Concepts / IPv6

IPv6

Temporary address

Also called privacy address, privacy extensions, RFC 8981, RFC 4941, use_tempaddr, EUI-64 privacy

A random IPv6 address a device makes beside its stable one and uses for connections it opens.

An EUI-64 address carries the MAC, so the same interface id follows a laptop from network to network. Temporary addresses are random interface ids, made again every day or so and preferred for outgoing connections, while the stable address stays for incoming ones. On Linux use_tempaddr=2 turns them on; ip -6 addr marks them temporary, and the stable one mngtmpaddr. Phones and desktops use them by default; they make logs harder to tie to a device.

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