Network Working Group M. Blanchet
Request for Comments: 5156 Viagenie
Category: Informational April 2008
Special-Use IPv6 Addresses
Status of This Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Abstract
This document is a compilation of special IPv6 addresses defined in
other RFCs. It can be used as a checklist of invalid routing
prefixes for developing filtering policies for routes and IP packets.
It does not discuss addresses that are assigned to operators and
users through the Regional Internet Registries.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Address Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1. Node-Scoped Unicast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2. IPv4-Mapped Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.3. IPv4-Compatible Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.4. Link-Scoped Unicast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.5. Unique-Local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.6. Documentation Prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.7. 6to4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.8. Teredo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.9. 6bone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.10. ORCHID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.11. Default Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.12. IANA Special-Purpose IPv6 Address Registry . . . . . . . . 4
2.13. Multicast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
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RFC 5156 Special-Use IPv6 Addresses April 2008
1. Introduction
This document is a compilation of special IPv6 addresses defined in
other RFCs. It can be used as a checklist of invalid routing
prefixes for developing filtering policies for routes and IP packets.
It does not discuss addresses that are assigned to operators and
users through the Regional Internet Registries.
The document is structured by address types. The document format is
similar to [RFC3330].
Some tips about filtering are given, but are not mandatory to
implement.
The addresses listed in this document must not be hard-coded into
implementations.
2. Address Blocks
2.1. Node-Scoped Unicast
::1/128 is the loopback address [RFC4291].
::/128 is the unspecified address [RFC4291].
These two addresses should not appear on the public Internet.
2.2. IPv4-Mapped Addresses
::FFFF:0:0/96 are the IPv4-mapped addresses [RFC4291]. Addresses
within this block should not appear on the public Internet.
2.3. IPv4-Compatible Addresses
::/96 are the IPv4-compatible addresses [RFC4291].
These addresses are deprecated and should not appear on the public
Internet.
2.4. Link-Scoped Unicast
fe80::/10 are the link-local unicast [RFC4291] addresses. Addresses
within this block should not appear on the public Internet.
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RFC 5156 Special-Use IPv6 Addresses April 2008
2.5. Unique-Local
fc00::/7 are the unique-local addresses [RFC4193]. Addresses within
this block should not appear by default on the public Internet.
Procedures for advertising these addresses are further described in
[RFC4193].
2.6. Documentation Prefix
The 2001:db8::/32 are the documentation addresses [RFC3849]. They
are used for documentation purposes such as user manuals, RFCs, etc.
Addresses within this block should not appear on the public Internet.
2.7. 6to4
2002::/16 are the 6to4 addresses [RFC3056]. The 6to4 addresses may
be advertised when the site is running a 6to4 relay or offering a
6to4 transit service. Running such a service [RFC3964] entails
filtering rules specific to 6to4 [RFC3964]. IPv4 addresses
disallowed in 6to4 prefixes are listed in section 5.3.1 of [RFC3964].
2.8. Teredo
2001::/32 are the Teredo addresses [RFC4380]. The Teredo addresses
may be advertised when the site is running a Teredo relay or offering
a Teredo transit service.
2.9. 6bone
5f00::/8 were the addresses of the first instance of the 6bone
experimental network [RFC1897].
3ffe::/16 were the addresses of the second instance of the 6bone
experimental network [RFC2471].
Both 5f00::/8 and 3ffe::/16 were returned to IANA [RFC3701]. These
addresses are subject to future allocation, similar to current
unallocated address space. Addresses within these blocks should not
appear on the public Internet until they are reallocated.
2.10. ORCHID
2001:10::/28 are Overlay Routable Cryptographic Hash IDentifiers
(ORCHID) addresses [RFC4843]. These addresses are used as
identifiers and are not routable at the IP layer. Addresses within
this block should not appear on the public Internet.
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2.11. Default Route
::/0 is the default unicast route address.
2.12. IANA Special-Purpose IPv6 Address Registry
An IANA registry (iana-ipv6-special-registry) exists [RFC4773] for
Special-Purpose IPv6 address block assignments for experiments and
other purposes. Addresses within this registry should be reviewed
for Internet routing considerations.
2.13. Multicast
ff00::/8 are multicast addresses [RFC4291]. They contain a 4-bit
scope in the address field where only some values are of global scope
[RFC4291]. Only addresses with global scope in this block may appear
on the public Internet.
Multicast routes must not appear in unicast routing tables.
3. Security Considerations
Filtering the invalid routing prefixes listed in this document should
improve the security of networks.
4. IANA Considerations
To ensure consistency and to provide cross-referencing for the
benefit of the community, IANA has inserted the following paragraph
in the header of the iana-ipv6-special-registry.
"Other special IPv6 addresses requiring specific considerations for
global routing are listed in RFC 5156."
5. Acknowledgements
Florent Parent, Pekka Savola, Tim Chown, Alain Baudot, Stig Venaas,
Vincent Jardin, Olaf Bonness, David Green, Gunter Van de Velde,
Michael Barnes, Fred Baker, Edward Lewis, Marla Azinger, Brian
Carpenter, Mark Smith, Kevin Loch, Alain Durand, Jim Bound, Peter
Sherbin, Bob Hinden, Gert Doering, Niall O'Reilly, Mark Townsley,
Jari Arkko, and Iain Calder have provided input and suggestions to
this document.
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RFC 5156 Special-Use IPv6 Addresses April 2008
6. References
6.1. Normative References
[RFC4291] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing
Architecture", RFC 4291, February 2006.
6.2. Informative References
[RFC1897] Hinden, R. and J. Postel, "IPv6 Testing Address
Allocation", RFC 1897, January 1996.
[RFC2471] Hinden, R., Fink, R., and J. Postel, "IPv6 Testing Address
Allocation", RFC 2471, December 1998.
[RFC3056] Carpenter, B. and K. Moore, "Connection of IPv6 Domains
via IPv4 Clouds", RFC 3056, February 2001.
[RFC3330] IANA, "Special-Use IPv4 Addresses", RFC 3330,
September 2002.
[RFC3701] Fink, R. and R. Hinden, "6bone (IPv6 Testing Address
Allocation) Phaseout", RFC 3701, March 2004.
[RFC3849] Huston, G., Lord, A., and P. Smith, "IPv6 Address Prefix
Reserved for Documentation", RFC 3849, July 2004.
[RFC3964] Savola, P. and C. Patel, "Security Considerations for
6to4", RFC 3964, December 2004.
[RFC4193] Hinden, R. and B. Haberman, "Unique Local IPv6 Unicast
Addresses", RFC 4193, October 2005.
[RFC4380] Huitema, C., "Teredo: Tunneling IPv6 over UDP through
Network Address Translations (NATs)", RFC 4380,
February 2006.
[RFC4773] Huston, G., "Administration of the IANA Special Purpose
IPv6 Address Block", RFC 4773, December 2006.
[RFC4843] Nikander, P., Laganier, J., and F. Dupont, "An IPv6 Prefix
for Overlay Routable Cryptographic Hash Identifiers
(ORCHID)", RFC 4843, April 2007.
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Author's Address
Marc Blanchet
Viagenie
2600 boul. Laurier, suite 625
Quebec, QC G1V 4W1
Canada
EMail: Marc.Blanchet@viagenie.ca
URI: http://www.viagenie.ca
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RFC 5156 Special-Use IPv6 Addresses April 2008
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008).
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contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
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