Addressing DODAG inconsistency attacks in RPL networks

Abstract

RPL is a routing protocol for low-power and lossy constrained node networks. A malicious node can manipulate header options used by RPL to track DODAG inconsistencies, thereby causing denial of service attacks, increased control message overhead, and black-holes at the targeted node. RPL counteracts DODAG inconsistencies by using a fixed threshold, upon reaching which all subsequent packets with erroneous header options are ignored. However, the fixed threshold is arbitrary and does not resolve the black-hole issue either. To address this we present a mitigation strategy that allows nodes to dynamically adapt against a DODAG inconsistency attack. We also present the forced black-hole attack problem and a solution that can be used to mitigate it. Results from our experiments show that our proposed approach mitigates these attacks without any significant overhead.