RFC 4556 · PROPOSED STANDARD · 2006

Public Key Cryptography for Initial Authentication in Kerberos

Overview

RFC 4556, “Public Key Cryptography for Initial Authentication in Kerberos”, is a Proposed Standard document published in June 2006 by L. Zhu, B. Tung. It has since been updated by RFC 6112, RFC 8062, RFC 8636. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

This document describes protocol extensions (hereafter called PKINIT) to the Kerberos protocol specification. These extensions provide a method for integrating public key cryptography into the initial authentication exchange, by using asymmetric-key signature and/or encryption algorithms in pre-authentication data fields. [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 4556 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.

Relationships to other RFCs
Other RFCs from 2006

Who Is Online

In total there are 66 users online: 0 registered, 58 guests and 8 bots.

Most users ever online was 5,555 on 17 Jul 2026, 3:23 am.

Bots: AhrefsBot Applebot Baiduspider Bingbot Majestic Other Bot PetalBot SemrushBot

Users active in the past 15 minutes. Total registered members: 372