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    Duplicate Rules Entries

    General pfSense Questions
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    • R
      robbwk
      last edited by

      I've been using pfsense for about two months without any problems until a few days ago. Pfsense has begun to create duplicate entries in the firewall rules. I enter a single IP to be rejected and pfsense responds with two of the same IP in the rules.

      Any suggestions how I can resolve this anomoly?

      Thanks

      johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • johnpozJ
        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @robbwk
        last edited by

        @robbwk can you show us this rule?

        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • R
          robbwk
          last edited by robbwk

          Firts, thank you for your kind and quick reply. Appreciated.

          Here are a couple of screen grabs that, I hope, will be helpful.2022-03-06_16-51-28.png 2022-03-06_16-52-15.png

          johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • johnpozJ
            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @robbwk
            last edited by

            @robbwk well one thing for sure you wouldn't want to use reject.. This sends a response..

            Why are you trying to reject them, default is deny - do you have port forwards open and your trying to stop them from getting to your port forward?

            Or mail server? I can not say I have ever seen such a thing.. My guess would be your browser is double submitting the rule?

            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • R
              robbwk
              last edited by

              I used Reject to try and impress on these folks that their Spam is not appreciated. I can easily change that to Deny. That isn't the point though. The double entry is the point.

              Yes, I am trying to protect mail servers. The amount of Spam I get is ridiculous and my storage system would be in serious trouble if I simply allowed all this rubbish to enter. I have SpamAssassin and Baysian on the mail servers but, that requires a lot of multiple entries to stop some Spammers that change IPs and domains by the minute. Stopping the IPs is my only effective solution. PFSense has reduced incoming by 75%. It's a great piece of software.

              All I am trying to do is figure out why I get two entries. The rest is irrelevant.

              Grateful for your reply.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                Are you running pfSense 2.6?

                Check the actual config file /conf/confg.xml and the generated rulset file /tmp/rules.debug. Do the duplicate entries appear there too or is this a display bug?

                Steve

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • R
                  robbwk
                  last edited by

                  Hi and thanks for your attention and time.

                  I'm running version 2.5.2. Are you suggesting that this version creates duplicate entries? I will upgrade, if you instruct.

                  I'll check the config and ruleset as you suggest. I'll respond tomorrow with appropriate information.

                  Thanks again for your advice and effort.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • R
                    robbwk
                    last edited by

                    Decided to do it now. Files (sections of) attached.pfsense-config-xml.txt rule.debug.txt

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Hmm so, yes, the rule is actually created twice. How exactly are you creating it?

                      I only asked what version you're running because we need that to attempt to replicate it if it really is a bug. However it's unlikely a bug discovered in 2.5.2 will get fixed at this point. If you can replicate it in 2.6 then we can open a report and dig deeper.

                      Steve

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • R
                        robbwk
                        last edited by robbwk

                        High Steve, appreciate your time.

                        I create the rule using the drop-down form (GUI). I do not use command line to do this. The choices are simple and I can't imagine I'm doing anything unusual.

                        I will upgrade to 2.6, later today and run it with few rules to start. Then, I will need to bring in the backup file from 2.5.2 or I will have to re-enter all the IPs and I don't really have that amount of time to spare.

                        Bear in mind that PFSense did not start out creating duplicates. For the first month or so, it created a single entry from my choices.

                        A little more information: I run the firewall as a VM in vSphere 6.7.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          Are you running as an HA pair? Or config syncing for any other reason?

                          It's hard to imagine anything that could cause that. 🤔

                          Since it's a VM you can easily snapshot it and roll back if upgrading to 2.6 makes no difference at least.

                          Steve

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • R
                            robbwk
                            last edited by

                            Hi Steven,

                            Thanks for your message.

                            I have updated the software to version 2.6. I removed the duplicates (which I could not do in 2.5 as if I deleted one, the other also disappeared). I have added a few test IPs and all seems to be okay.

                            For me, at least, 2.5 had a glitch. 2.6, appears to have resolved it.

                            I am grateful for the help and advice give on this forum. If anything goes south over the next few days, I'll report to you.

                            Robb

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              Ah, good to hear. 👍

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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