nftables, Default Deny And A Port That Really Times Out

nftables from AppStream on EL 10: default-deny inbound with a port allowlist, in its own table, checked by nft before it loads. The live test opens a listener on an allowed port and on one that is not: the first answers, the second times out, the drop counter moves, and loopback still answers. Original role, live-tested on Rocky Linux 10.

ansibleSecurity & Secrets

Verification

Live-tested

Really deployed to a container sandbox, proven idempotent (a second run changes nothing), verified against the role’s assertions, then torn down.

Conformance

  • Static validation (yamllint · ansible-lint)

Provenance

  • SHA-256 checksum
  • Signature (pending)

Functional

  • Live-tested - applied, verified, destroyed

Last verified 2026-09-26 · podman 4.9.3 · ansible 2.21.4 · how we verify

Cite it in your README

badge · attribution

Paste this beside the module in the repository that uses it. The badge is rendered from this artifact's verification record, so it reads live-tested because the record says so, and the link lands on this page.

README.md, GitLab, Gitea
[![IaC Bazaar: live-tested](https://www.iac-bazaar.com/api/artifacts/ansible-nftables/badge)](https://www.iac-bazaar.com/catalog/ansible-nftables?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=artifact)

Ansible role 1.0.0, live-tested on IaC Bazaar: [nftables, Default Deny And A Port That Really Times Out](https://www.iac-bazaar.com/catalog/ansible-nftables?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=artifact)

```yaml
# nftables, Default Deny And A Port That Really Times Out: https://www.iac-bazaar.com/catalog/ansible-nftables (download from your IaC Bazaar account)
```

Preview:IaC Bazaar: live-tested

Documentation

nftables

A host firewall in one table, and the proof that it drops. The role writes a default-deny inbound ruleset with an allowlist of ports, checked by nft itself before it loads, and enables the nftables.service the distribution ships. Everything lives inside this role's own table, so podman's, libvirt's or fail2ban's rules are left alone.

No download, and no version to pin. EL 10 packages nftables and ships nftables.service, so the role installs it by name, writes the ruleset the unit reads, and takes what the distribution gives: systemctl cat nftables shows the distribution's unit, not one this role invented. What the role owns is the ruleset and the proof that it drops what it says it drops.

The file deletes its own table before loading it. nft -f ADDS what it reads: loading the same file twice appends every rule a second time, and an edited file leaves the rules it no longer contains in the kernel. The two lines at the top of /etc/sysconfig/nftables.conf make the loaded ruleset exactly what the files say, and the live test counts the rules in the input chain to prove it.

The live test needs CAP_NET_ADMIN. The container the lane boots does not carry it, and without it the kernel refuses the very call this role exists to make, so the test would pass having changed nothing. The lane is therefore run as live-ansible.sh ... --cap-add=NET_ADMIN, and the receipt records it: a pass under an added capability is not the same claim as a pass without one.

Loopback is accepted by source address, not by interface. iif lo accept is the usual first rule and it is too wide: on a single machine, traffic to the host's own external address also arrives on lo, so that rule accepts it and the allowlist below is never consulted. Matching ip saddr 127.0.0.0/8 instead is both the stronger rule - the ruleset also drops a spoofed loopback source arriving from outside, and counts it - and what makes the drop testable from one host.

policy is a reserved word in nft's grammar, so it cannot be a table name. table inet policy does not parse, and a ruleset that never loaded reads much like one with no rules.

License

Commercial - IaC Bazaar EULA. (c) IaC Bazaar.

Usage code & full reference need an account

The complete copy-paste usage, the full input/output reference, and operational notes are free with an account - shown here and bundled in the download. Sign in and this section fills in.

  • Variables
  • Test

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