MAC serves a unique role in identifying these network interfaces through system protocols and programs.įor example, through DHCP ( Dynamic Host Control Protocol), a network interface is assigned an IP address by a network router automatically. The wireless and Ethernet network modules are examples of commonly used network interfaces on a Linux operating system. That said, checking the MAC address is not a reliable way to verify your peer's identity, anyway, since MAC addresses are easily forged.ĭepending on your needs, you may want to consider better, well-established and reliable means of host authentication such as TLS client and server certificates.Every network interface on your Linux operating system distribution is associated with a unique number called MAC ( Media Access Control).
It certainly sees the MAC address, and if you have administrative or SNMP access to it you may query it for that information.Ĭ) Some other host on that network segment you can control, and from which you can issue an ARP request for the IP address of the host under investigation. It may also inadvertently expose it, for example by using it as the host part of its IPv6 address or otherwise including it in its layer 3 traffic, but you cannot rely on that, either.ī) The router forwarding packets from that network segment to you.
You could simply ask it, but of course it may lie, so that's hardly useful if your goal is to unmask an impostor. Possibilities:Ī) The remote host itself whose MAC address you want to retrieve. In order to get a MAC address from a network segment you are not directly connected to, you need the cooperation of a node which is directly connected to it. This is the underlying reason why ARP does not work across routers. It is stripped when a packet is passed to layer 3 (network layer). The MAC address is a purely layer 2 (link layer) property.
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