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- $Id$
- TC: A Tor control protocol (Version 1)
- 0. Scope
- This document describes an implementation-specific protocol that is used
- for other programs (such as frontend user-interfaces) to communicate with a
- locally running Tor process. It is not part of the Tor onion routing
- protocol.
- This protocol replaces version 0 of TC, which is now deprecated. For
- reference, TC is described in "control-spec-v0.txt". Implementors are
- recommended to avoid using TC directly, but instead to use a library that
- can easily be updated to use the newer protocol. (Version 0 is used by Tor
- versions 0.1.0.x; the protocol in this document only works with Tor
- versions in the 0.1.1.x series and later.)
- 1. Protocol outline
- TC is a bidirectional message-based protocol. It assumes an underlying
- stream for communication between a controlling process (the "client"
- or "controller") and a Tor process (or "server"). The stream may be
- implemented via TCP, TLS-over-TCP, a Unix-domain socket, or so on,
- but it must provide reliable in-order delivery. For security, the
- stream should not be accessible by untrusted parties.
- In TC, the client and server send typed messages to each other over the
- underlying stream. The client sends "commands" and the server sends
- "replies".
- By default, all messages from the server are in response to messages from
- the client. Some client requests, however, will cause the server to send
- messages to the client indefinitely far into the future. Such
- "asynchronous" replies are marked as such.
- Servers respond to messages in the order messages are received.
- 2. Message format
- 2.1. Description format
- The message formats listed below use ABNF as described in RFC 2234.
- The protocol itself is loosely based on SMTP (see RFC 2821).
- We use the following nonterminals from RFC 2822: atom, qcontent
- We define the following general-use nonterminals:
- String = DQUOTE *qcontent DQUOTE
- There are explicitly no limits on line length. All 8-bit characters are
- permitted unless explicitly disallowed.
- Wherever CRLF is specified to be accepted from the controller, Tor MAY also
- accept LF. Tor, however, MUST NOT generate LF instead of CRLF.
- Controllers SHOULD always send CRLF.
- 2.2. Commands from controller to Tor
- Command = Keyword Arguments CRLF / "+" Keyword Arguments CRLF Data
- Keyword = 1*ALPHA
- Arguments = *(SP / VCHAR)
- Specific commands and their arguments are described below in section 3.
- 2.3. Replies from Tor to the controller
- Reply = SyncReply / AsyncReply
- SyncReply = *(MidReplyLine / DataReplyLine) EndReplyLine
- AsyncReply = *(MidReplyLine / DataReplyLine) EndReplyLine
- MidReplyLine = StatusCode "-" ReplyLine
- DataReplyLine = StatusCode "+" ReplyLine Data
- EndReplyLine = StatusCode SP ReplyLine
- ReplyLine = [ReplyText] CRLF
- ReplyText = XXXX
- StatusCode = 3DIGIT
- Specific replies are mentioned below in section 3, and described more fully
- in section 4.
- [Compatibility note: versions of Tor before 0.2.0.3-alpha sometimes
- generate AsyncReplies of the form "*(MidReplyLine / DataReplyLine)".
- This is incorrect, but controllers that need to work with these
- versions of Tor should be prepared to get multi-line AsyncReplies with
- the final line (usually "650 OK") omitted.]
- 2.4. General-use tokens
- ; Identifiers for servers.
- ServerID = Nickname / Fingerprint
- Nickname = 1*19 NicknameChar
- NicknameChar = "a"-"z" / "A"-"Z" / "0" - "9"
- Fingerprint = "$" 40*HEXDIG
- ; A "=" indicates that the given nickname is canonical; a "~" indicates
- ; that the given nickname is not canonical.
- LongName = Fingerprint [ ( "=" / "~" ) Nickname ]
- ; How a controller tells Tor about a particular OR. There are four
- ; possible formats:
- ; $Digest -- The router whose identity key hashes to the given digest.
- ; This is the preferred way to refer to an OR.
- ; $Digest~Name -- The router whose identity key hashes to the given
- ; digest, but only if the router has the given nickname.
- ; $Digest=Name -- The router whose identity key hashes to the given
- ; digest, but only if the router is Named and has the given
- ; nickname.
- ; Name -- The Named router with the given nickname, or, if no such
- ; router exists, any router whose nickname matches the one given.
- ; This is not a safe way to refer to routers, since Named status
- ; could under some circumstances change over time.
- ServerSpec = LongName / Nickname
- ; Unique identifiers for streams or circuits. Currently, Tor only
- ; uses digits, but this may change
- StreamID = 1*16 IDChar
- CircuitID = 1*16 IDChar
- IDChar = ALPHA / DIGIT
- Address = ip4-address / ip6-address / hostname (XXXX Define these)
- ; A "Data" section is a sequence of octets concluded by the terminating
- ; sequence CRLF "." CRLF. The terminating sequence may not appear in the
- ; body of the data. Leading periods on lines in the data are escaped with
- ; an additional leading period as in RFC 2821 section 4.5.2.
- Data = *DataLine "." CRLF
- DataLine = CRLF / "." 1*LineItem CRLF / NonDotItem *LineItem CRLF
- LineItem = NonCR / 1*CR NonCRLF
- NonDotItem = NonDotCR / 1*CR NonCRLF
- 3. Commands
- All commands are case-insensitive, but most keywords are case-sensitive.
- 3.1. SETCONF
- Change the value of one or more configuration variables. The syntax is:
- "SETCONF" 1*(SP keyword ["=" value]) CRLF
- value = String / QuotedString
- Tor behaves as though it had just read each of the key-value pairs
- from its configuration file. Keywords with no corresponding values have
- their configuration values reset to 0 or NULL (use RESETCONF if you want
- to set it back to its default). SETCONF is all-or-nothing: if there
- is an error in any of the configuration settings, Tor sets none of them.
- Tor responds with a "250 configuration values set" reply on success.
- If some of the listed keywords can't be found, Tor replies with a
- "552 Unrecognized option" message. Otherwise, Tor responds with a
- "513 syntax error in configuration values" reply on syntax error, or a
- "553 impossible configuration setting" reply on a semantic error.
- When a configuration option takes multiple values, or when multiple
- configuration keys form a context-sensitive group (see GETCONF below), then
- setting _any_ of the options in a SETCONF command is taken to reset all of
- the others. For example, if two ORBindAddress values are configured, and a
- SETCONF command arrives containing a single ORBindAddress value, the new
- command's value replaces the two old values.
- Sometimes it is not possible to change configuration options solely by
- issuing a series of SETCONF commands, because the value of one of the
- configuration options depends on the value of another which has not yet
- been set. Such situations can be overcome by setting multiple configuration
- options with a single SETCONF command (e.g. SETCONF ORPort=443
- ORListenAddress=9001).
- 3.2. RESETCONF
- Remove all settings for a given configuration option entirely, assign
- its default value (if any), and then assign the String provided.
- Typically the String is left empty, to simply set an option back to
- its default. The syntax is:
- "RESETCONF" 1*(SP keyword ["=" String]) CRLF
- Otherwise it behaves like SETCONF above.
- 3.3. GETCONF
- Request the value of a configuration variable. The syntax is:
- "GETCONF" 1*(SP keyword) CRLF
- If all of the listed keywords exist in the Tor configuration, Tor replies
- with a series of reply lines of the form:
- 250 keyword=value
- If any option is set to a 'default' value semantically different from an
- empty string, Tor may reply with a reply line of the form:
- 250 keyword
- Value may be a raw value or a quoted string. Tor will try to use
- unquoted values except when the value could be misinterpreted through
- not being quoted.
- If some of the listed keywords can't be found, Tor replies with a
- "552 unknown configuration keyword" message.
- If an option appears multiple times in the configuration, all of its
- key-value pairs are returned in order.
- Some options are context-sensitive, and depend on other options with
- different keywords. These cannot be fetched directly. Currently there
- is only one such option: clients should use the "HiddenServiceOptions"
- virtual keyword to get all HiddenServiceDir, HiddenServicePort,
- HiddenServiceNodes, and HiddenServiceExcludeNodes option settings.
- 3.4. SETEVENTS
- Request the server to inform the client about interesting events. The
- syntax is:
- "SETEVENTS" [SP "EXTENDED"] *(SP EventCode) CRLF
- EventCode = "CIRC" / "STREAM" / "ORCONN" / "BW" / "DEBUG" /
- "INFO" / "NOTICE" / "WARN" / "ERR" / "NEWDESC" / "ADDRMAP" /
- "AUTHDIR_NEWDESCS" / "DESCCHANGED" / "STATUS_GENERAL" /
- "STATUS_CLIENT" / "STATUS_SERVER" / "GUARD" / "NS" / "STREAM_BW" /
- "CLIENTS_SEEN"
- Any events *not* listed in the SETEVENTS line are turned off; thus, sending
- SETEVENTS with an empty body turns off all event reporting.
- The server responds with a "250 OK" reply on success, and a "552
- Unrecognized event" reply if one of the event codes isn't recognized. (On
- error, the list of active event codes isn't changed.)
- If the flag string "EXTENDED" is provided, Tor may provide extra
- information with events for this connection; see 4.1 for more information.
- NOTE: All events on a given connection will be provided in extended format,
- or none.
- NOTE: "EXTENDED" is only supported in Tor 0.1.1.9-alpha or later.
- Each event is described in more detail in Section 4.1.
- 3.5. AUTHENTICATE
- Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
- "AUTHENTICATE" [ SP 1*HEXDIG / QuotedString ] CRLF
- The server responds with "250 OK" on success or "515 Bad authentication" if
- the authentication cookie is incorrect. Tor closes the connection on an
- authentication failure.
- The format of the 'cookie' is implementation-dependent; see 5.1 below for
- information on how the standard Tor implementation handles it.
- Before the client has authenticated, no command other than PROTOCOLINFO,
- AUTHENTICATE, or QUIT is valid. If the controller sends any other command,
- or sends a malformed command, or sends an unsuccessful AUTHENTICATE
- command, or sends PROTOCOLINFO more than once, Tor sends an error reply and
- closes the connection.
- To prevent some cross-protocol attacks, the AUTHENTICATE command is still
- required even if all authentication methods in Tor are disabled. In this
- case, the controller should just send "AUTHENTICATE" CRLF.
- (Versions of Tor before 0.1.2.16 and 0.2.0.4-alpha did not close the
- connection after an authentication failure.)
- 3.6. SAVECONF
- Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
- "SAVECONF" CRLF
- Instructs the server to write out its config options into its torrc. Server
- returns "250 OK" if successful, or "551 Unable to write configuration
- to disk" if it can't write the file or some other error occurs.
- 3.7. SIGNAL
- Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
- "SIGNAL" SP Signal CRLF
- Signal = "RELOAD" / "SHUTDOWN" / "DUMP" / "DEBUG" / "HALT" /
- "HUP" / "INT" / "USR1" / "USR2" / "TERM" / "NEWNYM" /
- "CLEARDNSCACHE"
- The meaning of the signals are:
- RELOAD -- Reload: reload config items, refetch directory. (like HUP)
- SHUTDOWN -- Controlled shutdown: if server is an OP, exit immediately.
- If it's an OR, close listeners and exit after 30 seconds.
- (like INT)
- DUMP -- Dump stats: log information about open connections and
- circuits. (like USR1)
- DEBUG -- Debug: switch all open logs to loglevel debug. (like USR2)
- HALT -- Immediate shutdown: clean up and exit now. (like TERM)
- CLEARDNSCACHE -- Forget the client-side cached IPs for all hostnames.
- NEWNYM -- Switch to clean circuits, so new application requests
- don't share any circuits with old ones. Also clears
- the client-side DNS cache. (Tor MAY rate-limit its
- response to this signal.)
- The server responds with "250 OK" if the signal is recognized (or simply
- closes the socket if it was asked to close immediately), or "552
- Unrecognized signal" if the signal is unrecognized.
- 3.8. MAPADDRESS
- Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
- "MAPADDRESS" 1*(Address "=" Address SP) CRLF
- The first address in each pair is an "original" address; the second is a
- "replacement" address. The client sends this message to the server in
- order to tell it that future SOCKS requests for connections to the original
- address should be replaced with connections to the specified replacement
- address. If the addresses are well-formed, and the server is able to
- fulfill the request, the server replies with a 250 message:
- 250-OldAddress1=NewAddress1
- 250 OldAddress2=NewAddress2
- containing the source and destination addresses. If request is
- malformed, the server replies with "512 syntax error in command
- argument". If the server can't fulfill the request, it replies with
- "451 resource exhausted".
- The client may decline to provide a body for the original address, and
- instead send a special null address ("0.0.0.0" for IPv4, "::0" for IPv6, or
- "." for hostname), signifying that the server should choose the original
- address itself, and return that address in the reply. The server
- should ensure that it returns an element of address space that is unlikely
- to be in actual use. If there is already an address mapped to the
- destination address, the server may reuse that mapping.
- If the original address is already mapped to a different address, the old
- mapping is removed. If the original address and the destination address
- are the same, the server removes any mapping in place for the original
- address.
- Example:
- C: MAPADDRESS 0.0.0.0=torproject.org 1.2.3.4=tor.freehaven.net
- S: 250-127.192.10.10=torproject.org
- S: 250 1.2.3.4=tor.freehaven.net
- {Note: This feature is designed to be used to help Tor-ify applications
- that need to use SOCKS4 or hostname-less SOCKS5. There are three
- approaches to doing this:
- 1. Somehow make them use SOCKS4a or SOCKS5-with-hostnames instead.
- 2. Use tor-resolve (or another interface to Tor's resolve-over-SOCKS
- feature) to resolve the hostname remotely. This doesn't work
- with special addresses like x.onion or x.y.exit.
- 3. Use MAPADDRESS to map an IP address to the desired hostname, and then
- arrange to fool the application into thinking that the hostname
- has resolved to that IP.
- This functionality is designed to help implement the 3rd approach.}
- Mappings set by the controller last until the Tor process exits:
- they never expire. If the controller wants the mapping to last only
- a certain time, then it must explicitly un-map the address when that
- time has elapsed.
- 3.9. GETINFO
- Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is as for GETCONF:
- "GETINFO" 1*(SP keyword) CRLF
- one or more NL-terminated strings. The server replies with an INFOVALUE
- message, or a 551 or 552 error.
- Unlike GETCONF, this message is used for data that are not stored in the Tor
- configuration file, and that may be longer than a single line. On success,
- one ReplyLine is sent for each requested value, followed by a final 250 OK
- ReplyLine. If a value fits on a single line, the format is:
- 250-keyword=value
- If a value must be split over multiple lines, the format is:
- 250+keyword=
- value
- .
- Recognized keys and their values include:
- "version" -- The version of the server's software, including the name
- of the software. (example: "Tor 0.0.9.4")
- "config-file" -- The location of Tor's configuration file ("torrc").
- ["exit-policy/prepend" -- The default exit policy lines that Tor will
- *prepend* to the ExitPolicy config option.
- -- Never implemented. Useful?]
- "exit-policy/default" -- The default exit policy lines that Tor will
- *append* to the ExitPolicy config option.
- "desc/id/<OR identity>" or "desc/name/<OR nickname>" -- the latest
- server descriptor for a given OR, NUL-terminated.
- "desc-annotations/id/<OR identity>" -- outputs the annotations string
- (source, timestamp of arrival, purpose, etc) for the corresponding
- descriptor. [First implemented in 0.2.0.13-alpha.]
- "extra-info/digest/<digest>" -- the extrainfo document whose digest (in
- hex) is <digest>. Only available if we're downloading extra-info
- documents.
- "ns/id/<OR identity>" or "ns/name/<OR nickname>" -- the latest router
- status info (v2 directory style) for a given OR. Router status
- info is as given in
- dir-spec.txt, and reflects the current beliefs of this Tor about the
- router in question. Like directory clients, controllers MUST
- tolerate unrecognized flags and lines. The published date and
- descriptor digest are those believed to be best by this Tor,
- not necessarily those for a descriptor that Tor currently has.
- [First implemented in 0.1.2.3-alpha.]
- "ns/all" -- Router status info (v2 directory style) for all ORs we
- have an opinion about, joined by newlines. [First implemented
- in 0.1.2.3-alpha.]
- "ns/purpose/<purpose>" -- Router status info (v2 directory style)
- for all ORs of this purpose. Mostly designed for /ns/purpose/bridge
- queries. [First implemented in 0.2.0.13-alpha.]
- "desc/all-recent" -- the latest server descriptor for every router that
- Tor knows about.
- "network-status" -- a space-separated list (v1 directory style)
- of all known OR identities. This is in the same format as the
- router-status line in v1 directories; see dir-spec-v1.txt section
- 3 for details. (If VERBOSE_NAMES is enabled, the output will
- not conform to dir-spec-v1.txt; instead, the result will be a
- space-separated list of LongName, each preceded by a "!" if it is
- believed to be not running.) This option is deprecated; use
- "ns/all" instead.
- "address-mappings/all"
- "address-mappings/config"
- "address-mappings/cache"
- "address-mappings/control" -- a \r\n-separated list of address
- mappings, each in the form of "from-address to-address expiry".
- The 'config' key returns those address mappings set in the
- configuration; the 'cache' key returns the mappings in the
- client-side DNS cache; the 'control' key returns the mappings set
- via the control interface; the 'all' target returns the mappings
- set through any mechanism.
- Expiry is formatted as with ADDRMAP events, except that "expiry" is
- always a time in GMT or the string "NEVER"; see section 4.1.7.
- First introduced in 0.2.0.3-alpha.
- "addr-mappings/*" -- as for address-mappings/*, but without the
- expiry portion of the value. Use of this value is deprecated
- since 0.2.0.3-alpha; use address-mappings instead.
- "address" -- the best guess at our external IP address. If we
- have no guess, return a 551 error. (Added in 0.1.2.2-alpha)
- "fingerprint" -- the contents of the fingerprint file that Tor
- writes as a server, or a 551 if we're not a server currently.
- (Added in 0.1.2.3-alpha)
- "circuit-status"
- A series of lines as for a circuit status event. Each line is of
- the form:
- CircuitID SP CircStatus [SP Path] CRLF
- "stream-status"
- A series of lines as for a stream status event. Each is of the form:
- StreamID SP StreamStatus SP CircID SP Target CRLF
- "orconn-status"
- A series of lines as for an OR connection status event. Each is of the
- form:
- ServerID SP ORStatus CRLF
- "entry-guards"
- A series of lines listing the currently chosen entry guards, if any.
- Each is of the form:
- ServerID2 SP Status [SP ISOTime] CRLF
- Status-with-time = ("unlisted") SP ISOTime
- Status = ("up" / "never-connected" / "down" /
- "unusable" / "unlisted" )
- ServerID2 = Nickname / 40*HEXDIG
- [From 0.1.1.4-alpha to 0.1.1.10-alpha, this was called "helper-nodes".
- Tor still supports calling it that for now, but support will be
- removed in 0.1.3.x.]
- [Older versions of Tor (before 0.1.2.x-final) generated 'down' instead
- of unlisted/unusable. Current Tors never generate 'down'.]
- [XXXX ServerID2 differs from ServerID in not prefixing fingerprints
- with a $. This is an implementation error. It would be nice to add
- the $ back in if we can do so without breaking compatibility.]
- "accounting/enabled"
- "accounting/hibernating"
- "accounting/bytes"
- "accounting/bytes-left"
- "accounting/interval-start"
- "accounting/interval-wake"
- "accounting/interval-end"
- Information about accounting status. If accounting is enabled,
- "enabled" is 1; otherwise it is 0. The "hibernating" field is "hard"
- if we are accepting no data; "soft" if we're accepting no new
- connections, and "awake" if we're not hibernating at all. The "bytes"
- and "bytes-left" fields contain (read-bytes SP write-bytes), for the
- start and the rest of the interval respectively. The 'interval-start'
- and 'interval-end' fields are the borders of the current interval; the
- 'interval-wake' field is the time within the current interval (if any)
- where we plan[ned] to start being active.
- "config/names"
- A series of lines listing the available configuration options. Each is
- of the form:
- OptionName SP OptionType [ SP Documentation ] CRLF
- OptionName = Keyword
- OptionType = "Integer" / "TimeInterval" / "DataSize" / "Float" /
- "Boolean" / "Time" / "CommaList" / "Dependant" / "Virtual" /
- "String" / "LineList"
- Documentation = Text
- "info/names"
- A series of lines listing the available GETINFO options. Each is of
- one of these forms:
- OptionName SP Documentation CRLF
- OptionPrefix SP Documentation CRLF
- OptionPrefix = OptionName "/*"
- "events/names"
- A space-separated list of all the events supported by this version of
- Tor's SETEVENTS.
- "features/names"
- A space-separated list of all the events supported by this version of
- Tor's USEFEATURE.
- "ip-to-country/*"
- Maps IP addresses to 2-letter country codes. For example,
- "GETINFO ip-to-country/18.0.0.1" should give "US".
- "next-circuit/IP:port"
- XXX todo.
- "dir/status-vote/current/consensus" [added in Tor 0.2.1.6-alpha]
- "dir/status/authority"
- "dir/status/fp/<F>"
- "dir/status/fp/<F1>+<F2>+<F3>"
- "dir/status/all"
- "dir/server/fp/<F>"
- "dir/server/fp/<F1>+<F2>+<F3>"
- "dir/server/d/<D>"
- "dir/server/d/<D1>+<D2>+<D3>"
- "dir/server/authority"
- "dir/server/all"
- A series of lines listing directory contents, provided according to the
- specification for the URLs listed in Section 4.4 of dir-spec.txt. Note
- that Tor MUST NOT provide private information, such as descriptors for
- routers not marked as general-purpose. When asked for 'authority'
- information for which this Tor is not authoritative, Tor replies with
- an empty string.
- "status/circuit-established"
- "status/enough-dir-info"
- "status/good-server-descriptor"
- "status/..."
- These provide the current internal Tor values for various Tor
- states. See Section 4.1.10 for explanations. (Only a few of the
- status events are available as getinfo's currently. Let us know if
- you want more exposed.)
- "status/reachability/or"
- 0 or 1, depending on whether we've found our ORPort reachable.
- "status/reachability/dir"
- 0 or 1, depending on whether we've found our DirPort reachable.
- "status/reachability"
- "OR=" ("0"/"1") SP "DIR=" ("0"/"1")
- Combines status/reachability/*; controllers MUST ignore unrecognized
- elements in this entry.
- "status/bootstrap-phase"
- Returns the most recent bootstrap phase status event
- sent. Specifically, it returns a string starting with either
- "NOTICE BOOTSTRAP ..." or "WARN BOOTSTRAP ...". Controllers should
- use this getinfo when they connect or attach to Tor to learn its
- current bootstrap state.
- "status/version/recommended"
- List of currently recommended versions.
- "status/version/current"
- Status of the current version. One of: new, old, unrecommended,
- recommended, new in series, obsolete.
- "status/clients-seen"
- A summary of which countries we've seen clients from recently,
- formatted the same as the CLIENTS_SEEN status event described in
- Section 4.1.14. This GETINFO option is currently available only
- for bridge relays.
- Examples:
- C: GETINFO version desc/name/moria1
- S: 250+desc/name/moria=
- S: [Descriptor for moria]
- S: .
- S: 250-version=Tor 0.1.1.0-alpha-cvs
- S: 250 OK
- 3.10. EXTENDCIRCUIT
- Sent from the client to the server. The format is:
- "EXTENDCIRCUIT" SP CircuitID SP
- ServerSpec *("," ServerSpec)
- [SP "purpose=" Purpose] CRLF
- This request takes one of two forms: either the CircuitID is zero, in
- which case it is a request for the server to build a new circuit according
- to the specified path, or the CircuitID is nonzero, in which case it is a
- request for the server to extend an existing circuit with that ID according
- to the specified path.
- If CircuitID is 0 and "purpose=" is specified, then the circuit's
- purpose is set. Two choices are recognized: "general" and
- "controller". If not specified, circuits are created as "general".
- If the request is successful, the server sends a reply containing a
- message body consisting of the CircuitID of the (maybe newly created)
- circuit. The syntax is "250" SP "EXTENDED" SP CircuitID CRLF.
- 3.11. SETCIRCUITPURPOSE
- Sent from the client to the server. The format is:
- "SETCIRCUITPURPOSE" SP CircuitID SP Purpose CRLF
- This changes the circuit's purpose. See EXTENDCIRCUIT above for details.
- 3.12. SETROUTERPURPOSE
- Sent from the client to the server. The format is:
- "SETROUTERPURPOSE" SP NicknameOrKey SP Purpose CRLF
- This changes the descriptor's purpose. See +POSTDESCRIPTOR below
- for details.
- NOTE: This command was disabled and made obsolete as of Tor
- 0.2.0.8-alpha. It doesn't exist anymore, and is listed here only for
- historical interest.
- 3.13. ATTACHSTREAM
- Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
- "ATTACHSTREAM" SP StreamID SP CircuitID [SP "HOP=" HopNum] CRLF
- This message informs the server that the specified stream should be
- associated with the specified circuit. Each stream may be associated with
- at most one circuit, and multiple streams may share the same circuit.
- Streams can only be attached to completed circuits (that is, circuits that
- have sent a circuit status 'BUILT' event or are listed as built in a
- GETINFO circuit-status request).
- If the circuit ID is 0, responsibility for attaching the given stream is
- returned to Tor.
- If HOP=HopNum is specified, Tor will choose the HopNumth hop in the
- circuit as the exit node, rather than the last node in the circuit.
- Hops are 1-indexed; generally, it is not permitted to attach to hop 1.
- Tor responds with "250 OK" if it can attach the stream, 552 if the circuit
- or stream didn't exist, or 551 if the stream couldn't be attached for
- another reason.
- {Implementation note: Tor will close unattached streams by itself,
- roughly two minutes after they are born. Let the developers know if
- that turns out to be a problem.}
- {Implementation note: By default, Tor automatically attaches streams to
- circuits itself, unless the configuration variable
- "__LeaveStreamsUnattached" is set to "1". Attempting to attach streams
- via TC when "__LeaveStreamsUnattached" is false may cause a race between
- Tor and the controller, as both attempt to attach streams to circuits.}
- {Implementation note: You can try to attachstream to a stream that
- has already sent a connect or resolve request but hasn't succeeded
- yet, in which case Tor will detach the stream from its current circuit
- before proceeding with the new attach request.}
- 3.14. POSTDESCRIPTOR
- Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
- "+POSTDESCRIPTOR" [SP "purpose=" Purpose] [SP "cache=" Cache]
- CRLF Descriptor CRLF "." CRLF
- This message informs the server about a new descriptor. If Purpose is
- specified, it must be either "general", "controller", or "bridge",
- else we return a 552 error. The default is "general".
- If Cache is specified, it must be either "no" or "yes", else we
- return a 552 error. If Cache is not specified, Tor will decide for
- itself whether it wants to cache the descriptor, and controllers
- must not rely on its choice.
- The descriptor, when parsed, must contain a number of well-specified
- fields, including fields for its nickname and identity.
- If there is an error in parsing the descriptor, the server must send a
- "554 Invalid descriptor" reply. If the descriptor is well-formed but
- the server chooses not to add it, it must reply with a 251 message
- whose body explains why the server was not added. If the descriptor
- is added, Tor replies with "250 OK".
- 3.15. REDIRECTSTREAM
- Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
- "REDIRECTSTREAM" SP StreamID SP Address [SP Port] CRLF
- Tells the server to change the exit address on the specified stream. If
- Port is specified, changes the destination port as well. No remapping
- is performed on the new provided address.
- To be sure that the modified address will be used, this event must be sent
- after a new stream event is received, and before attaching this stream to
- a circuit.
- Tor replies with "250 OK" on success.
- 3.16. CLOSESTREAM
- Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
- "CLOSESTREAM" SP StreamID SP Reason *(SP Flag) CRLF
- Tells the server to close the specified stream. The reason should be one
- of the Tor RELAY_END reasons given in tor-spec.txt, as a decimal. Flags is
- not used currently; Tor servers SHOULD ignore unrecognized flags. Tor may
- hold the stream open for a while to flush any data that is pending.
- Tor replies with "250 OK" on success, or a 512 if there aren't enough
- arguments, or a 552 if it doesn't recognize the StreamID or reason.
- 3.17. CLOSECIRCUIT
- The syntax is:
- CLOSECIRCUIT SP CircuitID *(SP Flag) CRLF
- Flag = "IfUnused"
- Tells the server to close the specified circuit. If "IfUnused" is
- provided, do not close the circuit unless it is unused.
- Other flags may be defined in the future; Tor SHOULD ignore unrecognized
- flags.
- Tor replies with "250 OK" on success, or a 512 if there aren't enough
- arguments, or a 552 if it doesn't recognize the CircuitID.
- 3.18. QUIT
- Tells the server to hang up on this controller connection. This command
- can be used before authenticating.
- 3.19. USEFEATURE
- The syntax is:
- "USEFEATURE" *(SP FeatureName) CRLF
- FeatureName = 1*(ALPHA / DIGIT / "_" / "-")
- Sometimes extensions to the controller protocol break compatibility with
- older controllers. In this case, whenever possible, the extensions are
- first included in Tor disabled by default, and only enabled on a given
- controller connection when the "USEFEATURE" command is given. Once a
- "USEFEATURE" command is given, it applies to all subsequent interactions on
- the same connection; to disable an enabled feature, a new controller
- connection must be opened.
- This is a forward-compatibility mechanism; each feature will eventually
- become a regular part of the control protocol in some future version of Tor.
- Tor will ignore a request to use any feature that is already on by default.
- Tor will give a "552" error if any requested feature is not recognized.
- Feature names are case-insensitive.
- EXTENDED_EVENTS
- Same as passing 'EXTENDED' to SETEVENTS; this is the preferred way to
- request the extended event syntax.
- This will not be always-enabled until at least two stable releases
- after 0.1.2.3-alpha, the release where it was first used for
- anything.
- VERBOSE_NAMES
- Instead of ServerID as specified above, the controller should
- identify ORs by LongName in events and GETINFO results. This format is
- strictly more informative: rather than including Nickname for
- known Named routers and Fingerprint for unknown or unNamed routers, the
- LongName format includes a Fingerprint, an indication of Named status,
- and a Nickname (if one is known).
- This will not be always-enabled until at least two stable releases
- after 0.1.2.2-alpha, the release where it was first available.
- 3.20. RESOLVE
- The syntax is
- "RESOLVE" *Option *Address CRLF
- Option = "mode=reverse"
- Address = a hostname or IPv4 address
- This command launches a remote hostname lookup request for every specified
- request (or reverse lookup if "mode=reverse" is specified). Note that the
- request is done in the background: to see the answers, your controller will
- need to listen for ADDRMAP events; see 4.1.7 below.
- [Added in Tor 0.2.0.3-alpha]
- 3.21. PROTOCOLINFO
- The syntax is:
- "PROTOCOLINFO" *(SP PIVERSION) CRLF
- The server reply format is:
- "250-PROTOCOLINFO" SP PIVERSION CRLF *InfoLine "250 OK" CRLF
- InfoLine = AuthLine / VersionLine / OtherLine
- AuthLine = "250-AUTH" SP "METHODS=" AuthMethod *(",")AuthMethod
- *(SP "COOKIEFILE=" AuthCookieFile) CRLF
- VersionLine = "250-VERSION" SP "Tor=" TorVersion [SP Arguments] CRLF
- AuthMethod =
- "NULL" / ; No authentication is required
- "HASHEDPASSWORD" / ; A controller must supply the original password
- "COOKIE" / ; A controller must supply the contents of a cookie
- AuthCookieFile = QuotedString
- TorVersion = QuotedString
- OtherLine = "250-" Keyword [SP Arguments] CRLF
- PIVERSION: 1*DIGIT
- Tor MAY give its InfoLines in any order; controllers MUST ignore InfoLines
- with keywords they do not recognize. Controllers MUST ignore extraneous
- data on any InfoLine.
- PIVERSION is there in case we drastically change the syntax one day. For
- now it should always be "1". Controllers MAY provide a list of the
- protocolinfo versions they support; Tor MAY select a version that the
- controller does not support.
- AuthMethod is used to specify one or more control authentication
- methods that Tor currently accepts.
- AuthCookieFile specifies the absolute path and filename of the
- authentication cookie that Tor is expecting and is provided iff
- the METHODS field contains the method "COOKIE". Controllers MUST handle
- escape sequences inside this string.
- The VERSION line contains the Tor version.
- [Unlike other commands besides AUTHENTICATE, PROTOCOLINFO may be used (but
- only once!) before AUTHENTICATE.]
- [PROTOCOLINFO was not supported before Tor 0.2.0.5-alpha.]
- 4. Replies
- Reply codes follow the same 3-character format as used by SMTP, with the
- first character defining a status, the second character defining a
- subsystem, and the third designating fine-grained information.
- The TC protocol currently uses the following first characters:
- 2yz Positive Completion Reply
- The command was successful; a new request can be started.
- 4yz Temporary Negative Completion reply
- The command was unsuccessful but might be reattempted later.
- 5yz Permanent Negative Completion Reply
- The command was unsuccessful; the client should not try exactly
- that sequence of commands again.
- 6yz Asynchronous Reply
- Sent out-of-order in response to an earlier SETEVENTS command.
- The following second characters are used:
- x0z Syntax
- Sent in response to ill-formed or nonsensical commands.
- x1z Protocol
- Refers to operations of the Tor Control protocol.
- x5z Tor
- Refers to actual operations of Tor system.
- The following codes are defined:
- 250 OK
- 251 Operation was unnecessary
- [Tor has declined to perform the operation, but no harm was done.]
- 451 Resource exhausted
- 500 Syntax error: protocol
- 510 Unrecognized command
- 511 Unimplemented command
- 512 Syntax error in command argument
- 513 Unrecognized command argument
- 514 Authentication required
- 515 Bad authentication
- 550 Unspecified Tor error
- 551 Internal error
- [Something went wrong inside Tor, so that the client's
- request couldn't be fulfilled.]
- 552 Unrecognized entity
- [A configuration key, a stream ID, circuit ID, event,
- mentioned in the command did not actually exist.]
- 553 Invalid configuration value
- [The client tried to set a configuration option to an
- incorrect, ill-formed, or impossible value.]
- 554 Invalid descriptor
- 555 Unmanaged entity
- 650 Asynchronous event notification
- Unless specified to have specific contents, the human-readable messages
- in error replies should not be relied upon to match those in this document.
- 4.1. Asynchronous events
- These replies can be sent after a corresponding SETEVENTS command has been
- received. They will not be interleaved with other Reply elements, but they
- can appear between a command and its corresponding reply. For example,
- this sequence is possible:
- C: SETEVENTS CIRC
- S: 250 OK
- C: GETCONF SOCKSPORT ORPORT
- S: 650 CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2
- S: 250-SOCKSPORT=9050
- S: 250 ORPORT=0
- But this sequence is disallowed:
- C: SETEVENTS CIRC
- S: 250 OK
- C: GETCONF SOCKSPORT ORPORT
- S: 250-SOCKSPORT=9050
- S: 650 CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2
- S: 250 ORPORT=0
- Clients MUST tolerate more arguments in an asynchonous reply than
- expected, and MUST tolerate more lines in an asynchronous reply than
- expected. For instance, a client that expects a CIRC message like:
- 650 CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2
- must tolerate:
- 650-CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2 0xBEEF
- 650-EXTRAMAGIC=99
- 650 ANONYMITY=high
- If clients ask for extended events, then each event line as specified below
- will be followed by additional extensions. Additional lines will be of the
- form
- "650" ("-"/" ") KEYWORD ["=" ARGUMENTS] CRLF
- Additional arguments will be of the form
- SP KEYWORD ["=" ( QuotedString / * NonSpDquote ) ]
- Such clients MUST tolerate lines with keywords they do not recognize.
- 4.1.1. Circuit status changed
- The syntax is:
- "650" SP "CIRC" SP CircuitID SP CircStatus [SP Path]
- [SP "REASON=" Reason [SP "REMOTE_REASON=" Reason]] CRLF
- CircStatus =
- "LAUNCHED" / ; circuit ID assigned to new circuit
- "BUILT" / ; all hops finished, can now accept streams
- "EXTENDED" / ; one more hop has been completed
- "FAILED" / ; circuit closed (was not built)
- "CLOSED" ; circuit closed (was built)
- Path = ServerID *("," ServerID)
- Reason = "NONE" / "TORPROTOCOL" / "INTERNAL" / "REQUESTED" /
- "HIBERNATING" / "RESOURCELIMIT" / "CONNECTFAILED" /
- "OR_IDENTITY" / "OR_CONN_CLOSED" / "TIMEOUT" /
- "FINISHED" / "DESTROYED" / "NOPATH" / "NOSUCHSERVICE"
- The path is provided only when the circuit has been extended at least one
- hop.
- The "REASON" field is provided only for FAILED and CLOSED events, and only
- if extended events are enabled (see 3.19). Clients MUST accept reasons
- not listed above. Reasons are as given in tor-spec.txt, except for:
- NOPATH (Not enough nodes to make circuit)
- The "REMOTE_REASON" field is provided only when we receive a DESTROY or
- TRUNCATE cell, and only if extended events are enabled. It contains the
- actual reason given by the remote OR for closing the circuit. Clients MUST
- accept reasons not listed above. Reasons are as listed in tor-spec.txt.
- 4.1.2. Stream status changed
- The syntax is:
- "650" SP "STREAM" SP StreamID SP StreamStatus SP CircID SP Target
- [SP "REASON=" Reason [ SP "REMOTE_REASON=" Reason ]]
- [SP "SOURCE=" Source] [ SP "SOURCE_ADDR=" Address ":" Port ]
- [SP "PURPOSE=" Purpose]
- CRLF
- StreamStatus =
- "NEW" / ; New request to connect
- "NEWRESOLVE" / ; New request to resolve an address
- "REMAP" / ; Address re-mapped to another
- "SENTCONNECT" / ; Sent a connect cell along a circuit
- "SENTRESOLVE" / ; Sent a resolve cell along a circuit
- "SUCCEEDED" / ; Received a reply; stream established
- "FAILED" / ; Stream failed and not retriable
- "CLOSED" / ; Stream closed
- "DETACHED" ; Detached from circuit; still retriable
- Target = Address ":" Port
- The circuit ID designates which circuit this stream is attached to. If
- the stream is unattached, the circuit ID "0" is given.
- Reason = "MISC" / "RESOLVEFAILED" / "CONNECTREFUSED" /
- "EXITPOLICY" / "DESTROY" / "DONE" / "TIMEOUT" /
- "HIBERNATING" / "INTERNAL"/ "RESOURCELIMIT" /
- "CONNRESET" / "TORPROTOCOL" / "NOTDIRECTORY" / "END"
- The "REASON" field is provided only for FAILED, CLOSED, and DETACHED
- events, and only if extended events are enabled (see 3.19). Clients MUST
- accept reasons not listed above. Reasons are as given in tor-spec.txt,
- except for:
- END (We received a RELAY_END cell from the other side of this
- stream.)
- [XXXX document more. -NM]
- The "REMOTE_REASON" field is provided only when we receive a RELAY_END
- cell, and only if extended events are enabled. It contains the actual
- reason given by the remote OR for closing the stream. Clients MUST accept
- reasons not listed above. Reasons are as listed in tor-spec.txt.
- "REMAP" events include a Source if extended events are enabled:
- Source = "CACHE" / "EXIT"
- Clients MUST accept sources not listed above. "CACHE" is given if
- the Tor client decided to remap the address because of a cached
- answer, and "EXIT" is given if the remote node we queried gave us
- the new address as a response.
- The "SOURCE_ADDR" field is included with NEW and NEWRESOLVE events if
- extended events are enabled. It indicates the address and port
- that requested the connection, and can be (e.g.) used to look up the
- requesting program.
- Purpose = "DIR_FETCH" / "UPLOAD_DESC" / "DNS_REQUEST" /
- "USER" / "DIRPORT_TEST"
- The "PURPOSE" field is provided only for NEW and NEWRESOLVE events, and
- only if extended events are enabled (see 3.19). Clients MUST accept
- purposes not listed above.
- 4.1.3. OR Connection status changed
- The syntax is:
- "650" SP "ORCONN" SP (ServerID / Target) SP ORStatus [ SP "REASON="
- Reason ] [ SP "NCIRCS=" NumCircuits ] CRLF
- ORStatus = "NEW" / "LAUNCHED" / "CONNECTED" / "FAILED" / "CLOSED"
- NEW is for incoming connections, and LAUNCHED is for outgoing
- connections. CONNECTED means the TLS handshake has finished (in
- either direction). FAILED means a connection is being closed that
- hasn't finished its handshake, and CLOSED is for connections that
- have handshaked.
- A ServerID is specified unless it's a NEW connection, in which
- case we don't know what server it is yet, so we use Address:Port.
- If extended events are enabled (see 3.19), optional reason and
- circuit counting information is provided for CLOSED and FAILED
- events.
- Reason = "MISC" / "DONE" / "CONNECTREFUSED" /
- "IDENTITY" / "CONNECTRESET" / "TIMEOUT" / "NOROUTE" /
- "IOERROR" / "RESOURCELIMIT"
- NumCircuits counts both established and pending circuits.
- 4.1.4. Bandwidth used in the last second
- The syntax is:
- "650" SP "BW" SP BytesRead SP BytesWritten *(SP Type "=" Num) CRLF
- BytesRead = 1*DIGIT
- BytesWritten = 1*DIGIT
- Type = "DIR" / "OR" / "EXIT" / "APP" / ...
- Num = 1*DIGIT
- BytesRead and BytesWritten are the totals. [In a future Tor version,
- we may also include a breakdown of the connection types that used
- bandwidth this second (not implemented yet).]
- 4.1.5. Log messages
- The syntax is:
- "650" SP Severity SP ReplyText CRLF
- or
- "650+" Severity CRLF Data 650 SP "OK" CRLF
- Severity = "DEBUG" / "INFO" / "NOTICE" / "WARN"/ "ERR"
- 4.1.6. New descriptors available
- Syntax:
- "650" SP "NEWDESC" 1*(SP ServerID) CRLF
- 4.1.7. New Address mapping
- Syntax:
- "650" SP "ADDRMAP" SP Address SP NewAddress SP Expiry
- [SP Error] SP GMTExpiry CRLF
- NewAddress = Address / "<error>"
- Expiry = DQUOTE ISOTime DQUOTE / "NEVER"
- Error = "error=" ErrorCode
- ErrorCode = XXXX
- GMTExpiry = "EXPIRES=" DQUOTE IsoTime DQUOTE
- Error and GMTExpiry are only provided if extended events are enabled.
- Expiry is expressed as the local time (rather than GMT). This is a bug,
- left in for backward compatibility; new code should look at GMTExpiry
- instead.
- These events are generated when a new address mapping is entered in the
- cache, or when the answer for a RESOLVE command is found.
- 4.1.8. Descriptors uploaded to us in our role as authoritative dirserver
- Syntax:
- "650" "+" "AUTHDIR_NEWDESCS" CRLF Action CRLF Message CRLF
- Descriptor CRLF "." CRLF "650" SP "OK" CRLF
- Action = "ACCEPTED" / "DROPPED" / "REJECTED"
- Message = Text
- 4.1.9. Our descriptor changed
- Syntax:
- "650" SP "DESCCHANGED" CRLF
- [First added in 0.1.2.2-alpha.]
- 4.1.10. Status events
- Status events (STATUS_GENERAL, STATUS_CLIENT, and STATUS_SERVER) are sent
- based on occurrences in the Tor process pertaining to the general state of
- the program. Generally, they correspond to log messages of severity Notice
- or higher. They differ from log messages in that their format is a
- specified interface.
- Syntax:
- "650" SP StatusType SP StatusSeverity SP StatusAction
- [SP StatusArguments] CRLF
- StatusType = "STATUS_GENERAL" / "STATUS_CLIENT" / "STATUS_SERVER"
- StatusSeverity = "NOTICE" / "WARN" / "ERR"
- StatusAction = 1*ALPHA
- StatusArguments = StatusArgument *(SP StatusArgument)
- StatusArgument = StatusKeyword '=' StatusValue
- StatusKeyword = 1*(ALNUM / "_")
- StatusValue = 1*(ALNUM / '_') / QuotedString
- Action is a string, and Arguments is a series of keyword=value
- pairs on the same line. Values may be space-terminated strings,
- or quoted strings.
- These events are always produced with EXTENDED_EVENTS and
- VERBOSE_NAMES; see the explanations in the USEFEATURE section
- for details.
- Controllers MUST tolerate unrecognized actions, MUST tolerate
- unrecognized arguments, MUST tolerate missing arguments, and MUST
- tolerate arguments that arrive in any order.
- Each event description below is accompanied by a recommendation for
- controllers. These recommendations are suggestions only; no controller
- is required to implement them.
- Compatibility note: versions of Tor before 0.2.0.22-rc incorrectly
- generated "STATUS_SERVER" as "STATUS_SEVER". To be compatible with those
- versions, tools should accept both.
- Actions for STATUS_GENERAL events can be as follows:
- CLOCK_JUMPED
- "TIME=NUM"
- Tor spent enough time without CPU cycles that it has closed all
- its circuits and will establish them anew. This typically
- happens when a laptop goes to sleep and then wakes up again. It
- also happens when the system is swapping so heavily that Tor is
- starving. The "time" argument specifies the number of seconds Tor
- thinks it was unconscious for (or alternatively, the number of
- seconds it went back in time).
- This status event is sent as NOTICE severity normally, but WARN
- severity if Tor is acting as a server currently.
- {Recommendation for controller: ignore it, since we don't really
- know what the user should do anyway. Hm.}
- DANGEROUS_VERSION
- "CURRENT=version"
- "REASON=NEW/OBSOLETE/UNRECOMMENDED"
- "RECOMMENDED=\"version, version, ...\""
- Tor has found that directory servers don't recommend its version of
- the Tor software. RECOMMENDED is a comma-and-space-separated string
- of Tor versions that are recommended. REASON is NEW if this version
- of Tor is newer than any recommended version, OBSOLETE if
- this version of Tor is older than any recommended version, and
- UNRECOMMENDED if some recommended versions of Tor are newer and
- some are older than this version. (The "OBSOLETE" reason was called
- "OLD" from Tor 0.1.2.3-alpha up to and including 0.2.0.12-alpha.)
- {Controllers may want to suggest that the user upgrade OLD or
- UNRECOMMENDED versions. NEW versions may be known-insecure, or may
- simply be development versions.}
- TOO_MANY_CONNECTIONS
- "CURRENT=NUM"
- Tor has reached its ulimit -n or whatever the native limit is on file
- descriptors or sockets. CURRENT is the number of sockets Tor
- currently has open. The user should really do something about
- this. The "current" argument shows the number of connections currently
- open.
- {Controllers may recommend that the user increase the limit, or
- increase it for them. Recommendations should be phrased in an
- OS-appropriate way and automated when possible.}
- BUG
- "REASON=STRING"
- Tor has encountered a situation that its developers never expected,
- and the developers would like to learn that it happened. Perhaps
- the controller can explain this to the user and encourage her to
- file a bug report?
- {Controllers should log bugs, but shouldn't annoy the user in case a
- bug appears frequently.}
- CLOCK_SKEW
- SKEW="+" / "-" SECONDS
- MIN_SKEW="+" / "-" SECONDS.
- SOURCE="DIRSERV:IP:Port" / "NETWORKSTATUS:IP:PORT" / "CONSENSUS"
- If "SKEW" is present, it's an estimate of how far we are from the
- time declared in the source. (In other words, if we're an hour in
- the past, the value is -3600.) "MIN_SKEW" is present, it's a lower
- bound. If the source is a DIRSERV, we got the current time from a
- connection to a dirserver. If the source is a NETWORKSTATUS, we
- decided we're skewed because we got a v2 networkstatus from far in
- the future. If the source is CONSENSUS, we decided we're skewed
- because we got a networkstatus consensus from the future.
- {Controllers may want to warn the user if the skew is high, or if
- multiple skew messages appear at severity WARN. Controllers
- shouldn't blindly adjust the clock, since the more accurate source
- of skew info (DIRSERV) is currently unauthenticated.}
- BAD_LIBEVENT
- "METHOD=" libevent method
- "VERSION=" libevent version
- "BADNESS=" "BROKEN" / "BUGGY" / "SLOW"
- "RECOVERED=" "NO" / "YES"
- Tor knows about bugs in using the configured event method in this
- version of libevent. "BROKEN" libevents won't work at all;
- "BUGGY" libevents might work okay; "SLOW" libevents will work
- fine, but not quickly. If "RECOVERED" is YES, Tor managed to
- switch to a more reliable (but probably slower!) libevent method.
- {Controllers may want to warn the user if this event occurs, though
- generally it's the fault of whoever built the Tor binary and there's
- not much the user can do besides upgrade libevent or upgrade the
- binary.}
- DIR_ALL_UNREACHABLE
- Tor believes that none of the known directory servers are
- reachable -- this is most likely because the local network is
- down or otherwise not working, and might help to explain for the
- user why Tor appears to be broken.
- {Controllers may want to warn the user if this event occurs; further
- action is generally not possible.}
- CONSENSUS_ARRIVED
- Tor has received and validated a new consensus networkstatus.
- (This event can be delayed a little while after the consensus
- is received, if Tor needs to fetch certificates.)
- Actions for STATUS_CLIENT events can be as follows:
- BOOTSTRAP
- "PROGRESS=" num
- "TAG=" Keyword
- "SUMMARY=" String
- ["WARNING=" String
- "REASON=" Keyword
- "COUNT=" num
- "RECOMMENDATION=" Keyword
- ]
- Tor has made some progress at establishing a connection to the
- Tor network, fetching directory information, or making its first
- circuit; or it has encountered a problem while bootstrapping. This
- status event is especially useful for users with slow connections
- or with connectivity problems.
- "Progress" gives a number between 0 and 100 for how far through
- the bootstrapping process we are. "Summary" is a string that can
- be displayed to the user to describe the *next* task that Tor
- will tackle, i.e., the task it is working on after sending the
- status event. "Tag" is a string that controllers can use to
- recognize bootstrap phases, if they want to do something smarter
- than just blindly displaying the summary string; see Section 5
- for the current tags that Tor issues.
- The StatusSeverity describes whether this is a normal bootstrap
- phase (severity notice) or an indication of a bootstrapping
- problem (severity warn).
- For bootstrap problems, we include the same progress, tag, and
- summary values as we would for a normal bootstrap event, but we
- also include "warning", "reason", "count", and "recommendation"
- key/value combos. The "count" number tells how many bootstrap
- problems there have been so far at this phase. The "reason"
- string lists one of the reasons allowed in the ORCONN event. The
- "warning" argument string with any hints Tor has to offer about
- why it's having troubles bootstrapping.
- The "reason" values are long-term-stable controller-facing tags to
- identify particular issues in a bootstrapping step. The warning
- strings, on the other hand, are human-readable. Controllers
- SHOULD NOT rely on the format of any warning string. Currently
- the possible values for "recommendation" are either "ignore" or
- "warn" -- if ignore, the controller can accumulate the string in
- a pile of problems to show the user if the user asks; if warn,
- the controller should alert the user that Tor is pretty sure
- there's a bootstrapping problem.
- Currently Tor uses recommendation=ignore for the first
- nine bootstrap problem reports for a given phase, and then
- uses recommendation=warn for subsequent problems at that
- phase. Hopefully this is a good balance between tolerating
- occasional errors and reporting serious problems quickly.
- ENOUGH_DIR_INFO
- Tor now knows enough network-status documents and enough server
- descriptors that it's going to start trying to build circuits now.
- {Controllers may want to use this event to decide when to indicate
- progress to their users, but should not interrupt the user's browsing
- to tell them so.}
- NOT_ENOUGH_DIR_INFO
- We discarded expired statuses and router descriptors to fall
- below the desired threshold of directory information. We won't
- try to build any circuits until ENOUGH_DIR_INFO occurs again.
- {Controllers may want to use this event to decide when to indicate
- progress to their users, but should not interrupt the user's browsing
- to tell them so.}
- CIRCUIT_ESTABLISHED
- Tor is able to establish circuits for client use. This event will
- only be sent if we just built a circuit that changed our mind --
- that is, prior to this event we didn't know whether we could
- establish circuits.
- {Suggested use: controllers can notify their users that Tor is
- ready for use as a client once they see this status event. [Perhaps
- controllers should also have a timeout if too much time passes and
- this event hasn't arrived, to give tips on how to troubleshoot.
- On the other hand, hopefully Tor will send further status events
- if it can identify the problem.]}
- CIRCUIT_NOT_ESTABLISHED
- "REASON=" "EXTERNAL_ADDRESS" / "DIR_ALL_UNREACHABLE" / "CLOCK_JUMPED"
- We are no longer confident that we can build circuits. The "reason"
- keyword provides an explanation: which other status event type caused
- our lack of confidence.
- {Controllers may want to use this event to decide when to indicate
- progress to their users, but should not interrupt the user's browsing
- to do so.}
- [Note: only REASON=CLOCK_JUMPED is implemented currently.]
- DANGEROUS_PORT
- "PORT=" port
- "RESULT=" "REJECT" / "WARN"
- A stream was initiated to a port that's commonly used for
- vulnerable-plaintext protocols. If the Result is "reject", we
- refused the connection; whereas if it's "warn", we allowed it.
- {Controllers should warn their users when this occurs, unless they
- happen to know that the application using Tor is in fact doing so
- correctly (e.g., because it is part of a distributed bundle). They
- might also want some sort of interface to let the user configure
- their RejectPlaintextPorts and WarnPlaintextPorts config options.}
- DANGEROUS_SOCKS
- "PROTOCOL=" "SOCKS4" / "SOCKS5"
- "ADDRESS=" IP:port
- A connection was made to Tor's SOCKS port using one of the SOCKS
- approaches that doesn't support hostnames -- only raw IP addresses.
- If the client application got this address from gethostbyname(),
- it may be leaking target addresses via DNS.
- {Controllers should warn their users when this occurs, unless they
- happen to know that the application using Tor is in fact doing so
- correctly (e.g., because it is part of a distributed bundle).}
- SOCKS_UNKNOWN_PROTOCOL
- "DATA=string"
- A connection was made to Tor's SOCKS port that tried to use it
- for something other than the SOCKS protocol. Perhaps the user is
- using Tor as an HTTP proxy? The DATA is the first few characters
- sent to Tor on the SOCKS port.
- {Controllers may want to warn their users when this occurs: it
- indicates a misconfigured application.}
- SOCKS_BAD_HOSTNAME
- "HOSTNAME=QuotedString"
- Some application gave us a funny-looking hostname. Perhaps
- it is broken? In any case it won't work with Tor and the user
- should know.
- {Controllers may want to warn their users when this occurs: it
- usually indicates a misconfigured application.}
- Actions for STATUS_SERVER can be as follows:
- EXTERNAL_ADDRESS
- "ADDRESS=IP"
- "HOSTNAME=NAME"
- "METHOD=CONFIGURED/DIRSERV/RESOLVED/INTERFACE/GETHOSTNAME"
- Our best idea for our externally visible IP has changed to 'IP'.
- If 'HOSTNAME' is present, we got the new IP by resolving 'NAME'. If the
- method is 'CONFIGURED', the IP was given verbatim as a configuration
- option. If the method is 'RESOLVED', we resolved the Address
- configuration option to get the IP. If the method is 'GETHOSTNAME',
- we resolved our hostname to get the IP. If the method is 'INTERFACE',
- we got the address of one of our network interfaces to get the IP. If
- the method is 'DIRSERV', a directory server told us a guess for what
- our IP might be.
- {Controllers may want to record this info and display it to the user.}
- CHECKING_REACHABILITY
- "ORADDRESS=IP:port"
- "DIRADDRESS=IP:port"
- We're going to start testing the reachability of our external OR port
- or directory port.
- {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status, but
- the controller should not interrupt the user to tell them so.}
- REACHABILITY_SUCCEEDED
- "ORADDRESS=IP:port"
- "DIRADDRESS=IP:port"
- We successfully verified the reachability of our external OR port or
- directory port (depending on which of ORADDRESS or DIRADDRESS is
- given.)
- {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status, but
- the controller should not interrupt the user to tell them so.}
- GOOD_SERVER_DESCRIPTOR
- We successfully uploaded our server descriptor to at least one
- of the directory authorities, with no complaints.
- {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status, but
- the controller should not interrupt the user to tell them so.}
- NAMESERVER_STATUS
- "NS=addr"
- "STATUS=" "UP" / "DOWN"
- "ERR=" message
- One of our nameservers has changed status.
- // actually notice
- {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status, but
- the controller should not interrupt the user to tell them so.}
- NAMESERVER_ALL_DOWN
- All of our nameservers have gone down.
- {This is a problem; if it happens often without the nameservers
- coming up again, the user needs to configure more or better
- nameservers.}
- DNS_HIJACKED
- Our DNS provider is providing an address when it should be saying
- "NOTFOUND"; Tor will treat the address as a synonym for "NOTFOUND".
- {This is an annoyance; controllers may want to tell admins that their
- DNS provider is not to be trusted.}
- DNS_USELESS
- Our DNS provider is giving a hijacked address instead of well-known
- websites; Tor will not try to be an exit node.
- {Controllers could warn the admin if the server is running as an
- exit server: the admin needs to configure a good DNS server.
- Alternatively, this happens a lot in some restrictive environments
- (hotels, universities, coffeeshops) when the user hasn't registered.}
- BAD_SERVER_DESCRIPTOR
- "DIRAUTH=addr:port"
- "REASON=string"
- A directory authority rejected our descriptor. Possible reasons
- include malformed descriptors, incorrect keys, highly skewed clocks,
- and so on.
- {Controllers should warn the admin, and try to cope if they can.}
- ACCEPTED_SERVER_DESCRIPTOR
- "DIRAUTH=addr:port"
- A single directory authority accepted our descriptor.
- // actually notice
- {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status, but
- the controller should not interrupt the user to tell them so.}
- REACHABILITY_FAILED
- "ORADDRESS=IP:port"
- "DIRADDRESS=IP:port"
- We failed to connect to our external OR port or directory port
- successfully.
- {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status. The
- controller should warn the admin and suggest reasonable steps to take.}
- 4.1.11. Our set of guard nodes has changed
- Syntax:
- "650" SP "GUARD" SP Type SP Name SP Status ... CRLF
- Type = "ENTRY"
- Name = The (possibly verbose) nickname of the guard affected.
- Status = "NEW" | "UP" | "DOWN" | "BAD" | "GOOD" | "DROPPED"
- [explain states. XXX]
- 4.1.12. Network status has changed
- Syntax:
- "650" "+" "NS" CRLF 1*NetworkStatus "." CRLF "650" SP "OK" CRLF
- [First added in 0.1.2.3-alpha]
- 4.1.13. Bandwidth used on an application stream
- The syntax is:
- "650" SP "STREAM_BW" SP StreamID SP BytesRead SP BytesWritten CRLF
- BytesRead = 1*DIGIT
- BytesWritten = 1*DIGIT
- BytesRead and BytesWritten are the number of bytes read and written since
- the last STREAM_BW event on this stream. These events are generated about
- once per second per stream; no events are generated for streams that have
- not read or written.
- These events apply only to streams entering Tor (such as on a SOCKSPort,
- TransPort, or so on). They are not generated for exiting streams.
- 4.1.14. Per-country client stats
- The syntax is:
- "650" SP "CLIENTS_SEEN" SP TimeStarted SP CountrySummary CRLF
- We just generated a new summary of which countries we've seen clients
- from recently. The controller could display this for the user, e.g.
- in their "relay" configuration window, to give them a sense that they
- are actually being useful.
- Currently only bridge relays will receive this event, but once we figure
- out how to sufficiently aggregate and sanitize the client counts on
- main relays, we might start sending these events in other cases too.
- TimeStarted is a quoted string indicating when the reported summary
- counts from (in GMT).
- The CountrySummary keyword has as its argument a comma-separated
- set of "countrycode=count" pairs. For example,
- 650-CLIENTS_SEEN TimeStarted="Thu Dec 25 23:50:43 EST 2008"
- 650 CountrySummary=us=16,de=8,uk=8
- 5. Implementation notes
- 5.1. Authentication
- If the control port is open and no authentication operation is enabled, Tor
- trusts any local user that connects to the control port. This is generally
- a poor idea.
- If the 'CookieAuthentication' option is true, Tor writes a "magic cookie"
- file named "control_auth_cookie" into its data directory. To authenticate,
- the controller must send the contents of this file, encoded in hexadecimal.
- If the 'HashedControlPassword' option is set, it must contain the salted
- hash of a secret password. The salted hash is computed according to the
- S2K algorithm in RFC 2440 (OpenPGP), and prefixed with the s2k specifier.
- This is then encoded in hexadecimal, prefixed by the indicator sequence
- "16:". Thus, for example, the password 'foo' could encode to:
- 16:660537E3E1CD49996044A3BF558097A981F539FEA2F9DA662B4626C1C2
- ++++++++++++++++**^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- salt hashed value
- indicator
- You can generate the salt of a password by calling
- 'tor --hash-password <password>'
- or by using the example code in the Python and Java controller libraries.
- To authenticate under this scheme, the controller sends Tor the original
- secret that was used to generate the password, either as a quoted string
- or encoded in hexadecimal.
- 5.2. Don't let the buffer get too big.
- If you ask for lots of events, and 16MB of them queue up on the buffer,
- the Tor process will close the socket.
- 5.3. Backward compatibility with v0 control protocol.
- The 'version 0' control protocol was replaced in Tor 0.1.1.x. Support
- was removed in Tor 0.2.0.x. Every non-obsolete version of Tor now
- supports the version 1 control protocol.
- For backward compatibility with the "version 0" control protocol,
- Tor used to check whether the third octet of the first command is zero.
- (If it was, Tor assumed that version 0 is in use.)
- This compatibility was removed in Tor 0.1.2.16 and 0.2.0.4-alpha.
- 5.4. Tor config options for use by controllers
- Tor provides a few special configuration options for use by controllers.
- These options can be set and examined by the SETCONF and GETCONF commands,
- but are not saved to disk by SAVECONF.
- Generally, these options make Tor unusable by disabling a portion of Tor's
- normal operations. Unless a controller provides replacement functionality
- to fill this gap, Tor will not correctly handle user requests.
- __AllDirOptionsPrivate
- If true, Tor will try to launch all directory operations through
- anonymous connections. (Ordinarily, Tor only tries to anonymize
- requests related to hidden services.) This option will slow down
- directory access, and may stop Tor from working entirely if it does not
- yet have enough directory information to build circuits.
- (Boolean. Default: "0".)
- __DisablePredictedCircuits
- If true, Tor will not launch preemptive "general-purpose" circuits for
- streams to attach to. (It will still launch circuits for testing and
- for hidden services.)
- (Boolean. Default: "0".)
- __LeaveStreamsUnattached
- If true, Tor will not automatically attach new streams to circuits;
- instead, the controller must attach them with ATTACHSTREAM. If the
- controller does not attach the streams, their data will never be routed.
- (Boolean. Default: "0".)
- __HashedControlSessionPassword
- As HashedControlPassword, but is not saved to the torrc file by
- SAVECONF. Added in Tor 0.2.0.20-rc.
- __ReloadTorrcOnSIGHUP
- If this option is true (the default), we reload the torrc from disk
- every time we get a SIGHUP (from the controller or via a signal).
- Otherwise, we don't. This option exists so that controllers can keep
- their options from getting overwritten when a user sends Tor a HUP for
- some other reason (for example, to rotate the logs).
- (Boolean. Default: "1")
- 5.5. Phases from the Bootstrap status event.
- This section describes the various bootstrap phases currently reported
- by Tor. Controllers should not assume that the percentages and tags
- listed here will continue to match up, or even that the tags will stay
- in the same order. Some phases might also be skipped (not reported)
- if the associated bootstrap step is already complete, or if the phase
- no longer is necessary. Only "starting" and "done" are guaranteed to
- exist in all future versions.
- Current Tor versions enter these phases in order, monotonically.
- Future Tors MAY revisit earlier stages.
- Phase 0:
- tag=starting summary="Starting"
- Tor starts out in this phase.
- Phase 5:
- tag=conn_dir summary="Connecting to directory mirror"
- Tor sends this event as soon as Tor has chosen a directory mirror --
- e.g. one of the authorities if bootstrapping for the first time or
- after a long downtime, or one of the relays listed in its cached
- directory information otherwise.
- Tor will stay at this phase until it has successfully established
- a TCP connection with some directory mirror. Problems in this phase
- generally happen because Tor doesn't have a network connection, or
- because the local firewall is dropping SYN packets.
- Phase 10:
- tag=handshake_dir summary="Finishing handshake with directory mirror"
- This event occurs when Tor establishes a TCP connection with a relay used
- as a directory mirror (or its https proxy if it's using one). Tor remains
- in this phase until the TLS handshake with the relay is finished.
- Problems in this phase generally happen because Tor's firewall is
- doing more sophisticated MITM attacks on it, or doing packet-level
- keyword recognition of Tor's handshake.
- Phase 15:
- tag=onehop_create summary="Establishing one-hop circuit for dir info"
- Once TLS is finished with a relay, Tor will send a CREATE_FAST cell
- to establish a one-hop circuit for retrieving directory information.
- It will remain in this phase until it receives the CREATED_FAST cell
- back, indicating that the circuit is ready.
- Phase 20:
- tag=requesting_status summary="Asking for networkstatus consensus"
- Once we've finished our one-hop circuit, we will start a new stream
- for fetching the networkstatus consensus. We'll stay in this phase
- until we get the 'connected' relay cell back, indicating that we've
- established a directory connection.
- Phase 25:
- tag=loading_status summary="Loading networkstatus consensus"
- Once we've established a directory connection, we will start fetching
- the networkstatus consensus document. This could take a while; this
- phase is a good opportunity for using the "progress" keyword to indicate
- partial progress.
- This phase could stall if the directory mirror we picked doesn't
- have a copy of the networkstatus consensus so we have to ask another,
- or it does give us a copy but we don't find it valid.
- Phase 40:
- tag=loading_keys summary="Loading authority key certs"
- Sometimes when we've finished loading the networkstatus consensus,
- we find that we don't have all the authority key certificates for the
- keys that signed the consensus. At that point we put the consensus we
- fetched on hold and fetch the keys so we can verify the signatures.
- Phase 45
- tag=requesting_descriptors summary="Asking for relay descriptors"
- Once we have a valid networkstatus consensus and we've checked all
- its signatures, we start asking for relay descriptors. We stay in this
- phase until we have received a 'connected' relay cell in response to
- a request for descriptors.
- Phase 50:
- tag=loading_descriptors summary="Loading relay descriptors"
- We will ask for relay descriptors from several different locations,
- so this step will probably make up the bulk of the bootstrapping,
- especially for users with slow connections. We stay in this phase until
- we have descriptors for at least 1/4 of the usable relays listed in
- the networkstatus consensus. This phase is also a good opportunity to
- use the "progress" keyword to indicate partial steps.
- Phase 80:
- tag=conn_or summary="Connecting to entry guard"
- Once we have a valid consensus and enough relay descriptors, we choose
- some entry guards and start trying to build some circuits. This step
- is similar to the "conn_dir" phase above; the only difference is
- the context.
- If a Tor starts with enough recent cached directory information,
- its first bootstrap status event will be for the conn_or phase.
- Phase 85:
- tag=handshake_or summary="Finishing handshake with entry guard"
- This phase is similar to the "handshake_dir" phase, but it gets reached
- if we finish a TCP connection to a Tor relay and we have already reached
- the "conn_or" phase. We'll stay in this phase until we complete a TLS
- handshake with a Tor relay.
- Phase 90:
- tag=circuit_create summary="Establishing circuits"
- Once we've finished our TLS handshake with an entry guard, we will
- set about trying to make some 3-hop circuits in case we need them soon.
- Phase 100:
- tag=done summary="Done"
- A full 3-hop exit circuit has been established. Tor is ready to handle
- application connections now.
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