C. Albers wrote:
> Hi Tom,
> 
> The problem isn't so much that I have made a
> connection
> from loc->net on UDP port 500 (and 10000), but the
> other way around, net->loc.  If I understanding your
> firewall correctly, the rules in the rules config file
> are exceptions to a net->loc DROP policy.  For
> example,
> as an exception, I have opened port 22 to allow
> incoming ssh connection.  However, I have not opened
> UDP port 500 (and 10000) for returning VPN traffic.  
> In theory, then, I shouldn't be able to connect to my
> VPN at all, because a response from my VPN server 
> would be blocked by the firewall and never reach my 
> VPN client.
>  
> The mystery then is why am I able to connect to my VPN
> server when I have not opened UDP port 500 for
> incoming traffic.  Why hasn't my firewall blocked this
> traffic, when, by default(and without a rule
> exception), it should be blocked?
> 
> Let me know if I'm making sense,

You are misunderstanding the concept of a stateful firewall.

In a stateful firewall (like the one configured by Shorewall), any packet that
is part of an ESTABLISHED connection is automatically passed by the firewall. A
connection becomes ESTABLISHED when a response packet is received (reaching
ESTABLISHED state has nothing to do with the underlying protocol's idea of a
connection).

Your rules and policies govern connections, not packets. So when you say that
you have a loc->net ACCEPT policy that means that you are allowing connections
to be established from the loc->net zones. And responses to ACCEPTed connection
requests are always accepted as are each successive response packet.

HTH,
-Tom
-- 
Tom Eastep    \ Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool
Shoreline,     \ http://shorewall.net
Washington USA  \ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PGP Public Key   \ https://lists.shorewall.net/teastep.pgp.key

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