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Date:      Sun, 3 Sep 2000 11:27:46 -0600 (MDT)
From:      Nate Williams <nate@yogotech.com>
To:        Robert Watson <rwatson@FreeBSD.ORG>
Cc:        Dragos Ruiu <dr@kyx.net>, cjclark@alum.mit.edu, "Crist J . Clark" <cjclark@reflexnet.net>, Bill Fumerola <billf@chimesnet.com>, Nicolas <list@rachinsky.de>, freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: ipfw and fragments
Message-ID:  <200009031727.LAA03881@nomad.yogotech.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1000903094614.69440A-100000@fledge.watson.org>
References:  <0009030256211M.20066@smp.kyx.net> <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1000903094614.69440A-100000@fledge.watson.org>

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> My recollection was that fragments can be created that do not contain all
> of the transport-layer headers.  For example, although it should not
> occur, ``naturally,'' it is possible to fragment a packet immediately
> after the IP header but before the TCP-level port information is include.
> Similarly, later fragments may begin at arbitrary points in the datagram,
> based on how the PMTU caused the fragmentation at various points on the
> path.

Actually, isn't the purpose of PMTU to avoid the need to fragment the
packet at intermediate routers?  Since PMTU involves both endpoints of
the link, thus allowing the originator to determine *if* a packet of a
particular size can make it all the way from one end to the other w/out
fragmentation.

It seems that fragmentation is a real problem for stateless firewalls,
but is a real problem that should be considered, especially since our
existing IPFW is semi-stateful now. :)



Nate


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