Search code examples
linux-kerneldriverwireless

Ethernet checksum checking in wireless stack


When receiving a raw ethernet packet over a wireless connection, where does the ethernet checksum get calculated, and where are errors handled?

Does the wireless stack handle this, or is it handled in the upper layers?


Solution

  • Checksums may be carried out in various places. Recent Ethernet cards offload the checksums from the network stack. I have had to disable hardware checksumming to make network forensics easier. This should make obvious sense as without this functionality hardware would always silently drop packets.