Protocol Attacks: Exploiting System Weaknesses

Protocol Attacks: Exploiting System Weaknesses

Protocol attacks, also called state-exhaustion attacks, target weaknesses in network protocols to consume server resources. Rather than overwhelming bandwidth, these attacks exhaust the target's processing capacity, connection state tables, or other computational resources. They're particularly effective against stateful devices like firewalls and load balancers.

SYN floods remain one of the most prevalent protocol attacks. Attackers exploit the TCP three-way handshake by sending numerous SYN requests but never completing the connection. The target allocates resources for each half-open connection, eventually exhausting its capacity to handle new legitimate connections. Modern SYN floods often use spoofed IP addresses to avoid detection.

TCP connection attacks go beyond SYN floods to exploit other aspects of the TCP protocol. Attackers might establish full connections then send minimal data to keep connections alive, exhausting the server's connection pool. Others exploit TCP window sizing, fragmentation, or other protocol features to consume disproportionate resources.

Ping of Death attacks, though less common today, demonstrate how protocol vulnerabilities can be exploited. By sending malformed or oversized packets, attackers can cause buffer overflows or system crashes. While most modern systems are patched against classic Ping of Death, variations continue to emerge as new vulnerabilities are discovered.