IDS mailing list archives

Re: TCP: a practical question


From: Fernando Gont <fernando () gont com ar>
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:09:33 -0200

At 07:55 p.m. 17/01/2008, you wrote:

TCP specification (rfc 793) mentions about a simultaneous open and
it's use in distributed set ups.
In this case the handshake would proceed as follows:

C -> S (Syn) .. 1
S -> C (Syn) .. 2
(1 and 2 happends almost simultaneously)
C -> S (Syn|Ack)
S -> C (Syn|Ack)

My question is do we see this behavior in the practical world ?

No, it is not.

Firstly, usually only clients perform an active open of a connection (i.e., send a "SYN"). This has to do with the Client/Server model. Therefore, you won't see a SYN coming from the server.

Secondly, both SYNs should "cross in the network". This is unlikely.

Thirdly, in order for a simultaneous open to take place, not only should both systems send SYNs that cross each other in the network, but the client's source port should match the server's destination port, and the client's destination port should match the server's source port. This usually unlikely.

Kind regards,

--
Fernando Gont
e-mail: fernando () gont com ar || fgont () acm org
PGP Fingerprint: 7809 84F5 322E 45C7 F1C9 3945 96EE A9EF D076 FFF1





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