Zero Checksum for the Stream Control Transmission Protocol
RFC 9653, “Zero Checksum for the Stream Control Transmission Protocol”, is a Proposed Standard document published in September 2024 by M. Tüxen, V. Boivie, F. Castelli, R. Jesup. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.
Abstract
The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) uses a 32-bit checksum in the common header of each packet to provide some level of data integrity. If another method used by SCTP already provides the same or a higher level of data integrity, computing this checksum does not provide any additional protection but does consume computing resources.
This document provides a simple extension allowing SCTP to save these computing resources by using zero as the checksum in a backwards-compatible way. It also defines how this feature can be used when SCTP packets are encapsulated in Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) packets.
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.
The canonical text of RFC 9653 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in HTML,TXT,PDF,XML.
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