BGP ORIGIN attribute manipulation and its impact on the Internet

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the primary routing protocol of the Internet, allowing Autonomous Systems (ASes) to dictate traffic routing via path attributes, including the mandatory ORIGIN attribute, which indicates how a route was introduced into BGP. Despite its intended stability, ORIGIN is frequently manipulated, with studies showing that around 70% of observed paths have altered ORIGIN values compared to the original setting by the originating AS. This manipulation, primarily changing ORIGIN to IGP, affects traffic forwarding decisions, often diverting traffic through specific networks to gain revenue advantages. Investigations reveal that this practice is prevalent among major networks, including Tier-1 ASes, who alter ORIGIN to attract more traffic. Despite being contrary to RFC guidelines, the practice has become widespread, prompting discussions about the relevance of the ORIGIN attribute in modern Internet routing. Some propose setting ORIGIN to IGP universally to mitigate the unfair advantages created by its manipulation, or even deprecating the attribute entirely to ensure fairer and more stable routing practices across the Internet.

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