1 [[chapter_pve_firewall]]
10 pve-firewall - PVE Firewall Daemon
16 include::pve-firewall.8-synopsis.adoc[]
31 {pve} Firewall provides an easy way to protect your IT
32 infrastructure. You can setup firewall rules for all hosts
33 inside a cluster, or define rules for virtual machines and
34 containers. Features like firewall macros, security groups, IP sets
35 and aliases help to make that task easier.
37 While all configuration is stored on the cluster file system, the
38 `iptables`-based firewall runs on each cluster node, and thus provides
39 full isolation between virtual machines. The distributed nature of
40 this system also provides much higher bandwidth than a central
43 The firewall has full support for IPv4 and IPv6. IPv6 support is fully
44 transparent, and we filter traffic for both protocols by default. So
45 there is no need to maintain a different set of rules for IPv6.
51 The Proxmox VE firewall groups the network into the following logical zones:
55 Traffic from/to a cluster node
59 Traffic from/to a specific VM
61 For each zone, you can define firewall rules for incoming and/or
68 All firewall related configuration is stored on the proxmox cluster
69 file system. So those files are automatically distributed to all
70 cluster nodes, and the `pve-firewall` service updates the underlying
71 `iptables` rules automatically on changes.
73 You can configure anything using the GUI (i.e. *Datacenter* -> *Firewall*,
74 or on a *Node* -> *Firewall*), or you can edit the configuration files
75 directly using your preferred editor.
77 Firewall configuration files contains sections of key-value
78 pairs. Lines beginning with a `#` and blank lines are considered
79 comments. Sections starts with a header line containing the section
80 name enclosed in `[` and `]`.
83 [[pve_firewall_cluster_wide_setup]]
87 The cluster wide firewall configuration is stored at:
89 /etc/pve/firewall/cluster.fw
91 The configuration can contain the following sections:
95 This is used to set cluster wide firewall options.
97 include::pve-firewall-cluster-opts.adoc[]
101 This sections contains cluster wide firewall rules for all nodes.
105 Cluster wide IP set definitions.
109 Cluster wide security group definitions.
113 Cluster wide Alias definitions.
116 Enabling the Firewall
117 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
119 The firewall is completely disabled by default, so you need to
120 set the enable option here:
124 # enable firewall (cluster wide setting, default is disabled)
128 IMPORTANT: If you enable the firewall, traffic to all hosts is blocked by
129 default. Only exceptions is WebGUI(8006) and ssh(22) from your local
132 If you want to administrate your {pve} hosts from remote, you
133 need to create rules to allow traffic from those remote IPs to the web
134 GUI (port 8006). You may also want to allow ssh (port 22), and maybe
137 TIP: Please open a SSH connection to one of your {PVE} hosts before
138 enabling the firewall. That way you still have access to the host if
139 something goes wrong .
141 To simplify that task, you can instead create an IPSet called
142 ``management'', and add all remote IPs there. This creates all required
143 firewall rules to access the GUI from remote.
146 [[pve_firewall_host_specific_configuration]]
147 Host Specific Configuration
148 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
150 Host related configuration is read from:
152 /etc/pve/nodes/<nodename>/host.fw
154 This is useful if you want to overwrite rules from `cluster.fw`
155 config. You can also increase log verbosity, and set netfilter related
156 options. The configuration can contain the following sections:
160 This is used to set host related firewall options.
162 include::pve-firewall-host-opts.adoc[]
166 This sections contains host specific firewall rules.
168 [[pve_firewall_vm_container_configuration]]
169 VM/Container Configuration
170 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
172 VM firewall configuration is read from:
174 /etc/pve/firewall/<VMID>.fw
176 and contains the following data:
180 This is used to set VM/Container related firewall options.
182 include::pve-firewall-vm-opts.adoc[]
186 This sections contains VM/Container firewall rules.
194 IP Alias definitions.
197 Enabling the Firewall for VMs and Containers
198 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
200 Each virtual network device has its own firewall enable flag. So you
201 can selectively enable the firewall for each interface. This is
202 required in addition to the general firewall `enable` option.
204 The firewall requires a special network device setup, so you need to
205 restart the VM/container after enabling the firewall on a network
212 Firewall rules consists of a direction (`IN` or `OUT`) and an
213 action (`ACCEPT`, `DENY`, `REJECT`). You can also specify a macro
214 name. Macros contain predefined sets of rules and options. Rules can be
215 disabled by prefixing them with `|`.
217 .Firewall rules syntax
221 DIRECTION ACTION [OPTIONS]
222 |DIRECTION ACTION [OPTIONS] # disabled rule
224 DIRECTION MACRO(ACTION) [OPTIONS] # use predefined macro
227 The following options can be used to refine rule matches.
229 include::pve-firewall-rules-opts.adoc[]
231 Here are some examples:
235 IN SSH(ACCEPT) -i net0
236 IN SSH(ACCEPT) -i net0 # a comment
237 IN SSH(ACCEPT) -i net0 -source 192.168.2.192 # only allow SSH from 192.168.2.192
238 IN SSH(ACCEPT) -i net0 -source 10.0.0.1-10.0.0.10 # accept SSH for ip range
239 IN SSH(ACCEPT) -i net0 -source 10.0.0.1,10.0.0.2,10.0.0.3 #accept ssh for ip list
240 IN SSH(ACCEPT) -i net0 -source +mynetgroup # accept ssh for ipset mynetgroup
241 IN SSH(ACCEPT) -i net0 -source myserveralias #accept ssh for alias myserveralias
243 |IN SSH(ACCEPT) -i net0 # disabled rule
245 IN DROP # drop all incoming packages
246 OUT ACCEPT # accept all outgoing packages
250 [[pve_firewall_security_groups]]
254 A security group is a collection of rules, defined at cluster level, which
255 can be used in all VMs' rules. For example you can define a group named
256 ``webserver'' with rules to open the 'http' and 'https' ports.
259 # /etc/pve/firewall/cluster.fw
262 IN ACCEPT -p tcp -dport 80
263 IN ACCEPT -p tcp -dport 443
266 Then, you can add this group to a VM's firewall
269 # /etc/pve/firewall/<VMID>.fw
275 [[pve_firewall_ip_aliases]]
279 IP Aliases allow you to associate IP addresses of networks with a
280 name. You can then refer to those names:
282 * inside IP set definitions
283 * in `source` and `dest` properties of firewall rules
286 Standard IP Alias `local_network`
287 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
289 This alias is automatically defined. Please use the following command
290 to see assigned values:
293 # pve-firewall localnet
294 local hostname: example
295 local IP address: 192.168.2.100
296 network auto detect: 192.168.0.0/20
297 using detected local_network: 192.168.0.0/20
300 The firewall automatically sets up rules to allow everything needed
301 for cluster communication (corosync, API, SSH) using this alias.
303 The user can overwrite these values in the `cluster.fw` alias
304 section. If you use a single host on a public network, it is better to
305 explicitly assign the local IP address
308 # /etc/pve/firewall/cluster.fw
310 local_network 1.2.3.4 # use the single ip address
313 [[pve_firewall_ip_sets]]
317 IP sets can be used to define groups of networks and hosts. You can
318 refer to them with `+name` in the firewall rules' `source` and `dest`
321 The following example allows HTTP traffic from the `management` IP
324 IN HTTP(ACCEPT) -source +management
327 Standard IP set `management`
328 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
330 This IP set applies only to host firewalls (not VM firewalls). Those
331 IPs are allowed to do normal management tasks (PVE GUI, VNC, SPICE,
334 The local cluster network is automatically added to this IP set (alias
335 `cluster_network`), to enable inter-host cluster
336 communication. (multicast,ssh,...)
339 # /etc/pve/firewall/cluster.fw
347 Standard IP set `blacklist`
348 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
350 Traffic from these IPs is dropped by every host's and VM's firewall.
353 # /etc/pve/firewall/cluster.fw
361 [[pve_firewall_ipfilter_section]]
362 Standard IP set `ipfilter-net*`
363 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
365 These filters belong to a VM's network interface and are mainly used to prevent
366 IP spoofing. If such a set exists for an interface then any outgoing traffic
367 with a source IP not matching its interface's corresponding ipfilter set will
370 For containers with configured IP addresses these sets, if they exist (or are
371 activated via the general `IP Filter` option in the VM's firewall's *options*
372 tab), implicitly contain the associated IP addresses.
374 For both virtual machines and containers they also implicitly contain the
375 standard MAC-derived IPv6 link-local address in order to allow the neighbor
376 discovery protocol to work.
379 /etc/pve/firewall/<VMID>.fw
381 [IPSET ipfilter-net0] # only allow specified IPs on net0
386 Services and Commands
387 ---------------------
389 The firewall runs two service daemons on each node:
391 * pvefw-logger: NFLOG daemon (ulogd replacement).
392 * pve-firewall: updates iptables rules
394 There is also a CLI command named `pve-firewall`, which can be used to
395 start and stop the firewall service:
400 To get the status use:
402 # pve-firewall status
404 The above command reads and compiles all firewall rules, so you will
405 see warnings if your firewall configuration contains any errors.
407 If you want to see the generated iptables rules you can use:
418 FTP is an old style protocol which uses port 21 and several other dynamic ports. So you
419 need a rule to accept port 21. In addition, you need to load the `ip_conntrack_ftp` module.
422 modprobe ip_conntrack_ftp
424 and add `ip_conntrack_ftp` to `/etc/modules` (so that it works after a reboot).
427 Suricata IPS integration
428 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
430 If you want to use the http://suricata-ids.org/[Suricata IPS]
431 (Intrusion Prevention System), it's possible.
433 Packets will be forwarded to the IPS only after the firewall ACCEPTed
436 Rejected/Dropped firewall packets don't go to the IPS.
438 Install suricata on proxmox host:
441 # apt-get install suricata
442 # modprobe nfnetlink_queue
445 Don't forget to add `nfnetlink_queue` to `/etc/modules` for next reboot.
447 Then, enable IPS for a specific VM with:
450 # /etc/pve/firewall/<VMID>.fw
457 `ips_queues` will bind a specific cpu queue for this VM.
459 Available queues are defined in
462 # /etc/default/suricata
470 The firewall contains a few IPv6 specific options. One thing to note is that
471 IPv6 does not use the ARP protocol anymore, and instead uses NDP (Neighbor
472 Discovery Protocol) which works on IP level and thus needs IP addresses to
473 succeed. For this purpose link-local addresses derived from the interface's MAC
474 address are used. By default the `NDP` option is enabled on both host and VM
475 level to allow neighbor discovery (NDP) packets to be sent and received.
477 Beside neighbor discovery NDP is also used for a couple of other things, like
478 autoconfiguration and advertising routers.
480 By default VMs are allowed to send out router solicitation messages (to query
481 for a router), and to receive router advertisement packets. This allows them to
482 use stateless auto configuration. On the other hand VMs cannot advertise
483 themselves as routers unless the ``Allow Router Advertisement'' (`radv: 1`) option
486 As for the link local addresses required for NDP, there's also an ``IP Filter''
487 (`ipfilter: 1`) option which can be enabled which has the same effect as adding
488 an `ipfilter-net*` ipset for each of the VM's network interfaces containing the
489 corresponding link local addresses. (See the
490 <<pve_firewall_ipfilter_section,Standard IP set `ipfilter-net*`>> section for details.)
496 * Web interface: 8006
497 * VNC Web console: 5900-5999
499 * sshd (used for cluster actions): 22
501 * corosync multicast (if you run a cluster): 5404, 5405 UDP
509 include::pve-firewall-macros.adoc[]
512 include::pve-copyright.adoc[]