A Taxonomy and Comparative Analysis of IPv4 Identifier Selection Correctness, Security, and Performance
Abstract
The battle for a more secure Internet is waged on many fronts, including the most basic of networking protocols. Our focus is the IPv4 Identifier (IPID), an IPv4 header field as old as the Internet with an equally long history as an exploited side channel for scanning network properties, inferring off-path connections, and poisoning DNS caches. This article taxonomizes the 25-year history of IPID-based exploits and the corresponding changes to IPID selection methods. By mathematically analyzing these methods' correctness and security and empirically evaluating their performance, we reveal recommendations for best practice as well as shortcomings of current operating system implementations, emphasizing the value of systematic evaluations in network security.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2406.06483,
title = {A Taxonomy and Comparative Analysis of IPv4 Identifier Selection Correctness, Security, and Performance},
author = {Joshua J. Daymude and Antonio M. Espinoza and Holly Bergen and Benjamin Mixon-Baca and Jeffrey Knockel and Jedidiah R. Crandall},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.06483},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
37 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables, 1 algorithm