Filtering can be set up to be simple, using mostly autogenerated filter rules, or can be customized by defining very specific filter functions based on the properties of the IP packets. Matches on incoming packets are done by comparing the source address and SPI value to those listed in the filter table. Therefore, this pair must be unique.
Each line in a filter table is known as a rule. A collection of rules determine what packets are accepted in and out of the machine and how they are directed. Filter rules can be control many aspects of communications, including source and destination addresses and masks, protocol, port number, direction, fragment control, source routing, tunnel, and interface type.
The types of filter rules are as follows:
Associated with these filter rules are Subnet masks, which group IDs that are associated with a filter rule, and the host-firewall-host configuration option. The following sections describe the different types of filter rules and their associated features.
Each static filter rule contains several space-separated fields. The following list provides the name of each field (an example of each field from rule 1 is shown in parentheses):
Further explanation of static filter rules follows this example:
1 permit 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 no udp eq 4001 eq 4001 both both no all packets 0 all 2 permit 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 no ah any 0 any 0 both both no all packets 0 all 3 permit 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 no esp any 0 any 0 both both no all packets 0 all 4 permit 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.2 255.255.255.255 no all any 0 any 0 both outbound no all packets 1 all outbound traffic 5 permit 10.0.0.2 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 no all any 0 any 0 both inbound no all packets 1 all 6 permit 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.3 255.255.255.255 no tcp lt 1024 eq 514 local outbound yes all packets 2 all 7 permit 10.0.0.3 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 no tcp/ack eq 514 lt 1024 local inbound yes all packets 2 all 8 permit 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.3 255.255.255.255 no tcp/ack lt 1024 lt 1024 local outbound yes all packets 2 all 9 permit 10.0.0.3 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 no tcp lt 1024 lt 1024 local inbound yes all packets 2 all 10 permit 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.4 255.255.255.255 no icmp any 0 any 0 local outbound yes all packets 3 all 11 permit 10.0.0.4 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 no icmp any 0 any 0 local inbound yes all packets 3 all 12 permit 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.5 255.255.255.255 no tcp gt 1023 eq 21 local outbound yes all packets 4 all 13 permit 10.0.0.5 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 no tcp/ack eq 21 gt 1023 local inbound yes all packets 4 all 14 permit 10.0.0.5 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 no tcp eq 20 gt 1023 local inbound yes all packets 4 all 15 permit 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.5 255.255.255.255 no tcp/ack gt 1023 eq 20 local outbound yes all packets 4 all 16 permit 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.5 255.255.255.255 no tcp gt 1023 gt 1023 local outbound yes all packets 4 all 17 permit 10.0.0.5 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 no tcp/ack gt 1023 gt 1023 local inbound yes all packets 4 all 18 permit 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 no all any 0 any 0 both both yes all packets
Each rule in the previous example is described as follows:
Note:Do not modify this filter rule, except for logging purposes.
Note:Do not modify Rules 2 and 3, except for logging purposes.
Each rule can be viewed separately (using lsfilt) to list each field with its value. For example:
Rule 1: Rule action : permit Source Address : 0.0.0.0 Source Mask : 0.0.0.0 Destination Address : 0.0.0.0 Destination Mask : 0.0.0.0 Source Routing : yes Protocol : udp Source Port : eq 4001 Destination Port : eq 4001 Scope : both Direction : both Logging control : no Fragment control : all packets Tunnel ID number : 0 Interface : all Auto-Generated : yes
The following list contains all the parameters that can be specified in a filter rule:
For more information, see the genfilt and chfilt command descriptions.
Certain rules are autogenerated for the use of the IP Security filter and tunnel code. Autogenerated rules include:
Filter rules are also autogenerated when defining tunnels. For manual tunnels, autogenerated rules specify the source and destination addresses and the mask values, as well as the tunnel ID. All traffic between those addresses will flow through the tunnel.
For IKE tunnels, autogenerated filter rules determine protocol and port numbers during IKE negotiation. The IKE filter rules are kept in a separate table, which is searched after the static filter rules and before the autogenerated rules. IKE filter rules are inserted in a default position within the static filter table, but they can be moved by the user.
Autogenerated rules permit all traffic over the tunnel. User-defined rules can place restrictions on certain types of traffic. Place these user-defined rules before the autogenerated rules, because IP Security uses the first rule it finds that applies to the packet. The following is an example of user-defined filter rules that filter traffic based on ICMP operation.
1 permit 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.4 255.255.255.255 no icmp any 8 any 0 local outbound no all packets 3 all 2 permit 10.0.0.4 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 no icmp any 0 any 0 local inbound no all packets 3 all 3 permit 10.0.0.4 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 no icmp any 8 any 0 local inbound no all packets 3 all 4 permit 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.4 255.255.255.255 no icmp any 0 any 0 local outbound no all packets 3 all
To simplify the configuration of a single tunnel, filter rules are autogenerated when tunnels are defined. This function can be suppressed by specifying the -g flag in the gentun. You can find a sample filter file with genfilt commands to generate filter rules for different TCP/IP services in /usr/samples/ipsec/filter.sample.
Several predefined filter rules are autogenerated with certain events. When the ipsec_v4 or ipsec_v6 device is loaded, a predefined rule is inserted into the filter table and then activated. By default, this predefined rule is to permit all packets, but it is user-configurable and you can set it to deny all packets.
Note: When configuring remotely, ensure that the deny rule is not enabled before the configuration is complete, to prevent your session from getting locked out of the machine. The situation can be avoided either by setting the default action to permit or by configuring a tunnel to the remote machine before activating IP Security.
Both IPv4 and IPv6 filter tables have a predefined rule. Either may be independently changed to deny all. This will keep traffic from passing unless that traffic is specifically defined by additional filter rules. The only other option to change on the predefined rules is chfilt with the -l option, which allows packets matching that rule to be logged.
To support IKE tunnels, a dynamic filter rule is placed in the IPv4 filter table. This is the position at which dynamic filter rules are inserted into the filter table. This position can be controlled by the user by moving its position up and down the filter table. After the tunnel manager daemon and isakmpd daemon are initialized to allow IKE tunnels to be negotiated, rules are automatically created in the dynamic filter table to handle IKE messages as well as AH and ESP packets.
Subnet masks are used to group a set of IDs that are associated with a filter rule. The mask value is ANDed with the ID in the filter rules and compared to the ID specified in the packet. For example, a filter rule with a source IP address of 10.10.10.4 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.255 specified that an exact match must occur of the decimal IP address, as shown in the following:
| Binary | Decimal | |
|---|---|---|
| Source IP address | 1010.1010.1010.0100 | 10.10.10.4 |
| Subnet mask | 1111.1111.1111.1111 | 255.255.255.255 |
A 10.10.10.x subnet is specified as 1111.1111.1111.0 or 255.255.255.0. An incoming address would have the subnet mask appended to it, then the combination would be compared to the ID in the filter rule. For example, an address of 10.10.10.100 becomes 10.10.10.0 after the subnet mask is applied, which matches the filter rule.
A subnet mask of 255.255.255.240 allows any value for the last four bits in the address.
The host-firewall-host configuration option for tunnels allows you to create a tunnel between your host and a firewall, then automatically generate the necessary filter rules for correct communication between your host and a host behind the firewall. The autogenerated filter rules permit all rules between the two non-firewall hosts over the tunnel specified. The default rules--for user datagram protocol (UDP), Authentication Headers (AH), and Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) headers--should already handle the host to firewall communication. The firewall will have to be configured appropriately to complete the setup. You should use the export file from the tunnel you created to enter the SPI values and keys that the firewall needs.