diff --git a/apps/routing/fpm/src/main/java/org/onosproject/routing/fpm/protocol/RouteAttribute.java b/apps/routing/fpm/src/main/java/org/onosproject/routing/fpm/protocol/RouteAttribute.java
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/routing/fpm/src/main/java/org/onosproject/routing/fpm/protocol/RouteAttribute.java
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017-present Open Networking Laboratory
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.onosproject.routing.fpm.protocol;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import org.onlab.packet.DeserializationException;
+
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import static org.onlab.packet.PacketUtils.checkInput;
+
+/**
+ * Route attribute header.
+ */
+public abstract class RouteAttribute {
+
+    public static final int ROUTE_ATTRIBUTE_HEADER_LENGTH = 4;
+
+    public static final int RTA_DST = 1;
+    public static final int RTA_OIF = 4;
+    public static final int RTA_GATEWAY = 5;
+    public static final int RTA_PRIORITY = 6;
+
+    private final int length;
+    private final int type;
+
+    private static final Map<Integer, RouteAttributeDecoder<?>> TYPE_DECODER_MAP
+            = ImmutableMap.<Integer, RouteAttributeDecoder<?>>builder()
+            .put(RTA_DST, RouteAttributeDst.decoder())
+            .put(RTA_OIF, RouteAttributeOif.decoder())
+            .put(RTA_GATEWAY, RouteAttributeGateway.decoder())
+            .put(RTA_PRIORITY, RouteAttributePriority.decoder())
+            .build();
+
+    /**
+     * Class constructor.
+     *
+     * @param length attribute length
+     * @param type attribute type
+     */
+    protected RouteAttribute(int length, int type) {
+        this.length = length;
+        this.type = type;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the attribute length.
+     *
+     * @return length
+     */
+    public int length() {
+        return length;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the attribute type.
+     *
+     * @return type
+     */
+    public int type() {
+        return type;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public abstract String toString();
+
+    /**
+     * Decodes a route attribute from an input buffer.
+     *
+     * @param buffer input buffer
+     * @param start starting position the route attribute message
+     * @param length length of the message
+     * @return route attribute message
+     * @throws DeserializationException if a route attribute could not be
+     * decoded from the input buffer
+     */
+    public static RouteAttribute decode(byte[] buffer, int start, int length)
+            throws DeserializationException {
+        checkInput(buffer, start, length, ROUTE_ATTRIBUTE_HEADER_LENGTH);
+
+        ByteBuffer bb = ByteBuffer.wrap(buffer, start, length);
+
+        int tlvLength = Short.reverseBytes(bb.getShort());
+        int type = Short.reverseBytes(bb.getShort());
+
+        if (bb.remaining() < tlvLength - ROUTE_ATTRIBUTE_HEADER_LENGTH) {
+            throw new DeserializationException(
+                    "Incorrect buffer size when decoding route attribute");
+        }
+
+        byte[] value = new byte[tlvLength - ROUTE_ATTRIBUTE_HEADER_LENGTH];
+        bb.get(value);
+
+        RouteAttributeDecoder<?> decoder = TYPE_DECODER_MAP.get(type);
+        if (decoder == null) {
+            throw new DeserializationException(
+                    "No decoder found for route attribute type " + type);
+        }
+
+        return decoder.decodeAttribute(tlvLength, type, value);
+    }
+}