dhcpstarv(1)

💖 dhcpstarv — the manual page, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie, settle in, because we're talking about dhcpstarv(1) — yes that's the section 1 manual page, and yes she's a whole mood. this is the tool that does a DHCP starvation attack, and i'm gonna walk you through every single flag like we're on facetime and you're holding a router in your other hand. no cap. 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

dhcpstarv — DHCP starvation attack. that's it. that's the whole name. it's giving "i do one thing and i do it iconically" 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dhcpstarv -h

dhcpstarv [-epv] [-d MAC] -i IFNAME

so like, either you're asking for help (relatable, honestly), or you're running the actual thing with flags. -i IFNAME is not optional in the second form, bestie. she needs to know where to do crimes. 🦋

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

every single one, no skipping, we do not gatekeep here:

• -d, --dstmac=MAC — use MAC as the destination hardware address for the DHCP requests. default? broadcast address, always and forever, periodt. change it if you have a reason, i guess. 💜
• -e, --exclude=ADDRESS — ignore replies from the server with IP address ADDRESS. ⚠️ this has to be a valid IP address that the DHCP server actually includes in its replies as the server ID. usually that's the primary IP address of the interface connected to the client's network segment. so like, don't just type in a random IP and get confused later, iykyk. 🙈
• -h, --help — print help and exit. the "i'm just gonna ask for directions" option. iconic. ✨
• -i, --ifname=IFNAME — send requests and receive responses on network interface IFNAME. this one's the main character, honestly. 👑
• -p, --no-promisc — do NOT set the network interface to promiscuous mode. ⚠️ listen up because this one has a trap in it: some servers send replies to the hardware address stored in the DHCP options despite the broadcast option being present. in that case, this option makes dhcpstarv not receive the server replies. so like... you might be silencing yourself. just know that. 💀
• -v, --verbose — print verbose messages. she's chatty. we love her for it. 💖

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🔥 DESCRIPTION 🔥

okay so what even is DHCP starvation. let me explain.

DHCP starvation is attacking a DHCP server by sending a lot of requests at it. the way that this exhausts the server's address pool, and once that pool is done? the DHCP server literally cannot respond to clients and cannot give them new leases anymore. it's giving "i took all the seats at the lunch table." 😭

dhcpstarv is the tool that actually implements this attack. what she does is request DHCP leases on the specified interface, save them, and then renew them on a regular basis. so she's not just grabbing and ghosting — she's holding onto them. committed relationship energy. 🫶

now here's the actual why, because this isn't just chaos for chaos's sake:

when a rogue DHCP server shows up in a network that already has DHCP infrastructure, some clients can end up with completely wrong network settings. 😭 and honestly? those rogue servers can get switched on by users by accident. like, oops. the only real solution to that situation is to disconnect the rogue server from the network.

but here's the thing — if the network is complicated, i.e. there are many network devices in it, discovering that rogue server takes a lot of time. so as a temporary solution, you can attack the rogue DHCP server until you find it and disconnect it from the network. that's the vibe. that's the whole use case. 🦋

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright (C) 2007 Dmitry Davletbaev

This program is licenced under GNU General Public License version 3.

This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/> for details.

like, say it louder for the people in the back — ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, bestie. free software, certain conditions, go read the link. 🌈

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okay that's the whole page, you ate it, i'm so proud of you. 💅 this was dhcpstarv version 0.1.0, dated 2008-03-04, and she is still out here doing her little starvation thing. periodt. 🎀✨🦋