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Capec-329 Detail

ICMP Error Message Quoting Probe

Detailed Software Likelihood: Medium Typical Severity: Low

Parents: 312

Threats: T60 T80 T258 T288 T291 T302 T334 T392 T407

Description

An adversary uses a technique to generate an ICMP Error message (Port Unreachable, Destination Unreachable, Redirect, Source Quench, Time Exceeded, Parameter Problem) from a target and then analyze the amount of data returned or "Quoted" from the originating request that generated the ICMP error message.

Extended Description

For this purpose "Port Unreachable" error messages are often used, as generating them requires the adversary to send a UDP datagram to a closed port on the target. The goal of this analysis to make inferences about the type of operating system or firmware that sent the error message in reply. This is useful for identifying unique characteristics of operating systems because the RFC-1122 expected behavior reads: "Every ICMP error message includes the Internet header and at least the first 8 data octets of the datagram that triggered the error; more than 8 octets MAY be sent [...]." This contrasts with RFC-792 expected behavior, which limited the quoted text to 64 bits (8 octets). Given the latitude in the specification the resulting RFC-1122 stack implementations often respond with a high degree of variability in the amount of data quoted in the error message because "older" or "legacy" stacks may comply with the RFC-792 specification, while other stacks may choose a longer format in accordance with RFC-1122. As a general rule most operating systems or firmware will quote the first 8 bytes of the datagram triggering the error, but some IP stacks will quote more than the first 8 bytes of data.
External ID Source Link Description
CAPEC-329 capec https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/329.html
CWE-200 cwe http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/200.html
REF-33 reference_from_CAPEC Stuart McClure, Joel Scambray, George Kurtz, Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions (6th Edition), 2009, McGraw Hill
REF-123 reference_from_CAPEC http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc792.html J. Postel, RFC792 - Internet Control Messaging Protocol, 1981--09, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
REF-124 reference_from_CAPEC http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1122.html R. Braden, Ed., RFC1122 - Requirements for Internet Hosts - Communication Layers, 1989--10
REF-262 reference_from_CAPEC http://ofirarkin.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/login.pdf Ofir Arkin, A Remote Active OS Fingerprinting Tool using ICMP, 2002--04, The Sys-Security Group

Not present

  1. The ability to monitor and interact with network communications.Access to at least one host, and the privileges to interface with the network interface card.
  1. A tool capable of sending/receiving UDP datagram packets from a remote system to a closed port and receive an ICMP Error Message Type 3, "Port Unreachable..

Not present

Authorization Access Control Confidentiality
Bypass Protection Mechanism Bypass Protection Mechanism Read Data
Hide Activities Hide Activities Bypass Protection Mechanism
Hide Activities

Not present