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DIVERT(4)		     Kernel Interfaces Manual		       DIVERT(4)

NAME
     divert -- kernel packet diversion mechanism

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <sys/socket.h>
     #include <netinet/in.h>

     int
     socket(PF_INET, SOCK_RAW, IPPROTO_DIVERT);

     To enable support for divert sockets, place the following lines in the
     kernel configuration file:

	   options IPFIREWALL
	   options IPDIVERT

     Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, add the
     following lines into the loader.conf(5) file:

	   ipfw_load="YES"
	   ipdivert_load="YES"

DESCRIPTION
     Divert sockets are similar to raw IP sockets, except that they can be bound
     to  a  specific divert port via the bind(2) system call.  The IP address in
     the bind is ignored; only the port number is significant.	A divert  socket
     bound  to	a  divert port will receive all packets diverted to that port by
     some (here unspecified) kernel mechanism(s).  Packets may also  be  written
     to a divert port, in which case they re-enter kernel IP packet processing.

     Divert  sockets are normally used in conjunction with FreeBSD's packet fil-
     tering implementation and the ipfw(8) program.  By reading from and writing
     to a divert socket, matching packets can be  passed  through  an  arbitrary
     ``filter''  as they travel through the host machine, special routing tricks
     can be done, etc.

READING PACKETS
     Packets are diverted either as they are ``incoming'' or ``outgoing.''   In-
     coming  packets  are  diverted  after reception on an IP interface, whereas
     outgoing packets are diverted before next hop forwarding.

     Diverted  packets	may  be  read  unaltered  via	read(2),   recv(2),   or
     recvfrom(2).   In	the latter case, the address returned will have its port
     set to some tag supplied by the packet diverter,  (usually  the  ipfw  rule
     number)  and  the IP address set to the (first) address of the interface on
     which the packet was received (if the packet was  incoming)  or  INADDR_ANY
     (if  the  packet  was  outgoing).	 The  interface name (if defined for the
     packet) will be placed in the 8 bytes following the address, if it fits.

WRITING PACKETS
     Writing to a divert socket is similar to writing to a raw	IP  socket;  the
     packet  is  injected  ``as is'' into the normal kernel IP packet processing
     using sendto(2) and minimal error checking is done.   Packets  are  distin-
     guished as either incoming or outgoing.  If sendto(2) is used with a desti-
     nation  IP  address of INADDR_ANY, then the packet is treated as if it were
     outgoing, i.e., destined for a non-local address.	Otherwise, the packet is
     assumed to be incoming and full packet routing is done.

     In the latter case, the IP address specified must match the address of some
     local interface, or an interface name must be found after the  IP	address.
     If an interface name is found, that interface will be used and the value of
     the  IP  address  will  be  ignored  (other  than	the  fact that it is not
     INADDR_ANY).  This is to indicate on which interface the packet "arrived".

     Normally, packets read as incoming should be written as incoming; similarly
     for outgoing packets.  When reading and then writing back packets,  passing
     the  same	socket	address  supplied by recvfrom(2) unmodified to sendto(2)
     simplifies things (see below).

     The port part of the socket address passed to the sendto(2) contains a  tag
     that  should be meaningful to the diversion module.  In the case of ipfw(8)
     the tag is interpreted as the  rule  number  after  which	rule  processing
     should restart.

LOOP AVOIDANCE
     Packets  written into a divert socket (using sendto(2)) re-enter the packet
     filter at the rule number following the tag given in the port part  of  the
     socket address, which is usually already set at the rule number that caused
     the  diversion (not the next rule if there are several at the same number).
     If the 'tag' is altered to indicate an  alternative  re-entry  point,  care
     should be taken to avoid loops, where the same packet is diverted more than
     once at the same rule.

DETAILS
     If  a packet is diverted but no socket is bound to the port, or if IPDIVERT
     is not enabled or loaded in the kernel, the packet is dropped.

     Incoming packet fragments which get diverted are fully  reassembled  before
     delivery; the diversion of any one fragment causes the entire packet to get
     diverted.	 If  different	fragments  divert to different ports, then which
     port ultimately gets chosen is unpredictable.

     Note that packets arriving on the divert socket by the ipfw(8)  tee  action
     are  delivered  as-is  and  packet fragments do not get reassembled in this
     case.

     Packets are received and sent unchanged, except that packets read as outgo-
     ing have invalid IP header checksums, and packets written as outgoing  have
     their  IP	header	checksums  overwritten	with the correct value.  Packets
     written as incoming and having incorrect checksums will be dropped.  Other-
     wise, all header fields are unchanged (and therefore in network order).

     Binding to port numbers less than 1024 requires super-user access, as  does
     creating a socket of type SOCK_RAW.

ERRORS
     Writing  to  a  divert socket can return these errors, along with the usual
     errors possible when writing raw packets:

     [EINVAL]		The packet had an invalid header, or the IP  options  in
			the packet and the socket options set were incompatible.

     [EADDRNOTAVAIL]	The  destination  address  contained  an  IP address not
			equal to INADDR_ANY that was not associated with any in-
			terface.

SEE ALSO
     bind(2), recvfrom(2), sendto(2), socket(2), ipfw(4), ipfw(8)

AUTHORS
     Archie Cobbs <archie@FreeBSD.org>, Whistle Communications Corp.

BUGS
     This is an attempt to provide a clean way for user mode processes to imple-
     ment various IP tricks like address translation, but it could  be	cleaner,
     and it is too dependent on ipfw(8).

     It  is questionable whether incoming fragments should be reassembled before
     being diverted.  For example, if only some fragments of a	packet	destined
     for another machine do not get routed through the local machine, the packet
     is lost.  This should probably be a settable socket option in any case.

FreeBSD 13.2			December 17, 2004		       DIVERT(4)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=divert&manpath=FreeBSD+13.2-RELEASE>

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