Chernobyl packet

(networking)

/cher-noh'b*l pak'*t/ A network packet that induces a broadcast storm and/or network meltdown, named in memory of the April 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine.

The typical scenario involves an IP Ethernet datagram that passes through a gateway with both source and destination Ethernet address and IP address set as the respective broadcast addresses for the subnetworks being gated between.

Compare Christmas tree packet.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

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