Abstract: Techniques that assist in processing of failure detection protocol (FDP) packets. Techniques are provided that assist a CPU of a network device in processing incoming FDP packets. In one embodiment, a module is provided in a network device for detecting and flagging the non-receipt of FDP packets by the network device for one or more FDP sessions. In this manner, the task of detecting non-receipt of FDP packets is offloaded from the CPU of the network device. This enables the network device to support newer FDPs with shorter periodic interval requirements.