diff --git a/dhcpv4/option_ip_address_lease_time.go b/dhcpv4/option_ip_address_lease_time.go
index 9bc8156c..60f02d93 100644
--- a/dhcpv4/option_ip_address_lease_time.go
+++ b/dhcpv4/option_ip_address_lease_time.go
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
 package dhcpv4
 
 import (
+	"math"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/u-root/u-root/pkg/uio"
 )
 
+// MaxLeaseTime is the maximum lease time that can be encoded.
+var MaxLeaseTime = math.MaxUint32 * time.Second
+
 // Duration implements the IP address lease time option described by RFC 2132,
 // Section 9.2.
 type Duration time.Duration