Technical Tip: FortiGate Behavior When Increasing tcp-halfopen-timer

[Marit]

Description	This article explains the impact on FortiGate when the tcp-halfopen-timer value is increased.
Scope	FortiGate v7.2, Python.
Solution	The tcp-halfopen-timer defines the number of seconds the FortiGate should wait before closing a session after one peer has sent an open session packet (SYN), but the other peer has not responded. TCP halfopen can lead to: Exhaustion of connection memory. Denial of Service. Scenario: There are two FortiGates and a Linux client/server setup are used:  Client === FortiGate1===FortiGate2===Server The client uses a Python script to generate a high rate of TCP SYN packets to the server on port 5211. FortiGate-1 is configured with the default tcp-halfopen-timer of 10 seconds. FortiGate-2 is configured with a custom tcp-halfopen-timer of 50 seconds. FortiGate-1: config firewall service custom     edit "tcp_syn_only"         set tcp-portrange 5211     next end FortiGate-2: config firewall service custom     edit "tcp_syn_only"         set tcp-portrange 5211         set tcp-halfopen-timer 50     next end Python code: This Python script generates TCP SYN packets per second from the client IP to the server IP on port 5211: send_syn_flood(): Generates 100 x packets from client to server with SYN flag set. main body: Loop send_syn_flood() untill keyboard interupt. Link to python code on GitHub: https://github.com/maritpra/kl_lab/blob/master/tcp_halfopen.py Observation: Fortigate-1: The number of sessions increases briefly, then stops due to the tcp-halfopen-timer expiring at 10 seconds.   Fortigate-2: The number of sessions continues growing because the tcp-halfopen-timer is set to 50 seconds, allowing half-open sessions to persist longer.