- Introduction
- UFW — Uncomplicated Firewall
- Basic Syntax and Examples
- Default rules are fine for the average home user
- Enable and Disable
- Enable UFW
- Disable UFW
- Allow and Deny (specific rules)
- Allow
- Deny
- Delete Existing Rule
- Services
- Allow by Service Name
- Deny by Service Name
- Status
- Logging
- Advanced Syntax
- Allow Access
- Allow by Specific IP
- Allow by Subnet
- Allow by specific port and IP address
- Allow by specific port, IP address and protocol
- Enable PING
- Deny Access
- Deny by specific IP
- Deny by specific port and IP address
- Working with numbered rules
- Listing rules with a reference number
- Editing numbered rules
- Delete numbered rule
- Insert numbered rule
- Advanced Example
- Interpreting Log Entries
- Pseudo Log Entry
- Date
- Hostname
- Uptime
- Logged Event
- IN
- OUT
- MAC
- SRC
- DST
- LEN
- TOS
- PREC
- TTL
- ID
- PROTO
- SPT
- DPT
- WINDOW
- RES
- SYN URGP
- Other Resources
- How to configure a firewall on Linux with firewalld
- Training & certification
- Check the firewalld configuration
- View zones
- Allow a port
- Reload firewalld
- Add a service
- Specify traffic by subnet
- List ports and services
- Know your firewall
Introduction
For an introduction to firewalls, please see Firewall.
UFW — Uncomplicated Firewall
The default firewall configuration tool for Ubuntu is ufw. Developed to ease iptables firewall configuration, ufw provides a user friendly way to create an IPv4 or IPv6 host-based firewall. By default UFW is disabled.
Gufw is a GUI that is available as a frontend.
Basic Syntax and Examples
Default rules are fine for the average home user
When you turn UFW on, it uses a default set of rules (profile) that should be fine for the average home user. That’s at least the goal of the Ubuntu developers. In short, all ‘incoming’ is being denied, with some exceptions to make things easier for home users.
Enable and Disable
Enable UFW
To turn UFW on with the default set of rules:
To check the status of UFW:
The output should be like this:
youruser@yourcomputer:~$ sudo ufw status verbose [sudo] password for youruser: Status: active Logging: on (low) Default: deny (incoming), allow (outgoing) New profiles: skip youruser@yourcomputer:~$
Note that by default, deny is being applied to incoming. There are exceptions, which can be found in the output of this command:
You can also read the rules files in /etc/ufw (the files whose names end with .rules).
Disable UFW
Allow and Deny (specific rules)
Allow
Deny
Delete Existing Rule
To delete a rule, simply prefix the original rule with delete. For example, if the original rule was:
sudo ufw delete deny 80/tcp
Services
You can also allow or deny by service name since ufw reads from /etc/services To see get a list of services:
Allow by Service Name
Deny by Service Name
Status
Checking the status of ufw will tell you if ufw is enabled or disabled and also list the current ufw rules that are applied to your iptables.
To check the status of ufw:
sudo ufw status Firewall loaded To Action From -- ------ ---- 22:tcp DENY 192.168.0.1 22:udp DENY 192.168.0.1 22:tcp DENY 192.168.0.7 22:udp DENY 192.168.0.7 22:tcp ALLOW 192.168.0.0/24 22:udp ALLOW 192.168.0.0/24
if ufw was not enabled the output would be:
sudo ufw status Status: inactive
Logging
Advanced Syntax
You can also use a fuller syntax, specifying the source and destination addresses, ports and protocols.
Allow Access
This section shows how to allow specific access.
Allow by Specific IP
sudo ufw allow from 207.46.232.182
Allow by Subnet
sudo ufw allow from 192.168.1.0/24
Allow by specific port and IP address
sudo ufw allow from to port
sudo ufw allow from 192.168.0.4 to any port 22
Allow by specific port, IP address and protocol
sudo ufw allow from to port proto
sudo ufw allow from 192.168.0.4 to any port 22 proto tcp
Enable PING
Note : Security by obscurity may be of very little actual benefit with modern cracker scripts. By default, UFW allows ping requests. You may find you wish to leave (icmp) ping requests enabled to diagnose networking problems.
In order to disable ping (icmp) requests, you need to edit /etc/ufw/before.rules and remove the following lines:
# ok icmp codes -A ufw-before-input -p icmp --icmp-type destination-unreachable -j ACCEPT -A ufw-before-input -p icmp --icmp-type source-quench -j ACCEPT -A ufw-before-input -p icmp --icmp-type time-exceeded -j ACCEPT -A ufw-before-input -p icmp --icmp-type parameter-problem -j ACCEPT -A ufw-before-input -p icmp --icmp-type echo-request -j ACCEPT
or change the «ACCEPT» to «DROP»
# ok icmp codes -A ufw-before-input -p icmp --icmp-type destination-unreachable -j DROP -A ufw-before-input -p icmp --icmp-type source-quench -j DROP -A ufw-before-input -p icmp --icmp-type time-exceeded -j DROP -A ufw-before-input -p icmp --icmp-type parameter-problem -j DROP -A ufw-before-input -p icmp --icmp-type echo-request -j DROP
Deny Access
Deny by specific IP
sudo ufw deny from 207.46.232.182
Deny by specific port and IP address
sudo ufw deny from to port
sudo ufw deny from 192.168.0.1 to any port 22
Working with numbered rules
Listing rules with a reference number
You may use status numbered to show the order and id number of rules:
Editing numbered rules
Delete numbered rule
You may then delete rules using the number. This will delete the first rule and rules will shift up to fill in the list.
Insert numbered rule
sudo ufw insert 1 allow from
Advanced Example
Scenario: You want to block access to port 22 from 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.7 but allow all other 192.168.0.x IPs to have access to port 22 using tcp
sudo ufw deny from 192.168.0.1 to any port 22 sudo ufw deny from 192.168.0.7 to any port 22 sudo ufw allow from 192.168.0.0/24 to any port 22 proto tcp
This puts the specific rules first and the generic second. Once a rule is matched the others will not be evaluated (see manual below) so you must put the specific rules first. As rules change you may need to delete old rules to ensure that new rules are put in the proper order.
To check your rules orders you can check the status; for the scenario the output below is the desired output for the rules to work properly
sudo ufw status Firewall loaded To Action From -- ------ ---- 22:tcp DENY 192.168.0.1 22:udp DENY 192.168.0.1 22:tcp DENY 192.168.0.7 22:udp DENY 192.168.0.7 22:tcp ALLOW 192.168.0.0/24
Scenario change: You want to block access to port 22 to 192.168.0.3 as well as 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.7.
sudo ufw delete allow from 192.168.0.0/24 to any port 22 sudo ufw status Firewall loaded To Action From -- ------ ---- 22:tcp DENY 192.168.0.1 22:udp DENY 192.168.0.1 22:tcp DENY 192.168.0.7 22:udp DENY 192.168.0.7 sudo ufw deny 192.168.0.3 to any port 22 sudo ufw allow 192.168.0.0/24 to any port 22 proto tcp sudo ufw status Firewall loaded To Action From -- ------ ---- 22:tcp DENY 192.168.0.1 22:udp DENY 192.168.0.1 22:tcp DENY 192.168.0.7 22:udp DENY 192.168.0.7 22:tcp DENY 192.168.0.3 22:udp DENY 192.168.0.3 22:tcp ALLOW 192.168.0.0/24
If you simply add the deny rule the allow would have been above it and been applied instead of the deny
Interpreting Log Entries
Based on the response to the post UFW log guide/tutorial ?.
The SPT and DPT values, along with SRC and DST values, will typically be the values you’ll focus on when analysing the firewall logs.
Pseudo Log Entry
Feb 4 23:33:37 hostname kernel: [ 3529.289825] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:aa:bb:cc:dd SRC=444.333.222.111 DST=111.222.333.444 LEN=103 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=52 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=53 DPT=36427 LEN=83
Date
It’s good practice to watch the dates and times. If things are out of order or blocks of time are missing then an attacker probably messed with your logs.
Hostname
Uptime
The time in seconds since boot.
Logged Event
Short description of the logged event; e.g. [UFW BLOCK]
IN
If set, then the event was an incoming event.
OUT
If set, then the event was an outgoing event.
MAC
This provides a 14-byte combination of the Destination MAC, Source MAC, and EtherType fields, following the order found in the Ethernet II header. See Ethernet frame and EtherType for more information.
SRC
This indicates the source IP, who sent the packet initially. Some IPs are routable over the internet, some will only communicate over a LAN, and some will only route back to the source computer. See IP address for more information.
DST
This indicates the destination IP, who is meant to receive the packet. You can use whois.net or the cli whois to determine the owner of the IP address.
LEN
This indicates the length of the packet.
TOS
I believe this refers to the TOS field of the IPv4 header. See TCP Processing of the IPv4 Precedence Field for more information.
PREC
I believe this refers to the Precedence field of the IPv4 header.
TTL
This indicates the “Time to live” for the packet. Basically each packet will only bounce through the given number of routers before it dies and disappears. If it hasn’t found its destination before the TTL expires, then the packet will evaporate. This field keeps lost packets from clogging the internet forever. See Time to live for more information.
ID
Not sure what this one is, but it’s not really important for reading logs. It might be ufw’s internal ID system, it might be the operating system’s ID.
PROTO
This indicates the protocol of the packet — TCP or UDP. See TCP and UDP Ports Explained for more information.
SPT
This indicates the source. I believe this is the port, which the SRC IP sent the IP packet over. See List of TCP and UDP port numbers for more information.
DPT
This indicates the destination port. I believe this is the port, which the SRC IP sent its IP packet to, expecting a service to be running on this port.
WINDOW
This indicates the size of packet the sender is willing to receive.
RES
This bit is reserved for future use & is always set to 0. Basically it’s irrelevant for log reading purposes.
SYN URGP
SYN indicates that this connection requires a three-way handshake, which is typical of TCP connections. URGP indicates whether the urgent pointer field is relevant. 0 means it’s not. Doesn’t really matter for firewall log reading.
Other Resources
- For instructions on using ufw first see the official server guide.
- The most recent syntax and manual can be retrieved by getting the man page. Otherwise open a terminal window and type:
UFW (последним исправлял пользователь paulw2u 2017-03-31 14:52:46)
The material on this wiki is available under a free license, see Copyright / License for details
You can contribute to this wiki, see Wiki Guide for details
How to configure a firewall on Linux with firewalld
Learn how to install, configure, and use firewalld to restrict or allow a computer’s access to services, ports, networks, subnets, and IP addresses.
Firewalld is an open source, host-based firewall that seeks to prevent unauthorized access to your computer. A firewall is usually a minimum requirement by any information security team at any modern organization, but it’s also a good idea for general computer use.
Training & certification
Firewalld can restrict access to services, ports, and networks. You can block specific subnets and IP addresses.
As with any firewall, firewalld inspects all traffic traversing the various interfaces on your system. The traffic is allowed or rejected if the source address network matches a rule.
Firewalld uses the concept of zones to segment traffic that interacts with your system. A network interface is assigned to one or more zones, and each zone contains a list of allowed ports and services. A default zone is also available to manage traffic that does not match any zones.
Firewalld is the daemon’s name that maintains the firewall policies. Use the firewall-cmd command to interact with the firewalld configuration.
Check the firewalld configuration
Before getting started, confirm that firewalld is running:
The output is either running or not running. To start your firewall if it’s not running, use systemctl :
$ sudo systemctl --enable --now firewalld
View zones
To view all zones on a system, use the —get-zones option:
$ sudo firewall-cmd --get-zones
To display the default zone, use —get-default-zone :
$ sudo firewall-cmd --get-default-zone
By default, if firewalld is enabled and running and in the public zone, all incoming traffic is rejected except SSH and DHCP.
Allow a port
To allow traffic from any IP through a specific port, use the —add-port option along with the port number and protocol:
$ sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=80/tcp
This rule takes effect immediately but only lasts until the next reboot. Add the —permanent flag to make it persistent:
$ sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=80/tcp --permanent
Reload firewalld
I prefer to reload my firewall after making changes. To reload firewalld and all permanent rules:
Add a service
There are predefined services you can allow through your firewall. To see all predefined services available on your system:
$ sudo firewall-cmd --get-services
For example, to add the HTTP service to your firewall permanently, enter:
$ sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=http --permanent $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload
Specify traffic by subnet
You can assign traffic coming from a particular subnet to a specific zone (which allows specific ports and services, possibly unique to just that zone).
For example, to assign the network 172.16.1.0/24 to the internal zone and to allow the Jenkins service:
$ sudo firewall-cmd --zone=internal \ --add-source=172.16.1.0/24 --permanent $ sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=jenkins --permanent $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload
List ports and services
You can list all ports and services allowed in the default zone using the —list-all option:
To view all settings for all zones, use —list-all-zones :
$ sudo firewall-cmd --list-all-zones
Know your firewall
A good firewall is an essential feature on modern computer systems, and firewalld is one of the most convenient available. Its commands are intuitive and clear, and its ability to report useful descriptions of its policies makes it easy to understand. Review your firewall settings, and try out some firewall-cmd commands today.