What can lead to DHCP starvation attacks in public access networks?

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What can lead to DHCP starvation attacks in public access networks?

Asked on Nov 27, 2025

Answer

DHCP starvation attacks occur when an attacker floods a network with DHCP requests, exhausting the available IP addresses in the DHCP pool, which can prevent legitimate users from obtaining network access. This is particularly problematic in public access networks where security measures may be less stringent.

Example Concept: DHCP starvation attacks exploit the lack of authentication in the DHCP protocol by sending numerous fake DHCP requests using spoofed MAC addresses. This depletes the available IP address pool, causing denial of service to legitimate users. Implementing DHCP snooping and rate limiting can mitigate such attacks by validating DHCP messages and limiting the number of requests from a single source.

Additional Comment:

DHCP snooping can be configured on switches to filter out malicious DHCP traffic.
Rate limiting DHCP requests can help control the number of requests processed by the server.
Monitoring network traffic for unusual DHCP request patterns can aid in early detection.
Consider using network segmentation to isolate public access networks from critical infrastructure.

✅ Answered with Networking best practices.

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