iptables — administration tool for IPv4 packet filtering and NAT

iptables [-t table] {-A|-D} chain rule-specification

iptables [-t table] -I chain [rulenum] rule-specification

iptables [-t table] -R chain rulenum rule-specification

iptables [-t table] -D chain rulenum

iptables [-t table] -S [chain [rulenum]]

iptables [-t table] {-F|-L|-Z} [chain [rulenum]] [options...]

iptables [-t table] -N chain

iptables [-t table] -X [chain]

iptables [-t table] -P chain target

iptables [-t table] -E old-chain-name new-chain-name

rule-specification = [matches...] [target]

match = -m matchname [per-match-options]

target = -j targetname [per-target-options]

Iptables is used to set up, maintain, and inspect the
tables of IPv4 packet
filter rules in the Linux kernel. Several different tables
may be defined. Each table contains a number of built-in
chains and may also contain user-defined chains.

Each chain is a list of rules which can match a set of packets. Each
rule specifies what to do with a packet that matches. This is called
a `target', which may be a jump to a user-defined chain in the same
table.

A firewall rule specifies criteria for a packet and a target. If the
packet does not match, the next rule in the chain is the examined; if
it does match, then the next rule is specified by the value of the
target, which can be the name of a user-defined chain or one of the
special values ACCEPT, DROP, QUEUE or RETURN.

ACCEPT means to let the packet through.
DROP means to drop the packet on the floor.
QUEUE means to pass the packet to userspace.
(How the packet can be received
by a userspace process differs by the particular queue handler. 2.4.x
and 2.6.x kernels up to 2.6.13 include the ip_queue
queue handler. Kernels 2.6.14 and later additionally include the
nfnetlink_queue queue handler. Packets with a target of QUEUE will be
sent to queue number '0' in this case. Please also see the NFQUEUE
target as described later in this man page.)
RETURN means stop traversing this chain and resume at the next
rule in the
previous (calling) chain. If the end of a built-in chain is reached
or a rule in a built-in chain with target RETURN
is matched, the target specified by the chain policy determines the
fate of the packet.

There are currently three independent tables (which tables are present
at any time depends on the kernel configuration options and which
modules are present).

-t, --table table

This option specifies the packet matching table which the command
should operate on. If the kernel is configured with automatic module
loading, an attempt will be made to load the appropriate module for
that table if it is not already there.

The tables are as follows:

filter:

This is the default table (if no -t option is passed). It contains
the built-in chains INPUT (for packets destined to local sockets),
FORWARD (for packets being routed through the box), and
OUTPUT (for locally-generated packets).

nat:

This table is consulted when a packet that creates a new
connection is encountered. It consists of three built-ins: PREROUTING
(for altering packets as soon as they come in), OUTPUT
(for altering locally-generated packets before routing), and POSTROUTING
(for altering packets as they are about to go out).

mangle:

This table is used for specialized packet alteration. Until kernel
2.4.17 it had two built-in chains: PREROUTING
(for altering incoming packets before routing) and OUTPUT
(for altering locally-generated packets before routing).
Since kernel 2.4.18, three other built-in chains are also supported:
INPUT (for packets coming into the box itself), FORWARD
(for altering packets being routed through the box), and POSTROUTING
(for altering packets as they are about to go out).

raw:

This table is used mainly for configuring exemptions from connection
tracking in combination with the NOTRACK target. It registers at the netfilter
hooks with higher priority and is thus called before ip_conntrack, or any other
IP tables. It provides the following built-in chains: PREROUTING
(for packets arriving via any network interface) OUTPUT
(for packets generated by local processes)

The options that are recognized by
iptables can be divided into several different groups.

These options specify the desired action to perform. Only one of them
can be specified on the command line unless otherwise stated
below. For long versions of the command and option names, you
need to use only enough letters to ensure that
iptables can differentiate it from all other options.

-A, --append chain rule-specification

Append one or more rules to the end of the selected chain.
When the source and/or destination names resolve to more than one
address, a rule will be added for each possible address combination.

-D, --delete chain rule-specification

 iptables -t nat -n -L

Please note that it is often used with the -n
option, in order to avoid long reverse DNS lookups.
It is legal to specify the -Z
(zero) option as well, in which case the chain(s) will be atomically
listed and zeroed. The exact output is affected by the other
arguments given. The exact rules are suppressed until you use

 iptables -L -v

The following parameters make up a rule specification (as used in the
add, delete, insert, replace and append commands).

[!] -p, --protocol protocol

The protocol of the rule or of the packet to check.
The specified protocol can be one of tcp, udp, udplite,
icmp, esp, ah, sctp or all,
or it can be a numeric value, representing one of these protocols or a
different one. A protocol name from /etc/protocols is also allowed.
A "!" argument before the protocol inverts the
test. The number zero is equivalent to all.
Protocol all
will match with all protocols and is taken as default when this
option is omitted.

[!] -s, --source address[/mask][,...]

Source specification. Address
can be either a network name, a hostname, a network IP address (with
/mask), or a plain IP address. Hostnames will
be resolved once only, before the rule is submitted to the kernel.
Please note that specifying any name to be resolved with a remote query such as
DNS is a really bad idea.
The mask
can be either a network mask or a plain number,
specifying the number of 1's at the left side of the network mask.
Thus, a mask of 24 is equivalent to 255.255.255.0.
A "!" argument before the address specification inverts the sense of
the address. The flag --src is an alias for this option.
Multiple addresses can be specified, but this will expand to multiple
rules (when adding with -A), or will cause multiple rules to be
deleted (with -D).

[!] -d, --destination address[/mask][,...]

Destination specification.
See the description of the -s
(source) flag for a detailed description of the syntax. The flag
--dst is an alias for this option.

-j, --jump target

This specifies the target of the rule; i.e., what to do if the packet
matches it. The target can be a user-defined chain (other than the
one this rule is in), one of the special builtin targets which decide
the fate of the packet immediately, or an extension (see EXTENSIONS
below). If this
option is omitted in a rule (and -g
is not used), then matching the rule will have no
effect on the packet's fate, but the counters on the rule will be
incremented.

-g, --goto chain

This specifies that the processing should continue in a user
specified chain. Unlike the --jump option return will not continue
processing in this chain but instead in the chain that called us via
--jump.

[!] -i, --in-interface name

Name of an interface via which a packet was received (only for
packets entering the INPUT, FORWARD and PREROUTING
chains). When the "!" argument is used before the interface name, the
sense is inverted. If the interface name ends in a "+", then any
interface which begins with this name will match. If this option is
omitted, any interface name will match.

[!] -o, --out-interface name

Name of an interface via which a packet is going to be sent (for packets
entering the FORWARD, OUTPUT and POSTROUTING
chains). When the "!" argument is used before the interface name, the
sense is inverted. If the interface name ends in a "+", then any
interface which begins with this name will match. If this option is
omitted, any interface name will match.

[!] -f, --fragment

This means that the rule only refers to second and further fragments
of fragmented packets. Since there is no way to tell the source or
destination ports of such a packet (or ICMP type), such a packet will
not match any rules which specify them. When the "!" argument
precedes the "-f" flag, the rule will only match head fragments, or
unfragmented packets.

-c, --set-counters packets bytes

This enables the administrator to initialize the packet and byte
counters of a rule (during INSERT, APPEND, REPLACE
operations).

The following additional options can be specified:

-v, --verbose

Verbose output. This option makes the list command show the interface
name, the rule options (if any), and the TOS masks. The packet and
byte counters are also listed, with the suffix 'K', 'M' or 'G' for
1000, 1,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 multipliers respectively (but see
the -x flag to change this).
For appending, insertion, deletion and replacement, this causes
detailed information on the rule or rules to be printed.

-n, --numeric

Numeric output.
IP addresses and port numbers will be printed in numeric format.
By default, the program will try to display them as host names,
network names, or services (whenever applicable).

-x, --exact

Expand numbers.
Display the exact value of the packet and byte counters,
instead of only the rounded number in K's (multiples of 1000)
M's (multiples of 1000K) or G's (multiples of 1000M). This option is
only relevant for the -L command.

--line-numbers

When listing rules, add line numbers to the beginning of each rule,
corresponding to that rule's position in the chain.

--modprobe=command

When adding or inserting rules into a chain, use command
to load any necessary modules (targets, match extensions, etc).

iptables can use extended packet matching modules. These are loaded
in two ways: implicitly, when -p or --protocol
is specified, or with the -m or --match
options, followed by the matching module name; after these, various
extra command line options become available, depending on the specific
module. You can specify multiple extended match modules in one line,
and you can use the -h or --help
options after the module has been specified to receive help specific
to that module.

The following are included in the base package, and most of these can
be preceded by a "!" to invert the sense of the match.

This module matches packets based on their
address type.
Address types are used within the kernel networking stack and categorize
addresses into various groups. The exact definition of that group depends on the specific layer three protocol.

The following address types are possible:

UNSPEC

INPUT
and
FORWARD
chains. It cannot be specified with the
--limit-iface-out
option.

OUTPUT
and
FORWARD
chains. It cannot be specified with the
--limit-iface-in
option.

This module matches the SPIs in Authentication header of IPsec packets.

[!] --ahspi spi[:spi]

Allows you to deploy gateway and back-end load-sharing clusters without the
need of load-balancers.

This match requires that all the nodes see the same packets. Thus, the cluster
match decides if this node has to handle a packet given the following options:

--cluster-total-nodes num

Set number of total nodes in cluster.

[!] --cluster-local-node num

Set the local node number ID.

[!] --cluster-local-nodemask mask

Set the local node number ID mask. You can use this option instead
of --cluster-local-node.

--cluster-hash-seed value

Set seed value of the Jenkins hash.

Example:

iptables -A PREROUTING -t mangle -i eth1 -m cluster
--cluster-total-nodes 2 --cluster-local-node 1
--cluster-hash-seed 0xdeadbeef
-j MARK --set-mark 0xffff

iptables -A PREROUTING -t mangle -i eth2 -m cluster
--cluster-total-nodes 2 --cluster-local-node 1
--cluster-hash-seed 0xdeadbeef
-j MARK --set-mark 0xffff

iptables -A PREROUTING -t mangle -i eth1
-m mark ! --mark 0xffff -j DROP

iptables -A PREROUTING -t mangle -i eth2
-m mark ! --mark 0xffff -j DROP

And the following commands to make all nodes see the same packets:

ip maddr add 01:00:5e:00:01:01 dev eth1

ip maddr add 01:00:5e:00:01:02 dev eth2

arptables -A OUTPUT -o eth1 --h-length 6
-j mangle --mangle-mac-s 01:00:5e:00:01:01

arptables -A INPUT -i eth1 --h-length 6
--destination-mac 01:00:5e:00:01:01
-j mangle --mangle-mac-d 00:zz:yy:xx:5a:27

arptables -A OUTPUT -o eth2 --h-length 6
-j mangle --mangle-mac-s 01:00:5e:00:01:02

arptables -A INPUT -i eth2 --h-length 6
--destination-mac 01:00:5e:00:01:02
-j mangle --mangle-mac-d 00:zz:yy:xx:5a:27

In the case of TCP connections, pickup facility has to be disabled
to avoid marking TCP ACK packets coming in the reply direction as
valid.

echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_tcp_loose

Allows you to add comments (up to 256 characters) to any rule.

--comment comment

Example:

iptables -A INPUT -i eth1 -m comment --comment "my local LAN"

Match by how many bytes or packets a connection (or one of the two
flows constituting the connection) has transferred so far, or by
average bytes per packet.

The counters are 64-bit and are thus not expected to overflow ;)

The primary use is to detect long-lived downloads and mark them to be
scheduled using a lower priority band in traffic control.

The transferred bytes per connection can also be viewed through
`conntrack -L` and accessed via ctnetlink.

NOTE that for connections which have no accounting information, the match will
always return false. The "net.netfilter.nf_conntrack_acct" sysctl flag controls
whether new connections will be byte/packet counted. Existing connection
flows will not be gaining/losing a/the accounting structure when be sysctl flag
is flipped.

[!] --connbytes from[:to]

match packets from a connection whose packets/bytes/average packet
size is more than FROM and less than TO bytes/packets. if TO is
omitted only FROM check is done. "!" is used to match packets not
falling in the range.

--connbytes-dir {original|reply|both}

which packets to consider

--connbytes-mode {packets|bytes|avgpkt}

whether to check the amount of packets, number of bytes transferred or
the average size (in bytes) of all packets received so far. Note that
when "both" is used together with "avgpkt", and data is going (mainly)
only in one direction (for example HTTP), the average packet size will
be about half of the actual data packets.

Example:

iptables .. -m connbytes --connbytes 10000:100000 --connbytes-dir both --connbytes-mode bytes ...

Allows you to restrict the number of parallel connections to a server per
client IP address (or client address block).

[!] --connlimit-above n

Match if the number of existing connections is (not) above n.

--connlimit-mask prefix_length

Group hosts using the prefix length. For IPv4, this must be a number between
(including) 0 and 32. For IPv6, between 0 and 128.

Examples:

# allow 2 telnet connections per client host

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --syn --dport 23 -m connlimit --connlimit-above 2 -j REJECT

# you can also match the other way around:

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --syn --dport 23 -m connlimit ! --connlimit-above 2 -j ACCEPT

# limit the number of parallel HTTP requests to 16 per class C sized network (24 bit netmask)

iptables -p tcp --syn --dport 80 -m connlimit --connlimit-above 16
--connlimit-mask 24 -j REJECT

# limit the number of parallel HTTP requests to 16 for the link local network

(ipv6)
ip6tables -p tcp --syn --dport 80 -s fe80::/64 -m connlimit --connlimit-above
16 --connlimit-mask 64 -j REJECT

This module matches the netfilter mark field associated with a connection
(which can be set using the CONNMARK target below).

[!] --mark value[/mask]

Matches packets in connections with the given mark value (if a mask is
specified, this is logically ANDed with the mark before the comparison).

This module, when combined with connection tracking, allows access to the
connection tracking state for this packet/connection.

[!] --ctstate statelist

statelist is a comma separated list of the connection states to match.
Possible states are listed below.

[!] --ctproto l4proto

Layer-4 protocol to match (by number or name)

[!] --ctorigsrc address[/mask]

[!] --ctorigdst address[/mask]

[!] --ctreplsrc address[/mask]

[!] --ctrepldst address[/mask]

Match against original/reply source/destination address

[!] --ctorigsrcport port

[!] --ctorigdstport port

[!] --ctreplsrcport port

[!] --ctrepldstport port

Match against original/reply source/destination port (TCP/UDP/etc.) or GRE key.

[!] --ctstatus statelist

statuslist is a comma separated list of the connection statuses to match.
Possible statuses are listed below.

[!] --ctexpire time[:time]

Match remaining lifetime in seconds against given value or range of values
(inclusive)

--ctdir {ORIGINAL|REPLY}

Match packets that are flowing in the specified direction. If this flag is not
specified at all, matches packets in both directions.

States for --ctstate:

INVALID

meaning that the packet is associated with no known connection

NEW

meaning that the packet has started a new connection, or otherwise associated
with a connection which has not seen packets in both directions, and

ESTABLISHED

meaning that the packet is associated with a connection which has seen packets
in both directions,

RELATED

meaning that the packet is starting a new connection, but is associated with an
existing connection, such as an FTP data transfer, or an ICMP error.

UNTRACKED

meaning that the packet is not tracked at all, which happens if you use
the NOTRACK target in raw table.

SNAT

A virtual state, matching if the original source address differs from the reply
destination.

DNAT

A virtual state, matching if the original destination differs from the reply
source.

Statuses for --ctstatus:

NONE

None of the below.

EXPECTED

This is an expected connection (i.e. a conntrack helper set it up)

SEEN_REPLY

Conntrack has seen packets in both directions.

ASSURED

Conntrack entry should never be early-expired.

CONFIRMED

Connection is confirmed: originating packet has left box.

[!] --cpu number

Match cpu handling this packet. cpus are numbered from 0 to NR_CPUS-1
Can be used in combination with RPS (Remote Packet Steering) or
multiqueue NICs to spread network traffic on different queues.

Example:

iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 80 -m cpu --cpu 0
-j REDIRECT --to-port 8080

iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 80 -m cpu --cpu 1
-j REDIRECT --to-port 8081

Available since Linux 2.6.36.

[!] --source-port,--sport port[:port]

[!] --destination-port,--dport port[:port]

[!] --dccp-types mask

Match when the DCCP packet type is one of 'mask'. 'mask' is a comma-separated
list of packet types. Packet types are:
REQUEST RESPONSE DATA ACK DATAACK CLOSEREQ CLOSE RESET SYNC SYNCACK INVALID.

This module matches the 6 bit DSCP field within the TOS field in the
IP header. DSCP has superseded TOS within the IETF.

[!] --dscp value

Match against a numeric (decimal or hex) value [0-63].

[!] --dscp-class class

Match the DiffServ class. This value may be any of the
BE, EF, AFxx or CSx classes. It will then be converted
into its according numeric value.

This allows you to match the ECN bits of the IPv4 and TCP header. ECN is the Explicit Congestion Notification mechanism as specified in RFC3168

[!] --ecn-tcp-cwr

This matches if the TCP ECN CWR (Congestion Window Received) bit is set.

[!] --ecn-tcp-ece

This matches if the TCP ECN ECE (ECN Echo) bit is set.

[!] --ecn-ip-ect num

This matches a particular IPv4 ECT (ECN-Capable Transport). You have to specify
a number between `0' and `3'.

This module matches the SPIs in ESP header of IPsec packets.

[!] --espspi spi[:spi]

hashlimit uses hash buckets to express a rate limiting match (like the
limit match) for a group of connections using a single iptables
rule. Grouping can be done per-hostgroup (source and/or destination address)
and/or per-port. It gives you the ability to express "N packets per time
quantum per group":

matching on source host

"1000 packets per second for every host in 192.168.0.0/16"

matching on source port

"100 packets per second for every service of 192.168.1.1"

matching on subnet

"10000 packets per minute for every /28 subnet in 10.0.0.0/8"

A hash limit option (--hashlimit-upto, --hashlimit-above) and
--hashlimit-name are required.

--hashlimit-upto amount[/second|/minute|/hour|/day]

Match if the rate is below or equal to amount/quantum. It is specified as
a number, with an optional time quantum suffix; the default is 3/hour.

--hashlimit-above amount[/second|/minute|/hour|/day]

Match if the rate is above amount/quantum.

--hashlimit-burst amount

Maximum initial number of packets to match: this number gets recharged by one
every time the limit specified above is not reached, up to this number; the
default is 5.

--hashlimit-mode {srcip|srcport|dstip|dstport},...

A comma-separated list of objects to take into consideration. If no
--hashlimit-mode option is given, hashlimit acts like limit, but at the
expensive of doing the hash housekeeping.

--hashlimit-srcmask prefix

When --hashlimit-mode srcip is used, all source addresses encountered will be
grouped according to the given prefix length and the so-created subnet will be
subject to hashlimit. prefix must be between (inclusive) 0 and 32. Note
that --hashlimit-srcmask 0 is basically doing the same thing as not specifying
srcip for --hashlimit-mode, but is technically more expensive.

--hashlimit-dstmask prefix

Like --hashlimit-srcmask, but for destination addresses.

--hashlimit-name foo

The name for the /proc/net/ipt_hashlimit/foo entry.

--hashlimit-htable-size buckets

The number of buckets of the hash table

--hashlimit-htable-max entries

Maximum entries in the hash.

--hashlimit-htable-expire msec

After how many milliseconds do hash entries expire.

--hashlimit-htable-gcinterval msec

How many milliseconds between garbage collection intervals.

This module matches packets related to a specific conntrack-helper.

[!] --helper string

Matches packets related to the specified conntrack-helper.

string can be "ftp" for packets related to a ftp-session on default port.
For other ports append -portnr to the value, ie. "ftp-2121".

Same rules apply for other conntrack-helpers.

This extension can be used if `--protocol icmp' is specified. It
provides the following option:

[!] --icmp-type {type[/code]|typename}

This allows specification of the ICMP type, which can be a numeric
ICMP type, type/code pair, or one of the ICMP type names shown by the command

 iptables -p icmp -h

This matches on a given arbitrary range of IP addresses.

[!] --src-range from[-to]

Match source IP in the specified range.

[!] --dst-range from[-to]

Match destination IP in the specified range.

Match IPVS connection properties.

[!] --ipvs

packet belongs to an IPVS connection

Any of the following options implies --ipvs (even negated)

[!] --vproto protocol

VIP protocol to match; by number or name, e.g. "tcp"

[!] --vaddr address[/mask]

VIP address to match

[!] --vport port

VIP port to match; by number or name, e.g. "http"

--vdir {ORIGINAL|REPLY}

flow direction of packet

[!] --vmethod {GATE|IPIP|MASQ}

IPVS forwarding method used

[!] --vportctl port

VIP port of the controlling connection to match, e.g. 21 for FTP

This module matches the length of the layer-3 payload (e.g. layer-4 packet)
of a packet against a specific value
or range of values.

[!] --length length[:length]

This module matches at a limited rate using a token bucket filter.
A rule using this extension will match until this limit is reached
(unless the `!' flag is used). It can be used in combination with the
LOG
target to give limited logging, for example.

--limit rate[/second|/minute|/hour|/day]

Maximum average matching rate: specified as a number, with an optional
`/second', `/minute', `/hour', or `/day' suffix; the default is
3/hour.

--limit-burst number

Maximum initial number of packets to match: this number gets
recharged by one every time the limit specified above is not reached,
up to this number; the default is 5.

[!] --mac-source address

Match source MAC address. It must be of the form XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX.
Note that this only makes sense for packets coming from an Ethernet device
and entering the
PREROUTING,

FORWARD
or
INPUT
chains.

This module matches the netfilter mark field associated with a packet
(which can be set using the
MARK
target below).

[!] --mark value[/mask]

Matches packets with the given unsigned mark value (if a mask is
specified, this is logically ANDed with the mask before the
comparison).

This module matches a set of source or destination ports. Up to 15
ports can be specified. A port range (port:port) counts as two
ports. It can only be used in conjunction with
-p tcp
or
-p udp.

[!] --source-ports,--sports port[,port|,port:port]...

Match if the source port is one of the given ports. The flag
--sports
is a convenient alias for this option. Multiple ports or port ranges are
separated using a comma, and a port range is specified using a colon.
53,1024:65535 would therefore match ports 53 and all from 1024 through
65535.

[!] --destination-ports,--dports port[,port|,port:port]...

Match if the destination port is one of the given ports. The flag
--dports
is a convenient alias for this option.

[!] --ports port[,port|,port:port]...

Match if either the source or destination ports are equal to one of
the given ports.

The osf module does passive operating system fingerprinting. This modules
compares some data (Window Size, MSS, options and their order, TTL, DF,
and others) from packets with the SYN bit set.

[!] --genre string

Match an operating system genre by using a passive fingerprinting.

--ttl level

Do additional TTL checks on the packet to determine the operating system.
level can be one of the following values:

•

0 - True IP address and fingerprint TTL comparison. This generally works for
LANs.

•

1 - Check if the IP header's TTL is less than the fingerprint one. Works for
globally-routable addresses.

•

2 - Do not compare the TTL at all.

--log level

Log determined genres into dmesg even if they do not match the desired one.
level can be one of the following values:

•

0 - Log all matched or unknown signatures

•

1 - Log only the first one

•

2 - Log all known matched signatures

You may find something like this in syslog:

Windows [2000:SP3:Windows XP Pro SP1, 2000 SP3]: 11.22.33.55:4024 ->
11.22.33.44:139 hops=3 Linux [2.5-2.6:] : 1.2.3.4:42624 -> 1.2.3.5:22 hops=4

OS fingerprints are loadable using the nfnl_osf program. To load
fingerprints from a file, use:

nfnl_osf -f /usr/share/xtables/pf.os

To remove them again,

nfnl_osf -f /usr/share/xtables/pf.os -d

The fingerprint database can be downlaoded from
http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/etc/pf.os .

This module attempts to match various characteristics of the packet creator,
for locally generated packets. This match is only valid in the OUTPUT and
POSTROUTING chains. Forwarded packets do not have any socket associated with
them. Packets from kernel threads do have a socket, but usually no owner.

[!] --uid-owner username

[!] --uid-owner userid[-userid]

Matches if the packet socket's file structure (if it has one) is owned by the
given user. You may also specify a numerical UID, or an UID range.

[!] --gid-owner groupname

[!] --gid-owner groupid[-groupid]

Matches if the packet socket's file structure is owned by the given group.
You may also specify a numerical GID, or a GID range.

[!] --socket-exists

Matches if the packet is associated with a socket.

This module matches on the bridge port input and output devices enslaved
to a bridge device. This module is a part of the infrastructure that enables
a transparent bridging IP firewall and is only useful for kernel versions
above version 2.5.44.

[!] --physdev-in name

Name of a bridge port via which a packet is received (only for
packets entering the
INPUT,

FORWARD
and
PREROUTING
chains). If the interface name ends in a "+", then any
interface which begins with this name will match. If the packet didn't arrive
through a bridge device, this packet won't match this option, unless '!' is used.

OUTPUT
and
POSTROUTING
chains). If the interface name ends in a "+", then any
interface which begins with this name will match. Note that in the
nat and mangle

OUTPUT
chains one cannot match on the bridge output port, however one can in the
filter OUTPUT
chain. If the packet won't leave by a bridge device or if it is yet unknown what
the output device will be, then the packet won't match this option,
unless '!' is used.

This module matches the link-layer packet type.

[!] --pkt-type {unicast|broadcast|multicast}

This modules matches the policy used by IPsec for handling a packet.

--dir {in|out}

Used to select whether to match the policy used for decapsulation or the
policy that will be used for encapsulation.
in
is valid in the
PREROUTING, INPUT and FORWARD
chains,
out
is valid in the
POSTROUTING, OUTPUT and FORWARD
chains.

--pol {none|ipsec}

Matches if the packet is subject to IPsec processing.

--strict

Selects whether to match the exact policy or match if any rule of
the policy matches the given policy.

[!] --reqid id

Matches the reqid of the policy rule. The reqid can be specified with
setkey(8)
using
unique:id
as level.

[!] --spi spi

Matches the SPI of the SA.

[!] --proto {ah|esp|ipcomp}

Matches the encapsulation protocol.

[!] --mode {tunnel|transport}

Matches the encapsulation mode.

[!] --tunnel-src addr[/mask]

Matches the source end-point address of a tunnel mode SA.
Only valid with --mode tunnel.

[!] --tunnel-dst addr[/mask]

Matches the destination end-point address of a tunnel mode SA.
Only valid with --mode tunnel.

--next

Start the next element in the policy specification. Can only be used with
--strict.

Implements network quotas by decrementing a byte counter with each
packet.

[!] --quota bytes

The quota in bytes.

The rate estimator can match on estimated rates as collected by the RATEEST
target. It supports matching on absolute bps/pps values, comparing two rate
estimators and matching on the difference between two rate estimators.

--rateest1 name

Name of the first rate estimator.

--rateest2 name

Name of the second rate estimator (if difference is to be calculated).

--rateest-delta

Compare difference(s) to given rate(s)

--rateest-bps1 value

--rateest-bps2 value

Compare bytes per second.

--rateest-pps1 value

--rateest-pps2 value

Compare packets per second.

[!] --rateest-lt

Match if rate is less than given rate/estimator.

[!] --rateest-gt

Match if rate is greater than given rate/estimator.

[!] --rateest-eq

Match if rate is equal to given rate/estimator.

Example: This is what can be used to route outgoing data connections from an
FTP server over two lines based on the available bandwidth at the time the data
connection was started:

# Estimate outgoing rates

iptables -t mangle -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j RATEEST --rateest-name eth0
--rateest-interval 250ms --rateest-ewma 0.5s

iptables -t mangle -A POSTROUTING -o ppp0 -j RATEEST --rateest-name ppp0
--rateest-interval 250ms --rateest-ewma 0.5s

# Mark based on available bandwidth

iptables -t mangle -A balance -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -m helper --helper ftp
-m rateest --rateest-delta --rateest1 eth0 --rateest-bps1 2.5mbit --rateest-gt
--rateest2 ppp0 --rateest-bps2 2mbit -j CONNMARK --set-mark 1

iptables -t mangle -A balance -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -m helper --helper ftp
-m rateest --rateest-delta --rateest1 ppp0 --rateest-bps1 2mbit --rateest-gt
--rateest2 eth0 --rateest-bps2 2.5mbit -j CONNMARK --set-mark 2

iptables -t mangle -A balance -j CONNMARK --restore-mark

This matches the routing realm. Routing realms are used in complex routing
setups involving dynamic routing protocols like BGP.

[!] --realm value[/mask]

Matches a given realm number (and optionally mask). If not a number, value
can be a named realm from /etc/iproute2/rt_realms (mask can not be used in
that case).

Allows you to dynamically create a list of IP addresses and then match against
that list in a few different ways.

For example, you can create a "badguy" list out of people attempting to connect
to port 139 on your firewall and then DROP all future packets from them without
considering them.

--set, --rcheck, --update and --remove are
mutually exclusive.

--name name

Specify the list to use for the commands. If no name is given then
DEFAULT will be used.

[!] --set

This will add the source address of the packet to the list. If the source
address is already in the list, this will update the existing entry. This will
always return success (or failure if ! is passed in).

--rsource

Match/save the source address of each packet in the recent list table. This
is the default.

--rdest

Match/save the destination address of each packet in the recent list table.

[!] --rcheck

Check if the source address of the packet is currently in the list.

[!] --update

Like --rcheck, except it will update the "last seen" timestamp if it
matches.

[!] --remove

Check if the source address of the packet is currently in the list and if so
that address will be removed from the list and the rule will return true. If
the address is not found, false is returned.

--seconds seconds

This option must be used in conjunction with one of --rcheck or
--update. When used, this will narrow the match to only happen when the
address is in the list and was seen within the last given number of seconds.

--reap reap

This option must be used in conjunction with --seconds. When used, this
will remove entries with the most recent timestamp older then --seconds
since the last packet was received.

--hitcount hits

This option must be used in conjunction with one of --rcheck or
--update. When used, this will narrow the match to only happen when the
address is in the list and packets had been received greater than or equal to
the given value. This option may be used along with --seconds to create
an even narrower match requiring a certain number of hits within a specific
time frame. The maximum value for the hitcount parameter is given by the
"ip_pkt_list_tot" parameter of the xt_recent kernel module. Exceeding this
value on the command line will cause the rule to be rejected.

--rttl

This option may only be used in conjunction with one of --rcheck or
--update. When used, this will narrow the match to only happen when the
address is in the list and the TTL of the current packet matches that of the
packet which hit the --set rule. This may be useful if you have problems
with people faking their source address in order to DoS you via this module by
disallowing others access to your site by sending bogus packets to you.

Examples:

iptables -A FORWARD -m recent --name badguy --rcheck --seconds 60 -j DROP

iptables -A FORWARD -p tcp -i eth0 --dport 139 -m recent --name badguy --set -j DROP

Steve's ipt_recent website (http://snowman.net/projects/ipt_recent/) also has
some examples of usage.

/proc/net/xt_recent/* are the current lists of addresses and information
about each entry of each list.

Each file in /proc/net/xt_recent/ can be read from to see the current
list or written two using the following commands to modify the list:

echo +addr >/proc/net/xt_recent/DEFAULT

to add addr to the DEFAULT list

echo -addr >/proc/net/xt_recent/DEFAULT

to remove addr from the DEFAULT list

echo / >/proc/net/xt_recent/DEFAULT

to flush the DEFAULT list (remove all entries).

The module itself accepts parameters, defaults shown:

ip_list_tot=100

Number of addresses remembered per table.

ip_pkt_list_tot=20

Number of packets per address remembered.

ip_list_hash_size=0

Hash table size. 0 means to calculate it based on ip_list_tot, default: 512.

ip_list_perms=0644

Permissions for /proc/net/xt_recent/* files.

ip_list_uid=0

Numerical UID for ownership of /proc/net/xt_recent/* files.

ip_list_gid=0

Numerical GID for ownership of /proc/net/xt_recent/* files.

[!] --source-port,--sport port[:port]

[!] --destination-port,--dport port[:port]

[!] --chunk-types {all|any|only} chunktype[:flags] [...]

The flag letter in upper case indicates that the flag is to match if set,
in the lower case indicates to match if unset.

Chunk types: DATA INIT INIT_ACK SACK HEARTBEAT HEARTBEAT_ACK ABORT SHUTDOWN SHUTDOWN_ACK ERROR COOKIE_ECHO COOKIE_ACK ECN_ECNE ECN_CWR SHUTDOWN_COMPLETE ASCONF ASCONF_ACK FORWARD_TSN

chunk type available flags

DATA I U B E i u b e

ABORT T t

SHUTDOWN_COMPLETE T t

(lowercase means flag should be "off", uppercase means "on")

Examples:

iptables -A INPUT -p sctp --dport 80 -j DROP

iptables -A INPUT -p sctp --chunk-types any DATA,INIT -j DROP

iptables -A INPUT -p sctp --chunk-types any DATA:Be -j ACCEPT

This module matches IP sets which can be defined by ipset(8).

[!] --match-set setname flag[,flag]...

where flags are the comma separated list of
src

and/or
dst

specifications and there can be no more than six of them. Hence the command

The option --match-set can be replaced by --set if that does
not clash with an option of other extensions.

Use of -m set requires that ipset kernel support is provided. As standard
kernels do not ship this currently, the ipset or Xtables-addons package needs
to be installed.

This matches if an open socket can be found by doing a socket lookup on the
packet.

This module, when combined with connection tracking, allows access to
the connection tracking state for this packet.

[!] --state state

Where state is a comma separated list of the connection states to
match. Possible states are
INVALID
meaning that the packet could not be identified for some reason which
includes running out of memory and ICMP errors which don't correspond to any
known connection,
ESTABLISHED
meaning that the packet is associated with a connection which has seen
packets in both directions,
NEW
meaning that the packet has started a new connection, or otherwise
associated with a connection which has not seen packets in both
directions, and
RELATED
meaning that the packet is starting a new connection, but is
associated with an existing connection, such as an FTP data transfer,
or an ICMP error.
UNTRACKED
meaning that the packet is not tracked at all, which happens if you use
the NOTRACK target in raw table.

This module matches packets based on some statistic condition.
It supports two distinct modes settable with the
--mode
option.

Supported options:

--mode mode

Set the matching mode of the matching rule, supported modes are
random
and
nth.

--probability p

Set the probability from 0 to 1 for a packet to be randomly
matched. It works only with the
random
mode.

--every n

Match one packet every nth packet. It works only with the
nth
mode (see also the
--packet
option).

--packet p

Set the initial counter value (0 <= p <= n-1, default 0) for the
nth
mode.

This modules matches a given string by using some pattern matching strategy. It requires a linux kernel >= 2.6.14.

--algo {bm|kmp}

Select the pattern matching strategy. (bm = Boyer-Moore, kmp = Knuth-Pratt-Morris)

--from offset

Set the offset from which it starts looking for any matching. If not passed, default is 0.

--to offset

Set the offset up to which should be scanned. That is, byte offset-1
(counting from 0) is the last one that is scanned.
If not passed, default is the packet size.

[!] --string pattern

Matches the given pattern.

[!] --hex-string pattern

Matches the given pattern in hex notation.

These extensions can be used if `--protocol tcp' is specified. It
provides the following options:

[!] --source-port,--sport port[:port]

Source port or port range specification. This can either be a service
name or a port number. An inclusive range can also be specified,
using the format first:last.
If the first port is omitted, "0" is assumed; if the last is omitted,
"65535" is assumed.
If the first port is greater than the second one they will be swapped.
The flag
--sport
is a convenient alias for this option.

[!] --destination-port,--dport port[:port]

Destination port or port range specification. The flag
--dport
is a convenient alias for this option.

[!] --tcp-flags mask comp

Match when the TCP flags are as specified. The first argument mask is the
flags which we should examine, written as a comma-separated list, and
the second argument comp is a comma-separated list of flags which must be
set. Flags are:
SYN ACK FIN RST URG PSH ALL NONE.

Hence the command

 iptables -A FORWARD -p tcp --tcp-flags SYN,ACK,FIN,RST SYN

will only match packets with the SYN flag set, and the ACK, FIN and
RST flags unset.

This matches the TCP MSS (maximum segment size) field of the TCP header. You can only use this on TCP SYN or SYN/ACK packets, since the MSS is only negotiated during the TCP handshake at connection startup time.

[!] --mss value[:value]

Match a given TCP MSS value or range.

This matches if the packet arrival time/date is within a given range. All
options are optional, but are ANDed when specified.

--datestart YYYY[-MM[-DD[Thh[:mm[:ss]]]]]

--datestop YYYY[-MM[-DD[Thh[:mm[:ss]]]]]

Only match during the given time, which must be in ISO 8601 "T" notation.
The possible time range is 1970-01-01T00:00:00 to 2038-01-19T04:17:07.

If --datestart or --datestop are not specified, it will default to 1970-01-01
and 2038-01-19, respectively.

--timestart hh:mm[:ss]

--timestop hh:mm[:ss]

Only match during the given daytime. The possible time range is 00:00:00 to
23:59:59. Leading zeroes are allowed (e.g. "06:03") and correctly interpreted
as base-10.

[!] --monthdays day[,day...]

Only match on the given days of the month. Possible values are 1
to 31. Note that specifying 31 will of course not match
on months which do not have a 31st day; the same goes for 28- or 29-day
February.

[!] --weekdays day[,day...]

Only match on the given weekdays. Possible values are Mon, Tue,
Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun, or values from 1
to 7, respectively. You may also use two-character variants (Mo,
Tu, etc.).

--utc

Interpret the times given for --datestart, --datestop,
--timestart and --timestop to be UTC.

--localtz

Interpret the times given for --datestart, --datestop,
--timestart and --timestop to be local kernel time. (Default)

EXAMPLES. To match on weekends, use:

-m time --weekdays Sa,Su

Or, to match (once) on a national holiday block:

-m time --datestart 2007-12-24 --datestop 2007-12-27

Since the stop time is actually inclusive, you would need the following stop
time to not match the first second of the new day:

-m time --datestart 2007-01-01T17:00 --datestop 2007-01-01T23:59:59

During lunch hour:

-m time --timestart 12:30 --timestop 13:30

The fourth Friday in the month:

-m time --weekdays Fr --monthdays 22,23,24,25,26,27,28

(Note that this exploits a certain mathematical property. It is not possible to
say "fourth Thursday OR fourth Friday" in one rule. It is possible with
multiple rules, though.)

This module matches the 8-bit Type of Service field in the IPv4 header (i.e.
including the "Precedence" bits) or the (also 8-bit) Priority field in the IPv6
header.

[!] --tos value[/mask]

Matches packets with the given TOS mark value. If a mask is specified, it is
logically ANDed with the TOS mark before the comparison.

[!] --tos symbol

You can specify a symbolic name when using the tos match for IPv4. The list of
recognized TOS names can be obtained by calling iptables with -m tos -h.
Note that this implies a mask of 0x3F, i.e. all but the ECN bits.

This module matches the time to live field in the IP header.

--ttl-eq ttl

Matches the given TTL value.

--ttl-gt ttl

Matches if TTL is greater than the given TTL value.

--ttl-lt ttl

Matches if TTL is less than the given TTL value.

U32 tests whether quantities of up to 4 bytes extracted from a packet have
specified values. The specification of what to extract is general enough to
find data at given offsets from tcp headers or payloads.

[!] --u32 tests

The argument amounts to a program in a small language described below.

tests := location "=" value | tests "&&" location "=" value

value := range | value "," range

range := number | number ":" number

a single number, n, is interpreted the same as n:n. n:m is
interpreted as the range of numbers >=n and <=m.

location := number | location operator number

operator := "&" | "<<" | ">>" | "@"

The operators &, <<, >> and && mean the same as in C.
The = is really a set membership operator and the value syntax describes
a set. The @ operator is what allows moving to the next header and is
described further below.

There are currently some artificial implementation limits on the size of the
tests:

*

no more than 10 of "=" (and 9 "&&"s) in the u32 argument

*

no more than 10 ranges (and 9 commas) per value

*

no more than 10 numbers (and 9 operators) per location

To describe the meaning of location, imagine the following machine that
interprets it. There are three registers:

A is of type char *, initially the address of the IP header

B and C are unsigned 32 bit integers, initially zero

The instructions are:

number B = number;

C = (*(A+B)<<24) + (*(A+B+1)<<16) + (*(A+B+2)<<8) + *(A+B+3)

&number C = C & number

<< number C = C << number

>> number C = C >> number

@number A = A + C; then do the instruction number

Any access of memory outside [skb->data,skb->end] causes the match to fail.
Otherwise the result of the computation is the final value of C.

Whitespace is allowed but not required in the tests. However, the characters
that do occur there are likely to require shell quoting, so it is a good idea
to enclose the arguments in quotes.

Example:

match IP packets with total length >= 256

The IP header contains a total length field in bytes 2-3.

--u32 "0 & 0xFFFF = 0x100:0xFFFF"

read bytes 0-3

AND that with 0xFFFF (giving bytes 2-3), and test whether that is in the range
[0x100:0xFFFF]

Example: (more realistic, hence more complicated)

match ICMP packets with icmp type 0

First test that it is an ICMP packet, true iff byte 9 (protocol) = 1

--u32 "6 & 0xFF = 1 && ...

read bytes 6-9, use & to throw away bytes 6-8 and compare the result to
1. Next test that it is not a fragment. (If so, it might be part of such a
packet but we cannot always tell.) N.B.: This test is generally needed if you
want to match anything beyond the IP header. The last 6 bits of byte 6 and all
of byte 7 are 0 iff this is a complete packet (not a fragment). Alternatively,
you can allow first fragments by only testing the last 5 bits of byte 6.

 ... 4 & 0x3FFF = 0 && ...

Last test: the first byte past the IP header (the type) is 0. This is where we
have to use the @syntax. The length of the IP header (IHL) in 32 bit words is
stored in the right half of byte 0 of the IP header itself.

 ... 0 >> 22 & 0x3C @ 0 >> 24 = 0"

The first 0 means read bytes 0-3, >>22 means shift that 22 bits to the
right. Shifting 24 bits would give the first byte, so only 22 bits is four
times that plus a few more bits. &3C then eliminates the two extra bits
on the right and the first four bits of the first byte. For instance, if IHL=5,
then the IP header is 20 (4 x 5) bytes long. In this case, bytes 0-1 are (in
binary) xxxx0101 yyzzzzzz, >>22 gives the 10 bit value xxxx0101yy and
&3C gives 010100. @ means to use this number as a new offset into
the packet, and read four bytes starting from there. This is the first 4 bytes
of the ICMP payload, of which byte 0 is the ICMP type. Therefore, we simply
shift the value 24 to the right to throw out all but the first byte and compare
the result with 0.

Example:

TCP payload bytes 8-12 is any of 1, 2, 5 or 8

First we test that the packet is a tcp packet (similar to ICMP).

--u32 "6 & 0xFF = 6 && ...

Next, test that it is not a fragment (same as above).

 ... 0 >> 22 & 0x3C @ 12 >> 26 & 0x3C @ 8 = 1,2,5,8"

0>>22&3C as above computes the number of bytes in the IP header. @
makes this the new offset into the packet, which is the start of the TCP
header. The length of the TCP header (again in 32 bit words) is the left half
of byte 12 of the TCP header. The 12>>26&3C computes this length in bytes
(similar to the IP header before). "@" makes this the new offset, which is the
start of the TCP payload. Finally, 8 reads bytes 8-12 of the payload and
= checks whether the result is any of 1, 2, 5 or 8.

These extensions can be used if `--protocol udp' is specified. It
provides the following options:

[!] --source-port,--sport port[:port]

Source port or port range specification.
See the description of the
--source-port
option of the TCP extension for details.

[!] --destination-port,--dport port[:port]

Destination port or port range specification.
See the description of the
--destination-port
option of the TCP extension for details.

This module takes no options, but attempts to match packets which seem
malformed or unusual. This is regarded as experimental.

iptables can use extended target modules: the following are included
in the standard distribution.

This target allows to selectively work around broken/old applications.
It can only be used in the mangle table.

--checksum-fill

Compute and fill in the checksum in a packet that lacks a checksum.
This is particularly useful, if you need to work around old applications
such as dhcp clients, that do not work well with checksum offloads,
but don't want to disable checksum offload in your device.

This module allows you to set the skb->priority value (and thus classify the packet into a specific CBQ class).

--set-class major:minor

Set the major and minor class value. The values are always interpreted as
hexadecimal even if no 0x prefix is given.

This module allows you to configure a simple cluster of nodes that share
a certain IP and MAC address without an explicit load balancer in front of
them. Connections are statically distributed between the nodes in this
cluster.

--new

Create a new ClusterIP. You always have to set this on the first rule
for a given ClusterIP.

--hashmode mode

Specify the hashing mode. Has to be one of
sourceip, sourceip-sourceport, sourceip-sourceport-destport.

--clustermac mac

Specify the ClusterIP MAC address. Has to be a link-layer multicast address

--total-nodes num

Number of total nodes within this cluster.

--local-node num

Local node number within this cluster.

--hash-init rnd

Specify the random seed used for hash initialization.

This module sets the netfilter mark value associated with a connection. The
mark is 32 bits wide.

--set-xmark value[/mask]

Zero out the bits given by mask and XOR value into the ctmark.

--save-mark [--nfmask nfmask] [--ctmask ctmask]

Copy the packet mark (nfmark) to the connection mark (ctmark) using the given
masks. The new nfmark value is determined as follows:

ctmark = (ctmark & ~ctmask) ^ (nfmark & nfmask)

i.e. ctmask defines what bits to clear and nfmask what bits of the
nfmark to XOR into the ctmark. ctmask and nfmask default to
0xFFFFFFFF.

--restore-mark [--nfmask nfmask] [--ctmask ctmask]

Copy the connection mark (ctmark) to the packet mark (nfmark) using the given
masks. The new ctmark value is determined as follows:

nfmark = (nfmark & ~nfmask) ^ (ctmark & ctmask);

i.e. nfmask defines what bits to clear and ctmask what bits of the
ctmark to XOR into the nfmark. ctmask and nfmask default to
0xFFFFFFFF.

--restore-mark is only valid in the mangle table.

The following mnemonics are available for --set-xmark:

--and-mark bits

Binary AND the ctmark with bits. (Mnemonic for --set-xmark
0/invbits, where invbits is the binary negation of bits.)

--or-mark bits

Binary OR the ctmark with bits. (Mnemonic for --set-xmark
bits/bits.)

--xor-mark bits

Binary XOR the ctmark with bits. (Mnemonic for --set-xmark
bits/0.)

--set-mark value[/mask]

Set the connection mark. If a mask is specified then only those bits set in the
mask are modified.

--save-mark [--mask mask]

Copy the nfmark to the ctmark. If a mask is specified, only those bits are
copied.

--restore-mark [--mask mask]

Copy the ctmark to the nfmark. If a mask is specified, only those bits are
copied. This is only valid in the mangle table.

This module copies security markings from packets to connections
(if unlabeled), and from connections back to packets (also only
if unlabeled). Typically used in conjunction with SECMARK, it is
only valid in the
mangle
table.

--save

If the packet has a security marking, copy it to the connection
if the connection is not marked.

--restore

If the packet does not have a security marking, and the connection
does, copy the security marking from the connection to the packet.

The CT target allows to set parameters for a packet or its associated
connection. The target attaches a "template" connection tracking entry to
the packet, which is then used by the conntrack core when initializing
a new ct entry. This target is thus only valid in the "raw" table.

--notrack

Disables connection tracking for this packet.

--helper name

Use the helper identified by name for the connection. This is more
flexible than loading the conntrack helper modules with preset ports.

--ctevents event[,...]

Only generate the specified conntrack events for this connection. Possible
event types are: new, related, destroy, reply,
assured, protoinfo, helper, mark (this refers to
the ctmark, not nfmark), natseqinfo, secmark (ctsecmark).

--expevents event[,...]

Only generate the specified expectation events for this connection.
Possible event types are: new.

--zone id

Assign this packet to zone id and only have lookups done in that zone.
By default, packets have zone 0.

This target is only valid in the
nat
table, in the
PREROUTING
and
OUTPUT
chains, and user-defined chains which are only called from those
chains. It specifies that the destination address of the packet
should be modified (and all future packets in this connection will
also be mangled), and rules should cease being examined. It takes one
type of option:

--to-destination [ipaddr][-ipaddr][:port[-port]]

which can specify a single new destination IP address, an inclusive
range of IP addresses, and optionally, a port range (which is only
valid if the rule also specifies
-p tcp
or
-p udp).
If no port range is specified, then the destination port will never be
modified. If no IP address is specified then only the destination port
will be modified.

In Kernels up to 2.6.10 you can add several --to-destination options. For
those kernels, if you specify more than one destination address, either via an
address range or multiple --to-destination options, a simple round-robin (one
after another in cycle) load balancing takes place between these addresses.
Later Kernels (>= 2.6.11-rc1) don't have the ability to NAT to multiple ranges
anymore.

--random

If option
--random
is used then port mapping will be randomized (kernel >= 2.6.22).

--persistent

Gives a client the same source-/destination-address for each connection.
This supersedes the SAME target. Support for persistent mappings is available
from 2.6.29-rc2.

This target allows to alter the value of the DSCP bits within the TOS
header of the IPv4 packet. As this manipulates a packet, it can only
be used in the mangle table.

--set-dscp value

Set the DSCP field to a numerical value (can be decimal or hex)

--set-dscp-class class

Set the DSCP field to a DiffServ class.

This target allows to selectively work around known ECN blackholes.
It can only be used in the mangle table.

--ecn-tcp-remove

Remove all ECN bits from the TCP header. Of course, it can only be used
in conjunction with
-p tcp.

This target can be used to identify when interfaces have been idle for a
certain period of time. Timers are identified by labels and are created when
a rule is set with a new label. The rules also take a timeout value (in
seconds) as an option. If more than one rule uses the same timer label, the
timer will be restarted whenever any of the rules get a hit. One entry for
each timer is created in sysfs. This attribute contains the timer remaining
for the timer to expire. The attributes are located under the xt_idletimer
class:

/sys/class/xt_idletimer/timers/<label>

When the timer expires, the target module sends a sysfs notification to the
userspace, which can then decide what to do (eg. disconnect to save power).

--timeout amount

This is the time in seconds that will trigger the notification.

--label string

This is a unique identifier for the timer. The maximum length for the
label string is 27 characters.

Turn on kernel logging of matching packets. When this option is set
for a rule, the Linux kernel will print some information on all
matching packets (like most IP header fields) via the kernel log
(where it can be read with
dmesg
or
syslogd(8)).

This is a "non-terminating target", i.e. rule traversal continues at
the next rule. So if you want to LOG the packets you refuse, use two
separate rules with the same matching criteria, first using target LOG
then DROP (or REJECT).

--log-level level

Level of logging (numeric or see syslog.conf(5)).

--log-prefix prefix

Prefix log messages with the specified prefix; up to 29 letters long,
and useful for distinguishing messages in the logs.

--log-tcp-sequence

Log TCP sequence numbers. This is a security risk if the log is
readable by users.

--log-tcp-options

Log options from the TCP packet header.

--log-ip-options

Log options from the IP packet header.

--log-uid

Log the userid of the process which generated the packet.

This target is used to set the Netfilter mark value associated with the packet.
It can, for example, be used in conjunction with routing based on fwmark (needs
iproute2). If you plan on doing so, note that the mark needs to be set in the
PREROUTING chain of the mangle table to affect routing.
The mark field is 32 bits wide.

--set-xmark value[/mask]

Zeroes out the bits given by mask and XORs value into the packet
mark ("nfmark"). If mask is omitted, 0xFFFFFFFF is assumed.

--set-mark value[/mask]

Zeroes out the bits given by mask and ORs value into the packet
mark. If mask is omitted, 0xFFFFFFFF is assumed.

The following mnemonics are available:

--and-mark bits

Binary AND the nfmark with bits. (Mnemonic for --set-xmark
0/invbits, where invbits is the binary negation of bits.)

--or-mark bits

Binary OR the nfmark with bits. (Mnemonic for --set-xmark
bits/bits.)

--xor-mark bits

Binary XOR the nfmark with bits. (Mnemonic for --set-xmark
bits/0.)

This target is only valid in the
nat
table, in the
POSTROUTING
chain. It should only be used with dynamically assigned IP (dialup)
connections: if you have a static IP address, you should use the SNAT
target. Masquerading is equivalent to specifying a mapping to the IP
address of the interface the packet is going out, but also has the
effect that connections are
forgotten
when the interface goes down. This is the correct behavior when the
next dialup is unlikely to have the same interface address (and hence
any established connections are lost anyway). It takes one option:

--to-ports port[-port]

This specifies a range of source ports to use, overriding the default
SNAT
source port-selection heuristics (see above). This is only valid
if the rule also specifies
-p tcp
or
-p udp.

--random

Randomize source port mapping
If option
--random
is used then port mapping will be randomized (kernel >= 2.6.21).

This is an experimental demonstration target which inverts the source
and destination fields in the IP header and retransmits the packet.
It is only valid in the
INPUT,

FORWARD
and
PREROUTING
chains, and user-defined chains which are only called from those
chains. Note that the outgoing packets are
NOT
seen by any packet filtering chains, connection tracking or NAT, to
avoid loops and other problems.

This target allows you to statically map a whole network of addresses onto
another network of addresses. It can only be used from rules in the
nat
table.

--to address[/mask]

Network address to map to. The resulting address will be constructed in the
following way: All 'one' bits in the mask are filled in from the new `address'.
All bits that are zero in the mask are filled in from the original address.

This target provides logging of matching packets. When this target is
set for a rule, the Linux kernel will pass the packet to the loaded
logging backend to log the packet. This is usually used in combination
with nfnetlink_log as logging backend, which will multicast the packet
through a
netlink

socket to the specified multicast group. One or more userspace processes
may subscribe to the group to receive the packets. Like LOG, this is a
non-terminating target, i.e. rule traversal continues at the next rule.

--nflog-group nlgroup

The netlink group (1 - 2^32-1) to which packets are (only applicable for
nfnetlink_log). The default value is 0.

--nflog-prefix prefix

A prefix string to include in the log message, up to 64 characters
long, useful for distinguishing messages in the logs.

--nflog-range size

The number of bytes to be copied to userspace (only applicable for
nfnetlink_log). nfnetlink_log instances may specify their own
range, this option overrides it.

--nflog-threshold size

Number of packets to queue inside the kernel before sending them
to userspace (only applicable for nfnetlink_log). Higher values
result in less overhead per packet, but increase delay until the
packets reach userspace. The default value is 1.
.SSNFQUEUE

This target is an extension of the QUEUE target. As opposed to QUEUE, it allows
you to put a packet into any specific queue, identified by its 16-bit queue
number.
It can only be used with Kernel versions 2.6.14 or later, since it requires
the

nfnetlink_queue
kernel support. The queue-balance option was added in Linux 2.6.31.

--queue-balance value:value

This specifies a range of queues to use. Packets are then balanced across the given queues.
This is useful for multicore systems: start multiple instances of the userspace program on
queues x, x+1, .. x+n and use "--queue-balance x:x+n".
Packets belonging to the same connection are put into the same nfqueue.

This target disables connection tracking for all packets matching that rule.

It can only be used in the
raw
table.

The RATEEST target collects statistics, performs rate estimation calculation
and saves the results for later evaluation using the rateest match.

--rateest-name name

Count matched packets into the pool referred to by name, which is freely
choosable.

--rateest-interval amount{s|ms|us}

Rate measurement interval, in seconds, milliseconds or microseconds.

--rateest-ewmalog value

Rate measurement averaging time constant.

This target is only valid in the
nat
table, in the
PREROUTING
and
OUTPUT
chains, and user-defined chains which are only called from those
chains. It redirects the packet to the machine itself by changing the
destination IP to the primary address of the incoming interface
(locally-generated packets are mapped to the 127.0.0.1 address).

--to-ports port[-port]

This specifies a destination port or range of ports to use: without
this, the destination port is never altered. This is only valid
if the rule also specifies
-p tcp
or
-p udp.

--random

If option
--random
is used then port mapping will be randomized (kernel >= 2.6.22).

This is used to send back an error packet in response to the matched
packet: otherwise it is equivalent to
DROP
so it is a terminating TARGET, ending rule traversal.
This target is only valid in the
INPUT,

FORWARD
and
OUTPUT
chains, and user-defined chains which are only called from those
chains. The following option controls the nature of the error packet
returned:

--reject-with type

The type given can be
icmp-net-unreachable,
icmp-host-unreachable,
icmp-port-unreachable,
icmp-proto-unreachable,
icmp-net-prohibited,
icmp-host-prohibited or
icmp-admin-prohibited (*)
which return the appropriate ICMP error message (port-unreachable is
the default). The option
tcp-reset
can be used on rules which only match the TCP protocol: this causes a
TCP RST packet to be sent back. This is mainly useful for blocking
ident
(113/tcp) probes which frequently occur when sending mail to broken mail
hosts (which won't accept your mail otherwise).

(*) Using icmp-admin-prohibited with kernels that do not support it will result in a plain DROP instead of REJECT

Similar to SNAT/DNAT depending on chain: it takes a range of addresses
(`--to 1.2.3.4-1.2.3.7') and gives a client the same
source-/destination-address for each connection.

N.B.: The DNAT target's --persistent option replaced the SAME target.

--to ipaddr[-ipaddr]

Addresses to map source to. May be specified more than once for
multiple ranges.

--nodst

Don't use the destination-ip in the calculations when selecting the
new source-ip

--random

Port mapping will be forcibly randomized to avoid attacks based on
port prediction (kernel >= 2.6.21).

This is used to set the security mark value associated with the
packet for use by security subsystems such as SELinux. It is only
valid in the
mangle
table. The mark is 32 bits wide.

--selctx security_context

This modules adds and/or deletes entries from IP sets which can be defined
by ipset(8).

--add-set setname flag[,flag...]

add the address(es)/port(s) of the packet to the sets

--del-set setname flag[,flag...]

delete the address(es)/port(s) of the packet from the sets

where flags are
src

and/or
dst

specifications and there can be no more than six of them.

Use of -j SET requires that ipset kernel support is provided. As standard
kernels do not ship this currently, the ipset or Xtables-addons package needs
to be installed.

This target is only valid in the
nat
table, in the
POSTROUTING
chain. It specifies that the source address of the packet should be
modified (and all future packets in this connection will also be
mangled), and rules should cease being examined. It takes one type
of option:

--to-source ipaddr[-ipaddr][:port[-port]]

which can specify a single new source IP address, an inclusive range
of IP addresses, and optionally, a port range (which is only valid if
the rule also specifies
-p tcp
or
-p udp).
If no port range is specified, then source ports below 512 will be
mapped to other ports below 512: those between 512 and 1023 inclusive
will be mapped to ports below 1024, and other ports will be mapped to
1024 or above. Where possible, no port alteration will

In Kernels up to 2.6.10, you can add several --to-source options. For those
kernels, if you specify more than one source address, either via an address
range or multiple --to-source options, a simple round-robin (one after another
in cycle) takes place between these addresses.
Later Kernels (>= 2.6.11-rc1) don't have the ability to NAT to multiple ranges
anymore.

--random

If option
--random
is used then port mapping will be randomized (kernel >= 2.6.21).

--persistent

Gives a client the same source-/destination-address for each connection.
This supersedes the SAME target. Support for persistent mappings is available
from 2.6.29-rc2.

This target allows to alter the MSS value of TCP SYN packets, to control
the maximum size for that connection (usually limiting it to your
outgoing interface's MTU minus 40 for IPv4 or 60 for IPv6, respectively).
Of course, it can only be used
in conjunction with
-p tcp.

This target is used to overcome criminally braindead ISPs or servers
which block "ICMP Fragmentation Needed" or "ICMPv6 Packet Too Big"
packets. The symptoms of this
problem are that everything works fine from your Linux
firewall/router, but machines behind it can never exchange large
packets:

1)

Web browsers connect, then hang with no data received.

2)

Small mail works fine, but large emails hang.

3)

ssh works fine, but scp hangs after initial handshaking.

Workaround: activate this option and add a rule to your firewall
configuration like:

 iptables -t mangle -A FORWARD -p tcp --tcp-flags SYN,RST SYN

             -j TCPMSS --clamp-mss-to-pmtu

--set-mss value

Explicitly sets MSS option to specified value. If the MSS of the packet is
already lower than value, it will not be increased (from Linux
2.6.25 onwards) to avoid more problems with hosts relying on a proper MSS.

--clamp-mss-to-pmtu

Automatically clamp MSS value to (path_MTU - 40 for IPv4; -60 for IPv6).
This may not function as desired where asymmetric routes with differing
path MTU exist — the kernel uses the path MTU which it would use to send
packets from itself to the source and destination IP addresses. Prior to
Linux 2.6.25, only the path MTU to the destination IP address was
considered by this option; subsequent kernels also consider the path MTU
to the source IP address.

These options are mutually exclusive.

This target will strip TCP options off a TCP packet. (It will actually replace
them by NO-OPs.) As such, you will need to add the -p tcp parameters.

--strip-options option[,option...]

Strip the given option(s). The options may be specified by TCP option number or
by symbolic name. The list of recognized options can be obtained by calling
iptables with -j TCPOPTSTRIP -h.

The TEE target will clone a packet and redirect this clone to another
machine on the local network segment. In other words, the nexthop
must be the target, or you will have to configure the nexthop to forward it
further if so desired.

--gateway ipaddr

Send the cloned packet to the host reachable at the given IP address.
Use of 0.0.0.0 (for IPv4 packets) or :: (IPv6) is invalid.

To forward all incoming traffic on eth0 to an Network Layer logging box:

-t mangle -A PREROUTING -i eth0 -j TEE --gateway 2001:db8::1

This module sets the Type of Service field in the IPv4 header (including the
"precedence" bits) or the Priority field in the IPv6 header. Note that TOS
shares the same bits as DSCP and ECN. The TOS target is only valid in the
mangle table.

--set-tos value[/mask]

Zeroes out the bits given by mask and XORs value into the
TOS/Priority field. If mask is omitted, 0xFF is assumed.

--set-tos symbol

You can specify a symbolic name when using the TOS target for IPv4. It implies
a mask of 0xFF. The list of recognized TOS names can be obtained by calling
iptables with -j TOS -h.

The following mnemonics are available:

--and-tos bits

Binary AND the TOS value with bits. (Mnemonic for --set-tos
0/invbits, where invbits is the binary negation of bits.)

--or-tos bits

Binary OR the TOS value with bits. (Mnemonic for --set-tos
bits/bits.)

--xor-tos bits

Binary XOR the TOS value with bits. (Mnemonic for --set-tos
bits/0.)

This target is only valid in the mangle table, in the PREROUTING
chain and user-defined chains which are only called from this chain. It
redirects the packet to a local socket without changing the packet header in
any way. It can also change the mark value which can then be used in advanced
routing rules.
It takes three options:

--on-port port

This specifies a destination port to use. It is a required option, 0 means the
new destination port is the same as the original. This is only valid if the
rule also specifies -p tcp or -p udp.

--on-ip address

This specifies a destination address to use. By default the address is the IP
address of the incoming interface. This is only valid if the rule also
specifies -p tcp or -p udp.

--tproxy-mark value[/mask]

Marks packets with the given value/mask. The fwmark value set here can be used
by advanced routing. (Required for transparent proxying to work: otherwise
these packets will get forwarded, which is probably not what you want.)

This target marks packes so that the kernel will log every rule which match
the packets as those traverse the tables, chains, rules. (The ipt_LOG or
ip6t_LOG module
is required for the logging.) The packets are logged with the string prefix:
"TRACE: tablename:chainname:type:rulenum " where type can be "rule" for
plain rule, "return" for implicit rule at the end of a user defined chain
and "policy" for the policy of the built in chains.

It can only be used in the
raw

table.

This is used to modify the IPv4 TTL header field. The TTL field determines
how many hops (routers) a packet can traverse until it's time to live is
exceeded.

Setting or incrementing the TTL field can potentially be very dangerous,
so it should be avoided at any cost.

Don't ever set or increment the value on packets that leave your local network!
mangle
table.

--ttl-set value

Set the TTL value to `value'.

--ttl-dec value

Decrement the TTL value `value' times.

--ttl-inc value

Increment the TTL value `value' times.

This target provides userspace logging of matching packets. When this
target is set for a rule, the Linux kernel will multicast this packet
through a
netlink

socket. One or more userspace processes may then subscribe to various
multicast groups and receive the packets.
Like LOG, this is a "non-terminating target", i.e. rule traversal
continues at the next rule.

--ulog-nlgroup nlgroup

This specifies the netlink group (1-32) to which the packet is sent.
Default value is 1.

--ulog-prefix prefix

Prefix log messages with the specified prefix; up to 32 characters
long, and useful for distinguishing messages in the logs.

--ulog-cprange size

Number of bytes to be copied to userspace. A value of 0 always copies
the entire packet, regardless of its size. Default is 0.

--ulog-qthreshold size

Number of packet to queue inside kernel. Setting this value to, e.g. 10
accumulates ten packets inside the kernel and transmits them as one
netlink multipart message to userspace. Default is 1 (for backwards
compatibility).

Various error messages are printed to standard error. The exit code
is 0 for correct functioning. Errors which appear to be caused by
invalid or abused command line parameters cause an exit code of 2, and
other errors cause an exit code of 1.

Bugs? What's this? ;-)
Well, you might want to have a look at http://bugzilla.netfilter.org/

This iptables
is very similar to ipchains by Rusty Russell. The main difference is
that the chains INPUT and OUTPUT
are only traversed for packets coming into the local host and
originating from the local host respectively. Hence every packet only
passes through one of the three chains (except loopback traffic, which
involves both INPUT and OUTPUT chains); previously a forwarded packet
would pass through all three.

The other main difference is that -i refers to the input interface;
-o refers to the output interface, and both are available for packets
entering the FORWARD chain.

The various forms of NAT have been separated out; iptables
is a pure packet filter when using the default `filter' table, with
optional extension modules. This should simplify much of the previous
confusion over the combination of IP masquerading and packet filtering
seen previously. So the following options are handled differently:

 -j MASQ
 -M -S
 -M -L

There are several other changes in iptables.

iptables-save(8),
iptables-restore(8),
ip6tables(8),
ip6tables-save(8),
ip6tables-restore(8),
libipq(3).

The packet-filtering-HOWTO details iptables usage for
packet filtering, the NAT-HOWTO details NAT,
the netfilter-extensions-HOWTO details the extensions that are
not in the standard distribution,
and the netfilter-hacking-HOWTO details the netfilter internals.

See
http://www.netfilter.org/.

Rusty Russell originally wrote iptables, in early consultation with Michael
Neuling.

Marc Boucher made Rusty abandon ipnatctl by lobbying for a generic packet
selection framework in iptables, then wrote the mangle table, the owner match,
the mark stuff, and ran around doing cool stuff everywhere.

James Morris wrote the TOS target, and tos match.

Jozsef Kadlecsik wrote the REJECT target.

Harald Welte wrote the ULOG and NFQUEUE target, the new libiptc, as well as the TTL, DSCP, ECN matches and targets.

The Netfilter Core Team is: Marc Boucher, Martin Josefsson, Yasuyuki Kozakai,
Jozsef Kadlecsik, Patrick McHardy, James Morris, Pablo Neira Ayuso,
Harald Welte and Rusty Russell.

Man page originally written by Herve Eychenne.