# arp -s error: "writing to routing socket: Cannot allocate memory"



## Vincent Habchi (Oct 19, 2018)

Hi folks,
I’m trying to "proxy arp" a virtual IP address allocated by _Strongswan_ to a remote VPN'd machine (in order to test if netbios works better).

But when I type:
`Server > sudo arp -s 172.31.16.1 00:23:54:0d:34:13 pub`
I get this:

```
arp: writing to routing socket: Cannot allocate memory
```

Any hint to what can do that and how I can fix it?
Thanks,
Vincent


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## Vincent Habchi (Nov 6, 2018)

Ok, I got it at last. This was a simple error, but the output message is less than informative. The IP address I was spoofing was outside the local network range of IPs (i.e. 172.31.16.1 in a 172.31.0.0/20 network). The error message should rather be something along the lines of “IP address out of local range”, that would be less nonplussing. Maybe I should file a bug/improvement.


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