What happens to packets if a checksum error is detected?

When a checksum error is detected in a packet, it signifies that there is a discrepancy between the data received and the checksum value that was calculated at the time the packet was sent. This often indicates data corruption during transmission. In most networking protocols, the standard approach is to silently drop these packets, as they are considered invalid and cannot be processed reliably.

This behavior is in line with the principles of data integrity and error handling in network communications; if the data is not accurate due to corruption, it is better to discard it than to process potentially erroneous information. The receiving system typically does not log the error in basic implementations, nor does it attempt to automatically retransmit the packet, which requires an acknowledgment mechanism typically handled at higher layers of the networking stack. Therefore, silently dropping the packets ensures that only valid and accurate data is managed by the receiving host.