In the Ping of Death exploit, which header field is manipulated?

In the Ping of Death exploit, which header field is manipulated?

• A. tcp header field
• B. ip header field
• C. udp header field
• D. icmp header field

Answer: (D)

Ping of Death relies on abusing how IP datagrams are sized and reassembled. The attack crafts an ICMP Echo Request that, when delivered, appears to contain an IP packet larger than the maximum allowed size (65,535 bytes including the IP header). The manipulation happens in the IP header, specifically the Total Length field, which dictates the overall size of the IP packet. When the target system attempts to reassemble or process this oversized datagram, it can overflow buffers and crash or behave unpredictably. The ICMP portion is just the carrier for the payload; the real vulnerability is the improper handling of an oversized IP header length.

Ping of Death relies on abusing how IP datagrams are sized and reassembled. The attack crafts an ICMP Echo Request that, when delivered, appears to contain an IP packet larger than the maximum allowed size (65,535 bytes including the IP header). The manipulation happens in the IP header, specifically the Total Length field, which dictates the overall size of the IP packet. When the target system attempts to reassemble or process this oversized datagram, it can overflow buffers and crash or behave unpredictably. The ICMP portion is just the carrier for the payload; the real vulnerability is the improper handling of an oversized IP header length.