



Internet Engineering Task Force                                 B. Liang
Internet-Draft                                       Tsinghua University
Intended status: Informational                                  Y. Xiang
Expires: 10 July 2026                                   Yunshan Networks
                                                          6 January 2026


                    TCP Provenance Identifier Option
                  draft-liang-tcp-provenance-option-00

Abstract

   This document describes a TCP option that carries a Provenance
   Identifier (ProvID) to enable correlation of TCP connections when
   transport-layer identifiers change along the path.

Status of This Memo

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 10 July 2026.

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   Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
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   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.





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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Option Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   5.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     5.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     5.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   Appendix A.  Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4

1.  Introduction

   Transport connections in operator-managed network domains often
   traverse elements such as NATs, and service proxies.  These devices
   commonly rewrite transport-layer identifiers or terminate and
   originate new TCP connections.  As a result, what is logically a
   single communication between two workloads frequently appears as a
   series of distinct TCP connections.

   These transformations break provenance continuity.  Observations of
   TCP traffic at different points in the domain cannot reliably be
   associated with the same logical flow, and operators cannot determine
   which workload instance originally initiated a connection once
   rewriting has occurred.

   This document defines an experimental TCP option that carries a small
   Provenance Identifier (ProvID).  A ProvID is a compact value
   generated at connection initiation using workload-scoped attributes,
   such as host IP with process ID.  The ProvID enables provenance
   correlation across rewriting boundaries within the domain.

   The ProvID option is intended for operator-managed environments such
   as cloud platforms, enterprise networks, and data centers.

1.1.  Requirements Language

   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.







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2.  Option Format

   The Provenance Identifier (ProvID) option uses a fixed-length
   experimental TCP option format.  The option is identified by the
   experimental option kind and is distinguished by a fixed option
   length.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |     Kind      |    Length     |              ExID             |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                           ProvID                              |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                     Figure 1: ProvID TCP Option Format

   Kind
      The TCP option kind.  The value of this field is 253.

   Length
      The total length of the TCP option in bytes.  For the ProvID
      option defined in this document, the value of this field is 12.

   ExID
      The Experiment Identifier (ExID).  This 2-byte field identifies
      the ProvID experiment when used with experimental TCP option
      kinds.  The value of this field is 0xDEE9.

   ProvID
      The Provenance Identifier.  This field is 8 bytes in length and
      carries a provenance identifier defined by the sender.

3.  IANA Considerations

   This document's IANA considerations are to be determined and will be
   provided in a subsequent revision of this draft.  [TODO]

4.  Security Considerations

   This document's security considerations are to be determined and will
   be provided in a subsequent revision of this draft.  [TODO]

5.  References

5.1.  Normative References





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   [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>.

   [RFC6994]  Touch, J., "Shared Use of Experimental TCP Options",
              RFC 6994, DOI 10.17487/RFC6994, August 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6994>.

   [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>.

   [RFC9293]  Eddy, W., Ed., "Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)",
              STD 7, RFC 9293, DOI 10.17487/RFC9293, August 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9293>.

5.2.  Informative References

   [draft-ietf-tcpm-ack-rate-request-10]
              Gomez, C. and J. Crowcroft, "ACK Rate Request", December
              2025, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-
              tcpm-ack-rate-request-10>.

Appendix A.  Appendix 1

   TODO

Authors' Addresses

   Bowen Liang
   Tsinghua University
   Email: liangbw25@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn


   Yang Xiang
   Yunshan Networks
   Email: xiangyang@yunshan.net













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