Vulnerabilities in the open shortest path first interior gateway protocol

In order to reduce the number of successful attacks against the US government's computer networks, resources must be invested not only into implementing known fixes and security measures but also into the identification and correction of vulnerabilities before adversaries can exploit them. This thesis identifies one such vulnerability in the open shortest path first (OSPF) interior gateway protocol. This protocol is responsible for deciding which route network traffic will take, assuming multiple routes exist, in an autonomous system. This vulnerability spoofs routers running OSPF into altering the route that certain traffic takes without introducing abnormalities that would alert system administrators. In addition, this mode of deception can be continued indefinitely or reversed without alerting administrators.