| .TH IP\ FILTER 4 |
| .SH NAME |
| ipfilter \- Introduction to IP packet filtering |
| .SH DESCRIPTION |
| IP Filter is a TCP/IP packet filter, suitable for use in a firewall |
| environment. To use, it can either be used as a loadable kernel module or |
| incorporated into your UNIX kernel; use as a loadable kernel module where |
| possible is highly recommended. Scripts are provided to install and patch |
| system files, as required. |
| .SH FEATURES |
| The IP packet filter can: |
| .IP |
| explicitly deny/permit any packet from passing through |
| .IP |
| distinguish between various interfaces |
| .IP |
| filter by IP networks or hosts |
| .IP |
| selectively filter any IP protocol |
| .IP |
| selectively filter fragmented IP packets |
| .IP |
| selectively filter packets with IP options |
| .IP |
| send back an ICMP error/TCP reset for blocked packets |
| .IP |
| keep packet state information for TCP, UDP and ICMP packet flows |
| .IP |
| keep fragment state information for any IP packet, applying the same rule |
| to all fragments. |
| .IP |
| act as a Network Address Translator (NAT) |
| .IP |
| use redirection to setup true transparent proxy connections |
| .IP |
| provide packet header details to a user program for authentication |
| .IP |
| in addition, supports temporary storage of pre-authenticated rules for passing packets through |
| .PP |
| Special provision is made for the three most common Internet protocols, TCP, |
| UDP and ICMP. The IP Packet filter allows filtering of: |
| .IP |
| Inverted host/net matchingTCP/UDP packets by port number or a port number |
| range |
| .IP |
| ICMP packets by type/code |
| .IP |
| "established" TCP packets |
| .IP |
| On any arbitrary combination of TCP flags |
| .IP |
| "short" (fragmented) IP packets with incomplete headers can be filtered |
| .IP |
| any of the 19 IP options or 8 registered IP security classes TOS (Type of |
| Service) field in packets |
| .PP |
| To keep track of the performance of the IP packet filter, a logging device |
| is used which supports logging of: |
| .IP |
| the TCP/UDP/ICMP and IP packet headers |
| .IP |
| the first 128 bytes of the packet (including headers) |
| .PP |
| A packet can be logged when: |
| .IP |
| it is successfully passed through |
| .IP |
| it is blocked from passing through |
| .IP |
| it matches a rule setup to look for suspicious packets |
| .PP |
| IP Filter keeps its own set of statistics on: |
| .IP |
| packets blocked |
| .IP |
| packets (and bytes!) used for accounting |
| .IP |
| packets passed |
| .lP |
| packets logged |
| .IP |
| attempts to log which failed (buffer full) |
| .IP |
| and much more, for packets going both in and out. |
| |
| .SH Tools |
| The current implementation provides a small set of tools, which can easily |
| be used and integrated with regular unix shells and tools. A brief description |
| of the tools provided: |
| .PP |
| ipf(8) |
| reads in a set of rules, from either stdin or a file, and adds them to |
| the kernels current list (appending them). It can also be used to flush the |
| current filter set or delete individual filter rules. The file format is |
| described in ipf(5). |
| .PP |
| ipfs(8) |
| is a utility to temporarily lock the IP Filter kernel tables (state tables |
| and NAT mappings) and write them to disk. After that the system can be |
| rebooted, and ipfs can be used to read these tables from disk and restore |
| them into the kernel. This way the system can be rebooted without the |
| connections being terminated. |
| .PP |
| ipfstat(8) |
| interrogates the kernel for statistics on packet filtering, so |
| far, and retrieves the list of filters in operation for inbound and outbound |
| packets. |
| .PP |
| ipftest(1) |
| reads in a filter rule file and then applies sample IP packets to |
| the rule file. This allows for testing of filter list and examination of how |
| a packet is passed along through it. |
| .PP |
| ipmon(8) |
| reads buffered data from the logging device (default is /dev/ipl) |
| for output to either: |
| .IP |
| screen (standard output) |
| .IP |
| file |
| .IP |
| syslog |
| .PP |
| ipsend(1) |
| generates arbitary IP packets for ethernet connected machines. |
| .PP |
| ipresend(1) |
| reads in a data file of saved IP packets (ie |
| snoop/tcpdump/etherfind output) and sends it back across the network. |
| .PP |
| iptest(1) |
| contains a set of test "programs" which send out a series of IP |
| packets, aimed at testing the strength of the TCP/IP stack at which it is |
| aimed at. WARNING: this may crash machine(s) targeted! |
| .PP |
| ipnat(8) |
| reads in a set of rules, from either stdin or a file and adds them |
| to the kernels current list of active NAT rules. NAT rules can also be |
| deleted using ipnat. The format of the configuration file to be used |
| with ipnat is described in ipnat(5). |
| .PP |
| For use in your own programs (e.g. for writing of transparent application |
| proxies), the programming interface and the associated ioctl's are |
| documented in ipf(4). |
| |
| Documentation on ioctl's and the format of data saved |
| to the logging character device is provided in ipl(4) |
| so that you may develop your own applications to work with or in place of any |
| of the above. |
| |
| Similar, the interface to the NAT code is documented in ipnat(4). |
| |
| .SH PACKET PROCESSING FLOW |
| The following diagram illustrates the flow of TCP/IP packets through the |
| various stages introduced by IP Filter. |
| .PP |
| .nf |
| IN |
| | |
| V |
| +-------------------------+--------------------------+ |
| | | | |
| | V | |
| | Network Address Translation | |
| | | | |
| | authenticated | | |
| | +-------<---------+ | |
| | | | | |
| | | V | |
| | V IP Accounting | |
| | | | | |
| | | V | |
| | | Fragment Cache Check--+ | |
| | | | | | |
| | V V V | |
| | | Packet State Check-->+ | |
| | | | | | |
| | | +->--+ | | | |
| | | | | V | | |
| | V groups IP Filtering V | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | +--<-+ | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | +---------------->|<-----------+ | |
| | | | |
| | V | |
| | +---<----+ | |
| | | | | |
| | function | | |
| | | V | |
| | +--->----+ | |
| | | | |
| | V | |
| +--|---<--- fast-route ---<--+ | |
| | | | | |
| | | V | |
| | +-------------------------+--------------------------+ |
| | | |
| | pass only |
| | | |
| | V |
| V [KERNEL TCP/IP Processing] |
| | | |
| | +-------------------------+--------------------------+ |
| | | | | |
| | | V | |
| | | Fragment Cache Check--+ | |
| | | | | | |
| | | V V | |
| | | Packet State Check-->+ | |
| | | | | | |
| | | V | | |
| V | IP Filtering | | |
| | | | V | |
| | | |<-----------+ | |
| | | V | |
| | | IP Accounting | |
| | | | | |
| | | V | |
| | | Network Address Translation | |
| | | | | |
| | | V | |
| | +-------------------------+--------------------------+ |
| | | |
| | pass only |
| V | |
| +--------------------------->| |
| V |
| OUT |
| .fi |
| |
| .SH MORE INFORMATION |
| More information (including pointers to the FAQ and the mailing list) can be |
| obtained from the sofware's official homepage: www.ipfilter.org |
| |
| .SH SEE ALSO |
| ipf(4), ipf(5), ipf(8), ipfilter(5), ipfs(8), ipfstat(8), ipftest(1), |
| ipl(4), ipmon(8), ipnat(8), ipnat(4), |
| |