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ICMP Type 11 Time Exceeded

ICMP — Internet Control Message Protocol

An ICMP Type 11 Time Exceeded message reports that a packet’s TTL expired in transit or that IPv4 fragment reassembly timed out.

If the gateway processing a datagram finds the time to live field is zero it must discard the datagram. The gateway may also notify the source host via the time exceeded message.

Source RFC 792.

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────────────────────┐
│     Type      │     Code      │          Checksum             │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────────────────────┤
│                             unused                            │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Internet Header + at least 64 bits of Original Datagram Data │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Codes

CodeNameSent ByMeaning
0Time to Live Exceeded in TransitRouterTTL reached zero while the packet was being routed
1Fragment Reassembly Time ExceededDestination hostAll fragments did not arrive before the timer ended

Traceroute

Traceroute sends probes with increasing TTL values.

Example

A sent Time-to-live exceeded message.

Received

Ethernet II, Src: 52:54:00:81:12:6f (52:54:00:81:12:6f), Dst: 52:54:00:d8:d7:63 (52:54:00:d8:d7:63)
Internet Protocol Version 4, Src: 10.1.12.2 (10.1.12.2), Dst: 10.0.0.1 (10.0.0.1)
Internet Control Message Protocol
    Type: Time-to-live exceeded (11)
    Code: 0 (Time to live exceeded in transit)
    Internet Protocol Version 4, Src: 10.0.0.1 (10.0.0.1), Dst: 10.0.0.5 (10.0.0.5)
    User Datagram Protocol, Src Port: 49435 (49435), Dst Port: mtrace (33435)

References

RFC 792: Internet Control Message Protocol | RFC Editor

RFC 1122: Requirements for Internet Hosts | RFC Editor

IANA: Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Parameters

Last Modified • Tuesday, July 7, 2026. 6:20 pm UTC+00:00 • Commit: 699bb08