B-ARP: Blockchain-Secured Address Resolution Protocol

Abstract

The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) plays a critical role in the data link layer by mapping network addresses to physical hardware addresses. However, its lack of authentication mechanisms exposes it to spoofing attacks, enabling adversaries to intercept, modify, or disrupt communication within a local network. This paper proposes B-ARP (Blockchain-Secured ARP), a secure and decentralized approach to ARP leveraging blockchain technology. By treating MAC-IP bindings as verifiable transactions stored on a distributed ledger, the system ensures immutability, transparency, and resistance to tampering. A consensus-based validation mechanism prevents the propagation of forged ARP responses and enhances trust among network nodes. The proposed method not only mitigates common spoofing attacks but also introduces a scalable framework for integrating decentralized trust into foundational network protocols. Analytical evaluation demonstrates that this approach maintains strong security guarantees with minimal performance degradation, offering a viable path toward resilient and tamperproof address resolution in modern network architectures.