06.10-Natd_Stateful_ Rule_Set
Description: FreeBSD Installer Guide
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# FreeBSD Stable Release 6.0 Installer Guide

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# Stateful + NATD Rule Set

There are some additional configuration statements that need to be enabled to activate the NAT function of IPFW. The kernel source needs an 'option divert' statement added to the other IPFIREWALL statements compiled into a custom kernel.

option IPFIREWALL # Adds filtering code into kernel
option IPFIREWALL_VERBOSE # enable logging thru syslogd(8)
option IPFIREWALL_VERBOSE_LIMIT=5 # stop attack via syslog flooding
option IPDIVERT # needed to use natd from IPFW

The rc.conf needs the following statements added to the already mentioned statements which are reproduced here:

firewall_enable="YES" # Start IPFW daemon
firewall_script="/etc/ipfw.rules" # use my custom rules.
filewall_logging="YES" # Enable packet logging
natd_enable="YES" # Enable NATD function
natd_interface="rl0" # interface name of public internet Nic
natd_flags="-dynamic -m" # -m = preserve port numbers if possible

Utilizing stateful rules with divert natd rules (network address translation) greatly complicates the rule set coding logic. The positioning of the check-state, and 'divert natd' rules in the rule set becomes very, very critical. This is no longer a simple fall-through logic flow. A new action type is used, called 'skipto'. To use the skipto command it is mandatory that you number each rule so you know exactly where the skipto rule number is you are really jumping to.

The following is an uncommented example of one coding method, selected here to explain the sequence of the packet flow through the rule sets.

The processing flow starts with the first rule from the top of the rule file and progress one rule at a time deeper into the file until the end is reach or the packet being tested to the selection criteria matches and the packet is released out of the firewall. It's important to take notice of the location of rule numbers 100 101, 450, 500, and 510. These rules control the translation of the outbound and inbound packets so their entries in the keep-state dynamic table always register the private Lan IP address. Next, notice that all the allow and deny rules specify the direction the packet is going (IE outbound or inbound) and the interface. Also notice that all the start outbound session requests all skipto rule 500 for the network address translation.

Lets say a LAN user uses their web browser to get a web page. Web pages use port 80 to communicate over. So when the packet enters the firewall, it does not match rule 100 because it's headed out not in. It passes rule 101 because this is the first packet so it has not been posted to the keep-state dynamic table yet. The packet finally comes to rule 125 and matches. It's outbound through the NIC facing the public Internet. The packet still has its source IP address as a private LAN IP address. On the match to this rule, two actions take place. The keep-state option will post this rule into the keep-state dynamic rules table and the specified action is executed. The action is part of the info posted to the dynamic table. In this case it's "skipto rule 500". Rule 500 NATs the packet IP address and out it goes. Remember this, this is very important. This packet makes its way to the destination and returns and enters the top of the rule set. This time it does match rule 100 and has its destination IP address mapped back to its corresponding LAN IP address. It then is processed by the check-state rule, it's found in the table as an existing session conversation and is released to the LAN. It goes to the LAN PC that sent it and a new packet is sent requesting another segment of the data from the remote server. This time it gets checked by the check-state rule and its outbound entry is found. The associated action skipto 500 is executed. The packet jumps to rule 500, gets NATed and is released to exit out the external NIC.

On the inbound side, everything coming in that is part of an existing session conversation is being automatically handled by the check-state rule and the properly placed divert natd rules. All we have to address is denying all the bad packets and only allowing in the authorized services. Lets say there is an apache server running on the firewall box and we want people on the public Internet to be able to access the local web site. The new inbound start request packet matches rule 100 and its IP address is mapped to the LAN IP address for the firewall box. The packet is then matched against all the nasty things we want to check for and finally matches against rule 420. On a match two things occur, the limit option is an extension to keep-state. The packet rule is posted to the keep-state dynamic table, but this time any new session requests originating from that same source IP address is limited to two. This defends against DoS attacks of services running on the specified port number. The action is allow so the packet is released to the LAN. On return the check-state rule recognizes the packet as belonging to an existing session conversation, sends it to rule 500 for NATing, and is released to the outbound interface.

#!/bin/sh
cmd="ipfw -q add"
skip="skipto 500"
pif=rl0
ks="keep-state"
good_tcpo="22,25,37,43,53,80,443,110,119"
ipfw -q -f flush
$cmd 002 allow all from any to any via xl0 # exclude Lan traffic
$cmd 003 allow all from any to any via lo0 # exclude loopback traffic
$cmd 100 divert natd ip from any to any in via $pif
$cmd 101 check-state
# Authorized outbound packets
$cmd 120 $skip udp from any to xx.168.240.2 53 out via $pif $ks
$cmd 121 $skip udp from any to xx.168.240.5 53 out via $pif $ks
$cmd 125 $skip tcp from any to any $good_tcpo out via $pif setup $ks
$cmd 130 $skip icmp from any to any out via $pif $ks
$cmd 135 $skip udp from any to any 123 out via $pif $ks
# Deny all inbound traffic from non-routable reserved address spaces
$cmd 300 deny all from 192.168.0.0/16 to any in via $pif #RFC 1918 private IP
$cmd 301 deny all from 172.16.0.0/12 to any in via $pif #RFC 1918 private IP
$cmd 302 deny all from 10.0.0.0/8 to any in via $pif #RFC 1918 private IP
$cmd 303 deny all from 127.0.0.0/8 to any in via $pif #loopback
$cmd 304 deny all from 0.0.0.0/8 to any in via $pif #loopback
$cmd 305 deny all from 169.254.0.0/16 to any in via $pif #DHCP auto-config
$cmd 306 deny all from 192.0.2.0/24 to any in via $pif #reserved for doc's
$cmd 307 deny all from 204.152.64.0/23 to any in via $pif #Sun cluster
$cmd 308 deny all from 224.0.0.0/3 to any in via $pif #Class D & E multicast
# Authorized inbound packets
$cmd 400 allow udp from xx.70.207.54 to any 68 in $ks
$cmd 420 allow tcp from any to me 80 in via $pif setup limit src-addr 1
$cmd 450 deny log ip from any to any
# This is skipto location for outbound stateful rules
$cmd 500 divert natd ip from any to any out via $pif
$cmd 510 allow ip from any to any
######################## end of rules ##################

The following is pretty much the same as above, but uses a self documenting coding style full of description comments to help the inexperienced IPFW rule writer to better understand what the rules are doing.

#!/bin/sh
################ Start of IPFW rules file ###############################
# Flush out the list before we begin.
ipfw -q -f flush
# Set rules command prefix
cmd="ipfw -q add"
skip="skipto 800"
pif="rl0" # public interface name of Nic card
# facing the public internet
#################################################################
# No restrictions on Inside Lan Interface for private network
# Change xl0 to your Lan Nic card interface name
#################################################################
$cmd 005 allow all from any to any via xl0
#################################################################
# No restrictions on Loopback Interface
#################################################################
$cmd 010 allow all from any to any via lo0
#################################################################
# check if packet is inbound and nat address if it is
#################################################################
$cmd 014 divert natd ip from any to any in via $pif
#################################################################
# Allow the packet through if it has previous been added to the
# the "dynamic" rules table by a allow keep-state statement.
#################################################################
$cmd 015 check-state
#################################################################
# Interface facing Public internet (Outbound Section)
# Interrogate session start requests originating from behind the
# firewall on the private network or from this gateway server
# destine for the public internet.
#################################################################
# Allow out access to my ISP's Domain name server.
# x.x.x.x 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
$cmd 020 $skip tcp from any to x.x.x.x 53 out via $pif setup keep-state
# Allow out access to my ISP's DHCP server for cable/DSL configurations.
$cmd 030 $skip udp from any to x.x.x.x 67 out via $pif keep-state
# Allow out non-secure standard www function
$cmd 040 $skip tcp from any to any 80 out via $pif setup keep-state
# Allow out secure www function https over TLS SSL
$cmd 050 $skip tcp from any to any 443 out via $pif setup keep-state
# Allow out send & get email function
$cmd 060 $skip tcp from any to any 25 out via $pif setup keep-state
$cmd 061 $skip tcp from any to any 110 out via $pif setup keep-state
# Allow out FBSD (make install & CVSUP) functions
# Basically give user root "GOD" privileges.
$cmd 070 $skip tcp from me to any out via $pif setup keep-state uid root
# Allow out ping
$cmd 080 $skip icmp from any to any out via $pif keep-state
# Allow out Time
$cmd 090 $skip tcp from any to any 37 out via $pif setup keep-state
# Allow out nntp news (IE: news groups)
$cmd 100 $skip tcp from any to any 119 out via $pif setup keep-state
# Allow out secure FTP, Telnet, and SCP
# This function is using SSH (secure shell)
$cmd 110 $skip tcp from any to any 22 out via $pif setup keep-state
# Allow out whois
$cmd 120 $skip tcp from any to any 43 out via $pif setup keep-state
# Allow ntp time server
$cmd 130 $skip udp from any to any 123 out via $pif keep-state
#################################################################
# Interface facing Public internet (Inbound Section)
# Interrogate packets originating from the public internet
# destine for this gateway server or the private network.
#################################################################
# Deny all inbound traffic from non-routable reserved address spaces
$cmd 300 deny all from 192.168.0.0/16 to any in via $pif #RFC 1918 private IP
$cmd 301 deny all from 172.16.0.0/12 to any in via $pif #RFC 1918 private IP
$cmd 302 deny all from 10.0.0.0/8 to any in via $pif #RFC 1918 private IP
$cmd 303 deny all from 127.0.0.0/8 to any in via $pif #loopback
$cmd 304 deny all from 0.0.0.0/8 to any in via $pif #loopback
$cmd 305 deny all from 169.254.0.0/16 to any in via $pif #DHCP auto-config
$cmd 306 deny all from 192.0.2.0/24 to any in via $pif #reserved for doc's
$cmd 307 deny all from 204.152.64.0/23 to any in via $pif #Sun cluster
$cmd 308 deny all from 224.0.0.0/3 to any in via $pif #Class D & E multicast
# Deny ident
$cmd 315 deny tcp from any to any 113 in via $pif
# Deny all Netbios service. 137=name, 138=datagram, 139=session
# Netbios is MS/Windows sharing services.
# Block MS/Windows hosts2 name server requests 81
$cmd 320 deny tcp from any to any 137 in via $pif
$cmd 321 deny tcp from any to any 138 in via $pif
$cmd 322 deny tcp from any to any 139 in via $pif
$cmd 323 deny tcp from any to any 81 in via $pif
# Deny any late arriving packets
$cmd 330 deny all from any to any frag in via $pif
# Deny ACK packets that did not match the dynamic rule table
$cmd 332 deny tcp from any to any established in via $pif
# 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.
$cmd 360 allow udp from x.x.x.x to any 68 in via $pif keep-state
# Allow in standard www function because I have apache server
$cmd 370 allow tcp from any to me 80 in via $pif setup limit src-addr 2
# Allow in secure FTP, Telnet, and SCP from public Internet
$cmd 380 allow tcp from any to me 22 in via $pif setup limit src-addr 2
# Allow in non-secure Telnet session from public Internet
# labeled non-secure because ID & PW are passed over public
# internet as clear text.
# Delete this sample group if you do not have telnet server enabled.
$cmd 390 allow tcp from any to me 23 in via $pif setup limit src-addr 2
# Reject & Log all unauthorized incoming connections from the public internet
$cmd 400 deny log all from any to any in via $pif
# Reject & Log all unauthorized out going connections to the public internet
$cmd 450 deny log all from any to any out via $pif
# This is skipto location for outbound stateful rules
$cmd 800 divert natd ip from any to any out via $pif
$cmd 801 allow ip from any to any
# Everything else is denied by default
# deny and log all packets that fell through to see what they are
$cmd 999 deny log all from any to any
################ End of IPFW rules file ###############################

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