Security

XDP Firewall – stateless firewall tool

XDP Firewall is a stateless firewall that uses eBPF and attaches to the Linux kernel’s XDP hook for high-performance packet filtering. Processing traffic before it passes through much of the networking stack can reduce latency and resource consumption.

The firewall supports configurable rules for IPv4 and IPv6 traffic, source-address blocking, CIDR range dropping and rate limiting. Rules can match TCP, UDP and ICMP traffic using criteria including addresses, ports, packet lengths, TTL values and TCP flags.

Runtime configuration and command-line utilities allow administrators to manage rules without restarting the firewall. Packet counters and optional logging provide visibility into allowed, dropped and passed traffic.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

  • Attaches eBPF programs to the Linux kernel’s XDP hook.
  • Filters IPv4 and IPv6 traffic.
  • Supports TCP, UDP and ICMP filtering rules.
  • Matches traffic by addresses, ports, CIDR ranges, TTL values, packet sizes and TCP flags.
  • Provides source IP and flow-based rate limiting.
  • Temporarily blocks source addresses that match configured rules.
  • Drops individual addresses or entire IP ranges.
  • Uses pinned BPF maps for dynamic rule management.
  • Includes command-line tools for adding and removing rules.
  • Displays real-time allowed, dropped and passed packet counters.
  • Offers configurable terminal and file logging.
  • Supports native, generic and hardware-offload XDP attachment modes.
  • Allows features to be enabled or disabled at build time.
  • Reloads runtime configuration at a configurable interval.

Website: github.com/gamemann/XDP-Firewall
Support:
Developer: Christian Deacon
License: MIT License

XDP-Firewall

XDP Firewall is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


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