DHCP Starvation.

A Layer-2 denial-of-service attack that floods a DHCP server with bogus DISCOVER requests using spoofed MAC addresses until the address pool is exhausted. It belongs to the Attacks & Threats category of cybersecurity.

A Layer-2 denial-of-service attack that floods a DHCP server with bogus DISCOVER requests using spoofed MAC addresses until the address pool is exhausted.

DHCP starvation is a network attack against the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. The attacker uses tools such as Yersinia, dhcpstarv, or a custom Scapy script to send a flood of DHCPDISCOVER packets, each with a different spoofed client MAC. The DHCP server allocates leases for each fake client until its pool is depleted, after which legitimate hosts cannot obtain an IP. Starvation often precedes a rogue-DHCP attack: once the legitimate server is exhausted, the attacker can answer subsequent requests with a malicious configuration (default gateway, DNS) to pivot into spoofing or MITM. Defenses: enable DHCP snooping with rate limits on switches, port security limiting MACs per port, ARP inspection, and 802.1X to authenticate endpoints before granting access.

Defences for DHCP Starvation typically combine technical controls and operational practices, as detailed in the full definition above.

Common alternative names include: DHCP pool exhaustion, DHCP DoS.