IPv6 Maintenance (6man) Internet Drafts


      
 Improving the Robustness of Stateless Address Autoconfiguration (SLAAC) to Flash Renumbering Events
 
 draft-ietf-6man-slaac-renum-14.txt
 Date: 05/07/2026
 Authors: Fernando Gont, Jan Zorz, Richard Patterson
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
In scenarios where network configuration information becomes invalid without explicit notification to the local network, local hosts may end up employing stale information for an unacceptably long period of time, thus resulting in interoperability problems. This document improves the reaction of IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration to such configuration changes. It formally updates RFC 4191, RFC 4861, RFC 4862, RFC 8106, RFC 8781, RFC 9096, and RFC 9463.
 Carrying Network Resource (NR) related Information in IPv6 Extension Headers
 
 draft-ietf-6man-enhanced-vpn-vtn-id-16.txt
 Date: 10/06/2026
 Authors: Jie Dong, Zhenbin Li, Chongfeng Xie, Chenhao Ma, Gyan Mishra
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide different customers with logically separated connectivity over a common network infrastructure. With the introduction of 5G and also in some existing network scenarios, some customers may require network connectivity services with features that are more advanced compared to conventional VPN services. Such kind of network service is called enhanced VPNs. Enhanced VPNs can be used, for example, to deliver network slice services. A Network Resource Partition (NRP) is a subset of the network resources and associated policies on each of a connected set of links in the underlay network. An NRP may be used as the underlay to support one or a group of enhanced VPN services. For packet forwarding within a specific NRP, some fields in the data packet (these fields are called the NRP Selector) are used to identify the NRP to which the packet belongs. By identifying a packet with an NRP, NRP-specific processing can be performed on each node along the forwarding path in the NRP. This document specifies a new IPv6 Hop-by-Hop option to carry Network Resource related information in data packets. The new option is called the Network Resource (NR) Option. It can be used to carry an identifier of the NRP Selector, but it is designed to also be able to carry general information about network resource semantics and functions.
 IPv6 Query for Enabled In-situ OAM Capabilities
 
 draft-ietf-6man-icmpv6-ioam-conf-state-11.txt
 Date: 18/08/2026
 Authors: Xiao Min, Greg Mirsky, Ronald Bonica
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
This document describes the application of the mechanism of discovering In-situ OAM (IOAM) capabilities, described in RFC 9359 "Echo Request/Reply for Enabled In Situ OAM (IOAM) Capabilities", in IPv6 networks. IPv6 Node IOAM Query functionality uses the ICMPv6 Query messages, allowing the IOAM encapsulating node to discover the enabled IOAM capabilities of each IOAM transit and IOAM decapsulating node.
 Prioritizing known-local IPv6 ULAs through address selection policy
 
 draft-ietf-6man-rfc6724-update-25.txt
 Date: 11/08/2025
 Authors: Nick Buraglio, Tim Chown, Jeremy Duncan
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
This document updates the default address selection algorithm for Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), originally specified in RFC 6724, based on accumulated operational experience. It introduces the concept of "known-local" Unique Local Address (ULA) prefixes within the fd00::/8 block and specifies that ULA-to-ULA communications using such prefixes should be preferred over both IPv4-to-IPv4 and GUA-to- GUA (Global Unicast Address) communications in local use scenarios. The document defines mechanisms for nodes to identify and incorporate known-local prefixes into their address selection policy tables. It introduces a requirement to implement Rule 5.5 of RFC 6724 and reduces the default precedence for 6to4 addresses. These updates enhance the supportability of typical deployment environments, including automatic and unmanaged configurations, and promote consistent IPv6-over-IPv4 precedence behavior for both ULA and GUA within local networks. The document acknowledges that certain atypical deployment models may require explicit configuration to achieve intended operational outcomes.
 SNAC Router Flag in ICMPv6 Router Advertisement Messages
 
 draft-ietf-6man-snac-router-ra-flag-08.txt
 Date: 05/06/2026
 Authors: Jonathan Hui
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
This document defines a new flag, the SNAC Router flag, in the Router Advertisement message that can be used to distinguish configuration information sent by SNAC routers from information sent by transit routers.
 Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMPv6) Reflection
 
 draft-ietf-6man-icmpv6-reflection-19.txt
 Date: 15/12/2025
 Authors: Tal Mizrahi, Xiaoming He, Tianran Zhou, Ronald Bonica, Xiao Min
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
This document specifies the ICMPv6 Reflection utility. The ICMPv6 Reflection utility is a diagnostic tool, similar to Ping and the ICMPv6 PROBE utility. It is similar to Ping and PROBE in that it relies on a stateless message exchange between a probing node and a probed node. The probing node sends a request to the probed node and the probed node responds to the request. The ICMPv6 Reflection utility differs from Ping and PROBE because, in the ICMPv6 Reflection utility, the probing node requests a snapshot of the message that it sent, as it was when arrived at the probed node. The probed node returns the requested snapshot. The ICMPv6 Reflection utility is useful because it can allow the user to see how the network modified the request as it traveled from the probing node to the probed node.
 IPv6 Node Requirements
 
 draft-ietf-6man-rfc8504-bis-03.txt
 Date: 06/07/2026
 Authors: Tim Chown, John Loughney, Timothy Winters
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
This document defines requirements for IPv6 nodes. It is expected that IPv6 will be deployed in a wide range of devices and situations. Specifying the requirements for IPv6 nodes allows IPv6 to function well and interoperate in a large number of situations and deployments. This document obsoletes RFC 8504, and in turn RFC 6434 and its predecessor, RFC 4294.
 YANG Data Model for IPv6 Neighbor Discovery
 
 draft-ietf-6man-ipv6-neighbor-discovery-yang-08.txt
 Date: 01/09/2026
 Authors: Fan Zhang, Yongqing Zhu, Bo Wu, Jiayuan Hu
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
This document defines a YANG data model to configure and manage IPv6 Neighbor Discovery (ND) and related functions, including IPv6 address resolution, redirect function, proxy Neighbor Advertisement, Neighbor Unreachability Detection (NUD), Duplicate Address Detection (DAD), and Enhanced Duplicate Address Detection.
 Clarifying SRv6 SID List Processing
 
 draft-ietf-6man-sidlist-clarification-03.txt
 Date: 19/05/2026
 Authors: Adrian Farrel, Suresh Krishnan
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) is the instantiation of Segment Routing (SR) on the IPv6 data plane. Segments are indicated by Segment Identifiers (SIDs). SRv6 utilizes the Segment Routing Header (SRH), an IPv6 extension header, that includes a SID list indicating the sequence of segments and any additional processing to be performed. This document updates RFC 8754 by clarifying the processing of SID list entries. It does not change any elements of the SRv6 architecture.
 The IPv6 Loopback Address Prefix
 
 draft-kumari-ipv6-loopback-02.txt
 Date: 27/04/2026
 Authors: Geoff Huston, Warren Kumari
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
{ *Editor's note:* This document requests the allocation of a new IPv6 address prefix to be used for loopback instead of expanding into the existing ::/96. The specific prefix to be allocated is TBD/96, and the document updates the relevant RFCs and IANA registries to reflect this change. } This document updates the IP Version 6 Address Architecture to expand the size of the IPv6 loopback space from a single address to a /96 prefix. This change allows for a much larger number of loopback addresses in IPv6, which can be used for inter-process communication within a host and for network diagnostics. The document also updates the IANA IPv6 Address registry and the IPv6 Special Purpose Address registry to reflect this change. It updates RFC4291 to reflect the new loopback prefix and its functional semantics.
 Sub-Link Scoped IPv6 Multicast Addressing
 
 draft-ietf-6man-sub-link-scope-multicast-01.txt
 Date: 16/09/2026
 Authors: David Lamparter
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
The IPv6 addressing architecture for multicast has the scope of a multicast group embedded in its address, with the smallest non- reserved scopes being interface-local and link-local, numbered 1 and 2. This document suggests the introduction of a scope inbetween these two, for use with lower-layer transport multicast that reaches parts of a link. Since there is no room to insert a scope value for this, a separate address block is used. A mapping for Ethernet as lower-layer transport is provided.
 Enforcement of IPv6 Extension Headers Ordering and Occurrence at Destination Nodes
 
 draft-ietf-6man-eh-occurrences-00.txt
 Date: 29/05/2026
 Authors: Justin Iurman, Tom Herbert
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
Operational experience has demonstrated that permitting multiple occurrences of the same IPv6 Extension Header can create parsing ambiguity, complicate packet processing, and increase potential security risks. Although RFC 8200 recommends that senders follow a specific order of appearance and limit the occurrences of Extension Headers, receivers cannot assume that these recommendations have been followed. This document updates RFC 8200 by allowing an IPv6 destination node, namely a host (i.e., the final destination of an IPv6 packet) or an intermediate destination node addressed by an entry in a Routing header list other than the final one, to enforce strict ordering and limits on the occurrence of Extension Headers.
 IPv6 wants 802.11 Directed Multicast Service
 
 draft-ietf-6man-ieee80211-dms-00.txt
 Date: 16/09/2026
 Authors: David Lamparter
 Working Group: IPv6 Maintenance (6man)
There is consensus for switching this document from Flexible Multicast Service (FMS) to Directed Multicast Service (DMS). This version has not been edited over yet and is being uploaded to check if/how the name can be changed. IEEE 802.11 Flexible Multicast Service (FMS) addresses reliability issues in IPv6 due to aggressive powersave optimizations in 802.11 client devices. The intent of this document is to collect consensus in the IETF 6man (IPv6 Maintenance) working group to request either/both the IEEE 802.11 Working Group and/or the Wifi Alliance's certification process to make implementing FMS a requirement.


data-group-menu-data-url="/group/groupmenu.json">

Skip to main content

IPv6 Maintenance (6man)

WG Name IPv6 Maintenance
Acronym 6man
Area Internet Area (int)
State Active
Charter charter-ietf-6man-04 Approved
Document dependencies
Additional resources Issue tracker
Wiki
Zulip stream
ietf-6man-wg github
Personnel Chairs Bob Hinden, Jen Linkova
Area Director Éric Vyncke
Mailing list Address [email protected]
To subscribe https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ipv6
Archive https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/ipv6/
Chat Room address https://zulip.ietf.org/#narrow/stream/6man

Charter for Working Group

The 6man working group is responsible for the maintenance, upkeep, and
advancement of the IPv6 protocol specifications and addressing
architecture. It is not chartered to develop major changes or additions
to the IPv6 specifications. The working group will address protocol
limitations/issues discovered during deployment and operation. It will
also serve as a venue for discussing the proper location for working on
IPv6-related issues within the IETF.

6man is the design authority for extensions and modifications to the
IPv6 protocol. The working group may, at its discretion, review any
document produced in another working group that extends or modifies the
IPv6 protocol and, in consultation with the responsible ADs of both
working groups, may recommend to the IESG that 6man working group
consensus is needed before any of those documents can progress for
publication.

Done milestones

Date Milestone Associated documents
Done Plan for advancing core IPv6 core specifications to Internet Standard
Done Develop approaches for IPv6 Extension Headers (Hop-by-Hop and Destination)
Done Develop approach for IPv6 Fragmentation
Done Determine way forward for ULA-C specification
Done Submit PPP Compression Negotiation specification to IESG as a Proposed Standard

Done (Rfc 8883) milestones

Date Milestone Associated documents
Done (Rfc 8883) Updates to ICMPv6 rfc8883 (was draft-ietf-6man-icmp-limits)

Done (Rfc 9259) milestones

Date Milestone Associated documents
Done (Rfc 9259) OAM extensions for SRv6 rfc9259 (was draft-ietf-6man-spring-srv6-oam)

Rfc 9631 milestones

Date Milestone Associated documents
Rfc 9631 Investigate new Routing Headers, such as compact routing headers and safe replacement for RH0 draft-bonica-6man-comp-rtg-hdr