The question is fairly simple, and maybe a bit remedial to most reading this, but I've been searching the web for something definitive about this point.
I understand that the RST flag is intended to terminate a TCP connection immediately, and that so far as the sending host is concerned, the conversation is over the moment the RST or RST/ACK packet is sent. But do hosts that receive that RST or RST/ACK packet "honor" it on the spot by not sending any acknowledgment of the RST?
In other words, do hosts immediately drop the conversation upon receipt of a RST or RST/ACK packet? Any exceptions?