EAP-TLS

Extensible Authentication Protocol, or EAP, is an authentication framework frequently used in wireless networks and . It is defined in RFC 3748, which made RFC 2284 obsolete, and is updated by RFC 5247.

EAP is an authentication framework for providing the transport and usage of keying material and parameters generated by EAP methods. There are many methods defined by RFCs and a number of vendor specific methods and new proposals exist. EAP is not a ; instead it only defines message formats. Each protocol that uses EAP defines a way to encapsulate EAP messages within that protocol's messages.

EAP is in wide use. For example, in IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) the WPA and WPA2 standards have adopted IEEE 802.1X with one-hundred EAP Types as the official authentication mechanisms.

EAP is an authentication framework, not a specific authentication mechanism. It provides some common functions and negotiation of authentication methods called EAP methods. There are currently about 40 different methods defined. Methods defined in IETF RFCs include EAP-MD5, EAP-POTP, EAP-GTC, EAP-TLS, EAP-IKEv2, EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA and EAP-AKA'. Additionally a number of vendor-specific methods and new proposals exist. Commonly used modern methods capable of operating in wireless networks include EAP-TLS, EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA, and EAP-TTLS. Requirements for EAP methods used in wireless LAN authentication are described in RFC 4017. The list of type and packets codes used in EAP is available from the IANA EAP Registry.

The standard also describes the conditions under which the AAA key management requirements described in RFC 4962 can be satisfied.

The (LEAP) method was developed by Cisco Systems prior to the IEEE ratification of the 802.11i security standard. Cisco distributed the protocol through the CCX (Cisco Certified Extensions) as part of getting 802.1X and dynamic WEP adoption into the industry in the absence of a standard. There is no native support for LEAP in any Windows operating system, but it is widely supported by third party client software most commonly included with WLAN (wireless LAN) devices. LEAP support for Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Windows Vista can be added by downloading a client add in from Cisco that provides support for both LEAP and EAP-FAST. Due to the wide adoption of LEAP in the networking industry many other WLAN vendors claim support for LEAP.

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