Enable to check that packets are not duplicated or out of order. GTP packets contain a Sequence Number field.

This number tells the receiving GGSN the order of the packets it is receiving. Normally the GGSN compares this sequence number in the packets with its own sequence counter — if the two do not match, the packet is dropped. This sequence number validation can be off-loaded to the FortiOS Carrier freeing up resources on the GGSN.

Select Allow to enable GTP packets to be allowed to contain GTP packets, or a GTP tunnel inside another GTP tunnel.

To block all GTP-in-GTP packets, select Deny.

Enter the shortest possible message length in bytes. Normally this is controlled by the protocol, and will vary for different message types. If a packet is smaller than this limit, it is discarded as it is likely malformed and a potential security risk.

The default minimum message length is 0 bytes.

Enter the maximum allowed length of a GTP packet in bytes.

A GTP packet contains three headers and corresponding parts GTP, UDP, and IP. If a packet is larger than the maximum transmission unit (MTU) size, it is fragmented to be delivered in multiple packets. This is inefficient, resource intensive, and may cause problems with some applications.

By default the maximum message length is 1452 bytes.

Enter the maximum number of tunnels allowed open at one time. For additional GTP tunnels to be opened, existing tunnels must first be closed.

This feature can help prevent a form of denial of service attack on your network. This attack involves opening more tunnels than the network can handle and consuming all the network resources doing so. By limiting the number of tunnels at any one time, this form of attack will be avoided.

The tunnel limiting applies to the Handover Group, and Authorized SGSNs and GGSNs.

Enter the maximum number of seconds that a GTP tunnel is allowed to remain active. After the timeout the unit deletes GTP tunnels that have stopped processing data. A GTP tunnel may hang for various reasons. For example, during the GTP tunnel tear-down stage, the "delete pdap context response" message may get lost. By setting a timeout value, you can configure the FortiOS Carrier firewall to remove the hanging tunnels.

The default is 86400 seconds, or 24 hours.

Enter the number of packets per second to limit the traffic rate to protect the GSNs from possible Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. The default limit of 0 does not limit the message rate.

GTP DoS attacks can include:

Select the allowed list of IP addresses allowed to take over a GTP session when the mobile device moves locations.

Handover is a fundamental feature of GPRS/UMTS, which enables subscribers to seamlessly move from one area of coverage to another with no interruption of active sessions. Session hijacking can come from the SGSN or the GGSN, where a fraudulent GSN can intercept another GSN and redirect traffic to it. This can be exploited to hijack GTP tunnels or cause a denial of service.

When the handover group is defined it acts like a whitelist with an implicit default deny at the end — the GTP address must be in the group or the GTP message will be blocked. This stops handover requests from untrusted GSNs.

Use Authorized SGSNs to only allow authorized SGSNs to send packets through the unit and to block unauthorized SGSNs. Go to Firewall Objects > Address > Addresses and add the IP addresses of the authorized SGSNs to a firewall address or address group. Then set Authorized SGSNs to this firewall address or address group.

You can use Authorized SGSNs to allow packets from SGSNs that have a roaming agreement with your organization.

Use Authorized GGSNs to only allow authorized GGSNs to send packets through the unit and to block unauthorized GGSNs. Go to Firewall Objects > Address > Addresses and add the IP addresses of the authorized GGSNs to a firewall address or address group. Then set Authorized GGSNs to this firewall address or address group.

You can use Authorized GGSNs to allow packets from SGSNs that have a roaming agreement with your organization.