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    Pfsense in Stateless mode

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Firewalling
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    • T
      Thoufiq @jimp
      last edited by

      @jimp If i want to allow all the traffic to my internal network from the internet, I only need four rules right?

      Please correct me if my configuration is wrong
      Eg....
      In LAN-Source any to destination LAN segment(x.x.x.x/23)
      Out WAN-Source Public subnet (y.y.y.y/z) to destination any
      In WAN-Source any to destination Public Subnet (y.y.y.y/z)
      Out LAN- Source LAN Segment (x.x.x.x/23) to Destination Any

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

        What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Why would you want/need a stateless firewall.. Is this the early 90s with old school packet filter?

        Do you mean you want a router? That doesn't firewall?

        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
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        T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • telservT
          telserv @Thoufiq
          last edited by

          @thoufiq Similar problem. Adding 'allow all' rules, with state type of none, stopped all tcp connections on that LAN subnet. There must be something special about floating rules that you and I don't understand.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • jimpJ
            jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate @Thoufiq
            last edited by

            @thoufiq said in Pfsense in Stateless mode:

            @jimp If i want to allow all the traffic to my internal network from the internet, I only need four rules right?

            Please correct me if my configuration is wrong
            Eg....
            In LAN-Source any to destination LAN segment(x.x.x.x/23)

            This is backwards. Traffic inbound on LAN is from your LAN segment, not to.

            Out WAN-Source Public subnet (y.y.y.y/z) to destination any

            That is OK

            In WAN-Source any to destination Public Subnet (y.y.y.y/z)

            That is OK

            Out LAN- Source LAN Segment (x.x.x.x/23) to Destination Any

            This is backward. Traffic exiting the LAN is going to your LAN.

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            T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • T
              Thoufiq @jimp
              last edited by

              @jimp Thanks...

              Yes i tried..but it still keeps the states for the particular traffic.

              jimpJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • T
                Thoufiq @johnpoz
                last edited by Thoufiq

                @johnpoz ๐Ÿ˜† We have pfsense firewalls to allow/restrict the external access.We configure ACLs on the switches to restrict the internal access and the ACLs are becoming large and unable to manage. So We want to install pfsense firewall to restrict the internal access (Easy rules management) and act as a packet filter without holding any state...

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                • johnpozJ
                  johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                  last edited by

                  @thoufiq said in Pfsense in Stateless mode:

                  act as a packet filter without holding any state...

                  Why would not just use it as a stateful firewall? Trying to manage firewall rules at a L3 switch is going to be a PITA!!! Use a real firewall-router if you need to make anything but the most sweeping sort of restrictions at your L3 switch..

                  Someone should prob step back and look at the network design to make it easier to manage!!

                  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

                  telservT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • telservT
                    telserv @johnpoz
                    last edited by

                    @johnpoz My problem is a piece of equipment that does something that pfSense detects as a state failure, so it shuts down all tcp connections on that subnet. In order to get the equipment going, I need an 'allow all' rule for both the subnet and IPsec, but that still doesn't prevent pfSense from blocking traffic. So the question of how to eliminate stateful inspection on one or more subnets is quite relevant.

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                    • jimpJ
                      jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate @Thoufiq
                      last edited by

                      @thoufiq said in Pfsense in Stateless mode:

                      @jimp Thanks...

                      Yes i tried..but it still keeps the states for the particular traffic.

                      Then your rules were not right. Maybe you didn't check 'quick' on the floating rules, or maybe some part of the traffic isn't matching them. Make sure they are at the top of the interface rule list (and floating rules list)

                      @telserv said in Pfsense in Stateless mode:

                      @johnpoz My problem is a piece of equipment that does something that pfSense detects as a state failure, so it shuts down all tcp connections on that subnet. In order to get the equipment going, I need an 'allow all' rule for both the subnet and IPsec, but that still doesn't prevent pfSense from blocking traffic. So the question of how to eliminate stateful inspection on one or more subnets is quite relevant.

                      So fix the other device so it doesn't do that :)

                      Or don't go stateless, but setup sloppy state rules:

                      https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/firewall/troubleshooting-blocked-log-entries-due-to-asymmetric-routing.html

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                      telservT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • telservT
                        telserv @jimp
                        last edited by

                        @jimp said in Pfsense in Stateless mode:

                        So fix the other device so it doesn't do that :)
                        Yea, don't I wish. Step 1 would be to define the problem, which I haven't been able to do yet.
                        Or don't go stateless, but setup sloppy state rules:
                        Unfortunately, sloppy state rules don't work either.

                        My current goal is to get this working in stateless mode, and then slowly add firewall rules to protect things. I tried it the other way around (firewall rules first), but couldn't get pfSense to work long enough to get any work done. So the question remains, after I've tried 'allow all' rules that have the state set to either keep, sloppy, or none, and that doesn't work, and I can't throw out the oddball product, what do I try next to allow traffic thru.

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