Patent ID: 7546635

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 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; processing the control plane packets with the physically separate firewall component to detect a network attack; issuing a feedback communication from the physically separate firewall component to the routing component based on the processing of the control plane packets by the physically separate firewall component; and establishing one or more filters with the routing component in response to the feedback communication, wherein at least some of the one or more filters specify which control plane packets are to be directed from the forwarding component to the routing component.