Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    What is the biggest attack in GBPS you stopped

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    737 Posts 33 Posters 613.3k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • ?
      Guest
      last edited by

      opensource is a way to keep control of what is done and beter than a blackbox imho.

      OpenSource or Closed Source, Black Box or Self made Box, is all either for me. If I have a problem
      and find one who is also able to solve it out, that is my dealer!

      See where they are placing their solution, between the routers and the firewalls.
      And you try to find out a way to solve the problems out at only one point, the firewall.

      Picture source: Corero.com

      ![Corero IPS 5500.jpg](/public/imported_attachments/1/Corero IPS 5500.jpg)
      ![Corero IPS 5500.jpg_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/Corero IPS 5500.jpg_thumb)

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • KOMK
        KOM
        last edited by

        It's like saying there is no point to lock your door because bank are robbed ?

        No, I'm saying that the strongest door you can find will happily collapse when it's being pounded on by a tank.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • S
          Supermule Banned
          last edited by

          Try to add this manually in the system -> tunables

          kern.ipc.somaxconn = 32768

          And test again. We have seen some improvement using that setting

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • N
            Nullity
            last edited by

            @Supermule:

            Try to add this manually in the system -> tunables

            kern.ipc.somaxconn = 32768

            And test again. We have seen some improvement using that setting

            Was the improvement seen during a TCP or UDP DDoS?

            Please correct any obvious misinformation in my posts.
            -Not a professional; an arrogant ignoramous.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • S
              Supermule Banned
              last edited by

              Test using TCP scripts.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • N
                NOYB
                last edited by

                @KOM:

                It's like saying there is no point to lock your door because bank are robbed ?

                No, I'm saying that the strongest door you can find will happily collapse when it's being pounded on by a tank.

                If what Supermule is saying is correct, 70-80 Mbps is no tank.  It's like a spit wad pea shooter.

                If pfSense really can be taken down by that, that is a huge serious issue.

                @Supermule:

                Its in the OS. Hardware can easily handle it if you got some muscle.

                I can take this site offline using a specific type of traffic that takes no more than 70-80Mbps bandwith.

                When that traffic hits pfSense, its dead. Goes offline instantly. No matter how powerful the hardware is.

                I run 8 Core, 16GB ram and SSD. Dead in a second if it hits.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  Supermule Banned
                  last edited by

                  It is. And we have contacted the dev. team but no replies at all from Chris on this issue. (2-3 mths).

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • DerelictD
                    Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                    last edited by

                    You mentioned Windows weathers it better.  What about something like a Cisco ASA?

                    Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                    A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                    DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                    Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      Supermule Banned
                      last edited by

                      We havent had the pleasure of having one available to test.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • D
                        doktornotor Banned
                        last edited by

                        Christ, we are back to this "oooooooh I've got a supersecret attack to instacrash pfSense"  noise again?

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • KOMK
                          KOM
                          last edited by

                          If what Supermule is saying is correct, 70-80 Mbps is no tank.  It's like a spit wad pea shooter.

                          Well, it really depends on what you have.  70-80 Mbps wouldn't take down my corporate link, but it would totally hammer the links of many smaller companies I know.

                          If pfSense really can be taken down by that, that is a huge serious issue.

                          Agreed.  However, I will reserve judgement until I see more than hand-waving.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • S
                            Supermule Banned
                            last edited by

                            Send me an IP address to test….

                            Then I will surprise you.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • N
                              NOYB
                              last edited by

                              @KOM:

                              Well, it really depends on what you have.  70-80 Mbps wouldn't take down my corporate link, but it would totally hammer the links of many smaller companies I know.

                              This is not about taking down the "link" (filling the pipe).  It is about taking down pfSense.  In which case the link (pipe) may as well be down.  The point that is being put forth is that it doesn't matter that you have gigabit + pipe when it only takes about 70-80 Mbps to take down pfSense.  Rendering the pipe useless.

                              @KOM:

                              I will reserve judgement until I see more than hand-waving.

                              Supermule has made the offer to prove it.  What are you waiting for?  Accept the challenge.

                              Supermule has made the offer to prove this several times in this thread.  Would someone please take the challenge.  I would but don't have 70-80 Mbps of bandwidth.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • KOMK
                                KOM
                                last edited by

                                What are you waiting for?  Accept the challenge.

                                I already did and didn't see what he was talking about.  He blasted me with a sustained 90 Mbps, my link max.  Our access was slow and I was getting service alarms from our external sensors, but pfSense was responsive.  I didn't see anything that I wouldn't already expect to see while under DoS.  He wanted to try another test where he blasts a port-forwarded server but I didn't have time or patience today for that.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • S
                                  Supermule Banned
                                  last edited by

                                  From the outside, his link was taken down immediately and it didnt respond to ping at all.

                                  And that was on a pfsense that had NO port forwards set.

                                  If it had a server behind and actually trying to route it, then his GUI would be hit as well.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • KOMK
                                    KOM
                                    last edited by

                                    But why would the GUI be slow?  While under full load, my CPU never rose above a few percent.  Minor disk activity.

                                    I do think it would be nice for someone official to chime in either way.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • S
                                      Supermule Banned
                                      last edited by

                                      Exactly. It doesnt but it takes you offline even if it shouldnt…. but wait until you actually have a route to a server.

                                      Then the load will be very visible in the GUI. Even if very few states and not much load is on the system.

                                      You will see it in traffic graphs among other things, that they dont update as it should. There could be as much as 10 seconds between the graph update when hit.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • KOMK
                                        KOM
                                        last edited by

                                        It doesnt but it takes you offline even if it shouldnt….

                                        Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, but yes, I do fully expect to be blown off the network if you flood my WAN.  That's a DoS by definition, is it not?

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • N
                                          NOYB
                                          last edited by

                                          @KOM:

                                          It doesnt but it takes you offline even if it shouldnt….

                                          Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, but yes, I do fully expect to be blown off the network if you flood my WAN.  That's a DoS by definition, is it not?

                                          I think the point here is that if pfSense can be knocked off with as little as 70-80 mbps, a gigabit pipe doesn't need to be flooded.  It's not about flooding the pipe.

                                          Maybe not a problem for those with less bandwidth.  But for those with huge pipe, gigabit or more even, it would make it very easy for an attack to knock them offline with as little as 70-80 mbps.  No where near saturating at gigabit pipe.  Easy prey for an attacker.  Wouldn't even have to allocate much resources.

                                          Yes it would be nice to hear from someone official.  If they where informed of this 2 to 3 months ago, and not responded, why do you supposed that would be.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • S
                                            Supermule Banned
                                            last edited by

                                            They were. CMB promised to get back to us but havent.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.