Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Traffic flowing outbound although denied

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    15 Posts 5 Posters 1.3k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • S
      SteveITS Galactic Empire @michmoor
      last edited by

      @michmoor re: block rules and states...
      https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/troubleshooting/firewall.html#firewall-troubleshooting-states

      one can manually reset states at https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/monitoring/status/firewall-states-reset.html

      The "cleaner way" is probably to set a default block rule, and allow only the needed ports. That way states aren't opened until allowed. This is actually the default on all interfaces except LAN, because LAN has a default "allow to any" rule and other interfaces have no rules thus a default block only.

      Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
      When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
      Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

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

        @michmoor said in Traffic flowing outbound although denied:

        platforms existing states are torn down if matching.

        not always true - have seen many a firewall over the years where that does not happen. Also have seen were all states are killed - which is horrible implementation.. If the firewall is going to kill states, the only states that should be killed are the states the rule matches..

        All I am saying is from what you posted there is a state that would allow that specific traffic, no matter what rule you put in place to block it - until that state is removed.

        So if you kill that state, are new states being created where you have a block rule in place?

        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 2.8, 24.11

        M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • M
          michmoor LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance @SteveITS
          last edited by

          @steveits said in Traffic flowing outbound although denied:

          The "cleaner way" is probably to set a default block rule, and allow only the needed ports. That way states aren't opened until allowed. This is actually the default on all interfaces except LAN, because LAN has a default "allow to any" rule and other interfaces have no rules thus a default block only.

          What you are saying makes sense.

          Below is my ruleset.

          c476eeda-d97a-47b1-89de-133213064b11-image.png

          From this, I just don't see how that flow was active.
          As I posted, 5 days ago, the only maintenance done was to reimage the firewall back to 22.05 and load my config.xml which has the rule set you see above.

          The only way what your suggesting makes sense is if the backup XML saves state information which wouldn't make sense.

          Firewall: NetGate,Palo Alto-VM,Juniper SRX
          Routing: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
          Switching: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
          Wireless: Unifi, Aruba IAP
          JNCIP,CCNP Enterprise

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • M
            michmoor LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance @johnpoz
            last edited by

            @johnpoz said in Traffic flowing outbound although denied:

            not always true - have seen many a firewall over the years where that does not happen. Also have seen were all states are killed - which is horrible implementation.. If the firewall is going to kill states, the only states that should be killed are the states the rule matches..

            Agreed. The majority of my experience would be on the SRX line where I have seen the behavior of killing an active state when a block rule is added.

            To your other point, once the state was killed, no new states were created.

            Firewall: NetGate,Palo Alto-VM,Juniper SRX
            Routing: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
            Switching: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
            Wireless: Unifi, Aruba IAP
            JNCIP,CCNP Enterprise

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

              @michmoor said in Traffic flowing outbound although denied:

              To your other point, once the state was killed, no new states were created.

              and your seeing blocked traffic?

              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 2.8, 24.11

              M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • M
                michmoor LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance @johnpoz
                last edited by

                @johnpoz said in Traffic flowing outbound although denied:

                and your seeing blocked traffic?

                Yes I am seeing blocked traffic

                Firewall: NetGate,Palo Alto-VM,Juniper SRX
                Routing: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
                Switching: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
                Wireless: Unifi, Aruba IAP
                JNCIP,CCNP Enterprise

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

                  What's in the 'approved apps' alias?

                  Do you have floating rules? Interface groups? UPnP?

                  Are you still seeing states created there? You can use pfctl at the CLI to see what rule is creating them.

                  Steve

                  M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • M
                    michmoor LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance @stephenw10
                    last edited by

                    @stephenw10 Hey stephen,

                    the approved apps alias contains the following

                    57133c5f-abca-460c-91cf-02d1ea651017-image.png

                    Do you have floating rules?

                    • yes the ones created by pfBlockerNG

                    Interface groups?

                    • No

                    UPnP?

                    • No

                    Are you still seeing states created there?

                    • Since I deleted the state, it has not come back and I see the rules rejecting the flow.

                    I think leaving this in the mystery bucket is all thats left. I truly dont understand how that flow was allowed to pass with no permit any/any when my dmz rules are very specific and have remained unchanged for a while.

                    Firewall: NetGate,Palo Alto-VM,Juniper SRX
                    Routing: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
                    Switching: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
                    Wireless: Unifi, Aruba IAP
                    JNCIP,CCNP Enterprise

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

                      Mmm, there must have been a rule there are some point but without a state to check there no way to know. If it's blocking as expected now there's not much more you can do.

                      Steve

                      M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • M
                        mer @stephenw10
                        last edited by

                        I really like the output of pfctl -sr from either the console or debug, run command from the web interface.
                        It shows me the all the rules, in the order they are added/evaluated, and all the different rules (floating, interface, interfacegroups, etc) are in one list. I find it easier to manually parse or walk but you need to be familiar with raw pf rules/configs.

                        That's my preference, others with more experience in the GUI or the XML config may find a different way better.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • First post
                          Last post
                        Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.