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Date:      Sat, 3 Aug 2002 14:18:14 -0400
From:      "Joe & Fhe Barbish" <barbish@a1poweruser.com>
To:        "Crist J. Clark" <cjc@FreeBSD.ORG>
Cc:        "FBIPFW" <freebsd-ipfw@freebsd.org>, <archie@whistle.com>, <cmott@scientech.com>, <perhaps@yes.no>, <suutari@iki.fi>, <dnelson@redwoodsoft.com>, <brian@awfulhak.org>, <ru@FreeBSD.org>, <rizzo@icir.org>
Subject:   RE: natd & keep-state
Message-ID:  <MIEPLLIBMLEEABPDBIEGIEFKCHAA.barbish@a1poweruser.com>
In-Reply-To: <20020803070339.GC47529@blossom.cjclark.org>

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So Crist we meet again. And yes you and I have been over this subject
before in the FBSD-questions list. All you do is state your personal
opinion that natd and keep-state works and not accept the possibility
that you may be wrong. I have proven it does not by examples I have sent
you in the past. You explained very nicely in
http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=2858187+0+archive/2002/freebsd-
questions/20020217.freebsd-questions exactly what natd's problem is.

I have gotten the ipfw rule set posted in the original post which
started this thread to work with user ppp -nat ,ipnat and on a FBSD
firewall box with no lan behind it.
But it will not work with NATD. One does not have to be a genus
to see that this proves there is something wrong with NATD.

Crist I quote you
"There is not a bug. ipfw(8) and natd(8) both work as intended. It
happens that 'keep-state' and natd(8) tend not to work very well
together without some serious rule gymnastics.

But as I think I have mentioned to you before, when you use stateless
ipfw(8) rules in combination with natd(8), you can end up with a
stateful firewall. It may be easier to do that than try to pound
'keep-state' and natd(8) into submission."  End quote.

Let me point out to you Crist. My rule set does not use any stateless
Rules or any kind of rule gymnastics to work as documented by the man
pages when user ppp -nat or ipnat is used, or when there is no lan
behind the IPFW firewall needing NAT services.

It just does not make logical sense that natd should not function in
the same manner. In my opinion, what you have stated above proves NATD
does indeed contain bugs when it encounters keep-state rules and
further supports my cause.

The author of the keep-state option saw the need in ipfw to provide a
more complete security protection of the bi-directional exchange of
packets during the session conversation so fraudulent packets could not
be inserted into the session conversation undetected. There was never
any intent to accomplish this function with the assistance of stateless
rules or rule gymnastics. That fact is proven by my keep-state rules
only based rules file working when natd is not used.

The evidence and even your own words conflicts with your personal opinion.

On this subject your opinion has no creditable in my eyes.

I have posted to this list group seeking help from a wider audience of
people who are suppose to have expertise in the internals of ipfw/natd.

I am of the opinion ipfw keep-state rules on individual selection rules
do not function when used with the IPFW's built in natd function.
Ipfw is continuously being released to the general public with out
adequately being tested or this would have been found and fixed all
ready.

You write a lot of words, which is suppose to back up your position,
but all they do is clarify my position. You have never made the effort
to test my rules file for your self and provide me with a working rule
set without stateless rules or coding gymnastics to prove your point that
natd & keep-state rules work and I am wrong.

That's what's it's going to take to get me to drop this subject.

I stand on this point, prove me wrong in the form of an working rule
set or admit natd is not functioning correctly and create a bug report
to get it fixed.

I have previous posted a bug report on this problem and you were the
one who serviced that bug report and decided that this is not a problem.
I think your lack of comprehending the impact this problem has on the
effort to move keep-state only firewalls into the mainline of the user
community to provide them with the maximum level of protection is a
dis-service to the FBSD community.

As I told you before, I believe cutting the natd code out of the
parent ipfw program and making it an stand-a-lone function so it gets
control at the same time user ppp -nat and ipnat does is the
solution to this problem. It will also remove all the confusion
surrounding the divert natd rule and felicitate the standardization
on keep-state ipfw firewall rule sets. There is far to much emphasizes
put on stateless rules and rules files coding logic based on the
setup/established flags as simple stateful rules. Would like to see
these two rule concepts documented as deprecated and the Advanced
Stateful extensions check-state / keep-state rule concept being
emphasized as the preferred ipfw rule method. IPFILTER/IPNAT all ready
provides the users this level of protection.

Can YOU rise to the challenge?

Now don't go off the deep end, this is not a flame. I am just stating
my own observations and opinions. Opinions are like assholes, everybody
has one. The freedom to voice our opinions and to disagree with other
peoples opinions is what this list group is all about. This is where we
the FBSD user community are chartered to discuss this type of subject.
More heads besides just mine and yours Crist have to address this problem.

Help me get the people you know who maintain natd & ipfw to participate.
They have to look into the ipfw/natd source code to design a solution.
Maybe this change can be combined/included with the ipfw2 effort.

I want to provoke participation by the authors of natd.
Get agreement natd has a bug.
Get it fixed for version 5.0.
What harm is there in those goals?

Joe


Below is my original post for those who are just now join this thread.

IPFW list members

Advanced Stateful extensions were introduced in FBSD 4.0. When they
first can out I changed my ipfw rules from stateless and simple
stateful to using only Advanced Stateful rules for my user
ppp -nat ISP connection. The ipfw rule set that works with user
ppp -nat is posted below. I have tried to get this same rules file to
function exchanging user ppp -nat for ipfw natd. There was always
problems with natd ip address and the dynamic rules table getting
mismatches so I went back to user ppp -nat. Every new version of FBSD
I would try again to use natd hopping there may have been some fixes
to natd, but no such luck. Each new version still failed. Each time I
would post questions to the FBSD questions list, but most of the
replies were from people who were having the same problems with natd
and keep-state rules that I was. Well now I am forced to address the
problem again because I now have cable access to the internet and I
can no longer use the -nat function of user ppp. So this time I joined
this ipfw list hoping my post will be read by a larger group of people
who have an very technical understanding of IPFW/NATD and the Advanced
Stateful extensions check-state / keep-state who will be able to
Provide a solution or come to the realization that there is a bug
that needs fixing.

The following posted rules are the rules file that works just fine
using user ppp -nat. As you can see it is very basic but demonstrates
the logic flow of only allowing selected functions to be started for
access to the public internet and selected functions originating from
the public internet to be started for access to the local network.

To use these rules for NATD I change xif="tun0" to xif="rl0" which is
the Nic card cabled to the cable modem. odns1 & odns2 to the ip address
of the cable providers dns servers.

And add the   $cmd 200 divert natd all from any to any via $xif
as rule number 200 so it gets positioned before the check-state
statement. The positioning of the divert statement is patterned after
the /etc/rc.firewall sample.

Be assured that the rc.conf and kernel options are in place to activate
NATD. I an now using FBSD version 4.6.

I have read and reread the ipfw man pages until I an blue in the face.
I am not a newbe to FBSD or IPFW and post this in hopes of achieving a
real solution in the way of a working ipfw/natd rules file based on
my rules file below. I have chosen functions which should be easy for
you to test on your own systems.

Thanks for your help in this matter

Joe



# Flush out the list before we begin.
/sbin/ipfw -q -f flush

# Set rules command prefix
# The -q option on the command is for quite mode.
# Do not display rules as they load. Remove during development to see.
#cmd="/sbin/ipfw -q add"
cmd="/sbin/ipfw add"

# Set defaults
# set these to your external interface network

xif="tun0"
odns1="218.216.115.111"      # ISP's dns server 1 IP address
odns2="218.216.115.112"      # ISP's dns server 2 IP address

# Set these to your inside interface network
iif="xl0"                  # Nic card

# Internal gateway housekeeping
$cmd 100 allow all from any to any via lo0  # allow all localhost
$cmd 150 deny  all from any to 127.0.0.0/8  # deny use of localhost IP
$cmd 160 deny  all from 127.0.0.0/8 to any  # deny use of localhost IP

$cmd 180 allow all from any to any via $iif   # allow all local LAN




########  control section  ############################################

$cmd 500 check-state

# Deny & log all fragments as bogus packets
$cmd 502 deny log all from any to any frag via $xif

# Deny & log ACK packets that did not match the dynamic rule table
$cmd 501 deny log tcp from any to any established via $xif


########  outbound section  ###########################################
# Interrogate packets originating from behind the firewall, private net.
# Upon a rule match, it's keep-state option will create a dynamic rule.

# Allow out www function
$cmd 600 allow tcp  from any to any 80  out via $xif setup keep-state

# Allow out access to my ISP's Domain name server.
$cmd 610 allow tcp  from any to $odns1 53 out via $xif setup keep-state
$cmd 611 allow udp  from any to $odns1 53 out via $xif keep-state
$cmd 615 allow tcp  from any to $odns2 53 out via $xif setup keep-state
$cmd 616 allow udp  from any to $odns2 53 out via $xif keep-state

# Allow out send & get email function
$cmd 630 allow tcp from any to any 25,110 out via $xif setup keep-state

# Allow out & in FBSD (make install & CVSUP)  functions
# Basically give user id root  "GOD"  privileges.
$cmd 640 allow tcp from me to any out via $xif setup keep-state uid root

# Allow out ping
$cmd 650 allow icmp from any to any   out via $xif keep-state

# Allow out TELNET
$cmd 660 allow tcp  from any to any 23    out via $xif setup keep-state

############ passive FTP rules for LAN PC FTP to public Internet ######
# Allow passive FTP control channel 21 & data high ports
$cmd 700 allow tcp from any to any 21  out via $xif setup keep-state
$cmd 710 allow tcp from any to any 10000-65000 out via $xif setup keep-state
##### End of passive FTP rules for LAN PC FTP to public Internet ######


########  inbound section  ############################################

# Allow in www
$cmd 800 allow tcp from any to any 80 in via $xif setup limit src-addr 4

# Allow in ssh function
$cmd 820 allow log tcp from any to me 22 in via $xif setup limit src-addr 4

# Allow in Telnet
$cmd 830 allow tcp from any to any 23 in via $xif setup limit src-addr 4
#$cmd 830 allow tcp from any to any 23 in via $xif setup keep-state

########  catch all section  ############################################

# Stop & log external redirect requests.
$cmd 845 deny log icmp from any to any icmptype 5  in via $xif

# Stop & log spoofing Attack attempts.
$cmd 850 deny log ip from me to me  in via $xif

# Stop & log ping echo attacks
# stop echo reply (ICMP type 0), and echo request (type 8).
$cmd 860 deny log icmp from any to me icmptype 0,8  in via $xif

# Reject & Log all setup of incoming connections from the outside
$cmd 900 deny log tcp from any to any setup in via $xif

# Everything else is denied by default
# deny and log all packets that fall through to see what they are
$cmd 910 deny log logamount 500 all from any to any

#######################################################################


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-freebsd-ipfw@FreeBSD.ORG
[mailto:owner-freebsd-ipfw@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Crist J. Clark
Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2002 3:04 AM
To: Joe & Fhe Barbish
Cc: FBIPFW
Subject: Re: natd & keep-state

On Wed, Jul 31, 2002 at 10:07:59PM -0400, Joe & Fhe Barbish wrote:
> IPFW list members
>
> Advanced Stateful extensions were introduced in FBSD 4.0. When they
> first can out I changed my ipfw rules from stateless and simple
> stateful to using only Advanced Stateful rules for my user
> ppp -nat ISP connection. The ipfw rule set that works with user
> ppp -nat is posted below. I have tried to get this same rules file to
> function exchanging user ppp -nat for ipfw natd. There was always
> problems with natd ip address and the dynamic rules table getting
> mismatches so I went back to user ppp -nat. Every new version of FBSD
> I would try again to use natd hopping there may have been some fixes
> to natd, but no such luck. Each new version still failed. Each time I
> would post questions to the FBSD questions list, but most of the
> replies were from people who were having the same problems with natd
> and keep-state rules that I was. Well now I am forced to address the
> problem again because I now have cable access to the internet and I
> can no longer use the -nat function of user ppp. So this time I joined
> this ipfw list hoping my post will be read by a larger group of people
> who have an very technical understanding of IPFW/NATD and the Advanced
> Stateful extensions check-state / keep-state who will be able to
> Provide a solution or come to the realization that there is a bug
> that needs fixing.

Deja vu. I think we've been through this before,


http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=2858187+0+archive/2002/freebsd-
questions/20020217.freebsd-questions

There is not a bug. ipfw(8) and natd(8) both work as intended. It
happens that 'keep-state' and natd(8) tend not to work very well
together without some serious rule gymnastics.

But as I think I have mentioned to you before, when you use stateless
ipfw(8) rules in combination with natd(8), you can end up with a
stateful firewall. It may be easier to do that than try to pound
'keep-state' and natd(8) into submission.
--
Crist J. Clark                     |     cjclark@alum.mit.edu
                                   |     cjclark@jhu.edu
http://people.freebsd.org/~cjc/    |     cjc@freebsd.org

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