Dynamic ARP Inspection Overview
17-16 DHCP Snooping and Dynamic ARP Inspection
interceptstrafficforotherstationsbypoisoningtheARPcachesofitsunsuspectingneighbors.
ARPpoisoningisatacticwhereanattackerinjectsfalseARPpacketsintothesubnet,normallyby
broadcastingARPresponsesinwhichtheattackerclaimstobesomeoneelse.Bypoisoningthe
ARPcache,amalicioususercaninterceptthetrafficintendedforotherhostsonthenetwork.
TheDynamicARPInspectionapplicationperformsARPpacketvalidation .WhenDAIisenabled,
itverifiesthatthesenderMACaddressandthesourceIPaddressareavalidpairintheDHCP
snoopingbindingdatabaseanddropsARPpacketswhosesenderMACaddressandsenderIP
addressdonotmatchanentryinthedatabase.AdditionalARPpacketvalidation canbe
configured.
IfDHCPsnoopingisdisabledontheingressVLANorthereceiveinterfaceistrustedforDHCP
snooping,ARPpacketsaredropped.
Functional Description
DAIisenabledonVLANs,effectivelyenablingDAIontheinterfaces(physicalportsorLAGs)that
aremembersofthatVLAN.Individualinterfacesareconfiguredastrustedoruntrusted.Thetrust
configurationforDAIisindependentofthetrustconfigurationforDHCPsnooping.Atrusted
portisaportthenetworkadministratordoesnotconsidertobeasecuritythreat.Anuntrusted
portisonewhichcouldpotentiallybeusedtolaunchanetworkattack.
DAIconsidersallphysicalportsandLAGsuntrustedbydefault.

Static Mappings

StaticmappingsareusefulwhenhostsconfigurestaticIPaddresses,DHCPsnoopingcannotbe
run,orotherswitchesinthenetworkdonotrundynamicARPinspection.Astaticmapping
associatesanIPaddresstoaMACaddressonaVLAN.DAIconsultsitsstaticmappingsbeforeit
consultsDHCPsnoopingthus,staticmappingshaveprecedenceoverDHCPsnooping
bindings.
ARPACLsareusedtodefinestaticmappingsforDAI.Inthisimplementation,onlythesubsetof
ARPACLsyntaxrequiredforDAIissupported.ARPACLsarecompletelyindependentofACLs
usedforQoS.Amaximumof100ARPACLscanbeconfigured.WithinanACL,amaximumof20
rulescanbeconfigured.

Optional ARP Packet Validation

IfoptionalARPpacketvalidatio nhasbeenconfigured,DAIverifiesthatthesenderMACaddress
equalsthesourceMACaddressintheEthernetheader.Additionally,theoptiontoverifythatthe
targetMACaddressequalsthedestinationMACaddressintheEthernetheadercanbe
configured.ThischeckonlyappliestoARPresponses,sincethetargetMACaddressis
unspecifiedinARPrequests.
YoucanalsoenableIPaddresschecking.Whenthisoptionisenabled,DAIdropsARPpackets
withaninvalidIPaddress.ThefollowingIPaddressesareconsideredinvalid:
• 0.0.0.0
• 255.255.255.255
•AllIPmulticastaddresses
•AllclassEaddresses(240.0.0.0/4)
• Loopbackaddresses(intherange127.0.0.0/8)