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The proto parameter to the socket(2) call to create an ICMPv6 socket may be obtained from getprotobyname(3). ICMPv6 sockets are connectionless, and are normally used with the sendto(2) and recvfrom(2) calls, though the connect(2) call may also be used to fix the destination for future packets (in which case read(2) or recv(2) and write(2) or send(2) system calls may be used).

Outgoing packets automatically have an IPv6 header prepended to them (based on the destination address). Incoming packets on the socket are received with the IPv6 header and any extension headers removed.

Types

ICMPv6 messages are classified according to the type and code fields present in the ICMPv6 header. The abbreviations for the types and codes may be used in rules in pf.conf(5). The following types are defined:

Num Abbrev. Description
1 unreach "Destination unreachable"
2 toobig "Packet too big"
3 timex "Time exceeded"
4 paramprob "Invalid IPv6 header"
128 echoreq "Echo service request"
129 echorep "Echo service reply"
130 groupqry "Group membership query"
130 listqry "Multicast listener query"
131 grouprep "Group membership report"
131 listenrep "Multicast listener report"
132 groupterm "Group membership termination"
132 listendone "Multicast listerner done"
133 routersol "Router solicitation"
134 routeradv "Router advertisement"
135 neighbrsol "Neighbor solicitation"
136 neighbradv "Neighbor advertisement"
137 redir "Shorter route exists"
138 routrrenum "Route renumbering"
139 fqdnreq "FQDN query"
139 niqry "Node information query"
139 wrureq "Who-are-you request"
140 fqdnrep "FQDN reply"
140 nirep "Node information reply"
140 wrurep "Who-are-you reply"
200 mtraceresp "mtrace response"
201 mtrace "mtrace messages"

The following codes are defined:

Num Abbrev. Type	Description
0 noroute-unr unreach "No route to destination" 1 admin-unr unreach "Administratively prohibited" 2 beyond-unr unreach "Beyond scope of source address" 2 notnbr-unr unreach "Not a neighbor (obselete)" 3 addr-unr unreach "Address unreachable" 4 port-unr unreach "Port unreachable" 0 transit timex "Time exceeded in transit" 1 reassemb timex "Time exceeded in reassembly" 0 badhead paramprob "Erroneous header field" 1 nxthdr paramprob "Unrecognized next header" 2 "" redir "Unrecognized option" 0 redironlink redir "Redirection to on-link node" 1 redirrouter redir "Redirection to better router"

Headers

All ICMPv6 messages are prefixed with an ICMPv6 header. This header corresponds to the
.Vt icmp6_hdr structure and has the following definition:
struct icmp6_hdr {
u_int8_t icmp6_type;/* type field */
u_int8_t icmp6_code;/* code field */
u_int16_t icmp6_cksum; /* checksum field */
union {
u_int32_t icmp6_un_data32[1]; /* type-specific */
u_int16_t icmp6_un_data16[2]; /* type-specific */
u_int8_t icmp6_un_data8[4]; /* type-specific */
} icmp6_dataun;
} __packed;

#define icmp6_data32 icmp6_dataun.icmp6_un_data32
#define icmp6_data16 icmp6_dataun.icmp6_un_data16
#define icmp6_data8icmp6_dataun.icmp6_un_data8
#define icmp6_pptr icmp6_data32[0] /* parameter prob */
#define icmp6_mtu icmp6_data32[0] /* packet too big */
#define icmp6_id icmp6_data16[0] /* echo request/reply */
#define icmp6_seq icmp6_data16[1] /* echo request/reply */
#define icmp6_maxdelay icmp6_data16[0] /* mcast group membership*/

icmp6_type describes the type of the message. Suitable values are defined in <netinet/icmp6.h>. icmp6_code describes the sub-type of the message and depends on icmp6_type. icmp6_cksum contains the checksum for the message and is filled in by the kernel on outgoing messages. The other fields are used for type-specific purposes.

Filters

Because of the extra functionality of ICMPv6 in comparison to ICMPv4, a larger number of messages may be potentially received on an ICMPv6 socket. Input filters may therefore be used to restrict input to a subset of the incoming ICMPv6 messages so only interesting messages are returned by the recv(2) family of calls to an application.

The
.Vt icmp6_filter structure may be used to refine the input message set according to the ICMPv6 type. By default, all messages types are allowed on newly created raw ICMPv6 sockets. The following macros may be used to refine the input set:

`"void ICMP6_FILTER_SETPASSALL" "struct icmp6_filter *filterp"`
	Allow all incoming messages. filterp is modified to allow all message types.
`"void ICMP6_FILTER_SETBLOCKALL" "struct icmp6_filter *filterp"`
	Ignore all incoming messages. filterp is modified to ignore all message types.
void `ICMP6_FILTER_SETPASS "int type" "struct icmp6_filter *filterp"`
	Allow ICMPv6 messages with the given type. filterp is modified to allow such messages.
void `ICMP6_FILTER_SETBLOCK " " int type " " struct icmp6_filter *filterp"`
	Ignore ICMPv6 messages with the given type. filterp is modified to ignore such messages.
int `ICMP6_FILTER_WILLPASS " " int type " " const struct icmp6_filter *filterp"`
	Determine if the given filter will allow an ICMPv6 message of the given type.
int `ICMP6_FILTER_WILLBLOCK " " int type " " const struct icmp6_filter *filterp"`
	Determine if the given filter will ignore an ICMPv6 message of the given type.

The getsockopt(2) and setsockopt(2) calls may be used to obtain and install the filter on ICMPv6 sockets at option level IPPROTO_ICMPV6 and name ICMPV6_FILTER with a pointer to the
.Vt icmp6_filter structure as the option value.

NAME

CONTENTS

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Types

Headers

Filters

SEE ALSO