Dynamic ARP Inspection Overview
17-16 DHCP Snooping and Dynamic ARP Inspection
Dynamic ARP Inspection Overview
DynamicARPinspection(DAI)isasecurityfeaturethatrejectsinvalidandmaliciousARP
packets.Thefeaturepreventsaclassofman‐in‐the‐middleattackswhereanunfriendlystation
interceptstrafficforotherstationsbypoisoningtheARPcachesofitsunsuspectingneighbors.
ARPpoisoningisatacticwherean
attackerinjectsfalseARPpacketsintothesubnet,normallyby
broadcastingARPresponsesinwhichtheattackerclaimstobe someoneelse.Bypoisoningthe
ARPcache,amalicioususercaninterceptthetrafficintendedforotherhostsonthenetwork.
TheDynamicARPInspectionapplicationperformsARPpacketvalidation.
WhenDAIisenabled,
itverifiesthatthesenderMACaddressandthesourceIPaddressareavalidpairintheDHCP
snoopingbindingdatabaseanddropsARPpacketswhosesenderMACaddressandsenderIP
addressdonotmatchanentryinthedatabase.AdditionalARPpacketvalidationcan
be
configured.
IfDHCPsnoopingisdisabledontheingressVLANorthereceiveinterfaceistrustedforDHCP
snooping,ARPpacketsaredropped.
Functional Description
DAIisenabledonVLANs,effectivelyenablingDAIontheinterfaces(physicalportsorLAGs)that
aremembersofthatVLAN.Individualinterfacesareconfiguredastrustedoruntrusted.Thetrust
configurationforDAIisindependentofthetrustconfigurationforDHCPsnooping.Atrusted
portisaportthenetwork
administratordoesnotconsidertobeasecuritythreat.Anuntrusted
portisonewhichcouldpotentiallybeusedtolaunchanetworkat tack.
DAIconsidersallphysicalportsandLAGsuntrustedbydefault.
Static Mappings
StaticmappingsareusefulwhenhostsconfigurestaticIPaddresses,DHCPsnoopingcannotbe
run,orotherswitchesinthenetworkdonotrundynamicARPinspection.Astaticmapping
associatesanIPaddresstoaMACaddressonaVLAN.DAIconsultsitsstaticmappingsbeforeit
consultsDHCPsnooping
—thus,staticmappingshaveprecedenceoverDHCPsnooping
bindings.
ARPACLsareusedtodefinestaticmappingsforDAI.Inthisimplementation,onlythesubsetof
ARPACLsyntaxrequiredforDAIissupported.ARPACLsarecompletelyindependentofACLs
usedforQoS.Amaximumof100ARP
ACLscanbeconfigured.WithinanACL,amaximumof20
rulescanbeconfigured.
Optional ARP Packet Validation
IfoptionalARPpacketvalidationhasbeenconfigured,DAIverifiesthatthesenderMACaddress
equalsthesourceMACaddressintheEthernetheader.Additionally,theoptiontoverifythatthe
targetMACaddressequalsthedestinat ionMACaddressintheEthernetheadercanbe
configured.Thischeckonlyappliesto
ARPresponses,sincethetargetMACaddressis
unspecifiedinARPrequests.
YoucanalsoenableIPaddresschecking.Whenthisoptionisenabled,DAIdropsARPpackets
withaninvalidIPaddress.ThefollowingIPaddressesareconsideredinvalid:
• 0.0.0.0
• 255.255.255.255
•AllIPmulticastaddresses
•AllclassEaddresses(240.0.0.0/4)