RFC 2716 (rfc2716) - Page 1 of 24


PPP EAP TLS Authentication Protocol



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



Network Working Group                                            B. Aboba
Requests for Commments: 2716                                     D. Simon
Category: Experimental                                          Microsoft
                                                             October 1999


                  PPP EAP TLS Authentication Protocol

Status of this Memo

   This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
   community.  It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
   Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  All Rights Reserved.

1.  Abstract

   The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) provides a standard method for
   transporting multi-protocol datagrams over point-to-point links.  PPP
   also defines an extensible Link Control Protocol (LCP), which can be
   used to negotiate authentication methods, as well as an Encryption
   Control Protocol (ECP), used to negotiate data encryption over PPP
   links, and a Compression Control Protocol (CCP), used to negotiate
   compression methods.  The Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) is
   a PPP extension that provides support for additional authentication
   methods within PPP.

   Transport Level Security (TLS) provides for mutual authentication,
   integrity-protected ciphersuite negotiation and key exchange between
   two endpoints.  This document describes how EAP-TLS, which includes
   support for fragmentation and reassembly, provides for these TLS
   mechanisms within EAP.

2.  Introduction

   The Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), described in [5],
   provides a standard mechanism for support of additional
   authentication methods within PPP.  Through the use of EAP, support
   for a number of authentication schemes may be added, including smart
   cards, Kerberos, Public Key, One Time Passwords, and others. To date
   however, EAP methods such as [6] have focussed on authenticating a
   client to a server.





Aboba & Simon                 Experimental