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authorThomas Voss <mail@thomasvoss.com> 2024-11-27 20:54:24 +0100
committerThomas Voss <mail@thomasvoss.com> 2024-11-27 20:54:24 +0100
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+Network Working Group A. Rijsinghani, Editor
+Request for Comments: 1624 Digital Equipment Corporation
+Updates: 1141 May 1994
+Category: Informational
+
+
+ Computation of the Internet Checksum
+ via Incremental Update
+
+Status of this Memo
+
+ This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo
+ does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of
+ this memo is unlimited.
+
+Abstract
+
+ This memo describes an updated technique for incremental computation
+ of the standard Internet checksum. It updates the method described
+ in RFC 1141.
+
+Table of Contents
+
+ 1. Introduction .......................................... 1
+ 2. Notation and Equations ................................ 2
+ 3. Discussion ............................................ 2
+ 4. Examples .............................................. 3
+ 5. Checksum verification by end systems .................. 4
+ 6. Historical Note ....................................... 4
+ 7. Acknowledgments ....................................... 5
+ 8. Security Considerations ............................... 5
+ 9. Conclusions ........................................... 5
+ 10. Author's Address ..................................... 5
+ 11. References ........................................... 6
+
+1. Introduction
+
+ Incremental checksum update is useful in speeding up several
+ types of operations routinely performed on IP packets, such as
+ TTL update, IP fragmentation, and source route update.
+
+ RFC 1071, on pages 4 and 5, describes a procedure to
+ incrementally update the standard Internet checksum. The
+ relevant discussion, though comprehensive, was not complete.
+ Therefore, RFC 1141 was published to replace this description
+ on Incremental Update. In particular, RFC 1141 provides a
+ more detailed exposure to the procedure described in RFC 1071.
+ However, it computes a result for certain cases that differs
+
+
+
+Rijsinghani [Page 1]
+
+RFC 1624 Incremental Internet Checksum May 1994
+
+
+ from the one obtained from scratch (one's complement of one's
+ complement sum of the original fields).
+
+ For the sake of completeness, this memo briefly highlights key
+ points from RFCs 1071 and 1141. Based on these discussions,
+ an updated procedure to incrementally compute the standard
+ Internet checksum is developed and presented.
+
+2. Notation and Equations
+
+ Given the following notation:
+
+ HC - old checksum in header
+ C - one's complement sum of old header
+ HC' - new checksum in header
+ C' - one's complement sum of new header
+ m - old value of a 16-bit field
+ m' - new value of a 16-bit field
+
+ RFC 1071 states that C' is:
+
+ C' = C + (-m) + m' -- [Eqn. 1]
+ = C + (m' - m)
+
+ As RFC 1141 points out, the equation above is not useful for direct
+ use in incremental updates since C and C' do not refer to the actual
+ checksum stored in the header. In addition, it is pointed out that
+ RFC 1071 did not specify that all arithmetic must be performed using
+ one's complement arithmetic.
+
+ Finally, complementing the above equation to get the actual checksum,
+ RFC 1141 presents the following:
+
+ HC' = ~(C + (-m) + m')
+ = HC + (m - m')
+ = HC + m + ~m' -- [Eqn. 2]
+
+3. Discussion
+
+ Although this equation appears to work, there are boundary conditions
+ under which it produces a result which differs from the one obtained
+ by checksum computation from scratch. This is due to the way zero is
+ handled in one's complement arithmetic.
+
+ In one's complement, there are two representations of zero: the all
+ zero and the all one bit values, often referred to as +0 and -0.
+ One's complement addition of non-zero inputs can produce -0 as a
+ result, but never +0. Since there is guaranteed to be at least one
+
+
+
+Rijsinghani [Page 2]
+
+RFC 1624 Incremental Internet Checksum May 1994
+
+
+ non-zero field in the IP header, and the checksum field in the
+ protocol header is the complement of the sum, the checksum field can
+ never contain ~(+0), which is -0 (0xFFFF). It can, however, contain
+ ~(-0), which is +0 (0x0000).
+
+ RFC 1141 yields an updated header checksum of -0 when it should be
+ +0. This is because it assumed that one's complement has a
+ distributive property, which does not hold when the result is 0 (see
+ derivation of [Eqn. 2]).
+
+ The problem is avoided by not assuming this property. The correct
+ equation is given below:
+
+ HC' = ~(C + (-m) + m') -- [Eqn. 3]
+ = ~(~HC + ~m + m')
+
+4. Examples
+
+ Consider an IP packet header in which a 16-bit field m = 0x5555
+ changes to m' = 0x3285. Also, the one's complement sum of all other
+ header octets is 0xCD7A.
+
+ Then the header checksum would be:
+
+ HC = ~(0xCD7A + 0x5555)
+ = ~0x22D0
+ = 0xDD2F
+
+ The new checksum via recomputation is:
+
+ HC' = ~(0xCD7A + 0x3285)
+ = ~0xFFFF
+ = 0x0000
+
+ Using [Eqn. 2], as specified in RFC 1141, the new checksum is
+ computed as:
+
+ HC' = HC + m + ~m'
+ = 0xDD2F + 0x5555 + ~0x3285
+ = 0xFFFF
+
+ which does not match that computed from scratch, and moreover can
+ never obtain for an IP header.
+
+
+
+
+
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+Rijsinghani [Page 3]
+
+RFC 1624 Incremental Internet Checksum May 1994
+
+
+ Applying [Eqn. 3] to the example above, we get the correct result:
+
+ HC' = ~(C + (-m) + m')
+ = ~(0x22D0 + ~0x5555 + 0x3285)
+ = ~0xFFFF
+ = 0x0000
+
+5. Checksum verification by end systems
+
+ If an end system verifies the checksum by including the checksum
+ field itself in the one's complement sum and then comparing the
+ result against -0, as recommended by RFC 1071, it does not matter if
+ an intermediate system generated a -0 instead of +0 due to the RFC
+ 1141 property described here. In the example above:
+
+ 0xCD7A + 0x3285 + 0xFFFF = 0xFFFF
+ 0xCD7A + 0x3285 + 0x0000 = 0xFFFF
+
+ However, implementations exist which verify the checksum by computing
+ it and comparing against the header checksum field.
+
+ It is recommended that intermediate systems compute incremental
+ checksum using the method described in this document, and end systems
+ verify checksum as per the method described in RFC 1071.
+
+ The method in [Eqn. 3] is slightly more expensive than the one in RFC
+ 1141. If this is a concern, the two additional instructions can be
+ eliminated by subtracting complements with borrow [see Sec. 7]. This
+ would result in the following equation:
+
+ HC' = HC - ~m - m' -- [Eqn. 4]
+
+ In the example shown above,
+
+ HC' = HC - ~m - m'
+ = 0xDD2F - ~0x5555 - 0x3285
+ = 0x0000
+
+6. Historical Note
+
+ A historical aside: the fact that standard one's complement
+ arithmetic produces negative zero results is one of its main
+ drawbacks; it makes for difficulty in interpretation. In the CDC
+ 6000 series computers [4], this problem was avoided by using
+ subtraction as the primitive in one's complement arithmetic (i.e.,
+ addition is subtraction of the complement).
+
+
+
+
+
+Rijsinghani [Page 4]
+
+RFC 1624 Incremental Internet Checksum May 1994
+
+
+7. Acknowledgments
+
+ The contribution of the following individuals to the work that led to
+ this document is acknowledged:
+
+ Manu Kaycee - Ascom Timeplex, Incorporated
+ Paul Koning - Digital Equipment Corporation
+ Tracy Mallory - 3Com Corporation
+ Krishna Narayanaswamy - Digital Equipment Corporation
+ Atul Pandya - Digital Equipment Corporation
+
+ The failure condition was uncovered as a result of IP testing on a
+ product which implemented the RFC 1141 algorithm. It was analyzed,
+ and the updated algorithm devised. This algorithm was also verified
+ using simulation. It was also shown that the failure condition
+ disappears if the checksum verification is done as per RFC 1071.
+
+8. Security Considerations
+
+ Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
+
+9. Conclusions
+
+ It is recommended that either [Eqn. 3] or [Eqn. 4] be the
+ implementation technique used for incremental update of the standard
+ Internet checksum.
+
+10. Author's Address
+
+ Anil Rijsinghani
+ Digital Equipment Corporation
+ 550 King St
+ Littleton, MA 01460
+
+ Phone: (508) 486-6786
+ EMail: anil@levers.enet.dec.com
+
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+Rijsinghani [Page 5]
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+RFC 1624 Incremental Internet Checksum May 1994
+
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+11. References
+
+ [1] Postel, J., "Internet Protocol - DARPA Internet Program Protocol
+ Specification", STD 5, RFC 791, DARPA, September 1981.
+
+ [2] Braden, R., Borman, D., and C. Partridge, "Computing the Internet
+ Checksum", RFC 1071, ISI, Cray Research, BBN Laboratories,
+ September 1988.
+
+ [3] Mallory, T., and A. Kullberg, "Incremental Updating of the
+ Internet Checksum", RFC 1141, BBN Communications, January 1990.
+
+ [4] Thornton, J., "Design of a Computer -- the Control
+ Data 6600", Scott, Foresman and Company, 1970.
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