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Old IPv4 flaws resurface with IPv6

arstechnica.com — Security researchers get around to finding flaws in IPv6 that were dealt with in IPv4 years ago. Ars looks at the issue of IPv6's source routing and how big of a problem it really is.

Who dugg this? Made popular May 16, 2007

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  • cldrjones, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9The problem is a feature to help sysadmins to troubleshoot their routers, but can be abused, and it is not in *NIX but it is in the TCP/IP v6 protocol guidelines.

    please get the facts straight before commenting
  • molecule, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7> I, for one, find it refreshing to hear about a flaw in *nix instead of Windows.

    ever heard of the internet?
  • Tobark, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6So whats the big deal. How many people use IPv6 in production environments today? Just fix it an move on. This article is written like its the end of the world.
  • orangeplasma, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5@JohnJacob, I didn't see Unix being mentioned anywhere. IPV6 is a protocol that is implemented by many OS's. Unix is just one of them...
  • fkr3, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5TFA really provides a mixed feeling on it. On one hand they acknowledge a problem, and that it previously existed in IPv4 way back when, but then they cop out with the assumption "people get tired of others abusing their network and turn off the offending feature". There's bugger-all to suggest people care if their machines are used in an attack.

    However since IPv6 isn't widely in use they do have plenty of time to fix it. Again.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3its not a flaw, it is an exploit of something built into ip itself. Most are set to no read that part of the header because of the danger associated with it.

    also its really really old news
  • socokoolaid, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I was wondering when this issue would finally hit Digg.
  • welshie, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3a lot of 3G mobile phones can use IPv6, and quite a few network operators will route their packets for them. That's a heck of a lot of production environments.
  • aura, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Seen here a few days ago: http://www.theregister.com/2007/05/11/ipv6_flaw_scramble/
    Slashdot Discussion on topic: http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/11/2247245&from=rss

  • Skas, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2I agree, with the first two parts of your comment. This really isn't that big of a deal, and very *very* few people are using IPv6 in production environments; however, you lost me at the Just fix it and move on part.

    IPv6 has been around for what, almost 10 years now? Why don't we scrap the project that very few people are showing great interest in, and come up with a better plan? Sure, the billions of IP addresses we'll have will be great, but we're really not as close to running out of IPs as people try to make it sound. I vote for IPv anything that's not as bad as IPv6.
  • soulpiercer7, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1what a nice title. too bad 90% of diggers don't know what the hell it means. please be more specific and say that it's about routers somewhere in the description.
  • welshie, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1A good run-down of the issue has been done by the SixXS tunnel brokers:
    http://www.sixxs.net/faq/connectivity/?faq=filters
  • michaellaney, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I think it will be interesting to see how IPv6 changes the internet. I think after testing IPv6 on a smaller scale we should work on phasing out IPv4. There are some drawbacks to IPv6 and it is necessary to fix some of these concerns before its worldwide implementation. In particular I wonder if their ISPs will start charging extra for having multiple computers hooked up to internet from home now that the privacy of NAT is gone.
  • DarkDakota, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Look, I like IPv6. But this is just a warning. It's not in WIDE use yet. This is a chance to fix it BEFORE it goes mainstream.
    oh, and IPv6 is a protocol, not an OS. put the flame bait away.

    What i was looking for in this article was the instructions or a pointer to them, for shutting this "feature" off.
    Problem but no solution? Anyone out there find the Mac, *nix, or Doh's instructions ?
  • sirber, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1So, 0.00001% is a heck of a lot of production environments?

    Phones is sure the majority on internet traffic ;)
  • JohnJacob, on 10/11/2007, -43/+2I, for one, find it refreshing to hear about a flaw in *nix instead of Windows. I'd bet a fix will be a short time coming, though.

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