Estimates show that up to 800-900 million people depend on IPv4 for their daily communications needs. Since the inception of the Internet, IPv4 has assumed an unprecedented importance in the global scale. IPv4 implementations are found in almost all modern computer systems. This includes routers, switches, firewalls, desktop and server systems, laptops, PDAs, cell phones and other mobile systems, as well as a large number of various embedded systems. All of these devices are vulnerable to exploitation through externally-supplied malformed protocol data. Effects of malicious data range from transient parsing errors to complete system takeovers. As IPv4 and its associated protocols (TCP, UDP, ICMP, IGMP, ARP) are in an extremely crucial role in modern society, the dependability and reliability of IPv4 implementations must be verified. IPv4 implementations are often tightly coupled with the underlying operating system, which means that serious flaws in IPv4 protocol handling may easily result in total system compromises. Defensics IPv4 Test Suite helps prevent this by making IPv4 implementations more robust.
Used specifications
| Specification | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| EDSA-403 | ISA Security Compliance Institute – Embedded Device Security Assurance – Testing the robustness of implementations of the IETF IPv4 network protocol – Version 1.31 | |
| EDSA-405 | ISA Security Compliance Institute – Embedded Device Security Assurance – Testing the robustness of implementations of the IETF UDP transport protocol over IPv4 or IPv6 – Version 2.6 | |
| RFC768 | User Datagram Protocol | |
| RFC791 | Internet Protocol Specification | Updated by RFC1349 |
| RFC792 | Internet Control Message Protocol | |
| RFC950 | Internet Standard Subnetting Procedure | |
| RFC1042 | A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams over IEEE 802 Networks | |
| RFC1063 | IP MTU Discovery Options | Obsoleted by RFC1191 |
| RFC1108 | U.S. Department of Defense: Security Options for the Internet Protocol | Obsoletes RFC1038 |
| RFC1122 | Requirements for Internet Hosts u002du002d Communication Layers | |
| RFC1191 | Path MTU Discovery | Obsoletes RFC1063 |
| RFC1385 | EIP: The Extended Internet Protocol: A Framework for Maintaining Backward Compatibility | |
| RFC1393 | Traceroute Using an IP Option | |
| RFC1475 | TP/IX: The Next Internet | Section 8.1, Version 4 IP address extension option |
| RFC1770 | IPv4 Option for Sender Directed Multi-Destination Delivery | |
| RFC1812 | Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers | |
| RFC2113 | IP Router Alert Option | Updated by RFC5350 |
| RFC2460 | Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification | |
| RFC2474 | Definition of the differentiated services field (DS field) in the IPv4 and IPv6 headers | |
| RFC2475 | An Architecture for Differentiated Services | |
| RFC3168 | The Addition of Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) to IP | |
| RFC3260 | New Terminology and Clarifications for Diffserv | |
| RFC3514 | The Security Flag in the IPv4 Header | |
| RFC4727 | Experimental Values in IPv4, IPv6, ICMPv4, ICMPv6, UDP, and TCP Headers | |
| RFC4782 | Quick-Start for TCP and IP | |
| RFC4884 | Extended ICMP to Support Multi-Part Messages | |
| RFC5350 | IANA Considerations for the IPv4 and IPv6 Router Alert Options | Updates RFC2113 and RFC3175 |
Tool-specific information
| Tested IPv4 Options | Specifications |
|---|---|
| End of Option List | RFC791 |
| No Operation | RFC791 |
| Security | RFC791 |
| Loose Source Routing | RFC791 |
| Strict Source Routing | RFC791 |
| Record Route | RFC791 |
| Stream ID | RFC791 |
| Internet Timestamp | RFC791 |
| Probe MTU | RFC1063 |
| Reply MTU | RFC1063 |
| DoD Basic Security | RFC1108 |
| DoD Extended Security | RFC1108 |
| Extended Internet Protocol | RFC1385 |
| IP Traceroute | RFC1393 |
| Address Extension | RFC1475 |
| Selective Directed Broadcast Mode (SDBM) | RFC1770 |
| Router Alert | RFC2113, RFC5350 |
| Router Alert | RFC4727 |
| Quick-Start | RFC4782 |
| Commercial Security | unknown |
| Experimental Measurement | unknown |
| Experimental Flow Control | unknown |
| Experimental Access Control | unknown |
| Encode | unknown |
| IMI Traffic Descriptor | unknown |
| Dynamic Packet State | draft-stoica-diffserv-dps |
| Upstream Multicast Packet | draft-farinacci-bidir-pim |
| Supported protocol features | Specifications |
|---|---|
| IPv4 Payload: ICMP Echo | RFC792 |
| UDP Payload: SNMP | |
| UDP Payload: SIP | |
| UDP Payload: DNS |