netstat - invalid addresses

[M. Rozin]

Hello people,

Does anybody know what exactly "invalid addresses" means in the output of netstat --statistics --raw?

Cheers,
Maxim.

[Goran Koruga]

Hello.

Just a short recommendation first - don't ask yes/no questions.

This is ipInAddrErrors from /proc/net/snmp - usually number of input diagrams that were discarded because they were not destined to the host in question.

Regards,
Goran

[M. Rozin]

Thank you very much Goran.

Why would these diagrams reach the host if they were not destined to it?

Cheers,
Maxim.

[Matti_Kurkela · Accepted solution]

(Nitpick: I think Goran meant "datagrams", not "diagrams".)

There are many possible reasons.

Maybe a mis-configured host, switch or router somewhere near you in the network?

Maybe someone is intentionally sending unusual packets to see how your system reacts to them? This can be used to identify your OS and maybe probe for some vulnerabilities.

MK

[Goran Koruga]

Yes, good spot - I of course meant datagrams.

To find out why I think you'll need to look on other sytems, i.e. those that are sending them.

Goran

[M. Rozin]

well, that can be difficult, as I don't have access to all the internet users in the world.

Maxim.