A long-lived project that still receives updates
PacketGen is a network packet manipulation library. It allows reading, parsing and sending network packets with fun.
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 Dependencies

Runtime

~> 0.13.0
~> 0.13, >= 0.13.1
 Project Readme

Gem Version Action status

PacketGen

PacketGen provides simple ways to generate, send and capture network packets.

Installation

PacketGen depends on PcapRub, which needs pcap development files to install. On Debian, you have to do:

$ sudo apt install libpcap-dev

Installation using RubyGems is then easy:

$ gem install packetgen

Or add it to a Gemfile:

gem 'packetgen'

Usage

Easily create packets

PacketGen.gen('IP')             # generate a IP packet object
PacketGen.gen('TCP')            # generate a TCP over IP packet object
PacketGen.gen('IP').add('TCP')  # the same
PacketGen.gen('Eth')            # generate a Ethernet packet object
PacketGen.gen('IP').add('IP')   # generate a IP-in-IP tunnel packet object

# Generate a IP packet object, specifying addresses
PacketGen.gen('IP', src: '192.168.1.1', dst: '192.168.1.2')

# get binary packet
PacketGen.gen('IP').to_s

Send packets on wire

# send Ethernet packet
PacketGen.gen('Eth', src: '00:00:00:00:00:01', dst: '00:00:00:00:00:02').to_w
# send IP packet
PacketGen.gen('IP', src: '192.168.1.1', dst: '192.168.1.2').to_w
# send forged IP packet over Ethernet
PacketGen.gen('Eth', src: '00:00:00:00:00:01', dst: '00:00:00:00:00:02').add('IP').to_w('eth1')
# send a IEEE 802.11 frame
PacketGen.gen('RadioTap').
          add('Dot11::Management', mac1: client, mac2: bssid, mac3: bssid).
          add('Dot11::DeAuth', reason: 7).
          to_w('wlan0')

Parse packets from binary data

packet = PacketGen.parse(binary_data)

Capture packets from wire

# Capture packets from first network interface, action from a block
PacketGen.capture do |packet|
  do_stuffs_with_packet
end

# Capture some packets, and act on them afterward
packets = PacketGen.capture(iface: 'eth0', max: 10)   # return when 10 packets were captured

# Use filters
packets = PacketGen.capture(iface: 'eth0', filter: 'ip src 1.1.1.2', max: 1)

Easily manipulate packets

# access header fields
pkt = PacketGen.gen('IP').add('TCP')
pkt.ip.src = '192.168.1.1'
pkt.ip(src: '192.168.1.1', ttl: 4)
pkt.tcp.dport = 80

# access header fields when multiple header of one kind exist
pkt = PacketGen.gen('IP').add('IP')
pkt.ip.src = '192.168.1.1'  # set outer src field
pkt.ip(2).src = '10.0.0.1'  # set inner src field

# test packet types
pkt = PacketGen.gen('IP').add('TCP')
pkt.is? 'TCP'   # => true
pkt.is? 'IP'    # => true
pkt.is? 'UDP'   # => false

# encapulsate/decapsulate packets
pkt2 = PacketGen.gen('IP')
pkt2.encapsulate pkt                   # pkt2 is now a IP/IP/TCP packet
pkt2.decapsulate(pkt2.ip)              # pkt2 is now inner IP/TCP packet

Read/write PcapNG files

# read a PcapNG file, containing multiple packets
packets = PacketGen.read('file.pcapng')
packets.first.udp.sport = 65535
# write only one packet to a PcapNG file
pkt.write('one_packet.pcapng')
# write multiple packets to a PcapNG file
PacketGen.write('more_packets.pcapng', packets)

Add custom header/protocol

Since v1.1.0, PacketGen permits adding your own header classes. First, define the new header class. For example:

module MyModule
 class MyHeader < PacketGen::Header::Base
   define_field :field1, PacketGen::Types::Int32
   define_field :field2, PacketGen::Types::Int32
 end
end

Then, class must be declared to PacketGen:

PacketGen::Header.add_class MyModule::MyHeader

Finally, bindings must be declared:

# bind MyHeader as IP protocol number 254 (needed by Packet#parse and Packet#add)
PacketGen::Header::IP.bind_header MyModule::MyHeader, protocol: 254

And use it:

pkt = Packet.gen('IP').add('MyHeader', field1: 0x12345678)
pkt.myheader.field2.read 0x01

Interactive console

PacketGen provides an interactive console: pgconsole.

In this console, context includes PacketGen module to give direct access to PacketGen classes. A special config object gives local network configuration:

$ pgconsole
pg(main)> config
=> #<PacketGen::Config:0x00559f27d2afe8
 @hwaddr="75:74:73:72:71:70",
 @iface="eth0",
 @ipaddr="192.168.0.2">
pg(main)> packets = capture(max: 5)
pg(main)> exit

If pry gem is installed, it is used as backend for pgconsole, else IRB is used.

Plugins

PacketGen provides a plugin system (see wiki).

Available plugins (available as gem) are:

See also

Wiki: https://github.com/lemontree55/packetgen/wiki

API documentation: http://www.rubydoc.info/gems/packetgen

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/lemontree55/packetgen.

License

MIT License (see LICENSE)

Other sources

All original code maintains its copyright from its original authors and licensing.

This is mainly for PcapNG (originally copied from PacketFu, but i am the original author.