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

    Firewall rules ignored or overridden?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Firewalling
    46 Posts 4 Posters 11.9k 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.
    • johnpozJ Offline
      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
      last edited by

      " I see TCP 993 connections being opened and closed."

      Post up this sniff..  As Derelict stated if client or server is sending fin??  Did the other ack with a fin as well.. Fin does not mean the connection has to be closed, it is just stating hey I am done, are you done too?

      You really need to see the sniff of the conversation to figure out what is going on.  If you have conversation being closed and then still trying to talk on it that is a problem.  Because yes when the firewall see's that devices closed their conversation he will remove the state, and until his sees a new conversation with syn, those packets would be out of state and dropped.

      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

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • D Offline
        deadbolt_forum
        last edited by

        Okay, I've made some progress but the issue is still not resolved.

        From the pfsense terminal:
        telnet imap.gmail.com 993;  //Successful connection
        telnet imap-mail.outlook.com 993;  //Successful connection
        telnet imap.mail.yahoo.com 993;  //Successful connection
        telent imap.comcast.net 993;  //Successful connection
        telnet imap.aol.com 993;  //Successful connection

        From any workstation:
        telnet imap.gmail.com 993;  //Successful connection
        telnet imap-mail.outlook.com 993;  //Connection fails
        telnet imap.mail.yahoo.com 993;  //Connection fails
        telent imap.comcast.net 993;  //Successful connection
        telnet imap.aol.com 993;  //Connection fails

        For IMAP servers that fail, a packet capture on the LAN shows the following:
        1. Initial Syn packet from the workstation
        2. Followed by a tcp retransmission to the same IMAP server 1sec later
        3. Every 1sec another retransmission occurs

        It looks like pfsense silently drops a packet so the connection never succeeds.  The strange thing is that this doesn't occur for all IMAP servers.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • DerelictD Offline
          Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
          last edited by

          What magical packages like pfblocker, snort, suricata, squid, and squidguard are you running?

          Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
          A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
          DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
          Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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

            So your saying the packet never goes out the wan?  But you see it on the lan of pfsense..

            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

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • D Offline
              deadbolt_forum
              last edited by

              No relevant packages installed.  Just Status_Traffic_Totals for bandwidth stats.

              I just performed a packet capture from the WAN interface and I am seeing tcp retransmissions from the IMAP server to m public IP.  It looks like only the SYN packet makes it out.  After that the SYN/ACK gets dropped so both sides keep retransmitting.  The workstation sends SYNs and the IMAP server sends SYN/ACKs.

              Also, pfsense logs the blocked packet sometimes.  When it does, it is listed as:
              The rule that triggered this action is:
              @5(1000000103) block drop in log inet all label "Default deny rule IPv4"

              My LAN Firewall rule to pass IPv4+6 TCP out to port 993 should implicitly let this traffic back in.  It is letting the SYN out but the implied pass for the SYN/ACK back in is not being respected.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • D Offline
                deadbolt_forum
                last edited by

                Note that I did have packages installed in the past however I have since removed them and they reported that the removal was successful.  So unless package removal is totally broken, then there should be no package filtering.  This should be purely a pfsense filtering issue.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • DerelictD Offline
                  Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                  last edited by

                  Get the IP address of the server and while all that is going on, what states do you have in Diagnostics > States?. You can filter on the IMAP server IP address there. That will catch both WAN and LAN states.

                  No, packages removed should be OK.

                  Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                  A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                  DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                  Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • D Offline
                    deadbolt_forum
                    last edited by

                    See image.

                    1.png
                    1.png_thumb

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

                      If pfsense does not see the syn,ack back the state would never go into established and would time out in by default 30 seconds.  Then packets after that would be dropped by the default rule because there would be no state.

                      It could be less than 30 sec if you messed with the setting on the firewall..

                      "After that the SYN/ACK gets dropped so both sides keep retransmitting."

                      Gets dropped where?  Your saying you see this syn,ack on your wan sniff??

                      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

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • DerelictD Offline
                        Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                        last edited by

                        Well, there are your firewall states. All looks fine. I didn't look far enough over - you guys and your large screen captures… So what are the exact blocked packets you are seeing on WAN?

                        This all just works. Not sure what you did to break it.

                        If you feel like it do a Diagnostics > Command Prompt and execute cat /tmp/rules.debug and paste the results in a PM.

                        Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                        A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                        DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                        Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • D Offline
                          deadbolt_forum
                          last edited by

                          I'm looking through rules.debug and near the top I see entries that concern me.  Specifically the following:
                          #Snort tables
                          table <snort2c>table <virusprot>As I mentioned previously, I initially installed some ports but subsequently removed them and success was reported.  Would successful removal of the relevant ports also remove these artifacts or are these inactive entries in the ruleset which have accumulated from the previous ports but which now have no effect?</virusprot></snort2c>

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • DerelictD Offline
                            Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                            last edited by

                            Those are always there. I don't think that's it.

                            From the PM'd pcap it looks like IPv6 is working and IPv4 is broken. That is probably the difference between the different IMAP servers.

                            Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                            A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                            DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                            Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • DerelictD Offline
                              Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                              last edited by

                              Yeah. the presence of AAAA records corresponds to the servers you report as working. The ones that fail do not have AAAA records.

                              So un-do whatever you did for IPv4 and make it look like IPv6 and you should be GTG. :)

                              Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                              A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                              DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                              Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • D Offline
                                deadbolt_forum
                                last edited by

                                Not so easy.

                                Floating Rules:
                                All rules here are pass or match and unrelated.

                                WAN Rules:
                                All rules here are pass except for pfsense's block RFC1918 and block bogons.

                                LAN Rules:
                                All rules here are pass except for NETBIOS on my network.
                                Also, the rule allowing traffic bound for 993 is an IPv4+6 rule so if it is passing v6 traffic then presumably it is passing v4 traffic as well.

                                Unless there are some other hidden rules then that is everything.

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

                                  Yeah looks like you have ipv6 working, but don't see the start of that conversation.  But looks like all your ipv4 is borked..

                                  Where exactly did you sniff this??  Looks like syn,ack is sent from public to a private.. But no answer??

                                  torfc1918.png
                                  torfc1918.png_thumb

                                  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

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • DerelictD Offline
                                    Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                    last edited by

                                    Not sure what to tell you, man. You screwed the pooch somewhere along the way.

                                    Send your /tmp/rules.debug

                                    Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                                    A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                                    DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                                    Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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

                                      That is a microsoft IP..  Clearly its sending a syn,ack to private IP address. So that was on the LAN of pfsense??  Where was this sniff taken?

                                      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

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • DerelictD Offline
                                        Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                        last edited by

                                        You don't have like LAN and WAN on the same dumb switch or something do you? Something's not right there. It's like that capture contains both pre-nat and post-nat replies.

                                        Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                                        A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                                        DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                                        Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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

                                          So yeah this is odd..  Looks like wan sniff showing your public IP sending syn to the public IP.  And you see the syn,ack back.  And then you see the syn,ack sent on to the rfc1918 address??  But then you see a retrans of the syn back to the server from your public..

                                          So the client never saw the syn,ack so its resending syn..  But if we are seeing the lan side of this - where was the syn from the client?

                                          Need to understand where you sniff this at..  Something is not right here.. If we were seeing both wan and lan sides of the sniff.. Then we should of seen the incoming syn to to the pfsense lan, and then it going out the public, then the syn,ack coming back, and then it going out the lan, etc..  But where is the original syn from the 192.168.1.40 addess if that is the case??

                                          You got some sort of asymmetrical issue going on??  Where the syn from the client is coming into pfsense, but its sending the traffic back to the client on wrong interface?  But where exactly are you sniffing that seeing both wan and lan traffic?

                                          odd.png
                                          odd.png_thumb

                                          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

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • D Offline
                                            deadbolt_forum
                                            last edited by

                                            Sorry for the delay.

                                            The issue where I could not telnet to port 993 was caused by a Floating Pass rule allowing outbound traffic to TCP 993 in an attempt to solve the original issue.  It is counter intuitive that a pass rule would cause traffic to get blocked however it looks like the floating rule prevented the TCP session which was originally allowed by the LAN rule passing TCP 993.

                                            Although I can now telnet successfully to mailservers on port 993, the original issue still persists.  See screenshot.  I am trying to come up with an appropriate packet capture that I can provide to show this however I am having trouble sanitizing the capture to not reveal private information.

                                            993.png
                                            993.png_thumb

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.