Python Raw Socket to Ethernet Interface (Windows)

Sam picture Sam · Oct 7, 2016 · Viewed 13.3k times · Source

I'm trying to create a DHCP Server and the first step is for me to send packets through my ethernet port. I'm trying to send packets to my Ethernet interface and having an error popping up.

The code is below.

import socket

def sendeth(src, dst, eth_type, payload, interface = "eth0"):
  """Send raw Ethernet packet on interface."""

  assert(len(src) == len(dst) == 6) # 48-bit ethernet addresses
  assert(len(eth_type) == 2) # 16-bit ethernet type

  #s = socket.socket(socket.AF_PACKET, socket.SOCK_RAW)
  s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_RAW, socket.IPPROTO_RAW)

  # From the docs: "For raw packet
  # sockets the address is a tuple (ifname, proto [,pkttype [,hatype]])"
  s.bind((interface, 0))
  return s.send(src + dst + eth_type + payload)

if __name__ == "__main__":
  print("Sent %d-byte Ethernet packet on eth0" %
    sendeth("\xFE\xED\xFA\xCE\xBE\xEF",
            "\xFE\xED\xFA\xCE\xBE\xEF",
            "\x7A\x05",
            "hello"))

I was having issues with the way the socket was being created. AF_PACKET is not recognized so I'm assuming that only works for Linux. I commented it out and added a new line below it. I ran it again and I started getting an error shown below.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "eth.py", line 27, in <module>
    "hello"))
  File "eth.py", line 19, in sendeth
    s.bind((interface, 0))
  File "C:\Python27\lib\socket.py", line 224, in meth
    return getattr(self._sock,name)(*args)
socket.gaierror: [Errno 11001] getaddrinfo failed

Does anyone know why this is happening?

Answer

Gil Hamilton picture Gil Hamilton · Oct 8, 2016

DHCP is a UDP protocol. You shouldn't need a raw socket to implement a DHCP server.

Use an AF_INET/SOCK_DGRAM socket, and bind to address 255.255.255.255 in order to implement your server.