rc.firewall vs. iptables question

[joegumbo]

Hi,

I'm currently running Slackware 12.1 will all upgrades applied.

I hope this question isn't too stoopid, but I'm not sure I fully understand some aspects of securing my system. And yes, not only did I 'Read The Fine Manual', but I bought a hard copy of Slackware Linux Essentials, 2nd Ed.

According to the SW Essentials book, after installing, i should place the following rules in /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall:

iptables -P INPUT DROP
iptables -P FORWARD DROP
iptables -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s 127.0.0.0/8 -d 127.0.0.0/8 -i lo -j ACCEPT

I did so. Then I

chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall

Then, after I boot up but before startx, I do

/etc/rc.d/rc.firewall start.

I read another post in this forum that suggested that the user iptables -L to see what rules he has. I ran iptables -L and this is my output:

root@slackware:~# iptables -L
Chain INPUT (policy DROP)
target prot opt source destination
ACCEPT all -- anywhere anywhere
ACCEPT all -- anywhere anywhere state RELATED,ESTABLISHED
ACCEPT all -- loopback/8 loopback/8
ACCEPT all -- anywhere anywhere state RELATED,ESTABLISHED
ACCEPT all -- loopback/8 loopback/8
ACCEPT all -- anywhere anywhere state RELATED,ESTABLISHED
ACCEPT all -- loopback/8 loopback/8

Chain FORWARD (policy DROP)
target prot opt source destination
ACCEPT all -- anywhere anywhere

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination
ACCEPT all -- anywhere anywhere
root@slackware:~#

It appears that my iptables are set to accept everything.

My copy of the "Slackware Linux Essential, 2nd Ed." was published in 2005. I realize that software evolves over time. I haven't found anything on the net to indicate that what i did is no longer the preferred ( or effective) way. I just wanted to verify that I did things correctly.

This SW install is used strictly as a desktop, not a server.

Thanks,
-Joe G.

[jfxg]

when I installed slack 12.0 I installed guarddog from:

SlackBuilds.org

note read howto before downloading.
This gives a graphical interface if you don't want to learn about firewall's
if you do here is a link to the slackware forums:

Slackware - LinuxQuestions.org

and here is a link to the group that writes netfilters and a howto from them:

http://www.netfilter.org/
http://www.netfilter.org/documentati...umentation-faq

[joegumbo]

Hi jfxg!

I didn't know that there was a SlackBuild for guarddog. Thanks!

I'll try cross-posting to the other list.

Thank you!
-Joe