--- name: "ipfw_adm" section: "4" platform: "linux" package: "ipfwadm" version: "2.3.0-4" release: "Debian 3.1 (Sarge)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/ipfw_adm" --- # ipfw\_adm(4) IP firewall and accounting ## NAME ipfw - IP firewall and accounting ## SYNOPSIS **#include \**\ **#include \**\ **#include \**\ **#include \**\ **#include \**\ **#include \**\ **#include \**\ **#include \**\ **#include \** **int setsockopt (int** *socket***, IPPROTO\_IP, int** *command***, void \****data***, int** *length***)** ## DESCRIPTION The IP firewall and accounting facilities in the Linux kernel provide mechanisms for accounting IP packets, for building firewalls based on packet-level filtering, for building firewalls using transparent proxy servers (by redirecting packets to local sockets), and for masquerading forwarded packets. The administration of these functions is maintained in the kernel as 4 separate lists, each containing zero or more rules. Each rule contains specific information about source and destination addresses, protocols, port numbers, and some other characteristics. A packet will match with a rule when the characteristics of the rule match those of the IP packet. The 4 categories of rules are: - Accounting The accounting rules are used for all IP packets that are sent or received via one of the local network interfaces. Every packet will be compared with all rules in this list, and every match will cause an increment of the packet and byte counters associated with that rule. - Input firewall These rules regulate the acceptance of incoming IP packets. All packets coming in via one of the local network interfaces are checked against the input firewall rules. The first rule that matches with a packet determines the policy to use and will also cause the rule's packet en byte counters being adapted. When no matching rule is found, the default policy for the input firewall is used. - Output firewall These rules define the permissions for sending IP packets. All packets that are ready to be be sent via one of the local network interfaces are checked against the output firewall rules. The first rule that matches with a packet determines the policy to use and will also cause the rule's packet and byte counters being adapted. When no matching rule is found, the default policy for the output firewall is used. - Forwarding firewall These rules define the permissions for forwarding IP packets. All packets sent by a remote host having another remote host as destination are checked against the forwarding firewall rules. The first rule that matches with a packet determines the policy to use and will also cause the rule's packet and byte counters being adapted. When no matching rule is found, the default policy for the forwarding firewall is used. Each of the firewall rules (not the accounting rules) contains a policy, which specifies what action has to be taken when a packet matches with the rule. There are 3 different policies possible: *accept* (let the packet pass the firewall), *reject* (do not accept the packet and send an ICMP host unreachable message back to the sender as notification), and *deny* (ignore the packet without sending any notification). For all 3 types of firewalls there also exists a default policy, which applies to all packets for which none of the rules match. The input rules also define whether or not packets should be redirected to a local socket after being accepted by the input firewall. In this case, the packet will be received by a local process, even if it was sent to another host and/or another port number. This function only applies to TCP or UDP packets. The forwarding rules also define whether or not packets should be masqueraded when being forwarded. In that case, the sender address in the IP packets is replaced by the address of the local host and the source port in the TCP or UDP header is replaced by a locally generated (temporary) port number before being forwarded. Because this administration is kept in the kernel, reverse packets (sent to the temporary port number on the local host) are recognized automatically. The destination address and port number of these packets will be replaced by the original address and port number that was saved when the first packet was masqueraded. This function only applies to TCP or UDP packets. This paragraph describes the way a packet goes through the firewall and accounting rules. Packets received via one of the local network interface will pass the following sets of rules: *accounting* (incoming device)\ *input firewall* (incoming device) Here, the device (network interface) that is used when trying to match a rule with an IP packet is listed between brackets. After this step, a packet will optionally be redirected to a local socket. When a packet has to be forwarded to a remote host, it will also pass the next set of rules: *forwarding firewall* (outgoing device) After this step, a packet will optionally be masqueraded. Responses to masqueraded packets will never pass the forwarding firewall (but they will pass both the input and output firewalls). All packets sent via one of the local network interfaces, either locally generated or being forwarded, will pass the following sets of rules: *output firewall* (outgoing device)\ *accounting* (outgoing device) Note that masqueraded packets will pass the output firewall and accounting rules with the new packet headers (after passing the input and forwarding firewall with the original headers). Also, responses to masqueraded packets will have different headers when passing the input and output firewall rules. The firewall and accounting administration can be changed via calls to [*setsockopt*(2)](/setsockopt/2.md). The existing rules can be inspected by looking at 4 files in the */proc/net* directory: *ip\_acct*, *ip\_input*, *ip\_output*, and *ip\_forward*. The current administration related to masqueraded sessions can be found in the file *ip\_masquerade* in the same directory (note that the rules specifying which sessions should be masqueraded are in *ip\_forward*). ## COMMANDS Commands for changing the lists of rules or the default policies have to be given as options to the [*setsockopt*(2)](/setsockopt/2.md) system call, working on a raw IP socket. Most commands require some additional data to be passed. A pointer to this data and the length of the data are passed as option value and option length arguments to *setsockopt*. The following commands are available: **IP\_ACCT\_APPEND**\ **IP\_FW\_APPEND\_IN**\ **IP\_FW\_APPEND\_OUT**\ **IP\_FW\_APPEND\_FWD** Add a rule to one of the accounting or firewall lists. Depending on the command, the rule is added to the list for accounting, input firewall, output firewall, or forwarding firewall, respectively. The new rule rule is appended to the end of the list. The data passed with this command is an *ip\_fw* structure, defining the contents of the new rule. **IP\_ACCT\_INSERT**\ **IP\_FW\_INSERT\_IN**\ **IP\_FW\_INSERT\_OUT**\ **IP\_FW\_INSERT\_FWD** These commands are equal to the append commands, except that the new rule is inserted at the beginning of the list. **IP\_ACCT\_DELETE**\ **IP\_FW\_DELETE\_IN**\ **IP\_FW\_DELETE\_OUT**\ **IP\_FW\_DELETE\_FWD** Remove a rule from one of the accounting or firewall lists. Depending on the command, the rule will be removed from the list for accounting, input firewall, output firewall, or forwarding firewall, repectively. The data passed with this command is an *ip\_fw* structure, defining the contents of the rule to be removed. The first rule conforming to the given definition is removed from the list. **IP\_ACCT\_ZERO**\ **IP\_FW\_ZERO\_IN**\ **IP\_FW\_ZERO\_OUT**\ **IP\_FW\_ZERO\_FWD** Reset the packet and byte counters in all rules of the list for accounting, input firewall, output firewall, or forwarding firewall, repectively. Note that a (dummy) integer has to be passed as data with this command. See also the description of the */proc/net* files for a way to atomically list and reset the counters. **IP\_ACCT\_FLUSH**\ **IP\_FW\_FLUSH\_IN**\ **IP\_FW\_FLUSH\_OUT**\ **IP\_FW\_FLUSH\_FWD** Remove all rules from the list for accounting, input firewall, output firewall, or forwarding firewall, repectively. Note that a (dummy) integer has to be passed as data with this command. **IP\_FW\_POLICY\_IN**\ **IP\_FW\_POLICY\_OUT**\ **IP\_FW\_POLICY\_FWD** Change the default policy for the input firewall, output firewall, or the forwarding firewall. The new policy is passed as integer data with the following possible values: **IP\_FW\_F\_ACCEPT** (accept a packet), **IP\_FW\_F\_ICMPRPL** (reject a packet by sending an ICMP host unreachable message back to the sender), or 0 (deny a packet, without any further notification). The policy is used when none of the available firewall rules in the appropriate list matches the packet being screened. For the forwarding firewall, the given policy may also be **IP\_FW\_F\_ACCEPT \| IP\_FW\_F\_MASQ** (accept a packet to be forwarded, but also use masquerading for TCP and UDP packets). **IP\_FW\_MASQ\_TIMEOUTS** Set the timeout values used for masquerading. The data passed with this command is a structure containing 3 fields of type *int*, representing the timeout values (in jiffies, 1/HZ second) for TCP sessions, TCP sessions after receiving a FIN packet, and UDP packets, repectively. A timeout value 0 means that the current timeout value of the corresponding entry is preserved. **IP\_FW\_CHECK\_IN**\ **IP\_FW\_CHECK\_OUT**\ **IP\_FW\_CHECK\_FWD** Check whether a packet would be accepted, denied, or rejected by the input firewall (**IP\_FW\_CHECK\_IN**), the output firewall (**IP\_FW\_CHECK\_OUT**), or the forwarding firewall (**IP\_FW\_CHECK\_FWD**). The data passed with this command is an *ip\_fwpkt* structure, defining the packet headers and the interface address. ## STRUCTURES The *ip\_fw* structure contains the following relevant fields to be filled in for adding or deleting a rule: - struct in\_addr fw\_src, fw\_dst Source and destination IP addresses. - struct in\_addr fw\_smsk, fw\_dmsk Masks for the source and destination IP addresses. Note that a mask of 0.0.0.0 will result in a match for all hosts. - struct in\_addr fw\_via IP address of the interface via which a packet is received by the system or is going to be sent by the system. The address 0.0.0.0 has a special meaning: it will match with all interface addresses. - char fw\_vianame\[IFNAMSIZ\] Name of the interface via which a packet is received by the system or is going to be sent by the system. The empty string has a special meaning: it will match with all device names. - unsigned short fw\_flg Flags for this rule. The flags for the different options can be bitwise or'ed with each other. The protocol (mandatory). Possible values are **IP\_FW\_F\_TCP** (TCP), **IP\_FW\_F\_UDP** (UDP), **IP\_FW\_F\_ICMP** (ICMP), or **IP\_FW\_F\_ALL** (all protocols, which defines a universal firewall/accounting rule). The policy to be used when a packet matches with this rule. This policy can be **IP\_FW\_F\_ACCEPT** (accept the packet), **IP\_FW\_F\_ICMPRPL** (reject the packet by sending an ICMP host unreachable message back to the sender). When none of these flags is specified, the packet is denied without any notification. Note that the policy is ignored in accounting rules. Redirection and masquerading are also defined with 2 flags. **IP\_FW\_F\_REDIR** redirects an accepted packet to a local socket (specified by a port number, see below). It is only valid in input firewall rules and can only be used when the kernel is compiled with **CONFIG\_IP\_TRANSPARENT\_PROXY** defined. **IP\_FW\_F\_MASQ** masquerades an accepted packet. It is only valid in forwarding firewall rules and can only be used when the kernel is compiled with **CONFIG\_IP\_MASQUERADE** defined. The other options are: **IP\_FW\_F\_BIDIR** (bidirectional rule, matching in both directions), **IP\_FW\_F\_TCPACK** (only matches with TCP packets when the ACK bit is set in the TCP header, ignored with other protocols), **IP\_FW\_F\_TCPSYN** (only matches with TCP packets when the SYN bit is set and the ACK bit is cleared in the TCP header, ignored with other protocols), **IP\_FW\_F\_ACCTIN** and **IP\_FW\_F\_ACCTOUT** (only match incoming or outgoing packets, respectively; these options only have effect in accounting rules), **IP\_FW\_F\_SRNG**, and **IP\_FW\_F\_DRNG** (see below for a description of these flags). The option **IP\_FW\_F\_PRN** can be used to list some information about a matching packet via *printk*(). This option will only be effective when the kernel is compiled with **CONFIG\_IP\_FIREWALL\_VERBOSE** defined. - unsigned short fw\_nsp, fw\_ndp, fw\_pts\[IP\_FW\_MAX\_PORTS\] These fields specify the number of source ports, the number of destination ports, and the array in which these ports are stored, respectively. The array starts with the source ports, directly followed by the destination ports. If the option **IP\_FW\_F\_REDIR** is used, these ports are followed by the redirection port. If this redirection port is 0, the destination port of a packet will be used as the redirection port. The total number of ports is limited to **IP\_FW\_MAX\_PORTS** (currently 10). Both the list of source and destination ports may contain at most one range. In that case, the first 2 port numbers of the list are taken as the minimum and maximum values of the range. For ICMP packets, source ports are interpreted as ICMP types and destination ports are ignored. Because the second and further fragments of a TCP or UDP packet do not contain port numbers, these IP packets are treated in accounting rules as if both port numbers are equal to 65535. For the same reason, all second and further fragments of an ICMP packet are treated in accounting rules as if the ICMP message type is 255. Furthermore, all second and further fragments of TCP, UDP, or ICMP packets will be accepted by any of the 3 firewalls. The flags **IP\_FW\_F\_SRNG** and **IP\_FW\_F\_DRNG** in the *fw\_flg* field specify whether or not a source and/or destination range is specified. - unsigned char fw\_tosand, fw\_tosxor These 8-bit masks define how the TOS field in the IP header should be changed when a packet is accepted by the firewall rule. The TOS field is first bitwise and'ed with *fw\_tosand* and the result of this will be bitwise xor'ed with *fw\_tosxor*. The fields are ignored in accounting rules or in firewall rules for rejecting or denying a packet. The *ip\_fwpkt* structure, used when checking a packet, contains the following fields: - struct iphdr fwp\_iph The IP header. See *\* for a detailed description of the *iphdr* structure. struct tcphdr fwp\_protoh.fwp\_tcph\ struct udphdr fwp\_protoh.fwp\_udph\ struct icmphdr fwp\_protoh.fwp\_icmph The TCP, UDP, or ICMP header, combined in a union named *fwp\_protoh*. See *\*, *\*, or *\* for a detailed description of the respective structures. - struct in\_addr fwp\_via The interface address via which the packet is pretended to be received or sent. ## RETURN VALUE On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned and *errno* is set appropriately. See [*setsockopt*(2)](/setsockopt/2.md) for a list of possible error values. When one of the 2 check packet commands is used, zero is returned when the packet would be accepted without redirection or masquerading. Otherwise, -1 is returned and *errno* is set to **ECONNABORTED** (packet would be accepted using redirection), **ECONNRESET** (packet would be accepted using masquerading), **ETIMEDOUT** (packet would be denied), or **ECONNREFUSED** (packet would be rejected). ## LISTING RULES In the directory */proc/net* there are 4 entries to list the currently defined rules for each of the categories: *ip\_acct* (for IP accounting rules), *ip\_input* (for IP input firewall rules), *ip\_output* (for IP output firewall rules), and *ip\_forward* (for IP forwarding firewall rules). Reading these files results in a header line and one line for each defined rule. For all 3 types of firewall, the header line includes at the end a decimal representation of the corresponding default policy (one of **IP\_FW\_F\_ACCEPT**, **IP\_FW\_F\_ICMPRPL**, and 0; the policy of the forwarding firewall may also be **IP\_FW\_F\_ACCEPT \|** **IP\_FW\_F\_MASQ**). Each following line lists the contents of a rule in the following order: source address and mask, destination address and mask, interface address, flags, number of source and destination ports, packet and byte counters, the list of ports, a TOS and-mask, and a TOS xor-mask. The IP addresses and masks are listed as 8 hexadecimal digits, the TOS masks are listed as 2 hexadecimal digits preceded by the letter A and X, repectively, and the other values are represented in decimal format. Individual fields are separated by white space, by a '/' (the address and the corresponding mask), or by "-\>" (the source and destination address/mask pairs). The files may also be opened in read/write mode (only root is allowed to do this). In that case, the packet and byte counters in all the rules of that category will be reset to zero after listing their current values. The file */proc/net/ip\_masquerade* contains the kernel administration related to masquerading. After a header line, each masqueraded session is described on a separate line with the following entries, separated by white space or by ':' (the address/port number pairs): protocol name ("TCP" or "UDP"), source IP address and port number, destination IP address and port number, the new port number, the initial sequence number for adding a delta value, the delta value, the previous delta value, and the expire time in jiffies (1/HZ second). All addresses and numeric values are in hexadecimal format, except the last 3 entries, being represented in decimal format. ## FILES */proc/net/ip\_acct*\ */proc/net/ip\_input*\ */proc/net/ip\_output*\ */proc/net/ip\_forward*\ */proc/net/ip\_masquerade* ## SEE ALSO [setsockopt(2)](/setsockopt/2.md), [socket(2)](/socket/2.md), [ipfwadm(8)](/ipfwadm/8.md)