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SSDP diffraction is a form of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) abuse in which exposed devices using the Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) send replies to a victim whose address an attacker has forged. The attack combines reflection—redirecting replies to the victim—with amplification—making the reply payload larger than the request. CISA lists a 30.8 bandwidth amplification factor for an SSDP SEARCH request, but that figure is not a guarantee for every device or attack.
What SSDP diffraction means
SSDP is a legitimate discovery protocol associated with Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). Devices and services use it to announce or find services on a network. The protocol becomes useful to an attacker when an SSDP responder is reachable from the internet and will answer a request carrying a forged source IP address.
In a reflected attack, the attacker sends requests to exposed responders while making each request appear to come from the victim. The responders then send their replies to that victim. The attacker does not need to send the response traffic directly to the target; the exposed responders generate it.
Reflection and amplification are different
- Reflection describes where the response goes: a responder sends it to the victim because the request’s source address was forged.
- Amplification describes the relative size of the traffic: the responder’s UDP payload is larger than the request’s UDP payload.
CISA defines a distributed reflective denial-of-service attack as one that relies on publicly accessible UDP servers and bandwidth amplification factors to overwhelm a victim with UDP traffic. Its bandwidth amplification factor compares UDP payload bytes in the response with UDP payload bytes in the request. CISA’s UDP amplification alert explains the measure and lists SSDP among the protocols that can be abused.
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How much can SSDP amplify traffic?
CISA’s alert lists a bandwidth amplification factor of 30.8 for an SSDP SEARCH request. That is a source-attributed measurement of protocol behavior, not a promise that every responder will produce a reply 30.8 times larger than every request. The alert was last revised on December 18, 2019. CISA TA14-017A
CSIRT-IE reports a recorded range from 2.3:1 minimum to 30.8:1 maximum, with the maximum depending on the response to an SSDP M-SEARCH request. Its page does not state a publication year in the retrieved content. These figures describe observed request-and-response behavior; they should not be treated as a universal, current factor for all hardware, software, or attack conditions. CSIRT-IE, “Internet Accessible SSDP Service”
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The amplification ratio alone does not determine an attack’s impact. The result also depends on how many usable responders are available, what responses they generate, the capacity of the victim’s network, and the mitigation in place. The cited sources do not establish a current global count, prevalence trend, or attack volume for SSDP diffraction.
Why exposed devices matter
CSIRT-IE describes internet-accessible SSDP services as usable for reflection and amplification against a third party. The risk is not that SSDP or UPnP discovery is inherently malicious; it is that an exposed responder may answer spoofed requests in a way that directs traffic at an unintended recipient.
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CSIRT-IE also describes a historical SSDP diffraction issue associated with Portable UPnP SDK/libupnp and says it was addressed in version 1.6.18. This is a library-specific historical fix, not evidence that every device uses that library or that version 1.6.18 is the correct current fix for every product. For a particular device or application, follow its vendor’s current firmware and security guidance. CSIRT-IE report
How to identify SSDP-related attack traffic
Port numbers can help with investigation, but they are not a complete signature. CSIRT-IE describes ordinary SSDP traffic on UDP port 1900. It separately identifies a Plex Media SSDP vector involving UDP ports 32414 and 32410. The report notes that a generic attack originating from UDP/1900 may be relatively easy to mitigate, while traffic using a random source port can make mitigation more difficult. CSIRT-IE report
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- Use packet and flow context to determine whether traffic is a response pattern consistent with reflection; do not rely on one port number alone.
- Distinguish ordinary SSDP-related traffic from the Plex Media ports identified in the CSIRT-IE report.
- Account for random source ports when building filters or investigating traffic. A rule based only on UDP/1900 may miss traffic that does not use that source port.
How network operators can reduce the risk
Start by identifying SSDP/UPnP services reachable from outside the networks where they are intended to operate, then assess them against the relevant device or software vendor’s guidance. The sources do not establish one universal configuration recipe: the appropriate change depends on the service, network design, and product.
- Check exposure. Review network and service inventories to find internet-reachable SSDP responders, including devices or software that may not be obvious from a central inventory.
- Confirm intended use. Determine whether external reachability is necessary. Where it is not, restrict access using controls appropriate to the network and service.
- Check vendor updates. Apply current vendor guidance for affected devices and software. Do not assume the historical libupnp 1.6.18 note establishes the status or remedy for unrelated products.
- Prepare for traffic mitigation. Investigate traffic patterns and coordinate with upstream providers or DDoS mitigation services as appropriate. CISA advises operators of exploitable services that they may apply traditional DoS mitigation techniques. CISA TA14-017A
Mitigation should account for the attack traffic actually observed, including the source-port variation noted by CSIRT-IE; a generic SSDP rule may not cover every related vector.
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What the amplification number does—and does not—tell you
The 30.8 figure is useful for comparing the measured response payload with a request payload in CISA’s cited SSDP SEARCH case. It is not evidence of how common SSDP attacks are today, how much traffic a particular attack will generate, or how much capacity a network needs. Those outcomes vary with the available responders, request and response behavior, victim capacity, and defenses.
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