Analyzing TCP Headers using Wireshark

From given below image you can see we had sniffed the network in order to capture TCP packets, it is clearly showing: time, source IP, destination IP, Protocol, length of packets and information.


As I had told above if you are aware of OSI model then you can see it has shown three layers of OSI: layer 2 (Ethernet), layer 3 (Internet Protocol version 4), layer 4 (Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)).
Now let’s analysis layer 4 and compare above theory with given below image. You can see I have underline all fields of TCP segment. Now read following information of TCP packets.
Source Port: 51574
Destination Port: 80
Sequence number: 0
Acknowledgment number: 0
Flags: SYN
Window size value: 29200
Checksum: unverified
Urgent Pointer: 0
Option: 20 bytes
The SYN (synchronize) flag is the TCP packet flag which is set to start a TCP connection for “3 way handshakes” and  the Sequence number and Acknowledgment number are 0.
From given below image you can see expanded field for flags is showing only 1 flag SYN is set between source port and Destination port rest flags are not set at this moment. Hence the control bits will get 1 for that sets flag in TCP connection otherwise it remains zero.
Packets setting the SYN flag can also be used to perform a SYN flood and a SYN scan.
As I had explain above in three way handshakes first client request with SYN flag after that Server responds to the client request with the SYN and ACK flags set, and from following information we observe same sequence of packet transferring between client and server and as well as the Sequence number is 0 & Acknowledgment number is 1.
Source Port: 80
Destination Port: 51574
Sequence number: 0
Acknowledgment number: 1
Flags: SYN, ACK
Window size value: 42408
Checksum: unverified
Urgent Pointer: 0
Option: 20 bytes
Since server response through SYN-ACK flag therefore port 80 is now source port with SYN-ACK flag to the destination port 51547.
From expanded field of flags you can observe that this time 2 flags SYN and ACK are set rest are remain unset or say zero and control bit is set 1-1 for both flag. This is the 2nd step for “3 way handshake”.

From following information we found this time the Sequence number & Acknowledgment number are 1 and Client completes the connection by sending a packet with the ACK flag set. Now TCP connection has be established between client and server.
Source Port: 51574
Destination Port: 80
Sequence number: 1
Acknowledgment number: 1
Flags: ACK
Window size value: 229
Checksum: unverified
Urgent Pointer: 0
Option: 12 bytes
For sending ACK packets client again use source port 51547 to the server on destination port 80.

From given below image you can observer that the control bit is 1 for acknowledgement flag  and this is the third step required for “3 way handshake” between source port and destination port.

Once TCP 3 ways handshake connection established then data can transfer between client and server as you can see from last image it has shown 7th layer for Hypertext Transfer Protocol also for data transferring.
Source Port: 51547
Destination Port: 80
Sequence number: 1
Acknowledgment number: 1
Flags: PUSH, ACK
Window size value: 229
Checksum: unverified
Urgent Pointer: 0
Option: 12bytes
The use of push function and the PUSH flag is to move forward the data from the sending user to the receiving user. In order to permit applications to read from and write to this socket at any time, buffers are implemented on both sides of a TCP connection.
Here you can observe that control bit set to 1 for PUSH and ACK flag as a result a new layer get open for data transferring between sender application and receiver application.
Now when transfer data packet explored we found http header details like:
Host: google.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0
From given image you can observe that the highlighted text is showing connection: keep-alive, which means server is online at present.
In order to terminate the connection with client, the server sends FIN (finish) packets to the client after establishment of TCP 3-way handshake and successful transfer of data.
Source Port: 80
Destination Port: 51547
Sequence number: 1
Acknowledgment number: 1
Flags: FIN, PUSH, ACK
Window size value: 229
Checksum: unverified
Urgent Pointer: 0
From given below image you can you can see this time the control bit is set 1 for ACK, PUSH and FIN flag and acknowledgment number is 709 for this packages.

Hence this will close the connection for data transfer between client and server. From given image you can observe that this time it is showing, connection: close
A RST (reset) packet is launched either in the mid of the 3-way handshake after the server discards the connection or is unavailable OR in the mid of data transfer when either the server or client becomes unavailable or discards further communication lacking the formal 4-way TCP connection termination process.
After this client again try to establish 3–way handshake connection with server.

Source Port: 51547
Destination Port: 80
Sequence number: 1
Acknowledgment number: 1
Flags: RST
Window size value: 229
Checksum: unverified
Urgent Pointer: 0
In last image you can observe that this control bit is set 1 for RST flag between source port 51547 and destination port 80.

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