mignis 0.9.5.post1
Mignis is a semantic based tool for firewall configuration
License: MIT
Keywords: iptables,firewall,semantic firewall configuration,netfilter

Mignis
======

Mignis is a semantic based tool for firewall configuration. It is designed to help 
writing **iptables rules** using an more **human-readable syntax**, 
without restricting iptables functionalities.

The traslation from Mignis syntax into the corresponding iptables ruleset has been
**formally verified** in a paper published in Computer Security Foundations Symposium (CSF), 2014:

-  `Mignis: A Semantic Based Tool for Firewall Configuration <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6957122/>`_

Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  Python 2.7 or higher (Python 3.x supported).

Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Latest working version is available on PyPI:

``pip install mignis``

Most up-to-date way is to directly install the master branch from GitHub:

``pip install--upgrade git+https://github.com/secgroup/Mignis.git``

Description
~~~~~~~~~~~

There are many possible ways to write a set of iptables rules for a
specific purpose, we decided to use the following approach:

-  define each interface and its corresponding subnet.
-  bind the interface to the subnet (on the mangle-prerouting chain).
   This allows us to specify interfaces and/or IP addresses
   interchangeably (this is for example exploited in the translation of
   a masquerade rule).
-  give higher priority to deny rules, so that they are placed before
   any other abstract firewall rule (this has to be kept in mind when
   writing rules).
-  use logging rules to analyze mismatched traffic (which will be
   dropped).

Rules' ordering is fundamental when writing iptables rules. Our approach
instead allows to write a set of abstract **rules** which are
**order-independent**.

Usage
~~~~~

::

        usage: mignis.py [--help] [-F] [-c filename] [-w filename | -e | -q query]
                 [-d {0,1,2,3}] [-n] [-f]

        A semantic based tool for firewall configuration

        optional arguments:
          --help, -h            show this help message and exit
          -d {0,1,2,3}, --debug {0,1,2,3}
                                set debugging output level (0-2)
          -n, --dryrun          do not execute/write the rules (dryrun)
          -f, --force           force rule execution or writing

        possible actions::
          -F, --flush           flush iptables ruleset
          -c filename, --config filename
                                read mignis rules from file

        options for --config/-c:
          -w filename, --write filename
                                write the rules to file
          -e, --execute         execute the rules without writing to file
          -q query, --query query
                                perform a query over the configuration (unstable)

Mignis takes a configuration file and generates a series of iptables
rules.

Rules can either be written to a file (in a format parsable by the
``iptables-restore`` command) or directly executed via the ``iptables``
command.

Usage example:

.. code:: bash

    ./mignis.py -c config/ex_simple.config -w ex_simple.iptables

This will create an *ex\_simple.iptables* file from the
*ex\_simple.config* configuration. To actually use the rules we just
have to execute ``iptables-restore ex_simple.iptables``.

Configuration file example
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

::

    OPTIONS
    default_rules   yes
    logging         no

    INTERFACES
    lan     eth0    10.0.0.0/24
    ext     eth1    0.0.0.0/0
    dummy   eth2    none         ignore
    vpn     tun0    10.8.0.0/24

    ALIASES
    mypc            10.0.0.2
    router_ext_ip   1.2.3.4
    malicious_host  5.6.7.8
    host_over_vpn   10.8.0.123
    remote_host_1   20.20.20.1
    remote_host_2   30.30.30.2
    remote_host_3   40.40.40.3
    remote_hosts    (remote_host_1, remote_host_2, remote_host_3)

    FIREWALL
    # no restrictions on outgoing connections
    local > *

    # ssh accessible from the outside
    * > local:22  tcp

    # machines inside the lan are NAT'ed (using masquerade) when communicating through ext
    lan [.] > ext

    # forbid the communication with a malicious host
    lan / malicious_host

    # dnat to mypc on port 8888
    ext > [router_ext_ip:8888] mypc:8888  udp

    # dnat to host_over_vpn on port 9999 with masquerade
    ext [.] > [router_ext_ip:9999] host_over_vpn:9999  tcp

    # allow access to port 80 and 443 on this machine
    ext > local:(80, 443)  tcp

    # allow only a limited set of hosts to access our vpn
    remote_hosts > local:1194  udp

    POLICIES
    * // *  icmp
    * // *  udp
    * / *

    CUSTOM
    # log and accept packets on port 7792
    -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 7792 -j LOG --log-prefix "PORT 7792 "
    -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 7792 -j ACCEPT

Each configuration file needs 6 sections:

-  **OPTIONS**: at the moment two generic mignis options can be
   specified:

   -  ``default_rules`` is used to choose whether to insert default
      rules or not. Default rules are usually safe to use and are
      hardcoded into mignis and concern broadcast/multicast packets,
      invalid packets drops and localhost loopback communication.
   -  ``logging`` is used to choose whether to log unexplicitly dropped
      packets or not (i.e. packets which don't match any rule and get
      dropped by the default policy).

-  **INTERFACES**: defines each interface with their alias (which can be
   used when writing rules). The syntax is
   ``alias interface-name subnet options``. If the interface doesn't
   have an ip address the keyword ``none`` must be used in place of the
   subnet. At the moment the only option allowed is ``ignore``, which is
   used to tell mignis to always allow traffic on that interface (i.e.
   it is not taken into account in firewall rules).
-  **ALIASES**: defines aliases for IP addresses. The syntax is
   ``alias ip-address``.
-  **FIREWALL**: contains abstract rules. The syntax is
   ``abstract-rule | iptables-filters``.

   First we define an *address*, which is either an interface, an alias
   or an IP address.

   An *abstract rule* is defined as follows:
   ``from [source_nat] opt [dest_nat] to``

   -  *from* and *to* are addresses,
   -  *source\_nat* is the address *from* will be SNAT'ed to (it's
      possible to use "." to indicate a masquerade),
   -  *dest\_nat* is the address *to* will be DNAT'ed to,
   -  *opt* is one of: "/" (deny with DROP), "//" (deny with REJECT),
      ">" (one-way forward), "<>" (two-way forward)

   Finally an *iptables filter* is any iptables option used for
   filtering packets. Common options may be "--icmp-type echo-reply",
   "-m module", etc.

-  **POLICIES**: the default mignis behavior for unmatched packets is to
   drop them. This section is useful if one wants to reject packets
   instead, using the mignis syntax for rules matching (only drop or
   reject rules can be specified). In the example we are rejecting icmp
   and udp packets, while we're dropping the rest (this last rule may be
   omitted, we wrote it there only for clarity).

-  **CUSTOM**: contains raw iptables rules. Note that you can also
   modify the tool's behavior here, since you can use the *-D* and *-I*
   switches for deleting and inserting rules in specific locations. We
   provide this section to add more flexibility, but we cannot guarantee
   that your custom rules will not conflict with the abstract ones, so
   please use this section with care and only if you know what you're
   doing.

Firewall rules examples
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Let's see some examples from the configuration above, to clearify how
rules can be written and to see how they're translated into iptables
rules.

1. ``* > local:22  tcp``\  Allows *ssh* (tcp port 22) connections
   towards localhost from any interface.

   ::

       iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT

2. ``lan [.] > ext``\  Allows packets originating from the *lan*
   interface to go to *ext*, using a source NAT (masquerade).

   ::

       iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -o eth1 -j ACCEPT
       iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 10.0.0.0/24 -o eth1 -j MASQUERADE

3. ``lan / malicious_host``\  Forbids the communication from the *lan*
   towards a *malicious host*.

   ::

       iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -d 5.6.7.8 -j DROP

4. ``ext > [router_ext_ip:8888] mypc:8888  udp``\  UDP packets
   originating from *ext* to *router\_ext\_ip* on port 8888, are DNAT'ed
   to *mypc* on port 8888.

   ::

       iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p udp -i eth1 -d 10.0.0.2 --dport 8888 -m state --state NEW -j DROP
       iptables -A FORWARD -p udp -i eth1 -d 10.0.0.2 --dport 8888 -j ACCEPT
       iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p udp -i eth1 -d 1.2.3.4 --dport 8888 -j DNAT --to-destination 10.0.0.2:8888

   Note: the first mangle rule is used to block packets which are trying
   to reach *mypc* bypassing the NAT.

5. ``ext [.] > [router_ext_ip:9999] host_over_vpn:9999  tcp``\  TCP packets
   originating from *ext* to *router\_ext\_ip* on port 9999, are DNAT'ed
   to *host\_over\_vpn* on port 9999 using a source NAT (masquerade). The masquerade
   ensures that answers from *host\_over\_vpn* are routed through the vpn interface.

   ::

       iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp -i eth1 -d 10.8.0.123 --dport 9999 -m state --state NEW -j DROP
       iptables -A FORWARD -p tcp -i eth1 -d 10.8.0.123 --dport 9999 -j ACCEPT
       iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -p tcp -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d 10.8.0.123 --dport 9999 -j MASQUERADE
       iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -i eth1 -d 1.2.3.4 --dport 9999 -j DNAT --to-destination 10.8.0.123:9999

   Note: the first mangle rule is used to block packets which are trying
   to reach *host\_over\_vpn* bypassing the NAT.

6. ``ext > local:(80, 443)  tcp``\  Allow access from *ext* to port 80 and 443 on the
   local machine.

   ::

       iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth1 --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
       iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth1 --dport 443 -j ACCEPT

7. ``remote_hosts > local:1194  udp``\  Only the list of hosts specified in *remote\_hosts* can connect to our VPN.

   ::
       
       iptables -A INPUT -p udp -s 20.20.20.1 --dport 1194 -j ACCEPT
       iptables -A INPUT -p udp -s 30.30.30.2 --dport 1194 -j ACCEPT
       iptables -A INPUT -p udp -s 40.40.40.3 --dport 1194 -j ACCEPT


Work in progress features (still unstable)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  Lists operations for excluding hosts/lists from a list. For example
   if we define a list alias "list1 (eth0, eth1)" and want a rule that
   is valid for *list1* except for the host *1.1.1.1* (which belongs to
   the interface *eth0*), we can write ``list1/1.1.1.1 > eth2``.
-  Improving checks for identifying overlapping rules.
-  Rules queries to list all the connections that match a particular
   host, this is useful to see all the packets a host can send/receive.
   This has to be expanded with lists and rules (exploiting the
   overlapping checks).

Future work for Mignis v2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  Complete code rewrite with a modular compiler-like design.
-  Support multiple firewall languages (iptables, nftables, Cisco, etc.)
-  Abstract-level rules optimizations.
-  Accept different kinds of configuration files (e.g. JSON, python
   scripts) and/or consider a richer language for writing the rules.
-  Provide a 2nd-level abstract semantic using security roles.