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PFCTL(8) System Manager's Manual PFCTL(8) NAME pfctl -- control the packet filter (PF) device SYNOPSIS pfctl [-AdeghMmNnOPqRrvz] [-a anchor] [-D macro= value] [-F modifier] [-f file] [-i interface] [-K host | network] [-k host | network | label | id | gateway | nat] [-o level] [-p device] [-s modifier] [-t table -T command [address ...]] [-x level] DESCRIPTION The pfctl utility communicates with the packet filter device using the ioctl interface described in pf(4). It allows ruleset and parameter con- figuration and retrieval of status information from the packet filter. Packet filtering restricts the types of packets that pass through network interfaces entering or leaving the host based on filter rules as described in pf.conf(5). The packet filter can also replace addresses and ports of packets. Replacing source addresses and ports of outgoing packets is called NAT (Network Address Translation) and is used to connect an internal network (usually reserved address space) to an external one (the Internet) by making all connections to external hosts appear to come from the gate- way. Replacing destination addresses and ports of incoming packets is used to redirect connections to different hosts and/or ports. A combination of both translations, bidirectional NAT, is also supported. Translation rules are described in pf.conf(5). When the variable pf_enable is set to YES in rc.conf(5), the rule file specified with the variable pf_rules is loaded automatically by the rc(8) scripts and the packet filter is enabled. The packet filter does not itself forward packets between interfaces. For- warding can be enabled by setting the sysctl(8) variables net.inet.ip.forwarding and/or net.inet6.ip6.forwarding to 1. Set them per- manently in sysctl.conf(5). At least one option must be specified. The options are as follows: -A Load only the queue rules present in the rule file. Other rules and options are ignored. -a anchor Apply flags -f, -F, -s, and -T only to the rules in the specified anchor. In addition to the main ruleset, pfctl can load and manip- ulate additional rulesets by name, called anchors. The main rule- set is the default anchor. Anchors are referenced by name and may be nested, with the various components of the anchor path separated by `/' characters, similar to how file system hierarchies are laid out. The last component of the anchor path is where ruleset operations are performed. Evaluation of anchor rules from the main ruleset is described in pf.conf(5). For example, the following will show all filter rules (see the -s flag below) inside the anchor "authpf/smith(1234)", which would have been created for user "smith" by authpf(8), PID 1234: # pfctl -a "authpf/smith(1234)" -s rules Private tables can also be put inside anchors, either by having ta- ble statements in the pf.conf(5) file that is loaded in the anchor, or by using regular table commands, as in: # pfctl -a foo/bar -t mytable -T add 1.2.3.4 5.6.7.8 When a rule referring to a table is loaded in an anchor, the rule will use the private table if one is defined, and then fall back to the table defined in the main ruleset, if there is one. This is similar to C rules for variable scope. It is possible to create distinct tables with the same name in the global ruleset and in an anchor, but this is often bad design and a warning will be issued in that case. By default, recursive inline printing of anchors applies only to unnamed anchors specified inline in the ruleset. If the anchor name is terminated with a `*' character, the -s flag will recur- sively print all anchors in a brace delimited block. For example the following will print the "authpf" ruleset recursively: # pfctl -a 'authpf/*' -sr To print the main ruleset recursively, specify only `*' as the an- chor name: # pfctl -a '*' -sr To flush all rulesets and tables recursively, specify only `*' as the anchor name: # pfctl -a '*' -Fa -D macro=value Define macro to be set to value on the command line. Overrides the definition of macro in the ruleset. -d Disable the packet filter. -e Enable the packet filter. -F modifier Flush the filter parameters specified by modifier (may be abbrevi- ated): -F nat Flush the NAT rules. -F queue Flush the queue rules. -F ethernet Flush the Ethernet filter rules. -F rules Flush the filter rules. -F states Flush the state table (NAT and filter). -F Sources Flush the source tracking table. -F info Flush the filter information (statistics that are not bound to rules). -F Tables Flush the tables. -F osfp Flush the passive operating system fingerprints. -F Reset Reset limits, timeouts and other options back to de- fault settings. See the OPTIONS section in pf.conf(5) for details. -F all Flush all of the above. If -a is specified as well and anchor is terminated with a `*' character, rules, Tables and all flush the given anchor recur- sively. -f file Load the rules contained in file. This file may contain macros, tables, options, and normalization, queueing, translation, and fil- tering rules. With the exception of macros and tables, the state- ments must appear in that order. -g Include output helpful for debugging. -h Help. -i interface Restrict the operation to the given interface. -K host | network Kill all of the source tracking entries originating from the speci- fied host or network. A second -K host or -K network option may be specified, which will kill all the source tracking entries from the first host/network to the second. -k host | network | label | id | key | gateway | nat Kill all of the state entries matching the specified host, network, label, id, key, gateway, or nat. For example, to kill all of the state entries originating from "host": # pfctl -k host A second -k host or -k network option may be specified, which will kill all the state entries from the first host/network to the sec- ond. To kill all of the state entries from "host1" to "host2": # pfctl -k host1 -k host2 To kill all states originating from 192.168.1.0/24 to 172.16.0.0/16: # pfctl -k 192.168.1.0/24 -k 172.16.0.0/16 A network prefix length of 0 can be used as a wildcard. To kill all states with the target "host2": # pfctl -k 0.0.0.0/0 -k host2 It is also possible to kill states by rule label, state key or state ID. In this mode the first -k argument is used to specify the type of the second argument. The following command would kill all states that have been created from rules carrying the label "foobar": # pfctl -k label -k foobar To kill one specific state by its key (protocol, host1, port1, di- rection, host2 and port2 in the same format of pfctl -s state), use the key modifier and as a second argument the state key. To kill a state whose protocol is TCP and originating from 10.0.0.101:32123 to 10.0.0.1:80 use: # pfctl -k key -k 'tcp 10.0.0.1:80 <- 10.0.0.101:32123' To kill one specific state by its unique state ID (as shown by pfctl -s state -vv), use the id modifier and as a second argument the state ID and optional creator ID. To kill a state with ID 4823e84500000003 use: # pfctl -k id -k 4823e84500000003 To kill a state with ID 4823e84500000018 created from a backup firewall with hostid 00000002 use: # pfctl -k id -k 4823e84500000018/2 It is also possible to kill states created from a rule with the route-to/reply-to parameter set to route the connection through a particular gateway. Note that rules routing via the default rout- ing table (not via a route-to rule) will have their rt_addr set as 0.0.0.0 or ::. To kill all states using a gateway of 192.168.0.1 use: # pfctl -k gateway -k 192.168.0.1 A network prefix length can also be specified. To kill all states using a gateway in 192.168.0.0/24: # pfctl -k gateway -k 192.168.0.0/24 States can also be killed based on their pre-NAT address: # pfctl -k nat -k 192.168.0.1 -M Kill matching states in the opposite direction (on other inter- faces) when killing states. This applies to states killed using the -k option and also will apply to the flush command when flush- ing states. This is useful when an interface is specified when flushing states. Example: # pfctl -M -i interface -Fs -m Merge in explicitly given options without resetting those which are omitted. Allows single options to be modified without disturbing the others: # echo "set loginterface fxp0" | pfctl -mf - -N Load only the NAT rules present in the rule file. Other rules and options are ignored. -n Do not actually load rules, just parse them. -O Load only the options present in the rule file. Other rules and options are ignored. -o level Control the ruleset optimizer, overriding any rule file settings. -o none Disable the ruleset optimizer. -o basic Enable basic ruleset optimizations. This is the de- fault behaviour. -o profile Enable basic ruleset optimizations with profiling. For further information on the ruleset optimizer, see pf.conf(5). -P Do not perform service name lookup for port specific rules, instead display the ports numerically. -p device Use the device file device instead of the default /dev/pf. -q Only print errors and warnings. -R Load only the filter rules present in the rule file. Other rules and options are ignored. -r Perform reverse DNS lookups on states and tables when displaying them. -N and -r are mutually exclusive. -s modifier [-R id] Show the filter parameters specified by modifier (may be abbrevi- ated): -s nat Show the currently loaded NAT rules. -s queue Show the currently loaded queue rules. When used together with -v, per-queue statistics are also shown. When used together with -v -v, pfctl will loop and show updated queue statistics every five seconds, including measured bandwidth and packets per second. -s ethernet Show the currently loaded Ethernet rules. When used together with -v, the per-rule statistics (number of evaluations, packets, and bytes) are also shown. -s rules Show the currently loaded filter rules. When used together with -v, the per-rule statistics (number of evaluations, packets, and bytes) are also shown. Note that the "skip step" optimization done automat- ically by the kernel will skip evaluation of rules where possible. Packets passed statefully are counted in the rule that created the state (even though the rule is not evaluated more than once for the entire connection). -s Anchors Show the currently loaded anchors directly attached to the main ruleset. If -a anchor is specified as well, the anchors loaded directly below the given anchor are shown instead. If -v is specified, all anchors attached under the target anchor will be displayed recursively. -s states Show the contents of the state table. -s Sources Show the contents of the source tracking table. -s info Show filter information (statistics and counters). When used together with -v, source tracking statis- tics, the firewall's 32-bit hostid number and the main ruleset's MD5 checksum for use with pfsync(4) are also shown. -s Running Show the running status and provide a non-zero exit status when disabled. -s labels Show per-rule statistics (label, evaluations, pack- ets total, bytes total, packets in, bytes in, pack- ets out, bytes out, state creations) of filter rules with labels, useful for accounting. -s timeouts Show the current global timeouts. -s memory Show the current pool memory hard limits. -s Tables Show the list of tables. -s osfp Show the list of operating system fingerprints. -s Interfaces Show the list of interfaces and interface groups available to PF. When used together with -v, it ad- ditionally lists which interfaces have skip rules activated. When used together with -vv, interface statistics are also shown. -i can be used to select an interface or a group of interfaces. -s all Show all of the above, except for the lists of in- terfaces and operating system fingerprints. Counters shown with -s info are: match explicit rule match bad-offset currently unused fragment invalid fragments dropped short short packets dropped normalize dropped by normalizer: illegal packets memory memory could not be allocated bad-timestamp bad TCP timestamp; RFC 1323 congestion network interface queue congested ip-option bad IP/IPv6 options proto-cksum invalid protocol checksum state-mismatch packet was associated with a state entry, but se- quence numbers did not match state-insert state insertion failure state-limit configured state limit was reached src-limit source node/connection limit synproxy dropped by synproxy map-failed address mapping failed translate no free ports in translation port range -S Do not perform domain name resolution. If a name cannot be re- solved without DNS, an error will be reported. -t table -T command [address ...] Specify the command (may be abbreviated) to apply to table. Com- mands include: -T add Add one or more addresses to a table. Automati- cally create a persistent table if it does not exist. -T delete Delete one or more addresses from a table. -T expire number Delete addresses which had their statistics cleared more than number seconds ago. For en- tries which have never had their statistics cleared, number refers to the time they were added to the table. -T flush Flush all addresses in a table. -T kill Kill a table. -T replace Replace the addresses of the table. Automati- cally create a persistent table if it does not exist. -T show Show the content (addresses) of a table. -T test Test if the given addresses match a table. -T zero [address ...] Clear all the statistics of a table, or only for specified addresses. -T reset Clear statistics only for addresses with non-zero statistics. Addresses with counter values at zero and their "Cleared" timestamp are left untouched. -T load Load only the table definitions from pf.conf(5). This is used in conjunction with the -f flag, as in: # pfctl -Tl -f pf.conf For the add, delete, replace, and test commands, the list of ad- dresses can be specified either directly on the command line and/or in an unformatted text file, using the -f flag. Comments starting with a `#' or `;' are allowed in the text file. With these com- mands, the -v flag can also be used once or twice, in which case pfctl will print the detailed result of the operation for each in- dividual address, prefixed by one of the following letters: A The address/network has been added. C The address/network has been changed (negated). D The address/network has been deleted. M The address matches (test operation only). X The address/network is duplicated and therefore ignored. Y The address/network cannot be added/deleted due to conflicting `!' attributes. Z The address/network has been cleared (statistics). Each table can maintain a set of counters that can be retrieved us- ing the -v flag of pfctl. For example, the following commands de- fine a wide open firewall which will keep track of packets going to or coming from the OpenBSD FTP server. The following commands con- figure the firewall and send 10 pings to the FTP server: # printf "table <test> counters { ftp.openbsd.org }\n \ pass out to <test>\n" | pfctl -f- # ping -qc10 ftp.openbsd.org We can now use the table show command to output, for each address and packet direction, the number of packets and bytes that are be- ing passed or blocked by rules referencing the table. The time at which the current accounting started is also shown with the "Cleared" line. # pfctl -t test -vTshow 129.128.5.191 Cleared: Thu Feb 13 18:55:18 2003 In/Block: [ Packets: 0 Bytes: 0 ] In/Pass: [ Packets: 10 Bytes: 840 ] Out/Block: [ Packets: 0 Bytes: 0 ] Out/Pass: [ Packets: 10 Bytes: 840 ] Similarly, it is possible to view global information about the ta- bles by using the -v modifier twice and the -s Tables command. This will display the number of addresses on each table, the number of rules which reference the table, and the global packet statis- tics for the whole table: # pfctl -vvsTables --a-r-C test Addresses: 1 Cleared: Thu Feb 13 18:55:18 2003 References: [ Anchors: 0 Rules: 1 ] Evaluations: [ NoMatch: 3496 Match: 1 ] In/Block: [ Packets: 0 Bytes: 0 ] In/Pass: [ Packets: 10 Bytes: 840 ] In/XPass: [ Packets: 0 Bytes: 0 ] Out/Block: [ Packets: 0 Bytes: 0 ] Out/Pass: [ Packets: 10 Bytes: 840 ] Out/XPass: [ Packets: 0 Bytes: 0 ] As we can see here, only one packet - the initial ping request - matched the table, but all packets passing as the result of the state are correctly accounted for. Reloading the table(s) or rule- set will not affect packet accounting in any way. The two "XPass" counters are incremented instead of the "Pass" counters when a "stateful" packet is passed but does not match the table anymore. This will happen in our example if someone flushes the table while the ping(8) command is running. When used with a single -v, pfctl will only display the first line containing the table flags and name. The flags are defined as fol- lows: c For constant tables, which cannot be altered outside pf.conf(5). p For persistent tables, which do not get automatically killed when no rules refer to them. a For tables which are part of the active tableset. Tables without this flag do not really exist, cannot contain ad- dresses, and are only listed if the -g flag is given. i For tables which are part of the inactive tableset. This flag can only be witnessed briefly during the loading of pf.conf(5). r For tables which are referenced (used) by rules. h This flag is set when a table in the main ruleset is hidden by one or more tables of the same name from anchors attached be- low it. C This flag is set when per-address counters are enabled on the table. -v Produce more verbose output. A second use of -v will produce even more verbose output including ruleset warnings. See the previous section for its effect on table commands. -x level Set the debug level (may be abbreviated) to one of the following: -x none Do not generate debug messages. -x urgent Generate debug messages only for serious errors. -x misc Generate debug messages for various errors. -x loud Generate debug messages for common conditions. -z Clear per-rule statistics. FILES /etc/pf.conf Packet filter rules file. /etc/pf.os Passive operating system fingerprint database. SEE ALSO pf(4), pf.conf(5), pf.os(5), rc.conf(5), services(5), sysctl.conf(5), au- thpf(8), ftp-proxy(8), rc(8), sysctl(8) HISTORY The pfctl program and the pf(4) filter mechanism appeared in OpenBSD 3.0. They first appeared in FreeBSD 5.3 ported from the version in OpenBSD 3.5 FreeBSD ports 15.quarterly August 5, 2025 PFCTL(8)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | FILES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY
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