Is it possible to get hacked without an IP address?

R

Red Squirrel

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This seems like a silly question, and I figure the answer is no, but you know what happens when you assume.

Here's the scenario:

Say I have two networks, one is trusted, one is not trusted, we'll call them A and B.

If I have a PC with two nics, nic1 is plugged into network A and has access to all resources on that network. nic2 is plugged into network B, however that nic has no IP address assigned to it. It is used only to bridge to VMs.

Is that PC 100% safe from any dangers that may happen on network B, or is it at risk by being plugged in? This is assuming that no IP is assigned the nic itself and no extra protocols added like netbui or w/e.

I've been toying with the idea of adding a second nic to my server but not adding an IP to it and just using it for VMs to bridge to it. The fact that it's Linux is fairly safe but I want to ensure I'm safe even if there is an exploit, and a virus on network B. Network B could possibly even be a straight pipe to the internet. It's a network I tend to play around with depending on what I'm experimenting at the time.
 
Well when you plug a network cable into any nic, windows is going to assign it a default IP address if it doesn't get it from anywhere else. it will be an address starting with 169.xxx

You can still transfer information and if the computer has file-sharing setup.

So the answer to your question is yes..You are connecting a computer to an untrusted network, and it can get infected if the virus has the capability of jumping across to other computers on a network.
 
Basically, disable IP protocol completely. In the case of Linux, just don't specify one, "bootproto=none". In Windows everything but the vmware bridge protocol would be unchecked.
 
Oh. I was under the impression that even a VM adapter had to have an IP, but I don't know much about that area TBH :\
 
Well on the guest OS, it would get an IP (and be vulnerable obviously) but the not the host.

So from what I understand, I could setup a VM, let it get super infected, but it should not be harmful to the PC.
 
Oh ok, so it operates like an actual network bridge. I guess my answer to that question would be, it depends if network B is completely segregated from network A or not...

That's almost like asking if two machines could infect each other if they were separated by a switch instead of a router
 
Yes and no. There's always a chance of a nic microcode exploit or somesuch but it's not something you worry about.

As for no IP; bootproto alone might not cut it because nic might get some autoassigned address (eg. ipv6 link-local). Besides, ip code is well audited and the difference between ip/noip security-wise is imo minimal with proper firewalling.

All this of course assumes there's no hypervisor exploits (then you're screwed anyway).

In short; no ip is a bit more secure if done properly (ipv6 too) but nothing's 100% :)
 
when you install hyper v or vmware it turns your physical NIC into a virtual switch.

It then creates a virtual NIC that your computer uses to communicate. The virtual NIC is what will get assigned the IP address

All VM's and your newly created virtual NIC are "connected" to that virtual switch.

If you dont want the traffic going to that machine from Network B in disable tcp/ip on the virtual network connection as Red Squirrel said. tcp/ip should already be disabled on your physical nic.
 
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