control-spec.txt 45 KB

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  1. $Id$
  2. TC: A Tor control protocol (Version 1)
  3. 0. Scope
  4. This document describes an implementation-specific protocol that is used
  5. for other programs (such as frontend user-interfaces) to communicate with a
  6. locally running Tor process. It is not part of the Tor onion routing
  7. protocol.
  8. This protocol replaces version 0 of TC, which is now deprecated. For
  9. reference, TC is described in "control-spec-v0.txt". Implementors are
  10. recommended to avoid using TC directly, but instead to use a library that
  11. can easily be updated to use the newer protocol. (Version 0 is used by Tor
  12. versions 0.1.0.x; the protocol in this document only works with Tor
  13. versions in the 0.1.1.x series and later.)
  14. 1. Protocol outline
  15. TC is a bidirectional message-based protocol. It assumes an underlying
  16. stream for communication between a controlling process (the "client"
  17. or "controller") and a Tor process (or "server"). The stream may be
  18. implemented via TCP, TLS-over-TCP, a Unix-domain socket, or so on,
  19. but it must provide reliable in-order delivery. For security, the
  20. stream should not be accessible by untrusted parties.
  21. In TC, the client and server send typed messages to each other over the
  22. underlying stream. The client sends "commands" and the server sends
  23. "replies".
  24. By default, all messages from the server are in response to messages from
  25. the client. Some client requests, however, will cause the server to send
  26. messages to the client indefinitely far into the future. Such
  27. "asynchronous" replies are marked as such.
  28. Servers respond to messages in the order messages are received.
  29. 2. Message format
  30. 2.1. Description format
  31. The message formats listed below use ABNF as described in RFC 2234.
  32. The protocol itself is loosely based on SMTP (see RFC 2821).
  33. We use the following nonterminals from RFC 2822: atom, qcontent
  34. We define the following general-use nonterminals:
  35. String = DQUOTE *qcontent DQUOTE
  36. There are explicitly no limits on line length. All 8-bit characters are
  37. permitted unless explicitly disallowed.
  38. 2.2. Commands from controller to Tor
  39. Command = Keyword Arguments CRLF / "+" Keyword Arguments CRLF Data
  40. Keyword = 1*ALPHA
  41. Arguments = *(SP / VCHAR)
  42. Specific commands and their arguments are described below in section 3.
  43. 2.3. Replies from Tor to the controller
  44. Reply = *(MidReplyLine / DataReplyLine) EndReplyLine
  45. MidReplyLine = "-" ReplyLine
  46. DataReplyLine = "+" ReplyLine Data
  47. EndReplyLine = SP ReplyLine
  48. ReplyLine = StatusCode [ SP ReplyText ] CRLF
  49. ReplyText = XXXX
  50. StatusCode = XXXX
  51. Specific replies are mentioned below in section 3, and described more fully
  52. in section 4.
  53. 2.4. General-use tokens
  54. ; Identifiers for servers.
  55. ServerID = Nickname / Fingerprint
  56. Nickname = 1*19 NicknameChar
  57. NicknameChar = "a"-"z" / "A"-"Z" / "0" - "9"
  58. Fingerprint = "$" 40*HEXDIG
  59. ; A "=" indicates that the given nickname is canonical; a "~" indicates
  60. ; that the given nickname is not canonical.
  61. LongName = Fingerprint [ ( "=" / "~" ) Nickname ]
  62. ; How a controller tells Tor about a particular OR. There are four
  63. ; possible formats:
  64. ; $Digest -- The router whose identity key hashes to the given digest.
  65. ; This is the preferred way to refer to an OR.
  66. ; $Digest~Name -- The router whose identity key hashes to the given
  67. ; digest, but only if the router has the given nickname.
  68. ; $Digest=Name -- The router whose identity key hashes to the given
  69. ; digest, but only if the router is Named and has the given
  70. ; nickname.
  71. ; Name -- The Named router with the given nickname, or, if no such
  72. ; router exists, any router whose nickname matches the one given.
  73. ; This is not a safe way to refer to routers, since Named status
  74. ; could under some circumstances change over time.
  75. ServerSpec = LongName / Nickname
  76. ; Unique identifiers for streams or circuits. Currently, Tor only
  77. ; uses digits, but this may change
  78. StreamID = 1*16 IDChar
  79. CircuitID = 1*16 IDChar
  80. IDChar = ALPHA / DIGIT
  81. Address = ip4-address / ip6-address / hostname (XXXX Define these)
  82. ; A "Data" section is a sequence of octets concluded by the terminating
  83. ; sequence CRLF "." CRLF. The terminating sequence may not appear in the
  84. ; body of the data. Leading periods on lines in the data are escaped with
  85. ; an additional leading period as in RFC 2821 section 4.5.2.
  86. Data = *DataLine "." CRLF
  87. DataLine = CRLF / "." 1*LineItem CRLF / NonDotItem *LineItem CRLF
  88. LineItem = NonCR / 1*CR NonCRLF
  89. NonDotItem = NonDotCR / 1*CR NonCRLF
  90. 3. Commands
  91. All commands and other keywords are case-insensitive.
  92. 3.1. SETCONF
  93. Change the value of one or more configuration variables. The syntax is:
  94. "SETCONF" 1*(SP keyword ["=" String]) CRLF
  95. Tor behaves as though it had just read each of the key-value pairs
  96. from its configuration file. Keywords with no corresponding values have
  97. their configuration values reset to 0 or NULL (use RESETCONF if you want
  98. to set it back to its default). SETCONF is all-or-nothing: if there
  99. is an error in any of the configuration settings, Tor sets none of them.
  100. Tor responds with a "250 configuration values set" reply on success.
  101. If some of the listed keywords can't be found, Tor replies with a
  102. "552 Unrecognized option" message. Otherwise, Tor responds with a
  103. "513 syntax error in configuration values" reply on syntax error, or a
  104. "553 impossible configuration setting" reply on a semantic error.
  105. When a configuration option takes multiple values, or when multiple
  106. configuration keys form a context-sensitive group (see GETCONF below), then
  107. setting _any_ of the options in a SETCONF command is taken to reset all of
  108. the others. For example, if two ORBindAddress values are configured, and a
  109. SETCONF command arrives containing a single ORBindAddress value, the new
  110. command's value replaces the two old values.
  111. 3.2. RESETCONF
  112. Remove all settings for a given configuration option entirely, assign
  113. its default value (if any), and then assign the String provided.
  114. Typically the String is left empty, to simply set an option back to
  115. its default. The syntax is:
  116. "RESETCONF" 1*(SP keyword ["=" String]) CRLF
  117. Otherwise it behaves like SETCONF above.
  118. 3.3. GETCONF
  119. Request the value of a configuration variable. The syntax is:
  120. "GETCONF" 1*(SP keyword) CRLF
  121. If all of the listed keywords exist in the Tor configuration, Tor replies
  122. with a series of reply lines of the form:
  123. 250 keyword=value
  124. If any option is set to a 'default' value semantically different from an
  125. empty string, Tor may reply with a reply line of the form:
  126. 250 keyword
  127. If some of the listed keywords can't be found, Tor replies with a
  128. "552 unknown configuration keyword" message.
  129. If an option appears multiple times in the configuration, all of its
  130. key-value pairs are returned in order.
  131. Some options are context-sensitive, and depend on other options with
  132. different keywords. These cannot be fetched directly. Currently there
  133. is only one such option: clients should use the "HiddenServiceOptions"
  134. virtual keyword to get all HiddenServiceDir, HiddenServicePort,
  135. HiddenServiceNodes, and HiddenServiceExcludeNodes option settings.
  136. 3.4. SETEVENTS
  137. Request the server to inform the client about interesting events. The
  138. syntax is:
  139. "SETEVENTS" [SP "EXTENDED"] *(SP EventCode) CRLF
  140. EventCode = "CIRC" / "STREAM" / "ORCONN" / "BW" / "DEBUG" /
  141. "INFO" / "NOTICE" / "WARN" / "ERR" / "NEWDESC" / "ADDRMAP" /
  142. "AUTHDIR_NEWDESCS" / "DESCCHANGED" / "STATUS_GENERAL" /
  143. "STATUS_CLIENT" / "STATUS_SERVER" / "GUARDS" / "NS"
  144. Any events *not* listed in the SETEVENTS line are turned off; thus, sending
  145. SETEVENTS with an empty body turns off all event reporting.
  146. The server responds with a "250 OK" reply on success, and a "552
  147. Unrecognized event" reply if one of the event codes isn't recognized. (On
  148. error, the list of active event codes isn't changed.)
  149. If the flag string "EXTENDED" is provided, Tor may provide extra
  150. information with events for this connection; see 4.1 for more information.
  151. NOTE: All events on a given connection will be provided in extended format,
  152. or none.
  153. NOTE: "EXTENDED" is only supported in Tor 0.1.1.9-alpha or later.
  154. Each event is described in more detail in Section 4.1.
  155. 3.5. AUTHENTICATE
  156. Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
  157. "AUTHENTICATE" [ SP 1*HEXDIG / QuotedString ] CRLF
  158. The server responds with "250 OK" on success or "515 Bad authentication" if
  159. the authentication cookie is incorrect.
  160. The format of the 'cookie' is implementation-dependent; see 5.1 below for
  161. information on how the standard Tor implementation handles it.
  162. If Tor requires authentication and the controller has not yet sent an
  163. AUTHENTICATE message, Tor sends a "514 authentication required" reply to
  164. any other kind of message.
  165. 3.6. SAVECONF
  166. Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
  167. "SAVECONF" CRLF
  168. Instructs the server to write out its config options into its torrc. Server
  169. returns "250 OK" if successful, or "551 Unable to write configuration
  170. to disk" if it can't write the file or some other error occurs.
  171. 3.7. SIGNAL
  172. Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
  173. "SIGNAL" SP Signal CRLF
  174. Signal = "RELOAD" / "SHUTDOWN" / "DUMP" / "DEBUG" / "HALT" /
  175. "HUP" / "INT" / "USR1" / "USR2" / "TERM" / "NEWNYM" /
  176. "CLEARDNSCACHE"
  177. The meaning of the signals are:
  178. RELOAD -- Reload: reload config items, refetch directory. (like HUP)
  179. SHUTDOWN -- Controlled shutdown: if server is an OP, exit immediately.
  180. If it's an OR, close listeners and exit after 30 seconds.
  181. (like INT)
  182. DUMP -- Dump stats: log information about open connections and
  183. circuits. (like USR1)
  184. DEBUG -- Debug: switch all open logs to loglevel debug. (like USR2)
  185. HALT -- Immediate shutdown: clean up and exit now. (like TERM)
  186. CLEARDNSCACHE -- Forget the client-side cached IPs for all hostnames.
  187. NEWNYM -- Switch to clean circuits, so new application requests
  188. don't share any circuits with old ones. Also clears
  189. the client-side DNS cache.
  190. The server responds with "250 OK" if the signal is recognized (or simply
  191. closes the socket if it was asked to close immediately), or "552
  192. Unrecognized signal" if the signal is unrecognized.
  193. 3.8. MAPADDRESS
  194. Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
  195. "MAPADDRESS" 1*(Address "=" Address SP) CRLF
  196. The first address in each pair is an "original" address; the second is a
  197. "replacement" address. The client sends this message to the server in
  198. order to tell it that future SOCKS requests for connections to the original
  199. address should be replaced with connections to the specified replacement
  200. address. If the addresses are well-formed, and the server is able to
  201. fulfill the request, the server replies with a 250 message:
  202. 250-OldAddress1=NewAddress1
  203. 250 OldAddress2=NewAddress2
  204. containing the source and destination addresses. If request is
  205. malformed, the server replies with "512 syntax error in command
  206. argument". If the server can't fulfill the request, it replies with
  207. "451 resource exhausted".
  208. The client may decline to provide a body for the original address, and
  209. instead send a special null address ("0.0.0.0" for IPv4, "::0" for IPv6, or
  210. "." for hostname), signifying that the server should choose the original
  211. address itself, and return that address in the reply. The server
  212. should ensure that it returns an element of address space that is unlikely
  213. to be in actual use. If there is already an address mapped to the
  214. destination address, the server may reuse that mapping.
  215. If the original address is already mapped to a different address, the old
  216. mapping is removed. If the original address and the destination address
  217. are the same, the server removes any mapping in place for the original
  218. address.
  219. Example:
  220. C: MAPADDRESS 0.0.0.0=tor.eff.org 1.2.3.4=tor.freehaven.net
  221. S: 250-127.192.10.10=tor.eff.org
  222. S: 250 1.2.3.4=tor.freehaven.net
  223. {Note: This feature is designed to be used to help Tor-ify applications
  224. that need to use SOCKS4 or hostname-less SOCKS5. There are three
  225. approaches to doing this:
  226. 1. Somehow make them use SOCKS4a or SOCKS5-with-hostnames instead.
  227. 2. Use tor-resolve (or another interface to Tor's resolve-over-SOCKS
  228. feature) to resolve the hostname remotely. This doesn't work
  229. with special addresses like x.onion or x.y.exit.
  230. 3. Use MAPADDRESS to map an IP address to the desired hostname, and then
  231. arrange to fool the application into thinking that the hostname
  232. has resolved to that IP.
  233. This functionality is designed to help implement the 3rd approach.}
  234. Mappings set by the controller last until the Tor process exits:
  235. they never expire. If the controller wants the mapping to last only
  236. a certain time, then it must explicitly un-map the address when that
  237. time has elapsed.
  238. 3.9. GETINFO
  239. Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is as for GETCONF:
  240. "GETINFO" 1*(SP keyword) CRLF
  241. one or more NL-terminated strings. The server replies with an INFOVALUE
  242. message, or a 551 or 552 error.
  243. Unlike GETCONF, this message is used for data that are not stored in the Tor
  244. configuration file, and that may be longer than a single line. On success,
  245. one ReplyLine is sent for each requested value, followed by a final 250 OK
  246. ReplyLine. If a value fits on a single line, the format is:
  247. 250-keyword=value
  248. If a value must be split over multiple lines, the format is:
  249. 250+keyword=
  250. value
  251. .
  252. Recognized keys and their values include:
  253. "version" -- The version of the server's software, including the name
  254. of the software. (example: "Tor 0.0.9.4")
  255. "config-file" -- The location of Tor's configuration file ("torrc").
  256. ["exit-policy/prepend" -- The default exit policy lines that Tor will
  257. *prepend* to the ExitPolicy config option.
  258. -- Never implemented. Useful?]
  259. "exit-policy/default" -- The default exit policy lines that Tor will
  260. *append* to the ExitPolicy config option.
  261. "desc/id/<OR identity>" or "desc/name/<OR nickname>" -- the latest
  262. server descriptor for a given OR, NUL-terminated.
  263. "ns/id/<OR identity>" or "desc/name/<OR nickname>" -- the latest network
  264. status info for a given OR. Network status info is as given in
  265. dir-spec.txt, and reflects the current beliefs of this Tor about the
  266. router in question. Like directory clients, controllers MUST
  267. tolerate unrecognized flags and lines. The published date and
  268. descriptor digest are those believed to be best by this Tor,
  269. not necessarily those for a descriptor that Tor currently has.
  270. [First implemented in 0.1.2.3-alpha.]
  271. "ns/all" -- Network status info for all ORs we have an opinion about,
  272. joined by newlines. [First implemented in 0.1.2.3-alpha.]
  273. "desc/all-recent" -- the latest server descriptor for every router that
  274. Tor knows about.
  275. "network-status" -- a space-separated list of all known OR identities.
  276. This is in the same format as the router-status line in directories;
  277. see tor-spec.txt for details.
  278. "addr-mappings/all"
  279. "addr-mappings/config"
  280. "addr-mappings/cache"
  281. "addr-mappings/control" -- a space-separated list of address
  282. mappings, each in the form of "from-address=to-address".
  283. The 'config' key returns those address mappings set in the
  284. configuration; the 'cache' key returns the mappings in the
  285. client-side DNS cache; the 'control' key returns the mappings set
  286. via the control interface; the 'all' target returns the mappings
  287. set through any mechanism.
  288. "address" -- the best guess at our external IP address. If we
  289. have no guess, return a 551 error. (Added in 0.1.2.2-alpha)
  290. "fingerprint" -- the contents of the fingerprint file that Tor
  291. writes as a server, or a 551 if we're not a server currently.
  292. (Added in 0.1.2.3-alpha)
  293. "circuit-status"
  294. A series of lines as for a circuit status event. Each line is of
  295. the form:
  296. CircuitID SP CircStatus [SP Path] CRLF
  297. "stream-status"
  298. A series of lines as for a stream status event. Each is of the form:
  299. StreamID SP StreamStatus SP CircID SP Target CRLF
  300. "orconn-status"
  301. A series of lines as for an OR connection status event. Each is of the
  302. form:
  303. ServerID SP ORStatus CRLF
  304. "entry-guards"
  305. A series of lines listing the currently chosen entry guards, if any.
  306. Each is of the form:
  307. ServerID SP (Status-with-time / Status) CRLF
  308. Status-with-time = ("down" / "unlisted") SP ISOTime
  309. Status = ("up" / "never-connected")
  310. [From 0.1.1.4-alpha to 0.1.1.10-alpha, this was called "helper-nodes".
  311. Tor still supports calling it that for now, but support will be
  312. removed in 0.1.3.x.]
  313. "accounting/enabled"
  314. "accounting/hibernating"
  315. "accounting/bytes"
  316. "accounting/bytes-left"
  317. "accounting/interval-start"
  318. "accounting/interval-wake"
  319. "accounting/interval-end"
  320. Information about accounting status. If accounting is enabled,
  321. "enabled" is 1; otherwise it is 0. The "hibernating" field is "hard"
  322. if we are accepting no data; "soft" if we're accepting no new
  323. connections, and "awake" if we're not hibernating at all. The "bytes"
  324. and "bytes-left" fields contain (read-bytes SP write-bytes), for the
  325. start and the rest of the interval respectively. The 'interval-start'
  326. and 'interval-end' fields are the borders of the current interval; the
  327. 'interval-wake' field is the time within the current interval (if any)
  328. where we plan[ned] to start being active.
  329. "config/names"
  330. A series of lines listing the available configuration options. Each is
  331. of the form:
  332. OptionName SP OptionType [ SP Documentation ] CRLF
  333. OptionName = Keyword
  334. OptionType = "Integer" / "TimeInterval" / "DataSize" / "Float" /
  335. "Boolean" / "Time" / "CommaList" / "Dependant" / "Virtual" /
  336. "String" / "LineList"
  337. Documentation = Text
  338. "info/names"
  339. A series of lines listing the available GETINFO options. Each is of
  340. one of these forms:
  341. OptionName SP Documentation CRLF
  342. OptionPrefix SP Documentation CRLF
  343. OptionPrefix = OptionName "/*"
  344. "events/names"
  345. A space-separated list of all the events supported by this version of
  346. Tor's SETEVENTS.
  347. "features/names"
  348. A space-separated list of all the events supported by this version of
  349. Tor's USEFEATURE.
  350. "dir/status/authority"
  351. "dir/status/fp/<F>"
  352. "dir/status/fp/<F1>+<F2>+<F3>"
  353. "dir/status/all"
  354. "dir/server/fp/<F>"
  355. "dir/server/fp/<F1>+<F2>+<F3>"
  356. "dir/server/d/<D>"
  357. "dir/server/d/<D1>+<D2>+<D3>"
  358. "dir/server/authority"
  359. "dir/server/all"
  360. A series of lines listing directory contents, provided according to the
  361. specification for the URLs listed in Section 4.4 of dir-spec.txt. Note
  362. that Tor MUST NOT provide private information, such as descriptors for
  363. routers not marked as general-purpose. When asked for 'authority'
  364. information for which this Tor is not authoritative, Tor replies with
  365. an empty string.
  366. "status/circuit-established"
  367. "status/..."
  368. These provide the current internal Tor values for various Tor
  369. states. See Section 4.1.10 for explanations. (Only a few of the
  370. status events are available as getinfo's currently. Let us know if
  371. you want more exposed.)
  372. "status/client"
  373. "status/server"
  374. These two special cases of internal Tor values return a (possibly
  375. empty) list of status events from Section 4.1.10 that Tor believes
  376. are still accurate. Controllers can use them to get a summary of
  377. any current problems with Tor's operation.
  378. [The answers should include notice events, not just warns and
  379. errs, for example so Tor can learn whether any circuits have been
  380. established yet.-RD]
  381. [notice, warn, and errs need to be separated here, though.
  382. Otherwise, when we add a new status event type in the future,
  383. controllers won't know whether it's good or bad. -NM]
  384. [Does this mean that Tor must keep state on its side of all the
  385. statuses it's sent, and recognize when they're cancelled out,
  386. and so on? It's a shame that Tor needs to do this and also Vidalia
  387. needs to do this. -RD]
  388. [Is there a good alternative? If we want controllers who connect
  389. to a running Tor to see its status, I think we need to do this. -NM]
  390. [What is the format of this list? Is it space-separated,
  391. newline-separated? Does it include keywords, arguments, etc? Also,
  392. what about STATUS_GENERAL? -NM]
  393. Examples:
  394. C: GETINFO version desc/name/moria1
  395. S: 250+desc/name/moria=
  396. S: [Descriptor for moria]
  397. S: .
  398. S: 250-version=Tor 0.1.1.0-alpha-cvs
  399. S: 250 OK
  400. 3.10. EXTENDCIRCUIT
  401. Sent from the client to the server. The format is:
  402. "EXTENDCIRCUIT" SP CircuitID SP
  403. ServerSpec *("," ServerSpec) SP
  404. ("purpose=" Purpose) CRLF
  405. This request takes one of two forms: either the CircuitID is zero, in
  406. which case it is a request for the server to build a new circuit according
  407. to the specified path, or the CircuitID is nonzero, in which case it is a
  408. request for the server to extend an existing circuit with that ID according
  409. to the specified path.
  410. If CircuitID is 0 and "purpose=" is specified, then the circuit's
  411. purpose is set. Two choices are recognized: "general" and
  412. "controller". If not specified, circuits are created as "general".
  413. If the request is successful, the server sends a reply containing a
  414. message body consisting of the CircuitID of the (maybe newly created)
  415. circuit. The syntax is "250" SP "EXTENDED" SP CircuitID CRLF.
  416. 3.11. SETCIRCUITPURPOSE
  417. Sent from the client to the server. The format is:
  418. "SETCIRCUITPURPOSE" SP CircuitID SP Purpose CRLF
  419. This changes the circuit's purpose. See EXTENDCIRCUIT above for details.
  420. 3.12. SETROUTERPURPOSE
  421. Sent from the client to the server. The format is:
  422. "SETROUTERPURPOSE" SP NicknameOrKey SP Purpose CRLF
  423. This changes the descriptor's purpose. See +POSTDESCRIPTOR below
  424. for details.
  425. 3.13. ATTACHSTREAM
  426. Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
  427. "ATTACHSTREAM" SP StreamID SP CircuitID CRLF
  428. This message informs the server that the specified stream should be
  429. associated with the specified circuit. Each stream may be associated with
  430. at most one circuit, and multiple streams may share the same circuit.
  431. Streams can only be attached to completed circuits (that is, circuits that
  432. have sent a circuit status 'BUILT' event or are listed as built in a
  433. GETINFO circuit-status request).
  434. If the circuit ID is 0, responsibility for attaching the given stream is
  435. returned to Tor.
  436. Tor responds with "250 OK" if it can attach the stream, 552 if the circuit
  437. or stream didn't exist, or 551 if the stream couldn't be attached for
  438. another reason.
  439. {Implementation note: Tor will close unattached streams by itself,
  440. roughly two minutes after they are born. Let the developers know if
  441. that turns out to be a problem.}
  442. {Implementation note: By default, Tor automatically attaches streams to
  443. circuits itself, unless the configuration variable
  444. "__LeaveStreamsUnattached" is set to "1". Attempting to attach streams
  445. via TC when "__LeaveStreamsUnattached" is false may cause a race between
  446. Tor and the controller, as both attempt to attach streams to circuits.}
  447. {Implementation note: You can try to attachstream to a stream that
  448. has already sent a connect or resolve request but hasn't succeeded
  449. yet, in which case Tor will detach the stream from its current circuit
  450. before proceeding with the new attach request.}
  451. 3.14. POSTDESCRIPTOR
  452. Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
  453. "+POSTDESCRIPTOR" ("purpose=" Purpose) CRLF Descriptor CRLF "." CRLF
  454. This message informs the server about a new descriptor. If Purpose is
  455. specified, it must be either "general" or "controller", else we
  456. return a 552 error.
  457. The descriptor, when parsed, must contain a number of well-specified
  458. fields, including fields for its nickname and identity.
  459. If there is an error in parsing the descriptor, the server must send a "554
  460. Invalid descriptor" reply. If the descriptor is well-formed but the server
  461. chooses not to add it, it must reply with a 251 message whose body explains
  462. why the server was not added. If the descriptor is added, Tor replies with
  463. "250 OK".
  464. 3.15. REDIRECTSTREAM
  465. Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
  466. "REDIRECTSTREAM" SP StreamID SP Address (SP Port) CRLF
  467. Tells the server to change the exit address on the specified stream. If
  468. Port is specified, changes the destination port as well. No remapping
  469. is performed on the new provided address.
  470. To be sure that the modified address will be used, this event must be sent
  471. after a new stream event is received, and before attaching this stream to
  472. a circuit.
  473. Tor replies with "250 OK" on success.
  474. 3.16. CLOSESTREAM
  475. Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
  476. "CLOSESTREAM" SP StreamID SP Reason *(SP Flag) CRLF
  477. Tells the server to close the specified stream. The reason should be one
  478. of the Tor RELAY_END reasons given in tor-spec.txt, as a decimal. Flags is
  479. not used currently; Tor servers SHOULD ignore unrecognized flags. Tor may
  480. hold the stream open for a while to flush any data that is pending.
  481. Tor replies with "250 OK" on success, or a 512 if there aren't enough
  482. arguments, or a 552 if it doesn't recognize the StreamID or reason.
  483. 3.17. CLOSECIRCUIT
  484. The syntax is:
  485. CLOSECIRCUIT SP CircuitID *(SP Flag) CRLF
  486. Flag = "IfUnused"
  487. Tells the server to close the specified circuit. If "IfUnused" is
  488. provided, do not close the circuit unless it is unused.
  489. Other flags may be defined in the future; Tor SHOULD ignore unrecognized
  490. flags.
  491. Tor replies with "250 OK" on success, or a 512 if there aren't enough
  492. arguments, or a 552 if it doesn't recognize the CircuitID.
  493. 3.18. QUIT
  494. Tells the server to hang up on this controller connection. This command
  495. can be used before authenticating.
  496. 3.19. USEFEATURE
  497. The syntax is:
  498. "USEFEATURE" *(SP FeatureName) CRLF
  499. FeatureName = 1*(ALPHA / DIGIT / "_" / "-")
  500. Sometimes extensions to the controller protocol break compatibility with
  501. older controllers. In this case, whenever possible, the extensions are
  502. first included in Tor disabled by default, and only enabled on a given
  503. controller connection when the "USEFEATURE" command is given. Once a
  504. "USEFEATURE" command is given, it applies to all subsequent interactions on
  505. the same connection; to disable an enabled feature, a new controller
  506. connection must be opened.
  507. This is a forward-compatibility mechanism; each feature will eventually
  508. become a regular part of the control protocol in some future version of Tor.
  509. Tor will ignore a request to use any feature that is already on by default.
  510. Tor will give a "552" error if any requested feature is not recognized.
  511. Feature names are case-insensitive.
  512. EXTENDED_EVENTS
  513. Same as passing 'EXTENDED' to SETEVENTS; this is the preferred way to
  514. request the extended event syntax.
  515. This will not be always-enabled until at least XXX (or, at least two
  516. stable releases after XXX, the release where it was first used for
  517. anything.)
  518. VERBOSE_NAMES
  519. Instead of ServerID as specified above, the controller should
  520. identify ORs by LongName in events and GETINFO results. This format is
  521. strictly more informative: rather than including Nickname for
  522. known Named routers and Fingerprint for unknown or unNamed routers, the
  523. LongName format includes a Fingerprint, an indication of Named status,
  524. and a Nickname (if one is known).
  525. This will not be always-enabled until at least 0.1.4.x (or at least two
  526. stable releases after 0.1.2.2-alpha, the release where it was first
  527. available.)
  528. 4. Replies
  529. Reply codes follow the same 3-character format as used by SMTP, with the
  530. first character defining a status, the second character defining a
  531. subsystem, and the third designating fine-grained information.
  532. The TC protocol currently uses the following first characters:
  533. 2yz Positive Completion Reply
  534. The command was successful; a new request can be started.
  535. 4yz Temporary Negative Completion reply
  536. The command was unsuccessful but might be reattempted later.
  537. 5yz Permanent Negative Completion Reply
  538. The command was unsuccessful; the client should not try exactly
  539. that sequence of commands again.
  540. 6yz Asynchronous Reply
  541. Sent out-of-order in response to an earlier SETEVENTS command.
  542. The following second characters are used:
  543. x0z Syntax
  544. Sent in response to ill-formed or nonsensical commands.
  545. x1z Protocol
  546. Refers to operations of the Tor Control protocol.
  547. x5z Tor
  548. Refers to actual operations of Tor system.
  549. The following codes are defined:
  550. 250 OK
  551. 251 Operation was unnecessary
  552. [Tor has declined to perform the operation, but no harm was done.]
  553. 451 Resource exhausted
  554. 500 Syntax error: protocol
  555. 510 Unrecognized command
  556. 511 Unimplemented command
  557. 512 Syntax error in command argument
  558. 513 Unrecognized command argument
  559. 514 Authentication required
  560. 515 Bad authentication
  561. 550 Unspecified Tor error
  562. 551 Internal error
  563. [Something went wrong inside Tor, so that the client's
  564. request couldn't be fulfilled.]
  565. 552 Unrecognized entity
  566. [A configuration key, a stream ID, circuit ID, event,
  567. mentioned in the command did not actually exist.]
  568. 553 Invalid configuration value
  569. [The client tried to set a configuration option to an
  570. incorrect, ill-formed, or impossible value.]
  571. 554 Invalid descriptor
  572. 555 Unmanaged entity
  573. 650 Asynchronous event notification
  574. Unless specified to have specific contents, the human-readable messages
  575. in error replies should not be relied upon to match those in this document.
  576. 4.1. Asynchronous events
  577. These replies can be sent after a corresponding SETEVENTS command has been
  578. received. They will not be interleaved with other Reply elements, but they
  579. can appear between a command and its corresponding reply. For example,
  580. this sequence is possible:
  581. C: SETEVENTS CIRC
  582. S: 250 OK
  583. C: GETCONF SOCKSPORT ORPORT
  584. S: 650 CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2
  585. S: 250-SOCKSPORT=9050
  586. S: 250 ORPORT=0
  587. But this sequence is disallowed:
  588. C: SETEVENTS CIRC
  589. S: 250 OK
  590. C: GETCONF SOCKSPORT ORPORT
  591. S: 250-SOCKSPORT=9050
  592. S: 650 CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2
  593. S: 250 ORPORT=0
  594. Clients SHOULD tolerate more arguments in an asynchonous reply than
  595. expected, and SHOULD tolerate more lines in an asynchronous reply than
  596. expected. For instance, a client that expects a CIRC message like:
  597. 650 CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2
  598. should tolerate:
  599. 650-CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2 0xBEEF
  600. 650-EXTRAMAGIC=99
  601. 650 ANONYMITY=high
  602. If clients ask for extended events, then each event line as specified below
  603. will be followed by additional extensions. Clients that do so MUST
  604. tolerate additional arguments and lines. Additional lines will be of the
  605. form
  606. "650" ("-"/" ") KEYWORD ["=" ARGUMENTS] CRLF
  607. Additional arguments will be of the form
  608. SP KEYWORD ["=" ( QuotedString / * NonSpDquote ) ]
  609. Such clients MUST tolerate lines with keywords they do not recognize.
  610. 4.1.1. Circuit status changed
  611. The syntax is:
  612. "650" SP "CIRC" SP CircuitID SP CircStatus [SP Path]
  613. [SP "REASON=" Reason [SP "REMOTE_REASON=" Reason]] CRLF
  614. CircStatus =
  615. "LAUNCHED" / ; circuit ID assigned to new circuit
  616. "BUILT" / ; all hops finished, can now accept streams
  617. "EXTENDED" / ; one more hop has been completed
  618. "FAILED" / ; circuit closed (was not built)
  619. "CLOSED" ; circuit closed (was built)
  620. Path = ServerID *("," ServerID)
  621. Reason = "NONE" / "TORPROTOCOL" / "INTERNAL" / "REQUESTED" /
  622. "HIBERNATING" / "RESOURCELIMIT" / "CONNECTFAILED" /
  623. "OR_IDENTITY" / "OR_CONN_CLOSED" / "TIMEOUT" /
  624. "FINISHED" / "DESTROYED" / "NOPATH" / "NOSUCHSERVICE"
  625. The path is provided only when the circuit has been extended at least one
  626. hop.
  627. The "REASON" field is provided only for FAILED and CLOSED events, and only
  628. if extended events are enabled (see 3.19). Clients MUST accept reasons
  629. not listed above. Reasons are as given in tor-spec.txt, except for:
  630. NOPATH (Not enough nodes to make circuit)
  631. The "REMOTE_REASON" field is provided only when we receive a DESTROY or
  632. TRUNCATE cell, and only if extended events are enabled. It contains the
  633. actual reason given by the remote OR for closing the circuit. Clients MUST
  634. accept reasons not listed above. Reasons are as listed in tor-spec.txt.
  635. 4.1.2. Stream status changed
  636. The syntax is:
  637. "650" SP "STREAM" SP StreamID SP StreamStatus SP CircID SP Target
  638. [SP "REASON=" Reason [ SP "REMOTE_REASON=" Reason ]] CRLF
  639. StreamStatus =
  640. "NEW" / ; New request to connect
  641. "NEWRESOLVE" / ; New request to resolve an address
  642. "SENTCONNECT" / ; Sent a connect cell along a circuit
  643. "SENTRESOLVE" / ; Sent a resolve cell along a circuit
  644. "SUCCEEDED" / ; Received a reply; stream established
  645. "FAILED" / ; Stream failed and not retriable
  646. "CLOSED" / ; Stream closed
  647. "DETACHED" ; Detached from circuit; still retriable
  648. Target = Address ":" Port
  649. The circuit ID designates which circuit this stream is attached to. If
  650. the stream is unattached, the circuit ID "0" is given.
  651. Reason = "MISC" / "RESOLVEFAILED" / "CONNECTREFUSED" /
  652. "EXITPOLICY" / "DESTROY" / "DONE" / "TIMEOUT" /
  653. "HIBERNATING" / "INTERNAL"/ "RESOURCELIMIT" /
  654. "CONNRESET" / "TORPROTOCOL" / "NOTDIRECTORY" / "END"
  655. The "REASON" field is provided only for FAILED, CLOSED, and DETACHED
  656. events, and only if extended events are enabled (see 3.19). Clients MUST
  657. accept reasons not listed above. Reasons are as given in tor-spec.txt,
  658. except for:
  659. END (We received a RELAY_END cell from the other side of thise
  660. stream.)
  661. The "REMOTE_REASON" field is provided only when we receive a RELAY_END
  662. cell, and only if extended events are enabled. It contains the actual
  663. reason given by the remote OR for closing the stream. Clients MUST accept
  664. reasons not listed above. Reasons are as listed in tor-spec.txt.
  665. 4.1.3. OR Connection status changed
  666. The syntax is:
  667. "650" SP "ORCONN" SP (ServerID / Target) SP ORStatus
  668. ORStatus = "NEW" / "LAUNCHED" / "CONNECTED" / "FAILED" / "CLOSED"
  669. NEW is for incoming connections, and LAUNCHED is for outgoing
  670. connections. CONNECTED means the TLS handshake has finished (in
  671. either direction). FAILED means a connection is being closed that
  672. hasn't finished its handshake, and CLOSED is for connections that
  673. have handshaked.
  674. A ServerID is specified unless it's a NEW connection, in which
  675. case we don't know what server it is yet, so we use Address:Port.
  676. 4.1.4. Bandwidth used in the last second
  677. The syntax is:
  678. "650" SP "BW" SP BytesRead SP BytesWritten
  679. BytesRead = 1*DIGIT
  680. BytesWritten = 1*DIGIT
  681. 4.1.5. Log messages
  682. The syntax is:
  683. "650" SP Severity SP ReplyText
  684. or
  685. "650+" Severity CRLF Data
  686. Severity = "DEBUG" / "INFO" / "NOTICE" / "WARN"/ "ERR"
  687. 4.1.6. New descriptors available
  688. Syntax:
  689. "650" SP "NEWDESC" 1*(SP ServerID)
  690. 4.1.7. New Address mapping
  691. Syntax:
  692. "650" SP "ADDRMAP" SP Address SP Address SP Expiry
  693. Expiry = DQOUTE ISOTime DQUOTE / "NEVER"
  694. 4.1.8. Descriptors uploaded to us in our role as authoritative dirserver
  695. Syntax:
  696. "650" "+" "AUTHDIR_NEWDESCS" CRLF Action CRLF Message CRLF
  697. Descriptor CRLF "." CRLF
  698. Action = "ACCEPTED" / "DROPPED" / "REJECTED"
  699. Message = Text
  700. 4.1.9. Our descriptor changed
  701. Syntax:
  702. "650" SP "DESCCHANGED"
  703. [First added in 0.1.2.2-alpha.]
  704. 4.1.10. Status events
  705. [Don't rely on any of these until we work out more of the details. -RD]
  706. Syntax:
  707. "650" SP Type SP Severity SP Action SP Arguments
  708. Type = "STATUS_GENERAL" / "STATUS_CLIENT" / "STATUS_SERVER"
  709. Severity = "NOTICE" / "WARN" / "ERR"
  710. Action is a string, and Arguments is a series of keyword=value
  711. pairs on the same line.
  712. These events are always produced with EXTENDED_EVENTS and VERBOSE_NAMES;
  713. see the explanations in the USEFEATURE section command for details.
  714. Actions for STATUS_GENERAL severity NOTICE events can be as follows:
  715. CLOCK_JUMPED
  716. "time=NUM"
  717. Tor spent enough time without CPU cycles that it has closed all
  718. its circuits and will establishing them anew. This typically
  719. happens when a laptop goes to sleep and then wakes up again. It
  720. also happens when the system is swapping so heavily that Tor is
  721. starving. The "time" argument includes the number of seconds Tor
  722. thinks it was unconscious for.
  723. This status event is sent as WARN severity if Tor is acting
  724. as a server currently.
  725. [Recommendation for controller: ignore it, since we don't really
  726. know what the user should do anyway. Hm.]
  727. DIR_REACHABLE
  728. [not implemented yet]
  729. Actions for STATUS_GENERAL severity WARN events can be as follows:
  730. DANGEROUS_VERSION
  731. "current=version"
  732. "reason=new/old/unrecommended"
  733. "recommended=\"version, version, ...\""
  734. TOO_MANY_CONNECTIONS
  735. "current=NUM"
  736. Tor has reached its ulimit -n or whatever the native limit is on
  737. file descriptors or sockets. The user should really do something
  738. about this. The "current" argument shows the number of connections
  739. currently open.
  740. [rest not implemented yet]
  741. BUG
  742. "reason=STRING"
  743. Tor has encountered a situation that its developers never expected,
  744. and the developers would like to learn that it happened. Perhaps
  745. the controller can explain this to the user and encourage her to
  746. file a bug report?
  747. [The following two are sent as WARNs if CIRCUIT_ESTABLISHED and
  748. not DIR_ALL_UNREACHABLE, else as ERRs:]
  749. BAD_DIR_RESPONSE
  750. // unexpected dir response. behind a hotel/airport firewall?
  751. CLOCK_SKEWED
  752. // (either from talking to a dir authority, or from perusing a
  753. // network-status timestamp)
  754. Actions for STATUS_GENERAL severity ERR events can be as follows:
  755. U BAD_PROXY
  756. // bad http or https proxy?
  757. I DIR_ALL_UNREACHABLE
  758. Tor believes that none of the known directory servers are
  759. reachable -- this is most likely because the local network is
  760. down or otherwise not working, and might help to explain for the
  761. user why Tor appears to be broken.
  762. Actions for STATUS_CLIENT severity NOTICE events can be as follows:
  763. [all implemented]
  764. ENOUGH_DIR_INFO
  765. Tor now knows enough network-status documents and enough server
  766. descriptors that it's going to start trying to build circuits now.
  767. NOT_ENOUGH_DIR_INFO
  768. We discarded expired statuses and router descriptors to fall
  769. below the desired threshold of directory information. We won't
  770. try to build any circuits until ENOUGH_DIR_INFO occurs again.
  771. CIRCUIT_ESTABLISHED
  772. Tor is able to establish circuits for client use. This event will
  773. only be sent if we just built a circuit that changed our mind --
  774. that is, prior to this event we didn't know whether we could
  775. establish circuits.
  776. Suggested use: controllers can notify their users that Tor is
  777. ready for use as a client once they see this status event. [Perhaps
  778. controllers should also have a timeout if too much time passes and
  779. this event hasn't arrived, to give tips on how to troubleshoot.
  780. On the other hand, hopefully Tor will send further status events
  781. if it can identify the problem.]
  782. CIRCUIT_NOT_ESTABLISHED
  783. "reason=" "EXTERNAL_ADDRESS" / "DIR_ALL_UNREACHABLE" / "CLOCK_JUMPED"
  784. We are no longer confident that we can build circuits. The "reason"
  785. keyword provides an explanation: which other status event type caused
  786. our lack of confidence.
  787. Suggested use: Vidalia can turn its onion yellow again.
  788. [Note: only REASON=CLOCK_JUMPED is implemented currently.]
  789. Actions for STATUS_CLIENT severity WARN events can be as follows:
  790. [none implemented yet]
  791. DANGEROUS_SOCKS
  792. "protocol=socks4/socks4a/socks5"
  793. "address=IP:port"
  794. SOCKS_UNKNOWN_PROTOCOL
  795. A connection was made to Tor's SOCKS port that tried to use it
  796. for something other than the SOCKS protocol. Perhaps the user is
  797. using Tor as an HTTP proxy?
  798. BAD_HOSTNAME
  799. // a nickname we asked for is unavailable. no need for this
  800. // quite yet, since no end-user controllers let you configure that.
  801. Actions for STATUS_CLIENT severity ERR events can be as follows:
  802. [none yet]
  803. Actions for STATUS_SERVER severity NOTICE events can be as follows:
  804. [none implemented yet]
  805. EXTERNAL_ADDRESS
  806. "address=IP"
  807. "method=guessed/resolved/..."
  808. // hibernating
  809. CHECKING_REACHABILITY
  810. "oraddress=IP:port"
  811. "diraddress=IP:port"
  812. "timeout=NUM"
  813. GOOD_SERVER_DESCRIPTOR
  814. We successfully uploaded our server descriptor to each of the
  815. directory authorities, with no complaints.
  816. Actions for STATUS_SERVER severity WARN events can be as follows:
  817. [not implemented yet]
  818. // something about failing to parse our address?
  819. // from resolve_my_address() in config.c
  820. // sketchy libevent, sketchy OS, sketchy threading
  821. // too many onions queued. threading problem or slow cpu?
  822. // eventdns statements. like, hijacked dns.
  823. BAD_SERVER_DESCRIPTOR
  824. "dirauth=nickname"
  825. "reason=string"
  826. // dir authorities didn't like my descriptor, e.g. because they
  827. // think it's malformed, you're invalid, or wrong key.
  828. Actions for STATUS_SERVER severity ERR events can be as follows:
  829. [not implemented yet]
  830. REACHABILITY_FAILED
  831. "oraddress=IP:port"
  832. "diraddress=IP:port"
  833. Controllers must tolerate hearing about actions that they don't
  834. recognize.
  835. 4.1.11. Our set of guard nodes has changed
  836. Syntax:
  837. "650" SP "GUARDS" SP Type SP ...
  838. Type = "ENTRY"
  839. ...
  840. [needs to be fleshed out; not implemented yet]
  841. 4.1.12. Network status has changed
  842. Syntax:
  843. "650" "+" "NS" CRLF 1*NetworkStatus "." CRLF
  844. [First added in 0.1.2.3-alpha]
  845. 5. Implementation notes
  846. 5.1. Authentication
  847. By default, the current Tor implementation trusts all local users.
  848. If the 'CookieAuthentication' option is true, Tor writes a "magic cookie"
  849. file named "control_auth_cookie" into its data directory. To authenticate,
  850. the controller must send the contents of this file, encoded in hexadecimal.
  851. If the 'HashedControlPassword' option is set, it must contain the salted
  852. hash of a secret password. The salted hash is computed according to the
  853. S2K algorithm in RFC 2440 (OpenPGP), and prefixed with the s2k specifier.
  854. This is then encoded in hexadecimal, prefixed by the indicator sequence
  855. "16:". Thus, for example, the password 'foo' could encode to:
  856. 16:660537E3E1CD49996044A3BF558097A981F539FEA2F9DA662B4626C1C2
  857. ++++++++++++++++**^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  858. salt hashed value
  859. indicator
  860. You can generate the salt of a password by calling
  861. 'tor --hash-password <password>'
  862. or by using the example code in the Python and Java controller libraries.
  863. To authenticate under this scheme, the controller sends Tor the original
  864. secret that was used to generate the password.
  865. 5.2. Don't let the buffer get too big.
  866. If you ask for lots of events, and 16MB of them queue up on the buffer,
  867. the Tor process will close the socket.
  868. 5.3. Backward compatibility with v0 control protocol.
  869. For backward compatibility with the "version 0" control protocol, Tor checks
  870. whether the third octet the first command is zero. If it is, Tor
  871. assumes that version 0 is in use. This feature is deprecated, and will be
  872. removed in the 0.1.3.x Tor development series.
  873. In order to detect which version of the protocol is supported controllers
  874. should send the sequence [00 00 0D 0A]. This is a valid and unrecognized
  875. command in both protocol versions, and implementations can detect which
  876. error they have received.