ARP Poisoning Process –

Selection of Targets –
The first phase in an ARP Poisoning attack is choosing a target. This could be a specific device on the network, a group of devices, or a network device like a router. Routers are often targeted because a successful ARP Poisoning Attack against a router can disrupt traffic for an entire subnet.

Launching of Tools and Initiation of Attack –
The attacker uses a spoofing tool, such as Arpspoof or Driftnet, to start the attack. These tools have the ability to send out forged ARP responses. The attacker configures the tool with their MAC address and the IP addresses of the two devices they want to intercept traffic between. The forged responses tell both devices that the correct MAC address for each of them is the attacker’s MAC address. As a result, both devices start sending all their network traffic to the attacker’s machine, thinking it’s the other device they want to communicate with.

After successfully inserting themselves in the middle of the communication channel between the two devices, the attacker can then do various things with the incorrectly directed traffic. If the attacker chooses to inspect the traffic, they can steal sensitive information. If they decide to modify the traffic, they can inject malicious script. Finally, if they choose to block the traffic, they can perform a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, where they completely stop the communication between the two devices.

The attack exploits a fundamental weakness in the ARP — the lack of an authentication mechanism for ARP messages, allowing any device on the network to answer an ARP request, whether the original message was intended for it or not .

The ARP Poisoning, also known as ARP Spoofing, is a type of cyberattack that takes advantage of the ARP (Address Resolution Protocol). ARP is a protocol that maps an IP address to a MAC address within a local network. However, ARP lacks authentication mechanisms, and this is what the attack exploits.

The attacker sends fake ARP responses to a specific host on the network, thus linking the attacker’s MAC address to the IP address of another host, such as the network’s gateway. As a result, the target host sends all its network traffic to the attacker instead of the intended host.