IPFILTER (IPF) Firewall
IPFILTER (IPF) Firewall
The author of IPFILTER is Darren Reed. IPFILTER is not FBSD operating system dependant. IPFILTER is an open source application and has been ported to FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Sun, HP, and Solaris operating systems. IPFILTER is actively being supported and maintained, with updated versions being released regularly.
The IPFILTER program runs in the kernel and consists of the firewall and separate NAT facilities. IPFILTER also has user-land front-end interactive interfaces for controlling the firewall rules, NAT, packet accounting, and the logging facility. Program IPF is used to load the firewall rules. Program IPNAT is used to load the firewall NAT rules. Program IPFSTAT reports on packet filter statistics and lists active rules sets. Program IPMON monitors IPFILTER for logged packets.
From this point on IPFILTER will be written as IPF and is intended to mean the same thing as IPFILTER.
IPF was originally written using a rules processing logic of ‘the last matching rule wins’ and used only stateless types of rules. Over time IPF has been enhanced to include a ‘quick’ option and a stateful ‘keep state’ option which drastically modernized the rules processing logic. IPF’s official documentation covers the legacy rule coding parameters and the legacy rule file processing logic, the modernized functions are only included as additional options, completely understating their benefits in producing a far superior secure firewall.
The instructions contained in this guide are based on using rules that contain the ‘quick' option and the stateful ‘keep state’ option. This is the basic framework for coding an inclusive firewall rule set.
An inclusive firewall only allows services matching the rules through. This way you can control what services can originate behind the firewall destined for the public internet and also control the services which can originate from the public internet accessing your private network. Everything else is blocked and logged by default design. Inclusive firewall rule sets are much more secure than exclusive firewall rule sets and are the only rule set type covered herein.
For detailed explanation of the legacy rules processing method, see http://www.obfuscation.org/ipf/ipf-howto.html#TOC_1
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~avalon/ip-filter.html
To see the FAQ: http://www.phildev.net/ipf/index.html
To search the open source IPFilter questions archives: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=ipfilter
Since all firewalls are based on interrogating the values of selected packet control fields, the creator of the firewall rules must have an understanding of how TCP/IP works, what the different values in the packet control fields are and how these values are used in a normal session conversation. For a good explanation go to http://www.ipprimer.com/overview.cfm
Enabling IPF
IPF is included in the basic FBSD install as a separate run time loadable module. IPF will dynamically load its kernel loadable module when the rc.conf statement ipfilter_enable="YES" is used. The loadable module was created with logging enabled and the ‘default pass all’ options. You do not need to compile IPF into the FBSD kernel just to change the default to ‘block all’; you can do that by just coding a block all rule at the end of your rule set.
Using the IPF run time loadable module is recommended.
Kernel options
It is not a mandatory requirement that you enable IPF by compiling the following options into the FBSD kernel. It’s only presented here as background information. Compiling IPF into the kernel causes the loadable module to never be used.
Sample kernel source IPF options statements are in the /usr/src/sys/i386/conf/LINT kernel source and are reproduced here.
options IPFILTER options IPFILTER_LOG options IPFILTER_DEFAULT_BLOCK
IPFILTER This tells the compile to include IPFILTER as part of it’s core kernel.
IPFILTER_LOG enables the option to have IPF log traffic by writing to the ipl packet logging pseudo-device for every rule that has the "log" keyword.
IPFILTER_DEFAULT_BLOCK This option changes the default behavior so any packet not matching a firewall ‘pass’ rule gets blocked.
RC.CONF Options
You need the follow statements in /etc/rc.conf to activate IPF at boot time.
ipfilter_enable="YES" # Start ipf firewall
ipfilter_rules="/etc/ipf.rules" # loads rules definition text file
# IE: not script file with rules in it
ipmon_enable="YES" # Start IP monitor log
ipmon_flags="-Ds" # D = start as daemon
# s = log to syslog
# v = log tcp window, ack, seq
# n = map IP & port to names
If you have a LAN behind this firewall that uses the reserved private IP address ranges, then you need to add the following to enable NAT functionality.
gateway_enable="YES" # Enable as LAN gateway ipnat_enable="YES" # Start ipnat function ipnat_rules="/etc/ipnat.rules" # rules definition file for ipnat
IPF COMMAND
The ipf command is used to load your rules file. Normally you create a file containing your custom rules and use this command to replace in mass the currently running firewall internal rules.
ipf –Fa –f /etc/ipf.rules
-Fa means flush all internal rules tables
-f means this is the file to read for the rules to load
This gives the user the ability to make changes to their custom rules file and run the above IPF command, thus updating the running firewall with a fresh copy of all the rules without having to reboot the system. This method is very convenient for testing new rules as the procedure can be executed as many times as needed.
See man IPF(8) for details on the other flag options available with this command.
The ipf command expects the rules file to be a standard text file. It will not accept a rules file written as a script with symbolic substitution.
There is a way to build IPF rules that utilities the power of script symbolic substitution. See the Building Rule Script section.
IPFSTAT Command
The default behavior of ipfstat is to retrieve and display the totals of the accumulated statistics gathered as a result of applying the user coded rules against packets going in and out of the firewall since it was last started or since the last time the accumulators were reset to zero by the ipf –Z command.
See ‘man ipfstat’ for details.
This is what the ipfstat command displays without any flags:
input packets: blocked 99286 passed 1255609 nomatch 14686 counted 0
output packets: blocked 4200 passed 1284345 nomatch 14687 counted 0
input packets logged: blocked 99286 passed 0
output packets logged: blocked 0 passed 0
packets logged: input 0 output 0
log failures: input 3898 output 0
fragment state(in): kept 0 lost 0
fragment state(out): kept 0 lost 0
packet state(in): kept 169364 lost 0
packet state(out): kept 431395 lost 0
ICMP replies: 0 TCP RSTs sent: 0
Result cache hits(in): 1215208 (out): 1098963
IN Pullups succeeded: 2 failed: 0
OUT Pullups succeeded: 0 failed: 0
Fastroute successes: 0 failures: 0
TCP cksum fails(in): 0 (out): 0
Packet log flags set: (0)
When supplied with either -i for inbound or –o for outbound, it will retrieve and display the appropriate list of filter rules currently installed and in use by the kernel.
Ipfstat –in displays the inbound internal rules table with rule numbers
Ipfstat –on displays the outbound internal rules table with rule numbers
Rules will be displayed like this:
@1 pass out on xl0 from any to any @2 block out on dc0 from any to any @3 pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp/udp from any to any keep state
Ipfstat –ih displays the inbound internal rules table, each rule prefixed with count of times the rule was matched
Ipfstat –oh displays the outbound internal rules table, each rule prefixed with count of times the rule was matched
Rules will be displayed like this:
2451423 pass out on xl0 from any to any
354727 block out on dc0 from any to any 430918 pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp/udp from any to any keep state
Ipfstat –t [ -C | -D | -P | -S | -T ]
The most important function of the ipfstat command is the –t flag which activates the display state table in a way similar to the way the ‘top’ command shows the FBSD running process table. When your firewall is under attack this function gives you the ability to identify, drill down to, and see the attacking packets. The optional sub-flags give the ability to select destination IP and port, or source IP and port, or protocol that you want to monitor in real time. See man ipfstat for details.
IPMON Command
In order for ipmon to properly work, the kernel option IPFILTER_LOG must be turned on. This command has two different modes it can be used in. Native mode is the default mode when you type the command on the FBSD console command line without the –D flag.
Daemon mode is for when you want to have a continuous system log file available so you can review logging of past events. This is how FBSD and IPFILTER are configured to work together. FBSD has a built in facility to automatically rotate syslogs. That is why outputting the log information to syslogd is better than the default of a regular file. In the rc.conf file you see the ipmon_flags statement uses the "-Ds" flags:
ipmon_flags="-Ds" # D = start as daemon
# s = log to syslog
# v = log tcp window, ack, seq
# n = map IP & port to names
The benefits of logging are obvious. Logging provides the ability to review after the fact information like what packets have been dropped, what addresses they came from, and where they were going, giving you a significant edge in tracking down attackers.
Even with the logging facility enabled, IPF will not generate any rule logging on its own. The firewall administrator decides what rules in the rule set he wants to log and adds the log keyword to those rules. Normally only deny rules are logged.
It’s very customary to include a default deny everything rule with the log keyword included as your last rule in the rule set. This way you get to see all the packets that did not match any of the rules in the rule set.
IPMON Logging
Syslogd uses its own special method for segregation of log data. It uses special groupings called ‘facility’ and ‘level’. IPMON in –Ds mode uses local0 as the ‘facility’ name. All IPMON logged data goes to local0.
You have to manually configure the /etc/syslog.conf file by adding the statements to direct the Local0 'facility' to the log file name recording the log records. FBSD keeps all of its syslog files in /var/log/ directory.
First allocate the new named log file for the IPFMON logged data.
touch /var/log/ipfilter.log # will allocate the file
The syslog function is controlled by definition statements in the /etc/syslog.conf file.
You will have to edit the /etc/syslog.conf file.
Add the following statement to syslog.conf:
local0.* /var/log/ipfilter.log
The local0.* means to write all the logged messages to the coded file location.
To activate the changes to /etc/syslog.conf you can reboot or force the syslogd task into re-reading /etc/syslog.conf by issuing this console command /etc/rc.d/syslogd reload
Don’t forget to change /etc/newsyslog.conf to rotate the new named IPFILTER log you just created above.
Format of Logged Messages
Fields common to all messages are:
1. The date of packet receipt.
2. The time of packet receipt. This is in the form HH:MM:SS.F, for hours, minutes, seconds, and fractions of a second (which can be several digits long).
3. The name of the interface the packet was processed on, e.g., dc0.
4. The group and rule number of the rule, e.g., @0:17.
These can be viewed with ipfstat -in.
5. The action: p for passed, b for blocked, S for a short packet, n did not match any rules, L for a log rule. The order of precedence in showing flags is:
S, p, b, n, L. A capital P or B means that the packet has been logged due to a global logging setting, not a particular rule.
6. The addresses. This is actually three fields: the source address and port (separated by a comma), the -> symbol, and the destination address and port. 209.53.17.22,80 -> 198.73.220.17,1722.
7. PR followed by the protocol name or number, e.g., PR tcp.
8. len followed by the header length and total length of the packet,
e.g., len 20 40.
If the packet is a TCP packet, there will be an additional field starting with a hyphen followed by letters corresponding to any flags that were set. See the ipf.conf manual page for a list of letters and their flags.
If the packet is an ICMP packet, there will be two fields at the end, the first always being `ICMP' and the next being the ICMP message and sub-message type, separated by a slash, (e.g., ICMP 3/3 for a port unreachable message).
Building Rule Script
Some experienced IPF users create a file containing the rules and code them in a manner compatible with running them as a script with symbolic substitution. The major benefit of doing this is you only have to change the value associated with the symbolic name, and when the script is run all the rules containing the symbolic name will have the value substituted in the rules. Being a script, you can use symbolic substitution to code frequently used values and substitute them in multiple rules. You will see this in the following example.
The script syntax used here is compatible with the ‘sh’, ‘csh’, and ‘tcsh’ shells.
Symbolic substitution fields are prefixed with a dollar sign $.
Symbolic fields do not have the $ prefix
The value to populate the Symbolic field must be enclosed with "double quotes".
Start your rules file with this.
############# Start of IPF rules script ######################## oif="dc0" # name of the outbound interface odns="192.0.2.11" # ISP's dns server IP address Symbolic> myip="192.0.2.7" # My Static IP address from ISP ks="keep state" fks="flags S keep state" # You can use this same to build the /etc/ipf.rules file #cat >> /etc/ipf.rules << EOF # exec ipf command and read inline data, stop reading # when word EOF is found. There has to be one line # after the EOF line to work correctly. /sbin/ipf -Fa -f - << EOF # Allow out access to my ISP's Domain name server. pass out quick on $oif proto tcp from any to $odns port = 53 $fks pass out quick on $oif proto udp from any to $odns port = 53 $ks # Allow out non-secure standard www function pass out quick on $oif proto tcp from $myip to any port = 80 $fks # Allow out secure www function https over TLS SSL pass out quick on $oif proto tcp from $myip to any port = 443 $fks EOF ################## End of IPF rules script ########################
That’s all there is to it. The rules are not important in this example; how the Symbolic substitution field are populated and used are. If the above example was in the /etc/ipf.rules.script file, I could reload these rules by entering on the FBSD command line:
sh /etc/ipf.rules.script
There is one problem with using a rules file with embedded symbolics. IPF has no problem with it, but the rc.conf
ipfilter_rules="/etc/ipf.rules"
statement will not load the rules if the file this statement is pointing at contains symbolics. This is a FBSD rc.conf launch problem.
The solution is to delete the following statement in the rc.conf
ipfilter_rules=
and put the following script in this directory:
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/
FBSD looks in this directory for scripts that have names ending in ‘.sh’ to automatically launch during the boot process. Apache and DHCP place their launch scripts there.
Your launch script should look like this.
ee /usr/local/etc/rc.d/ipf.loadrules.sh
#!/bin/sh sh /etc/ipf.rules.script
The permission on this script file must be read, write, exec for owner root.
chmod 700 /usr/local/etc/rc.d/ipf.loadrules.sh
Now when you system boots your IPF rules will be loaded using the script.
IPF Rule Sets
A rule set is a group of IPF rules coded to pass or block packets based on the values contained in the packet. The bi-directional exchange of packets between hosts comprises a session conversation. The firewall rule set processes the packet two times, once on its arrival from the public Internet host and again as it leaves for its return trip back to the public Internet host. Each TCP/IP service (IE: telnet, www, mail, etc;) is predefined by its protocol, source and destination IP address, or the source and destination port number. This is the basic selection criteria used to create rules which will pass or block services.
IPF was originally written using a rules processing logic of ‘the last matching rule wins’ and used only stateless types of rules. Over time IPF has been enhanced to include a ‘quick’ option and a stateful ‘keep state’ option which drastically modernized the rules processing logic.
The instructions contained in this section are based on using rules that contain the ‘quick' option and the stateful ‘keep state’ option. This is the basic framework for coding an inclusive firewall rule set.
An inclusive firewall only allows services matching the rules through. This way you can control what services can originate behind the firewall destined for the public Internet and also control the services which can originate from the public Internet accessing your private network. Everything else is blocked and logged by default design. Inclusive firewall rule sets are much more secure than exclusive firewall rule sets and are the only rule set type covered herein.
Installers Note: Warning, when working with the firewall rules, always, always do it from the root console of the system running the firewall or you can end up locking yourself out.
Rule Syntax
The rule syntax presented here has been simplified to only address the modern stateful rule context and ‘first matching rule wins’ logic. For the complete legacy rule syntax description see the online ‘man ipf’ page at http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ipf&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+6.0-RELEASE+and+Ports&format=html
# is used to mark the start of a comment and may appear at the end of a rule line or on its own line. Blank lines are ignored.
Rules contain keywords. These keywords have to be coded in a specific order from left to right on the line. Keywords are identified in bold type. Some keywords have sub-options which may be keywords themselves and also include more sub-options. Each of the headings in the below syntax has a bold section header which expands on the content.
Syntax = ACTION IN-OUT OPTIONS SELECTION STATEFUL
ACTION = block | pass
IN-OUT = in | out
OPTIONS = log | quick | on interface-name
SELECTION = proto value | source/destination IP | port = number | flags flag-value
Where value = tcp/udp | udp | tcp | icmp
Where source/destination IP = all | from object to object
Where object = IP address | any
Where number = port number
Where flag-value = S
STATEFUL = keep state
The | symbol used in the above syntax means ‘or’.
ACTION
The action indicates what to do with the packet if it matches the rest of the filter rule. Each rule MUST have an action. The following actions are recognized:
block indicates that the packet should be dropped if the selection parameters match the packet.
pass indicates that the packet should exit the firewall if the selection parameters match the packet.
IN-OUT It is a mandatory requirement that each filter rule explicitly states which side of the I/O it is to be used on. The next keyword must be either in or out and one or the other has to be coded or the rule will not pass syntax check.
in means this rule is being applied against an inbound packet which has just been received on the interface facing the public Internet.
out means this rule is being applied against an outbound packet destined for the interface facing the public Internet.
OPTIONS Must be used in the order shown here.
log indicates that the packet header will be written to the ipl log (as described in the LOGGING section below) if the selection parameters match the packet.
quick indicates that if the selection parameters match the packet, this rule will be the last rule checked, allowing a "short-circuit" path to avoid processing any following rules for this packet. This option is a mandatory requirement for the modernized rules processing logic.
on indicates the interface name to be incorporated into the selection parameters. Interface names are as displayed by ifconfig. Using this option, the rule will only match if the packet is going through that interface in the specified direction (in/out). This option is a mandatory requirement for the modernized rules processing logic.
When a packet is logged, the headers of the packet are written to the IPL packet logging pseudo-device. Immediately following the log keyword, the following qualifiers may be used (in this order):
body indicates that the first 128 bytes of the packet contents will be logged after the headers.
first If the ‘log’ keyword is being used in conjunction with a "keep state" option, it is recommended that this option is also applied so that only the triggering packet is logged and not every packet thereafter which matches the ‘keep state’ information.
SELECTION
The keywords described in this section are used to describe attributes of the packet to be interrogated when determining whether rules match or don't match. There is a keyword subject, and it has sub-option keywords, one of which has to be selected. The following general-purpose attributes are provided for matching and must be used in this order:
proto value Proto is the subject keyword; it must be coded along with one of it’s corresponding keyword sub-option values. The value allows a specific protocol to be matched against it. This option is a mandatory requirement for the modernized rules processing logic.
Valid sub-option value keywords are:
tcp/udp | udp | tcp | icmp or any protocol names found in /etc/protocols are recognized and may be used. The special protocol keyword tcp/udp may be used to match either a TCP or a UDP packet, and has been added as a convenience to save duplication of otherwise identical rules.
source/destination IP =
all keyword is essentially a synonym for "from any to any" with no other match parameters.
from src to dst The from and to keywords are used to match against IP addresses. Rules must specify BOTH source and destination parameters. ‘any’ is a special keyword that matches any IP address. As in "from any to any" or
"from 0.0.0.0/0 to any" or "from any to 0.0.0.0/0 " or
"from 0.0.0.0 to any" or "from any to 0.0.0.0 "
IP addresses may be specified as a dotted IP address numeric form/mask-length, or as a single dotted IP address numeric form.
There isn't a way to match ranges of IP addresses which do not express themselves easily as mask-length. See this link for help on writing mask-length. http://jodies.de/ipcalc
port If a port match is included, for either or both of the source and destination, then it is only applied to TCP and UDP packets. When composing port comparisons, either the service name from /etc/services or an integer port number may be used. When the port appears as part of the from object, it matches the source port number; when it appears as part of the to object, it matches the destination port number. The use of the port option with the ‘to’ object is a mandatory requirement for the modernized rules processing logic.
As in ‘from any to any port = 80’
Port comparisons may be done in a number of forms, with a number of comparison operators, or port ranges may be specified.
port "=" | "!=" | "<" | ">" | "<=" | ">=" | "eq" | "ne" | "lt" | "gt" | "le" | "ge".
To specify port ranges, port "<>" | "><" .
Following the source and destination matching parameters, the following two parameters are mandatory requirements for the modernized rules processing logic.
flags is only effective for TCP filtering. The letters represents one of the possible flags that can be interrogated in the TCP packet header.
The modernized rules processing logic uses the ‘flags S’ parameter to identify the tcp session start request.
STATEFUL
keep state indicates that on a pass rule, any packets that match the rules selection parameters are to activate the stateful filtering facility.
This option is a mandatory requirement for the modernized rules processing logic.
Stateful Filtering
Stateful filtering treats traffic as a bi-directional exchange of packets comprising a session conversation. When activated keep-state dynamically generates internal rules for each anticipated packet being exchanged during the bi-directional session conversation. It has the interrogation abilities to determine if the session conversation between the originating sender and the destination are following the valid procedure of bi-directional packet exchange. Any packets that do not properly fit the session conversation template are automatically rejected as impostors.
Keep state will also allow ICMP packets related to a TCP or UDP session through. So if you get ICMP type 3 code 4 in response to some web surfing allowed out by a keep state rule, they will be automatically allowed in. Any packet that IPF can be certain is part of an active session, even if it's a different protocol, will be let in.
What happens is:
Packets destined to go out through the NIC connected to the public Internet are first checked against the dynamic state table. If the packet matches the next expected packet of that active session conversation, then it exits the firewall and the state of the session conversation flow is updated in the dynamic state table. The remaining packets get checked against the outbound rule set.
Packets coming in through the NIC connected to the public Internet are first checked against the dynamic state table. If the packet matches the next expected packet of that active session conversation, then it exits the firewall and the state of the session conversation flow is updated in the dynamic state table. The remaining packets get checked against the inbound rule set.
When the conversation completes, it's removed from the dynamic state table.
Stateful filtering allows you to focus on blocking/passing new sessions. If the new session is passed, all its subsequent packets will be allowed through automatically and any impostors automatically rejected. If a new session is blocked, none of its subsequent packets will be allowed through. Stateful filtering has technically advanced interrogation abilities capable of defending against the flood of different attack methods currently employed by attackers.
Inclusive Rule set Example
The following rule set is an example of how to code a very secure inclusive type of firewall. An inclusive firewall only allows services matching pass rules through and blocks all others by default. All firewalls have at the minimum two interfaces which have to have rules to allow the firewall to function.
All Unix flavored systems including FBSD are designed to use interface lo0 and IP address 127.0.0.1 for internal communication within the FBSD operating system. The firewall rules must contain rules to allow free, unmolested movement of these special internally used packets.
The interface which faces the public Internet is the one which you code your rules to authorize and control access out to the public Internet and access requests arriving from the public Internet. This can be your ‘user ppp’ tun0 interface or your NIC that is cabled to your DSL or cable modem.
In cases where one or more NIC's are cabled to private LANs (local area networks) behind the firewall, those interfaces must have a rule coded to allow free, unmolested movement of packets originating from those LAN interfaces.
The rules should be first organized into three major sections; all the free and unmolested interfaces, public interface outbound, and the public interface inbound.
The order of the rules in each of the public interface sections should be in order of the most used rules being placed before less often used rules with the last rule in the section being a block log all packets on that interface and direction.
The outbound section in the following rule set only contains ‘pass’ rules which contain selection values that uniquely identify the service that is authorized for public Internet access. All the rules have the ‘quick’, ‘on’, proto, port, and keep state option coded. The ‘proto tcp’ rules have the ‘flag’ option included to identify the session start request as the triggering packet to activate the stateful facility.
The inbound section has all the blocking of undesirable packets first for two different reasons. First, these things being blocked may be part of an otherwise valid packet which may be allowed in by the later authorized service rules. Second, by having a rule that explicitly blocks selected packets that I receive on an infrequent bases and don’t want to see in the log, this keeps them from being caught by the last rule in the section which blocks and logs all packets which have fallen through the rules. The last rule in the section which blocks and logs all packets is how you create the legal evidence needed to prosecute the people who are attacking your system.
Another thing you should take note of is there is no response returned for any of the undesirable stuff; their packets just get dropped and vanish. This way the attackers have no knowledge if their packets have reached your system. The less the attackers can learn about your system the more secure it is. For the inbound 'nmap OS fingerprint' attempts rule I log the first occurrence, because this is something an attacker would do.
Any time you see log messages on a rule with ‘log first’ you should do an ipfstat –h command to see the number of times the rule has been matched so you know if you are being flooded, (IE: under attack).
When you log packets with port numbers you do not recognize, go to http://www.securitystats.com/tools/portsearch.php and do a port number lookup to find what the purpose of that port number is.
Check out this link for port numbers used by Trojans http://www.simovits.com/trojans/trojans.html
The following rule set is a complete, very secure ‘inclusive’ type of firewall rule set that I have used on my system. You cannot go wrong using this rule set for your own. Just comment out any pass rules for services to don’t want to authorize.
If you see messages in your log that you want to stop seeing just add a block rule in the inbound section.
You have to change the ‘dc0’ interface name in every rule to the interface name of the NIC that connects your system to the public Internet. For ‘user ppp’ it would be ‘tun0’.
Add the following statements to /etc/ipf.rules
################################################################# # No restrictions on Inside LAN Interface for private network # Not needed unless you have LAN ################################################################# #pass out quick on xl0 all #pass in quick on xl0 all ################################################################# # No restrictions on Loopback Interface ################################################################# pass in quick on lo0 all pass out quick on lo0 all ################################################################# # Interface facing Public Internet (Outbound Section) # Interrogate session start requests originating from behind the # firewall on the private network # or from this gateway server destined for the public Internet. ################################################################# # Allow out access to my ISP's Domain name server. # xxx must be the IP address of your ISP’s DNS. # Dup these lines if your ISP has more than one DNS server # Get the IP addresses from /etc/resolv.conf file pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to xxx port = 53 flags S keep state pass out quick on dc0 proto udp from any to xxx port = 53 keep state # Allow out access to my ISP's DHCP server for cable or DSL networks. # This rule is not needed for ‘user ppp’ type connection to the # public Internet, so you can delete this whole group. # Use the following rule and check log for IP address. # Then put IP address in commented out rule & delete first rule pass out log quick on dc0 proto udp from any to any port = 67 keep state #pass out quick on dc0 proto udp from any to z.z.z.z port = 67 keep state # Allow out non-secure standard www function pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 80 flags S keep state # Allow out secure www function https over TLS SSL pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 443 flags S keep state # Allow out send & get email function pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 110 flags S keep state pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 25 flags S keep state # Allow out Time pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 37 flags S keep state # Allow out nntp news pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 119 flags S keep state # Allow out gateway & LAN users non-secure FTP ( both passive & active modes) # This function uses the IPNAT built in FTP proxy function coded in # the NAT rules file to make this single rule function correctly. # If you want to use the pkg_add command to install application packages # on your gateway system you need this rule. pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 21 flags S keep state # Allow out secure FTP, Telnet, and SCP # This function is using SSH (secure shell) pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 22 flags S keep state # Allow out non-secure Telnet pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 23 flags S keep state # Allow out FBSD CVSUP function pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 5999 flags S keep state # Allow out ping to public Internet pass out quick on dc0 proto icmp from any to any icmp-type 8 keep state # Allow out whois for LAN PC to public Internet pass out quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 43 flags S keep state # Block and log only the first occurrence of everything # else that’s trying to get out. # This rule enforces the block all by default logic. block out log first quick on dc0 all ################################################################# # Interface facing Public Internet (Inbound Section) # Interrogate packets originating from the public Internet # destined for this gateway server or the private network. ################################################################# # Block all inbound traffic from non-routable or reserved address spaces block in quick on dc0 from 192.168.0.0/16 to any #RFC 1918 private IP block in quick on dc0 from 172.16.0.0/12 to any #RFC 1918 private IP block in quick on dc0 from 10.0.0.0/8 to any #RFC 1918 private IP block in quick on dc0 from 127.0.0.0/8 to any #loopback block in quick on dc0 from 0.0.0.0/8 to any #loopback block in quick on dc0 from 169.254.0.0/16 to any #DHCP auto-config block in quick on dc0 from 192.0.2.0/24 to any #reserved for doc's block in quick on dc0 from 204.152.64.0/23 to any #Sun cluster interconnect block in quick on dc0 from 224.0.0.0/3 to any #Class D & E multicast ##### Block a bunch of different nasty things. ############ # That I don’t want to see in the log # Block frags block in quick on dc0 all with frags # Block short tcp packets block in quick on dc0 proto tcp all with short # block source routed packets block in quick on dc0 all with opt lsrr block in quick on dc0 all with opt ssrr # Block nmap OS fingerprint attempts # Log first occurrence of these so I can get their IP address block in log first quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any flags FUP # Block anything with special options block in quick on dc0 all with ipopts # Block public pings block in quick on dc0 proto icmp all icmp-type 8 # Block ident block in quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 113 # Block all Netbios service. 137=name, 138=datagram, 139=session # Netbios is MS/Windows sharing services. # Block MS/Windows hosts2 name server requests 81 block in log first quick on dc0 proto tcp/udp from any to any port = 137 block in log first quick on dc0 proto tcp/udp from any to any port = 138 block in log first quick on dc0 proto tcp/udp from any to any port = 139 block in log first quick on dc0 proto tcp/udp from any to any port = 81 # Allow traffic in from ISP's DHCP server. This rule must contain # the IP address of your ISP’s DHCP server as it’s the only # authorized source to send this packet type. Only necessary for # cable or DSL configurations. This rule is not needed for # ‘user ppp’ type connection to the public Internet. # This is the same IP address you captured and # used in the outbound section. pass in quick on dc0 proto udp from z.z.z.z to any port = 68 keep state # Allow in standard www function because I have apache server pass in quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 80 flags S keep state # Allow in non-secure Telnet session from public Internet # labeled non-secure because ID/PW passed over public Internet as clear text. # Delete this sample group if you do not have telnet server enabled. #pass in quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 23 flags S keep state # Allow in secure FTP, Telnet, and SCP from public Internet # This function is using SSH (secure shell) pass in quick on dc0 proto tcp from any to any port = 22 flags S keep state # Block and log only first occurrence of all remaining traffic # coming into the firewall. The logging of only the first # occurrence stops a ‘denial of service’ attack targeted # at filling up your log file space. # This rule enforces the block all by default logic. block in log first quick on dc0 all ################### End of rules file #################################
NAT Explanation
NAT stands for Network Address Translation. To those familiar with Linux, this concept is called IP Masquerading; NAT and IP Masquerading are the same thing. One of the many things the IPF NAT function enables is the ability to have a private local area network (LAN) behind the firewall sharing a single ISP assigned IP address to the public Internet.
You ask why would someone want to do this. ISP’s normally assign a dynamic IP address to their non-commercial users. Dynamic means the IP address can be different each time you dial in and logon to your ISP, or for cable and DSL modem users when you power off and then power on your modems you can get assigned a different IP address. This IP address is how you are known to the public Internet.
Now lets say you have 5 PC’s at home and each one needs Internet access. You would have to pay your ISP for an individual Internet account for each PC and have 5 phone lines.
With NAT you only need a single account with your ISP, then cable your other 4 PC’s to a switch and the switch to the NIC in your FBSD system which is going to service your LAN as a gateway. NAT will automatically translate the private LAN IP address for each separate PC on the LAN to the single public IP address as it exits the firewall bound for the public Internet. It also does the reverse translation for returning packets.
NAT is most often accomplished without the approval, or knowledge, of your ISP, and in most cases is grounds for your ISP terminating your account if found out. Commercial users pay a lot more for their Internet connection and usually get assigned a block of static IP addresses which never change. The ISP also expects and consents to their commercial customers using NAT for their internal private LANs.
There is a special range of IP addresses reserved for NATed private LAN IP addresses.
According to RFC 1918, you can use the following IP ranges for private nets which will never be routed directly to the public Internet.
Start IP 10.0.0.0 - Ending IP 10.255.255.255 Start IP 172.16.0.0 - Ending IP 172.31.255.255 Start IP 192.168.0.0 - Ending IP 192.168.255.255
IPNAT Command
NAT rules are loaded by using the ipnat command. Typically the NAT rules are stored in /etc/ipnat.rules. See man ipnat(1) for details.
When changing the NAT rules after NAT has been started, make your changes to the file containing the NAT rules, then run the ipnat command with the –CF flags to delete the internal in use NAT rules and flush the contents of the translation table of all active entries.
ipnat –CF –f /etc/ipnat.rules # reload the NAT rules ipnat -s # Retrieve and display NAT statistics ipnat -l # List the internal NAT table entry mappings. ipnat -v # Turn verbose mode on to display information relating to rule processing and active rules/table entries.
NAT Rules
NAT rules are very flexible and can accomplish many different things to fit the needs of non-commercial users with a single dynamic IP address or commercial users who have blocks of static IP address ranges assigned to them.
The rule syntax presented here has been simplified to what is most commonly used in a non-commercial environment. For a complete rule syntax description see the man ipnat page at ipnat(5) or ipnat(8).
# is used to mark the start of a comment and may appear at the end of a rule line or on its own line. Blank lines are ignored.
Rules contain keywords. These keywords have to be coded in a specific order from left to right on the line.
These special aliases |0.32|, |0/0| and |0/32|, only work in IPNAT's map and bimap rules. They do NOT work in IPF rules, or in IPNAT rdr rules. Beware how and where you use these special aliases as incorrect usage generates no errors.
For standard NAT functionality, you only need a single NAT rule.
Create a file called /etc/ipnat.rules with the following line:
map dc0 10.0.10.1/29 -> 0.32
map = The keyword map starts the rule.
dc0 = The interface name of the interface facing the public Internet.
10.0.10.1/29 = The IP address range of the private LAN.
-> = Mandatory arrow symbol.
0.32 = The IP address/netmask assigned by your ISP.
The special alias keyword 0.32 tells ipnat to get the current public
IP address of the interface specified on this statement and
substitute it for the 0.32 keyword.
How NAT works
A packet leaves a LAN PC for the public internet carring it's private LAN source IP address and public destination IP address. It passes through the outbound firewall rules and NAT gets it's turn at the packet and applies its rules top down; the first matching rule wins. NAT tests each of its rules against the packet's interface name and source IP address. When a packet's interface name matches a NAT rule then the source IP address (IE: private LAN IP address) of the packet is checked to see if it falls within the IP address range specified to the left of the arrow symbol on the NAT rule. On a match the packet has its source IP address rewritten with the public IP address obtained by the 0.32 keyword. NAT posts an entry in its internal NAT table so when the packet returns from the public Internet it can be mapped back to its original private IP address and then passed to the filter rules for processing.
The main thing to remember is the firewall rules only sees the non-public routable private LAN IP address. The NAT function happens after the outbound packet has been processed by the firewall and before the inbound packet gets to the firewall.
Enabling NAT
To enable the IPNAT function add these statements to /etc/rc.conf
gateway_enable="YES" # Enable as LAN gateway ipnat_enable="YES" # Start ipnat function ipnat_rules="/etc/ipnat.rules" # ipnat rules definition file
NAT for very large LAN
For networks that have large numbers of PC's on the LAN or networks with more that a single LAN, the process of funneling all those private IP addresses into a single public IP address becomes a resource problem that may cause problems with same port numbers being used many times across many NATd LAN PC's causing collisions. There are 2 ways to relieve this resource problem.
1. Mapping many LAN addresses into a single public address.
map dc0 10.0.10.1/29 -> 0.32
In the above rule the packet's source port is unchanged from the original source port. IPNAT has the special keyword "portmap" that changes the above rule into
map dc0 10.0.10.1/29 -> 0.32 portmap tcp/udp 20000:6000
This rule now shoehorns all the translated connections (which can be tcp, udp, or tcp/udp) into the port range of 20000 to 60000.
Additionally, we can make things even easier by using the "auto" keyword to tell ipnat to determine for itself which ports are available for use and allocate a proportional amount of them per address in your pool versus addresses being NATed:
map dc0 10.0.10.1/29 -> 0.32 portmap tcp/udp auto
2. Mapping many LAN addresses into a pool of static public addresses.
In large LANs there comes a point where there are just too many LAN addresses to fit into a single public IP address. Change the map rule to specify a range of public IP addresses as follows:
map dc0 10.0.10.1/29 -> 20.20.20.0/24 portmap tcp/udp 20000:60000
map dc0 10.0.10.1/29 -> 20.20.20.0/24 portmap tcp/udp auto
Here 20.20.20.0/24 is the pool of static public IP addresses assigned to you by your ISP.
Directing traffic to LAN servers
An very common practice is to have a web server, email server, database server or domain name server each segregated to a different PC on the LAN. Any traffic originating from those servers destine for the public internet would pass out the firewall on keep state rules automatically controlling the bidirectional exchange of packets for the duration of the session conversation. Due to the nature of these servers they also need to receive unsolicited inbound traffic from the public internet. The problem is how to direct this unsolicited inbound traffic to the correct target PC on the LAN?
For this purpose we use the NAT 'rdr' directive in the /etc/ipnat.rules file to instruct where to redirect (or route) a particular packet to on the NAT'ed LAN.
For example, lets say your web server resides on the LAN and you want it to be accessible from the public internet. The NAT rules file would need a additional rule added after the MAP rules to handle this. You would code the rule like this:
rdr xl0 0.0.0.0/0 port 80 -> 10.0.10.5 port 80
"rdr" = the command which provides the selection information and target redirect information.
"xl0" = is the network interface that is connected to the public internet.
"0.0.0.0/0" = is a special aliases which means any source IP address contained in the inbound packet traveling the interface is to be selected for testing. The other special aliases |0.32|, |0/0| and |0/32|, only work in IPNAT's map and bimap rules. They do NOT work in IPF rules, or in IPNAT rdr rules and 0.0.0.0/0 only works in rdr rules. Beware how and where you use these special aliases as incorrect usage generates no errors.
"port 80" = is the destination port number that has to be matched in the inbound packet to select the candidate packet to be redirected. The number "80" don't have to be used. You can use "port www" to specify a redirection of port 80. If you would like to use a name instead of a number, the service name and corresponding port, must exist in the file /etc/services.
"->" = Mandatory arrow symbol used to distinguish between the rule selection information side and the redirect information side of the rule.
"10.0.10.5" = the IP address of the LAN PC which the matched packets are to be targeted to. The netmask defaults to "/32" and therefore should not be coded.
"port 80" - this is the port number value to substitute in the destination port number of the redirected packet. You could make it 8088 and tell the web server on 10.0.10.5 to listen on that port number. If omitted the destination port number goes unchanged.
The above IPNAT redirect rule says that any inbound packet that has not already had it's destination IP address translated by earlier MAP rules will then have it's destination port tested for match to the port number on the left of the mandatory arrow symbol, if matched, the packet's destination IP address and port number are over written with the values on the right of the mandatory arrow symbol and then released for processing against the firewall rules. NAT then posts an entry in its internal NAT table so when the packet returns after first being processed by the firewall rules on it's outbound journey it can have it's private LAN IP address mapped back to your gateway's public routable IP address. After reloading the NAT rules, the redirection will start immediately.
Depending on how tightly or loosely you control the services by firewall rules the redirected packet may require a firewall rule to let it pass. Such as this for the above example:
pass in quick on xl0 proto tcp from any to 10.0.10.5 port = 80 flags S keep state
The main thing to remember is the firewall rules only sees the non-public routable private LAN IP address. The NAT function happens after the outbound packet has been processed by the firewall and before the inbound packet gets to the firewall.
FTP Special NAT Handling
FTP is a dinosaur left over from the time before the Internet, when research universities were connected with leased lines and FTP was used to share files among research scientists. This was a time when data security was not even an idea yet. Over the years the FTP protocol became buried into the backbone of the emerging Internet and its login ID & PW being sent in clear text was never changed to address new security concerns. FTP has two flavors: it can run in active mode or passive mode. The difference is in how the data channel is acquired. Passive mode is more secure as the data channel is acquired be the ordinal FTP session requester. For a real good explanation of FTP and its different modes read http://www.slacksite.com/other/ftp.html
NAT has a special built in FTP proxy option which can be specified on the NAT map rule. It can monitor all outbound packet traffic for active or passive FTP start session requests and dynamically create temporary filter rules containing only the port number really in use for the data channel. This eliminates the security risk FTP normally exposes the firewall to from having large ranges of high order port numbers open. You specify the map rule like this:
map dc0 10.0.10.0/29 -> 0/32 proxy port 21 ftp/tcp map dc0 0.0.0.0/0 -> 0/32 proxy port 21 ftp/tcp map dc0 10.0.10.0/29 -> 0/32
The first rule handles all FTP traffic for the private LAN. The second rule handles all FTP traffic from the gateway. The third rule handles all non-FTP traffic for the private LAN. All the non-FTP gateway traffic is using the public IP address by default so there is no ipnat rule needed.
The FTP map rule goes before our regular map rule. All packets are tested against the first rule from the top. First, it matches on interface name, then private LAN source IP address, and then if it's an FTP packet. If all that matches then the special FTP proxy creates temporary filter rules to let the FTP session packets pass in and out in addition to also NATing the FTP packets. ALL LAN packets that are not FTP do not match the first rule and fall through to the third rule and are tested, matching on interface and source IP, then get NATed.
FTP Filter rules
Only one filter rule is needed for FTP if NAT FTP proxy is used
# Allow out LAN PC client FTP to public Internet # Active and passive modes. pass out quick on rl0 proto tcp from any to any port = 21 flags S keep state
Three Filter rules are needed for FTP if no NAT FTP proxy is used
# Allow out LAN PC client FTP to public Internet # Active and passive modes. pass out quick on rl0 proto tcp from any to any port = 21 flags S keep state # Allow out passive mode data channel high order port numbers pass out quick on rl0 proto tcp from any to any port > 1024 flags S keep state # Active mode let data channel in from FTP server pass in quick on rl0 proto tcp from any to any port = 20 flags S keep state
