System and method for detection of rogue routers in a computing network

1. A method for detecting a rogue router by a network device operating in a network comprising:

transmitting, by a rogue router detector, a router solicitation message, wherein the router solicitation message contains information that enables a client device to perform an autoconfiguration;

receiving by the rogue router detector a plurality of response messages to the router solicitation message from a first plurality of router devices;

analyzing the plurality of response messages to the router solicitation messages, wherein analyzing includes determining whether any of the plurality of response messages is indicative of a rogue router; and

in response to a determination that a response message indicates a rogue router, forwarding information identifying the rogue router to a rogue router remediator on a network management server,

wherein the rogue router detector is on a device other than a client computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether any of the plurality of response messages is indicative of the rogue router comprises:

comparing one or more of source link layer, destination link layer, prefix information, a redirected header, a maximum transmission unit field, or a user define field included in any of the plurality of response messages with information stored for a plurality of known router devices; and

based on the comparison, identifying at least one router device, from the first plurality of router devices, that is (a) operating on a network and (b) not included in the plurality of known router devices, wherein the at least one router device is being identified as the rogue router.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether any of the plurality of response messages is indicative of the rogue router comprises:

determining whether an IPv6 addressing information included in any of the plurality of response messages indicates any of the plurality of response messages originated from a non-provisioned hardware or software port, or determining whether a media access control (MAC) address included in any of the plurality of response messages matches a MAC address associated with the network device; and

identifying at least one router device, from the first plurality of router devices, as the rogue router when (i) the IPv6 addressing information included in the response message received from the at least one router device originated from a non-provisioned hardware or software port, or (ii) when the MAC address included in the response message received from the at least one router device matches a MAC address associated with the network device.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein an alert message generated for the network management system declares a spoofing attack by the rogue router when the media access control (MAC) address in a response message generated by the rogue router matches a MAC address in the request message.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

in response to identifying the at least one router device as the rogue router, disabling a port at which communication from the rogue router is being received.

6. method of claim 1 , wherein the router solicitation message is an internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) router solicitation message transmitted by the device, and the plurality of response messages are IPv6 router advertisement messages.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the IPv6 router solicitation message is transmitted by the device to discover the presence of IPv6 routers on a network and discover one or more network prefixes associated with each of the IPV6 routers that can be used by the device for routing data on the network via a corresponding IPv6 router.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the IPv6 router advertisement messages contains data for use by the device to determine the network prefixes.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein new router solicitation are periodically transmitted by the device.

10. A system for detecting a rogue router comprising:

a network management server to execute network management applications;

at least one network device, wherein the at least one network device is a device other than a client computing device, the at least one network device being configured to perform operations comprising:

transmitting, by a rogue router detector, a router solicitation message wherein the router solicitation message contains information that enables a client device to perform an autoconfiguration, and

receiving, by the rogue router detector, plurality of response messages to the router solicitation message from a first plurality of router devices,

analyzing the plurality of response messages to the router solicitation messages, wherein analyzing includes determining whether any of the plurality of response messages is indicative of a rogue router, and

in response to a determination that a response message indicates a rogue router, forwarding information identifying the rogue router to a rogue router remediator on the network management server.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one network device being configured to determine whether any of the plurality of response messages is indicative of the rogue router further comprises:

comparing one or more of source link layer, destination link layer, prefix information, a redirected header, a maximum transmission unit field, or a user define field included in any of the plurality of response messages with information stored for a plurality of known router devices, and

based on the comparison, identifying at least one router device, from the first plurality of router devices, that is (a) operating on a network and (b) not included in the plurality of known router devices, wherein the at least one router device is being identified as the rogue router.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one network device being configured to determine whether any of the plurality of response messages is indicative of the rogue router further comprises:

determining whether an IPv6 addressing information included in any of the plurality of response messages indicates any of the plurality of response messages originated from a non-provisioned hardware or software port, or determining whether a media access control (MAC) address included in any of the plurality of response messages matches a MAC address associated with the network device; and

identifying at least one router device, from the first plurality of router devices, as the rogue router when (i) the IPv6 addressing information included in the response message received from the at least one router device originated from a non-provisioned hardware or software port, or (ii) when the MAC address included in the response message received from the at least one router device matches a MAC address associated with the network device.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein an alert message generated for the network management system declares a spoofing attack by the rogue router when the media access control (MAC) address in a response message generated by the rogue router matches a MAC address in the request message.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one network device being configured to perform operations further comprises:

in response to identifying the at least one router device as the rogue router, disabling a port at which communication from the rogue router is being received.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the router solicitation message is an internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) router solicitation message transmitted by the device, and the plurality of response messages are IPv6 router advertisement messages.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the IPv6 router solicitation message is transmitted by the device to discover the presence of IPv6 routers on a network and discover one or more network prefixes associated with each of the IPV6 routers that can be used by the device for routing data on the network via a corresponding IPv6 router.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the IPv6 router advertisement messages contains data for use by the device to determine the network prefixes.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein new router solicitation are periodically transmitted by the device.

19. An article of manufacture having one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media storing executable instructions thereon which when executed cause a network device operating in a network to perform a method for detecting a rogue router comprising:

transmitting by a rogue router detector a router solicitation message wherein the router solicitation message contains information that enables a client device to perform an autoconfiguration;

receiving by the rogue router detector a plurality of response messages to the router solicitation message from a first plurality of router devices;

analyzing the plurality of response messages to the router solicitation messages, wherein analyzing includes determining whether any of the plurality of response messages is indicative of a rogue router; and

in response to a determination that a response message indicates a rogue router, forwarding information identifying the rogue router to a rogue router remediator on a network management server

wherein the rogue router detector is on a device other than a client computing device.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein determining whether any of the plurality of response messages is indicative of the rogue router comprises:

comparing one or more of source link layer, destination link layer, prefix information, a redirected header, a maximum transmission unit field, or a user define field included in any of the plurality of response messages with information stored for a plurality of known router devices; and

based on the comparison, identifying at least one router device, from the first plurality of router devices, that is (a) operating on a network and (b) not included in the plurality of known router devices, wherein the at least one router device is being identified as the rogue router.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein determining whether any of the plurality of response messages is indicative of the rogue router comprises:

determining whether an IPv6 addressing information included in any of the plurality of response messages indicates any of the plurality of response messages originated from a non-provisioned hardware or software port, or determining whether a media access control (MAC) address included in any of the plurality of response messages matches a MAC address associated with the network device; and

identifying at least one router device, from the first plurality of router devices, as the rogue router when (i) the IPv6 addressing information included in the response message received from the at least one router device originated from a non-provisioned hardware or software port, or (ii) when the MAC address included in the response message received from the at least one router device matches a MAC address associated with the network device.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 20 , wherein an alert message generated for the network management system declares a spoofing attack by the rogue router when the media access control (MAC) address in a response message generated by the rogue router matches a MAC address in the request message.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 20 , further comprising:

in response to identifying the at least one router device as the rogue router, disabling a port at which communication from the rogue router is being received.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein the router solicitation message is an internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) router solicitation message transmitted by the device, and the plurality of response messages are IPv6 router advertisement messages.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24 , wherein the IPv6 router solicitation message is transmitted by the device to discover the presence of IPv6 routers on a network and discover one or more network prefixes associated with each of the IPV6 routers that can be used by the device for routing data on the network via a corresponding IPv6 router.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 24 , wherein the IPv6 router advertisement messages contains data for use by the device to determine the network prefixes.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein new router solicitation are periodically transmitted by the device.