IPTABLES Rules Example

Most of the actions listed in this post written with the assumption that they will be executed by the root user running the bash or any other modern shell. Do not type commands on the remote system as it will disconnect your access.
For demonstration purpose, I’ve used RHEL 6.x, but the following command should work with any modern Linux distro that use the netfliter.
It is NOT a tutorial on how to set iptables. See tutorial here. It is a quick cheat sheet to common iptables commands.

#1: Displaying the Status of Your Firewall

Type the following command as root:

iptables -L -n -v

Sample outputs:

Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes) pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes) pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes) pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination

Above output indicates that the firewall is not active. The following sample shows an active firewall:

iptables -L -n -v

Sample outputs:

Chain INPUT (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes) pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination 0 0 DROP all -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 state INVALID 394 43586 ACCEPT all -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 state RELATED,ESTABLISHED 93 17292 ACCEPT all -- br0 * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 1 142 ACCEPT all -- lo * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0

Chain FORWARD (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes) pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination 0 0 ACCEPT all -- br0 br0 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 0 0 DROP all -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 state INVALID 0 0 TCPMSS tcp -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 tcp flags:0x06/0x02 TCPMSS clamp to PMTU 0 0 ACCEPT all -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 state RELATED,ESTABLISHED 0 0 wanin all -- vlan2 * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 0 0 wanout all -- * vlan2 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 0 0 ACCEPT all -- br0 * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 425 packets, 113K bytes) pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination

Chain wanin (1 references) pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination

Chain wanout (1 references) pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination