OpenWRT: Firewall configuration

The firewall configuration located in /etc/config/firewall.

Overview

OpenWrt relies on netfilter for packet filtering, NAT and mangling. The UCI Firewall provides a configuration interface that abstracts from the iptables system to provide a simplified configuration model that is fit for most regular purposes while enabling the user to supply needed iptables rules on his own when needed.
UCI Firewall maps two or more Interfaces together into Zones that are used to describe default rules for a given interface, forwarding rules between interfaces, and extra rules that are not covered by the first two. In the config file, default rules come first but they are the last to take effect. The netfilter system is a chained processing filter where packets pass through various rules. The first rule that matches is executed, often leading to another rule-chain until a packet hits either ACCEPT or DROP/REJECT. Such an outcome is final, therefore the default rules take effect last, and the most specific rule takes effect first. Zones are also used to configure masquerading also known as NAT (network-address-translation) as well as port forwarding rules, which are more generally known as redirects.
Zones must always be mapped onto one or more Interfaces which ultimately map onto physical devices; therefore zones cannot be used to specify networks (subnets), and the generated iptables rules operate on interfaces exclusively. The difference is that interfaces can be used to reach destinations not part of their own subnet, when their subnet contains another gateway. Usually however, forwarding is done between lan and wan interfaces, with the router serving as 'edge' gateway to the internet. The default configuration of UCI Firewall provides for such a common setup.

Requirements

• firewall (or firewall3) and its dependencies (pre-installed)
  • iptables (pre-installed)
  • iptables-mod-? (optional), see OPKG Netfilter Packages.

Sections

Below is an overview of the section types that may be defined in the firewall configuration. A minimal firewall configuration for a router usually consists of one defaults section, at least two zones (lan and wan) and one forwarding to allow traffic from lan to wan. (The forwarding section is not strictly required when there are no more than two zones as the rule can then be set as the 'global default' for that zone.)

Defaults

The defaults section declares global firewall settings which do not belong to specific zones. The following options are defined within this section:

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
input	string	no	REJECT	Set policy for the INPUT chain of the filter table.
output	string	no	REJECT	Set policy for the OUTPUT chain of the filter table.
forward	string	no	REJECT	Set policy for the FORWARD chain of the filter table.
drop_invalid	boolean	no	0	Drop invalid packets (e.g. not matching any active connection).
syn_flood	boolean	no	0	Enable SYN flood protection (obsoleted by synflood_protect setting).
synflood_protect	boolean	no	0	Enable SYN flood protection.
synflood_rate	string	no	25	Set rate limit (packets/second) for SYN packets above which the traffic is considered a flood.
synflood_burst	string	no	50	Set burst limit for SYN packets above which the traffic is considered a flood if it exceeds the allowed rate.
tcp_syncookies	boolean	no	1	Enable the use of SYN cookies.
tcp_ecn	boolean	no	0
tcp_westwood	boolean	no	0
tcp_window_scaling	boolean	no	1	Enable TCP window scaling.
accept_redirects	boolean	no	0
accept_source_route	boolean	no	0
custom_chains	boolean	no	1
disable_ipv6	boolean	no	0	Disable IPv6 firewall rules.

Zones

A zone section groups one or more interfaces and serves as a source or destination for forwardings, rules and redirects. Masquerading (NAT) of outgoing traffic is controlled on a per-zone basis. Note that masquerading is defined on the outgoing interface.

• INPUT rules for a zone describe what happens to traffic trying to reach the router itself through that interface.
• OUTPUT rules for a zone describe what happens to traffic originating from the router itself.
• FORWARD rules for a zone describe what happens to traffic coming from that zone and passing to another zone.

The options below are defined within zone sections:

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
name	zone name	yes	(none)	Unique zone name
network	list	no	(none)	List of interfaces attached to this zone. If omitted and neither extra* options, subnets or devices are given, the value of name is used by default
masq	boolean	no	0	Specifies whether outgoing zone traffic should be masqueraded - this is typically enabled on the wan zone
masq_src	list of subnets	no	0.0.0.0/0	Limit masquerading to the given source subnets. Negation is possible by prefixing the subnet with !; multiple subnets are allowed.
masq_dest	list of subnets	no	0.0.0.0/0	Limit masquerading to the given destination subnets. Negation is possible by prefixing the subnet with !; multiple subnets are allowed.
conntrack	boolean	no	1 if masquerading is used, 0 otherwise	Force connection tracking for this zone (see Note on connection tracking)
mtu_fix	boolean	no	0	Enable MSS clamping for outgoing zone traffic
input	string	no	DROP	Default policy (ACCEPT, REJECT, DROP) for incoming zone traffic
forward	string	no	DROP	Default policy (ACCEPT, REJECT, DROP) for forwarded zone traffic
output	string	no	DROP	Default policy (ACCEPT, REJECT, DROP) for outgoing zone traffic
family	string	no	any	Protocol family (ipv4, ipv6 or any) to generate iptables rules for.
log	boolean	no	0	Create log rules for rejected and dropped traffic in this zone.
log_limit	string	no	10/minute	Limits the amount of log messages per interval.
device	list	no	(none)	List of raw network device names attached to this zone, e.g. ppp+ to match any PPP interface. Only supported by the Firewall v2, version 58 and above
subnet	list	no	(none)	List of IP subnets attached to this zone. Only supported by the Firewall v2, version 58 and above
extra	string	no	(none)	Extra arguments passed directly to iptables. Note that these options are passed to both source and destination classification rules, therfore direction-specific options like –dport should not be used here - in this case the extra_src and extra_dest options should be used instead. Only supported by the Firewall v2, version 58 and above
extra_src	string	no	Value of extra	Extra arguments passed directly to iptables for source classification rules. Only supported by the Firewall v2, version 58 and above
extra_dest	string	no	Value of extra	Extra arguments passed directly to iptables for destination classification rules. Only supported by the Firewall v2, version 58 and above

Forwardings

The forwarding sections control the traffic flow between zones and may enable MSS clamping for specific directions. Only one direction is covered by a forwarding rule. To allow bidirectional traffic flows between two zones, two forwardings are required, with src and dest reversed in each.
Below is a listing of allowed option within forwardings:

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
src	zone name	yes	(none)	Specifies the traffic source zone. Must refer to one of the defined zone names
dest	zone name	yes	(none)	Specifies the traffic destination zone. Must refer to one of the defined zone names
mtu_fix	boolean	no	0	Enable MSS clamping for traffic flowing from the source zone to the destination zone (Deprecated and moved to zone sections in 8.09.2+)
family	string	no	any	Protocol family (ipv4, ipv6 or any) to generate iptables rules for.

The iptables rules generated for this section rely on the state match which needs connection tracking to work. At least one of the src or dest zones needs to have connection tracking enabled through either the masq or the conntrack option.

Redirects

Port forwardings (DNAT) are defined by redirect sections. All incoming traffic on the specified source zone which matches the given rules will be directed to the specified internal host.
Redirects are also commonly known as "port forwarding", and "virtual servers".
The options below are valid for redirects:

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
src	zone name	yes for DNAT target	(none)	Specifies the traffic source zone. Must refer to one of the defined zone names. For typical port forwards this usually is wan
src_ip	ip address	no	(none)	Match incoming traffic from the specified source ip address
src_dip	ip address	yes for SNAT target	(none)	For DNAT, match incoming traffic directed at the given destination ip address. For SNAT rewrite the source address to the given address.
src_mac	mac address	no	(none)	Match incoming traffic from the specified mac address
src_port	port or range	no	(none)	Match incoming traffic originating from the given source port or port range on the client host
src_dport	port or range	no	(none)	For DNAT, match incoming traffic directed at the given destination port or port range on this host. For SNAT rewrite the source ports to the given value.
proto	protocol name or number	yes	tcpudp	Match incoming traffic using the given protocol
dest	zone name	yes for SNAT target	(none)	Specifies the traffic destination zone. Must refer to one of the defined zone names. For DNAT target on Attitude Adjustment, NAT reflection works only if this is equal to lan.
dest_ip	ip address	yes for DNAT target	(none)	For DNAT, redirect matched incoming traffic to the specified internal host. For SNAT, match traffic directed at the given address.
dest_port	port or range	no	(none)	For DNAT, redirect matched incoming traffic to the given port on the internal host. For SNAT, match traffic directed at the given ports.
ipset	string	no	(none)	If specified, match traffic against the given ipset. The match can be inverted by prefixing the value with an exclamation mark
mark	string	no	(none)	If specified, match traffic against the given firewall mark, e.g. 0xFF to match mark 255 or 0x0/0x1 to match any even mark value. The match can be inverted by prefixing the value with an exclamation mark, e.g. !0x10 to match all but mark #16.
start_date	date (yyyy-mm-dd)	no	(always)	If specifed, only match traffic after the given date (inclusive).
stop_date	date (yyyy-mm-dd)	no	(always)	If specified, only match traffic before the given date (inclusive).
start_time	time (hh:mm:ss)	no	(always)	If specified, only match traffic after the given time of day (inclusive).
stop_time	time (hh:mm:ss)	no	(always)	If specified, only match traffic before the given time of day (inclusive).
weekdays	list of weekdays	no	(always)	If specified, only match traffic during the given week days, e.g. sun mon thu fri to only match on sundays, mondays, thursdays and fridays. The list can be inverted by prefixing it with an exclamation mark, e.g. ! sat sun to always match but on saturdays and sundays.
monthdays	list of dates	no	(always)	If specified, only match traffic during the given days of the month, e.g. 2 5 30 to only match on every 2nd, 5th and 30rd day of the month. The list can be inverted by prefixing it with an exclamation mark, e.g. ! 31 to always match but on the 31st of the month.
utc_time	boolean	no	0	Treat all given time values as UTC time instead of local time.
target	string	no	DNAT	NAT target (DNAT or SNAT) to use when generating the rule
family	string	no	any	Protocol family (ipv4, ipv6 or any) to generate iptables rules for.
reflection	boolean	no	1	Activate NAT reflection for this redirect - applicable to DNAT targets.
reflection_src	string	no	internal	The source address to use for NAT-reflected packets if reflection is 1. This can be internal or external, specifying which interface’s address to use. Applicable to DNAT targets.
limit	string	no	(none)	Maximum average matching rate; specified as a number, with an optional /second, /minute, /hour or /day suffix. Example: 3/hour.
limit_burst	integer	no	5	Maximum initial number of packets to match, allowing a short-term average above limit
extra	string	no	(none)	Extra arguments to pass to iptables. Useful mainly to specify additional match options, such as -m policy --dir in for IPsec.

On Attitude Adjustment, for NAT reflection to work, you must specify option dest lan in the redirect section (even though we're using a DNAT target).

Rules

Sections of the type rule can be used to define basic accept or reject rules to allow or restrict access to specific ports or hosts.
Up to Firewall v2, version 57 and below the rules behave like redirects and are tied to the given source zone and match incoming traffic occuring there.
In later versions the rules are defined as follows:

• If src and dest are given, the rule matches forwarded traffic
• If only src is given, the rule matches incoming traffic
• If only dest is given, the rule matches outgoing traffic
• If neither src nor dest are given, the rule defaults to an outgoing traffic rule

Valid options for this section are:

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
src	zone name	yes ( optional since Firewall v2, version 58 and above)	(none)	Specifies the traffic source zone. Must refer to one of the defined zone names.
src_ip	ip address	no	(none)	Match incoming traffic from the specified source ip address
src_mac	mac address	no	(none)	Match incoming traffic from the specified mac address
src_port	port or range	no	(none)	Match incoming traffic from the specified source port or port range, if relevant proto is specified.
proto	protocol name or number	no	tcpudp	Match incoming traffic using the given protocol. Can be one of tcp, udp, tcpudp, udplite, icmp, esp, ah, sctp, or all or it can be a numeric value, representing one of these protocols or a different one. A protocol name from /etc/protocols is also allowed. The number 0 is equivalent to all.
dest	zone name	no	(none)	Specifies the traffic destination zone. Must refer to one of the defined zone names, or * for any zone. If specified, the rule applies to forwarded traffic; otherwise, it is treated as input rule.
dest_ip	ip address	no	(none)	Match incoming traffic directed to the specified destination ip address. With no dest zone, this is treated as an input rule!
dest_port	port or range	no	(none)	Match incoming traffic directed at the given destination port or port range, if relevant proto is specified.
ipset	string	no	(none)	If specified, match traffic against the given ipset. The match can be inverted by prefixing the value with an exclamation mark
mark	mark/mask	no	(none)	If specified, match traffic against the given firewall mark, e.g. 0xFF to match mark 255 or 0x0/0x1 to match any even mark value. The match can be inverted by prefixing the value with an exclamation mark, e.g. !0x10 to match all but mark #16.
start_date	date (yyyy-mm-dd)	no	(always)	If specifed, only match traffic after the given date (inclusive).
stop_date	date (yyyy-mm-dd)	no	(always)	If specified, only match traffic before the given date (inclusive).
start_time	time (hh:mm:ss)	no	(always)	If specified, only match traffic after the given time of day (inclusive).
stop_time	time (hh:mm:ss)	no	(always)	If specified, only match traffic before the given time of day (inclusive).
weekdays	list of weekdays	no	(always)	If specified, only match traffic during the given week days, e.g. sun mon thu fri to only match on sundays, mondays, thursdays and fridays. The list can be inverted by prefixing it with an exclamation mark, e.g. ! sat sun to always match but on saturdays and sundays.
monthdays	list of dates	no	(always)	If specified, only match traffic during the given days of the month, e.g. 2 5 30 to only match on every 2nd, 5th and 30rd day of the month. The list can be inverted by prefixing it with an exclamation mark, e.g. ! 31 to always match but on the 31st of the month.
utc_time	boolean	no	0	Treat all given time values as UTC time instead of local time.
target	string	yes	DROP	Firewall action (ACCEPT, REJECT, DROP, MARK, NOTRACK) for matched traffic
set_mark	mark/mask	yes for target MARK	(none)	Zeroes out the bits given by mask and ORs value into the packet mark. If mask is omitted, 0xFFFFFFFF is assumed
set_xmark				Zeroes out the bits given by mask and XORs value into the packet mark. If mask is omitted, 0xFFFFFFFF is assumed
family	string	no	any	Protocol family (ipv4, ipv6 or any) to generate iptables rules for.
limit	string	no	(none)	Maximum average matching rate; specified as a number, with an optional /second, /minute, /hour or /day suffix. Example: 3/hour.
limit_burst	integer	no	5	Maximum initial number of packets to match, allowing a short-term average above limit
extra	string	no	(none)	Extra arguments to pass to iptables. Useful mainly to specify additional match options, such as -m policy --dir in for IPsec.

Includes

It is possible to include custom firewall scripts by specifying one or more include sections in the firewall configuration.
There is only one possible parameter for includes:

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
enabled	boolean	no	1	Allows to disable the corresponding include without having to delete the section
type	string	no	script	Specifies the type of the include, can be script for traditional shell script includes or restore for plain files in iptables-restore format
path	file name	yes	/etc/firewall.user	Specifies a shell script to execute on boot or firewall restarts
family	string	no	any	Specifies the address family (ipv4, ipv6 or any) for which the include is called
reload	boolean	no	0	Specifies whether the include should be called on reload - this is only needed if the include injects rules into internal chains

Includes of type script may contain arbitary commands, for example advanced iptables rules or tc commands required for traffic shaping.
Since custom iptables rules are meant to be more specific than the generic ones, you must make sure to use -I (insert) instead of -A (append) so that the rules appear before the default rules.

IP Sets

The UCI firewall version 3 supports referencing or creating ipsets to simplify matching of huge address or port lists without the need for creating one rule per item to match,
The following options are defined for ipsets:

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
enabled	boolean	no	1	Allows to disable the declaration fo the ipset without the need to delete the section.
external	string	no	(none)	If the external option is set to a name, the firewall will simply reference an already existing ipset pointed to by the name. If the external option is unset, the firewall will create the ipset on start and destroy it on stop.
name	string	yes if external is unset no if external is set	(none) if external is unset value of external if external is set	Specifies the firewall internal name of the ipset which is used to reference the set in rules or redirects.
family	string	no	ipv4	Protocol family (ipv4 or ipv6) to create ipset for. Only applicable to storage types hash and list, the bitmap type implies ipv4.
storage	string	no	varies	Specifies the storage method (bitmap, hash or list) used by the ipset, the default varies depending on the used datatypes (see match option below). In most cases the storage method can be automatically inferred from the datatype combination but in some cases multiple choices are possible (e.g. bitmap:ip vs. hash:ip).
match	list of direction/type tuples	yes	(none)	Specifies the matched data types (ip, port, mac, net or set) and their direction (src or dest). The direction is joined with the datatype by an underscore to form a tuple, e.g. src_port to match source ports or dest_net to match destination CIDR ranges.
iprange	IP range	yes for storage type bitmap with datatype ip	(none)	Specifies the IP range to cover, see ipset(8). Only applicable to the hash storage type.
portrange	Port range	yes for storage type bitmap with datatype port	(none)	Specifies the port range to cover, see ipset(8). Only applicable to the hash storage type.
netmask	integer	no	32	If specified, network addresses will be stored in the set instead of IP host addresses. Value must be between 1 and 32, see ipset(8). Only applicable to the bitmap storage type with match ip or the hash storage type with match ip.
maxelem	integer	no	65536	Limits the number of items that can be added to the set, only applicable to the hash and list storage types.
hashsize	integer	no	1024	Specifies the initial hash size of the set, only applicable to the hash storage type.
timeout	integer	no	0	Specifies the default timeout for entries added to the set. A value of 0 means no timeout.

Possible Storage / Match Combinations

The table below outlines the possible combinations of storage methods and matched datatypes as well as the usable IP address family. The order of the datatype matches is significant.

Family	Storage	Match	Notes
ipv4	bitmap	ip	Requries iprange option
ipv4	bitmap	ip mac	Requires iprange option
ipv4	bitmap	port	Requires portrange option
any	hash	ip	-
any	hash	net	-
any	hash	ip port	-
any	hash	net port	-
any	hash	ip port ip	-
any	hash	ip port net	-
-	list	set	Meta type to create a set-of-sets

IPv6 notes

As described above, the option family is used for distinguishing between IPv4, IPv6 and both protocols. However the family is inferred automatically if IPv6 addresses are used, e.g.

config rule
        option src wan
        option src_ip fdca:f00:ba3::/64
        option target ACCEPT

… is automatically treated as IPv6 only rule.
Similar, such a rule:

config rule
        option src wan
        option dest_ip 88.77.66.55
        option target REJECT

… is detected as IPv4 only.
Rules without IP addresses are automatically added to iptables and ip6tables, unless overridden by the family option. Redirect rules (portforwards) are always IPv4 (for now) since there is no IPv6 DNAT support (yet).

Examples

Opening ports

The default configuration accepts all LAN traffic, but blocks all incoming WAN traffic on ports not currently used for connections or NAT. To open a port for a service, add a rule section:

config rule
        option src              wan
        option dest_port        22
        option target           ACCEPT
        option proto            tcp

This example enables machines on the internet to use SSH to access your router.

Forwarding ports (Destination NAT/DNAT)

This example forwards http (but not HTTPS) traffic to the webserver running on 192.168.1.10:

config redirect
        option src       wan
        option src_dport 80
        option proto     tcp
        option dest      lan
        option dest_ip   192.168.1.10

This other example forwards one arbitrary port that you define to a box running ssh.

config 'redirect'
        option 'name' 'ssh'
        option 'src' 'wan'
        option 'proto' 'tcpudp'
        option 'src_dport' '5555'
        option 'dest_ip' '192.168.1.100'
        option 'dest_port' '22'
        option 'target' 'DNAT'
        option 'dest' 'lan'

Source NAT (SNAT)

Source NAT changes an outgoing packet so that it looks as though the OpenWrt system is the source of the packet.
Define source NAT for UDP and TCP traffic directed to port 123 originating from the host with the IP address 10.55.34.85. The source address is rewritten to 63.240.161.99:

config redirect
        option src              lan
        option dest             wan
        option src_ip           10.55.34.85
        option src_dip          63.240.161.99
        option dest_port        123
        option target           SNAT

When used alone, Source NAT is used to restrict a computer's access to the internet, but allow it to access a few services by forwarding what appear to be a few local services, e.g. NTP, to the internet. While DNAT hides the local network from the internet, SNAT hides the internet from the local network.
Source NAT and destination NAT are combined and used dynamically in IP masquerading to make computers with private (192.168.x.x, etc.) IP address appear on the internet with the OpenWrt router's public WAN ip address.

True destination port forwarding

Most users won't want this. Its usage is similar to SNAT, but as the the destination IP address isn't changed, machines on the destination network need to be aware that they'll receive and answer requests from a public IP address that isn't necessarily theirs. Port forwarding in this fashion is typically used for load balancing.

config redirect
        option src              wan
        option src_dport        80
        option dest             lan
        option dest_port        80
        option proto            tcp

Block access to a specific host

The following rule blocks all connection attempts to the specified host address.

config rule
        option src              lan
        option dest             wan
        option dest_ip          123.45.67.89
        option target           REJECT

Block access to the Internet using MAC

The following rule blocks all connection attempts from the client to the Internet.

config rule
        option src              lan
        option dest             wan
        option src_mac          00:00:00:00:00:00
        option target           REJECT

Block access to the Internet for specific IP on certain times

The following rule blocks all connection attempts to the internet from 192.168.1.27 on weekdays between 21:00pm and 09:00am.
The package iptables-mod-ipopt must be installed to provide xt_time.

config rule
        option src              lan
        option dest             wan
        option src_ip           192.168.1.27
        option extra            '-m time --weekdays Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri --timestart 21:00 --timestop 09:00'
        option target           REJECT

Using firewall v3 and later the example becomes:

config rule
        option src              lan
        option dest             wan
        option src_ip           192.168.1.27
        option start_time       21:00
        option stop_time        09:00
        option weekdays         'mon tue wed thu fri'
        option target           REJECT

Restricted forwarding rule

The example below creates a forward rule rejecting traffic from lan to wan on the ports 1000-1100.

config rule
        option src              lan
        option dest             wan
        option dest_port        1000-1100
        option proto            tcpudp
        option target           REJECT

Simple output rule

The example below creates an output rule which prevents the router from pinging the address 8.8.8.8.
Only supported by the Firewall v2, version 58 and above

config rule
        option dest             wan
        option dest_ip          8.8.8.8
        option proto            icmp
        option target           REJECT

Transparent proxy rule (same host)

The rule below redirects all outgoing HTTP traffic from lan through a proxy server listening at port 3128 on the router itself.

config redirect
 option src              lan
 option proto            tcp
 option src_dport        80
 option dest_port        3128
 option dest_ip          192.168.1.1

Transparent proxy rule (external)

The following rule redirects all outgoing HTTP traffic from lan through an external proxy at 192.168.1.100 listening on port 3128. It assumes the OpenWrt lan address to be 192.168.1.1 - this is needed to masquerade redirected traffic towards the proxy.

config redirect
        option src              lan
        option proto            tcp
        option src_ip           !192.168.1.100
        option src_dport        80
        option dest_ip          192.168.1.100
        option dest_port        3128
        option target           DNAT

config redirect
        option dest             lan
        option proto            tcp
        option src_dip          192.168.1.1
        option dest_ip          192.168.1.100
        option dest_port        3128
        option target           SNAT

Simple DMZ rule

The following rule redirects all WAN ports for all protocols to the internal host 192.168.1.2.

config redirect
 option src              wan
 option proto            all
 option dest_ip          192.168.1.2

IPSec passthrough

This example enables proper forwarding of IPSec traffic through the wan.

# AH protocol
config rule
        option src              wan
        option dest             lan
        option proto            ah
        option target           ACCEPT

# ESP protocol
config rule
        option src              wan
        option dest             lan
        option proto            esp
        option target           ACCEPT

For some configurations you also have to open port 500/UDP.

# ISAKMP protocol
config rule
        option src              wan
        option dest             lan
        option proto            udp
        option src_port         500
        option dest_port        500
        option target           ACCEPT

Zone declaration for non-UCI interfaces

This example declares a zone which maches any Linux network device whose name begins with "ppp".
Only supported by the Firewall v2, version 58 and above

config zone
        option name             example
        option input            ACCEPT
        option output           ACCEPT
        option forward          REJECT
        option device           'ppp+'

Zone declaration for a specific subnet and protocol

This example declares a zone which maches any TCP stream in the 10.21.0.0/16 subnet.
Only supported by the Firewall v2, version 58 and above

config zone
        option name             example
        option input            ACCEPT
        option output           ACCEPT
        option forward          REJECT
        option subnet           '10.21.0.0/16'
        option extra            '-p tcp'

Zone declaration for a specific protocol and port

This example declares a zone which maches any TCP stream from and to port 22.
Only supported by the Firewall v2, version 58 and above

config zone
        option name             example
        option input            ACCEPT
        option output           ACCEPT
        option forward          REJECT
        option extra_src        '-p tcp --sport 22'
        option extra_dest       '-p tcp --dport 22'

Forwarding IPv6 tunnel traffic

This example is for IPv6 tunnels only, and does not apply to native dual-stack interfaces.

Unverified Information! From my experience all you need to do is just add the interface name of your ipv6 tunnel to the wan zone of your firewall. This worked for me Remove the information below if this is the correct way to proceed.

Caveat: The above will only work if the tunnel is bringing IPv6 connectivity to the router itself. If you use the tunnel to route a prefix into your lan as well, you will additionally need to allow Inter-Zone Forwarding from wan to lan (not enabled by default). Creating a separate firewall zone (as described below) is a cleaner solution, though.

IPv6 packets are by default not forwarded from lan to your wan6 interface and vice versa. Make sure to add net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding=1 in /etc/sysctl.conf to enable it permanently. Assuming your tunnel interface is called henet, add the following sections to /etc/config/firewall to create a new zone wan6, covering henet and allowing forwarding betweeen wan6 and lan in both directions:

config zone
 option name wan6
 option network henet
 option family ipv6
 option input ACCEPT
 option output ACCEPT
 option forward REJECT

config forwarding
 option dest lan
 option src wan6

config forwarding
 option dest wan6
 option src lan

The family option ensures that the zone and all associated entries (rule, forwarding and redirect sections) are only added to ip6tables but not iptables.

Manual iptables rules

Traditional iptables rules, in the standard iptables unix command form, can be specified in an external file and included in the firewall config file. It is possible to include multiple files this way.

config include
       option path /etc/firewall.user

config include
       option path /etc/firewall.vpn

The syntax for the includes is Linux standard, and therefore different from UCI's; its documentation can be found in netfilter.

Firewall management

After a configuration change, firewall rules are rebuilt by executing /etc/init.d/firewall restart; calling /etc/init.d/firewall stop will flush all rules and set the policies to ACCEPT on all standard chains. To manually start the firewall, call /etc/init.d/firewall start.
The firewall can be permananently disabled by executing /etc/init.d/firewall disable. Note that disable does not flush the rules, so it might be required to issue a stop before. Use enable to activate the firewall again.

Temporarily disable firewall

Run /etc/init.d/firewall stop to flush all rules and set the policies to ACCEPT. To restart the firewall, run /etc/init.d/firewall start.

Hotplug hooks (8.09.2+)

In addition to includes it is possible to let the firewall execute hotplug handlers when interfaces are added to a zone or removed from it. This is useful to create rules for interfaces with dynamic ip configurations (dhcp, pppoe) on the fly.
Each time an interface is added or removed from a zone, all scripts in the /etc/hotplug.d/firewall/ directory are executed. Scripts must be named in the form NN-name with NN being a numeric index between 00 and 99. The name can be freely choosen.
Once a handler script is invoked, the information about the event is passed through the environment. The table below lists defined variables and their meaning.

Variable	Description
ACTION	Type of the event: add if an interface was added, remove if it was removed
ZONE	Name of the firewall zone the interface was added to
INTERFACE	OpenWrt name of the interface, for example "lan" or "wan" - corresponds to the interfaces defined in /etc/config/network
DEVICE	The physical interface involved, for example "eth0" or "ppp0"

Implications of DROP vs. REJECT

The decision whether to drop or to reject traffic should be done on a case-by-case basis. Many people see dropping traffic as a security advantage over rejecting it because it exposes less information to a hypothetical attacker. While dropping slightly increases security, it can also complicate the debugging of network issues or cause unwanted side-effects on client programs.
If traffic is rejected, the router will respond with an ICMP error message ("destination port unreachable") causing the connection attempt to fail immediately. This also means that for each connection attempt a certain amount of response traffic is generated. This can cause harm if the firewall is "attacked" with many simultaneous connection attempts; the resulting "backfire" of ICMP responses can clog up all available bandwidth and make the connection unusable (DoS).
When connection attempts are dropped the client is not aware of the blocking and will continue to re-transmit its packets until the connection eventually times out. Depending on the way the client software is implemented, this could result in frozen or hanging programs that need to wait until a timeout occurs before they're able to continue.
Also there is an interesting article which that claims dropping connections doesnt make you any safer - Drop versus Reject.
DROP

• less information is exposed
• less attack surface
• client software may not cope well with it (hangs until connection times out)
• may complicate network debugging (where was traffic dropped and why)

REJECT

• may expose information (like the ip at which traffic was actually blocked)
• client software can recover faster from rejected connection attempts
• network debugging easier (routing and firewall issues clearly distinguishable)

Note on connection tracking (NOTRACK)

By default, the firewall will disable connection tracking for a zone if no masquerading is enabled. This is achieved by generating NOTRACK firewall rules matching all traffic passing via interfaces referenced by the firewall zone. The purpose of NOTRACK is to speed up routing and save memory by circumventing resource intensive connection tracking in cases where it is not needed. You can check if connection tracking is disabled by issuing iptables -t raw -vnL, it will list all rules, check for NOTRACK target.
NOTRACK will render certain ipables extensions unusable, for example the MASQUERADE target or the state match will not work!
If connection tracking is required, for example by custom rules in /etc/firewall.user, the conntrack option must be enabled in the corresponding zone to disable NOTRACK. It should appear as option 'conntrack' '1' in the right zone in /etc/config/firewall. For further information see http://security.maruhn.com/iptables-tutorial/x4772.html .

How to delete a rule

If you made a mistake you can delete a rule this way.
First, issue this command to find the index of the rule:

# iptables -L -t raw --line-numbers

Now to delete, e.g. the third rule from chain OUTPUT, execute:

# iptables -t raw -D OUTPUT 3

Debug generated rule set

It is possible to observe the iptables commands generated by the firewall program, this is useful to track down iptables errors during firewall restarts or to verify the outcome of certain uci rules.
In order to see the rules as they're executed, run the fw command with the FW_TRACE environment variable set to 1 (one):

# FW_TRACE=1 fw reload

To direct the output to a file for later inspection, use the command below:

# FW_TRACE=1 fw reload 2>/tmp/iptables.log

If you are using the firewall3, you can enable debug mode using the -d switch:

# fw3 -d reload 2>/tmp/iptables.log

Furthermore it is also possible to print the to-be generated ruleset using the print command in conjunction with the -4 and -6 switches:

# fw3 -4 print > /tmp/ipv4.rules
# fw3 -6 print > /tmp/ipv6.rules

Packet flow

INPUT (destined to router)

Table	Chain	Type	Description
raw	PREROUTING	system
	notrack	internal	Internal chain for NOTRACK rules
mangle	PREROUTING	system
	fwmark	internal	Internal chain for MARK rules
nat	PREROUTING	system
	delegate_prerouting	internal	Internal chain to hold toplevel prerouting rules, dispatches traffic to the corresponding zone_name_prerouting chains
	prerouting_rule	user	Container chain for custom user prerouting rules (firewall.user)
	zone_name_prerouting	internal	Per-zone container chains for DNAT (port forwarding) rules
	prerouting_name_rule	user	Per-zone container chains for custom user prerouting rules (firewall.user)
mangle	INPUT	system
filter	INPUT	system
	delegate_input	internal	Internal chain to hold toplevel input rules, dispatches traffic to the corresponding zone_name_input chains
	input_rule	user	Container chain for custom user input rules (firewall.user)
	syn_flood	internal	Internal chain to match and drop syn flood attempts
	zone_name_input	internal	Per-zone container chains for input rules
	input_name_rule	user	Per-zone container chains for custom user input rules (firewall.user)

OUTPUT (originating from router)

Table	Chain	Type	Description
raw	OUTPUT	system
mangle	OUTPUT	system
nat	OUTPUT	system
filter	OUTPUT	system
	delegate_output	internal	Internal chain to hold toplevel output rules, dispatches traffic to the corresponding zone_name_output chains
	output_rule	user	Container chain for custom user output rules (firewall.user)
	zone_name_output	internal	Per-zone container chains for output rules
	output_name_rule	user	Per-zone container chains for custom user output rules (firewall.user)
mangle	POSTROUTING	system
nat	POSTROUTING	system
	delegate_postrouting	internal	Internal chain to hold toplevel postrouting rules, dispatches traffic to the corresponding zone_name_postrouting chains
	postrouting_rule	user	Container chain for custom user postrouting rules (firewall.user)
	zone_name_postrouting	internal	Per-zone container chains for postrouting rules (masq, snat)
	postrouting_name_rule	user	Per-zone container chains for custom user postrouting rules (firewall.user)

FORWARD (relayed through router)

Table	Chain	Type	Description
raw	PREROUTING	system
	notrack	internal	Internal chain for NOTRACK rules
mangle	PREROUTING	system
	fwmark	internal	Internal chain for MARK rules
nat	PREROUTING	system
	delegate_prerouting	internal	Internal chain to hold toplevel prerouting rules, dispatches traffic to the corresponding zone_name_prerouting chains
	prerouting_rule	user	Container chain for custom user prerouting rules (firewall.user)
	zone_name_prerouting	internal	Per-zone container chains for DNAT (port forwarding) rules
	prerouting_name_rule	user	Per-zone container chains for custom user prerouting rules (firewall.user)
mangle	FORWARD	system
	mssfix	internal	Internal chain to hold for TCPMSS rules (mtu_fix)
filter	FORWARD	system
	delegate_forward	internal	Internal chain to hold toplevel forward rules, dispatches traffic to the corresponding zone_name_forward chains
	forwarding_rule	user	Container chain for custom user forward rules (firewall.user)
	zone_name_forward	internal	Per-zone container chains for output rules
	forwarding_name_rule	user	Per-zone container chains for custom user forward rules (firewall.user)
mangle	POSTROUTING	system
nat	POSTROUTING	system
	delegate_postrouting	internal	Internal chain to hold toplevel postrouting rules, dispatches traffic to the corresponding zone_name_postrouting chains
	postrouting_rule	user	Container chain for custom user postrouting rules (firewall.user)
	zone_name_postrouting	internal	Per-zone container chains for postrouting rules (masq, snat)
	postrouting_name_rule	user	Per-zone container chains for custom user postrouting rules (firewall.user)

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doc/uci/firewall.txt · Last modified: 2014/01/13 22:46 by valentt

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