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Details regarding UDP and ICMP Flood Protection

06/02/2022 0 People found this article helpful 18,032 Views

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    Description

    UDP Flood Protection feature is designed to efficiently protect the firewall from UDP floods aimed at the selected "Protected Destination List". The goal is to minimize processing of the packets to effectively block the flood. This feature uses a basic threshold of UDP packets per second to determine if a flood is occurring.
     
    UDP and ICMP Flood Protection are based on the number of packets per second, and is not based on the source, however the destination address is used and checked against the Address Object/Group configured as the “Protected Destination”. If the destination is a protected destination, the flood protection applies.

    When a flood is detected based on the volume of UDP packets per second, the firewall will drop UDP packets to the specified destination for the configured "Blocking Time" in seconds. This feature does not consider the source IP or number of sources. If the amount of UDP packets from one or more sources exceeds the configured threshold, it is considered a flood. This blocking behavior can affect normal/legitimate traffic such as DNS, VoIP--anything UDP--towards the protected destinations. Normally we'd recommend protecting specific IPs like the firewall interface IPs or firewall WAN IPs.


    SonicWall UDP and ICMP Flood Protection defend against these attacks by using a watch and block method. The appliance monitors UDP or ICMP traffic to a specified destination or to any destination. If the rate of UDP and ICMP packets per second exceeds the allowed threshold for a specified duration of time, the appliance drops subsequent UDP or ICMP packets to protect against a flood attack. 
    UDP packets that are DNS query or responses to or from a DNS server configured by the appliance are allowed to pass, regardless of the state of UDP Flood Protection.

    Resolution

    Resolution for SonicOS 7.X

    This release includes significant user interface changes and many new features that are different from the SonicOS 6.5 and earlier firmware. The below resolution is for customers using SonicOS 7.X firmware.

    For UDP Flood Protection Option (GUI)

    1. Navigate to Network | Firewall| Flood Protection
    2. Click on UDP and enable checkbox Enable UDP Flood Protection.
    3. The following settings configure UDP Flood Protection.

      • UDP Flood Attack Threshold (UDP Packets / Sec)   The rate of UDP packets per second sent to a host, range or subnet that triggers UDP Flood Protection. The Threshold must be set carefully as too small a threshold may affect unintended traffic and too large a threshold may not effectively protect from an attack. The default value is 1000.
      • UDP Flood Attack Blocking Time (Sec)  After the appliance detects the rate of UDP packets exceeding the attack threshold for this duration of time, UDP Flood protection is activated, and the appliance will begin dropping subsequent UDP packets.
      • UDP Flood Attack Protected Destination List  The destination address object or address group that will be protected from UDP Flood Attack. If the destination target is random, set this field to Any.   

           Image

    For ICMP Flood Protection Option 

    1. Navigate to Network|Firewall| Flood Protection.
    2. On the Top bar , click ICMP.
    3. Under ICMP Flood Protection, enable checkbox Enable ICMP Flood Protection.
    4. The following settings configure ICMP Flood protection.

      • ICMP Flood Attack Threshold (ICMP Packets / Sec)  The rate of ICMP packets per second sent to a host, range or subnet that triggers ICMP Flood protection. The Threshold must be set carefully as too small a threshold may affect unintented traffic and too large a threshold may not effectively protect from an attack. The default value is 200.
      • ICMP Flood Attack Blocking Time (Sec) After the appliance detects the rate of ICMP packets exceeding the attack threshold for this duration of time, ICMP Flood protection is activated, and the appliance will begin dropping subsequent ICMP packets.
      • ICMP Flood Attack Protected Destination List The destination address object or address group that will be protected from ICMP Flood attack.

    5. Click Accept.

          Image

    Resolution for SonicOS 6.5

    This release includes significant user interface changes and many new features that are different from the SonicOS 6.2 and earlier firmware. The below resolution is for customers using SonicOS 6.5 firmware.

    For UDP Flood Protection Option (GUI)

    1. Click MANAGE and then navigate to Firewall Settings | Flood Protection.
    2. On the Top bar , click UDP.
    3. Under UDP Flood Protection, enable checkbox Enable UDP Flood Protection.
    4. The following settings configure UDP Flood Protection.

      • UDP Flood Attack Threshold (UDP Packets / Sec)   The rate of UDP packets per second sent to a host, range or subnet that triggers UDP Flood Protection. The Threshold must be set carefully as too small a threshold may affect unintended traffic and too large a threshold may not effectively protect from an attack. The default value is 1000.
      • UDP Flood Attack Blocking Time (Sec)  After the appliance detects the rate of UDP packets exceeding the attack threshold for this duration of time, UDP Flood protection is activated, and the appliance will begin dropping subsequent UDP packets.
      • UDP Flood Attack Protected Destination List  The destination address object or address group that will be protected from UDP Flood Attack. If the destination target is random, set this field to Any.

    5. Click Accept.
      Image
      The following log messages will be generated when SonicWall detects a UDP Flood Attack. The logs can be filtered by CategoryFirewall Settings andGroupFlood protection.
      Image

    UDP Flood Protection can also be configured from the CLI.

    1. Login to the CLI.
    2. Enter Configuration mode.
    3. Enter the following commands to enable UDP Flood protection. 

    config(C0xxxxxxxx38)# udp
    (config-udp)# flood-protection
    (config-udp)# commit best-effort
    (config-udp)# exit
    To disable UDP Flood Protection (config-udp)# no flood-protection
    (config-udp)# commit best-effort



    Additional options in the UDP prompt

    • default-connection-timeout #Set default UDP connection timeout in minutes.
    • flood-attack-threshold #Set UDP Flood Attack Threshold (UDP Packets / Sec).
    • flood-block-timeout #Set UDP Flood Attack Blocking Time (Sec).
    • flood-protected-dest-list #Set UDP flood attack protected destination list.
    • flood-protection  #Enable UDP flood protection.

    For ICMP Flood Protection Option 

    1. Click MANAGE and then navigate to Firewall Settings | Flood Protection.
    2. On the Top bar , click ICMP.
    3. Under ICMP Flood Protection, enable checkbox Enable ICMP Flood Protection.
    4. The following settings configure ICMP Flood protection.

      • ICMP Flood Attack Threshold (ICMP Packets / Sec)  The rate of ICMP packets per second sent to a host, range or subnet that triggers ICMP Flood protection. The Threshold must be set carefully as too small a threshold may affect unintented traffic and too large a threshold may not effectively protect from an attack. The default value is 200.
      • ICMP Flood Attack Blocking Time (Sec) After the appliance detects the rate of ICMP packets exceeding the attack threshold for this duration of time, ICMP Flood protection is activated, and the appliance will begin dropping subsequent ICMP packets.
      • ICMP Flood Attack Protected Destination List The destination address object or address group that will be protected from ICMP Flood attack.

    5. Click Accept.
      Image
      The following log messages will be generated when SonicWall detects a ICMP Flood Attack. The logs can be filtered by Category Firewall Settings and Group Flood protection.
      Image

    UDP Traffic Statistics

                              Image

    Malformed Packets Dropped - Incremented under the following conditions:

      • When UDP checksum fails validation (while UDP checksum validation is enabled).
      • When the UDP SACK Permitted (Selective Acknowledgment, see RFC1072) option is encountered, but the calculated option length is incorrect.
      • When the UDP MSS (Maximum Segment Size) option is encountered, but the calculated option length is incorrect.
      • When the UDP SACK option data is calculated to be either less than the minimum of 6 bytes, or modulo incongruent to the block size of 4 bytes.
      • When the UDP option length is determined to be invalid.
      • When the UDP header length is calculated to be less than the minimum of 20 bytes.
      • When the UDP header length is calculated to be greater than the packet's data length.
    • UDP Floods In Progress  The number of individual forwarding devices that are currently exceeding the UDP Flood Attack Threshold.
    • Total UDP Floods Detected  The total number of events in which a forwarding device has exceeded the UDP Flood Attack Threshold
    • Total UDP Flood Packets Rejected  The total number of packets dropped because of UDP Flood Attack detection.

     ICMP Traffic Statistics

    • The ICMP traffic statistics table provides the same categories of information as the UDP traffic statistics above.

    Resolution for SonicOS 6.2 and Below

    The below resolution is for customers using SonicOS 6.2 and earlier firmware. For firewalls that are generation 6 and newer we suggest to upgrade to the latest general release of SonicOS 6.5 firmware.

    Configuring UDP Flood Protection(GUI)

    1. Login to the SonicWall management GUI.
    2. Navigate to Firewall Settings | Flood Protection page.
    3. Under UDP Flood Protection, enable checkbox Enable UDP Flood Protection.
    4. The following settings configure UDP Flood Protection.
      • UDP Flood Attack Threshold (UDP Packets / Sec):   The rate of UDP packets per second sent to a host, range or subnet that triggers UDP Flood Protection. The Threshold must be set carefully as too small a threshold may affect unintended traffic and too large a threshold may not effectively protect from an attack. The default value is 1000.
      • UDP Flood Attack Blocking Time (Sec) : After the appliance detects the rate of UDP packets exceeding the attack threshold for this duration of time, UDP Flood protection is activated, and the appliance will begin dropping subsequent UDP packets.
      • UDP Flood Attack Protected Destination List : The destination address object or address group that will be protected from UDP Flood attack. If the destination target is random, set this field to Any.
    5. Click Accept.

      The following log messages will be generated when SonicWall detects a UDP Flood attack. The logs can be filtered by Category Firewall Settings and Group Flood Protection.Image

    Configuring UDP Flood Protection(CLI)

    1. Login to the CLI.
    2. Enter Configuration mode.
    3. Enter the following commands to enable UDP Flood protection.

    config(C0xxxxxxxx38)# udp
    (config-udp)# flood-protection
    (config-udp)# commit best-effort
    (config-udp)# exit


    To disable UDP Flood Protection (config-udp)# no flood-protection
    (config-udp)# commit best-effort

    Additional options in the UDP prompt

    • default-connection-timeout #Set default UDP connection timeout in minutes.
    • flood-attack-threshold #Set UDP Flood Attack Threshold (UDP Packets / Sec).
    • flood-block-timeout #Set UDP Flood Attack Blocking Time (Sec).
    • flood-protected-dest-list #Set UDP flood attack protected destination list.
    • flood-protection  #Enable UDP flood protection.

    Configuring ICMP Flood Protection

    1. Login to the SonicWall management GUI.
    2. Navigate to Firewall Settings | Flood Protection page.
    3. Under ICMP Flood Protection, enable checkbox Enable ICMP Flood Protection.
    4. The following settings configure ICMP Flood Protection.
      • ICMP Flood Attack Threshold (ICMP Packets / Sec)  The rate of ICMP packets per second sent to a host, range or subnet that triggers ICMP Flood protection. The Threshold must be set carefully as too small a threshold may affect unintented traffic and too large a threshold may not effectively protect from an attack. The default value is 200.
      • ICMP Flood Attack Blocking Time (Sec) After the appliance detects the rate of ICMP packets exceeding the attack threshold for this duration of time, ICMP Flood protection is activated, and the appliance will begin dropping subsequent ICMP packets.
      • ICMP Flood Attack Protected Destination List The destination address object or address group that will be protected from ICMP Flood attack.
    5. Click Accept at the top.
      The following log messages will be generated when SonicWall detects a ICMP Flood Attack. The logs can be filtered by Category Firewall Settings and Group Flood protection.
      Image 

     UDP Traffic Statistics

    The UDP Traffic Statistics table provides statistics on the following:

                                   Image

    • Malformed Packets Dropped - Incremented under the following conditions:
      • When UDP checksum fails validation (while UDP checksum validation is enabled).
      • When the UDP SACK permitted (Selective Acknowledgment, see RFC1072) option is encountered, but the calculated option length is incorrect.
      • When the UDP MSS (Maximum Segment Size) option is encountered, but the calculated option length is incorrect.
      • When the UDP SACK option data is calculated to be either less than the minimum of 6 bytes, or modulo incongruent to the block size of 4 bytes.
      • When the UDP option length is determined to be invalid.
      • When the UDP header length is calculated to be less than the minimum of 20 bytes.
      • When the UDP header length is calculated to be greater than the packet's data length.
    • UDP Floods In Progress  The number of individual forwarding devices that are currently exceeding the UDP Flood attack Threshold.
    • Total UDP Floods Detected  The total number of events in which a forwarding device has exceeded the UDP Flood attack Threshold
    • Total UDP Flood Packets Rejected  The total number of packets dropped because of UDP Flood attack detection.

     ICMP Traffic Statistics

    • The ICMP traffic statistics table provides the same categories of information as the UDP traffic statistics above.

    Related Articles

    • Firewall is not generating syslog packets
    • Configuring SNMP in SonicOS
    • Why is SonicWall blocking access to websites?

    Categories

    • Firewalls > NSa Series > Networking
    • Firewalls > NSv Series > Networking
    • Firewalls > TZ Series > Networking

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