Date:	Fri, 7 Dec 2012 11:56:05 -0500
From:	Willem de Bruijn <willemb@...gle.com>
To:	Pablo Neira Ayuso <pablo@...filter.org>
Cc:	netfilter-devel <netfilter-devel@...r.kernel.org>,
	netdev@...r.kernel.org, Eric Dumazet <edumazet@...gle.com>,
	David Miller <davem@...emloft.net>, kaber <kaber@...sh.net>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/2] netfilter: add xt_bpf xtables match

On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 8:16 AM, Pablo Neira Ayuso <pablo@...filter.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 05, 2012 at 03:10:13PM -0500, Willem de Bruijn wrote:
>> On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 2:48 PM, Pablo Neira Ayuso <pablo@...filter.org> wrote:
>> > Hi Willem,
>> >
>> > On Wed, Dec 05, 2012 at 02:22:19PM -0500, Willem de Bruijn wrote:
>> >> A new match that executes sk_run_filter on every packet. BPF filters
>> >> can access skbuff fields that are out of scope for existing iptables
>> >> rules, allow more expressive logic, and on platforms with JIT support
>> >> can even be faster.
>> >>
>> >> I have a corresponding iptables patch that takes `tcpdump -ddd`
>> >> output, as used in the examples below. The two parts communicate
>> >> using a variable length structure. This is similar to ebt_among,
>> >> but new for iptables.
>> >>
>> >> Verified functionality by inserting an ip source filter on chain
>> >> INPUT and an ip dest filter on chain OUTPUT and noting that ping
>> >> failed while a rule was active:
>> >>
>> >> iptables -v -A INPUT -m bpf --bytecode '4,32 0 0 12,21 0 1 $SADDR,6 0 0 96,6 0 0 0,' -j DROP
>> >> iptables -v -A OUTPUT -m bpf --bytecode '4,32 0 0 16,21 0 1 $DADDR,6 0 0 96,6 0 0 0,' -j DROP
>> >
>> > I like this BPF idea for iptables.
>> >
>> > I made a similar extension time ago, but it was taking a file as
>> > parameter. That file contained in BPF code. I made a simple bison
>> > parser that takes BPF code and put it into the bpf array of
>> > instructions. It would be a bit more intuitive to define a filter and
>> > we can distribute it with iptables.
>>
>> That's cleaner, indeed. I actually like how tcpdump operates as a
>> code generator if you pass -ddd. Unfortunately, it generates code only
>> for link layer types of its supported devices, such as DLT_EN10MB and
>> DLT_LINUX_SLL. The network layer interface of basic iptables
>> (forgetting device dependent mechanisms as used in xt_mac) is DLT_RAW,
>> but that is rarely supported.
>
> Indeed, you'll have to hack on tcpdump to select the offset. In
> iptables the base is the layer 3 header. With that change you could
> use tcpdump for generate code automagically from their syntax.
>
>> > Let me check on my internal trees, I can put that user-space code
>> > somewhere in case you're interested.
>>
>> Absolutely. I'll be happy to revise to get it in. I'm also considering
>> sending a patch to tcpdump to make it generate code independent of the
>> installed hardware when specifying -y.
>
> I found a version of the old parser code I made:
>
> http://1984.lsi.us.es/git/nfbpf/
>
> It interprets a filter expressed in a similar way to tcpdump -dd but
> it's using the BPF constants. It's quite preliminary and simple if you
> look at the code.
>
> Extending it to interpret some syntax similar to tcpdump -d would even
> make more readable the BPF filter.
>
> Time ago I also thought about taking the kernel code that checks that
> the filter is correct. Currently you get -EINVAL if you pass a
> handcrafted filter which is incorrect, so it's hard task to debug what
> you made wrong.
>
> It could be added to the iptables tree. Or if generic enough for BPF
> and the effort is worth, just provide some small library that iptables
> can link with and a small compiler/checker to help people develop BPF
> filters.

Or use pcap_compile? I went with the tcpdump output to avoid
introducing a direct dependency on pcap to iptables. One possible
downside I see to pcap_compile vs. developing from scratch is that it
might lag in supporting the LSF ancillary data fields.

> Back to your xt_bpf thing, we can use the file containing the code
> instead:
>
> iptables -v -A INPUT -m bpf --bytecode-file filter1.bpf -j DROP
> iptables -v -A OUTPUT -m bpf --bytecode-file filter2.bpf -j DROP
>
> We can still allow the inlined filter via --bytecode if you want.

I'll add that. I'd like to keep --bytecode to able to generate the
code inline using backticks.
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