Fragmentation Attack
An attack that sends fragmented network packets to bypass security filters.
Understanding Fragmentation Attack
In network communication, large data packets are broken into smaller fragments for transmission and reassembled at the destination. Attackers intentionally craft these fragments to confuse network defenses, allowing malicious payloads to slip through undetected.
How Fragmentation Attacks Work
Evasion of Security Filters – Firewalls and IDS/IPS analyze individual packets, but fragmented packets may not be inspected properly, allowing threats to pass through.
Overlapping Fragments – Attackers modify the offset values in fragmented packets so that reassembly results in altered or malicious data.
Buffer Overflow & Memory Corruption – If a system fails to handle fragmented packets properly, it can lead to crashes, buffer overflows, or remote code execution (RCE).
Challenges and Considerations
Performance Overhead – Deep packet inspection can slow down network performance.
False Positives & Detection Complexity – Legitimate fragmented traffic may be incorrectly flagged as malicious.
New Bypass Techniques – Attackers continuously evolve fragmentation methods to evade security measures.