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In computer networking, a raw socket is a socket that allows direct sending and receiving of network packets by applications, bypassing all encapsulation in the networking software of the operating system.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Support in Windows XP 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Overview

Most socket application programming interfaces (APIs), especially those based on Berkeley sockets, support raw sockets.

Usually raw sockets receive packets inclusive of the header, as opposed to standard sockets which receive just the packet payload without headers. When transmitting packets, the automatic addition of a header may be a configurable option of the socket.

[edit] Support in Windows XP

When Microsoft released Windows XP in 2001 with raw socket support implemented in the Winsock interface, the media criticized Microsoft asserting that raw sockets are only of use to hackers to perform TCP reset attacks. Three years after the Windows XP release, Microsoft silently limited Winsock's raw socket support in a non-removable hotfix and offered no further support or workarounds for applications that used them.^[1]

[edit] See also

• Internet Protocol
• Internet Protocol Suite

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Video Tutorials on Programming with Raw Sockets
• Net::RawIP; module for Perl applications. Created by Sergey Kolychev.
• Network Programming for Microsoft Windows (ISBN 0-7356-1579-9)
• A little more info on raw sockets and Windows XP SP2 - Michael Howard's Web Log an indication of what's actually allowed on Windows.