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Table Of Contents  The TCP/IP Guide
 9  TCP/IP Lower-Layer (Interface, Internet and Transport) Protocols (OSI Layers 2, 3 and 4)
      9  TCP/IP Internet Layer (OSI Network Layer) Protocols
           9  Internet Protocol (IP/IPv4, IPng/IPv6) and IP-Related Protocols (IP NAT, IPSec, Mobile IP)
                9  IP Security (IPSec) Protocols

Previous Topic/Section
IPSec Authentication Header (AH)
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Pages in Current Topic/Section
123
4
Next Page
IPSec Key Exchange (IKE)
Next Topic/Section

IPSec Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)
(Page 4 of 4)

Encapsulating Security Payload Format

The format of the ESP sections and fields is described in Table 80 and shown in Figure 126. I have shown explicitly in each the encryption and authentication coverage of the fields, which will hopefully cause all that stuff I just wrote to make at least a bit more sense.


Table 80: IPSec Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) Format

Section

Field Name

Size (bytes)

Description

Encryption Coverage

Authentication Coverage

ESP Header

SPI

4

Security Parameter Index (SPI): A 32-bit value that is combined with the destination address and security protocol type to identify the security association to be used for this datagram. See the topic on security associations for more details.

 

 

Sequence Number

4

Sequence Number: A counter field initialized to zero when a security association is formed between two devices, and then incremented for each datagram sent using that SA. This is used to provide protection against replay attacks.

 

Payload

Payload Data

Variable

Payload Data: The encrypted payload data, consisting of a higher layer message or encapsulated IP datagram. May also include support information such as an initialization vector, required by certain encryption methods.

 

ESP Trailer

Padding

Variable (0 to 255)

Padding: Additional padding bytes included as needed for encryption or for alignment.

Pad Length

1

Pad Length: The number of bytes in the preceding Padding field.

Next Header

1

Next Header: Contains the protocol number of the next header in the datagram. Used to chain together headers.

ESP
Authentication Data

Variable

ESP Authentication Data: This field contains the Integrity Check Value (ICV) resulting from the application of the optional ESP authentication algorithm.

 

 



Figure 126: IPSec Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) Format

Note that most of the fields and sections in this format are variable length. The exceptions are the SPI and Sequence Number fields, which are 4 bytes long, and the Pad Length and Next Header fields, 1 byte each.

 


The Padding field is used when encryption algorithms require it. Padding is also used to make sure that the ESP Trailer ends on a 32-bit boundary. That is, the size of the ESP Header plus Payload plus ESP Trailer must be a multiple of 32 bits. The ESP Authentication Data must also be a multiple of 32 bits.


Previous Topic/Section
IPSec Authentication Header (AH)
Previous Page
Pages in Current Topic/Section
123
4
Next Page
IPSec Key Exchange (IKE)
Next Topic/Section

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