SYN cookie analysis on 3.10 include/net/request_sock.h: static inline int reqsk_queue_is_full(const struct request_sock_queue *queue) { return queue->listen_opt->qlen >> queue->listen_opt->max_qlen_log; } include/net/inet_connection_sock.h: static inline int inet_csk_reqsk_queue_is_full(const struct sock *sk) { return reqsk_queue_is_full(&inet_csk(sk)->icsk_accept_queue); } max_qlen_log is computed to equal log2(min(min(listen_backlog,somaxconn), sysctl_max_syn_backlog), and this is done this way following this path : socket.c:listen(fd, backlog) : backlog = min(backlog, somaxconn) => af_inet.c:inet_listen(sock, backlog) => inet_connection_sock.c:inet_csk_listen_start(sk, backlog) sk_max_ack_backlog = backlog => request_sock.c:reqsk_queue_alloc(sk, backlog (=nr_table_entries)) nr_table_entries = min_t(u32, nr_table_entries, sysctl_max_syn_backlog); nr_table_entries = max_t(u32, nr_table_entries, 8); nr_table_entries = roundup_pow_of_two(nr_table_entries + 1); for (lopt->max_qlen_log = 3; (1 << lopt->max_qlen_log) < nr_table_entries; lopt->max_qlen_log++); tcp_ipv4.c:tcp_v4_conn_request() - inet_csk_reqsk_queue_is_full() returns true when the listening socket's qlen is larger than 1 << max_qlen_log, so basically qlen >= min(backlog,max_backlog) - tcp_syn_flood_action() returns true when sysctl_tcp_syncookies is set. It also emits a warning once per listening socket when activating the feature. if (inet_csk_reqsk_queue_is_full(sk) && !isn) { want_cookie = tcp_syn_flood_action(sk, skb, "TCP"); if (!want_cookie) goto drop; } => when the socket's current backlog is >= min(backlog,max_backlog), either tcp_syn_cookies is set so we set want_cookie to 1, or we drop. /* Accept backlog is full. If we have already queued enough * of warm entries in syn queue, drop request. It is better than * clogging syn queue with openreqs with exponentially increasing * timeout. */ sock.h:sk_acceptq_is_full() = sk_ack_backlog > sk_max_ack_backlog = sk_ack_backlog > min(somaxconn, listen_backlog) if (sk_acceptq_is_full(sk) && inet_csk_reqsk_queue_young(sk) > 1) { NET_INC_STATS_BH(sock_net(sk), LINUX_MIB_LISTENOVERFLOWS); goto drop; } ====> the following algorithm is applied in the reverse order but with these priorities : 1) IF socket's accept queue >= min(somaxconn, listen_backlog) THEN drop 2) IF socket's SYN backlog < min(somaxconn, listen_backlog, tcp_max_syn_backlog) THEN accept 3) IF tcp_syn_cookies THEN send_syn_cookie 4) otherwise drop ====> the problem is the accept queue being filled, but it's supposed to be filled only with validated client requests (step 1). req = inet_reqsk_alloc(&tcp_request_sock_ops); if (!req) goto drop; ... if (!sysctl_tcp_syncookies && (sysctl_max_syn_backlog - inet_csk_reqsk_queue_len(sk) < (sysctl_max_syn_backlog >> 2)) && !tcp_peer_is_proven(req, dst, false)) { /* Without syncookies last quarter of * backlog is filled with destinations, * proven to be alive. * It means that we continue to communicate * to destinations, already remembered * to the moment of synflood. */ LIMIT_NETDEBUG(KERN_DEBUG pr_fmt("drop open request from %pI4/%u\n"), &saddr, ntohs(tcp_hdr(skb)->source)); goto drop_and_release; }