How ARP spoofing attacks a network
ARP spoofing, also known as ARP poisoning, is a method to attack an Ethernet network which may allow an attacker
to sniff data frames on a LAN, modify the traffic, or stop the traffic altogether (known as a Denial of Service - DoS
attack). The principle of ARP spoofing is to send the fake, or spoofed ARP messages to an Ethernet network.
Generally, the aim is to associate the attacker's or random MAC address with the IP address of another node (such as
the default gateway). Any traffic meant for that IP address would be mistakenly re-directed to the node specified by
the attacker.
IP spoofing attack is caused by Gratuitous ARP that occurs when a host sends an ARP request to resolve its own IP
address. Figure-4 shows a hacker within a LAN to initiate ARP spoofing attack.
Figure-4
In the Gratuitous ARP packet, the “Sender protocol address” and “Target protocol address” are filled with the same
source IP address. The “Sender H/W Address” and “Target H/W address” are filled with the same source MAC
address. The destination MAC address is the Ethernet broadcast address (FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF). All nodes within the
network will immediately update their own ARP table in accordance with the sender’s MAC and IP address. The
format of Gratuitous ARP is shown in Table-5.
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