1 .\" @(#) $Header: /tcpdump/master/tcpdump/Attic/tcpdump.1,v 1.167.2.3 2005-04-19 04:40:30 guy Exp $ (LBL)
3 .\" $NetBSD: tcpdump.8,v 1.9 2003/03/31 00:18:17 perry Exp $
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25 .TH TCPDUMP 1 "18 April 2005"
27 tcpdump \- dump traffic on a network
32 .B \-AdDeflLnNOpqRStuUvxX
88 .I spi@ipaddr algo:secret,...
108 \fITcpdump\fP prints out the headers of packets on a network interface
109 that match the boolean \fIexpression\fP. It can also be run with the
111 flag, which causes it to save the packet data to a file for later
112 analysis, and/or with the
114 flag, which causes it to read from a saved packet file rather than to
115 read packets from a network interface. In all cases, only packets that
122 will, if not run with the
124 flag, continue capturing packets until it is interrupted by a SIGINT
125 signal (generated, for example, by typing your interrupt character,
126 typically control-C) or a SIGTERM signal (typically generated with the
128 command); if run with the
130 flag, it will capture packets until it is interrupted by a SIGINT or
131 SIGTERM signal or the specified number of packets have been processed.
135 finishes capturing packets, it will report counts of:
137 packets ``captured'' (this is the number of packets that
139 has received and processed);
141 packets ``received by filter'' (the meaning of this depends on the OS on
144 and possibly on the way the OS was configured - if a filter was
145 specified on the command line, on some OSes it counts packets regardless
146 of whether they were matched by the filter expression and, even if they
147 were matched by the filter expression, regardless of whether
149 has read and processed them yet, on other OSes it counts only packets that were
150 matched by the filter expression regardless of whether
152 has read and processed them yet, and on other OSes it counts only
153 packets that were matched by the filter expression and were processed by
156 packets ``dropped by kernel'' (this is the number of packets that were
157 dropped, due to a lack of buffer space, by the packet capture mechanism
160 is running, if the OS reports that information to applications; if not,
161 it will be reported as 0).
163 On platforms that support the SIGINFO signal, such as most BSDs
164 (including Mac OS X) and Digital/Tru64 UNIX, it will report those counts
165 when it receives a SIGINFO signal (generated, for example, by typing
166 your ``status'' character, typically control-T, although on some
167 platforms, such as Mac OS X, the ``status'' character is not set by
168 default, so you must set it with
170 in order to use it) and will continue capturing packets.
172 Reading packets from a network interface may require that you have
175 .B Under SunOS 3.x or 4.x with NIT or BPF:
176 You must have read access to
181 .B Under Solaris with DLPI:
182 You must have read/write access to the network pseudo device, e.g.
184 On at least some versions of Solaris, however, this is not sufficient to
187 to capture in promiscuous mode; on those versions of Solaris, you must
190 must be installed setuid to root, in order to capture in promiscuous
191 mode. Note that, on many (perhaps all) interfaces, if you don't capture
192 in promiscuous mode, you will not see any outgoing packets, so a capture
193 not done in promiscuous mode may not be very useful.
195 .B Under HP-UX with DLPI:
198 must be installed setuid to root.
200 .B Under IRIX with snoop:
203 must be installed setuid to root.
208 must be installed setuid to root (unless your distribution has a kernel
209 that supports capability bits such as CAP_NET_RAW and code to allow
210 those capability bits to be given to particular accounts and to cause
211 those bits to be set on a user's initial processes when they log in, in
212 which case you must have CAP_NET_RAW in order to capture and
213 CAP_NET_ADMIN to enumerate network devices with, for example, the
217 .B Under ULTRIX and Digital UNIX/Tru64 UNIX:
218 Any user may capture network traffic with
220 However, no user (not even the super-user) can capture in promiscuous
221 mode on an interface unless the super-user has enabled promiscuous-mode
222 operation on that interface using
224 and no user (not even the super-user) can capture unicast traffic
225 received by or sent by the machine on an interface unless the super-user
226 has enabled copy-all-mode operation on that interface using
230 packet capture on an interface probably requires that either
231 promiscuous-mode or copy-all-mode operation, or both modes of
232 operation, be enabled on that interface.
234 .B Under BSD (this includes Mac OS X):
235 You must have read access to
237 On BSDs with a devfs (this includes Mac OS X), this might involve more
238 than just having somebody with super-user access setting the ownership
239 or permissions on the BPF devices - it might involve configuring devfs
240 to set the ownership or permissions every time the system is booted,
241 if the system even supports that; if it doesn't support that, you might
242 have to find some other way to make that happen at boot time.
244 Reading a saved packet file doesn't require special privileges.
248 Print each packet (minus its link level header) in ASCII. Handy for
252 Exit after receiving \fIcount\fP packets.
255 Before writing a raw packet to a savefile, check whether the file is
256 currently larger than \fIfile_size\fP and, if so, close the current
257 savefile and open a new one. Savefiles after the first savefile will
258 have the name specified with the
260 flag, with a number after it, starting at 1 and continuing upward.
261 The units of \fIfile_size\fP are millions of bytes (1,000,000 bytes,
262 not 1,048,576 bytes).
265 Dump the compiled packet-matching code in a human readable form to
266 standard output and stop.
269 Dump packet-matching code as a
274 Dump packet-matching code as decimal numbers (preceded with a count).
277 Print the list of the network interfaces available on the system and on
280 can capture packets. For each network interface, a number and an
281 interface name, possibly followed by a text description of the
282 interface, is printed. The interface name or the number can be supplied
285 flag to specify an interface on which to capture.
287 This can be useful on systems that don't have a command to list them
288 (e.g., Windows systems, or UNIX systems lacking
289 .BR "ifconfig \-a" );
290 the number can be useful on Windows 2000 and later systems, where the
291 interface name is a somewhat complex string.
295 flag will not be supported if
297 was built with an older version of
300 .B pcap_findalldevs()
304 Print the link-level header on each dump line.
307 Use \fIspi@ipaddr algo:secret\fP for decrypting IPsec ESP packets that
308 are addressed to \fIaddr\fP and contain Security Parameter Index value
309 \fIspi\fP. This combination may be repeated with comma or newline seperation.
311 Note that setting the secret for IPv4 ESP packets is supported at this time.
318 \fBcast128-cbc\fP, or
320 The default is \fBdes-cbc\fP.
321 The ability to decrypt packets is only present if \fItcpdump\fP was compiled
322 with cryptography enabled.
324 \fIsecret\fP is the ASCII text for ESP secret key.
325 If preceeded by 0x, then a hex value will be read.
327 The option assumes RFC2406 ESP, not RFC1827 ESP.
328 The option is only for debugging purposes, and
329 the use of this option with a true `secret' key is discouraged.
330 By presenting IPsec secret key onto command line
331 you make it visible to others, via
335 In addition to the above syntax, the syntax \fIfile name\fP may be used
336 to have tcpdump read the provided file in. The file is opened upon
337 receiving the first ESP packet, so any special permissions that tcpdump
338 may have been given should already have been given up.
341 Print `foreign' IPv4 addresses numerically rather than symbolically
342 (this option is intended to get around serious brain damage in
343 Sun's NIS server \(em usually it hangs forever translating non-local
346 The test for `foreign' IPv4 addresses is done using the IPv4 address and
347 netmask of the interface on which capture is being done. If that
348 address or netmask are not available, available, either because the
349 interface on which capture is being done has no address or netmask or
350 because the capture is being done on the Linux "any" interface, which
351 can capture on more than one interface, this option will not work
355 Use \fIfile\fP as input for the filter expression.
356 An additional expression given on the command line is ignored.
359 Listen on \fIinterface\fP.
360 If unspecified, \fItcpdump\fP searches the system interface list for the
361 lowest numbered, configured up interface (excluding loopback).
362 Ties are broken by choosing the earliest match.
364 On Linux systems with 2.2 or later kernels, an
366 argument of ``any'' can be used to capture packets from all interfaces.
367 Note that captures on the ``any'' device will not be done in promiscuous
372 flag is supported, an interface number as printed by that flag can be
378 Make stdout line buffered.
379 Useful if you want to see the data
383 ``tcpdump\ \ \-l\ \ |\ \ tee dat'' or
384 ``tcpdump\ \ \-l \ \ > dat\ \ &\ \ tail\ \ \-f\ \ dat''.
387 List the known data link types for the interface and exit.
390 Load SMI MIB module definitions from file \fImodule\fR.
392 can be used several times to load several MIB modules into \fItcpdump\fP.
395 Use \fIsecret\fP as a shared secret for validating the digests found in
396 TCP segments with the TCP-MD5 option (RFC 2385), if present.
399 Don't convert addresses (i.e., host addresses, port numbers, etc.) to names.
402 Don't print domain name qualification of host names.
404 if you give this flag then \fItcpdump\fP will print ``nic''
405 instead of ``nic.ddn.mil''.
408 Do not run the packet-matching code optimizer.
410 if you suspect a bug in the optimizer.
413 \fIDon't\fP put the interface
414 into promiscuous mode.
415 Note that the interface might be in promiscuous
416 mode for some other reason; hence, `-p' cannot be used as an abbreviation for
417 `ether host {local-hw-addr} or ether broadcast'.
420 Quick (quiet?) output.
421 Print less protocol information so output
425 Assume ESP/AH packets to be based on old specification (RFC1825 to RFC1829).
426 If specified, \fItcpdump\fP will not print replay prevention field.
427 Since there is no protocol version field in ESP/AH specification,
428 \fItcpdump\fP cannot deduce the version of ESP/AH protocol.
431 Read packets from \fIfile\fR (which was created with the
434 Standard input is used if \fIfile\fR is ``-''.
437 Print absolute, rather than relative, TCP sequence numbers.
440 Snarf \fIsnaplen\fP bytes of data from each packet rather than the
441 default of 68 (with SunOS's NIT, the minimum is actually 96).
442 68 bytes is adequate for IP, ICMP, TCP
443 and UDP but may truncate protocol information from name server and NFS
445 Packets truncated because of a limited snapshot
446 are indicated in the output with ``[|\fIproto\fP]'', where \fIproto\fP
447 is the name of the protocol level at which the truncation has occurred.
448 Note that taking larger snapshots both increases
449 the amount of time it takes to process packets and, effectively,
450 decreases the amount of packet buffering.
451 This may cause packets to be
453 You should limit \fIsnaplen\fP to the smallest number that will
454 capture the protocol information you're interested in.
456 \fIsnaplen\fP to 0 means use the required length to catch whole packets.
459 Force packets selected by "\fIexpression\fP" to be interpreted the
460 specified \fItype\fR.
461 Currently known types are
462 \fBaodv\fR (Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector protocol),
463 \fBcnfp\fR (Cisco NetFlow protocol),
464 \fBrpc\fR (Remote Procedure Call),
465 \fBrtp\fR (Real-Time Applications protocol),
466 \fBrtcp\fR (Real-Time Applications control protocol),
467 \fBsnmp\fR (Simple Network Management Protocol),
468 \fBtftp\fR (Trivial File Transfer Protocol),
469 \fBvat\fR (Visual Audio Tool),
471 \fBwb\fR (distributed White Board).
474 \fIDon't\fP print a timestamp on each dump line.
477 Print an unformatted timestamp on each dump line.
480 Print a delta (in micro-seconds) between current and previous line
484 Print a timestamp in default format proceeded by date on each dump line.
487 Print undecoded NFS handles.
490 Make output saved via the
492 option ``packet-buffered''; i.e., as each packet is saved, it will be
493 written to the output file, rather than being written only when the
498 flag will not be supported if
500 was built with an older version of
507 When parsing and printing, produce (slightly more) verbose output.
508 For example, the time to live,
509 identification, total length and options in an IP packet are printed.
510 Also enables additional packet integrity checks such as verifying the
511 IP and ICMP header checksum.
513 When writing to a file with the
515 option, report, every 10 seconds, the number of packets captured.
518 Even more verbose output.
519 For example, additional fields are
520 printed from NFS reply packets, and SMB packets are fully decoded.
523 Even more verbose output.
525 telnet \fBSB\fP ... \fBSE\fP options
529 Telnet options are printed in hex as well.
532 Write the raw packets to \fIfile\fR rather than parsing and printing
534 They can later be printed with the \-r option.
535 Standard output is used if \fIfile\fR is ``-''.
538 Used in conjunction with the
540 option, this will limit the number
541 of files created to the specified number, and begin overwriting files
542 from the beginning, thus creating a 'rotating' buffer.
543 In addition, it will name
544 the files with enough leading 0s to support the maximum number of
545 files, allowing them to sort correctly.
548 Print each packet (minus its link level header) in hex.
549 The smaller of the entire packet or
551 bytes will be printed. Note that this is the entire link-layer
552 packet, so for link layers that pad (e.g. Ethernet), the padding bytes
553 will also be printed when the higher layer packet is shorter than the
559 its link level header, in hex.
562 Print each packet (minus its link level header) in hex and ASCII.
563 This is very handy for analysing new protocols.
568 its link level header, in hex and ASCII.
571 Set the data link type to use while capturing packets to \fIdatalinktype\fP.
574 Drops privileges (if root) and changes user ID to
576 and the group ID to the primary group of
579 This behavior can also be enabled by default at compile time.
580 .IP "\fI expression\fP"
582 selects which packets will be dumped.
583 If no \fIexpression\fP
584 is given, all packets on the net will be dumped.
586 only packets for which \fIexpression\fP is `true' will be dumped.
588 The \fIexpression\fP consists of one or more
590 Primitives usually consist of an
592 (name or number) preceded by one or more qualifiers.
594 different kinds of qualifier:
596 qualifiers say what kind of thing the id name or number refers to.
603 E.g., `host foo', `net 128.3', `port 20', `portrange 6000-6008'.
609 qualifiers specify a particular transfer direction to and/or from
611 Possible directions are
618 E.g., `src foo', `dst net 128.3', `src or dst port ftp-data'.
620 there is no dir qualifier,
623 For some link layers, such as SLIP and the ``cooked'' Linux capture mode
624 used for the ``any'' device and for some other device types, the
628 qualifiers can be used to specify a desired direction.
630 qualifiers restrict the match to a particular protocol.
645 E.g., `ether src foo', `arp net 128.3', `tcp port 21', `udp portrange
648 no proto qualifier, all protocols consistent with the type are
650 E.g., `src foo' means `(ip or arp or rarp) src foo'
651 (except the latter is not legal syntax), `net bar' means `(ip or
652 arp or rarp) net bar' and `port 53' means `(tcp or udp) port 53'.
654 [`fddi' is actually an alias for `ether'; the parser treats them
655 identically as meaning ``the data link level used on the specified
656 network interface.'' FDDI headers contain Ethernet-like source
657 and destination addresses, and often contain Ethernet-like packet
658 types, so you can filter on these FDDI fields just as with the
659 analogous Ethernet fields.
660 FDDI headers also contain other fields,
661 but you cannot name them explicitly in a filter expression.
663 Similarly, `tr' and `wlan' are aliases for `ether'; the previous
664 paragraph's statements about FDDI headers also apply to Token Ring
665 and 802.11 wireless LAN headers. For 802.11 headers, the destination
666 address is the DA field and the source address is the SA field; the
667 BSSID, RA, and TA fields aren't tested.]
669 In addition to the above, there are some special `primitive' keywords
670 that don't follow the pattern:
675 and arithmetic expressions.
676 All of these are described below.
678 More complex filter expressions are built up by using the words
683 to combine primitives.
684 E.g., `host foo and not port ftp and not port ftp-data'.
685 To save typing, identical qualifier lists can be omitted.
687 `tcp dst port ftp or ftp-data or domain' is exactly the same as
688 `tcp dst port ftp or tcp dst port ftp-data or tcp dst port domain'.
690 Allowable primitives are:
691 .IP "\fBdst host \fIhost\fR"
692 True if the IPv4/v6 destination field of the packet is \fIhost\fP,
693 which may be either an address or a name.
694 .IP "\fBsrc host \fIhost\fR"
695 True if the IPv4/v6 source field of the packet is \fIhost\fP.
696 .IP "\fBhost \fIhost\fP
697 True if either the IPv4/v6 source or destination of the packet is \fIhost\fP.
699 Any of the above host expressions can be prepended with the keywords,
700 \fBip\fP, \fBarp\fP, \fBrarp\fP, or \fBip6\fP as in:
703 \fBip host \fIhost\fR
706 which is equivalent to:
709 \fBether proto \fI\\ip\fB and host \fIhost\fR
712 If \fIhost\fR is a name with multiple IP addresses, each address will
713 be checked for a match.
714 .IP "\fBether dst \fIehost\fP
715 True if the Ethernet destination address is \fIehost\fP.
717 may be either a name from /etc/ethers or a number (see
720 .IP "\fBether src \fIehost\fP
721 True if the Ethernet source address is \fIehost\fP.
722 .IP "\fBether host \fIehost\fP
723 True if either the Ethernet source or destination address is \fIehost\fP.
724 .IP "\fBgateway\fP \fIhost\fP
725 True if the packet used \fIhost\fP as a gateway.
727 source or destination address was \fIhost\fP but neither the IP source
728 nor the IP destination was \fIhost\fP.
729 \fIHost\fP must be a name and
730 must be found both by the machine's host-name-to-IP-address resolution
731 mechanisms (host name file, DNS, NIS, etc.) and by the machine's
732 host-name-to-Ethernet-address resolution mechanism (/etc/ethers, etc.).
733 (An equivalent expression is
736 \fBether host \fIehost \fBand not host \fIhost\fR
739 which can be used with either names or numbers for \fIhost / ehost\fP.)
740 This syntax does not work in IPv6-enabled configuration at this moment.
741 .IP "\fBdst net \fInet\fR"
742 True if the IPv4/v6 destination address of the packet has a network
744 \fINet\fP may be either a name from /etc/networks
745 or a network number (see \fInetworks(4)\fP for details).
746 .IP "\fBsrc net \fInet\fR"
747 True if the IPv4/v6 source address of the packet has a network
749 .IP "\fBnet \fInet\fR"
750 True if either the IPv4/v6 source or destination address of the packet has a network
752 .IP "\fBnet \fInet\fR \fBmask \fInetmask\fR"
753 True if the IPv4 address matches \fInet\fR with the specific \fInetmask\fR.
754 May be qualified with \fBsrc\fR or \fBdst\fR.
755 Note that this syntax is not valid for IPv6 \fInet\fR.
756 .IP "\fBnet \fInet\fR/\fIlen\fR"
757 True if the IPv4/v6 address matches \fInet\fR with a netmask \fIlen\fR
759 May be qualified with \fBsrc\fR or \fBdst\fR.
760 .IP "\fBdst port \fIport\fR"
761 True if the packet is ip/tcp, ip/udp, ip6/tcp or ip6/udp and has a
762 destination port value of \fIport\fP.
763 The \fIport\fP can be a number or a name used in /etc/services (see
767 If a name is used, both the port
768 number and protocol are checked.
769 If a number or ambiguous name is used,
770 only the port number is checked (e.g., \fBdst port 513\fR will print both
771 tcp/login traffic and udp/who traffic, and \fBport domain\fR will print
772 both tcp/domain and udp/domain traffic).
773 .IP "\fBsrc port \fIport\fR"
774 True if the packet has a source port value of \fIport\fP.
775 .IP "\fBport \fIport\fR"
776 True if either the source or destination port of the packet is \fIport\fP.
777 .IP "\fBdst portrange \fIport1\fB-\fIport2\fR"
778 True if the packet is ip/tcp, ip/udp, ip6/tcp or ip6/udp and has a
779 destination port value between \fIport1\fP and \fIport2\fP.
783 are interpreted in the same fashion as the
787 .IP "\fBsrc portrange \fIport1\fB-\fIport2\fR"
788 True if the packet has a source port value between \fIport1\fP and
790 .IP "\fBportrange \fIport1\fB-\fIport2\fR"
791 True if either the source or destination port of the packet is between
792 \fIport1\fP and \fIport2\fP.
794 Any of the above port or port range expressions can be prepended with
795 the keywords, \fBtcp\fP or \fBudp\fP, as in:
798 \fBtcp src port \fIport\fR
801 which matches only tcp packets whose source port is \fIport\fP.
802 .IP "\fBless \fIlength\fR"
803 True if the packet has a length less than or equal to \fIlength\fP.
804 This is equivalent to:
807 \fBlen <= \fIlength\fP.
810 .IP "\fBgreater \fIlength\fR"
811 True if the packet has a length greater than or equal to \fIlength\fP.
812 This is equivalent to:
815 \fBlen >= \fIlength\fP.
818 .IP "\fBip proto \fIprotocol\fR"
819 True if the packet is an IPv4 packet (see
821 of protocol type \fIprotocol\fP.
822 \fIProtocol\fP can be a number or one of the names
823 \fBicmp\fP, \fBicmp6\fP, \fBigmp\fP, \fBigrp\fP, \fBpim\fP, \fBah\fP,
824 \fBesp\fP, \fBvrrp\fP, \fBudp\fP, or \fBtcp\fP.
825 Note that the identifiers \fBtcp\fP, \fBudp\fP, and \fBicmp\fP are also
826 keywords and must be escaped via backslash (\\), which is \\\\ in the C-shell.
827 Note that this primitive does not chase the protocol header chain.
828 .IP "\fBip6 proto \fIprotocol\fR"
829 True if the packet is an IPv6 packet of protocol type \fIprotocol\fP.
830 Note that this primitive does not chase the protocol header chain.
831 .IP "\fBip6 protochain \fIprotocol\fR"
832 True if the packet is IPv6 packet,
833 and contains protocol header with type \fIprotocol\fR
834 in its protocol header chain.
838 \fBip6 protochain 6\fR
841 matches any IPv6 packet with TCP protocol header in the protocol header chain.
842 The packet may contain, for example,
843 authentication header, routing header, or hop-by-hop option header,
844 between IPv6 header and TCP header.
845 The BPF code emitted by this primitive is complex and
846 cannot be optimized by BPF optimizer code in \fItcpdump\fP,
847 so this can be somewhat slow.
848 .IP "\fBip protochain \fIprotocol\fR"
849 Equivalent to \fBip6 protochain \fIprotocol\fR, but this is for IPv4.
850 .IP "\fBether broadcast\fR"
851 True if the packet is an Ethernet broadcast packet.
854 .IP "\fBip broadcast\fR"
855 True if the packet is an IPv4 broadcast packet.
856 It checks for both the all-zeroes and all-ones broadcast conventions,
857 and looks up the subnet mask on the interface on which the capture is
860 If the subnet mask of the interface on which the capture is being done
861 is not available, either because the interface on which capture is being
862 done has no netmask or because the capture is being done on the Linux
863 "any" interface, which can capture on more than one interface, this
864 check will not work correctly.
865 .IP "\fBether multicast\fR"
866 True if the packet is an Ethernet multicast packet.
869 This is shorthand for `\fBether[0] & 1 != 0\fP'.
870 .IP "\fBip multicast\fR"
871 True if the packet is an IPv4 multicast packet.
872 .IP "\fBip6 multicast\fR"
873 True if the packet is an IPv6 multicast packet.
874 .IP "\fBether proto \fIprotocol\fR"
875 True if the packet is of ether type \fIprotocol\fR.
876 \fIProtocol\fP can be a number or one of the names
877 \fBip\fP, \fBip6\fP, \fBarp\fP, \fBrarp\fP, \fBatalk\fP, \fBaarp\fP,
878 \fBdecnet\fP, \fBsca\fP, \fBlat\fP, \fBmopdl\fP, \fBmoprc\fP,
879 \fBiso\fP, \fBstp\fP, \fBipx\fP, or \fBnetbeui\fP.
880 Note these identifiers are also keywords
881 and must be escaped via backslash (\\).
883 [In the case of FDDI (e.g., `\fBfddi protocol arp\fR'), Token Ring
884 (e.g., `\fBtr protocol arp\fR'), and IEEE 802.11 wireless LANS (e.g.,
885 `\fBwlan protocol arp\fR'), for most of those protocols, the
886 protocol identification comes from the 802.2 Logical Link Control (LLC)
887 header, which is usually layered on top of the FDDI, Token Ring, or
890 When filtering for most protocol identifiers on FDDI, Token Ring, or
891 802.11, \fItcpdump\fR checks only the protocol ID field of an LLC header
892 in so-called SNAP format with an Organizational Unit Identifier (OUI) of
893 0x000000, for encapsulated Ethernet; it doesn't check whether the packet
894 is in SNAP format with an OUI of 0x000000.
899 \fItcpdump\fR checks the DSAP (Destination Service Access Point) and
900 SSAP (Source Service Access Point) fields of the LLC header;
902 \fBstp\fP and \fBnetbeui\fP
903 \fItcpdump\fR checks the DSAP of the LLC header;
906 \fItcpdump\fR checks for a SNAP-format packet with an OUI of 0x080007
907 and the AppleTalk etype.
910 In the case of Ethernet, \fItcpdump\fR checks the Ethernet type field
911 for most of those protocols. The exceptions are:
914 \fBiso\fP, \fBstp\fP, and \fBnetbeui\fP
915 \fItcpdump\fR checks for an 802.3 frame and then checks the LLC header as
916 it does for FDDI, Token Ring, and 802.11;
919 \fItcpdump\fR checks both for the AppleTalk etype in an Ethernet frame and
920 for a SNAP-format packet as it does for FDDI, Token Ring, and 802.11;
923 \fItcpdump\fR checks for the AppleTalk ARP etype in either an Ethernet
924 frame or an 802.2 SNAP frame with an OUI of 0x000000;
927 \fItcpdump\fR checks for the IPX etype in an Ethernet frame, the IPX
928 DSAP in the LLC header, the 802.3-with-no-LLC-header encapsulation of
929 IPX, and the IPX etype in a SNAP frame.
931 .IP "\fBdecnet src \fIhost\fR"
932 True if the DECNET source address is
934 which may be an address of the form ``10.123'', or a DECNET host
936 [DECNET host name support is only available on ULTRIX systems
937 that are configured to run DECNET.]
938 .IP "\fBdecnet dst \fIhost\fR"
939 True if the DECNET destination address is
941 .IP "\fBdecnet host \fIhost\fR"
942 True if either the DECNET source or destination address is
944 .IP "\fBifname \fIinterface\fR"
945 True if the packet was logged as coming from the specified interface (applies
946 only to packets logged by OpenBSD's
948 .IP "\fBon \fIinterface\fR"
952 .IP "\fBrnr \fInum\fR"
953 True if the packet was logged as matching the specified PF rule number
954 (applies only to packets logged by OpenBSD's
956 .IP "\fBrulenum \fInum\fR"
960 .IP "\fBreason \fIcode\fR"
961 True if the packet was logged with the specified PF reason code. The known
970 (applies only to packets logged by OpenBSD's
972 .IP "\fBrset \fIname\fR"
973 True if the packet was logged as matching the specified PF ruleset
974 name of an anchored ruleset (applies only to packets logged by
976 .IP "\fBruleset \fIname\fR"
980 .IP "\fBsrnr \fInum\fR"
981 True if the packet was logged as matching the specified PF rule number
982 of an anchored ruleset (applies only to packets logged by
984 .IP "\fBsubrulenum \fInum\fR"
988 .IP "\fBaction \fIact\fR"
989 True if PF took the specified action when the packet was logged. Known actions
994 (applies only to packets logged by OpenBSD's
996 .IP "\fBip\fR, \fBip6\fR, \fBarp\fR, \fBrarp\fR, \fBatalk\fR, \fBaarp\fR, \fBdecnet\fR, \fBiso\fR, \fBstp\fR, \fBipx\fR, \fInetbeui\fP"
1000 \fBether proto \fIp\fR
1003 where \fIp\fR is one of the above protocols.
1004 .IP "\fBlat\fR, \fBmoprc\fR, \fBmopdl\fR"
1008 \fBether proto \fIp\fR
1011 where \fIp\fR is one of the above protocols.
1013 \fItcpdump\fP does not currently know how to parse these protocols.
1014 .IP "\fBvlan \fI[vlan_id]\fR"
1015 True if the packet is an IEEE 802.1Q VLAN packet.
1016 If \fI[vlan_id]\fR is specified, only true is the packet has the specified
1018 Note that the first \fBvlan\fR keyword encountered in \fIexpression\fR
1019 changes the decoding offsets for the remainder of \fIexpression\fR
1020 on the assumption that the packet is a VLAN packet.
1021 the \fI[vlan_id]\fR statement may be used more than once, to filter on vlan hierarchies.
1022 each use of the \fI[vlan_id]\fR \fIexpression\fR increments the filter offsets by 4.
1026 "vlan 100 && vlan 200" filters on vlan 200 encapsulated within vlan 100
1028 "vlan && vlan 300 && ip" filters IPv4 protocols encapsulated in vlan 300 encapsulated within any higher order vlan
1030 .IP "\fBtcp\fR, \fBudp\fR, \fBicmp\fR"
1034 \fBip proto \fIp\fR\fB or ip6 proto \fIp\fR
1037 where \fIp\fR is one of the above protocols.
1038 .IP "\fBiso proto \fIprotocol\fR"
1039 True if the packet is an OSI packet of protocol type \fIprotocol\fP.
1040 \fIProtocol\fP can be a number or one of the names
1041 \fBclnp\fP, \fBesis\fP, or \fBisis\fP.
1042 .IP "\fBclnp\fR, \fBesis\fR, \fBisis\fR"
1046 \fBiso proto \fIp\fR
1049 where \fIp\fR is one of the above protocols.
1050 .IP "\fBl1\fR, \fBl2\fR, \fBiih\fR, \fBlsp\fR, \fBsnp\fR, \fBcsnp\fR, \fBpsnp\fR"
1051 Abbreviations for IS-IS PDU types.
1052 .IP "\fBvpi\fP \fIn\fR
1053 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, with a
1054 virtual path identifier of
1056 .IP "\fBvci\fP \fIn\fR
1057 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, with a
1058 virtual channel identifier of
1061 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1063 Note that the first \fBlane\fR keyword encountered in \fIexpression\fR
1064 changes the tests done in the remainder of \fIexpression\fR
1065 on the assumption that the packet is either a LANE emulated Ethernet
1066 packet or a LANE LE Control packet. If \fBlane\fR isn't specified, the
1067 tests are done under the assumption that the packet is an
1068 LLC-encapsulated packet.
1070 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1071 an LLC-encapsulated packet.
1073 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1074 a segment OAM F4 flow cell (VPI=0 & VCI=3).
1076 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1077 an end-to-end OAM F4 flow cell (VPI=0 & VCI=4).
1079 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1080 a segment or end-to-end OAM F4 flow cell (VPI=0 & (VCI=3 | VCI=4)).
1082 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1083 a segment or end-to-end OAM F4 flow cell (VPI=0 & (VCI=3 | VCI=4)).
1085 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1086 on a meta signaling circuit (VPI=0 & VCI=1).
1088 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1089 on a broadcast signaling circuit (VPI=0 & VCI=2).
1091 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1092 on a signaling circuit (VPI=0 & VCI=5).
1094 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1095 on an ILMI circuit (VPI=0 & VCI=16).
1096 .IP \fBconnectmsg\fP
1097 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1098 on a signaling circuit and is a Q.2931 Setup, Call Proceeding, Connect,
1099 Connect Ack, Release, or Release Done message.
1100 .IP \fBmetaconnect\fP
1101 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1102 on a meta signaling circuit and is a Q.2931 Setup, Call Proceeding, Connect,
1103 Release, or Release Done message.
1104 .IP "\fIexpr relop expr\fR"
1105 True if the relation holds, where \fIrelop\fR is one of >, <, >=, <=, =,
1106 !=, and \fIexpr\fR is an arithmetic expression composed of integer
1107 constants (expressed in standard C syntax), the normal binary operators
1108 [+, -, *, /, &, |, <<, >>], a length operator, and special packet data
1109 accessors. Note that all comparisons are unsigned, so that, for example,
1110 0x80000000 and 0xffffffff are > 0.
1112 data inside the packet, use the following syntax:
1115 \fIproto\fB [ \fIexpr\fB : \fIsize\fB ]\fR
1118 \fIProto\fR is one of \fBether, fddi, tr, wlan, ppp, slip, link,
1119 ip, arp, rarp, tcp, udp, icmp\fR or \fBip6\fR, and
1120 indicates the protocol layer for the index operation.
1121 (\fBether, fddi, wlan, tr, ppp, slip\fR and \fBlink\fR all refer to the
1123 Note that \fItcp, udp\fR and other upper-layer protocol types only
1124 apply to IPv4, not IPv6 (this will be fixed in the future).
1125 The byte offset, relative to the indicated protocol layer, is
1126 given by \fIexpr\fR.
1127 \fISize\fR is optional and indicates the number of bytes in the
1128 field of interest; it can be either one, two, or four, and defaults to one.
1129 The length operator, indicated by the keyword \fBlen\fP, gives the
1130 length of the packet.
1132 For example, `\fBether[0] & 1 != 0\fP' catches all multicast traffic.
1133 The expression `\fBip[0] & 0xf != 5\fP'
1134 catches all IPv4 packets with options.
1136 `\fBip[6:2] & 0x1fff = 0\fP'
1137 catches only unfragmented IPv4 datagrams and frag zero of fragmented
1139 This check is implicitly applied to the \fBtcp\fP and \fBudp\fP
1141 For instance, \fBtcp[0]\fP always means the first
1142 byte of the TCP \fIheader\fP, and never means the first byte of an
1143 intervening fragment.
1145 Some offsets and field values may be expressed as names rather than
1147 The following protocol header field offsets are
1148 available: \fBicmptype\fP (ICMP type field), \fBicmpcode\fP (ICMP
1149 code field), and \fBtcpflags\fP (TCP flags field).
1151 The following ICMP type field values are available: \fBicmp-echoreply\fP,
1152 \fBicmp-unreach\fP, \fBicmp-sourcequench\fP, \fBicmp-redirect\fP,
1153 \fBicmp-echo\fP, \fBicmp-routeradvert\fP, \fBicmp-routersolicit\fP,
1154 \fBicmp-timxceed\fP, \fBicmp-paramprob\fP, \fBicmp-tstamp\fP,
1155 \fBicmp-tstampreply\fP, \fBicmp-ireq\fP, \fBicmp-ireqreply\fP,
1156 \fBicmp-maskreq\fP, \fBicmp-maskreply\fP.
1158 The following TCP flags field values are available: \fBtcp-fin\fP,
1159 \fBtcp-syn\fP, \fBtcp-rst\fP, \fBtcp-push\fP,
1160 \fBtcp-ack\fP, \fBtcp-urg\fP.
1162 Primitives may be combined using:
1164 A parenthesized group of primitives and operators
1165 (parentheses are special to the Shell and must be escaped).
1167 Negation (`\fB!\fP' or `\fBnot\fP').
1169 Concatenation (`\fB&&\fP' or `\fBand\fP').
1171 Alternation (`\fB||\fP' or `\fBor\fP').
1173 Negation has highest precedence.
1174 Alternation and concatenation have equal precedence and associate
1176 Note that explicit \fBand\fR tokens, not juxtaposition,
1177 are now required for concatenation.
1179 If an identifier is given without a keyword, the most recent keyword
1184 \fBnot host vs and ace\fR
1190 \fBnot host vs and host ace\fR
1193 which should not be confused with
1196 \fBnot ( host vs or ace )\fR
1200 Expression arguments can be passed to \fItcpdump\fP as either a single
1201 argument or as multiple arguments, whichever is more convenient.
1202 Generally, if the expression contains Shell metacharacters, it is
1203 easier to pass it as a single, quoted argument.
1204 Multiple arguments are concatenated with spaces before being parsed.
1207 To print all packets arriving at or departing from \fIsundown\fP:
1210 \fBtcpdump host sundown\fP
1214 To print traffic between \fIhelios\fR and either \fIhot\fR or \fIace\fR:
1217 \fBtcpdump host helios and \\( hot or ace \\)\fP
1221 To print all IP packets between \fIace\fR and any host except \fIhelios\fR:
1224 \fBtcpdump ip host ace and not helios\fP
1228 To print all traffic between local hosts and hosts at Berkeley:
1232 tcpdump net ucb-ether
1236 To print all ftp traffic through internet gateway \fIsnup\fP:
1237 (note that the expression is quoted to prevent the shell from
1238 (mis-)interpreting the parentheses):
1242 tcpdump 'gateway snup and (port ftp or ftp-data)'
1246 To print traffic neither sourced from nor destined for local hosts
1247 (if you gateway to one other net, this stuff should never make it
1248 onto your local net).
1252 tcpdump ip and not net \fIlocalnet\fP
1256 To print the start and end packets (the SYN and FIN packets) of each
1257 TCP conversation that involves a non-local host.
1261 tcpdump 'tcp[tcpflags] & (tcp-syn|tcp-fin) != 0 and not src and dst net \fIlocalnet\fP'
1265 To print all IPv4 HTTP packets to and from port 80, i.e. print only
1266 packets that contain data, not, for example, SYN and FIN packets and
1267 ACK-only packets. (IPv6 is left as an exercise for the reader.)
1271 tcpdump 'tcp port 80 and (((ip[2:2] - ((ip[0]&0xf)<<2)) - ((tcp[12]&0xf0)>>2)) != 0)'
1275 To print IP packets longer than 576 bytes sent through gateway \fIsnup\fP:
1279 tcpdump 'gateway snup and ip[2:2] > 576'
1283 To print IP broadcast or multicast packets that were
1285 sent via Ethernet broadcast or multicast:
1289 tcpdump 'ether[0] & 1 = 0 and ip[16] >= 224'
1293 To print all ICMP packets that are not echo requests/replies (i.e., not
1298 tcpdump 'icmp[icmptype] != icmp-echo and icmp[icmptype] != icmp-echoreply'
1303 The output of \fItcpdump\fP is protocol dependent.
1305 gives a brief description and examples of most of the formats.
1313 If the '-e' option is given, the link level header is printed out.
1314 On Ethernets, the source and destination addresses, protocol,
1315 and packet length are printed.
1317 On FDDI networks, the '-e' option causes \fItcpdump\fP to print
1318 the `frame control' field, the source and destination addresses,
1319 and the packet length.
1320 (The `frame control' field governs the
1321 interpretation of the rest of the packet.
1322 Normal packets (such
1323 as those containing IP datagrams) are `async' packets, with a priority
1324 value between 0 and 7; for example, `\fBasync4\fR'.
1326 are assumed to contain an 802.2 Logical Link Control (LLC) packet;
1327 the LLC header is printed if it is \fInot\fR an ISO datagram or a
1328 so-called SNAP packet.
1330 On Token Ring networks, the '-e' option causes \fItcpdump\fP to print
1331 the `access control' and `frame control' fields, the source and
1332 destination addresses, and the packet length.
1333 As on FDDI networks,
1334 packets are assumed to contain an LLC packet.
1335 Regardless of whether
1336 the '-e' option is specified or not, the source routing information is
1337 printed for source-routed packets.
1339 On 802.11 networks, the '-e' option causes \fItcpdump\fP to print
1340 the `frame control' fields, all of the addresses in the 802.11 header,
1341 and the packet length.
1342 As on FDDI networks,
1343 packets are assumed to contain an LLC packet.
1345 \fI(N.B.: The following description assumes familiarity with
1346 the SLIP compression algorithm described in RFC-1144.)\fP
1348 On SLIP links, a direction indicator (``I'' for inbound, ``O'' for outbound),
1349 packet type, and compression information are printed out.
1350 The packet type is printed first.
1351 The three types are \fIip\fP, \fIutcp\fP, and \fIctcp\fP.
1352 No further link information is printed for \fIip\fR packets.
1353 For TCP packets, the connection identifier is printed following the type.
1354 If the packet is compressed, its encoded header is printed out.
1355 The special cases are printed out as
1356 \fB*S+\fIn\fR and \fB*SA+\fIn\fR, where \fIn\fR is the amount by which
1357 the sequence number (or sequence number and ack) has changed.
1358 If it is not a special case,
1359 zero or more changes are printed.
1360 A change is indicated by U (urgent pointer), W (window), A (ack),
1361 S (sequence number), and I (packet ID), followed by a delta (+n or -n),
1362 or a new value (=n).
1363 Finally, the amount of data in the packet and compressed header length
1366 For example, the following line shows an outbound compressed TCP packet,
1367 with an implicit connection identifier; the ack has changed by 6,
1368 the sequence number by 49, and the packet ID by 6; there are 3 bytes of
1369 data and 6 bytes of compressed header:
1372 \fBO ctcp * A+6 S+49 I+6 3 (6)\fP
1378 Arp/rarp output shows the type of request and its arguments.
1380 format is intended to be self explanatory.
1381 Here is a short sample taken from the start of an `rlogin' from
1382 host \fIrtsg\fP to host \fIcsam\fP:
1386 \f(CWarp who-has csam tell rtsg
1387 arp reply csam is-at CSAM\fR
1391 The first line says that rtsg sent an arp packet asking
1392 for the Ethernet address of internet host csam.
1394 replies with its Ethernet address (in this example, Ethernet addresses
1395 are in caps and internet addresses in lower case).
1397 This would look less redundant if we had done \fItcpdump \-n\fP:
1401 \f(CWarp who-has 128.3.254.6 tell 128.3.254.68
1402 arp reply 128.3.254.6 is-at 02:07:01:00:01:c4\fP
1406 If we had done \fItcpdump \-e\fP, the fact that the first packet is
1407 broadcast and the second is point-to-point would be visible:
1411 \f(CWRTSG Broadcast 0806 64: arp who-has csam tell rtsg
1412 CSAM RTSG 0806 64: arp reply csam is-at CSAM\fR
1416 For the first packet this says the Ethernet source address is RTSG, the
1417 destination is the Ethernet broadcast address, the type field
1418 contained hex 0806 (type ETHER_ARP) and the total length was 64 bytes.
1422 \fI(N.B.:The following description assumes familiarity with
1423 the TCP protocol described in RFC-793.
1424 If you are not familiar
1425 with the protocol, neither this description nor \fItcpdump\fP will
1426 be of much use to you.)\fP
1428 The general format of a tcp protocol line is:
1432 \fIsrc > dst: flags data-seqno ack window urgent options\fP
1436 \fISrc\fP and \fIdst\fP are the source and destination IP
1437 addresses and ports.
1438 \fIFlags\fP are some combination of S (SYN),
1439 F (FIN), P (PUSH), R (RST), W (ECN CWR) or E (ECN-Echo), or a single
1441 \fIData-seqno\fP describes the portion of sequence space covered
1442 by the data in this packet (see example below).
1443 \fIAck\fP is sequence number of the next data expected the other
1444 direction on this connection.
1445 \fIWindow\fP is the number of bytes of receive buffer space available
1446 the other direction on this connection.
1447 \fIUrg\fP indicates there is `urgent' data in the packet.
1448 \fIOptions\fP are tcp options enclosed in angle brackets (e.g., <mss 1024>).
1450 \fISrc, dst\fP and \fIflags\fP are always present.
1452 depend on the contents of the packet's tcp protocol header and
1453 are output only if appropriate.
1455 Here is the opening portion of an rlogin from host \fIrtsg\fP to
1460 \s-2\f(CWrtsg.1023 > csam.login: S 768512:768512(0) win 4096 <mss 1024>
1461 csam.login > rtsg.1023: S 947648:947648(0) ack 768513 win 4096 <mss 1024>
1462 rtsg.1023 > csam.login: . ack 1 win 4096
1463 rtsg.1023 > csam.login: P 1:2(1) ack 1 win 4096
1464 csam.login > rtsg.1023: . ack 2 win 4096
1465 rtsg.1023 > csam.login: P 2:21(19) ack 1 win 4096
1466 csam.login > rtsg.1023: P 1:2(1) ack 21 win 4077
1467 csam.login > rtsg.1023: P 2:3(1) ack 21 win 4077 urg 1
1468 csam.login > rtsg.1023: P 3:4(1) ack 21 win 4077 urg 1\fR\s+2
1472 The first line says that tcp port 1023 on rtsg sent a packet
1475 The \fBS\fP indicates that the \fISYN\fP flag was set.
1476 The packet sequence number was 768512 and it contained no data.
1477 (The notation is `first:last(nbytes)' which means `sequence
1479 up to but not including \fIlast\fP which is \fInbytes\fP bytes of user data'.)
1480 There was no piggy-backed ack, the available receive window was 4096
1481 bytes and there was a max-segment-size option requesting an mss of
1484 Csam replies with a similar packet except it includes a piggy-backed
1486 Rtsg then acks csam's SYN.
1489 The packet contained no data so there is no data sequence number.
1490 Note that the ack sequence
1491 number is a small integer (1).
1492 The first time \fItcpdump\fP sees a
1493 tcp `conversation', it prints the sequence number from the packet.
1494 On subsequent packets of the conversation, the difference between
1495 the current packet's sequence number and this initial sequence number
1497 This means that sequence numbers after the
1498 first can be interpreted
1499 as relative byte positions in the conversation's data stream (with the
1500 first data byte each direction being `1').
1501 `-S' will override this
1502 feature, causing the original sequence numbers to be output.
1504 On the 6th line, rtsg sends csam 19 bytes of data (bytes 2 through 20
1505 in the rtsg \(-> csam side of the conversation).
1506 The PUSH flag is set in the packet.
1507 On the 7th line, csam says it's received data sent by rtsg up to
1508 but not including byte 21.
1509 Most of this data is apparently sitting in the
1510 socket buffer since csam's receive window has gotten 19 bytes smaller.
1511 Csam also sends one byte of data to rtsg in this packet.
1512 On the 8th and 9th lines,
1513 csam sends two bytes of urgent, pushed data to rtsg.
1515 If the snapshot was small enough that \fItcpdump\fP didn't capture
1516 the full TCP header, it interprets as much of the header as it can
1517 and then reports ``[|\fItcp\fP]'' to indicate the remainder could not
1519 If the header contains a bogus option (one with a length
1520 that's either too small or beyond the end of the header), \fItcpdump\fP
1521 reports it as ``[\fIbad opt\fP]'' and does not interpret any further
1522 options (since it's impossible to tell where they start).
1524 length indicates options are present but the IP datagram length is not
1525 long enough for the options to actually be there, \fItcpdump\fP reports
1526 it as ``[\fIbad hdr length\fP]''.
1528 .B Capturing TCP packets with particular flag combinations (SYN-ACK, URG-ACK, etc.)
1530 There are 8 bits in the control bits section of the TCP header:
1532 .I CWR | ECE | URG | ACK | PSH | RST | SYN | FIN
1534 Let's assume that we want to watch packets used in establishing
1536 Recall that TCP uses a 3-way handshake protocol
1537 when it initializes a new connection; the connection sequence with
1538 regard to the TCP control bits is
1544 2) Recipient responds with SYN, ACK
1550 Now we're interested in capturing packets that have only the
1551 SYN bit set (Step 1).
1552 Note that we don't want packets from step 2
1553 (SYN-ACK), just a plain initial SYN.
1554 What we need is a correct filter
1555 expression for \fItcpdump\fP.
1557 Recall the structure of a TCP header without options:
1561 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1562 | source port | destination port |
1563 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1565 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1566 | acknowledgment number |
1567 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1568 | HL | rsvd |C|E|U|A|P|R|S|F| window size |
1569 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1570 | TCP checksum | urgent pointer |
1571 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1574 A TCP header usually holds 20 octets of data, unless options are
1576 The first line of the graph contains octets 0 - 3, the
1577 second line shows octets 4 - 7 etc.
1579 Starting to count with 0, the relevant TCP control bits are contained
1584 ----------------|---------------|---------------|----------------
1585 | HL | rsvd |C|E|U|A|P|R|S|F| window size |
1586 ----------------|---------------|---------------|----------------
1587 | | 13th octet | | |
1590 Let's have a closer look at octet no. 13:
1600 These are the TCP control bits we are interested
1602 We have numbered the bits in this octet from 0 to 7, right to
1603 left, so the PSH bit is bit number 3, while the URG bit is number 5.
1605 Recall that we want to capture packets with only SYN set.
1606 Let's see what happens to octet 13 if a TCP datagram arrives
1607 with the SYN bit set in its header:
1618 control bits section we see that only bit number 1 (SYN) is set.
1620 Assuming that octet number 13 is an 8-bit unsigned integer in
1621 network byte order, the binary value of this octet is
1625 and its decimal representation is
1629 0*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 1*2 + 0*2 = 2
1632 We're almost done, because now we know that if only SYN is set,
1633 the value of the 13th octet in the TCP header, when interpreted
1634 as a 8-bit unsigned integer in network byte order, must be exactly 2.
1636 This relationship can be expressed as
1642 We can use this expression as the filter for \fItcpdump\fP in order
1643 to watch packets which have only SYN set:
1646 tcpdump -i xl0 tcp[13] == 2
1649 The expression says "let the 13th octet of a TCP datagram have
1650 the decimal value 2", which is exactly what we want.
1652 Now, let's assume that we need to capture SYN packets, but we
1653 don't care if ACK or any other TCP control bit is set at the
1655 Let's see what happens to octet 13 when a TCP datagram
1656 with SYN-ACK set arrives:
1666 Now bits 1 and 4 are set in the 13th octet.
1672 which translates to decimal
1676 0*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 1*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 1*2 + 0*2 = 18
1679 Now we can't just use 'tcp[13] == 18' in the \fItcpdump\fP filter
1680 expression, because that would select only those packets that have
1681 SYN-ACK set, but not those with only SYN set.
1682 Remember that we don't care
1683 if ACK or any other control bit is set as long as SYN is set.
1685 In order to achieve our goal, we need to logically AND the
1686 binary value of octet 13 with some other value to preserve
1688 We know that we want SYN to be set in any case,
1689 so we'll logically AND the value in the 13th octet with
1690 the binary value of a SYN:
1694 00010010 SYN-ACK 00000010 SYN
1695 AND 00000010 (we want SYN) AND 00000010 (we want SYN)
1697 = 00000010 = 00000010
1700 We see that this AND operation delivers the same result
1701 regardless whether ACK or another TCP control bit is set.
1702 The decimal representation of the AND value as well as
1703 the result of this operation is 2 (binary 00000010),
1704 so we know that for packets with SYN set the following
1705 relation must hold true:
1707 ( ( value of octet 13 ) AND ( 2 ) ) == ( 2 )
1709 This points us to the \fItcpdump\fP filter expression
1712 tcpdump -i xl0 'tcp[13] & 2 == 2'
1715 Note that you should use single quotes or a backslash
1716 in the expression to hide the AND ('&') special character
1722 UDP format is illustrated by this rwho packet:
1726 \f(CWactinide.who > broadcast.who: udp 84\fP
1730 This says that port \fIwho\fP on host \fIactinide\fP sent a udp
1731 datagram to port \fIwho\fP on host \fIbroadcast\fP, the Internet
1733 The packet contained 84 bytes of user data.
1735 Some UDP services are recognized (from the source or destination
1736 port number) and the higher level protocol information printed.
1737 In particular, Domain Name service requests (RFC-1034/1035) and Sun
1738 RPC calls (RFC-1050) to NFS.
1740 UDP Name Server Requests
1742 \fI(N.B.:The following description assumes familiarity with
1743 the Domain Service protocol described in RFC-1035.
1744 If you are not familiar
1745 with the protocol, the following description will appear to be written
1748 Name server requests are formatted as
1752 \fIsrc > dst: id op? flags qtype qclass name (len)\fP
1754 \f(CWh2opolo.1538 > helios.domain: 3+ A? ucbvax.berkeley.edu. (37)\fR
1758 Host \fIh2opolo\fP asked the domain server on \fIhelios\fP for an
1759 address record (qtype=A) associated with the name \fIucbvax.berkeley.edu.\fP
1760 The query id was `3'.
1761 The `+' indicates the \fIrecursion desired\fP flag
1763 The query length was 37 bytes, not including the UDP and
1764 IP protocol headers.
1765 The query operation was the normal one, \fIQuery\fP,
1766 so the op field was omitted.
1767 If the op had been anything else, it would
1768 have been printed between the `3' and the `+'.
1769 Similarly, the qclass was the normal one,
1770 \fIC_IN\fP, and omitted.
1771 Any other qclass would have been printed
1772 immediately after the `A'.
1774 A few anomalies are checked and may result in extra fields enclosed in
1775 square brackets: If a query contains an answer, authority records or
1776 additional records section,
1781 are printed as `[\fIn\fPa]', `[\fIn\fPn]' or `[\fIn\fPau]' where \fIn\fP
1782 is the appropriate count.
1783 If any of the response bits are set (AA, RA or rcode) or any of the
1784 `must be zero' bits are set in bytes two and three, `[b2&3=\fIx\fP]'
1785 is printed, where \fIx\fP is the hex value of header bytes two and three.
1787 UDP Name Server Responses
1789 Name server responses are formatted as
1793 \fIsrc > dst: id op rcode flags a/n/au type class data (len)\fP
1795 \f(CWhelios.domain > h2opolo.1538: 3 3/3/7 A 128.32.137.3 (273)
1796 helios.domain > h2opolo.1537: 2 NXDomain* 0/1/0 (97)\fR
1800 In the first example, \fIhelios\fP responds to query id 3 from \fIh2opolo\fP
1801 with 3 answer records, 3 name server records and 7 additional records.
1802 The first answer record is type A (address) and its data is internet
1803 address 128.32.137.3.
1804 The total size of the response was 273 bytes,
1805 excluding UDP and IP headers.
1806 The op (Query) and response code
1807 (NoError) were omitted, as was the class (C_IN) of the A record.
1809 In the second example, \fIhelios\fP responds to query 2 with a
1810 response code of non-existent domain (NXDomain) with no answers,
1811 one name server and no authority records.
1812 The `*' indicates that
1813 the \fIauthoritative answer\fP bit was set.
1815 answers, no type, class or data were printed.
1817 Other flag characters that might appear are `\-' (recursion available,
1818 RA, \fInot\fP set) and `|' (truncated message, TC, set).
1820 `question' section doesn't contain exactly one entry, `[\fIn\fPq]'
1823 Note that name server requests and responses tend to be large and the
1824 default \fIsnaplen\fP of 68 bytes may not capture enough of the packet
1826 Use the \fB\-s\fP flag to increase the snaplen if you
1827 need to seriously investigate name server traffic.
1829 has worked well for me.
1834 \fItcpdump\fP now includes fairly extensive SMB/CIFS/NBT decoding for data
1835 on UDP/137, UDP/138 and TCP/139.
1836 Some primitive decoding of IPX and
1837 NetBEUI SMB data is also done.
1839 By default a fairly minimal decode is done, with a much more detailed
1840 decode done if -v is used.
1841 Be warned that with -v a single SMB packet
1842 may take up a page or more, so only use -v if you really want all the
1845 For information on SMB packet formats and what all te fields mean see
1846 www.cifs.org or the pub/samba/specs/ directory on your favorite
1847 samba.org mirror site.
1848 The SMB patches were written by Andrew Tridgell
1852 NFS Requests and Replies
1854 Sun NFS (Network File System) requests and replies are printed as:
1858 \fIsrc.xid > dst.nfs: len op args\fP
1859 \fIsrc.nfs > dst.xid: reply stat len op results\fP
1862 sushi.6709 > wrl.nfs: 112 readlink fh 21,24/10.73165
1863 wrl.nfs > sushi.6709: reply ok 40 readlink "../var"
1864 sushi.201b > wrl.nfs:
1865 144 lookup fh 9,74/4096.6878 "xcolors"
1866 wrl.nfs > sushi.201b:
1867 reply ok 128 lookup fh 9,74/4134.3150
1872 In the first line, host \fIsushi\fP sends a transaction with id \fI6709\fP
1873 to \fIwrl\fP (note that the number following the src host is a
1874 transaction id, \fInot\fP the source port).
1875 The request was 112 bytes,
1876 excluding the UDP and IP headers.
1877 The operation was a \fIreadlink\fP
1878 (read symbolic link) on file handle (\fIfh\fP) 21,24/10.731657119.
1879 (If one is lucky, as in this case, the file handle can be interpreted
1880 as a major,minor device number pair, followed by the inode number and
1882 \fIWrl\fP replies `ok' with the contents of the link.
1884 In the third line, \fIsushi\fP asks \fIwrl\fP to lookup the name
1885 `\fIxcolors\fP' in directory file 9,74/4096.6878.
1886 Note that the data printed
1887 depends on the operation type.
1888 The format is intended to be self
1889 explanatory if read in conjunction with
1890 an NFS protocol spec.
1892 If the \-v (verbose) flag is given, additional information is printed.
1898 sushi.1372a > wrl.nfs:
1899 148 read fh 21,11/12.195 8192 bytes @ 24576
1900 wrl.nfs > sushi.1372a:
1901 reply ok 1472 read REG 100664 ids 417/0 sz 29388
1906 (\-v also prints the IP header TTL, ID, length, and fragmentation fields,
1907 which have been omitted from this example.) In the first line,
1908 \fIsushi\fP asks \fIwrl\fP to read 8192 bytes from file 21,11/12.195,
1909 at byte offset 24576.
1910 \fIWrl\fP replies `ok'; the packet shown on the
1911 second line is the first fragment of the reply, and hence is only 1472
1912 bytes long (the other bytes will follow in subsequent fragments, but
1913 these fragments do not have NFS or even UDP headers and so might not be
1914 printed, depending on the filter expression used).
1915 Because the \-v flag
1916 is given, some of the file attributes (which are returned in addition
1917 to the file data) are printed: the file type (``REG'', for regular file),
1918 the file mode (in octal), the uid and gid, and the file size.
1920 If the \-v flag is given more than once, even more details are printed.
1922 Note that NFS requests are very large and much of the detail won't be printed
1923 unless \fIsnaplen\fP is increased.
1924 Try using `\fB\-s 192\fP' to watch
1927 NFS reply packets do not explicitly identify the RPC operation.
1929 \fItcpdump\fP keeps track of ``recent'' requests, and matches them to the
1930 replies using the transaction ID.
1931 If a reply does not closely follow the
1932 corresponding request, it might not be parsable.
1934 AFS Requests and Replies
1936 Transarc AFS (Andrew File System) requests and replies are printed
1942 \fIsrc.sport > dst.dport: rx packet-type\fP
1943 \fIsrc.sport > dst.dport: rx packet-type service call call-name args\fP
1944 \fIsrc.sport > dst.dport: rx packet-type service reply call-name args\fP
1947 elvis.7001 > pike.afsfs:
1948 rx data fs call rename old fid 536876964/1/1 ".newsrc.new"
1949 new fid 536876964/1/1 ".newsrc"
1950 pike.afsfs > elvis.7001: rx data fs reply rename
1955 In the first line, host elvis sends a RX packet to pike.
1957 a RX data packet to the fs (fileserver) service, and is the start of
1959 The RPC call was a rename, with the old directory file id
1960 of 536876964/1/1 and an old filename of `.newsrc.new', and a new directory
1961 file id of 536876964/1/1 and a new filename of `.newsrc'.
1963 responds with a RPC reply to the rename call (which was successful, because
1964 it was a data packet and not an abort packet).
1966 In general, all AFS RPCs are decoded at least by RPC call name.
1968 AFS RPCs have at least some of the arguments decoded (generally only
1969 the `interesting' arguments, for some definition of interesting).
1971 The format is intended to be self-describing, but it will probably
1972 not be useful to people who are not familiar with the workings of
1975 If the -v (verbose) flag is given twice, acknowledgement packets and
1976 additional header information is printed, such as the the RX call ID,
1977 call number, sequence number, serial number, and the RX packet flags.
1979 If the -v flag is given twice, additional information is printed,
1980 such as the the RX call ID, serial number, and the RX packet flags.
1981 The MTU negotiation information is also printed from RX ack packets.
1983 If the -v flag is given three times, the security index and service id
1986 Error codes are printed for abort packets, with the exception of Ubik
1987 beacon packets (because abort packets are used to signify a yes vote
1988 for the Ubik protocol).
1990 Note that AFS requests are very large and many of the arguments won't
1991 be printed unless \fIsnaplen\fP is increased.
1992 Try using `\fB-s 256\fP'
1993 to watch AFS traffic.
1995 AFS reply packets do not explicitly identify the RPC operation.
1997 \fItcpdump\fP keeps track of ``recent'' requests, and matches them to the
1998 replies using the call number and service ID.
1999 If a reply does not closely
2001 corresponding request, it might not be parsable.
2004 KIP AppleTalk (DDP in UDP)
2006 AppleTalk DDP packets encapsulated in UDP datagrams are de-encapsulated
2007 and dumped as DDP packets (i.e., all the UDP header information is
2011 is used to translate AppleTalk net and node numbers to names.
2012 Lines in this file have the form
2024 The first two lines give the names of AppleTalk networks.
2026 line gives the name of a particular host (a host is distinguished
2027 from a net by the 3rd octet in the number \-
2028 a net number \fImust\fP have two octets and a host number \fImust\fP
2029 have three octets.) The number and name should be separated by
2030 whitespace (blanks or tabs).
2033 file may contain blank lines or comment lines (lines starting with
2036 AppleTalk addresses are printed in the form
2042 \f(CW144.1.209.2 > icsd-net.112.220
2043 office.2 > icsd-net.112.220
2044 jssmag.149.235 > icsd-net.2\fR
2050 doesn't exist or doesn't contain an entry for some AppleTalk
2051 host/net number, addresses are printed in numeric form.)
2052 In the first example, NBP (DDP port 2) on net 144.1 node 209
2053 is sending to whatever is listening on port 220 of net icsd node 112.
2054 The second line is the same except the full name of the source node
2055 is known (`office').
2056 The third line is a send from port 235 on
2057 net jssmag node 149 to broadcast on the icsd-net NBP port (note that
2058 the broadcast address (255) is indicated by a net name with no host
2059 number \- for this reason it's a good idea to keep node names and
2060 net names distinct in /etc/atalk.names).
2062 NBP (name binding protocol) and ATP (AppleTalk transaction protocol)
2063 packets have their contents interpreted.
2064 Other protocols just dump
2065 the protocol name (or number if no name is registered for the
2066 protocol) and packet size.
2068 \fBNBP packets\fP are formatted like the following examples:
2072 \s-2\f(CWicsd-net.112.220 > jssmag.2: nbp-lkup 190: "=:LaserWriter@*"
2073 jssmag.209.2 > icsd-net.112.220: nbp-reply 190: "RM1140:LaserWriter@*" 250
2074 techpit.2 > icsd-net.112.220: nbp-reply 190: "techpit:LaserWriter@*" 186\fR\s+2
2078 The first line is a name lookup request for laserwriters sent by net icsd host
2079 112 and broadcast on net jssmag.
2080 The nbp id for the lookup is 190.
2081 The second line shows a reply for this request (note that it has the
2082 same id) from host jssmag.209 saying that it has a laserwriter
2083 resource named "RM1140" registered on port 250.
2085 another reply to the same request saying host techpit has laserwriter
2086 "techpit" registered on port 186.
2088 \fBATP packet\fP formatting is demonstrated by the following example:
2092 \s-2\f(CWjssmag.209.165 > helios.132: atp-req 12266<0-7> 0xae030001
2093 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:0 (512) 0xae040000
2094 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:1 (512) 0xae040000
2095 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:2 (512) 0xae040000
2096 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:3 (512) 0xae040000
2097 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:4 (512) 0xae040000
2098 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:5 (512) 0xae040000
2099 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:6 (512) 0xae040000
2100 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp*12266:7 (512) 0xae040000
2101 jssmag.209.165 > helios.132: atp-req 12266<3,5> 0xae030001
2102 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:3 (512) 0xae040000
2103 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:5 (512) 0xae040000
2104 jssmag.209.165 > helios.132: atp-rel 12266<0-7> 0xae030001
2105 jssmag.209.133 > helios.132: atp-req* 12267<0-7> 0xae030002\fR\s+2
2109 Jssmag.209 initiates transaction id 12266 with host helios by requesting
2110 up to 8 packets (the `<0-7>').
2111 The hex number at the end of the line
2112 is the value of the `userdata' field in the request.
2114 Helios responds with 8 512-byte packets.
2115 The `:digit' following the
2116 transaction id gives the packet sequence number in the transaction
2117 and the number in parens is the amount of data in the packet,
2118 excluding the atp header.
2119 The `*' on packet 7 indicates that the
2122 Jssmag.209 then requests that packets 3 & 5 be retransmitted.
2124 resends them then jssmag.209 releases the transaction.
2126 jssmag.209 initiates the next request.
2127 The `*' on the request
2128 indicates that XO (`exactly once') was \fInot\fP set.
2133 Fragmented Internet datagrams are printed as
2137 \fB(frag \fIid\fB:\fIsize\fB@\fIoffset\fB+)\fR
2138 \fB(frag \fIid\fB:\fIsize\fB@\fIoffset\fB)\fR
2142 (The first form indicates there are more fragments.
2144 indicates this is the last fragment.)
2146 \fIId\fP is the fragment id.
2147 \fISize\fP is the fragment
2148 size (in bytes) excluding the IP header.
2149 \fIOffset\fP is this
2150 fragment's offset (in bytes) in the original datagram.
2152 The fragment information is output for each fragment.
2154 fragment contains the higher level protocol header and the frag
2155 info is printed after the protocol info.
2157 after the first contain no higher level protocol header and the
2158 frag info is printed after the source and destination addresses.
2159 For example, here is part of an ftp from arizona.edu to lbl-rtsg.arpa
2160 over a CSNET connection that doesn't appear to handle 576 byte datagrams:
2164 \s-2\f(CWarizona.ftp-data > rtsg.1170: . 1024:1332(308) ack 1 win 4096 (frag 595a:328@0+)
2165 arizona > rtsg: (frag 595a:204@328)
2166 rtsg.1170 > arizona.ftp-data: . ack 1536 win 2560\fP\s+2
2170 There are a couple of things to note here: First, addresses in the
2171 2nd line don't include port numbers.
2172 This is because the TCP
2173 protocol information is all in the first fragment and we have no idea
2174 what the port or sequence numbers are when we print the later fragments.
2175 Second, the tcp sequence information in the first line is printed as if there
2176 were 308 bytes of user data when, in fact, there are 512 bytes (308 in
2177 the first frag and 204 in the second).
2178 If you are looking for holes
2179 in the sequence space or trying to match up acks
2180 with packets, this can fool you.
2182 A packet with the IP \fIdon't fragment\fP flag is marked with a
2183 trailing \fB(DF)\fP.
2187 By default, all output lines are preceded by a timestamp.
2189 is the current clock time in the form
2195 and is as accurate as the kernel's clock.
2196 The timestamp reflects the time the kernel first saw the packet.
2198 is made to account for the time lag between when the
2199 Ethernet interface removed the packet from the wire and when the kernel
2200 serviced the `new packet' interrupt.
2202 stty(1), pcap(3), bpf(4), nit(4P), pfconfig(8)
2204 The original authors are:
2208 Steven McCanne, all of the
2209 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA.
2211 It is currently being maintained by tcpdump.org.
2213 The current version is available via http:
2216 .I http://www.tcpdump.org/
2219 The original distribution is available via anonymous ftp:
2222 .I ftp://ftp.ee.lbl.gov/tcpdump.tar.Z
2225 IPv6/IPsec support is added by WIDE/KAME project.
2226 This program uses Eric Young's SSLeay library, under specific configuration.
2228 Please send problems, bugs, questions, desirable enhancements, etc. to:
2231 tcpdump-workers@tcpdump.org
2234 Please send source code contributions, etc. to:
2240 NIT doesn't let you watch your own outbound traffic, BPF will.
2241 We recommend that you use the latter.
2243 On Linux systems with 2.0[.x] kernels:
2245 packets on the loopback device will be seen twice;
2247 packet filtering cannot be done in the kernel, so that all packets must
2248 be copied from the kernel in order to be filtered in user mode;
2250 all of a packet, not just the part that's within the snapshot length,
2251 will be copied from the kernel (the 2.0[.x] packet capture mechanism, if
2252 asked to copy only part of a packet to userland, will not report the
2253 true length of the packet; this would cause most IP packets to get an
2257 capturing on some PPP devices won't work correctly.
2259 We recommend that you upgrade to a 2.2 or later kernel.
2261 Some attempt should be made to reassemble IP fragments or, at least
2262 to compute the right length for the higher level protocol.
2264 Name server inverse queries are not dumped correctly: the (empty)
2265 question section is printed rather than real query in the answer
2267 Some believe that inverse queries are themselves a bug and
2268 prefer to fix the program generating them rather than \fItcpdump\fP.
2270 A packet trace that crosses a daylight savings time change will give
2271 skewed time stamps (the time change is ignored).
2273 Filter expressions on fields other than those in Token Ring headers will
2274 not correctly handle source-routed Token Ring packets.
2276 Filter expressions on fields other than those in 802.11 headers will not
2277 correctly handle 802.11 data packets with both To DS and From DS set.
2280 should chase header chain, but at this moment it does not.
2281 .BR "ip6 protochain"
2282 is supplied for this behavior.
2284 Arithmetic expression against transport layer headers, like \fBtcp[0]\fP,
2285 does not work against IPv6 packets.
2286 It only looks at IPv4 packets.