ARP protocol attacks and defenses
Camouflage and Skullduggery

© Lead Image © Andre Zhak, 123RF.com
ARP spoofing can be used to initiate denial-of-service attacks, network hijacking, and man-in-the-middle attacks on the Intranet. We look at how to prevent these incursions.
Companies spend huge amounts of money to protect themselves from attacks on the Internet, but the security of the intranet it is not very advanced in most small to medium-sized enterprises. The credo is often: Internal users will not attack their own. The reality is rather different, which is reason enough to take a look at one of the most common attacks and defense options on internal networks: ARP Spoofing.
On the intranet, unlike the Internet, addressing is not based on Layer 3 (IP), but on Layer 2 (Ethernet). A packet identifies its target by reference to the MAC address. To ensure that resolution between IPv4 addresses and MAC addresses runs smoothly, ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) or its counterpart RARP (reverse ARP) are used.
If computer A wants to communicate with computer B, A sends an ARP request to the broadcast address to discover the MAC address of B. Computer B responds with an ARP reply. In a TCP dump, this kind of conversation looks like Listing 1.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.
-
So Long, ArcoLinux
The ArcoLinux distribution is the latest Linux distribution to shut down.