Iptables Essentials: Common Firewall Rules and Commands.
Iptables Rules
Saving Rules
Debian Based
netfilter-persistent save
RedHat Based
service iptables save
List out all of the active iptables rules with verbose
iptables -n -L -v
List out all of the active iptables rules with numeric lines and verbose
iptables -n -L -v --line-numbers
Print out all of the active iptables rules
iptables -S
List Rules as Tables for INPUT chain
iptables -L INPUT
Print all of the rule specifications in the INPUT chain
iptables -S INPUT
Show Packet Counts and Aggregate Size
iptables -L INPUT -v
To display INPUT or OUTPUT chain rules with numeric lines and verbose
iptables -L INPUT -n -v
iptables -L OUTPUT -n -v --line-numbers
Delete Rule by Chain and Number
iptables -D INPUT 10
Delete Rule by Specification
iptables -D INPUT -m conntrack --ctstate INVALID -j DROP
Flush All Rules, Delete All Chains, and Accept All
iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPTiptables -t nat -F
iptables -t mangle -F
iptables -F
iptables -X
Flush All Chains
iptables -F
Flush a Single Chain
iptables -F INPUT
Insert Firewall Rules
iptables -I INPUT 2 -s 202.54.1.2 -j DROP
Allow Loopback Connections
iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT
Allow Established and Related Incoming Connections
iptables -A INPUT -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
Allow Established Outgoing Connections
iptables -A OUTPUT -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Internal to External
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth1 -o eth0 -j ACCEPT
Drop Invalid Packets
iptables -A INPUT -m conntrack --ctstate INVALID -j DROP
Block an IP Address
iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.252.10 -j DROP
Block and IP Address and Reject
iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.252.10 -j REJECT
Block Connections to a Network Interface
iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -s 192.168.252.10 -j DROP
Allow All Incoming SSH
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 22 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow Incoming SSH from Specific IP address or subnet
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 192.168.240.0/24 --dport 22 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 22 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow Outgoing SSH
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --sport 22 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow Incoming Rsync from Specific IP Address or Subnet
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 192.168.240.0/24 --dport 873 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 873 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow All Incoming HTTP
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 80 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow All Incoming HTTPS
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 443 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow All Incoming HTTP and HTTPS
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m multiport --dports 80,443 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m multiport --dports 80,443 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow MySQL from Specific IP Address or Subnet
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 192.168.240.0/24 --dport 3306 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 3306 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow MySQL to Specific Network Interface
iptables -A INPUT -i eth1 -p tcp --dport 3306 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -o eth1 -p tcp --sport 3306 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
PostgreSQL from Specific IP Address or Subnet
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 192.168.240.0/24 --dport 5432 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 5432 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow PostgreSQL to Specific Network Interface
iptables -A INPUT -i eth1 -p tcp --dport 5432 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -o eth1 -p tcp --sport 5432 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Block Outgoing SMTP Mail
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 25 -j REJECT
Allow All Incoming SMTP
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 25 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 25 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow All Incoming IMAP
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 143 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 143 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow All Incoming IMAPS
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 993 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 993 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow All Incoming POP3
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 110 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 110 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Allow All Incoming POP3S
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 995 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 995 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
Drop Private Network Address On Public Interface
iptables -A INPUT -i eth1 -s 192.168.0.0/24 -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -i eth1 -s 10.0.0.0/8 -j DROP
Drop All Outgoing to Facebook Networks
Get Facebook AS:
whois -h v4.whois.cymru.com " -v $(host facebook.com | grep "has address" | cut -d " " -f4)" | tail -n1 | awk '{print $1}'
Drop:
for i in $(whois -h whois.radb.net -- '-i origin AS32934' | grep "^route:" | cut -d ":" -f2 | sed -e 's/^[ \t]*//' | sort -n -t . -k 1,1 -k 2,2 -k 3,3 -k 4,4 | cut -d ":" -f2 | sed 's/$/;/') ; do iptables -A OUTPUT -s "$i" -j REJECTdone
Log and Drop Packets
iptables -A INPUT -i eth1 -s 10.0.0.0/8 -j LOG --log-prefix "IP_SPOOF A: "
iptables -A INPUT -i eth1 -s 10.0.0.0/8 -j DROP
By default everything is logged to /var/log/messages
file:
tail -f /var/log/messages
grep --color 'IP SPOOF' /var/log/messages
Log and Drop Packets with Limited Number of Log Entries
iptables -A INPUT -i eth1 -s 10.0.0.0/8 -m limit --limit 5/m --limit-burst 7 -j LOG --log-prefix "IP_SPOOF A: "
iptables -A INPUT -i eth1 -s 10.0.0.0/8 -j DROP
Drop or Accept Traffic From Mac Address
iptables -A INPUT -m mac --mac-source 00:0F:EA:91:04:08 -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --destination-port 22 -m mac --mac-source 00:0F:EA:91:04:07 -j ACCEPT
Block or Allow ICMP Ping Request
iptables -A INPUT -p icmp --icmp-type echo-request -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -i eth1 -p icmp --icmp-type echo-request -j DROP
Specifying Multiple Ports with multiport
iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m multiport --dports ssh,smtp,http,https -j ACCEPT
Loach*
_ips=("172.31.250.10" "172.31.250.11" "172.31.250.12" "172.31.250.13")for ip in "${_ips[@]}" ; do
iptables -A PREROUTING -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 80 -m state --state NEW -m nth --counter 0 --every 4 --packet 0 \
-j DNAT --to-destination ${ip}:80
done
or
_ips=("172.31.250.10" "172.31.250.11" "172.31.250.12" "172.31.250.13")for ip in "${_ips[@]}" ; do
iptables -A PREROUTING -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 80 -m state --state NEW -m random --average 25 \
-j DNAT --to-destination ${ip}:80
done
Restricting the Number of Connections with limit
and iplimit*
iptables -A FORWARD -m state --state NEW -p tcp -m multiport --dport http,https -o eth0 -i eth1 \
-m limit --limit 20/hour --limit-burst 5 -j ACCEPT
or
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW --dport http -m iplimit --iplimit-above 5 -j DROP
Maintaining a List of recent Connections to Match Against
iptables -A FORWARD -m recent --name portscan --rcheck --seconds 100 -j DROP
iptables -A FORWARD -p tcp -i eth0 --dport 443 -m recent --name portscan --set -j DROP
Matching Against a string*
in a Packet's Data Payload
iptables -A FORWARD -m string --string '.com' -j DROP
iptables -A FORWARD -m string --string '.exe' -j DROP
Time-based Rules with time*
iptables -A FORWARD -p tcp -m multiport --dport http,https -o eth0 -i eth1 \
-m time --timestart 21:30 --timestop 22:30 --days Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri -j ACCEPT
Packet Matching Based on TTL Values
iptables -A INPUT -s 1.2.3.4 -m ttl --ttl-lt 40 -j REJECT
Protection against port scanning
iptables -N port-scanning
iptables -A port-scanning -p tcp --tcp-flags SYN,ACK,FIN,RST RST -m limit --limit 1/s --limit-burst 2 -j RETURN
iptables -A port-scanning -j DROP
SSH brute-force protection
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport ssh -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -m recent --set
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport ssh -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -m recent --update --seconds 60 --hitcount 10 -j DROP
Syn-flood protection
iptables -N syn_floodiptables -A INPUT -p tcp --syn -j syn_flood
iptables -A syn_flood -m limit --limit 1/s --limit-burst 3 -j RETURN
iptables -A syn_flood -j DROPiptables -A INPUT -p icmp -m limit --limit 1/s --limit-burst 1 -j ACCEPTiptables -A INPUT -p icmp -m limit --limit 1/s --limit-burst 1 -j LOG --log-prefix PING-DROP:
iptables -A INPUT -p icmp -j DROPiptables -A OUTPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT
Mitigating SYN Floods With SYNPROXY
iptables -t raw -A PREROUTING -p tcp -m tcp --syn -j CT --notrack
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp -m conntrack --ctstate INVALID,UNTRACKED -j SYNPROXY --sack-perm --timestamp --wscale 7 --mss 1460
iptables -A INPUT -m conntrack --ctstate INVALID -j DROP
Block New Packets That Are Not SYN
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp ! --syn -m state --state NEW -j DROP
or
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp ! --syn -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -j DROP
Force Fragments packets check
iptables -A INPUT -f -j DROP
XMAS packets
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --tcp-flags ALL ALL -j DROP
Drop all NULL packets
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --tcp-flags ALL NONE -j DROP
Block Uncommon MSS Values
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -m tcpmss ! --mss 536:65535 -j DROP
Block Packets With Bogus TCP Flags
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags FIN,SYN,RST,PSH,ACK,URG NONE -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags FIN,SYN FIN,SYN -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags SYN,RST SYN,RST -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags FIN,RST FIN,RST -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags FIN,ACK FIN -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ACK,URG URG -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ACK,FIN FIN -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ACK,PSH PSH -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ALL ALL -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ALL NONE -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ALL FIN,PSH,URG -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ALL SYN,FIN,PSH,URG -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ALL SYN,RST,ACK,FIN,URG -j DROP
Block Packets From Private Subnets (Spoofing)
_subnets=("224.0.0.0/3" "169.254.0.0/16" "172.16.0.0/12" "192.0.2.0/24" "192.168.0.0/16" "10.0.0.0/8" "0.0.0.0/8" "240.0.0.0/5")for _sub in "${_subnets[@]}" ; do
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s "$_sub" -j DROP
done
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s 127.0.0.0/8 ! -i lo -j DROP