Internet Protocol fragmentation and reassembly

E519653

Internet Protocol fragmentation and reassembly is the process by which large IP packets are split into smaller fragments for transmission across networks with limited maximum transmission units and then reassembled back into the original packet at the destination.

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Internet Protocol feature
networking mechanism
appliesTo IPv4
IPv6
canCause higher processing overhead on routers and hosts
increased packet loss probability when any fragment is lost
reduced performance for real-time applications
characterizedBy fragmentation occurring in-network for IPv4
fragmentation only at endpoints for IPv6
constrainedBy MTU of each link along the path
differsBetween IPv4 and IPv6 fragmentation behavior
discouragedIn modern network design
governedBy RFC 791 NERFINISHED
RFC 8200 NERFINISHED
handledBy IP layer
hasPurpose to allow transmission of packets across links with smaller Maximum Transmission Units
involves reassembling fragments into the original IP packet
splitting a large IP packet into smaller fragments
mayResultIn discarding all fragments if any fragment is missing
discarding all fragments if reassembly timer expires
mitigatedBy Path MTU Discovery to avoid in-path fragmentation
firewall policies that drop suspicious fragments
partOf Internet Protocol NERFINISHED
performedBy routers in IPv4
sending host in IPv6
reassembledBy destination host
relatedTo Don’t Fragment bit used by Path MTU Discovery in IPv4
Path MTU Discovery NERFINISHED
requires all IPv6 fragments of a packet to carry the same Fragment Identification value
all fragments of a packet to have the same Identification value
all fragments of a packet to have the same destination address
all fragments of a packet to have the same protocol field value
all fragments of a packet to have the same source address
reassembly timeout at the destination
securityConcern fragmentation-based evasion of intrusion detection systems
overlapping fragment attacks
resource exhaustion via many incomplete fragment sets
transparentTo transport layer protocols
uses IP header length field to compute fragment data boundaries
usesConcept Maximum Transmission Unit
Path MTU
usesExtensionHeader IPv6 Fragment header
usesField Flags field in the IP header
Fragment Offset field in the IP header
Identification field in the IP header
usesFlag Don’t Fragment flag
More Fragments flag
usesUnit 8-byte blocks for Fragment Offset

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

RFC 760 defines Internet Protocol fragmentation and reassembly