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    WAN interface has ports 22 and 53 open

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • J
      jmb01
      last edited by

      The WAN interface of my pfsense system has both port 22 and port 53 open and I do not know why.There are no rules allowing traffic on these ports but they accept traffic. My question is why are they open by default and is the only way to close them with explicit rules on the WAN interface?

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      • J
        jmb01
        last edited by

        I should have added that this is a Netgate 1100 and the version on pfSense is 24.03-RELEASE (arm64) built on Thu Aug 22 3:32:00 NZST 2024 FreeBSD 15.0-CURRENT

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        • E
          elvisimprsntr @jmb01
          last edited by elvisimprsntr

          @jmb01

          Port 22 is for SSH
          Port 53 is for DNS

          pfSense doesn't open those by default. Are you sure it is pfSense? Some ISP modems have ports open for remote access/configuration, which might be what you are seeing.

          Run test here. Shields Up!

          Example, ATT upgraded me to a Pace 5268, which had port 22 open. I sent it back and reinstalled my old NVG599

          J B 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • J
            jmb01 @elvisimprsntr
            last edited by

            @elvisimprsntr The WAN interface does obtain its IP address from my ISPs device but would that open ports 22 and 53?

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            • E
              elvisimprsntr @jmb01
              last edited by elvisimprsntr

              @jmb01

              What scan method did you run to determine ports 22 and 53 are open. If you run an nmap scan from the LAN side, it will see ports 22 and 53 open, which is normal if you enabled SSH access and are running a DNS resolver/forwarder in pfSense

              As suggested, run the GRC Shields Up scan, which will scan for external open ports.

              https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

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              • J
                jmb01
                last edited by

                My pfSense firewall is behind a cable modem/"firewall" supplied by my ISP which is only open on the ports I opened. But I would still like to know why my pfSense has opened ports 22 and 53 on the WAN interface. I could explicitly block them, but I am interested as to why they are open and if it is something I have caused,

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                • J
                  jmb01
                  last edited by

                  I determined this by running nmap against the external IP address
                  sudo nmap -P0 192.168.1.192
                  [sudo] password for jmb01:
                  Starting Nmap 7.80 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2024-09-15 19:20 NZST
                  Nmap scan report for pfSense.hub (192.168.1.192)
                  Host is up (0.00069s latency).
                  Not shown: 996 filtered ports
                  PORT STATE SERVICE
                  22/tcp open ssh
                  25/tcp open smtp
                  53/tcp open domain
                  443/tcp open https

                  Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 4.75 seconds

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                  • E
                    elvisimprsntr @jmb01
                    last edited by

                    @jmb01

                    Again, what method did you use to determine ports 22 and 53 are open?

                    Run the GRC Shields Up!

                    I can't help you otherwise.

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                    • J
                      jmb01
                      last edited by

                      If I run the same nmap against the internal address it tells me ports 22, 53, and 443 are open, which what I expect

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                      • J
                        jmb01
                        last edited by

                        Unfortunately GRC Shields Up! only "sees" the ISP provided modem/firewall

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                        • E
                          elvisimprsntr @jmb01
                          last edited by

                          @jmb01 said in WAN interface has ports 22 and 53 open:

                          I determined this by running nmap against the external IP address
                          sudo nmap -P0 192.168.1.192
                          [sudo] password for jmb01:
                          Starting Nmap 7.80 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2024-09-15 19:20 NZST
                          Nmap scan report for pfSense.hub (192.168.1.192)
                          Host is up (0.00069s latency).
                          Not shown: 996 filtered ports
                          PORT STATE SERVICE
                          22/tcp open ssh
                          25/tcp open smtp
                          53/tcp open domain
                          443/tcp open https

                          Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 4.75 seconds

                          That is because you are running nmap from the LAN side, which will see all the open ports on the LAN side.

                          Use the GRC Shields Up!

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                          • E
                            elvisimprsntr @jmb01
                            last edited by

                            @jmb01 said in WAN interface has ports 22 and 53 open:

                            Unfortunately GRC Shields Up! only "sees" the ISP provided modem/firewall

                            That is what it is designed to do.

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                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              Or run nmap from a device connected to the ISP router so it's on the pfSense WAN subnet.

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                              • B
                                banalo @elvisimprsntr
                                last edited by

                                @elvisimprsntr said in WAN interface has ports 22 and 53 open:

                                ATT upgraded me to a Pace 5268, which had port 22 open. I sent it back and reinstalled my old NVG599

                                Christ.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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