Patent ID: 8020200

Claim:
A method for processing packets within a network device having a forwarding component, a routing component and a firewall component, the method comprising: receiving control plane packets and data plane packets with the forwarding component of a network device, wherein the control plane packets are packets destined for a routing component within the network device and which specify a network address of the routing component, and wherein the data plane packets are packets received by the network device that are destined for devices external to the network device; forwarding the control plane packets from the forwarding component to the firewall component within the network device prior to forwarding the control plane packets from the firewall component to the routing component of the network device, wherein the firewall component is physically separate from the forwarding component and the routing component and electrically coupled to the forwarding component and the routing component; and processing the control plane packets with the physically separate firewall component to detect a network attack.