DoS Attack

38781Project #3 DoS Attack: UDP Flood

Write a Python (or whatever you choose) script that attacks a port on a host machine. The program should take a port and hostname as parameters. The program should flood the host port with UDP datagrams in an attempt to bring the server down.

As part of your write-up, discuss whether or not you were able to cripple the system and how many packets you were able to send per second (tcpdump or wireshark should be helpful)

A UDP flood is a type of denial-of-service attack in which a large number of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets are sent to a targeted server with the aim of overwhelming that device’s ability to process and respond. The firewall protecting the targeted server can also become exhausted as a result of UDP flooding, resulting in a denial-of-service to legitimate traffic.
A UDP flood works primarily by exploiting the steps that a server takes when it responds to a UDP packet sent to one of it’s ports. Under normal conditions, when a server receives a UDP packet at a particular port, it goes through two steps in response:
The server first checks to see if any programs are running which are presently listening for requests at the specified port.
If no programs are receiving packets at that port, the server responds with a ICMP (ping) packet to inform the sender that the destination was unreachable.
A UDP flood can be thought of in the context of a hotel receptionist routing calls. First, the receptionist receives a phone call where the caller asks to be connected to a specific room. The receptionist then needs to look through the list of all rooms to make sure that the guest is available in the room and willing to take the call. Once the receptionist realizes that the guest is not taking any calls, they have to pick the phone back up and tell the caller that the guest will not be taking the call. If suddenly all the phone lines light up simultaneously with similar requests then they will quickly become overwhelmed.
Turn in:
Source Code
Write up of what you saw and your conclusions