8021XFramework

8021XFramework is a software framework designed to simplify the implementation and testing of 802.1X network access control in applications, devices, and testing environments. It provides a structured API and runtime components to model the three roles of 802.1X—supplicant, authenticator, and authentication server (via RADIUS)—and to manage the EAP negotiations and credential handling that underlie the protocol.

The architecture is modular, including a core runtime, platform-specific adapters, and pluggable backends for EAP methods and RADIUS communication. It exposes APIs to configure common EAP methods (for example EAP-TLS, EAP-PEAP, EAP-TTLS, EAP-FAST), manage certificates, and control session lifecycle events. The framework also provides logging, auditing, and testing utilities to aid development and troubleshooting.

Use cases include building secure client software, onboarding devices to enterprise networks, simulating 802.1X environments for testing, and integrating with existing identity infrastructure. It supports integration with standard RADIUS-based AAA servers and can operate on multiple operating systems, including Linux, Windows, and macOS, as well as in containerized deployments.

Development and licensing: The project is community-maintained with regular releases and documentation. It is released under an open-source license, encouraging contribution and review.

Related topics include 802.1X, EAP, RADIUS, Supplicant, and Authenticator.