Ethernet Wrapper: extension of the TCP Wrapper

One of the popular network security programs supporting host access control is the 'TCP Wrapper' (Venema, 1992). TCP Wrapper is a software-only system and many computers connected to the Internet are using it. However, TCP Wrapper does 'IP address-based' access control. The IP address is not such a reliable source when authenticating a host. We point out two possible attacks against the TCP Wrapper, propose a new way to prevent them, and describe the prototype implementation, Ethernet Wrapper. By adding an Ethernet address check, we augmented the TCP Wrapper. The test results showed that Ethernet Wrapper can prevent such attacks effectively.