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Is there any way to resolve an external IP address to a MAC address without access to the specific LAN? In other words, is it possible to obtain a MAC address for any given public IP?

To my understanding, ARP will only work if you're directly connected to the LAN in which the target IP's host is also connected. Is it possible to tunnel those requests (for example to an ISP's router)?

Ruurtjan Pul
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  • It's possible to know the MAC address of a station using HTTP headers, but that is a very specific case. I'm also guessing there's other protocols who would allow that. – Doezer Sep 07 '16 at 11:56
  • Possible duplicate: http://networkengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/29063/can-my-mac-address-be-identified-by-a-web-site/29068#29068 – Teun Vink Sep 07 '16 at 13:54
  • @Doezer: do you have more details or a URL about how to obtain the MAC address using HTTP headers? Never heard of that, so would like to know more. – hertitu Sep 08 '16 at 12:53
  • @hertitu I heard it was possible by forcing the client to give out the information, but it most likely means having a client software dedicated to that. Like I said, very specific case, and since there is near to no point of doing this... – Doezer Sep 08 '16 at 13:51
  • Did any answer help you? If so, you should accept the answer so that the question doesn't keep popping up forever, looking for an answer. Alternatively, you could provide and accept your own answer. – Ron Maupin Aug 15 '17 at 02:14
  • Sometimes the MAC is embedded in the name you get from reverse DNS on the IP. – kasperd Nov 13 '18 at 16:52

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No, there's no way of knowing and at a network level there's no point knowing. The MAC adddress belongs in layer-2. Obviously if you are responsible for the equipment, you may want to enter the details in a CMDB, in which case there is probably an application that can get that information.

marctxk
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