AFRINIC has been alerted to unauthorised use of part of its IPv4 address space that is reserved under its IPv4 Soft Landing policy.
The incident concerns the block 102.224.0.0/12, which is not allocated to any AFRINIC member. Despite its reserved status, smaller portions of this block were recently observed being announced on the global Internet routing system.
AFRINIC was informed of the issue by the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), after one of ARIN’s network operators reported that its network identifier (Autonomous System Number) had appeared in these announcements without the resource holder’s consent.
AFRINIC’s review indicates that the unauthorised announcements were supported by data entered into a public Internet Routing Registry (IRR). This information may have helped the routes spread through networks that use IRR data to decide which Internet routes to accept.
On becoming aware of the incident, AFRINIC:
- Requested and obtained removal of the related entries from the IRR.
- Contacted key Internet transit providers to stop the spread of the affected routes.
- Reached out to the party believed to have created the entries, requesting an immediate end to the unauthorised announcements.
- Intensified monitoring of global Internet routing to confirm that the routes are being fully withdrawn.
The affected address block remains unallocated and reserved, and AFRINIC continues to work with network operators to ensure the incident is fully contained.
Although the incident involves unallocated address space, unauthorised routing announcements of this kind can enable misuse of Internet addresses and weaken trust in the systems that keep global Internet traffic flowing securely and reliably. AFRINIC is reviewing additional technical and procedural safeguards to better protect reserved address space and strengthen Internet routing security in its service region.
AFRINIC remains committed to safeguarding the integrity of Internet number resources and supporting the stability of the global routing system.