Linux – Is this a good starting point for iptables in Linux

iptableslinux

I'm new to iptables, and i've been trying to put together a firewall which purpose is to protect a web server. The below rules are the ones i've put together so far, and i would like to hear if the rules makes sense – and wether i've left out anything essential?

In addition to port 80, i also need to have port 3306 (mysql) and 22 (ssh) open for external connections.

Any feedback is highly appreciated!

#!/bin/sh

# Clear all existing rules.
iptables -F

# ACCEPT connections for loopback network connection, 127.0.0.1.
iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT

# ALLOW established traffic
iptables -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT

# DROP packets that are NEW but does not have the SYN but set.
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp ! --syn -m state --state NEW -j DROP

# DROP fragmented packets, as there is no way to tell the source and destination ports of such a packet.
iptables -A INPUT -f -j DROP

# DROP packets with all tcp flags set (XMAS packets).
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --tcp-flags ALL ALL -j DROP

# DROP packets with no tcp flags set (NULL packets).
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --tcp-flags ALL NONE -j DROP

# ALLOW ssh traffic (and prevent against DoS attacks)
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport ssh -m limit --limit 1/s  -j ACCEPT

# ALLOW http traffic (and prevent against DoS attacks)
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport http -m limit --limit 5/s -j ACCEPT

# ALLOW mysql traffic (and prevent against DoS attacks)
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport mysql -m limit --limit 25/s -j ACCEPT

# DROP any other traffic.
iptables -A INPUT -j DROP

Best Answer

Try shorewall which provides a reasonable firewall out of the box. Enable access from net for the services you want. There are example rule sets for one, two, and three interfaces. The documentation is good and it is actively maintained.

I expect you will want to limit which addresses can access MySQL which is easily done. You can also secure SSH with port knocking where the port is closed unless you have probed the another port recently.

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