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The Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System Plus (TACACS+) Protocol
RFC 8907

Document Type RFC - Informational (September 2020) Errata
Authors Thorsten Dahm , Andrej Ota , dcmgash@cisco.com , David Carrel , Lol Grant
Last updated 2024-01-12
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
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IESG Responsible AD Warren "Ace" Kumari
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RFC 8907


Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                           T. Dahm
Request for Comments: 8907                                        A. Ota
Category: Informational                                      Google Inc.
ISSN: 2070-1721                                         D.C. Medway Gash
                                                     Cisco Systems, Inc.
                                                               D. Carrel
                                                          IPsec Research
                                                                L. Grant
                                                          September 2020

  The Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System Plus (TACACS+)
                                Protocol

Abstract

   This document describes the Terminal Access Controller Access-Control
   System Plus (TACACS+) protocol, which is widely deployed today to
   provide Device Administration for routers, network access servers,
   and other networked computing devices via one or more centralized
   servers.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are candidates for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8907.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2020 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include 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.

   This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
   Contributions published or made publicly available before November
   10, 2008.  The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this
   material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow
   modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process.
   Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
   the copyright in such materials, this document may not be modified
   outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may
   not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
   it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
   than English.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction
   2.  Conventions
   3.  Technical Definitions
     3.1.  Client
     3.2.  Server
     3.3.  Packet
     3.4.  Connection
     3.5.  Session
     3.6.  Treatment of Enumerated Protocol Values
     3.7.  Treatment of Text Strings
   4.  TACACS+ Packets and Sessions
     4.1.  The TACACS+ Packet Header
     4.2.  The TACACS+ Packet Body
     4.3.  Single Connection Mode
     4.4.  Session Completion
     4.5.  Data Obfuscation
   5.  Authentication
     5.1.  The Authentication START Packet Body
     5.2.  The Authentication REPLY Packet Body
     5.3.  The Authentication CONTINUE Packet Body
     5.4.  Description of Authentication Process
       5.4.1.  Version Behavior
       5.4.2.  Common Authentication Flows
       5.4.3.  Aborting an Authentication Session
   6.  Authorization
     6.1.  The Authorization REQUEST Packet Body
     6.2.  The Authorization REPLY Packet Body
   7.  Accounting
     7.1.  The Account REQUEST Packet Body
     7.2.  The Accounting REPLY Packet Body
   8.  Argument-Value Pairs
     8.1.  Value Encoding
     8.2.  Authorization Arguments
     8.3.  Accounting Arguments
   9.  Privilege Levels
   10. Security Considerations
     10.1.  General Security of the Protocol
     10.2.  Security of Authentication Sessions
     10.3.  Security of Authorization Sessions
     10.4.  Security of Accounting Sessions
     10.5.  TACACS+ Best Practices
       10.5.1.  Shared Secrets
       10.5.2.  Connections and Obfuscation
       10.5.3.  Authentication
       10.5.4.  Authorization
       10.5.5.  Redirection Mechanism
   11. IANA Considerations
   12. References
     12.1.  Normative References
     12.2.  Informative References
   Acknowledgements
   Authors' Addresses

1.  Introduction

   This document describes the Terminal Access Controller Access-Control
   System Plus (TACACS+) protocol.  It was conceived initially as a
   general Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) protocol.
   It is widely deployed today but is mainly confined for a specific
   subset of AAA called Device Administration, which includes
   authenticating access to network devices, providing central
   authorization of operations, and auditing of those operations.

   A wide range of TACACS+ clients and servers is already deployed in
   the field.  The TACACS+ protocol they are based on is defined in a
   document that was originally intended for IETF publication, but was
   never standardized.  The document is known as "The Draft"
   [THE-DRAFT].

   This Draft was a product of its time and did not address all of the
   key security concerns that are considered when designing modern
   standards.  Therefore, deployment must be executed with care.  These
   concerns are addressed in Section 10.

   The primary intent of this informational document is to clarify the
   subset of "The Draft", which is common to implementations supporting
   Device Administration.  It is intended that all implementations that
   conform to this document will conform to "The Draft".  However, it is
   not intended that all implementations that conform to "The Draft"
   will conform to this document.  The following features from "The
   Draft" have been removed:

   *  This document officially removes SENDPASS for security reasons.

   *  The normative description of legacy features such as the Apple
      Remote Access Protocol (ARAP) and outbound authentication has been
      removed.

   *  The Support for forwarding to an alternative daemon
      (TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FOLLOW) has been deprecated.

   The TACACS+ protocol allows for arbitrary length and content
   authentication exchanges to support alternative authentication
   mechanisms.  It is extensible to provide for site customization and
   future development features, and it uses TCP to ensure reliable
   delivery.  The protocol allows the TACACS+ client to request fine-
   grained access control and allows the server to respond to each
   component of that request.

   The separation of authentication, authorization, and accounting is a
   key element of the design of TACACS+ protocol.  Essentially, it makes
   TACACS+ a suite of three protocols.  This document will address each
   one in separate sections.  Although TACACS+ defines all three, an
   implementation or deployment is not required to employ all three.
   Separating the elements is useful for the Device Administration use
   case, specifically, for authorization and accounting of individual
   commands in a session.  Note that there is no provision made at the
   protocol level to associate authentication requests with
   authorization requests.

2.  Conventions

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

3.  Technical Definitions

   This section provides a few basic definitions that are applicable to
   this document.

3.1.  Client

   The client is any device that initiates TACACS+ protocol requests to
   mediate access, mainly for the Device Administration use case.

3.2.  Server

   The server receives TACACS+ protocol requests and replies according
   to its business model in accordance with the flows defined in this
   document.

3.3.  Packet

   All uses of the word packet in this document refer to TACACS+
   protocol data units unless explicitly noted otherwise.  The informal
   term "packet" has become an established part of the definition.

3.4.  Connection

   TACACS+ uses TCP for its transport.  TCP Server port 49 is allocated
   by IANA for TACACS+ traffic.

3.5.  Session

   The concept of a session is used throughout this document.  A TACACS+
   session is a single authentication sequence, a single authorization
   exchange, or a single accounting exchange.

   An accounting and authorization session will consist of a single pair
   of packets (the request and its reply).  An authentication session
   may involve an arbitrary number of packets being exchanged.  The
   session is an operational concept that is maintained between the
   TACACS+ client and server.  It does not necessarily correspond to a
   given user or user action.

3.6.  Treatment of Enumerated Protocol Values

   This document describes various enumerated values in the packet
   header and the headers for specific packet types.  For example, in
   the authentication start packet type, this document defines the
   action field with three values: TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_LOGIN,
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_CHPASS, and TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SENDAUTH.

   If the server does not implement one of the defined options in a
   packet that it receives, or it encounters an option that is not
   listed in this document for a header field, then it should respond
   with an ERROR and terminate the session.  This will allow the client
   to try a different option.

   If an error occurs but the type of the incoming packet cannot be
   determined, a packet with the identical cleartext header but with a
   sequence number incremented by one and the length set to zero MUST be
   returned to indicate an error.

3.7.  Treatment of Text Strings

   The TACACS+ protocol makes extensive use of text strings.  "The
   Draft" intended that these strings would be treated as byte arrays
   where each byte would represent a US-ASCII character.

   More recently, server implementations have been extended to interwork
   with external identity services, and so a more nuanced approach is
   needed.  Usernames MUST be encoded and handled using the
   UsernameCasePreserved Profile specified in [RFC8265].  The security
   considerations in Section 8 of [RFC8265] apply.

   Where specifically mentioned, data fields contain arrays of arbitrary
   bytes as required for protocol processing.  These are not intended to
   be made visible through user interface to users.

   All other text fields in TACACS+ MUST be treated as printable byte
   arrays of US-ASCII as defined by [RFC0020].  The term "printable"
   used here means the fields MUST exclude the "Control Characters"
   defined in Section 5.2 of [RFC0020].

4.  TACACS+ Packets and Sessions

4.1.  The TACACS+ Packet Header

   All TACACS+ packets begin with the following 12-byte header.  The
   header describes the remainder of the packet:

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |major  | minor  |                |                |                |
   |version| version|      type      |     seq_no     |   flags        |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |                                                                   |
   |                            session_id                             |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |                                                                   |
   |                              length                               |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

   The following general rules apply to all TACACS+ packet types:

   *  To signal that any variable-length data fields are unused, the
      corresponding length values are set to zero.  Such fields MUST be
      ignored, and treated as if not present.

   *  The lengths of data and message fields in a packet are specified
      by their corresponding length field (and are not null terminated).

   *  All length values are unsigned and in network byte order.

   major_version

      This is the major TACACS+ version number.

      TAC_PLUS_MAJOR_VER := 0xc

   minor_version

      This is the minor TACACS+ version number.

      TAC_PLUS_MINOR_VER_DEFAULT := 0x0

      TAC_PLUS_MINOR_VER_ONE := 0x1

   type

      This is the packet type.

      Options are:

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN := 0x01 (Authentication)

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR := 0x02 (Authorization)

      TAC_PLUS_ACCT := 0x03 (Accounting)

   seq_no

      This is the sequence number of the current packet.  The first
      packet in a session MUST have the sequence number 1, and each
      subsequent packet will increment the sequence number by one.
      TACACS+ clients only send packets containing odd sequence numbers,
      and TACACS+ servers only send packets containing even sequence
      numbers.

      The sequence number must never wrap, i.e., if the sequence number
      2^(8)-1 is ever reached, that session must terminate and be
      restarted with a sequence number of 1.

   flags

      This field contains various bitmapped flags.

      The flag bit:

      TAC_PLUS_UNENCRYPTED_FLAG := 0x01

      This flag indicates that the sender did not obfuscate the body of
      the packet.  This option MUST NOT be used in production.  The
      application of this flag will be covered in "Security
      Considerations" (Section 10).

      This flag SHOULD be clear in all deployments.  Modern network
      traffic tools support encrypted traffic when configured with the
      shared secret (see "Shared Secrets" (Section 10.5.1)), so
      obfuscated mode can and SHOULD be used even during test.

      The single-connection flag:

      TAC_PLUS_SINGLE_CONNECT_FLAG := 0x04

      This flag is used to allow a client and server to negotiate
      "Single Connection Mode" (Section 4.3).

      All other bits MUST be ignored when reading, and SHOULD be set to
      zero when writing.

   session_id

      The Id for this TACACS+ session.  This field does not change for
      the duration of the TACACS+ session.  This number MUST be
      generated by a cryptographically strong random number generation
      method.  Failure to do so will compromise security of the session.
      For more details, refer to [RFC4086].

   length

      The total length of the packet body (not including the header).
      Implementations MUST allow control over maximum packet sizes
      accepted by TACACS+ Servers.  The recommended maximum packet size
      is 2^(16).

4.2.  The TACACS+ Packet Body

   The TACACS+ body types are defined in the packet header.  The next
   sections of this document will address the contents of the different
   TACACS+ bodies.

4.3.  Single Connection Mode

   Single Connection Mode is intended to improve performance where there
   is a lot of traffic between a client and a server by allowing the
   client to multiplex multiple sessions on a single TCP connection.

   The packet header contains the TAC_PLUS_SINGLE_CONNECT_FLAG used by
   the client and server to negotiate the use of Single Connection Mode.

   The client sets this flag to indicate that it supports multiplexing
   TACACS+ sessions over a single TCP connection.  The client MUST NOT
   send a second packet on a connection until single-connect status has
   been established.

   To indicate it will support Single Connection Mode, the server sets
   this flag in the first reply packet in response to the first request
   from a client.  The server may set this flag even if the client does
   not set it, but the client may ignore the flag and close the
   connection after the session completes.

   The flag is only relevant for the first two packets on a connection,
   to allow the client and server to establish Single Connection Mode.
   No provision is made for changing Single Connection Mode after the
   first two packets; the client and server MUST ignore the flag after
   the second packet on a connection.

   If Single Connection Mode has not been established in the first two
   packets of a TCP connection, then both the client and the server
   close the connection at the end of the first session.

   The client negotiates Single Connection Mode to improve efficiency.
   The server may refuse to allow Single Connection Mode for the client.
   For example, it may not be appropriate to allocate a long-lasting TCP
   connection to a specific client in some deployments.  Even if the
   server is configured to permit Single Connection Mode for a specific
   client, the server may close the connection.  For example, a server
   MUST be configured to time out a Single Connection Mode TCP
   connection after a specific period of inactivity to preserve its
   resources.  The client MUST accommodate such closures on a TCP
   session even after Single Connection Mode has been established.

   The TCP connection underlying the Single Connection Mode will close
   eventually either because of the timeout from the server or from an
   intermediate link.  If a session is in progress when the client
   detects disconnect, then the client should handle it as described in
   "Session Completion" (Section 4.4).  If a session is not in progress,
   then the client will need to detect this and restart the Single
   Connection Mode when it initiates the next session.

4.4.  Session Completion

   The REPLY packets defined for the packet types in the sections below
   (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting) contain a status
   field.  The complete set of options for this field depend upon the
   packet type, but all three REPLY packet types define values
   representing PASS, ERROR, and FAIL, which indicate the last packet of
   a regular session (one that is not aborted).

   The server responds with a PASS or a FAIL to indicate that the
   processing of the request completed and that the client can apply the
   result (PASS or FAIL) to control the execution of the action that
   prompted the request to be sent to the server.

   The server responds with an ERROR to indicate that the processing of
   the request did not complete.  The client cannot apply the result,
   and it MUST behave as if the server could not be connected to.  For
   example, the client tries alternative methods, if they are available,
   such as sending the request to a backup server or using local
   configuration to determine whether the action that prompted the
   request should be executed.

   Refer to "Aborting an Authentication Session" (Section 5.4.3) for
   details on handling additional status options.

   When the session is complete, the TCP connection should be handled as
   follows, according to whether Single Connection Mode was negotiated:

   *  If Single Connection Mode was not negotiated, then the connection
      should be closed.

   *  If Single Connection Mode was enabled, then the connection SHOULD
      be left open (see "Single Connection Mode" (Section 4.3)) but may
      still be closed after a timeout period to preserve deployment
      resources.

   *  If Single Connection Mode was enabled, but an ERROR occurred due
      to connection issues (such as an incorrect secret (see
      Section 4.5)), then any further new sessions MUST NOT be accepted
      on the connection.  If there are any sessions that have already
      been established, then they MAY be completed.  Once all active
      sessions are completed, then the connection MUST be closed.

   It is recommended that client implementations provide robust schemes
   for dealing with servers that cannot be connected to.  Options
   include providing a list of servers for redundancy and an option for
   a local fallback configuration if no servers can be reached.  Details
   will be implementation specific.

   The client should manage connections and handle the case of a server
   that establishes a connection but does not respond.  The exact
   behavior is implementation specific.  It is recommended that the
   client close the connection after a configurable timeout.

4.5.  Data Obfuscation

   The body of packets may be obfuscated.  The following sections
   describe the obfuscation method that is supported in the protocol.
   In "The Draft", this process was actually referred to as Encryption,
   but the algorithm would not meet modern standards and so will not be
   termed as encryption in this document.

   The obfuscation mechanism relies on a secret key, a shared secret
   value that is known to both the client and the server.  The secret
   keys MUST remain secret.

   Server implementations MUST allow a unique secret key to be
   associated with each client.  It is a site-dependent decision as to
   whether or not the use of separate keys is appropriate.

   The flag field MUST be configured with TAC_PLUS_UNENCRYPTED_FLAG set
   to 0 so that the packet body is obfuscated by XORing it bytewise with
   a pseudo-random pad:

      ENCRYPTED {data} = data ^(pseudo_pad)

   The packet body can then be de-obfuscated by XORing it bytewise with
   a pseudo-random pad.

      data = ENCRYPTED {data} ^(pseudo_pad)

   The pad is generated by concatenating a series of MD5 hashes (each 16
   bytes long) and truncating it to the length of the input data.
   Whenever used in this document, MD5 refers to the "RSA Data Security,
   Inc.  MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm" as specified in [RFC1321].

      pseudo_pad = {MD5_1 [,MD5_2 [ ... ,MD5_n]]} truncated to len(data)

   The first MD5 hash is generated by concatenating the session_id, the
   secret key, the version number, and the sequence number, and then
   running MD5 over that stream.  All of those input values are
   available in the packet header, except for the secret key, which is a
   shared secret between the TACACS+ client and server.

   The version number and session_id are extracted from the header.

   Subsequent hashes are generated by using the same input stream but
   concatenating the previous hash value at the end of the input stream.

      MD5_1 = MD5{session_id, key, version, seq_no} MD5_2 =
      MD5{session_id, key, version, seq_no, MD5_1} ....  MD5_n =
      MD5{session_id, key, version, seq_no, MD5_n-1}

   When a server detects that the secrets it has configured for the
   device do not match, it MUST return ERROR.  For details of TCP
   connection handling on ERROR, refer to "Session Completion"
   (Section 4.4).

      TAC_PLUS_UNENCRYPTED_FLAG == 0x1

   This option is deprecated and MUST NOT be used in production.  In
   this case, the entire packet body is in cleartext.  A request MUST be
   dropped if TAC_PLUS_UNENCRYPTED_FLAG is set to true.

   After a packet body is de-obfuscated, the lengths of the component
   values in the packet are summed.  If the sum is not identical to the
   cleartext datalength value from the header, the packet MUST be
   discarded and an ERROR signaled.  For details of TCP connection
   handling on ERROR, refer to "Session Completion" (Section 4.4).

   Commonly, such failures are seen when the keys are mismatched between
   the client and the TACACS+ server.

5.  Authentication

   Authentication is the action of determining who a user (or entity)
   is.  Authentication can take many forms.  Traditional authentication
   employs a name and a fixed password.  However, fixed passwords are
   vulnerable security, so many modern authentication mechanisms utilize
   "one-time" passwords or a challenge-response query.  TACACS+ is
   designed to support all of these and be flexible enough to handle any
   future mechanisms.  Authentication generally takes place when the
   user first logs in to a machine or requests a service of it.

   Authentication is not mandatory; it is a site-configured option.
   Some sites do not require it.  Others require it only for certain
   services (see "Authorization" (Section 6)).  Authentication may also
   take place when a user attempts to gain extra privileges and must
   identify himself or herself as someone who possesses the required
   information (passwords, etc.) for those privileges.

5.1.  The Authentication START Packet Body

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |    action      |    priv_lvl    |  authen_type   | authen_service |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |    user_len    |    port_len    |  rem_addr_len  |    data_len    |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |    user ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |    port ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |    rem_addr ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |    data...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

   Packet fields are as follows:

   action

      This indicates the authentication action.

      Valid values are:

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_LOGIN := 0x01

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_CHPASS := 0x02

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SENDAUTH := 0x04

   priv_lvl

      This indicates the privilege level that the user is authenticating
      as.  Please refer to "Privilege Levels" (Section 9).

   authen_type

      The type of authentication.  Please see "Common Authentication
      Flows" (Section 5.4.2).

      Valid values are:

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_ASCII := 0x01

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_PAP := 0x02

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_CHAP := 0x03

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_MSCHAP := 0x05

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_MSCHAPV2 := 0x06

   authen_service

      This is the service that is requesting the authentication.

      Valid values are:

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_NONE := 0x00

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_LOGIN := 0x01

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_ENABLE := 0x02

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_PPP := 0x03

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_PT := 0x05

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_RCMD := 0x06

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_X25 := 0x07

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_NASI := 0x08

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_FWPROXY := 0x09

      The TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_NONE option is intended for the
      authorization application of this field that indicates that no
      authentication was performed by the device.

      The TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_LOGIN option indicates regular login (as
      opposed to ENABLE) to a client device.

      The TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_ENABLE option identifies the ENABLE
      authen_service, which refers to a service requesting
      authentication in order to grant the user different privileges.
      This is comparable to the Unix "su(1)" command, which substitutes
      the current user's identity with another.  An authen_service value
      of NONE is only to be used when none of the other authen_service
      values are appropriate.  ENABLE may be requested independently; no
      requirements for previous authentications or authorizations are
      imposed by the protocol.

      Other options are included for legacy/backwards compatibility.

   user, user_len

      The username is optional in this packet, depending upon the class
      of authentication.  If it is absent, the client MUST set user_len
      to 0.  If included, the user_len indicates the length of the user
      field, in bytes.

   port, port_len

      The name of the client port on which the authentication is taking
      place.  The value of this field is free-format text and is client
      specific.  Examples of this argument include "tty10" to denote the
      tenth tty line, and "async10" to denote the tenth async interface.
      The client documentation SHOULD define the values and their
      meanings for this field.  For details of text encoding, see
      "Treatment of Text Strings" (Section 3.7).  The port_len indicates
      the length of the port field, in bytes.

   rem_addr, rem_addr_len

      A string indicating the remote location from which the user has
      connected to the client.  For details of text encoding, see
      "Treatment of Text Strings" (Section 3.7).

      When TACACS+ was used for dial-up services, this value contained
      the caller ID.

      When TACACS+ is used for Device Administration, the user is
      normally connected via a network, and in this case, the value is
      intended to hold a network address, IPv4 or IPv6.  For IPv6
      address text representation defined, please see [RFC5952].

      This field is optional (since the information may not be
      available).  The rem_addr_len indicates the length of the user
      field, in bytes.

   data, data_len

      The data field is used to send data appropriate for the action and
      authen_type.  It is described in more detail in "Common
      Authentication Flows" (Section 5.4.2).  The data_len field
      indicates the length of the data field, in bytes.

5.2.  The Authentication REPLY Packet Body

   The TACACS+ server sends only one type of authentication packet (a
   REPLY packet) to the client.

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |     status     |      flags     |        server_msg_len           |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |           data_len              |        server_msg ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |           data ...
   +----------------+----------------+

   status

      The current status of the authentication.

      Valid values are:

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_PASS := 0x01

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FAIL := 0x02

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETDATA := 0x03

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETUSER := 0x04

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETPASS := 0x05

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_RESTART := 0x06

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_ERROR := 0x07

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FOLLOW := 0x21

   flags

      Bitmapped flags that modify the action to be taken.

      The following values are defined:

      TAC_PLUS_REPLY_FLAG_NOECHO := 0x01

   server_msg, server_msg_len

      A message to be displayed to the user.  This field is optional.
      The server_msg_len indicates the length of the server_msg field,
      in bytes.  For details of text encoding, see "Treatment of Text
      Strings" (Section 3.7).

   data, data_len

      A field that holds data that is a part of the authentication
      exchange and is intended for client processing, not the user.  It
      is not a printable text encoding.  Examples of its use are shown
      in "Common Authentication Flows" (Section 5.4.2).  The data_len
      indicates the length of the data field, in bytes.

5.3.  The Authentication CONTINUE Packet Body

   This packet is sent from the client to the server following the
   receipt of a REPLY packet.

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |          user_msg len           |            data_len             |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |     flags      |  user_msg ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |    data ...
   +----------------+

   user_msg, user_msg_len

      A field that is the string that the user entered, or the client
      provided on behalf of the user, in response to the server_msg from
      a REPLY packet.  The user_len indicates the length of the user
      field, in bytes.

   data, data_len

      This field carries information that is specific to the action and
      the authen_type for this session.  Valid uses of this field are
      described below.  It is not a printable text encoding.  The
      data_len indicates the length of the data field, in bytes.

   flags

      This holds the bitmapped flags that modify the action to be taken.

      The following values are defined:

      TAC_PLUS_CONTINUE_FLAG_ABORT := 0x01

5.4.  Description of Authentication Process

   The action, authen_type, and authen_service fields (described above)
   combine to indicate what kind of authentication is to be performed.
   Every authentication START, REPLY, and CONTINUE packet includes a
   data field.  The use of this field is dependent upon the kind of
   authentication.

   This document defines a core set of authentication flows to be
   supported by TACACS+.  Each authentication flow consists of a START
   packet.  The server responds either with a request for more
   information (GETDATA, GETUSER, or GETPASS) or a termination PASS,
   FAIL, ERROR, or RESTART.  The actions and meanings when the server
   sends a RESTART or ERROR are common and are described further below.

   When the REPLY status equals TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETDATA,
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETUSER, or TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETPASS,
   authentication continues and the server SHOULD provide server_msg
   content for the client to prompt the user for more information.  The
   client MUST then return a CONTINUE packet containing the requested
   information in the user_msg field.

   The client should interpret TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETUSER as a
   request for a username and TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETPASS as a
   request for a password.  The TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETDATA is the
   generic request for more information to flexibly support future
   requirements.

   If the information being requested by the server from the client is
   sensitive, then the server should set the TAC_PLUS_REPLY_FLAG_NOECHO
   flag.  When the client queries the user for the information, the
   response MUST NOT be reflected in the user interface as it is
   entered.

   The data field is only used in the REPLY where explicitly defined
   below.

5.4.1.  Version Behavior

   The TACACS+ protocol is versioned to allow revisions while
   maintaining backwards compatibility.  The version number is in every
   packet header.  The changes between minor_version 0 and 1 apply only
   to the authentication process, and all deal with the way that
   Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) and Password
   Authentication Protocol (PAP) authentications are handled.
   minor_version 1 may only be used for authentication kinds that
   explicitly call for it in the table below:

                +-------------+-------+--------+----------+
                |             | LOGIN | CHPASS | SENDAUTH |
                +-------------+-------+--------+----------+
                | ASCII       | v0    | v0     | -        |
                +-------------+-------+--------+----------+
                | PAP         | v1    | -      | v1       |
                +-------------+-------+--------+----------+
                | CHAP        | v1    | -      | v1       |
                +-------------+-------+--------+----------+
                | MS-CHAPv1/2 | v1    | -      | v1       |
                +-------------+-------+--------+----------+

                    Table 1: TACACS+ Protocol Versioning

   The '-' symbol represents that the option is not valid.

   All authorization and accounting and ASCII authentication use
   minor_version 0.

   PAP, CHAP, and MS-CHAP login use minor_version 1.  The normal
   exchange is a single START packet from the client and a single REPLY
   from the server.

   The removal of SENDPASS was prompted by security concerns and is no
   longer considered part of the TACACS+ protocol.

5.4.2.  Common Authentication Flows

   This section describes common authentication flows.  If the server
   does not implement an option, it MUST respond with
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FAIL.

5.4.2.1.  ASCII Login

       action = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_LOGIN
       authen_type = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_ASCII
       minor_version = 0x0

   This is a standard ASCII authentication.  The START packet MAY
   contain the username.  If the user does not include the username,
   then the server MUST obtain it from the client with a CONTINUE
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETUSER.  If the user does not provide a
   username, then the server can send another
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETUSER request, but the server MUST limit the
   number of retries that are permitted; the recommended limit is three
   attempts.  When the server has the username, it will obtain the
   password using a continue with TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETPASS.  ASCII
   login uses the user_msg field for both the username and password.
   The data fields in both the START and CONTINUE packets are not used
   for ASCII logins; any content MUST be ignored.  The session is
   composed of a single START followed by zero or more pairs of REPLYs
   and CONTINUEs, followed by a final REPLY indicating PASS, FAIL, or
   ERROR.

5.4.2.2.  PAP Login

       action = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_LOGIN
       authen_type = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_PAP
       minor_version = 0x1

   The entire exchange MUST consist of a single START packet and a
   single REPLY.  The START packet MUST contain a username and the data
   field MUST contain the PAP ASCII password.  A PAP authentication only
   consists of a username and password [RFC1334] (Obsolete).  The REPLY
   from the server MUST be either a PASS, FAIL, or ERROR.

5.4.2.3.  CHAP Login

       action = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_LOGIN
       authen_type = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_CHAP
       minor_version = 0x1

   The entire exchange MUST consist of a single START packet and a
   single REPLY.  The START packet MUST contain the username in the user
   field, and the data field is a concatenation of the PPP id, the
   challenge, and the response.

   The length of the challenge value can be determined from the length
   of the data field minus the length of the id (always 1 octet) and the
   length of the response field (always 16 octets).

   To perform the authentication, the server calculates the PPP hash as
   defined in PPP Authentication [RFC1334] and then compares that value
   with the response.  The MD5 algorithm option is always used.  The
   REPLY from the server MUST be a PASS, FAIL, or ERROR.

   The selection of the challenge and its length are not an aspect of
   the TACACS+ protocol.  However, it is strongly recommended that the
   client/endstation interaction be configured with a secure challenge.
   The TACACS+ server can help by rejecting authentications where the
   challenge is below a minimum length (minimum recommended is 8 bytes).

5.4.2.4.  MS-CHAP v1 Login

       action = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_LOGIN
       authen_type = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_MSCHAP
       minor_version = 0x1

   The entire exchange MUST consist of a single START packet and a
   single REPLY.  The START packet MUST contain the username in the user
   field, and the data field will be a concatenation of the PPP id, the
   MS-CHAP challenge, and the MS-CHAP response.

   The length of the challenge value can be determined from the length
   of the data field minus the length of the id (always 1 octet) and the
   length of the response field (always 49 octets).

   To perform the authentication, the server will use a combination of
   MD4 and DES on the user's secret and the challenge, as defined in
   [RFC2433], and then compare the resulting value with the response.
   The REPLY from the server MUST be a PASS or FAIL.

   For best practices, please refer to [RFC2433].  The TACACS+ server
   MUST reject authentications where the challenge deviates from 8 bytes
   as defined in the RFC.

5.4.2.5.  MS-CHAP v2 Login

       action = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_LOGIN
       authen_type = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_MSCHAPV2
       minor_version = 0x1

   The entire exchange MUST consist of a single START packet and a
   single REPLY.  The START packet MUST contain the username in the user
   field, and the data field will be a concatenation of the PPP id, the
   MS-CHAP challenge, and the MS-CHAP response.

   The length of the challenge value can be determined from the length
   of the data field minus the length of the id (always 1 octet) and the
   length of the response field (always 49 octets).

   To perform the authentication, the server will use the algorithm
   specified [RFC2759] on the user's secret and challenge, and then
   compare the resulting value with the response.  The REPLY from the
   server MUST be a PASS or FAIL.

   For best practices for MS-CHAP v2, please refer to [RFC2759].  The
   TACACS+ server MUST reject authentications where the challenge
   deviates from 16 bytes as defined in the RFC.

5.4.2.6.  Enable Requests

       action = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_LOGIN
       priv_lvl = implementation dependent
       authen_type = not used
       service = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_ENABLE

   This is an "ENABLE" request, used to change the current running
   privilege level of a user.  The exchange MAY consist of multiple
   messages while the server collects the information it requires in
   order to allow changing the principal's privilege level.  This
   exchange is very similar to an ASCII login (Section 5.4.2.1).

   In order to readily distinguish "ENABLE" requests from other types of
   request, the value of the authen_service field MUST be set to
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SVC_ENABLE when requesting an ENABLE.  It MUST NOT be
   set to this value when requesting any other operation.

5.4.2.7.  ASCII Change Password Request

   action = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_CHPASS
   authen_type = TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_ASCII

   This exchange consists of multiple messages while the server collects
   the information it requires in order to change the user's password.
   It is very similar to an ASCII login.  The status value
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETPASS MUST only be used when requesting the
   "new" password.  It MAY be sent multiple times.  When requesting the
   "old" password, the status value MUST be set to
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_GETDATA.

5.4.3.  Aborting an Authentication Session

   The client may prematurely terminate a session by setting the
   TAC_PLUS_CONTINUE_FLAG_ABORT flag in the CONTINUE message.  If this
   flag is set, the data portion of the message may contain a text
   explaining the reason for the abort.  This text will be handled by
   the server according to the requirements of the deployment.  For
   details of text encoding, see "Treatment of Text Strings"
   (Section 3.7).  For more details about session termination, refer to
   "Session Completion" (Section 4.4).

   In cases of PASS, FAIL, or ERROR, the server can insert a message
   into server_msg to be displayed to the user.

   "The Draft" [THE-DRAFT] defined a mechanism to direct authentication
   requests to an alternative server.  This mechanism is regarded as
   insecure, is deprecated, and is not covered here.  The client should
   treat TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FOLLOW as TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FAIL.

   If the status equals TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_ERROR, then the host is
   indicating that it is experiencing an unrecoverable error and the
   authentication will proceed as if that host could not be contacted.
   The data field may contain a message to be printed on an
   administrative console or log.

   If the status equals TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_RESTART, then the
   authentication sequence is restarted with a new START packet from the
   client, with a new session Id and seq_no set to 1.  This REPLY packet
   indicates that the current authen_type value (as specified in the
   START packet) is not acceptable for this session.  The client may try
   an alternative authen_type.

   If a client does not implement the TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_RESTART
   option, then it MUST process the response as if the status was
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FAIL.

6.  Authorization

   In the TACACS+ protocol, authorization is the action of determining
   what a user is allowed to do.  Generally, authentication precedes
   authorization, though it is not mandatory that a client use the same
   service for authentication that it will use for authorization.  An
   authorization request may indicate that the user is not authenticated
   (we don't know who they are).  In this case, it is up to the server
   to determine, according to its configuration, if an unauthenticated
   user is allowed the services in question.

   Authorization does not merely provide yes or no answers, but it may
   also customize the service for the particular user.  A common use of
   authorization is to provision a shell session when a user first logs
   into a device to administer it.  The TACACS+ server might respond to
   the request by allowing the service, but placing a time restriction
   on the login shell.  For a list of common arguments used in
   authorization, see "Authorization Arguments" (Section 8.2).

   In the TACACS+ protocol, an authorization is always a single pair of
   messages: a REQUEST from the client followed by a REPLY from the
   server.

   The authorization REQUEST message contains a fixed set of fields that
   indicate how the user was authenticated and a variable set of
   arguments that describe the services and options for which
   authorization is requested.

   The REPLY contains a variable set of response arguments (argument-
   value pairs) that can restrict or modify the client's actions.

6.1.  The Authorization REQUEST Packet Body

     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |  authen_method |    priv_lvl    |  authen_type   | authen_service |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |    user_len    |    port_len    |  rem_addr_len  |    arg_cnt     |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_1_len    |   arg_2_len    |      ...       |   arg_N_len    |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   user ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   port ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   rem_addr ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_1 ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_2 ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_N ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

   authen_method

      This field allows the client to indicate the authentication method
      used to acquire user information.

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_NOT_SET := 0x00

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_NONE := 0x01

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_KRB5 := 0x02

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_LINE := 0x03

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_ENABLE := 0x04

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_LOCAL := 0x05

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_TACACSPLUS := 0x06

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_GUEST := 0x08

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_RADIUS := 0x10

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_KRB4 := 0x11

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_RCMD := 0x20

      As this information is not always subject to verification, it MUST
      NOT be used in policy evaluation.  LINE refers to a fixed password
      associated with the terminal line used to gain access.  LOCAL is a
      client local user database.  ENABLE is a command that
      authenticates in order to grant new privileges.  TACACSPLUS is, of
      course, TACACS+.  GUEST is an unqualified guest authentication.
      RADIUS is the RADIUS authentication protocol.  RCMD refers to
      authentication provided via the R-command protocols from Berkeley
      Unix.  KRB5 [RFC4120] and KRB4 [KRB4] are Kerberos versions 5 and
      4.

      As mentioned above, this field is used by the client to indicate
      how it performed the authentication.  One of the options
      (TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_TACACSPLUS := 0x06) is TACACS+ itself, and
      so the detail of how the client performed this option is given in
      "Authentication" (Section 5).  For all other options, such as KRB
      and RADIUS, the TACACS+ protocol did not play any part in the
      authentication phase; as those interactions were not conducted
      using the TACACS+ protocol, they will not be documented here.  For
      implementers of clients who need details of the other protocols,
      please refer to the respective Kerberos [RFC4120] and RADIUS
      [RFC3579] RFCs.

   priv_lvl

      This field is used in the same way as the priv_lvl field in
      authentication request and is described in "Privilege Levels"
      (Section 9).  It indicates the user's current privilege level.

   authen_type

      This field corresponds to the authen_type field in
      "Authentication" (Section 5).  It indicates the type of
      authentication that was performed.  If this information is not
      available, then the client will set authen_type to
      TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_NOT_SET := 0x00.  This value is valid only in
      authorization and accounting requests.

   authen_service

      This field is the same as the authen_service field in
      "Authentication" (Section 5).  It indicates the service through
      which the user authenticated.

   user, user_len

      This field contains the user's account name.  The user_len MUST
      indicate the length of the user field, in bytes.

   port, port_len

      This field matches the port field in "Authentication" (Section 5).
      The port_len indicates the length of the port field, in bytes.

   rem_addr, rem_addr_len

      This field matches the rem_addr field in "Authentication"
      (Section 5).  The rem_addr_len indicates the length of the port
      field, in bytes.

   arg_cnt

      This represents the number of authorization arguments to follow.

   arg_1 ... arg_N, arg_1_len .... arg_N_len

      These arguments are the primary elements of the authorization
      interaction.  In the request packet, they describe the specifics
      of the authorization that is being requested.  Each argument is
      encoded in the packet as a single arg field (arg_1...  arg_N) with
      a corresponding length field (which indicates the length of each
      argument in bytes).

      The authorization arguments in both the REQUEST and the REPLY are
      argument-value pairs.  The argument and the value are in a single
      string and are separated by either a "=" (0X3D) or a "*" (0X2A).
      The equals sign indicates a mandatory argument.  The asterisk
      indicates an optional one.  For details of text encoding, see
      "Treatment of Text Strings" (Section 3.7).

      An argument name MUST NOT contain either of the separators.  An
      argument value MAY contain the separators.  This means that the
      arguments must be parsed until the first separator is encountered;
      all characters in the argument, after this separator, are
      interpreted as the argument value.

      Optional arguments are ones that may be disregarded by either
      client or server.  Mandatory arguments require that the receiving
      side can handle the argument, that is, its implementation and
      configuration includes the details of how to act on it.  If the
      client receives a mandatory argument that it cannot handle, it
      MUST consider the authorization to have failed.  The value part of
      an argument-value pair may be empty, that is, the length of the
      value may be zero.

      Argument-value strings are not NULL terminated; rather, their
      length value indicates their end.  The maximum length of an
      argument-value string is 255 characters.  The minimum is two
      characters (one name-value character and the separator).

      Though the arguments allow extensibility, a common core set of
      authorization arguments SHOULD be supported by clients and
      servers; these are listed in "Authorization Arguments"
      (Section 8.2).

6.2.  The Authorization REPLY Packet Body

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |    status      |     arg_cnt    |         server_msg len          |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   +            data_len             |    arg_1_len   |    arg_2_len   |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |      ...       |   arg_N_len    |         server_msg ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   data ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_1 ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_2 ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_N ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

   status

      This field indicates the authorization status.

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_PASS_ADD := 0x01

          If the status equals TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_PASS_ADD, then the
          arguments specified in the request are authorized and the
          arguments in the response MUST be applied according to the
          rules described above.

          To approve the authorization with no modifications, the server
          sets the status to TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_PASS_ADD and the
          arg_cnt to 0.

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_PASS_REPL := 0x02

          If the status equals TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_PASS_REPL, then
          the client MUST use the authorization argument-value pairs (if
          any) in the response instead of the authorization argument-
          value pairs from the request.

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_FAIL := 0x10

          If the status equals TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_FAIL, then the
          requested authorization MUST be denied.

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_ERROR := 0x11

          A status of TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_ERROR indicates an error
          occurred on the server.  For the differences between ERROR and
          FAIL, refer to "Session Completion" (Section 4.4).  None of
          the arg values have any relevance if an ERROR is set and must
          be ignored.

      TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_FOLLOW := 0x21

          When the status equals TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_FOLLOW, the
          arg_cnt MUST be 0.  In that case, the actions to be taken and
          the contents of the data field are identical to the
          TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FOLLOW status for authentication.

   server_msg, server_msg_len

      This is a string that may be presented to the user.  The
      server_msg_len indicates the length of the server_msg field, in
      bytes.  For details of text encoding, see "Treatment of Text
      Strings" (Section 3.7).

   data, data_len

      This is a string that may be presented on an administrative
      display, console, or log.  The decision to present this message is
      client specific.  The data_len indicates the length of the data
      field, in bytes.  For details of text encoding, see "Treatment of
      Text Strings" (Section 3.7).

   arg_cnt

      This represents the number of authorization arguments to follow.

   arg_1 ... arg_N, arg_1_len .... arg_N_len

      The arguments describe the specifics of the authorization that is
      being requested.  For details of the content of the args, refer to
      "Authorization Arguments" (Section 8.2).  Each argument is encoded
      in the packet as a single arg field (arg_1... arg_N) with a
      corresponding length field (which indicates the length of each
      argument in bytes).

7.  Accounting

   Accounting is typically the third action after authentication and
   authorization.  But again, neither authentication nor authorization
   is required.  Accounting is the action of recording what a user is
   doing and/or has done.  Accounting in TACACS+ can serve two purposes:
   it may be used as an auditing tool for security services, and it may
   also be used to account for services used such as in a billing
   environment.  To this end, TACACS+ supports three types of accounting
   records: Start records indicate that a service is about to begin,
   Stop records indicate that a service has just terminated, and Update
   records are intermediate notices that indicate that a service is
   still being performed.  TACACS+ accounting records contain all the
   information used in the authorization records and also contain
   accounting-specific information such as start and stop times (when
   appropriate) and resource usage information.  A list of accounting
   arguments is defined in "Accounting Arguments" (Section 8.3).

7.1.  The Account REQUEST Packet Body

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |      flags     |  authen_method |    priv_lvl    |  authen_type   |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   | authen_service |    user_len    |    port_len    |  rem_addr_len  |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |    arg_cnt     |   arg_1_len    |   arg_2_len    |      ...       |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_N_len    |    user ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   port ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   rem_addr ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_1 ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_2 ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |   arg_N ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

   flags

      This holds bitmapped flags.

      Valid values are:

      TAC_PLUS_ACCT_FLAG_START := 0x02

      TAC_PLUS_ACCT_FLAG_STOP := 0x04

      TAC_PLUS_ACCT_FLAG_WATCHDOG := 0x08

   All other fields are defined in "Authentication" (Section 5) and
   "Authorization" (Section 6) and have the same semantics.  They
   provide details for the conditions on the client, and authentication
   context, so that these details may be logged for accounting purposes.

   See "Accounting Arguments" (Section 8.3) for the dictionary of
   arguments relevant to accounting.

7.2.  The Accounting REPLY Packet Body

   The purpose of accounting is to record the action that has occurred
   on the client.  The server MUST reply with success only when the
   accounting request has been recorded.  If the server did not record
   the accounting request, then it MUST reply with ERROR.

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |         server_msg len          |            data_len             |
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |     status     |         server_msg ...
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |     data ...
   +----------------+

   status

      This is the return status.

      Values are:

      TAC_PLUS_ACCT_STATUS_SUCCESS := 0x01

      TAC_PLUS_ACCT_STATUS_ERROR := 0x02

      TAC_PLUS_ACCT_STATUS_FOLLOW := 0x21

          When the status equals TAC_PLUS_ACCT_STATUS_FOLLOW, the
          actions to be taken and the contents of the data field are
          identical to the TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FOLLOW status for
          authentication.

   server_msg, server_msg_len

      This is a string that may be presented to the user.  The
      server_msg_len indicates the length of the server_msg field, in
      bytes.  For details of text encoding, see "Treatment of Text
      Strings" (Section 3.7).

   data, data_len

      This is a string that may be presented on an administrative
      display, console, or log.  The decision to present this message is
      client specific.  The data_len indicates the length of the data
      field, in bytes.  For details of text encoding, see "Treatment of
      Text Strings" (Section 3.7).

   TACACS+ accounting is intended to record various types of events on
   clients, for example: login sessions, command entry, and others as
   required by the client implementation.  These events are collectively
   referred to in "The Draft" [THE-DRAFT] as "tasks".

   The TAC_PLUS_ACCT_FLAG_START flag indicates that this is a start
   accounting message.  Start messages will only be sent once when a
   task is started.  The TAC_PLUS_ACCT_FLAG_STOP indicates that this is
   a stop record and that the task has terminated.  The
   TAC_PLUS_ACCT_FLAG_WATCHDOG flag means that this is an update record.

    +==========+======+=======+=============+=========================+
    | Watchdog | Stop | Start | Flags & 0xE | Meaning                 |
    +==========+======+=======+=============+=========================+
    | 0        | 0    | 0     | 0           | INVALID                 |
    +----------+------+-------+-------------+-------------------------+
    | 0        | 0    | 1     | 2           | Start Accounting Record |
    +----------+------+-------+-------------+-------------------------+
    | 0        | 1    | 0     | 4           | Stop Accounting Record  |
    +----------+------+-------+-------------+-------------------------+
    | 0        | 1    | 1     | 6           | INVALID                 |
    +----------+------+-------+-------------+-------------------------+
    | 1        | 0    | 0     | 8           | Watchdog, no update     |
    +----------+------+-------+-------------+-------------------------+
    | 1        | 0    | 1     | A           | Watchdog, with update   |
    +----------+------+-------+-------------+-------------------------+
    | 1        | 1    | 0     | C           | INVALID                 |
    +----------+------+-------+-------------+-------------------------+
    | 1        | 1    | 1     | E           | INVALID                 |
    +----------+------+-------+-------------+-------------------------+

                   Table 2: Summary of Accounting Packets

   The START and STOP flags are mutually exclusive.

   The WATCHDOG flag is used by the client to communicate ongoing status
   of a long-running task.  Update records are sent at the client's
   discretion.  The frequency of the update depends upon the intended
   application: a watchdog to provide progress indication will require
   higher frequency than a daily keep-alive.  When the WATCHDOG flag is
   set along with the START flag, it indicates that the update record
   provides additional or updated arguments from the original START
   record.  If the START flag is not set, then this indicates only that
   task is still running, and no new information is provided (servers
   MUST ignore any arguments).  The STOP flag MUST NOT be set in
   conjunction with the WATCHDOG flag.

   The server MUST respond with TAC_PLUS_ACCT_STATUS_ERROR if the client
   requests an INVALID option.

8.  Argument-Value Pairs

   TACACS+ is intended to be an extensible protocol.  The arguments used
   in Authorization and Accounting are not limited by this document.
   Some arguments are defined below for common use cases.  Clients MUST
   use these arguments when supporting the corresponding use cases.

8.1.  Value Encoding

   All argument values are encoded as strings.  For details of text
   encoding, see "Treatment of Text Strings" (Section 3.7).  The
   following type representations SHOULD be followed.

   Numeric

      All numeric values in an argument-value string are provided as
      decimal numbers, unless otherwise stated.  All arguments include a
      length field, and TACACS+ implementations MUST verify that they
      can accommodate the lengths of numeric arguments before attempting
      to process them.  If the length cannot be accommodated, then the
      argument MUST be regarded as not handled and the logic in
      "Authorization" (Section 6.1) regarding the processing of
      arguments MUST be applied.

   Boolean

      All Boolean arguments are encoded with values "true" or "false".

   IP-Address

      It is recommended that hosts be specified as an IP address so as
      to avoid any ambiguities.  For details of text encoding, see
      "Treatment of Text Strings" (Section 3.7).  IPv4 addresses are
      specified as octet numerics separated by dots ('.').  IPv6 address
      text representation is defined in [RFC5952].

   Date Time

      Absolute date/times are specified in seconds since the epoch,
      12:00am, January 1, 1970.  The time zone MUST be UTC unless a time
      zone argument is specified.

   String

      Many values have no specific type representation and are
      interpreted as plain strings.

   Empty Values

      Arguments may be submitted with no value, in which case they
      consist of the name and the mandatory or optional separator.  For
      example, the argument "cmd", which has no value, is transmitted as
      a string of four characters "cmd=".

8.2.  Authorization Arguments

   service (String)

      The primary service.  Specifying a service argument indicates that
      this is a request for authorization or accounting of that service.
      For example: "shell", "tty-server", "connection", "system" and
      "firewall"; others may be chosen for the required application.
      This argument MUST always be included.

   protocol (String)

      A field that may be used to indicate a subset of a service.

   cmd (String)

      A shell (exec) command.  This indicates the command name of the
      command that is to be run.  The "cmd" argument MUST be specified
      if service equals "shell".

      Authorization of shell commands is a common use case for the
      TACACS+ protocol.  Command Authorization generally takes one of
      two forms: session based or command based.

      For session-based shell authorization, the "cmd" argument will
      have an empty value.  The client determines which commands are
      allowed in a session according to the arguments present in the
      authorization.

      In command-based authorization, the client requests that the
      server determine whether a command is allowed by making an
      authorization request for each command.  The "cmd" argument will
      have the command name as its value.

   cmd-arg (String)

      An argument to a shell (exec) command.  This indicates an argument
      for the shell command that is to be run.  Multiple cmd-arg
      arguments may be specified, and they are order dependent.

   acl (Numeric)

      A number representing a connection access list.  Applicable only
      to session-based shell authorization.  For details of text
      encoding, see "Treatment of Text Strings" (Section 3.7).

   inacl (String)

      The identifier (name) of an interface input access list.  For
      details of text encoding, see "Treatment of Text Strings"
      (Section 3.7).

   outacl (String)

      The identifier (name) of an interface output access list.  For
      details of text encoding, see "Treatment of Text Strings"
      (Section 3.7).

   addr (IP-Address)

      A network address.

   addr-pool (String)

      The identifier of an address pool from which the client can assign
      an address.

   timeout (Numeric)

      An absolute timer for the connection (in minutes).  A value of
      zero indicates no timeout.

   idletime (Numeric)

      An idle-timeout for the connection (in minutes).  A value of zero
      indicates no timeout.

   autocmd (String)

      An auto-command to run.  Applicable only to session-based shell
      authorization.

   noescape (Boolean)

      Prevents the user from using an escape character.  Applicable only
      to session-based shell authorization.

   nohangup (Boolean)

      Boolean.  Do not disconnect after an automatic command.
      Applicable only to session-based shell authorization.

   priv-lvl (Numeric)

      The privilege level to be assigned.  Please refer to "Privilege
      Levels" (Section 9).

8.3.  Accounting Arguments

   The following arguments are defined for TACACS+ accounting only.
   They MUST precede any argument-value pairs that are defined in
   "Authorization" (Section 6).

   task_id (String)

      Start and stop records for the same event MUST have matching
      task_id argument values.  The client MUST ensure that active
      task_ids are not duplicated; a client MUST NOT reuse a task_id in
      a start record until it has sent a stop record for that task_id.
      Servers MUST NOT make assumptions about the format of a task_id.

   start_time (Date Time)

      The time the action started (in seconds since the epoch).

   stop_time (Date Time)

      The time the action stopped (in seconds since the epoch).

   elapsed_time (Numeric)

      The elapsed time in seconds for the action.

   timezone (String)

      The time zone abbreviation for all timestamps included in this
      packet.  A database of time zones is maintained in [TZDB].

   event (String)

      Used only when "service=system".  Current values are "net_acct",
      "cmd_acct", "conn_acct", "shell_acct", "sys_acct", and
      "clock_change".  These indicate system-level changes.  The flags
      field SHOULD indicate whether the service started or stopped.

   reason (String)

      Accompanies an event argument.  It describes why the event
      occurred.

   bytes (Numeric)

      The number of bytes transferred by this action.

   bytes_in (Numeric)

      The number of bytes transferred by this action from the endstation
      to the client port.

   bytes_out (Numeric)

      The number of bytes transferred by this action from the client to
      the endstation port.

   paks (Numeric)

      The number of packets transferred by this action.

   paks_in (Numeric)

      The number of input packets transferred by this action from the
      endstation to the client port.

   paks_out (Numeric)

      The number of output packets transferred by this action from the
      client port to the endstation.

   err_msg (String)

      A string describing the status of the action.  For details of text
      encoding, see "Treatment of Text Strings" (Section 3.7).

   Where the TACACS+ deployment is used to support the Device
   Administration use case, it is often required to log all commands
   entered into client devices.  To support this mode of operation,
   TACACS+ client devices MUST be configured to send an accounting start
   packet for every command entered, irrespective of how the commands
   were authorized.  These "Command Accounting" packets MUST include the
   "service" and "cmd" arguments, and if needed, the "cmd-arg" arguments
   detailed in Section 8.2.

9.  Privilege Levels

   The TACACS+ protocol supports flexible authorization schemes through
   the extensible arguments.

   The privilege levels scheme is built into the protocol and has been
   extensively used as an option for Session-based shell authorization.
   Privilege levels are ordered values from 0 to 15 with each level
   being a superset of the next lower value.  Configuration and
   implementation of the client will map actions (such as the permission
   to execute specific commands) to different privilege levels.  The
   allocation of commands to privilege levels is highly dependent upon
   the deployment.  Common allocations are as follows:

      TAC_PLUS_PRIV_LVL_MIN := 0x00.  The level normally allocated to an
      unauthenticated session.

      TAC_PLUS_PRIV_LVL_USER := 0x01.  The level normally allocated to a
      regular authenticated session.

      TAC_PLUS_PRIV_LVL_ROOT := 0x0f.  The level normally allocated to a
      session authenticated by a highly privileged user to allow
      commands with significant system impact.

      TAC_PLUS_PRIV_LVL_MAX := 0x0f.  The highest privilege level.

   A privilege level can be assigned to a shell (exec) session when it
   starts.  The client will permit the actions associated with this
   level to be executed.  This privilege level is returned by the server
   in a session-based shell authorization (when "service" equals "shell"
   and "cmd" is empty).  When a user is required to perform actions that
   are mapped to a higher privilege level, an ENABLE-type
   reauthentication can be initiated by the client.  The client will
   insert the required privilege level into the authentication header
   for ENABLE authentication requests.

   The use of privilege levels to determine session-based access to
   commands and resources is not mandatory for clients.  Although the
   privilege-level scheme is widely supported, its lack of flexibility
   in requiring a single monotonic hierarchy of permissions means that
   other session-based command authorization schemes have evolved.
   However, it is still common enough that it SHOULD be supported by
   servers.

10.  Security Considerations

   "The Draft" [THE-DRAFT] from 1998 did not address all of the key
   security concerns that are considered when designing modern
   standards.  This section addresses known limitations and concerns
   that will impact overall security of the protocol and systems where
   this protocol is deployed to manage central authentication,
   authorization, or accounting for network Device Administration.

   Multiple implementations of the protocol described in "The Draft"
   [THE-DRAFT] have been deployed.  As the protocol was never
   standardized, current implementations may be incompatible in non-
   obvious ways, giving rise to additional security risks.  This section
   does not claim to enumerate all possible security vulnerabilities.

10.1.  General Security of the Protocol

   The TACACS+ protocol does not include a security mechanism that would
   meet modern-day requirements.  These security mechanisms would be
   best referred to as "obfuscation" and not "encryption", since they
   provide no meaningful integrity, privacy, or replay protection.  An
   attacker with access to the data stream should be assumed to be able
   to read and modify all TACACS+ packets.  Without mitigation, a range
   of risks such as the following are possible:

   *  Accounting information may be modified by the man-in-the-middle
      attacker, making such logs unsuitable and not trustable for
      auditing purposes.

   *  Invalid or misleading values may be inserted by the man-in-the-
      middle attacker in various fields at known offsets to try and
      circumvent the authentication or authorization checks even inside
      the obfuscated body.

   While the protocol provides some measure of transport privacy, it is
   vulnerable to at least the following attacks:

   *  Brute-force attacks exploiting increased efficiency of MD5 digest
      computation.

   *  Known plaintext attacks that may decrease the cost of brute-force
      attacks.

   *  Chosen plaintext attacks that may decrease the cost of a brute-
      force attacks.

   *  No forward secrecy.

   Even though, to the best knowledge of the authors, this method of
   encryption wasn't rigorously tested, enough information is available
   that it is best referred to as "obfuscation" and not "encryption".

   For these reasons, users deploying the TACACS+ protocol in their
   environments MUST limit access to known clients and MUST control the
   security of the entire transmission path.  Attackers who can guess
   the key or otherwise break the obfuscation will gain unrestricted and
   undetected access to all TACACS+ traffic.  Ensuring that a
   centralized AAA system like TACACS+ is deployed on a secured
   transport is essential to managing the security risk of such an
   attack.

   The following parts of this section enumerate only the session-
   specific risks that are in addition to general risk associated with
   bare obfuscation and lack of integrity checking.

10.2.  Security of Authentication Sessions

   Authentication sessions SHOULD be used via a secure transport (see
   "TACACS+ Best Practices" (Section 10.5)) as the man-in-the-middle
   attack may completely subvert them.  Even CHAP, which may be
   considered resistant to password interception, is unsafe as it does
   not protect the username from a trivial man-in-the-middle attack.

   This document deprecates the redirection mechanism using the
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FOLLOW option, which was included in "The
   Draft".  As part of this process, the secret key for a new server was
   sent to the client.  This public exchange of secret keys means that
   once one session is broken, it may be possible to leverage that key
   to attacking connections to other servers.  This mechanism MUST NOT
   be used in modern deployments.  It MUST NOT be used outside a secured
   deployment.

10.3.  Security of Authorization Sessions

   Authorization sessions SHOULD be used via a secure transport (see
   "TACACS+ Best Practices" (Section 10.5)) as it's trivial to execute a
   successful man-in-the-middle attack that changes well-known plaintext
   in either requests or responses.

   As an example, take the field "authen_method".  It's not unusual in
   actual deployments to authorize all commands received via the device
   local serial port (a console port), as that one is usually considered
   secure by virtue of the device located in a physically secure
   location.  If an administrator would configure the authorization
   system to allow all commands entered by the user on a local console
   to aid in troubleshooting, that would give all access to all commands
   to any attacker that would be able to change the "authen_method" from
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_TACACSPLUS to TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_METH_LINE.  In
   this regard, the obfuscation provided by the protocol itself wouldn't
   help much, because:

   *  A lack of integrity means that any byte in the payload may be
      changed without either side detecting the change.

   *  Known plaintext means that an attacker would know with certainty
      which octet is the target of the attack (in this case, first octet
      after the header).

   *  In combination with known plaintext, the attacker can determine
      with certainty the value of the crypto-pad octet used to obfuscate
      the original octet.

10.4.  Security of Accounting Sessions

   Accounting sessions SHOULD be used via a secure transport (see
   "TACACS+ Best Practices" (Section 10.5)).  Although Accounting
   sessions are not directly involved in authentication or authorizing
   operations on the device, man-in-the-middle attackers may do any of
   the following:

   *  Replace accounting data with new valid values or garbage that can
      confuse auditors or hide information related to their
      authentication and/or authorization attack attempts.

   *  Try and poison an accounting log with entries designed to make
      systems behave in unintended ways (these systems could be TACACS+
      servers and any other systems that would manage accounting
      entries).

   In addition to these direct manipulations, different client
   implementations pass a different fidelity of accounting data.  Some
   vendors have been observed in the wild that pass sensitive data like
   passwords, encryption keys, and the like as part of the accounting
   log.  Due to a lack of strong encryption with perfect forward
   secrecy, this data may be revealed in the future, leading to a
   security incident.

10.5.  TACACS+ Best Practices

   With respect to the observations about the security issues described
   above, a network administrator MUST NOT rely on the obfuscation of
   the TACACS+ protocol.  TACACS+ MUST be used within a secure
   deployment; TACACS+ MUST be deployed over networks that ensure
   privacy and integrity of the communication and MUST be deployed over
   a network that is separated from other traffic.  Failure to do so
   will impact overall network security.

   The following recommendations impose restrictions on how the protocol
   is applied.  These restrictions were not imposed in "The Draft".  New
   implementations, and upgrades of current implementations, MUST
   implement these recommendations.  Vendors SHOULD provide mechanisms
   to assist the administrator to achieve these best practices.

10.5.1.  Shared Secrets

   TACACS+ servers and clients MUST treat shared secrets as sensitive
   data to be managed securely, as would be expected for other sensitive
   data such as identity credential information.  TACACS+ servers MUST
   NOT leak sensitive data.

   For example:

   *  TACACS+ servers MUST NOT expose shared secrets in logs.

   *  TACACS+ servers MUST allow a dedicated secret key to be defined
      for each client.

   *  TACACS+ server management systems MUST provide a mechanism to
      track secret key lifetimes and notify administrators to update
      them periodically.  TACACS+ server administrators SHOULD change
      secret keys at regular intervals.

   *  TACACS+ servers SHOULD warn administrators if secret keys are not
      unique per client.

   *  TACACS+ server administrators SHOULD always define a secret for
      each client.

   *  TACACS+ servers and clients MUST support shared keys that are at
      least 32 characters long.

   *  TACACS+ servers MUST support policy to define minimum complexity
      for shared keys.

   *  TACACS+ clients SHOULD NOT allow servers to be configured without
      a shared secret key or shared key that is less than 16 characters
      long.

   *  TACACS+ server administrators SHOULD configure secret keys of a
      minimum of 16 characters in length.

10.5.2.  Connections and Obfuscation

   TACACS+ servers MUST allow the definition of individual clients.  The
   servers MUST only accept network connection attempts from these
   defined known clients.

   TACACS+ servers MUST reject connections that have
   TAC_PLUS_UNENCRYPTED_FLAG set.  There MUST always be a shared secret
   set on the server for the client requesting the connection.

   If an invalid shared secret is detected when processing packets for a
   client, TACACS+ servers MUST NOT accept any new sessions on that
   connection.  TACACS+ servers MUST terminate the connection on
   completion of any sessions that were previously established with a
   valid shared secret on that connection.

   TACACS+ clients MUST NOT set TAC_PLUS_UNENCRYPTED_FLAG.  Clients MUST
   be implemented in a way that requires explicit configuration to
   enable the use of TAC_PLUS_UNENCRYPTED_FLAG.  This option MUST NOT be
   used when the client is in production.

   When a TACACS+ client receives responses from servers where:

   *  the response packet was received from the server configured with a
      shared key, but the packet has TAC_PLUS_UNENCRYPTED_FLAG set, and

   *  the response packet was received from the server configured not to
      use obfuscation, but the packet has TAC_PLUS_UNENCRYPTED_FLAG not
      set,

   the TACACS+ client MUST close the TCP session, and process the
   response in the same way that a TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FAIL
   (authentication sessions) or TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_FAIL
   (authorization sessions) was received.

10.5.3.  Authentication

   To help TACACS+ administrators select stronger authentication
   options, TACACS+ servers MUST allow the administrator to configure
   the server to only accept challenge/response options for
   authentication (TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_CHAP or
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_MSCHAP or TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_MSCHAPV2 for
   authen_type).

   TACACS+ server administrators SHOULD enable the option mentioned in
   the previous paragraph.  TACACS+ server deployments SHOULD only
   enable other options (such as TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_ASCII or
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_PAP) when unavoidable due to requirements of
   identity/password systems.

   TACACS+ server administrators SHOULD NOT allow the same credentials
   to be applied in challenge-based (TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_CHAP or
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_MSCHAP or TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_TYPE_MSCHAPV2) and
   non-challenge-based authen_type options, as the insecurity of the
   latter will compromise the security of the former.

   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SENDAUTH and TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_SENDPASS options
   mentioned in "The Draft" SHOULD NOT be used due to their security
   implications.  TACACS+ servers SHOULD NOT implement them.  If they
   must be implemented, the servers MUST default to the options being
   disabled and MUST warn the administrator that these options are not
   secure.

10.5.4.  Authorization

   The authorization and accounting features are intended to provide
   extensibility and flexibility.  There is a base dictionary defined in
   this document, but it may be extended in deployments by using new
   argument names.  The cost of the flexibility is that administrators
   and implementers MUST ensure that the argument and value pairs shared
   between the clients and servers have consistent interpretation.

   TACACS+ clients that receive an unrecognized mandatory argument MUST
   evaluate server response as if they received
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHOR_STATUS_FAIL.

10.5.5.  Redirection Mechanism

   "The Draft" described a redirection mechanism
   (TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FOLLOW).  This feature is difficult to
   secure.  The option to send secret keys in the server list is
   particularly insecure, as it can reveal client shared secrets.

   TACACS+ servers MUST deprecate the redirection mechanism.

   If the redirection mechanism is implemented, then TACACS+ servers
   MUST disable it by default and MUST warn TACACS+ server
   administrators that it must only be enabled within a secure
   deployment due to the risks of revealing shared secrets.

   TACACS+ clients SHOULD deprecate this feature by treating
   TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FOLLOW as TAC_PLUS_AUTHEN_STATUS_FAIL.

11.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no IANA actions.

12.  References

12.1.  Normative References

   [RFC0020]  Cerf, V., "ASCII format for network interchange", STD 80,
              RFC 20, DOI 10.17487/RFC0020, October 1969,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc20>.

   [RFC1321]  Rivest, R., "The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm", RFC 1321,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC1321, April 1992,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1321>.

   [RFC1334]  Lloyd, B. and W. Simpson, "PPP Authentication Protocols",
              RFC 1334, DOI 10.17487/RFC1334, October 1992,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1334>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC2433]  Zorn, G. and S. Cobb, "Microsoft PPP CHAP Extensions",
              RFC 2433, DOI 10.17487/RFC2433, October 1998,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2433>.

   [RFC2759]  Zorn, G., "Microsoft PPP CHAP Extensions, Version 2",
              RFC 2759, DOI 10.17487/RFC2759, January 2000,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2759>.

   [RFC3579]  Aboba, B. and P. Calhoun, "RADIUS (Remote Authentication
              Dial In User Service) Support For Extensible
              Authentication Protocol (EAP)", RFC 3579,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC3579, September 2003,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3579>.

   [RFC4086]  Eastlake 3rd, D., Schiller, J., and S. Crocker,
              "Randomness Requirements for Security", BCP 106, RFC 4086,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4086, June 2005,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4086>.

   [RFC4120]  Neuman, C., Yu, T., Hartman, S., and K. Raeburn, "The
              Kerberos Network Authentication Service (V5)", RFC 4120,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4120, July 2005,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4120>.

   [RFC5952]  Kawamura, S. and M. Kawashima, "A Recommendation for IPv6
              Address Text Representation", RFC 5952,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5952, August 2010,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5952>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

   [RFC8265]  Saint-Andre, P. and A. Melnikov, "Preparation,
              Enforcement, and Comparison of Internationalized Strings
              Representing Usernames and Passwords", RFC 8265,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8265, October 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8265>.

12.2.  Informative References

   [KRB4]     Miller, S., Neuman, C., Schiller, J., and J. Saltzer,
              "Section E.2.1: Kerberos Authentication and Authorization
              System", MIT Project Athena, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
              December 1987.

   [THE-DRAFT]
              Carrel, D. and L. Grant, "The TACACS+ Protocol Version
              1.78", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-grant-
              tacacs-02, January 1997,
              <https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-grant-tacacs-02>.

   [TZDB]     Eggert, P. and A. Olson, "Sources for Time Zone and
              Daylight Saving Time Data", 1987,
              <https://www.iana.org/time-zones>.

Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank the following reviewers whose
   comments and contributions made considerable improvements to this
   document: Alan DeKok, Alexander Clouter, Chris Janicki, Tom Petch,
   Robert Drake, and John Heasley, among many others.

   The authors would particularly like to thank Alan DeKok, who provided
   significant insights and recommendations on all aspects of the
   document and the protocol.  Alan DeKok has dedicated considerable
   time and effort to help improve the document, identifying weaknesses
   and providing remediation.

   The authors would also like to thank the support from the OPSAWG
   Chairs and advisors, especially Joe Clarke.

Authors' Addresses

   Thorsten Dahm
   Google Inc.
   1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
   Mountain View, CA 94043
   United States of America

   Email: thorstendlux@google.com

   Andrej Ota
   Google Inc.
   1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
   Mountain View, CA 94043
   United States of America

   Email: andrej@ota.si

   Douglas C. Medway Gash
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   170 West Tasman Dr.
   San Jose, CA 95134
   United States of America

   Email: dcmgash@cisco.com

   David Carrel
   IPsec Research

   Email: carrel@ipsec.org

   Lol Grant

   Email: lol.grant@gmail.com