Victor,

The epp:pwType is only used for the login command pw and newPw elements. The 
authInfo element is based on the pwAuthInfoType that is an extension of the 
normalizedString, so it doesn’t have the same constraint.  The Login Security 
Extension in RFC 8807 was created to support login passwords beyond the 
16-character limit in RFC 5730.  Let me know if you have any questions or 
feedback with the Login Security Extension.

Thanks,

--

JG

[cid87442*[email protected]]

James Gould
Fellow Engineer
[email protected]<applewebdata://13890C55-AAE8-4BF3-A6CE-B4BA42740803/[email protected]>

703-948-3271
12061 Bluemont Way
Reston, VA 20190

Verisign.com<http://verisigninc.com/>

From: Victor Zhou <[email protected]>
Date: Monday, December 1, 2025 at 4:54 PM
To: REGEXT Working Group <[email protected]>, "Hollenbeck, Scott" 
<[email protected]>
Cc: Sami Mishal <[email protected]>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [regext] Clarification on RFC 5730: Normative status of 
pwType maxLength="16"


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Dear Scott Hollenbeck and members of the REGEXT Working Group,

I am writing to seek clarification regarding the pwType definition found in RFC 
5730 (Section 4).

The XML Schema definition provided in the RFC explicitly restricts passwords 
(and by extension, authInfo codes in RFC 5731) to a maximum length of 16 
characters:
XML

<simpleType name="pwType">

  <restriction base="token">

    <minLength value="6"/>

    <maxLength value="16"/>

  </restriction>

</simpleType>

However, current operational reality differs significantly from this 
constraint. Many modern registry backends (such as CentralNic) and registrars 
routinely generate and accept authentication codes up to 64 characters in 
length to support higher entropy and modern security standards.

Consequently, strictly validating EPP traffic against the RFC 5730 XSD results 
in validation failures for these longer, more secure keys.

My questions are:

  1.  Is the maxLength value="16" constraint in the Section 4 schema considered 
normative (mandatory for compliance), or is the schema intended to be 
demonstrative of the structure, allowing implementations to adjust lengths as 
needed?
  2.  If it is normative, does the working group consider the 64-character 
usage to be a violation of the standard, or is there an accepted "best 
practice" deviation regarding password length that supersedes the original XSD?

Clarification on this would greatly assist implementers in determining whether 
they should enforce strict XSD validation or relax these specific length 
constraints to match the ecosystem.

Thank you for your time and guidance.

Sincerely,

Victor, founder of Namefi by D3Serve Labs Inc.


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