Re: Can a prefix be never routed on Internet but used only for source address in IP packets?

[Aaron1 via NANOG <nanog () lists nanog org>]

I think that’s the nature of unidirectional ip flow.  Unless source-based PBR, FBF, or uRPF (iirc, strict) is in use, 
seems that’s how regular IP works in a unidirectional manner

Aaron

> On Aug 19, 2025, at 11:37 AM, Jonathan Kalbfeld via NANOG <nanog () lists nanog org> wrote:
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> This happens unintentionally quite a bit with misconfigured NAT. You will see RFC 1918 source addresses in packets 
> from time to time. I can't speak to the application or value of this, but I have seen this and done it accidentally 
> on one occasion.
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> Jonathan Kalbfeld
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> > On Aug 19, 2025 at 9:34 AM, Sriram, Kotikalapudi (Fed) via NANOG  <nanog () lists nanog org>  wrote:
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> > Question: Can a prefix be never routed on the Internet but used only one-way for source address in IP packets?
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> > That is. a user owns an IP prefix. They never advertise a route to it in BGP on the Internet. But they use the 
> > prefix solely for source address in IP traffic from a source to a destination (sink). In this set up, the 
> > destination server obviously cannot/doesn't return any acknowledgements etc. to the source. Anyone aware if there is 
> > any such known application in use on the Internet - even if it is rare? Thanks.
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> > Sriram
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