ARP provides IP communication within a Layer 2 broadcast domain by mapping an IP address to a MAC address. For example, suppose Host B wants to send information to Host A but does not have the MAC address of Host A in its ARP cache. Host B generates a broadcast message for all hosts within the broadcast domain to obtain the MAC address associated with the IP address of Host A. All hosts within the broadcast domain receive the ARP request, and Host A responds with its MAC address. However, because ARP allows a gratuitous reply from a host even if an ARP request was not received, an ARP spoofing attack and the poisoning of ARP caches can occur. After the attack, all traffic from the device under attack flows through the attacker's computer and then to the router, switch, or host.
A malicious user can attack hosts, switches, and routers connected to your Layer 2 network by poisoning the ARP caches of systems connected to the subnet and by intercepting traffic intended for other hosts on the subnet. Figure 21-1 shows an example of ARP cache poisoning.
Figure 21-1 ARP Cache Poisoning
Hosts A, B, and C are connected to the switch on interfaces A, B and C, all of which are on the same subnet. Their IP and MAC addresses are shown in parentheses; for example, Host A uses IP address IA and MAC address MA. When Host A needs to communicate to Host B at the IP layer, it broadcasts an ARP request for the MAC address associated with IP address IB. When the switch and Host B receive the ARP request, they populate their ARP caches with an ARP binding for a host with the IP address IA and a MAC address MA; for example, IP address IA is bound to MAC address MA. When Host B responds, the switch and Host A populate their ARP caches with a binding for a host with the IP address IB and a MAC address MB.
Host C can poison the ARP caches of the switch, Host A, and Host B by broadcasting forged ARP responses with bindings for a host with an IP address of IA (or IB) and a MAC address of MC. Hosts with poisoned ARP caches use the MAC address MC as the destination MAC address for traffic intended for IA or IB. This means that Host C intercepts that traffic. Because Host C knows the true MAC addresses associated with IA and IB, it can forward the intercepted traffic to those hosts by using the correct MAC address as the destination. Host C has inserted itself into the traffic stream from Host A to Host B, the classic man-in-the middle attack.
Dynamic ARP inspection is a security feature that validates ARP packets in a network. It intercepts, logs, and discards ARP packets with invalid IP-to-MAC address bindings. This capability protects the network from certain man-in-the-middle attacks.
Dynamic ARP inspection ensures that only valid ARP requests and responses are relayed. The switch performs these activities:
•
Intercepts all ARP requests and responses on untrusted ports
•Verifies that each of these intercepted packets has a valid IP-to-MAC address binding before updating the local ARP cache or before forwarding the packet to the appropriate destination
•Drops invalid ARP packets
Dynamic ARP inspection determines the validity of an ARP packet based on valid IP-to-MAC address bindings stored in a trusted database, the DHCP snooping binding database. This database is built by DHCP snooping if DHCP snooping is enabled on the VLANs and on the switch. If the ARP packet is received on a trusted interface, the switch forwards the packet without any checks. On untrusted interfaces, the switch forwards the packet only if it is valid.
You enable dynamic ARP inspection on a per-VLAN basis by using the ip arp inspection vlan vlan-range global configuration command. For configuration information, see the "Configuring Dynamic ARP Inspection in DHCP Environments" section.
In non-DHCP environments, dynamic ARP inspection can validate ARP packets against user-configured ARP access control lists (ACLs) for hosts with statically configured IP addresses. You define an ARP ACL by using the arp access-list acl-name global configuration command. For configuration information, see the "Configuring ARP ACLs for Non-DHCP Environments" section. The switch logs dropped packets. For more information about the log buffer, see the "Logging of Dropped Packets" section.
Interface Trust States and Network Security
Dynamic ARP inspection associates a trust state with each interface on the switch. Packets arriving on trusted interfaces bypass all dynamic ARP inspection validation checks, and those arriving on untrusted interfaces undergo the dynamic ARP inspection validation process.
In a typical network configuration, you configure all switch ports connected to host ports as untrusted and configure all switch ports connected to switches as trusted. With this configuration, all ARP packets entering the network from a given switch bypass the security check. It is unnecessary to perform a validation at any other place in the VLAN or in the network. You configure the trust setting by using the ip arp inspection trust interface configuration command. Figure 21-2 ARP Packet Validation on a VLAN Enabled for Dynamic ARP Inspection
Configuring interfaces to be trusted when they are actually untrusted leaves a security hole in the network. If Switch A is not running dynamic ARP inspection, Host 1 can easily poison the ARP cache of Switch B (and Host 2, if the link between the switches is configured as trusted). This condition can occur even though Switch B is running dynamic ARP inspection.
Dynamic ARP inspection ensures that hosts (on untrusted interfaces) connected to a switch running dynamic ARP inspection do not poison the ARP caches of other hosts in the network. However, dynamic ARP inspection does not prevent hosts in other portions of the network from poisoning the caches of the hosts connected to a switch running dynamic ARP inspection. Configuring Dynamic ARP Inspection in DHCP Environments
This procedure shows how to configure dynamic ARP inspection when two switches support this feature. Host 1 is connected to Switch A, and Host 2 is connected to Switch B as shown in Figure 21-2. Both switches are running dynamic ARP inspection on VLAN 1 where the hosts are located. A DHCP server is connected to Switch A. Both hosts acquire their IP addresses from the same DHCP server. Therefore, Switch A has the bindings for Host 1 and Host 2, and Switch B has the binding for Host 2. Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure dynamic ARP inspection. You must perform this procedure on both switches. This procedure is required.
Step 1 show cdp neighbors Verify the connection between the switches. Step 2 configure terminal Enter global configuration mode. Step 3 ip arp inspection vlan vlan-range Enable dynamic ARP inspection on a per-VLAN basis. By default, dynamic ARP inspection is disabled on all VLANs. For vlan-range, specify a single VLAN identified by VLAN ID number, a range of VLANs separated by a hyphen, or a series of VLANs separated by a comma. The range is 1 to 4094. Specify the same VLAN ID for both switches. Step 4 interface interface-id Specify the interface connected to the other switch, and enter interface configuration mode. Step 5 ip arp inspection trust Configure the connection between the switches as trusted. By default, all interfaces are untrusted. The switch does not check ARP packets that it receives from the other switch on the trusted interface. It simply forwards the packets. For untrusted interfaces, the switch intercepts all ARP requests and responses. It verifies that the intercepted packets have valid IP-to-MAC address bindings before updating the local cache and before forwarding the packet to the appropriate destination. The switch drops invalid packets and logs them in the log buffer according to the logging configuration specified with the ip arp inspection vlan logging global configuration command. For more information, see the "Configuring the Log Buffer" section. Step 6 end Return to privileged EXEC mode. Step 7 show ip arp inspection interfaces show ip arp inspection vlan vlan-range Verify the dynamic ARP inspection configuration. Step 8 show ip dhcp snooping binding Verify the DHCP bindings. Step 9 show ip arp inspection statistics vlan vlan-range Check the dynamic ARP inspection statistics. Step 10 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.
To disable dynamic ARP inspection, use the no ip arp inspection vlan vlan-range global configuration command. To return the interfaces to an untrusted state, use the no ip arp inspection trust interface configuration command.
This example shows how to configure dynamic ARP inspection on Switch A in VLAN 1. You would perform a similar procedure on Switch B:
Switch(config)# ip arp inspection vlan 1
Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/1
Switch(config-if)# ip arp inspection trust
Configuring ARP ACLs for Non-DHCP Environments
This procedure shows how to configure dynamic ARP inspection when Switch B shown in Figure 21-2 does not support dynamic ARP inspection or DHCP snooping.
If you configure port 1 on Switch A as trusted, a security hole is created because both Switch A and Host 1 could be attacked by either Switch B or Host 2. To prevent this possibility, you must configure port 1 on Switch A as untrusted. To permit ARP packets from Host 2, you must set up an ARP ACL and apply it to VLAN 1. If the IP address of Host 2 is not static, such that it is impossible to apply the ACL configuration on Switch A, you must separate Switch A from Switch B at Layer 3 and use a router to route packets between them.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure an ARP ACL on Switch A. This procedure is required in non-DHCP environments.
Step 1 configure terminal Enter global configuration mode. Step 2 arp access-list acl-name Define an ARP ACL, and enter ARP access-list configuration mode. By default, no ARP access lists are defined. Note Step 3 permit ip host sender-ip mac host sender-mac [log] Permit ARP packets from the specified host (Host 2). • • • Step 4 exit Return to global configuration mode. Step 5 ip arp inspection filter arp-acl-name vlan vlan-range [static] Apply the ARP ACL to the VLAN. By default, no defined ARP ACLs are applied to any VLAN. • • • If you do not specify this keyword, it means that there is no explicit deny in the ACL that denies the packet, and DHCP bindings determine whether a packet is permitted or denied if the packet does not match any clauses in the ACL. ARP packets containing only IP-to-MAC address bindings are compared against the ACL. Packets are permitted only if the access list permits them. Step 6 interface interface-id Specify the Switch A interface that is connected to Switch B, and enter interface configuration mode. Step 7 no ip arp inspection trust Configure the Switch A interface that is connected to Switch B as untrusted. By default, all interfaces are untrusted. For untrusted interfaces, the switch intercepts all ARP requests and responses. It verifies that the intercepted packets have valid IP-to-MAC address bindings before updating the local cache and before forwarding the packet to the appropriate destination. The switch drops invalid packets and logs them in the log buffer according to the logging configuration specified with the ip arp inspection vlan logging global configuration command. For more information, see the "Configuring the Log Buffer" section. Step 8 end Return to privileged EXEC mode. Step 9 show arp access-list [acl-name] show ip arp inspection vlan vlan-range show ip arp inspection interfaces Verify your entries. Step 10 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.
At the end of the ARP access list, there is an implicit deny ip any mac any command. For sender-ip, enter the IP address of Host 2. For sender-mac, enter the MAC address of Host 2. (Optional) Specify log to log a packet in the log buffer when it matches the access control entry (ACE). Matches are logged if you also configure the matchlog keyword in the ip arp inspection vlan logging global configuration command. For more information, see the "Configuring the Log Buffer" section. For arp-acl-name, specify the name of the ACL created in Step 2. For vlan-range, specify the VLAN that the switches and hosts are in. You can specify a single VLAN identified by VLAN ID number, a range of VLANs separated by a hyphen, or a series of VLANs separated by a comma. The range is 1 to 4094. (Optional) Specify static to treat implicit denies in the ARP ACL as explicit denies and to drop packets that do not match any previous clauses in the ACL. DHCP bindings are not used.
To remove the ARP ACL, use the no arp access-list global configuration command. To remove the ARP ACL attached to a VLAN, use the no ip arp inspection filter arp-acl-name vlan vlan-range global configuration command.
This example shows how to configure an ARP ACL called host2 on Switch A, to permit ARP packets from Host 2 (IP address 1.1.1.1 and MAC address 0001.0001.0001), to apply the ACL to VLAN 1, and to configure port 1 on Switch A as untrusted:
Switch(config-arp-acl)# permit ip host 1.1.1.1 mac host 1.1.1
Switch(config-arp-acl)# exit
Switch(config)# ip arp inspection filter host2 vlan 1
Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/1
Switch(config-if)# no ip arp inspection trust
