| Internet-Draft | Provenance Identifier TCP Option | January 2026 |
| Liang & Xiang | Expires 10 July 2026 | [Page] |
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.¶
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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.¶
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.¶
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 | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
This document's IANA considerations are to be determined and will be provided in a subsequent revision of this draft. [TODO]¶
This document's security considerations are to be determined and will be provided in a subsequent revision of this draft. [TODO]¶
TODO¶