Which type of attack consists of modifying the length and fragmentation offset fields in sequential IP packets?

The correct answer is A. Teardrop attack. A Teardrop attack works by sending a series of IP packets with deliberately manipulated fragmentation offset fields, causing overlapping or impossible reassembly on the target system - this crashes or freezes the OS because it cannot reconstruct the malformed fragments. Why the…

Submitted by andres_qro· Apr 18, 2026Network and Communications Security

Question

Which type of attack consists of modifying the length and fragmentation offset fields in sequential IP packets?

Options

ATeardrop attack
BSmurf attack
CSYN attack
DBuffer overflow attack

How the community answered

(43 responses)

A
86% (37)
B
7% (3)
C
5% (2)
D
2% (1)

Explanation

A Teardrop attack works by sending a series of IP packets with deliberately manipulated fragmentation offset fields, causing overlapping or impossible reassembly on the target system - this crashes or freezes the OS because it cannot reconstruct the malformed fragments.

Why the distractors are wrong:

B (Smurf): A Smurf attack amplifies ICMP echo requests by spoofing the victim's IP and broadcasting to a network, flooding the victim with replies - no fragmentation manipulation involved.
C (SYN): A SYN flood exploits the TCP three-way handshake by sending masses of SYN packets without completing the connection, exhausting server resources.
D (Buffer overflow): This attack sends more data than a buffer can hold to overwrite adjacent memory, enabling arbitrary code execution - entirely different layer and mechanism.

Memory tip: Think "tear"drop - the attack literally tears apart the fragmentation fields so the receiving system can't piece packets back together, like a torn puzzle with mismatched pieces.

Topics

#Network Security#Denial of Service (DoS)#IP Fragmentation#Teardrop Attack

Community Discussion

No community discussion yet for this question.

Full SSCP Practice