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    pfSense keeps blocking access from one subnet to another most of the time (but not always)

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • NollipfSenseN
      NollipfSense @throttlenerd
      last edited by

      @throttlenerd Sounds as if there is no firewall rules to allow LAN to access Opt1 nor OPT1 to LAN...can you show your firewall rules?

      pfSense+ 23.09 Lenovo Thinkcentre M93P SFF Quadcore i7 dual Raid-ZFS 128GB-SSD 32GB-RAM PCI-Intel i350-t4 NIC, -Intel QAT 8950.
      pfSense+ 23.09 VM-Proxmox, Dell Precision Xeon-W2155 Nvme 500GB-ZFS 128GB-RAM PCIe-Intel i350-t4, Intel QAT-8950, P-cloud.

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        throttlenerd @NollipfSense
        last edited by

        @NollipfSense Didn't find a quick way to upoload a screenshot (if there is such possibility), but rules should be effective always, and my problem disappears from time to time, that's what bugging me. Currently active LAN rules are:

        default anti-lockout;
        defalt allow LAN to Any
        and a few deny rules just for IP cameras alias

        I tried a "force allow LAN to OPT1", force "allow macbook to Synology" -- nothng works )

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        • johnpozJ
          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @throttlenerd
          last edited by

          @throttlenerd said in pfSense keeps blocking access from one subnet to another most of the time (but not always):

          Didn't find a quick way to upoload a screenshot

          is the button not quick enough

          button.jpg

          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

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          • NollipfSenseN
            NollipfSense @throttlenerd
            last edited by

            @throttlenerd Please note the upload tab below.

            Screenshot 2023-12-31 at 1.28.04 PM.png

            @throttlenerd said in pfSense keeps blocking access from one subnet to another most of the time (but not always):

            I tried a "force allow LAN to OPT1", force "allow macbook to Synology" -- nothng works )

            You don't need to force anything...a simple allow traffic tcp/udp LAN to Opt1 and OPT1 to LAN will do...

            pfSense+ 23.09 Lenovo Thinkcentre M93P SFF Quadcore i7 dual Raid-ZFS 128GB-SSD 32GB-RAM PCI-Intel i350-t4 NIC, -Intel QAT 8950.
            pfSense+ 23.09 VM-Proxmox, Dell Precision Xeon-W2155 Nvme 500GB-ZFS 128GB-RAM PCIe-Intel i350-t4, Intel QAT-8950, P-cloud.

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            • johnpozJ
              johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @throttlenerd
              last edited by johnpoz

              @throttlenerd said in pfSense keeps blocking access from one subnet to another most of the time (but not always):

              "force allow LAN to OPT1"

              What is that even.. There is no "force allow" ??

              Do you mean you created a specific rule? Please post a picture of your rules on your lan, and do you have any rules in floating?

              But here is the thing if you had a rule blocking it, it wouldn't "sometimes" allow it.. That is not how firewalls work. Oh let me block this 90% of the time.. but sometimes I will let it pass ;)

              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

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              • T
                throttlenerd
                last edited by

                Oh I didn;t see this button ))

                LAN Rules.png

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                • T
                  throttlenerd @johnpoz
                  last edited by

                  @johnpoz I meant I tried to create specific "allow" rules which I described here as "force allow". And yes you're absolutely right about the 90% of the time ))

                  And there aren't any floating rules set, btw.

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                  • johnpozJ
                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @throttlenerd
                    last edited by johnpoz

                    @throttlenerd all of the rules below that rule that allows lan net anywhere - are pointless.. they will never trigger.

                    Your lan net rule would allow lan clients to go anywhere they want.. anything that is IPv4.

                    If you can not ping your nas on opt1, then you have firewall running on the nas, is not using pfsense as its gateway.. Or its mask is wrong, or its multihomed?

                    We go over this like every other day it seems.. Your saying from the lan, you can not even ping pfsense IP on your opt1 interface?

                    Rules are evaluated top down, first rule to trigger wins, no other rules are evaluated.. I take it your cameras have an IP on your lan, so the lan net any rule would let them go anywhere.

                    So pfsense Ip on your lan is what 10.0.73.1/24 ?? And what about your opt1 network? What is pfsense IP.. Your saying you can not ping that??

                    Example my pfsense IPs all end in .253, my lan is 192.168.9.253, my network were my wifi controller, etc. sit is 192.168.2.253/24.. see I can ping pfsense IP from my lan.

                    $ ping 192.168.2.253                                                  
                                                                                          
                    Pinging 192.168.2.253 with 32 bytes of data:                          
                    Reply from 192.168.2.253: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64                    
                    Reply from 192.168.2.253: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64                    
                    Reply from 192.168.2.253: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64                    
                    Reply from 192.168.2.253: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64                    
                                                                                          
                    Ping statistics for 192.168.2.253:                                    
                        Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),              
                    Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:                        
                        Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 1ms                       
                    

                    And I can ping my wifi controller that sits on 192.168.2.12,

                    $ ping 192.168.2.12
                    
                    Pinging 192.168.2.12 with 32 bytes of data:
                    Reply from 192.168.2.12: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=63
                    Reply from 192.168.2.12: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=63
                    Reply from 192.168.2.12: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=63
                    Reply from 192.168.2.12: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=63
                    
                    Ping statistics for 192.168.2.12:
                        Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
                    Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
                        Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 1ms
                    

                    Only rules I have on lan are

                    lan.jpg

                    The rules I have on the 192.168.2 interface are meaningless when it comes to creating the connection from the lan side, because the state pfsense creates when the traffic is allowed as it enters pfsense lan would allow the return traffic. As long as that device answers and sends the traffic back to pfsense.

                    With those rules you for sure should be able to ping pfsense IP on opt1 100% of the time... If you can not you got something really buggered up.. Is your client on lan your pinging from maybe on wifi and wire at the same time? Is it running some security software that would stop you from pinging stuff?

                    Did you set its IP up, maybe you have a mask wrong? or did it get IP from pfsense dhcp server? Do you maybe have some wifi router with a leg in lan that might have its dhcp server still running?

                    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

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                      throttlenerd @johnpoz
                      last edited by

                      Thank you @johnpoz for clarifying with the rule order, I heard many times that the rules work from top to bottom I guess I'm too dumb to understand it practically hahahah )) Placed deny rules for IP cams on top.

                      About my pfSense problem:

                      @johnpoz said in pfSense keeps blocking access from one subnet to another most of the time (but not always):

                      If you can not ping your nas on opt1, then you have firewall running on the nas, is not using pfsense as its gateway.. Or its mask is wrong, or its multihomed?

                      No, it's not about NAS, right now I have three devices turned on on OPT1 -- TrueNAS on 10.0.74.12, NAS on 10.0.74.11 and iMac on 10.0.74.14 -- neither of them is accessible while I'm pinging them on my macbook on wifi via its terminal. Both subnets are /24, 255.255.255.0.

                      We go over this like every other day it seems.. Your saying from the lan, you can not even ping pfsense IP on your opt1 interface?

                      When I'm on LAN, I can't ping anything on OPT1 EXCEPT pfSense -- it is on 10.0.73.1 (LAN) and 10.0.74.1 -- I can ping 10.0.74.1 when I'm on 10.0.73.xx and I can access 10.0.74.1 on web interface, but other 10.0.74.xx devices are unreachable. And -- when I log on to pfSense via web interface and go to Diagnostics > Ping, and try to ping 10.0.74.12 (TrueNAS), 10.0.74.11 (Syno) and 10.0.74.14 (iMac) -- 100% packet loss. Again, this applies only when my Macbook is on LAN (wifi/wired -- doesn't matter).

                      Is your client on lan your pinging from maybe on wifi and wire at the same time? Is it running some security software that would stop you from pinging stuff?

                      No, either Wi-Fi either eternet (when trying to reach devices on OPT1 while on LAN)

                      Did you set its IP up, maybe you have a mask wrong?

                      My laptop's IP varies -- static on WiFi (DHCP Static based on MAC address), random on wired LAN (DHCP), static on OPT1, but, as I said, this whole issue goes away when I work wired to OPT1.

                      Do you maybe have some wifi router with a leg in lan that might have its dhcp server still running?

                      No, my Tenda Mesh Wi-Fi is in bridge mode, all routing/IP stuff is done on pfSense.

                      Thank you very much! ))

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                      • T
                        throttlenerd @throttlenerd
                        last edited by

                        Forgot: there are no deny rules on OPT1, only allowing ones )

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                        • T
                          throttlenerd @throttlenerd
                          last edited by

                          Dang! I connected my macbook to OPT1 by wire, checked that I can access everything on OPT1 (as expected). Disconnected the cable, went back on LAN Wi-Fi and now I can reach OPT1! It could be something with my laptop but it's not! When I had Mac mini wired to LAN it too couldn't get to OPT1 most_of_the_time and how on earth this situation could affect Diagnostics > Ping from web interface? If I'm logged on to pfSense Web GUI that means I'm inside the router and it should ping anything, but no, it can't ping OPT1 devices that "most of the time" but now, when I plugged my Macbook to OPT1 for a few seconds and disconnected -- everything works! I'm no IT specialist but I think this situation can be considered stupidly weird by an IT specialist either ))

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                          • johnpozJ
                            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @throttlenerd
                            last edited by

                            @throttlenerd so question are you using say the new ethernet rules? Or captive portal?

                            have you setup any static arp entries?

                            I'm inside the router and it should ping anything, but no, it can't ping OPT1 devices that "most of the time"

                            This is true - from the firewall you should be able to ping anything connected to networks pfsense is attached too. Reasons why you might not be able to, firewall rules on the device your trying to ping. Not able to arp for the devices IP, or wrong mac in the arp table for that IP..

                            I was thinking what could cause interment sort of issues, invalid mac comes to mind, duplicate IP where you have the correct mac for what your wanting to talk to, and then other times have wrong one, etc..

                            There is has been some ongoing issues where if you set a static mac it goes away and looks like just dynamic mac, and then can set back to static on restart of setting the static arp, etc.

                            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

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                              throttlenerd @johnpoz
                              last edited by

                              @johnpoz All devices on OPT1 have static IPs and they are set up in those devices' settings, no MAC-based static leases. I have MAC-based static leases on LAN interface -- for my laptop, mobile phones, Wi-Fi AP (3-unit mesh). Today I figured out the problem goes away if I (by "I" I mean my laptop) connect to OPT1 by wire and then unplug it and connect to LAN wirelessly -- everything is accessible. But since "most of the time" this issue is "live" -- I will ssh into my other NAS which is on LAN (Surveillance, Plex) and will try to reach my work NAS on OPT1 -- it shouldn't be able to ping it even though right now it can, because I was on OPT1 a few minutes ago. Yes yes this is weeeeird. Will keep you posted thank you very much for helping me! Happy New Year! )) 🎄

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                                throttlenerd @throttlenerd
                                last edited by

                                So I waited a bit, now the issue is alive again -- no LAN to OPT1 access. Right now I'm (laptop) on Wi-Fi. I turned on SSH on my other Syno NAS which is on LAN. I open Terminal on my Mac, ssh into 10.0.73.12 (LAN NAS), pinging 10.0.74.1 (pfSense on OPT1) -- all good. Pinging two devices on OPT1 -- no luck. But I was able to ping them both from my mac and/or LAN NAS just after disconnecting my laptop from OPT1. So, ehmmmm. Still more questions than answers ahaha )

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                                • johnpozJ
                                  johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @throttlenerd
                                  last edited by

                                  @throttlenerd you sure your actually isolated at layer 2?

                                  You shouldn't be seeing the mac of the devices if your on another L2 network.. I would plug your laptop back into opt network.. ping your devices, now you say you can ping them while your on lan? Look in your mac address table, a simple arp -a should show only the stuff that is on your current network.. You should no longer see mac from devices on opt network.

                                  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

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                                    throttlenerd @johnpoz
                                    last edited by

                                    @johnpoz

                                    But I was able to ping them both from my mac and/or LAN NAS

                                    Oh by saying "mac" I meant my Macintosh laptop )) The only time I dealt with MAC addresses was when I assigned static DHCP leases to some devices on LAN interface.

                                    Yes, arp -a while I'm on LAN shows only 10.0.73.xx (LAN) devices, no OPT1

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                                      throttlenerd @throttlenerd
                                      last edited by

                                      And! Just checked another aspect which proves this black magic issue goes beyond anything related to my laptop and/or MAC addresses. My "work" Synology NAS which is on OPT1 has a Synology QuickConnect feature, so I can safely log into it while I'm out of my home network, i.e. anywhere in the world (no port forwarding/open ports, it works via Synology relay server). So, "most of the time", as this problem is "active" I can't QuickConnect to my OPT1 NAS via my phone DS Files app. I made a quick experiment just now:

                                      The laptop was disconnected from OPT1 for a while, opened DS Files on my iPhone -- app says my Quick Connect ID NAS is unreachable. Connected laptop to OPT1 by wire -- QuickConnect still doesn't work. Unplugged ethernet from my laptop, went on Wi-Fi -- boom/voila -- I can log into my NAS via QuickConnect with DS Files app on my phone no matter how it connects to the internet, via home Wi-Fi or LTE (Wi-Fi off on the phone). Ehhhhh!!! What could it be ahah

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                                      • johnpozJ
                                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @throttlenerd
                                        last edited by

                                        @throttlenerd I would look to what you nas for example has in his arp table when not working, and then when working.

                                        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

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                                          throttlenerd @johnpoz
                                          last edited by

                                          @johnpoz said in pfSense keeps blocking access from one subnet to another most of the time (but not always):

                                          @throttlenerd I would look to what you nas for example has in his arp table when not working, and then when working.

                                          Hi @johnpoz, seems like I can't get an arp table of my OPT1 NAS "when not working", because I can get into it either by OPT1 wire or Wi-Fi (LAN) as soon as I plug OPT1 wire into my laptop, so it becomes "working". One thing I notice -- when this LAN to OPT1 block releases I, as far as I can guess/remember, always get this Safari (browser) notice about shady https certificate, but since it's my home network I don't care and click "trust". There's no certificate on OPT1 iMac, I use it with Apple Screen Sharing feature to delegate some tasks I don't want to do on my laptop. Could it be smth inside pfSense related to "certificate refreshing" or whatever..

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                                            throttlenerd @throttlenerd
                                            last edited by

                                            And sshing into OPT1 NAS, then arp -a lists devices connected to OPT1 which are currently powered on -- pfSense, iMac, my laptop, nothing out of ordinary

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