RFC 2402 · PROPOSED STANDARD · 1998

IP Authentication Header

Overview

RFC 2402, “IP Authentication Header”, is a Proposed Standard document published in November 1998 by S. Kent, R. Atkinson. It obsoletes RFC 1826. It has been obsoleted by RFC 4302, RFC 4305 — refer to the newer document for the authoritative version. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

The IP Authentication Header (AH) is used to provide connectionless integrity and data origin authentication for IP datagrams (hereafter referred to as just "authentication"), and to provide protection against replays. [STANDARDS-TRACK]

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Proposed Standard” means

An entry-level standards-track specification: stable, peer-reviewed and a solid basis for implementation, though it may still evolve before becoming an Internet Standard.

Read this RFC

The canonical text of RFC 2402 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.

Relationships to other RFCs
This RFC obsoletes
RFC 1826
Obsoleted by
RFC 4302 RFC 4305
Other RFCs from 1998

Who Is Online

In total there are 76 users online: 0 registered, 72 guests and 4 bots.

Most users ever online was 1,226 on 13 Jun 2026, 3:56 am.

Bots: AhrefsBot Applebot Other Bot SemrushBot

Users active in the past 15 minutes. Total registered members: 354