packet
PACKET(7) Linux Programmer’s Manual PACKET(7)
NAME
packet, PF_PACKET - packet interface on device level.
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netpacket/packet.h>
#include <net/ethernet.h> /* the L2 protocols */
packet_socket = socket(PF_PACKET, int socket_type, int protocol);
DESCRIPTION
Packet sockets are used to receive or send raw packets at the device
driver (OSI Layer 2) level. They allow the user to implement protocol
modules in user space on top of the physical layer.
The socket_type is either SOCK_RAW for raw packets including the link
level header or SOCK_DGRAM for cooked packets with the link level
header removed. The link level header information is available in a
common format in a sockaddr_ll. protocol is the IEEE 802.3 protocol
number in network order. See the <linux/if_ether.h> include file for a
list of allowed protocols. When protocol is set to htons(ETH_P_ALL)
then all protocols are received. All incoming packets of that proto-
col type will be passed to the packet socket before they are passed to
the protocols implemented in the kernel.
Only processes with effective uid 0 or the CAP_NET_RAW capability may
open packet sockets.
SOCK_RAW packets are passed to and from the device driver without any
changes in the packet data. When receiving a packet, the address is
still parsed and passed in a standard sockaddr_ll address structure.
When transmitting a packet, the user supplied buffer should contain
the physical layer header. That packet is then queued unmodified to
the network driver of the interface defined by the destination
address. Some device drivers always add other headers. SOCK_RAW is
similar to but not compatible with the obsolete SOCK_PACKET of Linux
2.0.
SOCK_DGRAM operates on a slightly higher level. The physical header is
removed before the packet is passed to the user. Packets sent through
a SOCK_DGRAM packet socket get a suitable physical layer header based
on the information in the sockaddr_ll destination address before they
are queued.
By default all packets of the specified protocol type are passed to a
packet socket. To only get packets from a specific interface use
bind(2) specifying an address in a struct sockaddr_ll to bind the
packet socket to an interface. Only the sll_protocol and the
sll_ifindex address fields are used for purposes of binding.
The connect(2) operation is not supported on packet sockets.
When the MSG_TRUNC flag is passed to recvmsg(2), recv(2), recvfrom(2)
the real length of the packet on the wire is always returned, even
when it is longer than the buffer.
ADDRESS TYPES
The sockaddr_ll is a device independent physical layer address.
struct sockaddr_ll {
unsigned short sll_family; /* Always AF_PACKET */
unsigned short sll_protocol; /* Physical layer protocol */
int sll_ifindex; /* Interface number */
unsigned short sll_hatype; /* Header type */
unsigned char sll_pkttype; /* Packet type */
unsigned char sll_halen; /* Length of address */
unsigned char sll_addr[8]; /* Physical layer address */
};
sll_protocol is the standard ethernet protocol type in network order
as defined in the linux/if_ether.h include file. It defaults to the
socket’s protocol. sll_ifindex is the interface index of the inter-
face (see netdevice(7)); 0 matches any interface (only legal for bind-
ing). sll_hatype is a ARP type as defined in the linux/if_arp.h
include file. sll_pkttype contains the packet type. Valid types are
PACKET_HOST for a packet addressed to the local host, PACKET_BROADCAST
for a physical layer broadcast packet, PACKET_MULTICAST for a packet
sent to a physical layer multicast address, PACKET_OTHERHOST for a
packet to some other host that has been caught by a device driver in
promiscuous mode, and PACKET_OUTGOING for a packet originated from the
local host that is looped back to a packet socket. These types make
only sense for receiving. sll_addr and sll_halen contain the physical
layer (e.g. IEEE 802.3) address and its length. The exact interpreta-
tion depends on the device.
When you send packets it is enough to specify sll_family, sll_addr,
sll_halen, sll_ifindex. The other fields should be 0. sll_hatype and
sll_pkttype are set on received packets for your information. For
bind only sll_protocol and sll_ifindex are used.
SOCKET OPTIONS
Packet sockets can be used to configure physical layer multicasting
and promiscuous mode. It works by calling setsockopt(2) on a packet
socket for SOL_PACKET and one of the options PACKET_ADD_MEMBERSHIP to
add a binding or PACKET_DROP_MEMBERSHIP to drop it. They both expect
a packet_mreq structure as argument:
struct packet_mreq
{
int mr_ifindex; /* interface index */
unsigned short mr_type; /* action */
unsigned short mr_alen; /* address length */
unsigned char mr_address[8]; /* physical layer address */
};
mr_ifindex contains the interface index for the interface whose status
should be changed. The mr_type parameter specifies which action to
perform. PACKET_MR_PROMISC enables receiving all packets on a shared
medium - often known as ‘‘promiscuous mode’’, PACKET_MR_MULTICAST
binds the socket to the physical layer multicast group specified in
mr_address and mr_alen, and PACKET_MR_ALLMULTI sets the socket up to
receive all multicast packets arriving at the interface.
In addition the traditional ioctls SIOCSIFFLAGS, SIOCADDMULTI,
SIOCDELMULTI can be used for the same purpose.
IOCTLS
SIOCGSTAMP can be used to receive the time stamp of the last received
packet. Argument is a struct timeval.
In addition all standard ioctls defined in netdevice(7) and socket(7)
are valid on packet sockets.
ERROR HANDLING
Packet sockets do no error handling other than errors occurred while
passing the packet to the device driver. They don’t have the concept
of a pending error.
COMPATIBILITY
In Linux 2.0, the only way to get a packet socket was by calling
socket(PF_INET, SOCK_PACKET, protocol). This is still supported but
strongly deprecated. The main difference between the two methods is
that SOCK_PACKET uses the old struct sockaddr_pkt to specify an inter-
face, which doesn’t provide physical layer independence.
struct sockaddr_pkt
{
unsigned short spkt_family;
unsigned char spkt_device[14];
unsigned short spkt_protocol;
};
spkt_family contains the device type, spkt_protocol is the IEEE 802.3
protocol type as defined in <sys/if_ether.h> and spkt_device is the
device name as a null terminated string, e.g. eth0.
This structure is obsolete and should not be used in new code.
NOTES
For portable programs it is suggested to use PF_PACKET via pcap(3);
although this only covers a subset of the PF_PACKET features.
The SOCK_DGRAM packet sockets make no attempt to create or parse the
IEEE 802.2 LLC header for a IEEE 802.3 frame. When ETH_P_802_3 is
specified as protocol for sending the kernel creates the 802.3 frame
and fills out the length field; the user has to supply the LLC header
to get a fully conforming packet. Incoming 802.3 packets are not mul-
tiplexed on the DSAP/SSAP protocol fields; instead they are supplied
to the user as protocol ETH_P_802_2 with the LLC header prepended. It
is thus not possible to bind to ETH_P_802_3; bind to ETH_P_802_2
instead and do the protocol multiplex yourself. The default for send-
ing is the standard Ethernet DIX encapsulation with the protocol
filled in.
Packet sockets are not subject to the input or output firewall chains.
ERRORS
ENETDOWN
Interface is not up.
ENOTCONN
No interface address passed.
ENODEV Unknown device name or interface index specified in interface
address.
EMSGSIZE
Packet is bigger than interface MTU.
ENOBUFS
Not enough memory to allocate the packet.
EFAULT User passed invalid memory address.
EINVAL Invalid argument.
ENXIO Interface address contained illegal interface index.
EPERM User has insufficient privileges to carry out this operation.
EADDRNOTAVAIL
Unknown multicast group address passed.
ENOENT No packet received.
In addition other errors may be generated by the low-level
driver.
VERSIONS
PF_PACKET is a new feature in Linux 2.2. Earlier Linux versions sup-
ported only SOCK_PACKET.
BUGS
glibc 2.1 does not have a define for SOL_PACKET. The suggested
workaround is to use
#ifndef SOL_PACKET
#define SOL_PACKET 263
#endif
This is fixed in later glibc versions and also does not occur on libc5
systems.
The IEEE 802.2/803.3 LLC handling could be considered as a bug.
Socket filters are not documented.
The MSG_TRUNC recvmsg extension is an ugly hack and should be replaced
by a control message. There is currently no way to get the original
destination address of packets via SOCK_DGRAM.
HISTORICAL NOTE
The include file <netpacket/packet.h> is present since glibc2.1. Older
systems need
#include <asm/types.h>
#include <linux/if_packet.h>
#include <linux/if_ether.h> /* The L2 protocols */
SEE ALSO
ip(7), socket(7), socket(2), raw(7), pcap(3)
RFC 894 for the standard IP Ethernet encapsulation.
RFC 1700 for the IEEE 802.3 IP encapsulation.
The <linux/if_ether.h> include file for physical layer protocols.
Linux Man Page 1999-04-29 PACKET(7)
