PfBlocker

Kamel · Nov 28, 2011, 3:22 AM

Forgive me if my comments seemed a bit tasteless. I got the impression marcelloc was insinuating that my abilities were insufficient. I know I shouldn't have so I apologize for that.

I still believe it would be a good idea (and should be relatively simple to add) to check if there are enough firewall entries available for the amount of rules pfblocker applying before you submit. This was actually my primary concern, the idea of system resource usage was only secondary to this.

marcelloc · Nov 28, 2011, 11:37 AM

Forgive me if my comments seemed a bit tasteless. I got the impression marcelloc was insinuating that my abilities were insufficient. I know I shouldn't have so I apologize for that.

I'm not insinuating anything. I'm here to help the project just like everybody.
I'm sorry if my post sound offensive. It was not my intention.

I'm improving some help messages on package gui to help even more admins.
PfBlocker checks the ammount of entries in a list before apply, but it Does not sum all lists. I will try to include this in version 1.0.1. You maybe still getting this error if you have many rules or aliases. Just like the chart, we can get close to all situations but not all.

slagr · Nov 28, 2011, 7:11 PM

I have two pfsense v.2 instances, i386 (2 different networks). pfBlocker has been installed on both ones.
It works just fine on one instance, and doesn't work on another - it doesn't block anything at all.
I have disabled all existing firewall rules, have checked tables in Diagnostics->Tables (they exist indeed) - everything looks just fine.
But when trying accessing internal network (WAN interface was selected for inbound rules), I'm not being blocked from the target
network which is supposed to be blocked. Tried adding custom rules list - no luck, added a country to block list - no luck to see it working.
The only difference between these 2 instances is that on pfBlocker has a combobox menu selector, another one has tabs.
Both were installed from GUI. I'm totally lost. Any ideas how to check why it didn't work ?

marcelloc · Nov 28, 2011, 8:04 PM

make sure you are using the same version on both.

gui was designed to fit tabs and prevent combolist.

also check pfblocker applied rules on wan or lan.

you need at least one rule on interface you want to apply rules.

if you don't mind, post your rules screenshot.

note: pfblocker use native pfsense functions to help admins. So if you have rules not working, check what is going wrong with your box.

Kamel · Nov 29, 2011, 12:05 AM

@marcelloc:

Forgive me if my comments seemed a bit tasteless. I got the impression marcelloc was insinuating that my abilities were insufficient. I know I shouldn't have so I apologize for that.

I'm not insinuating anything. I'm here to help the project just like everybody.
I'm sorry if my post sound offensive. It was not my intention.

I'm improving some help messages on package gui to help even more admins.
PfBlocker checks the ammount of entries in a list before apply, but it Does not sum all lists. I will try to include this in version 1.0.1. You maybe still getting this error if you have many rules or aliases. Just like the chart, we can get close to all situations but not all.

Increasing my firewall rules limit worked fine and it's fast with no issues (assuming I disable some other services to reduce my RAM consumption). I will admit, it was a bit of a pain figuring out what was wrong at first. Even many searches going by, it seemed people were referring to things like memory etc. I hadn't realized the number of rules in the blocklists were impacted by the number of firewall rules or I would have known what to do immediately.

In any case, thanks for that – I think it will be a simple enough but helpful addition. I know for me personally, I'll never make the mistake again :P

Kamel · Nov 29, 2011, 12:14 AM

@slagr:

it doesn't block anything at all.

This may sound silly, but do you have any catch-all rules that might be allowing the traffic to pass before the pfblocker rules have a chance to block it?

andrew0401 · Nov 29, 2011, 1:43 PM

Just loaded pfBlocker - initially it seemed to be just what we needed - (had a recent flurry of far eastern IP addresses appearing in the logs) - but whilst it works it seems that SquidGuard has stopped working.

Just me or have I missed a thread somewhere?

Andrew

slagr · Nov 29, 2011, 2:06 PM

@Kamel:

@slagr:

it doesn't block anything at all.

This may sound silly, but do you have any catch-all rules that might be allowing the traffic to pass before the pfblocker rules have a chance to block it?

For wan interface I disabled all rules, but not pfBlocker test one.
Don't have any floating rules for now. I'm trying to have as clean as possible system for testing.

slagr · Nov 29, 2011, 2:08 PM

@marcelloc:

make sure you are using the same version on both.

gui was designed to fit tabs and prevent combolist.

also check pfblocker applied rules on wan or lan.

you need at least one rule on interface you want to apply rules.

if you don't mind, post your rules screenshot.

note: pfblocker use native pfsense functions to help admins. So if you have rules not working, check what is going wrong with your box.

1. I'm sure.
2. Can see only combobox (uninstalled, rebooted, cleared config.xml before rebooting - no changes.)
3. See my screen shots
4. I have one (the same) rule in both cases.
5. Attached.
6. Where can I read how to use pfsense native functions ? I'm a pfsense novice.

Thanks for the help.

LinuxTracker · Nov 29, 2011, 10:16 PM

Since I installed pfBlocker, Aliases seem kind of wonky.
I've searched the thread+forum, but couldn't find the right answer to my problem.

If I create an alias in Firewall -> Aliases; the alias doesn't show up in the dropdown list (in Rules -> Destination -> Address field).
Only the Aliases created in pfBlocker are available.

If I type out the Alias Name (correctly) I get:

I've tried rebooting pfSense after creating the Alias but it didn't help.
Am I missing something?

marcelloc · Nov 30, 2011, 12:49 AM

slarg,

I think your are not on latest version, it should be

2.0-RELEASE
built on Tue Sep 13 17:05:32 EDT 2011

update it to release version, then test again.

marcelloc · Nov 30, 2011, 12:54 AM

LinuxTracker,

Port alias must be applied on port field, not in host field. ;)

LinuxTracker · Nov 30, 2011, 6:35 AM

@marcelloc:

LinuxTracker,
Port alias must be applied on port field, not in host field. ;)

Edited for block-headedness.

Yep. You is right on, you are.

I sho nuff stepped into that one.

andrew0401 · Nov 30, 2011, 8:07 AM

Why does pfBlock create duplicate rules (or at least they look like duplicates to me) and where does it log to? The dashboard widget is showing an increase in packet count but I seem unable to find out what is causing it.

Andrew

RonpfS · Nov 30, 2011, 8:35 AM

@andrew0401:

Why does pfBlock create duplicate rules (or at least they look like duplicates to me) and where does it log to? The dashboard widget is showing an increase in packet count but I seem unable to find out what is causing it.

Andrew

pfBlocker package log to Status: System logs: System
Just click Enable Logging under Firewall: pfBlocker for list action that are NOT Alias only.
The pfBlocker auto generated rules will log events under Status: System logs: Firewal.

When you use a pfBlocker Alias in your custom Firewall rules, select Log packets that are handled by this rule

You can see more details in the firewall logs when you enable Show raw filter logs under Status: System logs: Settings

andrew0401 · Nov 30, 2011, 10:46 AM

pfBlocker package log to Status: System logs: System

*** Thanks for the info

Just click Enable Logging under Firewall: pfBlocker for list action that are NOT Alias only.

*** Already set

The pfBlocker auto generated rules will log events under Status: System logs: Firewal.

*** Not found them

When you use a pfBlocker Alias in your custom Firewall rules, select Log packets that are handled by this rule

*** Already set

You can see more details in the firewall logs when you enable Show raw filter logs under Status: System logs: Settings

*** Still no sign of anything that matchs

Also why are all the rules duplicated?

Andrew

marcelloc · Nov 30, 2011, 11:03 AM

Also why are all the rules duplicated?

Can you take a screenshot of this duplicates?

*** Still no sign of anything that matchs

It will log as firewall rules, no extra info about pfBlocker package.

slagr · Nov 30, 2011, 6:17 PM

@marcelloc:

slarg,

I think your are not on latest version, it should be

2.0-RELEASE
built on Tue Sep 13 17:05:32 EDT 2011

update it to release version, then test again.

marcelloc, thank you. That was the problem. It works just fine now.
Thanks again for the excellent package.

andrew0401 · Dec 2, 2011, 11:43 AM

Duplicate rules on the WAN - if I delete one set then everything still works - but as soon as I open the pfblocker screen they reappear.

Also - when causes the count in the dashboard widget reset to zero?

Andrew

![New Picture.jpg](/public/imported_attachments/1/New Picture.jpg)
![New Picture.jpg_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/New Picture.jpg_thumb)

marcelloc · Dec 2, 2011, 12:08 PM

Do you have modified description rules? try to delete all pfblocker rules and then reaply config.

also check what version of pfBlocker you are using. Current version is 1.0

Everytime you apply rules, pfSense reset counters.

Just for suggestion, spyware and Adverts works better with action deny outbound, so while browsing pfsense reject connections to these sites/links.