 - SYN flooding is a method that the user of a hostile client program can use to conduct a denial-of-service (DOS) attack on a computer server. The hostile client repeatedly sends SYN (synchronization) packets to every port on the server, using fake IP addresses.
When an attack begins, the server sees the equivalent of multiple
attempts to establish communications. The server responds to each attempt
with a SYN/ACK (synchronization acknowledged) packet from each open port, and
with a RST (reset) packet from each closed port. In a normal three-way handshake, the client would return an ACK (acknowledged) packet to confirm that the server's SYN/ACK packet was received, and communications would then commence. However, in a SYN flood, the ACK packet is never sent back by the hostile client. Instead, the hostile client program sends repeated SYN requests to all the server's ports.
The hostile client makes the SYN requests all appear valid, but because
the IP addresses are fake ones, it is impossible for the server to close down
the connection by sending RST packets back to the hostile client. Instead,
the connection stays open. Before time-out can occur, another SYN packet
arrives from the hostile client. A connection of this type is called a
half-open connection. Under these conditions, the server becomes completely or almost completely busy with the hostile client. Communications with legitimate clients is difficult or impossible.
A hostile client can exploit half-open connections and possibly get access to server files. The transmission by a hostile client of SYN packets for the purpose of finding open ports and hacking into one or more of them, is called
SYN scanning. A hostile client always knows a port is open when
the server responds with a SYN/ACK packet.
| LAST UPDATED: |
16 Feb 2004
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