IP Multicast and IP Address Range

Windows Security Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟MS08-001 Vulnerability on Windows Systems

∟IP Multicast and IP Address Range

This section provides a quick introduction of IP Multicast communication and IP address range, from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255, reserved for multicast.

MS08-001 vulnerability is around Windows' handling of the IGMP and MLD protocols, which are used to control multicast traffic over the network. So let's learn some basics about multicast communication in this section first.

What Is Multicast? Multicast is a network communication technology for the delivery of information to a group of destinations simultaneously using the most efficient strategy. If multiple destinations are on a single physical network, only a single copy of the message needs to be transferred on that network.

On the Internet network, multicast is also called IP Multicast. It uses a multicast group address to link message sources and receivers together.

A multicast group address is any IP address in the IP address range from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255. This range of IP addresses are reserved for IP Multicast communications only. Some of reserved IP addresses are registered for special purposes:

224.0.0.0 - Base address (reserved)
224.0.0.1 - The All Hosts multicast group that contains all systems on the same network segment
224.0.0.2 - The All Routers multicast group that contains all routers on the same network segment
224.0.0.5 - The Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) AllSPFRouters address. Used to send Hello packets to all OSPF routers on a network segment
224.0.0.6 - The OSPF AllDRouters address. Used to send OSPF routing information to OSPF designated routers on a network segment
224.0.0.9 - The RIP Version 2 group address. Used to send RIP routing information to all RIP v2 routers on a network segment
224.0.0.10 - EIGRP group address. Used to send EIGRP routing information to all EIGRP routers on a network segment
224.0.0.18 - Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol
224.0.0.22 - IGMP Version 3 (Internet Group Management Protocol)
224.0.0.102 - Hot Standby Router Protocol Version 2
224.0.0.251 - Multicast DNS address
224.0.1.39 - Cisco-RP-Announce address
224.0.1.41 - H.323 Gatekeeper discovery address