Dynamic address assignment is one of the most important features in wireless ad hoc networks if nodes should be enabled to join and to work in the network by automatically configuring all necessary settings. Different approaches have been developed throughout the last years to achieve this objective of Dynamic Address Autoconfiguration but research primarily focused on efficiency and correctness, less on security issues. Whereas Duplicate Address Detection has become reliable in commonplace scenarios, it is still relatively easy to suspend the whole network functionality in extraordinary situations within the boundaries of a Dynamic Address Configuration Protocol. In this paper, we therefore want to point out shortcomings and weaknesses in existing protocol solutions which address dynamic IP address assignment. We concentrate on a leader-based approach called ODACP and want to propose several solutions which improve the original protocol in such a way that it is safer against malicious host activities. Finally, we will demonstrate the improvements of our solution in a separate test scenario.

Dynamic address assignment is one of the most important features in wireless ad hoc networks if nodes should be enabled to join and to work in the network by automatically configuring all necessary settings. Different approaches have been developed throughout the last years to achieve this objective of Dynamic Address Autoconfiguration but research primarily focused on efficiency and correctness, less on security issues. Whereas Duplicate Address Detection has become reliable in commonplace scenarios, it is still relatively easy to suspend the whole network functionality in extraordinary situations within the boundaries of a Dynamic Address Configuration Protocol. In this paper, we therefore want to point out shortcomings and weaknesses in existing protocol solutions which address dynamic IP address assignment. We concentrate on a leader-based approach called ODACP and want to propose several solutions which improve the original protocol in such a way that it is safer against malicious host activities. Finally, we will demonstrate the improvements of our solution in a separate test scenario.