3 Tor Rendezvous Specification
5 0. Overview and preliminaries
7 Read http://tor.eff.org/doc/design-paper/tor-design.html#sec:rendezvous
8 before you read this specification. It will make more sense.
10 Rendezvous points provide location-hidden services (server
11 anonymity) for the onion routing network. With rendezvous points,
12 Bob can offer a TCP service (say, a webserver) via the onion
13 routing network, without revealing the IP of that service.
15 Bob does this by anonymously advertising a public key for his
16 service, along with a list of onion routers to act as "Introduction
17 Points" for his service. He creates forward circuits to those
18 introduction points, and tells them about his public key. To
19 connect to Bob, Alice first builds a circuit to an OR to act as
20 her "Rendezvous Point." She then connects to one of Bob's chosen
21 introduction points, optionally provides authentication or
22 authorization information, and asks it to tell him about her Rendezvous
23 Point (RP). If Bob chooses to answer, he builds a circuit to her
24 RP, and tells it to connect him to Alice. The RP joins their
25 circuits together, and begins relaying cells. Alice's 'BEGIN'
26 cells are received directly by Bob's OP, which passes data to
27 and from the local server implementing Bob's service.
29 Below we describe a network-level specification of this service,
30 along with interfaces to make this process transparent to Alice
31 (so long as she is using an OP).
33 0.1. Notation, conventions and prerequisites
35 In the specifications below, we use the same notation and terminology
36 as in "tor-spec.txt". The service specified here also requires the
37 existence of an onion routing network as specified in that file.
39 H(x) is a SHA1 digest of x.
40 PKSign(SK,x) is a PKCS.1-padded RSA signature of x with SK.
41 PKEncrypt(SK,x) is a PKCS.1-padded RSA encryption of x with SK.
42 Public keys are all RSA, and encoded in ASN.1.
43 All integers are stored in network (big-endian) order.
44 All symmetric encryption uses AES in counter mode, except where
47 In all discussions, "Alice" will refer to a user connecting to a
48 location-hidden service, and "Bob" will refer to a user running a
49 location-hidden service.
51 An OP is (as defined elsewhere) an "Onion Proxy" or Tor client.
53 An OR is (as defined elsewhere) an "Onion Router" or Tor server.
55 An "Introduction point" is a Tor server chosen to be Bob's medium-term
56 'meeting place'. A "Rendezvous point" is a Tor server chosen by Alice to
57 be a short-term communication relay between her and Bob. All Tor servers
58 potentially act as introduction and rendezvous points.
62 1. Bob->Bob's OP: "Offer IP:Port as
63 public-key-name:Port". [configuration]
64 (We do not specify this step; it is left to the implementor of
67 2. Bob's OP generates keypair and rendezvous service descriptor:
68 "Meet public-key X at introduction point A, B, or C." (signed)
70 3. Bob's OP->Introduction point via Tor: [introduction setup]
73 4. Bob's OP->directory service via Tor: publishes Bob's service
74 descriptor [advertisement]
76 5. Out of band, Alice receives a [x.y.]z.onion:port address.
77 She opens a SOCKS connection to her OP, and requests
80 6. Alice's OP retrieves Bob's descriptor via Tor. [descriptor lookup.]
82 7. Alice's OP chooses a rendezvous point, opens a circuit to that
83 rendezvous point, and establishes a rendezvous circuit. [rendezvous
86 8. Alice connects to the Introduction point via Tor, and tells it about
87 her rendezvous point and optional authentication/authorization
88 information. (Encrypted to Bob.) [Introduction 1]
90 9. The Introduction point passes this on to Bob's OP via Tor, along the
91 introduction circuit. [Introduction 2]
93 10. Bob's OP decides whether to connect to Alice, and if so, creates a
94 circuit to Alice's RP via Tor. Establishes a shared circuit.
97 11. Alice's OP sends begin cells to Bob's OP. [Connection]
99 0.3. Constants and new cell types
102 32 -- RELAY_ESTABLISH_INTRO
103 33 -- RELAY_ESTABLISH_RENDEZVOUS
104 34 -- RELAY_INTRODUCE1
105 35 -- RELAY_INTRODUCE2
106 36 -- RELAY_RENDEZVOUS1
107 37 -- RELAY_RENDEZVOUS2
108 38 -- RELAY_INTRO_ESTABLISHED
109 39 -- RELAY_RENDEZVOUS_ESTABLISHED
110 40 -- RELAY_COMMAND_INTRODUCE_ACK
114 1.1. Bob configures his local OP.
116 We do not specify a format for the OP configuration file. However,
117 OPs SHOULD allow Bob to provide more than one advertised service
118 per OP, and MUST allow Bob to specify one or more virtual ports per
119 service. Bob provides a mapping from each of these virtual ports
120 to a local IP:Port pair.
122 1.2. Bob's OP generates service descriptors.
124 The first time the OP provides an advertised service, it generates
125 a public/private keypair (stored locally). Periodically, the OP
126 generates and publishes a descriptor of type "V0". The V1 descriptor
127 format in 0.1.1.5-alpha-cvs is understood and accepted, but currently
128 no Tors generate them. The more complex V1 descriptor format below
129 is just speculation and has never been used.
131 A hypothetical "V1" descriptor contains:
133 V Format byte: set to 255 [1 octet]
134 V Version byte: set to 1 [1 octet]
135 KL Key length [2 octets]
136 PK Bob's public key [KL octets]
137 TS A timestamp [4 octets]
138 PROTO Rendezvous protocol versions: bitmask [2 octets]
139 NA Number of auth mechanisms accepted [1 octet]
140 For each auth mechanism:
141 AUTHT The auth type that is supported [2 octets]
142 AUTHL Length of auth data [1 octet]
143 AUTHD Auth data [variable]
144 NI Number of introduction points [2 octets]
145 For each introduction point: (as in INTRODUCE2 cells)
146 ATYPE An address type (typically 4) [1 octet]
147 ADDR Introduction point's IP address [4 or 16 octets]
148 PORT Introduction point's OR port [2 octets]
149 AUTHT The auth type that is supported [2 octets]
150 AUTHL Length of auth data [1 octet]
151 AUTHD Auth data [variable]
152 ID Introduction point identity ID [20 octets]
153 KLEN Length of onion key [2 octets]
154 KEY Introduction point onion key [KLEN octets]
155 SIG Signature of above fields [variable]
157 The "V1" descriptor in 0.1.1.5-alpha-cvs contains:
159 V Format byte: set to 255 [1 octet]
160 V Version byte: set to 1 [1 octet]
161 KL Key length [2 octets]
162 PK Bob's public key [KL octets]
163 TS A timestamp [4 octets]
164 PROTO Protocol versions: bitmask [2 octets]
165 NI Number of introduction points [2 octets]
166 For each introduction point: (as in INTRODUCE2 cells)
167 IP Introduction point's address [4 octets]
168 PORT Introduction point's OR port [2 octets]
169 ID Introduction point identity ID [20 octets]
170 KLEN Length of onion key [2 octets]
171 KEY Introduction point onion key [KLEN octets]
172 SIG Signature of above fields [variable]
174 The "V0" descriptor contains:
176 KL Key length [2 octets]
177 PK Bob's public key [KL octets]
178 TS A timestamp [4 octets]
179 NI Number of introduction points [2 octets]
180 Ipt A list of NUL-terminated ORs [variable]
181 SIG Signature of above fields [variable]
183 KL is the length of PK, in octets.
184 TS is the number of seconds elapsed since Jan 1, 1970.
186 AUTHT specifies which authentication/authorization mechanism is
187 required by the hidden service or the introduction point. AUTHD
188 is arbitrary data that can be associated with an auth approach.
189 Currently only AUTHT of [00 00] is supported, with an AUTHL of 0.
190 See section 2 of this document for details on auth mechanisms.
192 The members of Ipt may be either (a) nicknames, or (b) identity key
193 digests, encoded in hex, and prefixed with a '$'. Clients must
194 accept both forms. Services must only generate the second form.
195 Once 0.0.9.x is obsoleted, we can drop the first form.
197 [It's ok for Bob to advertise 0 introduction points. He might want
198 to do that if he previously advertised some introduction points,
199 and now he doesn't have any. -RD]
201 [Once Tor 0.1.0.x is obsolete, we can stop generating or using V0
203 [This should rather be retarded until V2 descriptors are stable. -KL]
205 1.3. Bob's OP establishes his introduction points.
207 The OP establishes a new introduction circuit to each introduction
208 point. These circuits MUST NOT be used for anything but rendezvous
209 introduction. To establish the introduction, Bob sends a
210 RELAY_ESTABLISH_INTRO cell, containing:
212 KL Key length [2 octets]
213 PK Bob's public key [KL octets]
214 HS Hash of session info [20 octets]
215 SIG Signature of above information [variable]
217 [XXX011, need to add auth information here. -RD]
219 To prevent replay attacks, the HS field contains a SHA-1 hash based on the
220 shared secret KH between Bob's OP and the introduction point, as
222 HS = H(KH | "INTRODUCE")
224 HS = H(KH | [49 4E 54 52 4F 44 55 43 45])
225 (KH, as specified in tor-spec.txt, is H(g^xy | [00]) .)
227 Upon receiving such a cell, the OR first checks that the signature is
228 correct with the included public key. If so, it checks whether HS is
229 correct given the shared state between Bob's OP and the OR. If either
230 check fails, the OP discards the cell; otherwise, it associates the
231 circuit with Bob's public key, and dissociates any other circuits
232 currently associated with PK. On success, the OR sends Bob a
233 RELAY_INTRO_ESTABLISHED cell with an empty payload.
235 1.4. Bob's OP advertises his service descriptor(s).
237 Bob's OP opens a stream to each directory server's directory port via Tor.
238 (He may re-use old circuits for this.) Over this stream, Bob's OP makes
239 an HTTP 'POST' request, to a URL "/tor/rendezvous/publish" relative to the
240 directory server's root, containing as its body Bob's service descriptor.
242 Bob should upload a service descriptor for each version format that
243 is supported in the current Tor network.
245 Upon receiving a descriptor, the directory server checks the signature,
246 and discards the descriptor if the signature does not match the enclosed
247 public key. Next, the directory server checks the timestamp. If the
248 timestamp is more than 24 hours in the past or more than 1 hour in the
249 future, or the directory server already has a newer descriptor with the
250 same public key, the server discards the descriptor. Otherwise, the
251 server discards any older descriptors with the same public key and
252 version format, and associates the new descriptor with the public key.
253 The directory server remembers this descriptor for at least 24 hours
254 after its timestamp. At least every 18 hours, Bob's OP uploads a
257 1.5. Alice receives a x.y.z.onion address.
259 When Alice receives a pointer to a location-hidden service, it is as a
260 hostname of the form "z.onion" or "y.z.onion" or "x.y.z.onion", where
261 z is a base-32 encoding of a 10-octet hash of Bob's service's public
262 key, computed as follows:
265 2. Let H' = the first 80 bits of H, considering each octet from
266 most significant bit to least significant bit.
267 2. Generate a 16-character encoding of H', using base32 as defined
270 (We only use 80 bits instead of the 160 bits from SHA1 because we
271 don't need to worry about arbitrary collisions, and because it will
272 make handling the url's more convenient.)
274 The string "x", if present, is the base-32 encoding of the
275 authentication/authorization required by the introduction point.
276 The string "y", if present, is the base-32 encoding of the
277 authentication/authorization required by the hidden service.
278 Omitting a string is taken to mean auth type [00 00].
279 See section 2 of this document for details on auth mechanisms.
281 [Yes, numbers are allowed at the beginning. See RFC 1123. -NM]
283 1.6. Alice's OP retrieves a service descriptor.
285 Alice opens a stream to a directory server via Tor, and makes an HTTP GET
286 request for the document '/tor/rendezvous/<z>', where '<z>' is replaced
287 with the encoding of Bob's public key as described above. (She may re-use
288 old circuits for this.) The directory replies with a 404 HTTP response if
289 it does not recognize <z>, and otherwise returns Bob's most recently
290 uploaded service descriptor.
292 If Alice's OP receives a 404 response, it tries the other directory
293 servers, and only fails the lookup if none recognize the public key hash.
295 Upon receiving a service descriptor, Alice verifies with the same process
296 as the directory server uses, described above in section 1.4.
298 The directory server gives a 400 response if it cannot understand Alice's
301 Alice should cache the descriptor locally, but should not use
302 descriptors that are more than 24 hours older than their timestamp.
303 [Caching may make her partitionable, but she fetched it anonymously,
304 and we can't very well *not* cache it. -RD]
306 1.7. Alice's OP establishes a rendezvous point.
308 When Alice requests a connection to a given location-hidden service,
309 and Alice's OP does not have an established circuit to that service,
310 the OP builds a rendezvous circuit. It does this by establishing
311 a circuit to a randomly chosen OR, and sending a
312 RELAY_ESTABLISH_RENDEZVOUS cell to that OR. The body of that cell
315 RC Rendezvous cookie [20 octets]
317 [XXX011 this looks like an auth mechanism. should we generalize here? -RD]
319 The rendezvous cookie is an arbitrary 20-byte value, chosen randomly by
322 Upon receiving a RELAY_ESTABLISH_RENDEZVOUS cell, the OR associates the
323 RC with the circuit that sent it. It replies to Alice with an empty
324 RELAY_RENDEZVOUS_ESTABLISHED cell to indicate success.
326 Alice's OP MUST NOT use the circuit which sent the cell for any purpose
327 other than rendezvous with the given location-hidden service.
329 1.8. Introduction: from Alice's OP to Introduction Point
331 Alice builds a separate circuit to one of Bob's chosen introduction
332 points, and sends it a RELAY_INTRODUCE1 cell containing:
335 PK_ID Identifier for Bob's PK [20 octets]
336 [XXX011 want to put intro-level auth info here, but no version. crap. -RD]
338 Encrypted to Bob's PK:
339 RP Rendezvous point's nickname [20 octets]
340 RC Rendezvous cookie [20 octets]
341 g^x Diffie-Hellman data, part 1 [128 octets]
343 VER Version byte: set to 1. [1 octet]
344 RP Rendezvous point nick or ID [42 octets]
345 RC Rendezvous cookie [20 octets]
346 g^x Diffie-Hellman data, part 1 [128 octets]
348 VER Version byte: set to 2. [1 octet]
349 IP Rendezvous point's address [4 octets]
350 PORT Rendezvous point's OR port [2 octets]
351 ID Rendezvous point identity ID [20 octets]
352 KLEN Length of onion key [2 octets]
353 KEY Rendezvous point onion key [KLEN octets]
354 RC Rendezvous cookie [20 octets]
355 g^x Diffie-Hellman data, part 1 [128 octets]
357 VER Version byte: set to 4. [1 octet]
358 ATYPE An address type (typically 4) [1 octet]
359 ADDR Rendezvous point's IP address [4 or 16 octets]
360 PORT Rendezvous point's OR port [2 octets]
361 AUTHT The auth type that is supported [2 octets]
362 AUTHL Length of auth data [1 octet]
363 AUTHD Auth data [variable]
364 ID Rendezvous point identity ID [20 octets]
365 KLEN Length of onion key [2 octets]
366 KEY Rendezvous point onion key [KLEN octets]
367 RC Rendezvous cookie [20 octets]
368 g^x Diffie-Hellman data, part 1 [128 octets]
370 PK_ID is the hash of Bob's public key. RP is NUL-padded and terminated,
371 and must contain EITHER a nickname, or an identity key digest, encoded in
372 hex, and prefixed with a '$'.
374 Implementations SHOULD accept all variants, although only the first,
375 unversioned variant SHOULD be generated. If V1 descriptors were used,
376 implementations SHOULD have listed the variants they accept in their V1
377 descriptor, and implementations SHOULD only have generated the variants
378 listed in the service's V1 descriptor. No version SHOULD generate the
379 second variant (version byte=1).
381 The hybrid encryption to Bob's PK works just like the hybrid
382 encryption in CREATE cells (see main spec). Thus the payload of the
383 RELAY_INTRODUCE1 cell on the wire will contain 20+42+16+20+20+128=246
384 bytes. [XXXX not really]
386 1.9. Introduction: From the Introduction Point to Bob's OP
388 If the Introduction Point recognizes PK_ID as a public key which has
389 established a circuit for introductions as in 1.3 above, it sends the body
390 of the cell in a new RELAY_INTRODUCE2 cell down the corresponding circuit.
391 (If the PK_ID is unrecognized, the RELAY_INTRODUCE1 cell is discarded.)
393 After sending the RELAY_INTRODUCE2 cell, the OR replies to Alice with an
394 empty RELAY_COMMAND_INTRODUCE_ACK cell. If no RELAY_INTRODUCE2 cell can
395 be sent, the OR replies to Alice with a non-empty cell to indicate an
396 error. (The semantics of the cell body may be determined later; the
397 current implementation sends a single '1' byte on failure.)
399 When Bob's OP receives the RELAY_INTRODUCE2 cell, it decrypts it with
400 the private key for the corresponding hidden service, and extracts the
401 rendezvous point's nickname, the rendezvous cookie, and the value of g^x
406 Bob's OP builds a new Tor circuit ending at Alice's chosen rendezvous
407 point, and sends a RELAY_RENDEZVOUS1 cell along this circuit, containing:
408 RC Rendezvous cookie [20 octets]
409 g^y Diffie-Hellman [128 octets]
410 KH Handshake digest [20 octets]
412 (Bob's OP MUST NOT use this circuit for any other purpose.)
414 If the RP recognizes RC, it relays the rest of the cell down the
415 corresponding circuit in a RELAY_RENDEZVOUS2 cell, containing:
417 g^y Diffie-Hellman [128 octets]
418 KH Handshake digest [20 octets]
420 (If the RP does not recognize the RC, it discards the cell and
421 tears down the circuit.)
423 When Alice's OP receives a RELAY_RENDEZVOUS2 cell on a circuit which
424 has sent a RELAY_ESTABLISH_RENDEZVOUS cell but which has not yet received
425 a reply, it uses g^y and H(g^xy) to complete the handshake as in the Tor
426 circuit extend process: they establish a 60-octet string as
427 K = SHA1(g^xy | [00]) | SHA1(g^xy | [01]) | SHA1(g^xy | [02])
433 Subsequently, the rendezvous point passes relay cells, unchanged, from
434 each of the two circuits to the other. When Alice's OP sends
435 RELAY cells along the circuit, it first encrypts them with the
436 Kf, then with all of the keys for the ORs in Alice's side of the circuit;
437 and when Alice's OP receives RELAY cells from the circuit, it decrypts
438 them with the keys for the ORs in Alice's side of the circuit, then
439 decrypts them with Kb. Bob's OP does the same, with Kf and Kb
442 1.11. Creating streams
444 To open TCP connections to Bob's location-hidden service, Alice's OP sends
445 a RELAY_BEGIN cell along the established circuit, using the special
446 address "", and a chosen port. Bob's OP chooses a destination IP and
447 port, based on the configuration of the service connected to the circuit,
448 and opens a TCP stream. From then on, Bob's OP treats the stream as an
449 ordinary exit connection.
450 [ Except he doesn't include addr in the connected cell or the end
453 Alice MAY send multiple RELAY_BEGIN cells along the circuit, to open
454 multiple streams to Bob. Alice SHOULD NOT send RELAY_BEGIN cells for any
455 other address along her circuit to Bob; if she does, Bob MUST reject them.
457 2. Authentication and authorization.