defined it to be 3 octets, with the high octet being zero.
     (Section 2.5)

   * Describing compatibility with existing RADIUS systems. (Section 5)

   * Defining guidelines for the use of these changes for IANA,
     implementations of this specification, and for future RADIUS
     specifications.  (Section 6)

   As with any protocol change, the changes defined here are the result
   of a series of compromises.  We have tried to find a balance between
   flexibility, space in the RADIUS message, compatibility with existing
   deployments, and implementation difficulty.

1.1.  Caveats and Limitations

   This section describes some caveats and limitations with the
   proposal.

1.1.1.  Failure to Meet Certain Goals

   One gaol which was not met by the above modifications is to have an
   incentive for standards to use the new space.  We would ideally like
   to deprecate the "Unassigned" attributes in the standard space, which
   would permit allocation, but under more stringent guidelines.
   However, [RFC5226] has no provisions for a "Deprecated" entry in an
   IANA managed registry.

1.1.2.  Implementation Recommendations

   It is RECOMMENDED that implementations support this specification.
   It is RECOMMENDED that new specifications use the formats defined in
   this specification.

   The alternative to the above recommendations is a circular argument



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   of not implementing this specification because no other standards
   reference it, and also not defining new standards referencing this
   specification because no implementations exist.

   As noted earlier, the "standard space" is almost entirely allocated.
   Ignoring the looming crisis benefits no one.

1.2.  Terminology

   This document uses the following terms:

silently discard
     This means the implementation discards the packet without further
     processing.  The implementation MAY provide the capability of
     logging the error, including the contents of the silently discarded
     packet, and SHOULD record the event in a statistics counter.


invalid attribute
     This means that the Length field of an Attribute is valid (as per
     [RFC2865], Section 5, top of page 25).  However, the Value field of
     the attribute does not follow the format required by the data type
     defined for that Attribute.  e.g. an Attribute of type "address"
     which encapsulates more than four, or less than four, octets of
     data.  See Section 2.8 for a more complete definition.


Standard space
     Codes in the RADIUS Attribute Type Space that are allocated by IANA
     and that follow the format defined in Section 5 of [RFC2865].


Extended space
     Codes in the RADIUS Attribute Type Space that require the
     extensions defined in this document, and are an extension of the
     standard space, but which cannot be represented within the standard
     space.


Short extended space
     Codes in the extended space which use the "Extended Type" format.


Long extended space
     Codes in the extended space which use the "Long Extended Type"
     format.

     The following terms are used here with the meanings defined in BCP



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     26 [RFC5226]: "name space", "assigned value", "registration",
     "Private Use", "Reserved", "Unassigned", "IETF Review", and
     "Standards Action".

1.3.  Requirements Language

   In this document, several words are used to signify the requirements
   of the specification.  The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED",
   "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED",  "MAY",
   and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   [RFC2119].








































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2.  Extensions to RADIUS

   This section defines two new attribute formats; "Extended Type"; and
   "Long Extended Type".  It defines a new Type-Length-Value (TLV) data
   type, an Extended-Vendor-Specific (EVS) data type, and an Integer64
   data type.  It defines a new method for naming attributes and
   identifying Attributes using the new attribute formats.  It finally
   defines the new term "invalid attribute", and describes how it
   affects implementations.

   The new attribute formats are designed to be compatible with the
   attribute format given in [RFC2865] Section 5.  The meaning and
   interpretation of the Type and Length fields is unchanged from that
   specification.  This reuse allows the new formats to be compatible
   RADIUS implementations which do not implement this specification.
   Those implementations can simply ignore the Value field of an
   attribute, or forward it verbatim.

   The changes to the attribute format come about by "stealing" one or
   more octets from the Value field.  This change has the effect that
   the Value field of [RFC2865] Section 5 contains both the new octets
   given here, and any attribute-specific Value.  The result is that
   Values in this specification are limited to less than 253 octets in
   size.  This limitation is overcome through the use of the "Long
   Extended Type" format.

   We reiterate that the formats given in this document do not insert
   new data into an attribute.  Instead, we "steal" one octet of Value,
   so that the definition of the Length field remains unchanged.  The
   new attribute formats are designed to be compatible with the
   attribute format given in [RFC2865] Section 5.  The meaning and
   interpretation of the Type and Length fields is unchanged from that
   specification.  This reuse allows the new formats to be compatible
   RADIUS implementations which do not implement this specification.
   Those implementations can simply ignore the Value field of an
   attribute, or forward it verbatim.

   The changes to the attribute format come about by "stealing" one or
   more octets from the Value field.  This change has the effect that
   the Value field of [RFC2865] Section 5 contains both the new octets
   given here, and any attribute-specific Value.  The result is that
   Values in this specification are limited to less than 253 octets in
   size.  This limitation is overcome through the use of the "Long
   Extended Type" format.

   We reiterate that the formats given in this document do not insert
   new data into an attribute.  Instead, we "steal" one octet of Value,
   so that the definition of the Length field remains unchanged.



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2.1.  Extended Type

   This section defines a new attribute format, called "Extended Type".
   A summary of the Attribute format is shown below.  The fields are
   transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |  Value ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type

      This field is identical to the Type field of the Attribute format
      defined in [RFC2865] Section 5.

   Length

      The Length field is one octet, and indicates the length of this
      Attribute including the Type, Length, Extended-Type, and Value
      fields.  Permitted values are between 4 and 255.  If a client or
      server receives an Extended Attribute with a Length of 2 or 3,
      then that Attribute MUST be considered to be an "invalid
      attribute", and handled as per Section 2.8, below.

   Extended-Type

      The Extended-Type field is one octet.  Up-to-date values of this
      field are specified according to the policies and rules described
      in Section 10.  Unlike the Type field defined in [RFC2865] Section
      5, no values are allocated for experimental or implementation-
      specific use.  Values 241-255 are reserved and SHOULD NOT be used.

      The Extended-Type is meaningful only within a context defined by
      the Type field.  That is, this field may be thought of as defining
      a new type space of the form "Type.Extended-Type".  See Section
      2.5, below, for additional discussion.

      A RADIUS server MAY ignore Attributes with an unknown
      "Type.Extended-Type".

      A RADIUS client MAY ignore Attributes with an unknown
      "Type.Extended-Type".

   Value

      This field is similar to the Value field of the Attribute format



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      defined in [RFC2865] Section 5.  The format of the data SHOULD be
      a valid RADIUS data type.

      The addition of the Extended-Type field decreases the maximum
      length for attributes of type "text" or "string" from 253 to 252
      octets.  Where an Attribute needs to carry more than 252 octets of
      data, the "Long Extended Type" format SHOULD be used.

   Experience has shown that the "experimental" and "implementation
   specific" attributes defined in [RFC2865] Section 5 have had little
   practical value.  We therefore do not continue that practice here
   with the Extended-Type field.

2.2.  Long Extended Type

   This section defines a new attribute format, called "Long Extended
   Type".  It leverages the "Extended Type" format in order to permit
   the transport of attributes encapsulating more than 253 octets of
   data.  A summary of the Attribute format is shown below.  The fields
   are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |M|  Reserved   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Value ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type

      This field is identical to the Type field of the Attribute format
      defined in [RFC2865] Section 5.

   Length

      The Length field is one octet, and indicates the length of this
      Attribute including the Type, Length, Extended-Type, and Value
      fields.  Permitted values are between 5 and 255.  If a client or
      server receives a "Long Extended Type" with a Length of 2, 3, or
      4, then that Attribute MUST be considered to be an "invalid
      attribute", and be handled as per Section 2.8, below.

      Note that this Length is limited to the length of this fragment.
      There is no field which gives an explicit value for the total size
      of the fragmented attribute.

   Extended-Type



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      This field is identical to the Extended-Type field defined above
      in Section 2.1.

   M (More)

      The More field is one (1) bit in length, and indicates whether or
      not the current attribute contains "more" than 251 octets of data.
      The More field MUST be clear (0) if the Length field has value
      less than 255.  The More field MAY be set (1) if the Length field
      has value of 255.

      If the More field is set (1), it indicates that the Value field
      has been fragmented across multiple RADIUS attributes.  When the
      More field is set (1), the attribute SHOULD have a Length field of
      value 255; it MUST NOT have a length Field of value 4; there MUST
      be an attribute following this one; and the next attribute MUST
      have both the same Type and Extended Type.  That is, multiple
      fragments of the same value MUST be in order and MUST be
      consecutive attributes in the packet, and the last attribute in a
      packet MUST NOT have the More field set (1).

      When the Length field of an attribute has value less than 255, the
      More field SHOULD be clear (0).

      If a client or server receives an attribute fragment with the
      "More" field set (1), but for which no subsequent fragment can be
      found, then the fragmented attribute is considered to be an
      "invalid attribute", and handled as per Section 2.8, below.

   Reserved

      This field is 7 bits long, and is reserved for future use.
      Implementations MUST set it to zero (0) when encoding an attribute
      for sending in a packet.  The contents SHOULD be ignored on
      reception.

      Future specifications may define additional meaning for this
      field.  Implementations therefore MUST NOT treat this field as
      invalid if it is non-zero.

   Value

      This field is similar to the Value field of the Attribute format
      defined in [RFC2865] Section 5.  It may contain a complete set of
      data (when the Length field has value less than 255), or it may
      contain a fragment of data (when the More field is set).

      Any interpretation of the resulting data MUST occur after the



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      fragments have been reassembled.  The length of the data MUST be
      taken as the sum of the lengths of the fragments (i.e. Value
      fields) from which it is constructed.  The format of the data
      SHOULD be a valid RADIUS data type.

      We note that the maximum size of a fragmented attribute is limited
      only by the RADIUS packet length limitation (i.e. 4096 octets, not
      counting various headers and overhead).  Implementations SHOULD be
      able to handle fragmented attributes of 4096 octets.

   This definition increases the RADIUS Attribute Type space as above,
   but also provides for transport of Attributes which could contain
   more than 253 octets of data.

   Note that [RFC2865] Section 5 says:

      If multiple Attributes with the same Type are present, the order
   of
      Attributes with the same Type MUST be preserved by any proxies.
   The
      order of Attributes of different Types is not required to be
      preserved.  A RADIUS server or client MUST NOT have any
   dependencies
      on the order of attributes of different types.  A RADIUS server or
      client MUST NOT require attributes of the same type to be
   contiguous.

   These requirements also apply to the "Long Extended Type" attribute,
   including fragments.  Implementations MUST be able to process non-
   contiguous fragments.  That is, fragments which are mixed together
   with other attributes of a different Type.

2.3.  TLV Data Type

   We define a new data type in RADIUS, called "tlv".  The "tlv" data
   type is an encapsulation layer which permits the "Value" field of an
   Attribute to contain new sub-Attributes.  These sub-Attributes can in
   turn contain "Value"s of data type TLV.  This capability both extends
   the attribute space, and permits "nested" attributes to be used.
   This nesting can be used to encapsulate or group data into one or
   more logical containers.

   The "tlv" data type re-uses the RADIUS attribute format, as given
   below:

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



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   |   TLV-Type    |  TLV-Length   |     TLV-Value ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   TLV-Type

      The Type field is one octet.  Up-to-date values of this field are
      specified according to the policies and rules described in Section
      10.  Values of zero (0) MUST NOT be used.  Values 254-255 are
      "Reserved" for use by future extensions to RADIUS.  The value 26
      has no special meaning, and MUST NOT be treated as a Vendor
      Specific attribute.

      As with Extended-Type above, the TLV-Type is meaningful only
      within the context defined by "Type" fields of the encapsulating
      Attributes.  That is, the field may be thought of as defining a
      new type space of the form "Type.Extended-Type.TLV-Type".  Where
      TLVs are nested, the type space is of the form "Type.Extended-
      Type.TLV-Type.TLV-Type", etc.

      A RADIUS server MAY ignore Attributes with an unknown "TLV-Type".

      A RADIUS client MAY ignore Attributes with an unknown "TLV-Type".

      A RADIUS proxy SHOULD forward Attributes with an unknown "TLV-
      Type" verbatim.

   TLV-Length

      The TLV-Length field is one octet, and indicates the length of
      this TLV including the TLV-Type, TLV-Length and TLV-Value fields.
      It MUST have a value between 3 and 255.  If a client or server
      receives a TLV with an invalid TLV-Length, then the attribute
      which encapsulates that TLV MUST be considered to be an "invalid
      attribute", and handled as per Section 2.8, below.

   TLV-Value

      The Value field is one or more octets and contains information
      specific to the Attribute.  The format and length of the TLV-Value
      field is determined by the TLV-Type and TLV-Length fields.

      The TLV-Value field SHOULD encapsulate a previously defined RADIUS
      data type.  Use of non-standard data types SHOULD NOT be done.  We
      note that the TLV-Value field MAY also contain one or more
      attributes of data type "tlv", which allows for simple grouping
      and multiple layers of nesting.

      The TLV-Value field is limited to containing 253 or fewer octets



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      of data.  Specifications which require a TLV to contain more than
      253 octets of data are incompatible with RADIUS, and need to be
      redesigned.  Specifications which require the transport of empty
      Values (i.e. Length = 2) are incompatible with RADIUS, and need to
      be redesigned.

      The TLV-Value field MUST NOT contain data using the "Extended
      Type" formats defined in this document.  The base Extended
      Attributes format allows for sufficient flexibility that nesting
      them inside of a TLV offers little additional value.

   This TLV definition is compatible with the suggested format of the
   "String" field of the Vendor-Specific attribute, as defined in
   [RFC2865] Section 5.26, though that specification does not discuss
   nesting.

   Vendors MAY use attributes of type "tlv" in any Vendor Specific
   Attribute.  It is RECOMMENDED to use type "tlv" for VSAs, in
   preference to any other format.

   If multiple TLVs with the same TLV-Type are present, the order of
   TLVs with the same TLV-Type MUST be preserved by any proxies.  The
   order of TLVs of different TLV-Types is not required to be preserved.
   A RADIUS server or client MUST NOT have any dependencies on the order
   of TLVs of different TLV-Types.  A RADIUS server or client MUST NOT
   require TLVs of the same TLV-type to be contiguous.

   The interpretation of multiple TLVs of the same TLV-Type MUST be that
   of a logical "and", unless otherwise specified.  That is, multiple
   TLVs are interpreted as specifying a set or a list of values.
   Specifications SHOULD NOT define TLVs to be interpreted as a logical
   "or".  Doing so would mean that a RADIUS client or server would make
   an arbitrary, and non-deterministic choice among the values.

2.3.1.  TLV Nesting

   TLVs may contain other TLVs.  When this occurs, the "container" TLV
   MUST be completely filled by the "contained" TLVs.  That is, the
   "container" TLV-Length field MUST be exactly two (2) more than the
   sum of the "contained" TLV-Length fields.  If the "contained" TLVs
   over-fill the "container" TLV, the "container" TLV MUST be considered
   to be an "invalid attribute", and handled as described in Section
   2.8, below.

   The depth of TLV nesting is limited only by the restrictions on the
   TLV-Length field.  The limit of 253 octets of data results in a limit
   of 126 levels of nesting.  However, nesting depths of more than 4 are
   NOT RECOMMENDED.



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2.4.  EVS Data Type

   We define a new data type in RADIUS, called "evs", for "Extended
   Vendor-Specific".  The "evs" data type is an encapsulation layer
   which permits the "Value" field of an Attribute to contain a Vendor-
   Id, followed by a Vendor-Type, and then vendor-defined data.  This
   data can in turn contain valid RADIUS data types, or any other data
   as determined by the vendor.

   This data type is intended use in attributes which carry Vendor-
   Specific information, as is done with the Vendor-Specific Attribute
   (26).  It is RECOMMENDED that this data type be used by a vendor only
   when the Vendor-Specific Attribute Type space has been fully
   allocated.

   Where [RFC2865] Section 5.26 makes a recommendation for the format of
   the data following the Vendor-Id, we give a strict definition.
   Experience has shown that many vendors have not followed the
   [RFC2865] recommendations, leading to interoperability issues.  We
   hope here to give vendors sufficient flexibility as to meet their
   needs, while minimizing the use of non-standard VSA formats.

   The "evs" data type MAY be used in Attributes having the format of
   "Extended Type" or "Long Extended Type".  It MUST NOT be used in any
   other Attribute definition, including standard RADIUS Attributes,
   TLVs, and VSAs.

   A summary of the "evs" data type format is shown below.  The fields
   are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                            Vendor-Id                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Vendor-Type   |  String ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Vendor-Id

      The 4 octets are the Network Management Private Enterprise Code
      [PEN] of the Vendor in network byte order.

   Vendor-Type

      The Vendor-Type field is one octet.  Values are assigned at the
      sole discretion of the Vendor.




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   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  It SHOULD encapsulate a
      previously defined RADIUS data type.  Using non-standard data
      types is NOT RECOMMENDED.  We note that the Value field may be of
      data type "tlv".  However, it MUST NOT be of data type "evs", as
      the use cases are unclear for one vendor delegating Attribute Type
      space to another vendor.

      The actual format of the information is site or application
      specific, and a robust implementation SHOULD support the field as
      undistinguished octets.  We recognise that Vendors have complete
      control over the contents and format of the Value field, while at
      the same time recommending that good practices be followed.

      Further codification of the range of allowed usage of this field
      is outside the scope of this specification.

   Note that unlike the format described in [RFC2865] Section 5.26, this
   data type has no "Vendor length" field.  The length of the "String"
   field is implicit, and is determined by taking the "Length" of the
   encapsulating RADIUS Attribute, and subtracting the length of the
   attribute header (2 octets), the extended type (1 octet), the Vendor-
   Id (4 octets), and the Vendor-type (1 octet).  i.e. For "Extended
   Type" attributes, the length of the String field is eight (8) less
   than the value of the Length field.  For "Long Extended Type"
   attributes, the length of the String field is nine (9) less than the
   value of the Length field.

2.5.  Integer64 Data Type

   We define a new data type in RADIUS, called "integer64", which
   carries a 64-bit unsigned integer in network byte order.

   This data type is intended to be used in any situation where there is
   a need to have counters which can count past 2^32.  The expected use
   of this data type is within Accounting-Request packets, but this data
   type SHOULD be used in any packet where 32-bit integers are expected
   to be insufficient.

   The "integer64" data type can be used in Attributes of any format,
   standard space, extended attributes, TLVs, and VSAs.

   A summary of the "integer64" data type format is shown below.  The
   fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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



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   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                  Value ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                                                                   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Attributes having data type "integer64" MUST have the relevant Length
   field set to eight more than the length of the Attribute header.  For
   standard space Attributes and TLVs, this means that the Length field
   MUST be set to ten (10).  For "Extended Type" Attributes, the Length
   field MUST be set to eleven (11).  For "Long Extended Type"
   Attributes, the Length field MUST be set to twelve (12).


2.6.  Vendor-ID Field

   We define the Vendor-ID field of Vendor-Specific Attributes to
   encompass the entire 4 octets of the Vendor field.  [RFC2865] Section
   5.26 defined it to be 3 octets, with the high octet being zero.  This
   change has no immediate impact on RADIUS, as the maximum Private
   Enterprise Code defined is still within 16 bits.

   However, it is best to make advance preparations for changes in the
   protocol.  As such, it is RECOMMENDED that all implementations
   support four (4) octets for the Vendor-ID field, instead of three
   (3).

2.7.  Attribute Naming and Type Identifiers

   Attributes have traditionally been identified by a unique name and
   number.  For example, the attribute named "User-Name" has been
   allocated number one (1).  This scheme needs to be extended in order
   to be able to refer to attributes of Extended Type, and to TLVs.  It
   will also be used by IANA for allocating RADIUS Attribute Type
   values.

   The names and identifiers given here are intended to be used only in
   specifications.  The system presented here may not be useful when
   referring to the contents of a RADIUS packet.  It imposes no
   requirements on implementations, as implementations are free to
   reference RADIUS Attributes via any method they choose.

2.7.1.  Attribute and TLV Naming

   RADIUS specifications traditionally use names consisting of one or
   more words, separated by hyphens, e.g.  "User-Name".  However, these
   names are not allocated from a registry, and there is no restriction
   other than convention on their global uniqueness.



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   Similarly, vendors have often used their company name as the prefix
   for VSA names, though this practice is not universal.  For example,
   for a vendor named "Example", the name "Example-Attribute-Name"
   SHOULD be used instead of "Attribute-Name".  The second form can
   conflict with attributes from other vendors, whereas the first form
   cannot.

   It is therefore RECOMMENDED that specifications give names to
   Attributes which attempt to be globally unique across all RADIUS
   Attributes.  It is RECOMMENDED that vendors use their name as a
   unique prefix for attribute names, e.g. Livingston-IP-Pool instead of
   IP-Pool.  It is RECOMMENDED that implementations enforce uniqueness
   on names, which would otherwise lead to ambiguity and problems.

   We recognise that these suggestion may sometimes be difficult to
   implement in practice.

   TLVs SHOULD be named with a unique prefix that is shared among
   related attributes.  For example, a specification that defines a set
   of TLVs related to time could create attributes named "Time-Zone",
   "Time-Day", "Time-Hour", "Time-Minute", etc.

2.7.2.  Attribute Type Identifiers

   The RADIUS Attribute Type space defines a context for a particular
   "Extended-Type" field.  The "Extended-Type" field allows for 256
   possible type code values, with values 1 through 240 available for
   allocation.  We define here an identification method that uses a
   "dotted number" notation similar to that used for Object Identifiers
   (OIDs), formatted as "Type.Extended-Type".

   For example, and attribute within the Type space of 241, having
   Extended-Type of one (1), is uniquely identified as "241.1".
   Similarly, an attribute within the Type space of 246, having
   Extended-Type of ten (10), is uniquely identified as "246.10".

   The algorithm used to create the Attribute Identifier is simply to
   concatenate all of the various identification fields (e.g. Type,
   Extended-Type, etc.), starting from the encapsulating attribute, down
   to the final encapsulated TLV, separated by a '.' character.

2.7.3.  TLV Identifiers

   We can extend the Attribute reference scheme defined above for TLVs.
   This is done by leveraging the "dotted number" notation.  As above,
   we define an additional TLV type space, within the "Extended Type"
   space, by appending another "dotted number" in order to identify the
   TLV.  This method can be replied in sequence for nested TLVs.



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   For example, let us say that "245.1" identifies RADIUS Attribute Type
   245, containing an "Extended Type" of one (1), which is of type
   "tlv".  That attribute will contain 256 possible TLVs, one for each
   value of the TLV-Type field.  The first TLV-Type value of one (1) can
   then be identified by appending a ".1" to the number of the
   encapsulating attribute ("241.1"), to yield "241.1.1".  Similarly,
   the sequence "245.2.3.4" identifies RADIUS attribute 245, containing
   an "Extended Type" of two (2) which is of type "tlv", which in turn
   contains a TLV with TLV-Type number three (3), which in turn contains
   another TLV, wth TLV-Type number four (4).

2.7.4.  VSA Identifiers

   There has historically been no method for numerically addressing
   VSAs.  The "dotted number" method defined here can also be leveraged
   to create such an addressing scheme.  However, as the VSAs are
   completely under the control of each individual vendor, this section
   provides a suggested practice, but does not define a standard of any
   kind.

   The Vendor-Specific Attribute has been assigned the Attribute number
   26.  It in turn carries a 24-bit Vendor-Id, and possibly additional
   VSAs.  Where the VSAs follow the [RFC2865] Section 5.26 recommended
   format, a VSA can be identified as "26.Vendor-Id"."Vendor-Type".

   For example, Livingston has Vendor-Id 307, and has defined an
   attribute "IP-Pool" as number 6.  This VSA can be uniquely identified
   as 26.307.6, but it cannot be uniquely identified by name.

   Note that there is no restriction on the size of the numerical values
   in this notation.  The Vendor-Id is a 24-bit number, and the VSA may
   have been assigned from a 16-bit vendor-specific Attribute Type
   space.

   For example, the company USR has been allocated Vendor-Id 429, and
   has defined a "Version-Id" attribute as number 32768.  This VSA can
   be uniquely identified as 26.429.32768, and again cannot be uniquely
   identified by name.

   Where a VSA is a TLV, the "dotted number" notation can be used as
   above: 26.VID.VSA.TLV1.TLV2.TLV3 where "TLVn" are the numerical
   values assigned by the vendor to the different nested TLVs.

2.8.  Invalid Attributes

   The term "invalid attribute" is new to this specification.  It is
   defined to mean that the Length field of an Attribute is valid (as
   per [RFC2865], Section 5, top of page 25).  However, the Value field



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   of the attribute does not follow the format required by the data type
   defined for that Attribute.  e.g. an Attribute of data type "address"
   which encapsulates more than four, or less than four, octets of data.
   Or, an IPV6 Prefix attribute which has a Prefix value of more than
   128.

   While the content of these attributes is malformed, we emphasize that
   the encapsulating RADIUS packet (or TLV) is well formed, and can be
   correctly decoded.  The existence of an "invalid attribute" in a
   packet MUST NOT result in the implementation discarding the entire
   packet, or treating the packet as a negative acknowledgement.
   Instead, only the "invalid attribute" is treated differently.

   When an implementation receives an "invalid attribute", it SHOULD be
   silently discarded.  If it is not discarded, it MUST NOT be handled
   in the same manner as a well-formed attribute.  For example,
   receiving an Attribute of data type "address" containing more than
   four, or less than four octets of data means that the Attribute MUST
   NOT be treated as being of data type "address".

   For Attributes of type "Long Extended Type", an Attribute is
   considered to be an "invalid attribute" when does not match the
   criteria set out in Section 2.2, above.

   For Attributes of type "TLV", an Attribute is considered to be an
   "invalid attribute" when the TLV-Length field is valid, but the TLV-
   Value field does not match the criteria for that Attribute.
   Implementations SHOULD NOT treat the "invalid attribute" property as
   being transitive.  That is, the encapsulating Attribute SHOULD NOT be
   treated as being an "invalid attribute" if it encapsulates an
   "invalid attribute".


3.  Attribute Definitions

   We define four (4) attributes of "Extended Type", which are allocated
   from the "Reserved" Attribute Type codes of 241, 242, 243, and 244.
   We also define two (2) attributes of "Long Extended Type", which are
   allocated from the "Reserved" Attribute Type codes of 245 and 246.

      Type  Name
      ----  ----
      241   Extended-Type-1
      242   Extended-Type-2
      243   Extended-Type-3
      244   Extended-Type-4
      245   Long-Extended-Type-1
      246   Long-Extended-Type-2



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   The rest of this section gives a detailed definition for each
   Attribute based on the above summary.

3.1.  Extended-Type-1

   Description

      This attribute encapsulates attributes of the "Extended Type"
      format, in the RADIUS Attribute Type Space of 241.{1-255}.

   A summary of the Extended-Type-1 Attribute format is shown below.
   The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |  Value ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type

      241 for Extended-Type-1.

   Length

      >= 4

   Extended-Type

      The Extended-Type field is one octet.  Up-to-date values of this
      field are specified in the 241.{1-255} RADIUS Attribute Type
      Space, according to the policies and rules described in Section
      10.  Further definition of this field is given in Section 2.1,
      above.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  Implementations not
      supporting this specification SHOULD support the field as
      undistinguished octets.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type" to determine the interpretation
      of the Value field.







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3.2.  Extended-Type-2

   Description

      This attribute encapsulates attributes of the "Extended Type"
      format, in the RADIUS Attribute Type Space of 242.{1-255}.

   A summary of the Extended-Type-2 Attribute format is shown below.
   The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |  Value ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type

      242 for Extended-Type-2.

   Length

      >= 4

   Extended-Type

      The Extended-Type field is one octet.  Up-to-date values of this
      field are specified in the 242.{1-255} RADIUS Attribute Type
      Space, according to the policies and rules described in Section
      10.  Further definition of this field is given in Section 2.1,
      above.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  Implementations not
      supporting this specification SHOULD support the field as
      undistinguished octets.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type" to determine the interpretation
      of the Value field


3.3.  Extended-Type-3

   Description

      This attribute encapsulates attributes of the "Extended Type"



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      format, in the RADIUS Attribute Type Space of 243.{1-255}.

   A summary of the Extended-Type-3 Attribute format is shown below.
   The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |  Value ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type

      243 for Extended-Type-3.

   Length

      >= 4

   Extended-Type

      The Extended-Type field is one octet.  Up-to-date values of this
      field are specified in the 243.{1-255} RADIUS Attribute Type
      Space, according to the policies and rules described in Section
      10.  Further definition of this field is given in Section 2.1,
      above.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  Implementations not
      supporting this specification SHOULD support the field as
      undistinguished octets.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type" to determine the interpretation
      of the Value field.

3.4.  Extended-Type-4

   Description

      This attribute encapsulates attributes of the "Extended Type"
      format, in the RADIUS Attribute Type Space of 244.{1-255}.

   A summary of the Extended-Type-4 Attribute format is shown below.
   The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    0                   1                   2                   3



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    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |  Value ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type

      244 for Extended-Type-4.

   Length

      >= 4

   Extended-Type

      The Extended-Type field is one octet.  Up-to-date values of this
      field are specified in the 244.{1-255} RADIUS Attribute Type
      Space, according to the policies and rules described in Section
      10.  Further definition of this field is given in Section 2.1,
      above.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  Implementations not
      supporting this specification SHOULD support the field as
      undistinguished octets.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type" to determine the interpretation
      of the Value Field.


3.5.  Long-Extended-Type-1

   Description

      This attribute encapsulates attributes of the "Long Extended Type"
      format, in the RADIUS Attribute Type Space of 245.{1-255}.

   A summary of the Long-Extended-Type-1 Attribute format is shown
   below.  The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |M|  Reserved   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Value ...



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

   Type

      245 for Long-Extended-Type-1

   Length

      >= 5

   Extended-Type

      The Extended-Type field is one octet.  Up-to-date values of this
      field are specified in the 245.{1-255} RADIUS Attribute Type
      Space, according to the policies and rules described in Section
      10.  Further definition of this field is given in Section 2.1,
      above.

   M (More)

      The More field is one (1) bit in length, and indicates whether or
      not the current attribute contains "more" than 251 octets of data.
      Further definition of this field is given in Section 2.2, above.

   Reserved

      This field is 7 bits long, and is reserved for future use.
      Implementations MUST set it to zero (0) when encoding an attribute
      for sending in a packet.  The contents SHOULD be ignored on
      reception.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  Implementations not
      supporting this specification SHOULD support the field as
      undistinguished octets.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type" to determine the interpretation
      of the Value field.

3.6.  Long-Extended-Type-2

   Description

      This attribute encapsulates attributes of the "Long Extended Type"
      format, in the RADIUS Attribute Type Space of 246.{1-255}.




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   A summary of the Long-Extended-Type-2 Attribute format is shown
   below.  The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |M|  Reserved   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Value ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type

      246 for Long-Extended-Type-2

   Length

      >= 5

   Extended-Type

      The Extended-Type field is one octet.  Up-to-date values of this
      field are specified in the 246.{1-255} RADIUS Attribute Type
      Space, according to the policies and rules described in Section
      10.  Further definition of this field is given in Section 2.1,
      above.

   M (More)

      The More field is one (1) bit in length, and indicates whether or
      not the current attribute contains "more" than 251 octets of data.
      Further definition of this field is given in Section 2.2, above.

   Reserved

      This field is 7 bits long, and is reserved for future use.
      Implementations MUST set it to zero (0) when encoding an attribute
      for sending in a packet.  The contents SHOULD be ignored on
      reception.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  Implementations not
      supporting this specification SHOULD support the field as
      undistinguished octets.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type" to determine the interpretation



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      of the Value field.

4.  Vendor Specific Attributes

   We define six new attributes which can carry Vendor Specific
   information.  We define four (4) attributes of the "Extended Type"
   format, with Type codes (241.26, 242.26, 243.26, 244.26), using the
   "evs" data type.  We also define two (2) attributes using "Long
   Extended Type" format, with Type codes (245.26, 246.26), which are of
   the "evs" data type.

      Type.Extended-Type  Name
      ------------------  ----
      241.26              Extended-Vendor-Specific-1
      242.26              Extended-Vendor-Specific-2
      243.26              Extended-Vendor-Specific-3
      244.26              Extended-Vendor-Specific-4
      245.26              Extended-Vendor-Specific-5
      246.26              Extended-Vendor-Specific-6

   The rest of this section gives a detailed definition for each
   Attribute based on the above summary.

4.1.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-1

   Description

      This attribute defines a RADIUS Type Code of 241.26, using the
      "evs" data type.

   A summary of the Extended-Vendor-Specific-1 Attribute format is shown
   below.  The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |  Vendor-Id ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      ... Vendor-Id  (cont)                        |  Vendor-Type  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Value ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type.Extended-Type

      241.26 for Extended-Vendor-Specific-1

   Length



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      >= 9

   Vendor-Id

      The 4 octets are the Network Management Private Enterprise Code
      [PEN] of the Vendor in network byte order.

   Vendor-Type

      The Vendor-Type field is one octet.  Values are assigned at the
      sole discretion of the Vendor.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  The actual format of the
      information is site or application specific, and a robust
      implementation SHOULD support the field as undistinguished octets.

      The codification of the range of allowed usage of this field is
      outside the scope of this specification.

      The length of the Value field is eight (8) less then the value of
      the Length field.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type.Vendor-Id.Vendor-Type" to
      determine the interpretation of the Value field.

4.2.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-2

   Description

      This attribute defines a RADIUS Type Code of 242.26, using the
      "evs" data type.

   A summary of the Extended-Vendor-Specific-2 Attribute format is shown
   below.  The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |  Vendor-Id ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      ... Vendor-Id  (cont)                        |  Vendor-Type  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Value ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+




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   Type.Extended-Type

      242.26 for Extended-Vendor-Specific-2

   Length

      >= 9

   Vendor-Id

      The 4 octets are the Network Management Private Enterprise Code
      [PEN] of the Vendor in network byte order.

   Vendor-Type

      The Vendor-Type field is one octet.  Values are assigned at the
      sole discretion of the Vendor.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  The actual format of the
      information is site or application specific, and a robust
      implementation SHOULD support the field as undistinguished octets.

      The codification of the range of allowed usage of this field is
      outside the scope of this specification.

      The length of the Value field is eight (8) less then the value of
      the Length field.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type.Vendor-Id.Vendor-Type" to
      determine the interpretation of the Value field.

4.3.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-3

   Description

      This attribute defines a RADIUS Type Code of 243.26, using the
      "evs" data type.

   A summary of the Extended-Vendor-Specific-3 Attribute format is shown
   below.  The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |  Vendor-Id ...



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   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      ... Vendor-Id  (cont)                        |  Vendor-Type  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Value ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type.Extended-Type

      243.26 for Extended-Vendor-Specific-3

   Length

      >= 9

   Vendor-Id

      The 4 octets are the Network Management Private Enterprise Code
      [PEN] of the Vendor in network byte order.

   Vendor-Type

      The Vendor-Type field is one octet.  Values are assigned at the
      sole discretion of the Vendor.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  The actual format of the
      information is site or application specific, and a robust
      implementation SHOULD support the field as undistinguished octets.

      The codification of the range of allowed usage of this field is
      outside the scope of this specification.

      The length of the Value field is eight (8) less then the value of
      the Length field.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type.Vendor-Id.Vendor-Type" to
      determine the interpretation of the Value field.

4.4.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-4

   Description

      This attribute defines a RADIUS Type Code of 244.26, using the
      "evs" data type.

   A summary of the Extended-Vendor-Specific-3 Attribute format is shown



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   below.  The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |  Vendor-Id ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      ... Vendor-Id  (cont)                        |  Vendor-Type  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Value ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type.Extended-Type

      244.26 for Extended-Vendor-Specific-4

   Length

      >= 9

   Vendor-Id

      The 4 octets are the Network Management Private Enterprise Code
      [PEN] of the Vendor in network byte order.

   Vendor-Type

      The Vendor-Type field is one octet.  Values are assigned at the
      sole discretion of the Vendor.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  The actual format of the
      information is site or application specific, and a robust
      implementation SHOULD support the field as undistinguished octets.

      The codification of the range of allowed usage of this field is
      outside the scope of this specification.

      The length of the Value field is eight (8) less then the value of
      the Length field.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type.Vendor-Id.Vendor-Type" to
      determine the interpretation of the Value field.






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4.5.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-5

   Description

      This attribute defines a RADIUS Type Code of 245.26, using the
      "evs" data type.

   A summary of the Extended-Vendor-Specific-5 Attribute format is shown
   below.  The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |M|  Reserved   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                            Vendor-Id                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Vendor-Type   |  Value ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type.Extended-Type

      245.26 for Extended-Vendor-Specific-5

   Length

      >= 10   (first fragment)
      >= 5    (subsequent fragments)

      When a VSA is fragmented across multiple Attributes, only the
      first Attribute contains the Vendor-Id and Vendor-Type fields.
      Subsequent Attributes contain fragments of the Value field only.

   M (More)

      The More field is one (1) bit in length, and indicates whether or
      not the current attribute contains "more" than 251 octets of data.
      Further definition of this field is given in Section 2.2, above.

   Reserved

      This field is 7 bits long, and is reserved for future use.
      Implementations MUST set it to zero (0) when encoding an attribute
      for sending in a packet.  The contents SHOULD be ignored on
      reception.

   Vendor-Id




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      The 4 octets are the Network Management Private Enterprise Code
      [PEN] of the Vendor in network byte order.

   Vendor-Type

      The Vendor-Type field is one octet.  Values are assigned at the
      sole discretion of the Vendor.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  The actual format of the
      information is site or application specific, and a robust
      implementation SHOULD support the field as undistinguished octets.

      The codification of the range of allowed usage of this field is
      outside the scope of this specification.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type.Vendor-Id.Vendor-Type" to
      determine the interpretation of the Value field.

4.6.  Extended-Vendor-Specific-6

   Description

      This attribute defines a RADIUS Type Code of 246.26, using the
      "evs" data type.

   A summary of the Extended-Vendor-Specific-6 Attribute format is shown
   below.  The fields are transmitted from left to right.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |    Length     | Extended-Type |M|  Reserved   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                            Vendor-Id                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Vendor-Type   |  Value ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type.Extended-Type

      246.26 for Extended-Vendor-Specific-6

   Length

      >= 10   (first fragment)



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      >= 5    (subsequent fragments)

      When a VSA is fragmented across multiple Attributes, only the
      first Attribute contains the Vendor-Id and Vendor-Type fields.
      Subsequent Attributes contain fragments of the Value field only.

   M (More)

      The More field is one (1) bit in length, and indicates whether or
      not the current attribute contains "more" than 251 octets of data.
      Further definition of this field is given in Section 2.2, above.

   Reserved

      This field is 7 bits long, and is reserved for future use.
      Implementations MUST set it to zero (0) when encoding an attribute
      for sending in a packet.  The contents SHOULD be ignored on
      reception.

   Vendor-Id

      The 4 octets are the Network Management Private Enterprise Code
      [PEN] of the Vendor in network byte order.

   Vendor-Type

      The Vendor-Type field is one octet.  Values are assigned at the
      sole discretion of the Vendor.

   Value

      The Value field is one or more octets.  The actual format of the
      information is site or application specific, and a robust
      implementation SHOULD support the field as undistinguished octets.

      The codification of the range of allowed usage of this field is
      outside the scope of this specification.

      Implementations supporting this specification MUST use the
      Identifier of "Type.Extended-Type.Vendor-Id.Vendor-Type" to
      determine the interpretation of the Value field.

5.  Compatibility with traditional RADIUS

   There are a number of potential compatibility issues with traditional
   RADIUS, as defined in [RFC6158] and earlier.  This section describes
   them.




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5.1.  Attribute Allocation

   Some vendors have used Attribute Type codes from the "Reserved"
   space, as part of vendor-defined dictionaries.  This practice is
   considered anti-social behavior, as noted in [RFC6158].  These vendor
   definitions conflict with the attributes in the RADIUS Attribute Type
   space.  The conflicting definitions may make it difficult for
   implementations to support both those Vendor Attributes, and the new
   Extended Attribute formats.

   We RECOMMEND that RADIUS client and server implementations delete all
   references to these improperly defined attributes.  Failing that, we
   RECOMMEND that RADIUS server implementations have a per-client
   configurable flag which indicates which type of attributes are being
   sent from the client.  If the flag is set to "Non-Standard
   Attributes", the conflicting attributes can be interpreted as being
   improperly defined Vendor Specific Attributes. If the flag is set the
   "IETF Attributes", the attributes MUST be interpreted as being of the
   Extended Attributes format.  The default SHOULD be to interpret the
   attributes as being of the Extended Attributes format.

   Other methods of determining how to decode the attributes into a
   "correct" form are NOT RECOMMENDED.  Those methods are likely to be
   fragile and prone to error.

   We RECOMMEND that RADIUS server implementations re-use the above flag
   to determine which type of attributes to send in a reply message.  If
   the request is expected to contain the improperly defined attributes,
   the reply SHOULD NOT contain Extended Attributes.  If the request is
   expected to contain Extended Attributes, the reply MUST NOT contain
   the improper Attributes.

   RADIUS clients will have fewer issues than servers.  Clients MUST NOT
   send improperly defined Attributes in a request.  For replies,
   clients MUST interpret attributes as being of the Extended Attributes
   format, instead of the improper definitions.  These requirements
   impose no change in the RADIUS specifications, as such usage by
   vendors has always been in conflict with the standard requirements
   and the standards process.

   Existing clients that send these improperly defined attributes
   usually have a configuration setting which can disable this behavior.
   We RECOMMEND that vendors ship products with the default set to
   "disabled".  We RECOMMEND that administrators set this flag to
   "disabled" on all equipment that they manage.






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5.2.  Proxy Servers

   RADIUS Proxy servers will need to forward Attributes having the new
   format, even if they do not implement support for the encoding and
   decoding of those attributes.  We remind implementors of the
   following text in [RFC2865] Section 2.3:

      The forwarding server MUST NOT change the order of any attributes
      of the same type, including Proxy-State.

   This requirement solves some of the issues related to proxying of the
   new format, but not all.  The reason is that proxy servers are
   permitted to examine the contents of the packets that they forward.
   Many proxy implementations not only examine the attributes, but they
   refuse to forward attributes which they do not understand (i.e.
   attributes for which they have no local dictionary definitions).

   This practice is NOT RECOMMENDED.  Proxy servers SHOULD forward
   attributes, even ones which they do not understand, or which are not
   in a local dictionary.  When forwarded, these attributes SHOULD be
   sent verbatim, with no modifications or changes.  This requirement
   includes "invalid attributes", as there may be some other system in
   the network which understands them.

   The only exception to this recommendation is when local site policy
   dictates that filtering of attributes has to occur.  For example, a
   filter at a visited network may require removal of certain
   authorization rules which apply to the home network, but not to the
   visited network.  This filtering can sometimes be done even when the
   contents of the attributes are unknown, such as when all Vendor-
   Specific Attributes are designated for removal.

   As seen in [EDUROAM] many proxies do not follow these practices for
   unknown Attributes.  Some proxies filter out unknown attributes or
   attributes which have unexpected lengths (24%, 17/70), some truncate
   the attributes to the "expected" length (11%, 8/70), some discard the
   request entirely (1%, 1/70), with the rest (63%, 44/70) following the
   recommended practice of passing the attributes verbatim.  It will be
   difficult to widely use the Extended Attributes format until all non-
   conformant proxies are fixed.  We therefore RECOMMEND that all
   proxies which do not support the Extended Attributes (241 through
   246) define them as being of data type "string", and delete all other
   local definitions for those attributes.

   This last change should enable wider usage of the Extended Attributes
   format.





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6.  Guidelines

   This specification proposes a number of changes to RADIUS, and
   therefore requires a set of guidelines, as has been done in
   [RFC6158].


6.1.  Updates to RFC 6158

   This specification updates [RFC6158] by adding the data types "evs",
   "tlv" and "integer64"; defining them to be "basic" data types; and
   permitting their use subject to the restrictions outlined below.

   The recommendations for the use of the new data types and attribute
   formats are given below.  All other recommendations given in
   [RFC6158] are unchanged.

6.2.  Guidelines for Simple Data Types

   [RFC6158] Section A.2.1 says in part:

      * Unsigned integers of size other than 32 bits.
        SHOULD be replaced by an unsigned integer of 32 bits.  There is
        insufficient justification to define a new size of integer.

   We update that specification to permit unsigned integers of 64 bits,
   for the reasons defined above in Section 2.5. The updated text is as
   follows:

      * Unsigned integers of size other than 32 or 64 bits.
        SHOULD be replaced by an unsigned integer of 32 or 64 bits.
        There is insufficient justification to define a new size
        of integer.

   That section later continues with the following list item:

      * Nested attribute-value pairs (AVPs).
        Attributes should be defined in a flat typespace.

   We update that specification to permit nested TLVs, as defined in
   this document:

      * Nested attribute-value pairs (AVPs) using the extended
        attribute format MAY be used.  All other nested AVP or TLV
        formats MUST NOT be used.






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6.3.  Guidelines for Complex Data Types

   [RFC6158] Section 2.1 says:

      Complex data types MAY be used in situations where they reduce
      complexity in non-RADIUS systems or where using the basic data
   types
      would be awkward (such as where grouping would be required in
   order
      to link related attributes).

   Since the extended attribute format allows for grouping of complex
   types via TLVs, the guidelines for complex data types need to be
   updated as follows:

      Complex data types MAY be used where they reduce complexity in
      non-RADIUS systems, though this practice is NOT RECOMMENDED.  The
      complex data type exceptions of [RFC6158] Section 3.2.4 still
      apply.  In all other situations, complex data types MUST NOT be
      used.  Instead, complex data types MUST be decomposed into TLVs,
      using the extended attribute format.

   The checklist in Appendix A.2.2 is similarly updated to add a new
   requirement at the top of that section,

      Does the attribute:

      * define a complex type which can be represented via TLVs?

      If so, this data type MUST be represented via TLVs.

   Note that this requirement does not over-ride Section A.1, which
   permits the transport of complex types in certain situations.


6.4.  Guidelines For the New Types

   We recommend the following guidelines when designing attributes using
   the new format.  The items listed below are not exhaustive.  As
   experience is gained with the new formats, later specifications may
   define additional guidelines.

   * The data type "evs" MUST NOT be used for standard RADIUS
     Attributes, or for TLVs, or for VSAs.

   * The data type "tlv" SHOULD NOT be used for standard RADIUS
     attributes.  While its use is NOT RECOMMENDED by [RFC6158], this
     specification updates [RFC6158] to permit the "tlv" data type in



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     attributes using the Extended-Type format.

   * [RFC2866] "tagged" attributes MUST NOT be defined in the
     Extended-Type space.  The "tlv" data type should be used instead to
     group attributes.

   * The "integer64" data type MAY be used in any RADIUS attribute.
     The use of 64-bit integers is NOT RECOMMENDED by [RFC6158], but
     their utility is now evident.

   * Any attribute which is allocated from the Type spaces of 245.* or
     246.*, of data type "text", "string", or "tlv" can end up carrying
     more than 251 octets of data, up to the maximum RADIUS packet
     length (~4096 octets).  Specifications defining such attributes
     SHOULD define a maximum length.

   * For all other circumstances, the guidelines in [RFC6158] MUST
     be followed.


6.5.  Allocation Request Guidelines

   The following items give guidelines for allocation requests made in a
   RADIUS specification.

   * Discretion is RECOMMENDED when requesting allocation of attributes.
     The new space is much larger than the old one, but it is not
     infinite.

   * Specifications which allocate many attributes MUST NOT request that
     allocation be made from from the standard space.  That space is
     under allocation pressure, and the extended space is more suitable
     for large allocations.

   * Specifications which allocate many related attributes SHOULD define
     one or more TLVs to contain related attributes.

   * Specifications should not request allocation from a specific space.
     The IANA considerations given in Section 9, below, should be
     sufficient for attribute allocation.

   * Specifications of an attribute which encodes 252 octets or less
     of data MAY request allocation from the exended space, using
     format "Extended Type"

   * Specifications of an attribute which always encode less than 253
     octets of data MUST NOT request allocation from the long extended
     space.  The standard space, or the short extended space MUST be



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     used instead.

   * Specifications of an attribute which encodes 253 octets or more of
     data MUST request allocation from the long extended space.

   * When the extended space is nearing exhaustion, a new specification
     SHOULD be written which requests allocation of one or more RADIUS
     Attributes from the "Reserved" portion of the standard space,
     values 247-255, using an appropriate format ("Extended Type", or
     "Long Extended Type")

6.6.  TLV Guidelines

   The following items give guidelines for specifications using TLVs.

   * when multiple attributes are intended to be grouped or managed
     together, the use of TLVs to group related attributes is
     RECOMMENDED.

   * more than 4 layers (depth) of TLV nesting is NOT RECOMMENDED.

   * Interpretation of an attribute depends only on its type
     definition (e.g. Type.Extended-Type.TLV-Type), and
     not on its encoding or location in the RADIUS packet.

   * Where a group of TLVs is strictly defined, and not expected to
     change, and and totals less than 247 octets of data, they SHOULD
     request allocation from the Type spaces of 241.*, 242.*, 243.*, or
     244.*.

   * Where a group of TLVs is loosely defined, or is expected to change,
     they SHOULD request allocation from the Type spaces of 245.* or
     246.*.

6.7.  Implementation Guidelines

   * RADIUS client implementations SHOULD support this specification,
     in order to permit the easy deployment of specifications using
     the changes defined herein.

   * RADIUS server implementations SHOULD support this specification,
     in order to permit the easy deployment of specifications using
     the changes defined herein.

   * RADIUS proxy servers MUST follow the specifications in section 5.2






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6.8.  Vendor Guidelines

   * Vendors SHOULD use the existing Vendor-Specific Attribute Type
     space in preference to the new Extended-Vendor-Specific
     attributes, as this specification may take time to become widely
     deployed.

   * Vendors SHOULD implement this specification. The changes to
     RADIUS are relatively small, and are likely to quickly be used
     in new specifications.

7.  Rationale for This Design

   The path to extending the RADIUS protocol has been long and arduous.
   A number of proposals have been made and discarded by the RADEXT
   working group.  These proposals have been judged to be either too
   bulky, too complex, too simple, or to be unworkable in practice.  We
   do not otherwise explain here why earlier proposals did not obtain
   working group consensus.

   The changes outlined here have the benefit of being simple, as the
   "Extended Type" format requires only a one octet change to the
   Attribute format.  The downside is that the "Long Extended Type"
   format is awkward, and the 7 Reserved bits will likey never be used
   for anything.

7.1.  Attribute Audit

   An audit of almost five thousand publicly available attributes
   [ATTR], shows the statistics summarized below. The attributes include
   over 100 Vendor dictionaries, along with the IANA assigned
   attributes:

      Count    Data Type
      -----    ---------
      2257     integer
      1762     text
      273      IPv4 Address
      225      string
      96       other data types
      35       IPv6 Address
      18       date
      10       integer64
      4        Interface Id
      3        IPv6 Prefix

      4683     Total




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   The entries in the "Data Type" column are data types recommended by
   [RFC6158], along with "integer64".  The "other data types" row
   encompasses all other data types, including complex data types and
   data types transporting opaque data.

   We see that over half of the attributes encode less than 16 octets of
   data.  It is therefore important to have an extension mechanism which
   adds as little as possible to the size of these attributes.  Another
   result is that the overwhelming majority of attributes use simple
   data types.

   Of the attributes defined above, 177 were declared as being inside of
   a TLV.  This is approximately 4% of the total.  We did not
   investigate whether additional attributes were defined in a flat name
   space, but could have been defined as being inside of a TLV.  We
   expect that the number could be as high as 10% of attributes.

   Manual inspection of the dictionaries shows that approximately 20 (or
   0.5%) attributes have the ability to transport more than 253 octets
   of data.  These attributes are divided between VSAs, and a small
   number of standard Attributes such as EAP-Message.

   The results of this audit and analysis is reflected in the design of
   the extended attributes.  The extended format has minimal overhead,
   it permits TLVs, and it has support for "long" attributes.

8.  Diameter Considerations

   The attribute formats defined in this specification need to be
   transported in Diameter.  While Diameter supports attributes longer
   than 253 octets and grouped attributes, we do not use that
   functionality here.  Instead, we define the simplest possible
   encapsulation method.

   The new formats MUST be treated the same as traditional RADIUS
   attributes when converting from RADIUS to Diameter, or vice versa.
   That is, the new attribute space is not converted to any "extended"
   Diameter attribute space.  Fragmented attributes are not converted to
   a single long Diameter attribute.  The new EVS data types are not
   converted to Diameter attributes with the "V" bit set.

   In short, this document mandates no changes for existing RADIUS to
   Diameter, or Diameter to RADIUS gateways.

9.  Examples

   A few examples are presented here in order to illustrate the encoding
   of the new attribute formats.  These examples are not intended to be



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   exhaustive, as many others are possible.  For simplicity, we do not
   show complete packets, only attributes.

   The examples are given using a domain-specific language implemented
   by the program given in Appendix A.  The language is line oriented,
   and composed of a sequence of lines matching the grammar ([RFC5234])
   given below:

      Identifier = 1*DIGIT *( "." 1*DIGIT )

      HEXCHAR = HEXDIG HEXDIG

      STRING = DQUOTE 1*CHAR DQUOTE

      TLV = "{" 1*DIGIT DATA "}"

      DATA = 1*HEXCHAR / 1*TLV / STRING

      LINE = Identifier DATA

   The progam has additional restrictions on its input that are not
   reflected in the above grammar.  For example, the portions of the
   Identifier which refer to Type and Extended-Type are limited to
   values between 1 and 255.  We trust that the source code in Appendix
   A is clear, and that these restrictions do not negatively affect the
   comprehensability of the examples.

   The program reads the input text, and interprets it as a set of
   instructions to create RADIUS Attributes.  It then prints the hex
   encoding of those attributes.  It implements the minimum set of
   functionality which achieves that goal.  This minimalism means that
   it does not use attribute dictionaries; it does not implement support
   for RADIUS data types; it can be used to encode attributes with
   invalid data fields; and there is no requirement for consistency from
   one example to the next.  For example, it can be used to encode a
   User-Name attribute which contains non-UTF8 data, or a Framed-IP-
   Address which contains 253 octets of ASCII data.  As a result, it
   MUST NOT be used to create RADIUS Attributes for transport in a
   RADIUS message.

   However, the program correctly encodes the RADIUS attribute fields of
   "Type", "Length", "Extended-Type", "More", "Reserved", "Vendor-Id",
   "Vendor-Type", and "Vendor-Length".  It encodes RADIUS attribute data
   types "evs" and TLV.  It can therefore be used to encode example
   attributes from inputs which are humanly readable.

   We do not give examples of "malformed" or "invalid attributes".  We
   also note that the examples show format, rather than consistent



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   meaning.  A particular Attribute Type code may be used to demonstrate
   two different formats.  In real specifications, attributes have a
   static definitions based on their type code.

   The examples given below are strictly for demonstration purposes
   only, and do not provide a standard of any kind.

9.1.  Extended Type

   The following are a series of examples of the "Extended Type" format.

   Attribute encapsulating textual data.

     241.1 "bob"
       -> f1 06 01 62 6f 62

   Attribute encapsulating a TLV with TLV-Type of one (1).

     241.2 { 1 23 45 }
       -> f1 07 02 01 04 23 45

   Attribute encapsulating two TLVs, one after the other.

     241.2 { 1 23 45 } { 2 67 89 }
       -> f1 0b 02 01 04 23 45 02 04 67 89

   Attribute encapsulating two TLVs, where the second TLV is itself
   encapsulating a TLV.

     241.2 { 1 23 45 } { 3 { 1 ab cd } }
       -> f1 0d 02 01 04 23 45 03 06 01 04 ab cd

   Attribute encapsulating two TLVs, where the second TLV is itself
   encapsulating two TLVs.

     241.2 { 1 23 45 } { 3 { 1 ab cd } { 2 "foo" } }
       -> f1 12 02 01 04 23 45 03 0b 01 04 ab cd 02 05 66 6f 6f

   Attribute encapsulating a TLV, which in turn encapsulates a TLV,
   to a depth of 5 nestings.

     241.1 { 1 { 2 { 3 { 4 { 5 cd ef } } } } }
       -> f1 0f 01 01 0c 02 0a 03 08 04 06 05 04 cd ef

   Attribute encapsulating an extended Vendor Specific attribute,
   with Vendor-Id of 1, and Vendor-Type of 4, which in turn
   encapsulates textual data.




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     241.26.1.4 "test"
       -> f1 0c 1a 00 00 00 01 04 74 65 73 74

   Attribute encapsulating an extended Vendor Specific attribute, with
   Vendor-Id of 1, and Vendor-Type of 5, which in turn encapsulates
   a TLV with TLV-Type of 3, which encapsulates textual data.

     241.26.1.5 { 3 "test" }
       -> f1 0e 1a 00 00 00 01 05 03 06 74 65 73 74


9.2.  Long Extended Type

   The following are a series of examples of the "Long Extended Type"
   format.

      Attribute encapsulating textual data.

        245.1 "bob"
          -> f5 07 01 00 62 6f 62

      Attribute encapsulating a TLV with TLV-Type of one (1).

        245.2 { 1 23 45 }
          -> f5 08 02 00 01 04 23 45

      Attribute encapsulating two TLVs, one after the other.

        245.2 { 1 23 45 } { 2 67 89 }
          -> f5 0c 02 00 01 04 23 45 02 04 67 89

      Attribute encapsulating two TLVs, where the second TLV is itself
      encapsulating a TLV.

        245.2 { 1 23 45 } { 3 { 1 ab cd } }
          -> f5 0e 02 00 01 04 23 45 03 06 01 04 ab cd

      Attribute encapsulating two TLVs, where the second TLV is itself
      encapsulating two TLVs.

        245.2 { 1 23 45 } { 3 { 1 ab cd } { 2 "foo" } }
          -> f5 13 02 00 01 04 23 45 03 0b 01 04 ab cd 02 05 66 6f 6f

      Attribute encapsulating a TLV, which in turn encapsulates a TLV,
      to a depth of 5 nestings.

        245.1 { 1 { 2 { 3 { 4 { 5 cd ef } } } } }
          -> f5 10 01 00 01 0c 02 0a 03 08 04 06 05 04 cd ef



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      Attribute encapsulating an extended Vendor Specific attribute,
      with Vendor-Id of 1, and Vendor-Type of 4, which in turn
      encapsulates textual data.

        245.26.1.4 "test"
          -> f5 0d 1a 00 00 00 00 01 04 74 65 73 74

      Attribute encapsulating an extended Vendor Specific attribute,
      with Vendor-Id of 1, and Vendor-Type of 5, which in turn
      encapsulates a TLV with TLV-Type of 3, which encapsulates
      textual data.

        245.26.1.5 { 3 "test" }
          -> f5 0f 1a 00 00 00 00 01 05 03 06 74 65 73 74

      Attribute encapsulating more than 251 octets of data.  The "Data"
      portions are indented for readability.

        245.4 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
              aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
              aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
              aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
              aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
              bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
              bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
              bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
              bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbcccccccccccccccccccc
              cccccccccc
          -> f5 ff 04 80 aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa ab bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb f5 13 04 00 cc
             cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc

      Attribute encapsulating an extended Vendor Specific attribute,
      with Vendor-Id of 1, and Vendor-Type of 6, which in turn
      encapsulates more than 251 octets of data.

      As the VSA encapsulates more than 251 octets of data, it is



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      split into two RADIUS attributes.  The first attribute has the
      More field set, and carries the Vendor-Id and Vendor-Type.
      The second attribute has the More field clear, and carries
      the rest of the data portion of the VSA.  Note that the second
      attribute does not include the Vendor-Id ad Vendor-Type fields.

      The "Data" portions are indented for readability.

        245.26.1.6   aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
              aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
              aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
              aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
              aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
              bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
              bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
              bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
              bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbccccccccccccc
              ccccccccccccccccc
          -> f5 ff 1a 80 00 00 00 01 06 aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
             aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa ab bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb
             bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb f5 18 1a 00 bb
             bb bb bb bb cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc cc


10.  IANA Considerations

   This document updates [RFC3575] in that it adds new IANA
   considerations for RADIUS Attributes.  These considerations modify
   and extend the IANA considerations for RADIUS, rather than replacing
   them.

   The IANA considerations of this document are limited to the "RADIUS
   Attribute Types" registry.  Some Attribute Type values which were
   previously marked "Reserved" are now allocated, and the registry is
   extended from a simple 8-bit array to a tree-like structure, up to a
   maximum depth of 125 nodes.  Detailed instructions are given below.





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10.1.  Attribute Allocations

   IANA is requested to move the following Attribute Type values from
   "Reserved", to "Allocated", with the corresponding names:

   * 241 Extended-Type-1
   * 242 Extended-Type-2
   * 243 Extended-Type-3
   * 244 Extended-Type-4
   * 245 Long-Extended-Type-1
   * 246 Long-Extended-Type-2

   These values serve as an encapsulation layer for the new RADIUS
   Attribute Type tree.

10.2.  RADIUS Attribute Type Tree

   Each of the Attribute Type values allocated above extends the "RADIUS
   Attribute Types" to an N-ary tree, via a "dotted number" notation.
   Allocation of an Attribute Type value "TYPE" using the new Extended
   type format results in allocation of 255 new Attribute Type values,
   of format "TYPE.1" through "TYPE.255". The value zero "TYPE.0" is not
   used.  Value twenty-six (26) is assigned as "Extended-Vendor-
   Specific-*".  Values "TYPE.241" through "TYPE.255" are marked
   "Reserved".  All other values are "Unassigned".

   The initial set of Attribute Type values and names assigned by this
   document is given below.

   * 241           Extended-Attribute-1
   * 241.{1-25}    Unassigned
   * 241.26        Extended-Vendor-Specific-1
   * 241.{27-240}  Unassigned
   * 241.{241-255} Reserved
   * 242           Extended-Attribute-2
   * 242.{1-25}    Unassigned
   * 242.26        Extended-Vendor-Specific-2
   * 242.{27-240}  Unassigned
   * 243           Extended-Attribute-3
   * 242.{241-255} Reserved
   * 243.{1-25}    Unassigned
   * 243.26        Extended-Vendor-Specific-3
   * 243.{27-240}  Unassigned
   * 243.{241-255} Reserved
   * 244           Extended-Attribute-4
   * 244.{1-25}    Unassigned
   * 244.26        Extended-Vendor-Specific-4
   * 244.{27-240}  Unassigned



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   * 244.{241-255} Reserved
   * 245           Extended-Attribute-5
   * 245.{1-25}    Unassigned
   * 245.26        Extended-Vendor-Specific-5
   * 245.{27-240}  Unassigned
   * 245.{241-255} Reserved
   * 246           Extended-Attribute-6
   * 246.{1-25}    Unassigned
   * 245.26        Extended-Vendor-Specific-6
   * 246.{27-240}  Unassigned
   * 246.{241-255} Reserved

   As per [RFC5226], the values marked "Unassigned" above are available
   via for assignment by IANA in future RADIUS specifications.  The
   values marked "Reserved" are reserved for future use.

   The Extended-Vendor-Specific spaces (TYPE.26) are for Private Use,
   and allocations are not managed by IANA.

   Allocation of Reserved entries in the extended space requires
   Standards Action.

   All other allocations in the extended space require IETF Review.

10.3.  Allocation Instructions

   This section defines what actions IANA needs to take when allocating
   new attributes.  Different actions are required when allocating
   attributes from the standard space, attributes of Extended Type
   format, attributes of the "Long Extended Type" format, perferential
   allocations, attributes of data type TLV, attributes within a TLV,
   and attributes of other data types.

10.3.1.  Requested Allocation from the Standard Space

   Specifications can request allocation of an Attribute from within the
   standard space (e.g. Attribute Type Codes 1 through 255), subject to
   the considerations of [RFC3575] and this document.

10.3.2.  Requested Allocation from the short extended space

   Specifications can request allocation of an Attribute which requires
   the format Extended Type, by specifying the short extended space In
   that case, IANA should assign the lowest Unassigned number from the
   Attribute Type space with the relevant format.






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10.3.3.  Requested Allocation from the long extended space

   Specifications can request allocation of an Attribute which requires
   the format "Long Extended Type", by specifying the extended space
   (long).  In that case, IANA should assign the lowest Unassigned
   number from the Attribute Type space with the relevant format.

10.3.4.  Allocation Preferences

   Specifications which make no request for allocation from a specific
   Type Space should have Attributes allocated using the following
   criteria:

      * when the standard space has no more Unassigned attributes,
        all allocations should be performed from the extended space.

      * specifications which allocate a small number of attributes
        (i.e. less than ten) should have all allocations made from
        the standard space.

      * specifications which would allocate a large percentage of the
        remaining standard space attributes should have all allocations
        made from the extended space.

      * specifications which request allocation of an attribute of
        data type TLV should have that attribute allocated from the
        extended space.

      * specifications which request allocation of an attribute
        which can transport 253 or more octets of data should have
        that attribute allocated from within the long extended space,
        We note that Section 6.5, above requires specifications to
        request this allocation.

   There is otherwise no requirement that all attributes within a
   specification be allocated from one type space or another.
   Specifications can simultaneously allocate attributes from both the
   standard space and the extended space.


10.3.5.  Extending the Type Space via TLV Data Type

   When specifications request allocation of an attribute of data type
   "tlv", that allocation extends the Attribute Type Tree by one more
   level.  Allocation of an Attribute Type value "TYPE.TLV", with Data
   Type TLV, results in allocation of 255 new Attribute Type values, of
   format "TYPE.TLV.1" through "TYPE.TLV.255". The value zero "VALUE.0"
   is not used.  Values 254-255 are marked "Reserved".  All other values



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   are "Unassigned".  Value 26 has no special meaning.

   For example, if a new attribute "Example-TLV" of data type "tlv" is
   assigned the identifier "245.1", then the extended tree will be
   allocated as below:

   * 245.1           Example-TLV
   * 245.1.{1-253}   Unassigned
   * 245.1.{254-255} Reserved

   Note that this example does not define an "Example-TLV" attribute.

   The Attribute Type Tree can be extended multiple levels in one
   specification when the specification requests allocation of nested
   TLVs, as discussed below.

10.3.6.  Allocation within a TLV

   Specifications can request allocation of Attribute Type values within
   an Attribute of Data Type TLV.  The encapsulating TLV can be
   allocated in the same specification, or it can have been previously
   allocated.

   Specifications need to request allocation within a specific Attribute
   Type value (e.g. "TYPE.TLV.*").  Allocations are performed from the
   smallest Unassigned value, proceeding to the largest Unassigned
   value.

   Where the Attribute being allocated is of Data Type TLV, the
   Attribute Type tree is extended by one level, as given in the
   previous section.  Allocations can then be made within that level.

10.3.7.  Allocation of Other Data Types

   Attribute Type value allocations are otherwise allocated from the
   smallest Unassigned value, proceeding to the largest Unassigned
   value.  e.g. Starting from 241.1, proceeding through 241.255, then to
   242.1, through 242.255, etc.

11.  Security Considerations

   This document defines new formats for data carried inside of RADIUS,
   but otherwise makes no changes to the security of the RADIUS
   protocol.

   Attacks on cryptographic hashes are well known, and are getting
   better with time, as discussed in[RFC4270].  RADIUS uses the MD5 hash
   [RFC1321] for packet authentication and attribute obfuscation.  There



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   are ongoing efforts in the IETF to analyze and address these issues
   for the RADIUS protocol.

   As with any protocol change, code changes are required in order to
   implement the new features.  These code changes have the potential to
   introduce new vulnerabilities in the software.  Since the RADIUS
   server performs network authentication, it is an inviting target for
   attackers.  We RECOMMEND that access to RADIUS servers be kept to a
   minimum.

12.  References

12.1.  Normative references

[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
          Requirement Levels", RFC 2119, March, 1997.

[RFC2865] Rigney, C., Willens, S., Rubens, A. and W. Simpson, "Remote
          Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS)", RFC 2865, June
          2000.

[RFC2866] Rigney, C., "RADIUS Accounting", RFC 2866, June 2000.

[RFC3575] Aboba, B, "IANA Considerations for RADIUS (Remote
          Authentication Dial In User Service)", RFC 3575, July 2003.

[RFC5176] Chiba, M, et. al., "Dynamic Authorization Extensions to Remote
          Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS)", RFC 5176,
          January 2008.

[RFC5226] Narten, T. and Alvestrand, H, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA
          Considerations Section in RFCs", RFC 5226, May 2008.

[RFC6158] DeKok, A., and Weber, G., "RADIUS Design Guidelines", RFC
          6158, March 2011.

[PEN]     http://www.iana.org/assignments/enterprise-numbers

12.2.  Informative references

[RFC1321] Rivest, R. "The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm", RFC 1321,
          April, 1992

[RFC2868] Zorn, G., et al, " RADIUS Attributes for Tunnel Protocol
          Support", RFC 2868, June 2000.

[RFC4270] Hoffman, P, and Schneier, B, "Attacks on Cryptographic Hashes
          in Internet Protocols", RFC 4270, November 2005.



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[RFC5234] Crocker, D. (Ed.), and Overell, P., "Augmented BNF for Syntax
          Specifications: ABNF", RFC 5234, October 2005.

[EDUROAM] Internal Eduroam testing page, data retrieved 04 August 2010.

[ATTR]    http://github.com/alandekok/freeradius-
          server/tree/master/share/, data retrieved September 2010.

Acknowledgments

   This document is the result of long discussions in the IETF RADEXT
   working group.  The authors would like to thank all of the
   participants who contributed various ideas over the years.  Their
   feedback has been invaluable, and has helped to make this
   specification better.




































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Appendix A - Extended Attribute Generator Program

   This section contains "C" program source which can be used for
   testing.  It reads a line-oriented text file, parses it to create
   RADIUS formatted attributes, and prints the hex version of those
   attributes to standard output.

   The input accepts a grammar similar to that given in Section 8, with
   some modifications for usability.  For example, blank lines are
   allowed, lines beginning with a '#' character are interpreted as
   comments, numbers (RADIUS Types, etc.) are checked for minimum /
   maximum values, and RADIUS Attribute lengths are enforced.

   The program is included here for demonstration purposes only, and
   does not define a standard of any kind.

   ------------------------------------------------------------
   /*
    * Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as
    * authors of the code.  All rights reserved.
    *
    * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
    * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
    * are met:
    *
    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
    * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
    *
    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
    * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
    * the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
    * distribution.
    *
    * Neither the name of Internet Society, IETF or IETF Trust, nor the
    * names of specific contributors, may be used to endorse or promote
    * products derived from this software without specific prior written
    * permission.
    *
    * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND
    * CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
    * INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
    * MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
    * DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS
    * BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
    * EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
    * TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
    * DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
    * ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,



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    * OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT
    * OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
    * SUCH DAMAGE.
    *
    *  Author:  Alan DeKok <aland@networkradius.com>
    */
   #include <stdlib.h>
   #include <stdio.h>
   #include <stdint.h>
   #include <string.h>
   #include <errno.h>
   #include <ctype.h>

   static int encode_tlv(char *buffer, uint8_t *output, size_t outlen);

   static const char *hextab = "0123456789abcdef";

   static int encode_data_string(char *buffer,
                        uint8_t *output, size_t outlen)
   {
        int length = 0;
        char *p;

        p = buffer + 1;

        while (*p && (outlen > 0)) {
             if (*p == '"') {
                  return length;
             }

             if (*p != '\\') {
                  *(output++) = *(p++);
                  outlen--;
                  length++;
                  continue;
             }

             switch (p[1]) {
             default:
                  *(output++) = p[1];
                  break;

             case 'n':
                  *(output++) = '\n';
                  break;

             case 'r':
                  *(output++) = '\r';



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                  break;

             case 't':
                  *(output++) = '\t';
                  break;
             }

             outlen--;
             length++;
        }

        fprintf(stderr, "String is not terminated\n");
        return 0;
   }

   static int encode_data_tlv(char *buffer, char **endptr,
                     uint8_t *output, size_t outlen)
   {
        int depth = 0;
        int length;
        char *p;

        for (p = buffer; *p != '\0'; p++) {
             if (*p == '{') depth++;
             if (*p == '}') {
                  depth--;
                  if (depth == 0) break;
             }
        }

        if (*p != '}') {
             fprintf(stderr, "No trailing '}' in string starting "
                  "with \"%s\"\n",
                  buffer);
             return 0;
        }

        *endptr = p + 1;
        *p = '\0';

        p = buffer + 1;
        while (isspace((int) *p)) p++;

        length = encode_tlv(p, output, outlen);
        if (length == 0) return 0;

        return length;
   }



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   static int encode_data(char *p, uint8_t *output, size_t outlen)
   {
        int length;

        if (!isspace((int) *p)) {
             fprintf(stderr, "Invalid character following attribute "
                  "definition\n");
             return 0;
        }

        while (isspace((int) *p)) p++;

        if (*p == '{') {
             int sublen;
             char *q;

             length = 0;

             do {
                  while (isspace((int) *p)) p++;
                  if (!*p) {
                       if (length == 0) {
                            fprintf(stderr, "No data\n");
                            return 0;
                       }

                       break;
                  }

                  sublen = encode_data_tlv(p, &q, output, outlen);
                  if (sublen == 0) return 0;

                  length += sublen;
                  output += sublen;
                  outlen -= sublen;
                  p = q;
             } while (*q);

             return length;
        }

        if (*p == '"') {
             length = encode_data_string(p, output, outlen);
             return length;
        }

        length = 0;
        while (*p) {



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             char *c1, *c2;

             while (isspace((int) *p)) p++;

             if (!*p) break;

             if(!(c1 = memchr(hextab, tolower((int) p[0]), 16)) ||
                !(c2 = memchr(hextab, tolower((int)  p[1]), 16))) {
                  fprintf(stderr, "Invalid data starting at "
                       "\"%s\"\n", p);
                  return 0;
             }

             *output = ((c1 - hextab) << 4) + (c2 - hextab);
             output++;
             length++;
             p += 2;

             outlen--;
             if (outlen == 0) {
                  fprintf(stderr, "Too much data\n");
                  return 0;
             }
        }

        if (length == 0) {
             fprintf(stderr, "Empty string\n");
             return 0;
        }

        return length;
   }

   static int decode_attr(char *buffer, char **endptr)
   {
        long attr;

        attr = strtol(buffer, endptr, 10);
        if (*endptr == buffer) {
             fprintf(stderr, "No valid number found in string "
                  "starting with \"%s\"\n", buffer);
             return 0;
        }

        if (!**endptr) {
             fprintf(stderr, "Nothing follows attribute number\n");
             return 0;
        }



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        if ((attr <= 0) || (attr > 256)) {
             fprintf(stderr, "Attribute number is out of valid "
                  "range\n");
             return 0;
        }

        return (int) attr;
   }

   static int decode_vendor(char *buffer, char **endptr)
   {
        long vendor;

        if (*buffer != '.') {
             fprintf(stderr, "Invalid separator before vendor id\n");
             return 0;
        }

        vendor = strtol(buffer + 1, endptr, 10);
        if (*endptr == (buffer + 1)) {
             fprintf(stderr, "No valid vendor number found\n");
             return 0;
        }

        if (!**endptr) {
             fprintf(stderr, "Nothing follows vendor number\n");
             return 0;
        }

        if ((vendor <= 0) || (vendor > (1 << 24))) {
             fprintf(stderr, "Vendor number is out of valid range\n");
             return 0;
        }

        if (**endptr != '.') {
             fprintf(stderr, "Invalid data following vendor number\n");
             return 0;
        }
        (*endptr)++;

        return (int) vendor;
   }

   static int encode_tlv(char *buffer, uint8_t *output, size_t outlen)
   {
        int attr;
        int length;
        char *p;



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        attr = decode_attr(buffer, &p);
        if (attr == 0) return 0;

        output[0] = attr;
        output[1] = 2;

        if (*p == '.') {
             p++;
             length = encode_tlv(p, output + 2, outlen - 2);

        } else {
             length = encode_data(p, output + 2, outlen - 2);
        }

        if (length == 0) return 0;
        if (length > (255 - 2)) {
             fprintf(stderr, "TLV data is too long\n");
             return 0;
        }

        output[1] += length;

        return length + 2;
   }

   static int encode_vsa(char *buffer, uint8_t *output, size_t outlen)
   {
        int vendor;
        int attr;
        int length;
        char *p;

        vendor = decode_vendor(buffer, &p);
        if (vendor == 0) return 0;

        output[0] = 0;
        output[1] = (vendor >> 16) & 0xff;
        output[2] = (vendor >> 8) & 0xff;
        output[3] = vendor & 0xff;

        length = encode_tlv(p, output + 4, outlen - 4);
        if (length == 0) return 0;
        if (length > (255 - 6)) {
             fprintf(stderr, "VSA data is too long\n");
             return 0;
        }





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        return length + 4;
   }

   static int encode_evs(char *buffer, uint8_t *output, size_t outlen)
   {
        int vendor;
        int attr;
        int length;
        char *p;

        vendor = decode_vendor(buffer, &p);
        if (vendor == 0) return 0;

        attr = decode_attr(p, &p);
        if (attr == 0) return 0;

        output[0] = 0;
        output[1] = (vendor >> 16) & 0xff;
        output[2] = (vendor >> 8) & 0xff;
        output[3] = vendor & 0xff;
        output[4] = attr;

        length = encode_data(p, output + 5, outlen - 5);
        if (length == 0) return 0;

        return length + 5;
   }

   static int encode_extended(char *buffer,
                     uint8_t *output, size_t outlen)
   {
        int attr;
        int length;
        char *p;

        attr = decode_attr(buffer, &p);
        if (attr == 0) return 0;

        output[0] = attr;

        if (attr == 26) {
             length = encode_evs(p, output + 1, outlen - 1);
        } else {
             length = encode_data(p, output + 1, outlen - 1);
        }
        if (length == 0) return 0;
        if (length > (255 - 3)) {
             fprintf(stderr, "Extended Attr data is too long\n");



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             return 0;
        }

        return length + 1;
   }

   static int encode_extended_flags(char *buffer,
                        uint8_t *output, size_t outlen)
   {
        int attr;
        int length, total;
        char *p;

        attr = decode_attr(buffer, &p);
        if (attr == 0) return 0;

        /* output[0] is the extended attribute */
        output[1] = 4;
        output[2] = attr;
        output[3] = 0;

        if (attr == 26) {
             length = encode_evs(p, output + 4, outlen - 4);
             if (length == 0) return 0;

             output[1] += 5;
             length -= 5;
        } else {
             length = encode_data(p, output + 4, outlen - 4);
        }
        if (length == 0) return 0;

        total = 0;
        while (1) {
             int sublen = 255 - output[1];

             if (length <= sublen) {
                  output[1] += length;
                  total += output[1];
                  break;
             }

             length -= sublen;

             memmove(output + 255 + 4, output + 255, length);
             memcpy(output + 255, output, 4);

             output[1] = 255;



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             output[3] |= 0x80;

             output += 255;
             output[1] = 4;
             total += 255;
        }

        return total;
   }

   static int encode_rfc(char *buffer, uint8_t *output, size_t outlen)
   {
        int attr;
        int length, sublen;
        char *p;

        attr = decode_attr(buffer, &p);
        if (attr == 0) return 0;

        length = 2;
        output[0] = attr;
        output[1] = 2;

        if (attr == 26) {
             sublen = encode_vsa(p, output + 2, outlen - 2);

        } else if ((*p == ' ') || ((attr < 241) || (attr > 246))) {
             sublen = encode_data(p, output + 2, outlen - 2);

        } else {
             if (*p != '.') {
                  fprintf(stderr, "Invalid data following "
                       "attribute number\n");
                  return 0;
             }

             if (attr < 245) {
                  sublen = encode_extended(p + 1,
                                  output + 2, outlen - 2);
             } else {

                  /*
                   *   Not like the others!
                   */
                  return encode_extended_flags(p + 1, output, outlen);
             }
        }
        if (sublen == 0) return 0;



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        if (sublen > (255 -2)) {
             fprintf(stderr, "RFC Data is too long\n");
             return 0;
        }

        output[1] += sublen;
        return length + sublen;
   }

   int main(int argc, char *argv[])
   {
        int lineno;
        size_t i, outlen;
        FILE *fp;
        char input[8192], buffer[8192];
        uint8_t output[4096];

        if ((argc < 2) || (strcmp(argv[1], "-") == 0)) {
             fp = stdin;
        } else {
             fp = fopen(argv[1], "r");
             if (!fp) {
                  fprintf(stderr, "Error opening %s: %s\n",
                       argv[1], strerror(errno));
                  exit(1);
             }
        }

        lineno = 0;
        while (fgets(buffer, sizeof(buffer), fp) != NULL) {
             char *p = strchr(buffer, '\n');

             lineno++;

             if (!p) {
                  if (!feof(fp)) {
                       fprintf(stderr, "Line %d too long in %s\n",
                            lineno, argv[1]);
                       exit(1);
                  }
             } else {
                  *p = '\0';
             }

             p = strchr(buffer, '#');
             if (p) *p = '\0';

             p = buffer;



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             while (isspace((int) *p)) p++;
             if (!*p) continue;

             strcpy(input, p);
             outlen = encode_rfc(input, output, sizeof(output));
             if (outlen == 0) {
                  fprintf(stderr, "Parse error in line %d of %s\n",
                       lineno, input);
                  exit(1);
             }

             printf("%s -> ", buffer);
             for (i = 0; i < outlen; i++) {
                  printf("%02x ", output[i]);
             }
             printf("\n");
        }

        if (fp != stdin) fclose(fp);

        return 0;
   }
   ------------------------------------------------------------


Author's Address

   Alan DeKok
   Network RADIUS SARL
   15 av du Granier
   38240 Meylan
   France

   Email: aland@networkradius.com
   URI: http://networkradius.com

   Avi Lior
   Bridgewater Systems Corporation
   303 Terry Fox Drive
   Suite 100
   Ottawa, Ontario  K2K 3J1
   Canada

   Phone: +1 (613) 591-6655
   Email: avi@bridgewatersystems.com
   URI:   http://www.bridgewatersystems.com/





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