1IPTABLES(8)                     iptables 1.8.3                     IPTABLES(8)
2
3
4

NAME

6       iptables/ip6tables — administration tool for IPv4/IPv6 packet filtering
7       and NAT
8

SYNOPSIS

10       iptables [-t table] {-A|-C|-D} chain rule-specification
11
12       ip6tables [-t table] {-A|-C|-D} chain rule-specification
13
14       iptables [-t table] -I chain [rulenum] rule-specification
15
16       iptables [-t table] -R chain rulenum rule-specification
17
18       iptables [-t table] -D chain rulenum
19
20       iptables [-t table] -S [chain [rulenum]]
21
22       iptables [-t table] {-F|-L|-Z} [chain [rulenum]] [options...]
23
24       iptables [-t table] -N chain
25
26       iptables [-t table] -X [chain]
27
28       iptables [-t table] -P chain target
29
30       iptables [-t table] -E old-chain-name new-chain-name
31
32       rule-specification = [matches...] [target]
33
34       match = -m matchname [per-match-options]
35
36       target = -j targetname [per-target-options]
37

DESCRIPTION

39       Iptables and ip6tables are used to set up, maintain,  and  inspect  the
40       tables  of IPv4 and IPv6 packet filter rules in the Linux kernel.  Sev‐
41       eral different tables may be defined.  Each table contains a number  of
42       built-in chains and may also contain user-defined chains.
43
44       Each  chain  is a list of rules which can match a set of packets.  Each
45       rule specifies what to do with a packet that matches.  This is called a
46       `target',  which  may be a jump to a user-defined chain in the same ta‐
47       ble.
48

TARGETS

50       A firewall rule specifies criteria for a packet and a target.   If  the
51       packet  does  not  match, the next rule in the chain is examined; if it
52       does match, then the next rule is specified by the value of the target,
53       which  can  be  the  name  of  a user-defined chain, one of the targets
54       described in iptables-extensions(8),  or  one  of  the  special  values
55       ACCEPT, DROP or RETURN.
56
57       ACCEPT  means to let the packet through.  DROP means to drop the packet
58       on the floor.  RETURN means stop traversing this chain  and  resume  at
59       the  next rule in the previous (calling) chain.  If the end of a built-
60       in chain is reached or a rule in a built-in chain with target RETURN is
61       matched,  the  target specified by the chain policy determines the fate
62       of the packet.
63

TABLES

65       There are currently five independent tables (which tables  are  present
66       at  any time depends on the kernel configuration options and which mod‐
67       ules are present).
68
69       -t, --table table
70              This option specifies the packet matching table which  the  com‐
71              mand  should operate on.  If the kernel is configured with auto‐
72              matic module loading, an attempt will be made to load the appro‐
73              priate module for that table if it is not already there.
74
75              The tables are as follows:
76
77              filter:
78                  This  is  the  default table (if no -t option is passed). It
79                  contains the built-in chains INPUT (for packets destined  to
80                  local  sockets),  FORWARD  (for packets being routed through
81                  the box), and OUTPUT (for locally-generated packets).
82
83              nat:
84                  This table is consulted when a packet  that  creates  a  new
85                  connection  is  encountered.  It consists of four built-ins:
86                  PREROUTING (for altering packets as soon as they  come  in),
87                  INPUT  (for  altering  packets  destined for local sockets),
88                  OUTPUT (for altering locally-generated packets before  rout‐
89                  ing),  and  POSTROUTING  (for  altering  packets as they are
90                  about to go out).  IPv6 NAT support is available since  ker‐
91                  nel 3.7.
92
93              mangle:
94                  This table is used for specialized packet alteration.  Until
95                  kernel 2.4.17 it had two built-in  chains:  PREROUTING  (for
96                  altering  incoming  packets  before routing) and OUTPUT (for
97                  altering locally-generated packets before  routing).   Since
98                  kernel  2.4.18,  three  other  built-in chains are also sup‐
99                  ported: INPUT (for packets coming into the box itself), FOR‐
100                  WARD  (for  altering  packets being routed through the box),
101                  and POSTROUTING (for altering packets as they are  about  to
102                  go out).
103
104              raw:
105                  This  table  is  used mainly for configuring exemptions from
106                  connection tracking in combination with the NOTRACK  target.
107                  It registers at the netfilter hooks with higher priority and
108                  is thus called before ip_conntrack, or any other IP  tables.
109                  It  provides  the following built-in chains: PREROUTING (for
110                  packets arriving via  any  network  interface)  OUTPUT  (for
111                  packets generated by local processes)
112
113              security:
114                  This  table  is used for Mandatory Access Control (MAC) net‐
115                  working rules, such as those  enabled  by  the  SECMARK  and
116                  CONNSECMARK  targets.   Mandatory  Access  Control is imple‐
117                  mented by Linux Security Modules such as SELinux.  The secu‐
118                  rity  table  is  called after the filter table, allowing any
119                  Discretionary Access Control (DAC) rules in the filter table
120                  to  take  effect  before MAC rules.  This table provides the
121                  following built-in chains: INPUT (for  packets  coming  into
122                  the  box  itself),  OUTPUT  (for  altering locally-generated
123                  packets before routing), and FORWARD (for  altering  packets
124                  being routed through the box).
125

OPTIONS

127       The  options  that  are  recognized  by  iptables  and ip6tables can be
128       divided into several different groups.
129
130   COMMANDS
131       These options specify the desired action to perform. Only one  of  them
132       can be specified on the command line unless otherwise stated below. For
133       long versions of the command and option names, you  need  to  use  only
134       enough  letters  to  ensure that iptables can differentiate it from all
135       other options.
136
137       -A, --append chain rule-specification
138              Append one or more rules to the end of the selected chain.  When
139              the  source  and/or  destination  names resolve to more than one
140              address, a rule will be added for each possible address combina‐
141              tion.
142
143       -C, --check chain rule-specification
144              Check  whether  a  rule matching the specification does exist in
145              the selected chain. This command uses the same logic  as  -D  to
146              find  a matching entry, but does not alter the existing iptables
147              configuration and uses its exit  code  to  indicate  success  or
148              failure.
149
150       -D, --delete chain rule-specification
151       -D, --delete chain rulenum
152              Delete one or more rules from the selected chain.  There are two
153              versions of this command: the rule can be specified as a  number
154              in  the  chain  (starting  at 1 for the first rule) or a rule to
155              match.
156
157       -I, --insert chain [rulenum] rule-specification
158              Insert one or more rules in the selected chain as the given rule
159              number.   So,  if  the  rule  number is 1, the rule or rules are
160              inserted at the head of the chain.  This is also the default  if
161              no rule number is specified.
162
163       -R, --replace chain rulenum rule-specification
164              Replace a rule in the selected chain.  If the source and/or des‐
165              tination names resolve to multiple addresses, the  command  will
166              fail.  Rules are numbered starting at 1.
167
168       -L, --list [chain]
169              List  all rules in the selected chain.  If no chain is selected,
170              all chains are listed. Like every  other  iptables  command,  it
171              applies  to  the specified table (filter is the default), so NAT
172              rules get listed by
173               iptables -t nat -n -L
174              Please note that it is often used with the -n option,  in  order
175              to  avoid  long reverse DNS lookups.  It is legal to specify the
176              -Z (zero) option as well, in which case  the  chain(s)  will  be
177              atomically  listed  and zeroed.  The exact output is affected by
178              the other arguments given. The exact rules are suppressed  until
179              you use
180               iptables -L -v
181              or iptables-save(8).
182
183       -S, --list-rules [chain]
184              Print all rules in the selected chain.  If no chain is selected,
185              all chains are printed like iptables-save. Like every other ipt‐
186              ables  command, it applies to the specified table (filter is the
187              default).
188
189       -F, --flush [chain]
190              Flush the selected chain (all the chains in the table if none is
191              given).   This  is  equivalent  to deleting all the rules one by
192              one.
193
194       -Z, --zero [chain [rulenum]]
195              Zero the packet and byte counters in all  chains,  or  only  the
196              given  chain,  or only the given rule in a chain. It is legal to
197              specify the -L, --list (list) option as well, to see  the  coun‐
198              ters immediately before they are cleared. (See above.)
199
200       -N, --new-chain chain
201              Create  a  new user-defined chain by the given name.  There must
202              be no target of that name already.
203
204       -X, --delete-chain [chain]
205              Delete the optional user-defined chain specified.  There must be
206              no  references  to  the chain.  If there are, you must delete or
207              replace the referring rules before the  chain  can  be  deleted.
208              The  chain  must  be  empty,  i.e. not contain any rules.  If no
209              argument is given, it will attempt to delete  every  non-builtin
210              chain in the table.
211
212       -P, --policy chain target
213              Set  the policy for the built-in (non-user-defined) chain to the
214              given target.  The policy target must be either ACCEPT or DROP.
215
216       -E, --rename-chain old-chain new-chain
217              Rename the user specified chain to the user supplied name.  This
218              is cosmetic, and has no effect on the structure of the table.
219
220       -h     Help.   Give a (currently very brief) description of the command
221              syntax.
222
223   PARAMETERS
224       The following parameters make up a rule specification (as used  in  the
225       add, delete, insert, replace and append commands).
226
227       -4, --ipv4
228              This  option has no effect in iptables and iptables-restore.  If
229              a rule using the -4 option is  inserted  with  (and  only  with)
230              ip6tables-restore,  it  will be silently ignored. Any other uses
231              will throw an error. This option allows to  put  both  IPv4  and
232              IPv6  rules  in  a  single rule file for use with both iptables-
233              restore and ip6tables-restore.
234
235       -6, --ipv6
236              If a rule using the -6 option is inserted with (and  only  with)
237              iptables-restore,  it  will  be silently ignored. Any other uses
238              will throw an error. This option allows to  put  both  IPv4  and
239              IPv6  rules  in  a  single rule file for use with both iptables-
240              restore and ip6tables-restore.  This option  has  no  effect  in
241              ip6tables and ip6tables-restore.
242
243       [!] -p, --protocol protocol
244              The  protocol of the rule or of the packet to check.  The speci‐
245              fied protocol can be one of tcp, udp, udplite, icmp, icmpv6,esp,
246              ah,  sctp,  mh  or  the  special  keyword  "all", or it can be a
247              numeric value, representing one of these protocols or a  differ‐
248              ent  one.   A protocol name from /etc/protocols is also allowed.
249              A "!" argument before the protocol inverts the test.  The number
250              zero  is  equivalent to all. "all" will match with all protocols
251              and is taken as default when this option is omitted.  Note that,
252              in ip6tables, IPv6 extension headers except esp are not allowed.
253              esp and ipv6-nonext can be used with Kernel  version  2.6.11  or
254              later.   The  number zero is equivalent to all, which means that
255              you cannot test the protocol field for the value 0 directly.  To
256              match  on a HBH header, even if it were the last, you cannot use
257              -p 0, but always need -m hbh.
258
259       [!] -s, --source address[/mask][,...]
260              Source specification. Address can be either a  network  name,  a
261              hostname,  a  network  IP  address  (with  /mask), or a plain IP
262              address. Hostnames will be resolved once only, before  the  rule
263              is  submitted  to  the  kernel.  Please note that specifying any
264              name to be resolved with a remote query such as DNS is a  really
265              bad idea.  The mask can be either an ipv4 network mask (for ipt‐
266              ables) or a plain number, specifying the number of  1's  at  the
267              left  side of the network mask.  Thus, an iptables mask of 24 is
268              equivalent to 255.255.255.0.  A "!" argument before the  address
269              specification  inverts  the sense of the address. The flag --src
270              is an alias for this option.  Multiple addresses can  be  speci‐
271              fied,  but  this will expand to multiple rules (when adding with
272              -A), or will cause multiple rules to be deleted (with -D).
273
274       [!] -d, --destination address[/mask][,...]
275              Destination  specification.   See  the  description  of  the  -s
276              (source)  flag  for  a  detailed description of the syntax.  The
277              flag --dst is an alias for this option.
278
279       -m, --match match
280              Specifies a match to use, that  is,  an  extension  module  that
281              tests  for  a  specific property. The set of matches make up the
282              condition under which a target is invoked. Matches are evaluated
283              first  to  last  as  specified  on  the command line and work in
284              short-circuit fashion, i.e. if one extension yields false, eval‐
285              uation will stop.
286
287       -j, --jump target
288              This  specifies  the target of the rule; i.e., what to do if the
289              packet matches it.  The  target  can  be  a  user-defined  chain
290              (other than the one this rule is in), one of the special builtin
291              targets which decide the fate of the packet immediately,  or  an
292              extension  (see EXTENSIONS below).  If this option is omitted in
293              a rule (and -g is not used), then matching the rule will have no
294              effect  on  the packet's fate, but the counters on the rule will
295              be incremented.
296
297       -g, --goto chain
298              This specifies that the processing should  continue  in  a  user
299              specified  chain.  Unlike the --jump option return will not con‐
300              tinue processing in this chain but instead  in  the  chain  that
301              called us via --jump.
302
303       [!] -i, --in-interface name
304              Name  of  an interface via which a packet was received (only for
305              packets entering the  INPUT,  FORWARD  and  PREROUTING  chains).
306              When  the  "!"  argument  is used before the interface name, the
307              sense is inverted.  If the interface name ends in  a  "+",  then
308              any  interface  which begins with this name will match.  If this
309              option is omitted, any interface name will match.
310
311       [!] -o, --out-interface name
312              Name of an interface via which a packet is going to be sent (for
313              packets  entering  the  FORWARD, OUTPUT and POSTROUTING chains).
314              When the "!" argument is used before  the  interface  name,  the
315              sense  is  inverted.   If the interface name ends in a "+", then
316              any interface which begins with this name will match.   If  this
317              option is omitted, any interface name will match.
318
319       [!] -f, --fragment
320              This  means that the rule only refers to second and further IPv4
321              fragments of fragmented packets.  Since there is no way to  tell
322              the source or destination ports of such a packet (or ICMP type),
323              such a packet will not match any rules which specify them.  When
324              the  "!"  argument  precedes  the  "-f" flag, the rule will only
325              match head fragments, or unfragmented packets.  This  option  is
326              IPv4 specific, it is not available in ip6tables.
327
328       -c, --set-counters packets bytes
329              This enables the administrator to initialize the packet and byte
330              counters of a rule (during INSERT, APPEND, REPLACE operations).
331
332   OTHER OPTIONS
333       The following additional options can be specified:
334
335       -v, --verbose
336              Verbose output.  This option makes the  list  command  show  the
337              interface  name,  the  rule options (if any), and the TOS masks.
338              The packet and byte counters are also listed,  with  the  suffix
339              'K',  'M' or 'G' for 1000, 1,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 multipli‐
340              ers respectively (but see the -x  flag  to  change  this).   For
341              appending,  insertion,  deletion  and  replacement,  this causes
342              detailed information on the rule or rules to be printed. -v  may
343              be specified multiple times to possibly emit more detailed debug
344              statements.
345
346       -w, --wait [seconds]
347              Wait for the xtables lock.  To prevent multiple instances of the
348              program  from  running  concurrently, an attempt will be made to
349              obtain an exclusive lock at launch.   By  default,  the  program
350              will exit if the lock cannot be obtained.  This option will make
351              the program wait (indefinitely or for  optional  seconds)  until
352              the exclusive lock can be obtained.
353
354       -W, --wait-interval microseconds
355              Interval  to wait per each iteration.  When running latency sen‐
356              sitive applications, waiting for the xtables lock  for  extended
357              durations  may  not  be  acceptable.  This option will make each
358              iteration take the amount of time specified. The default  inter‐
359              val is 1 second. This option only works with -w.
360
361       -n, --numeric
362              Numeric  output.   IP addresses and port numbers will be printed
363              in numeric format.  By default, the program will try to  display
364              them  as host names, network names, or services (whenever appli‐
365              cable).
366
367       -x, --exact
368              Expand numbers.  Display the exact value of the packet and  byte
369              counters,  instead  of only the rounded number in K's (multiples
370              of 1000) M's (multiples of 1000K) or G's (multiples  of  1000M).
371              This option is only relevant for the -L command.
372
373       --line-numbers
374              When  listing  rules,  add line numbers to the beginning of each
375              rule, corresponding to that rule's position in the chain.
376
377       --modprobe=command
378              When adding or inserting rules into a chain, use command to load
379              any necessary modules (targets, match extensions, etc).
380

MATCH AND TARGET EXTENSIONS

382       iptables  can  use extended packet matching and target modules.  A list
383       of these is available in the iptables-extensions(8) manpage.
384

DIAGNOSTICS

386       Various error messages are printed to standard error.  The exit code is
387       0 for correct functioning.  Errors which appear to be caused by invalid
388       or abused command line parameters cause an exit code of  2,  and  other
389       errors cause an exit code of 1.
390

BUGS

392       Bugs?   What's  this?  ;-)  Well,  you  might  want  to  have a look at
393       http://bugzilla.netfilter.org/
394

COMPATIBILITY WITH IPCHAINS

396       This iptables is very similar to ipchains by Rusty Russell.   The  main
397       difference  is  that the chains INPUT and OUTPUT are only traversed for
398       packets coming into the local host and originating from the local  host
399       respectively.   Hence every packet only passes through one of the three
400       chains (except loopback traffic, which involves both INPUT  and  OUTPUT
401       chains); previously a forwarded packet would pass through all three.
402
403       The  other main difference is that -i refers to the input interface; -o
404       refers to the output interface, and  both  are  available  for  packets
405       entering the FORWARD chain.
406
407       The  various  forms  of NAT have been separated out; iptables is a pure
408       packet filter when using the  default  `filter'  table,  with  optional
409       extension modules.  This should simplify much of the previous confusion
410       over the combination of IP masquerading and packet filtering seen  pre‐
411       viously.  So the following options are handled differently:
412        -j MASQ
413        -M -S
414        -M -L
415       There are several other changes in iptables.
416

SEE ALSO

418       iptables-apply(8),    iptables-save(8),    iptables-restore(8),   ipta‐
419       bles-extensions(8),
420
421       The packet-filtering-HOWTO details iptables usage for packet filtering,
422       the  NAT-HOWTO  details NAT, the netfilter-extensions-HOWTO details the
423       extensions that are not in the standard distribution, and  the  netfil‐
424       ter-hacking-HOWTO details the netfilter internals.
425       See http://www.netfilter.org/.
426

AUTHORS

428       Rusty  Russell  originally  wrote  iptables, in early consultation with
429       Michael Neuling.
430
431       Marc Boucher made Rusty abandon ipnatctl  by  lobbying  for  a  generic
432       packet  selection  framework  in iptables, then wrote the mangle table,
433       the owner match, the mark stuff, and ran around doing cool stuff every‐
434       where.
435
436       James Morris wrote the TOS target, and tos match.
437
438       Jozsef Kadlecsik wrote the REJECT target.
439
440       Harald  Welte  wrote  the  ULOG and NFQUEUE target, the new libiptc, as
441       well as the TTL, DSCP, ECN matches and targets.
442
443       The Netfilter Core Team is: Jozsef Kadlecsik, Pablo Neira  Ayuso,  Eric
444       Leblond,  Florian Westphal and  Arturo Borrero Gonzalez.  Emeritus Core
445       Team members are: Marc Boucher,  Martin  Josefsson,  Yasuyuki  Kozakai,
446       James Morris, Harald Welte and Rusty Russell.
447
448       Man page originally written by Herve Eychenne <rv@wallfire.org>.
449

VERSION

451       This manual page applies to iptables/ip6tables 1.8.3.
452
453
454
455iptables 1.8.3                                                     IPTABLES(8)
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