ICMP - IP Protocol

This page provides IP protocol information on the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) detected by the Netify DPI engine. Please see the IP protocol catalog for information on other IP protocols.

ICMP is used by hosts and routers to report errors, such as unreachable destinations, and to exchange diagnostic messages, most visibly via ping and traceroute. Linux has a native handler for this IP protocol.

IP Protocol Details

Name
Internet Control Message Protocol
Abbreviation
ICMP
Status
Active
IANA Number
1
IANA Keyword
ICMP
Reference
ICMP

IP Protocol Status - Active

ICMP was standardized in 1981 (RFC 792) alongside IPv4 and remains universally implemented and actively used for diagnostics and network error signaling.

IP Protocol Network Policy

ICMP provides essential error reporting, path MTU discovery, and diagnostics (ping, traceroute); blocking it breaks routing, connectivity troubleshooting, and TCP performance.