Accounting for /proc/net/dev reported traffic
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I noticed that according to /proc/net/dev I am constantly receiving around 6Kb/s on my wireless usb interface. But I can't account for anything even close to that with the individual connections that I get with iptraf, iftop, and nethogs. Investigations with netstat, lsof, and tcpdump didn't help either.
So, what else could contribute to /proc/net/dev values? I can speculate that, while only IP based traffic is reported by the applications I mentioned, /proc/net/dev probably accounts for other link-layer/internet-layer stuff too (arp? icmp? wireless management stuff?). Or maybe other transport/application protocols. Can anyone confirm this?
How else would you proceed to find out: through what sockets are the 6Kb/s coming through? What processes are receiving the traffic?
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[EDIT]
The 2 consistent results across all the tools:
1. the totals of Rx are around a few Kb/s
- confirmed with /proc/net/dev, dstat, bmw-ng, cbm, iptraf, ifstat, gnome-system-monitor
2. no connection/packet stream justifies that
- confirmed with netstat, tcpdump, iftop, nethogs, iptraf
All of this with a Netgear WDNA 4100 wireless usb adapter using a custom driver from some git (the only way I got it to work). I asked the devs about it [here](https://github.com/ashaffer/rt3573sta/issues/9) .
This might be malware, but I suspect the driver is simply reporting wrong totals. Nevertheless, I cannot explain what's going on for sure.
Asked by ricab
(732 rep)
Feb 12, 2014, 12:12 AM
Last activity: Jun 12, 2025, 02:03 AM
Last activity: Jun 12, 2025, 02:03 AM