7 Network Working Group D. Hankins
8 Request for Comments: 5071 ISC
9 Category: Informational December 2007
12 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Options Used by PXELINUX
16 This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
17 not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
22 This document describes the use by PXELINUX of some DHCP Option Codes
23 numbering from 208-211.
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60 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
65 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
66 2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
67 3. MAGIC Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
68 3.1. Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
69 3.2. Packet Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
70 3.3. Applicability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
71 3.4. Response to RFC 3942 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
72 4. Configuration File Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
73 4.1. Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
74 4.2. Packet Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
75 4.3. Applicability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
76 4.4. Response to RFC 3942 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
77 4.5. Client and Server Behaviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
78 5. Path Prefix Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
79 5.1. Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
80 5.2. Packet Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
81 5.3. Applicability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
82 5.4. Response to RFC 3942 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
83 5.5. Client and Server Behaviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
84 6. Reboot Time Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
85 6.1. Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
86 6.2. Packet Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
87 6.3. Applicability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
88 6.4. Response to RFC 3942 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
89 6.5. Client and Server Behaviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
90 7. Specification Conformance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
91 8. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
92 9. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
93 10. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
94 11. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
95 11.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
96 11.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
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116 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
121 PXE, the Preboot eXecution Environment, is a first-stage network
122 bootstrap agent. PXE is loaded out of firmware on the client host,
123 and performs DHCP [3] queries to obtain an IP address.
125 Once on the network, it loads a second-stage bootstrap agent as
126 configured by DHCP header and option contents.
128 PXELINUX is one such second-stage bootstrap agent. Once PXE has
129 passed execution to it, PXELINUX seeks its configuration from a cache
130 of DHCP options supplied to the PXE first-stage agent, and then takes
131 action based upon those options.
133 Most frequently, this implies loading via Trivial File Transfer
134 Protocol (TFTP) [6] one or more images that are decompressed into
135 memory, then executed to pass execution to the final Host Operating
138 PXELINUX uses DHCP options 208-211 to govern parts of this bootstrap
139 process, but these options are not requested by the PXE DHCP client
140 at the time it acquires its lease. At that time, the PXE bootloader
141 has no knowledge that PXELINUX is going to be in use, and even so,
142 would have no way to know what option(s) PXELINUX might digest.
143 Local installations that serve this PXELINUX image to its clients
144 must also configure their DHCP servers to provide these options even
145 though they are not on the DHCP Parameter Request List [4].
149 o "MAGIC" - 208 - An option whose presence and content verifies to
150 the PXELINUX bootloader that the options numbered 209-211 are for
151 the purpose as described herein.
153 o "ConfigFile" - 209 - Configures the path/filename component of the
154 configuration file's location, which this bootloader should use to
157 o "PathPrefix" - 210 - Configures a value to be prepended to the
158 ConfigFile to discern the directory location of the file.
160 o "RebootTime" - 211 - Configures a timeout after which the
161 bootstrap program will reboot the system (most likely returning it
164 Historically, these option codes numbering from 208-211 were
165 designated 'Site Local', but after publication of RFC3942 [8], they
166 were made available for allocation as new standard DHCP options.
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172 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
175 This document marks these codes as assigned.
177 This direct assignment of option code values in the option
178 definitions below is unusual as it is not mentioned in DHCP Option
179 Code assignment guidelines [5]. This document's Option Code
180 assignments are done within RFC 3942's provisions for documenting
181 prior use of option codes within the new range (128-223 inclusive).
185 o "first-stage bootloader" - Although a given bootloading order may
186 have many stages, such as where a BIOS boots a DOS Boot Disk,
187 which then loads a PXE executable, it is, in this example, only
188 the PXE executable that this document describes as the "first-
189 stage bootloader" -- in essence, this is the first stage of
190 booting at which DHCP is involved.
192 o "second-stage bootloader" - This describes a program loaded by the
193 first-stage bootloader at the behest of the DHCP server.
195 o "bootloader" and "network bootstrap agent" - These are synonyms,
196 excepting that "bootloader" is intentionally vague in that its
197 next form of bootstrapping may not in fact involve network
200 The key words "MAY", "MUST", "MUST NOT", "SHOULD", and "SHOULD NOT"
201 in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [2].
207 If this option is provided to the PXE bootloader, then the value is
208 checked by PXELINUX to match the octet string f1:00:74:7e. If this
209 matches, then PXELINUX bootloaders will also consume options 209-211,
210 as described below. Otherwise, they are ignored.
212 This measure was intended to ensure that, as the 'Site Local' option
213 space is not allocated from a central authority, no conflict would
214 result in a PXELINUX bootloader improperly digesting options intended
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228 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
233 The MAGIC Option format is as follows:
235 Code Length m1 m2 m3 m4
236 +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
237 | 208 | 4 | 0xF1 | 0x00 | 0x74 | 0x7E |
238 +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
240 The code for this option is 208. The length is always four.
244 This option is absolutely inapplicable to any other purpose.
246 3.4. Response to RFC 3942
248 The option code 208 will be adopted for this purpose and immediately
249 deprecated. Future standards action may return this option to an
250 available status should it be necessary.
252 A collision of the use of this option is harmless (at least from
253 PXELINUX' point of view) by design: if it does not match the
254 aforementioned magic value, the PXELINUX bootloader will take no
257 The PXELINUX project will deprecate the use of this option; future
258 versions of the software will not evaluate its contents.
260 It is reasonable to utilize this option code for another purpose, but
261 it is recommended to do this at a later time, given the desire to
262 avoid potential collisions in legacy user bases.
264 4. Configuration File Option
268 Once the PXELINUX executable has been entered from the PXE
269 bootloader, it evaluates this option and loads a file of that name
270 via TFTP. The contents of this file serve to configure PXELINUX in
271 its next stage of bootloading (specifying boot image names,
272 locations, boot-time flags, text to present the user in menu
275 In the absence of this option, the PXELINUX agent will search the
276 TFTP server (as determined by PXE prior to this stage) for a config
277 file of several default names.
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284 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
289 The Configuration File Option format is as follows:
291 Code Length Config-file...
292 +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
293 | 209 | n | c1 | c2 | ... | c(n) |
294 +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
296 The code for this option is 209. The Config-file (c1..c(n)) is an
297 NVT-ASCII [1] printable string; it is not terminated by a zero or any
302 Any bootloader, PXE or otherwise, that makes use of a separate
303 configuration file rather than containing all configurations within
304 DHCP options (which may be impossible due to the limited space
305 available for DHCP options) may conceivably make use of this option.
307 4.4. Response to RFC 3942
309 The code 209 will be adopted for this purpose.
311 4.5. Client and Server Behaviour
313 The Config File Option MUST be supplied by the DHCP server if it
314 appears on the Parameter Request List, but MUST also be supplied if
315 the server administrator believed it would later be useful to the
316 client (such as because the server is configured to offer a second-
317 stage boot image, which they know will make use of it). The option
318 MUST NOT be supplied if no value has been configured for it, or if a
319 value of zero length has been configured.
321 The DHCP client MUST only cache this option in a location the second-
322 stage bootloader may access.
324 The second-stage bootloader MUST, in concert with other DHCP options
325 and fields, use this option's value as a filename to be loaded via
326 TFTP and read for further second-stage-loader-specific configuration
327 parameters. The format and content of such a file is specific to the
328 second-stage bootloader, and as such, is out of scope of this
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340 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
343 5. Path Prefix Option
347 In PXELINUX' case, it is often the case that several different
348 environments would have the same TFTP path prefix, but would have
349 different filenames (for example: hosts' bootloader images and config
350 files may be kept in a directory structure derived from their Media
351 Access Control (MAC) address). Consequently, it was deemed
352 worthwhile to deliver a TFTP path prefix configuration option, so
353 that these two things could be configured separately in a DHCP Server
354 configuration: the prefix and the possibly host-specific file
357 The actual filename that PXELINUX requests from its TFTP server is
358 derived by prepending this value to the Config File Option above.
359 Once this config file is loaded and during processing, any TFTP file
360 paths specified within it are similarly processed -- prepending the
361 contents of this option.
365 The Path Prefix Option format is as follows:
367 Code Length Path-Prefix...
368 +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
369 | 210 | n | p1 | p2 | ... | p(n) |
370 +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
372 The code for this option is 210. The Path Prefix is an NVT-ASCII
373 printable string; it is not terminated by zero or any other value.
377 This option came into existence because server administrators found
378 it useful to configure the prefix and suffix of the config file path
379 separately. A group of different PXE booting clients may use the
380 same path prefix, but different filenames, or vice versa.
382 The 'shortcut' this represents is worthwhile, but it is questionable
383 whether that needs to manifest itself on the protocol wire.
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396 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
399 It only becomes interesting from a protocol standpoint if other
400 options are adopted that prefix this value as well -- performing a
401 kind of string compression is highly beneficial to the limited
402 available DHCP option space.
404 But it's clearly inapplicable to any current use of, e.g., the
405 FILENAME header contents or the DHCP Boot File Name option (#67).
406 Use of these fields is encoded on firmware of thousands of devices
407 that can't or are not likely to be upgraded. Altering any behaviour
408 here is likely to cause severe compatibility problems.
410 Although compression of the TFTP-loaded configuration file contents
411 is not a compelling factor, contrived configurations using these
412 values may also exist: where each of a large variety of different
413 clients load the same configuration file, with the same contents, but
414 due to a differently configured path prefix actually load different
415 images. Whether this sort of use is truly needed remains unproven.
417 5.4. Response to RFC 3942
419 The code 210 will be adopted for this purpose.
421 5.5. Client and Server Behaviour
423 The Path Prefix option MUST be supplied by the DHCP server if it
424 appears on the Parameter Request List, but MUST also be supplied if
425 the server administrator believed it would later be useful to the
426 client (such as because the server is configured to offer a second-
427 stage boot image that they know will make use of it). The option
428 MUST NOT be supplied if no value has been configured for it, or if a
429 value of zero length has been configured.
431 The DHCP client MUST only cache this option in a location where the
432 second-stage bootloader may access it.
434 The second-stage bootloader MUST prepend this option's value, if any,
435 to the contents of the ConfigFile option prior to obtaining the
436 resulting value via TFTP, or the default 'Config File Search Path',
437 which the second-stage bootloader iterates in the absence of a Config
438 File Option. The client MAY prepend the value to other configuration
439 directives within that file once it has been loaded. The client MUST
440 NOT prepend this option's value to any other DHCP option contents or
441 field, unless explicitly stated in a document describing that option
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452 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
455 6. Reboot Time Option
459 Should PXELINUX be executed, and then for some reason, be unable to
460 reach its TFTP server to continue bootstrapping, the client will, by
461 default, reboot itself after 300 seconds have passed. This may be
462 too long, too short, or inappropriate behaviour entirely, depending
465 By configuring a non-zero value in this option, admins can inform
466 PXELINUX of which specific timeout is desired. The client will
467 reboot itself if it fails to achieve its configured network resources
468 within the specified number of seconds.
470 This reboot will run through the system's normal boot-time execution
471 path, most likely leading it back to PXE and therefore PXELINUX. So,
472 in the general case, this is akin to returning the client to the DHCP
475 By configuring zero, the feature is disabled, and instead the client
476 chooses to remove itself from the network and wait indefinitely for
477 operator intervention.
479 It should be stressed that this is in no way related to configuring a
480 lease time. The perceived transition to INIT state is due to client
481 running state -- reinitializing itself -- not due to lease timer
482 activity. That is, it is not safe to assume that a PXELINUX client
483 will abandon its lease when this timer expires.
487 The Reboot Time Option format is as follows:
490 +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
491 | 211 | 4 | Reboot Time |
492 +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
494 The code for this option is 211. The length is always four. The
495 Reboot Time is a 32-bit (4 byte) integer in network byte order.
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508 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
513 Any network bootstrap program in any sufficiently complex networking
514 environment could conceivably enter into such a similar condition,
515 either due to having its IP address stolen out from under it by a
516 rogue client on the network, by being moved between networks where
517 its PXE-derived DHCP lease is no longer valid, or any similar means.
519 It seems desirable for any network bootstrap agent to implement an
520 ultimate timeout for it to start over.
522 The client may, for example, get different working configuration
523 parameters from a different DHCP server upon restarting.
525 6.4. Response to RFC 3942
527 The code 211 will be adopted for this purpose.
529 6.5. Client and Server Behaviour
531 The Reboot Time Option MUST be supplied by the DHCP server if it
532 appears on the Parameter Request List, but MUST also be supplied if
533 the server administrator believed it would later be useful to the
534 client (such as because the server is configured to offer a second-
535 stage boot image that they know will make use of it). The option
536 MUST NOT be supplied if no value has been configured for it, or if it
537 contains a value of zero length.
539 The DHCP client MUST only cache this option in a location the second-
540 stage bootloader may access.
542 If the value of this option is nonzero, the second-stage bootloader
543 MUST schedule a timeout: after a number of seconds equal to this
544 option's value have passed, the second-stage bootloader MUST reboot
545 the system, ultimately returning the path of execution back to the
546 first-stage bootloader. It MUST NOT reboot the system once the
547 thread of execution has been passed to the host operating system (at
548 which point, this timeout is effectively obviated).
550 If the value of this option is zero, the second-stage bootloader MUST
551 NOT schedule such a timeout at all. Any second-stage bootloader that
552 finds it has encountered excessive timeouts attempting to obtain its
553 host operating system SHOULD disconnect itself from the network to
554 wait for operator intervention, but MAY continue to attempt to
555 acquire the host operating system indefinitely.
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564 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
567 7. Specification Conformance
569 To conform to this specification, clients and servers MUST implement
570 the Configuration File, Path Prefix, and Reboot Time options as
573 The MAGIC option MAY NOT be implemented, as it has been deprecated.
575 8. Security Considerations
577 PXE and PXELINUX allow any entity acting as a DHCP server to execute
578 arbitrary code upon a system. At present, no PXE implementation is
579 known to implement authentication mechanisms [7] so that PXE clients
580 can be sure they are receiving configuration information from the
581 correct, authoritative DHCP server.
583 The use of TFTP by PXE and PXELINUX also lacks any form of
584 cryptographic signature -- so a 'Man in the Middle' attack may lead
585 to an attacker's code being executed on the client system. Since
586 this is not an encrypted channel, any of the TFTP loaded data may
587 also be exposed (such as in loading a "RAMDISK" image, which contains
588 /etc/passwd or similar information).
590 The use of the Ethernet MAC Address as the client's unique identity
591 may allow an attacker who takes on that identity to gain
592 inappropriate access to a client system's network resources by being
593 given by the DHCP server whatever 'keys' are required, in fact, to be
594 the target system (to boot up as though it were the target).
596 Great care should be taken to secure PXE and PXELINUX installations,
597 such as by using IP firewalls, to reduce or eliminate these concerns.
599 A nearby attacker might feed a "Reboot Time" option value of 1 second
600 to a mass of unsuspecting clients, to effect a Denial Of Service
601 (DoS) upon the DHCP server, but then again it may just as easily
602 supply these clients with rogue second-stage bootloaders that simply
603 transmit a flood of packets.
605 This document in and by itself provides no security, nor does it
606 impact existing DCHP security as described in RFC 2131 [3].
608 9. IANA Considerations
610 IANA has done the following:
612 1. Moved DHCPv4 Option code 208 from 'Tentatively Assigned' to
613 'Assigned', referencing this document. IANA has marked this same
614 option code, 208, as Deprecated.
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620 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
623 2. Moved DHCPv4 Option code 209 from 'Tentatively Assigned' to
624 'Assigned', referencing this document.
626 3. Moved DHCPv4 Option code 210 from 'Tentatively Assigned' to
627 'Assigned', referencing this document.
629 4. Moved DHCPv4 Option code 211 from 'Tentatively Assigned' to
630 'Assigned', referencing this document.
634 These options were designed and implemented for the PXELINUX project
635 by H. Peter Anvin, and he was instrumental in producing this
636 document. Shane Kerr has also provided feedback that has improved
641 11.1. Normative References
643 [1] Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, "Telnet Protocol Specification",
644 STD 8, RFC 854, May 1983.
646 [2] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
647 Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
649 [3] Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol", RFC 2131,
652 [4] Alexander, S. and R. Droms, "DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor
653 Extensions", RFC 2132, March 1997.
655 [5] Droms, R., "Procedures and IANA Guidelines for Definition of New
656 DHCP Options and Message Types", BCP 43, RFC 2939,
659 11.2. Informative References
661 [6] Sollins, K., "The TFTP Protocol (Revision 2)", STD 33, RFC 1350,
664 [7] Droms, R. and W. Arbaugh, "Authentication for DHCP Messages",
667 [8] Volz, B., "Reclassifying Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
668 version 4 (DHCPv4) Options", RFC 3942, November 2004.
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676 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
682 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc.
684 Redwood City, CA 94063
687 Phone: +1 650 423 1307
688 EMail: David_Hankins@isc.org
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732 RFC 5071 PXELINUX Options December 2007
735 Full Copyright Statement
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