Review on IPv6 Security Vulnerability Issues and Mitigation Methods

One of the main purposes of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) developments was to solve the IP addressdepletion concern due to the burgeoning growth of the Internet users. The new Internet protocol providesend-to-end communication, enhanced security and extensibility apart from the other features such asaddress auto-configuration or plug-and-play and faster packet processing in the routers. However, as anew technology, it is also reported that the protocol introduces some security vulnerabilities both in theheader format and in the other protocols associated to it. This paper reviews IPv6 security vulnerabilitiesthat have large potential exploitation in terms of denial of service attacks. The IPv6 securityvulnerabilities are classified under three categories that include the IPv6 main header field, IPv6extension header and Neighbour Discovery Protocol (NDP). This paper also summarizes the currentmitigation methods proposed by researchers and practitioners to secure from these IPv6 securityvulnerabilities.