Boot fallback, flowtable devices that come and go, healthz, renames

The boot unit fails closed: if ruleset.nft doesn't load, it loads
ruleset-fallback.nft (render.Fallback), saved beside it from the same
configuration: nothing new in from external zones, established, the
ICMPv6 IPv6 needs and DHCPv6 replies let in, the inside left alone and
masqueraded, and the unit marked failed with a critical message.
housecarld replaces it when it applies; status, the dashboard and
/healthz say while it is in force. no_external_zone now also says the
fallback closes everything without an external zone.

The boot ruleset has no flowtable: nftables on Debian 13's kernel
refuses one naming a device that doesn't exist yet (ppp0 before PPPoE),
and with it the whole file. internal/linkwatch listens to rtnetlink link
messages; housecarld applies again when a flowtable device appears or
comes back as a new interface (by ifindex), under the engine's lock.
docs/flowtable.md: what it does, when to use it and when not, how.

GET /healthz reports firewall (applied, unconfigured, fallback,
missing), changes on probation and the machine's warnings, with 503
unless in force, read at most every five seconds.

Renaming a zone, set or service changes what names it in the same
change (one history entry, one undo); dynamic sets keep their names.
The importer keeps a chain's head in order: once a would-be built-in
stays a rule, the ones after it do too, so the maintainer's ICMPv6
accepts stay behind the invalid drop as written. hc settings set
--flowtable none empties the list.

make test (nft 1.1.3) and make e2e (242 checks, with VLAN
sub-interfaces, the fallback and the flowtable) pass.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
abrown38andClaude Opus 5.5 committed 2026-10-19 23:16:46 +01:00
1 parent 835a9ba2cc
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@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ table of its own.
* **The rules every firewall needs**, built in and each one switchable:
loopback, established connections, invalid packets, the ICMPv6 that
IPv6 needs, antispoofing for your prefixes, MSS clamping for PPPoE, the
DHCPv6 client, and a flowtable fast path.
DHCPv6 client, and a flowtable fast path
([docs/flowtable.md](docs/flowtable.md)).
* **Changes you can trust.** Each change is validated as a whole, checked
by nftables itself, and applied in one transaction. As in Jarl, edits
can be collected in a changeset, reviewed with the diff of the ruleset,
@@ -56,7 +57,8 @@ table of its own.
the history of every change, field by field, with undo.
* **Its own table only.** Docker, Incus and libvirt keep theirs. The
confirmed ruleset is loaded at boot, before the network comes up, even
if housecarld doesn't start.
if housecarld doesn't start; should it fail to load, a fallback keeps
anything new from the internet out until housecarld puts it back.
* **Sets other programs can fill.** A dynamic set's entries expire by
themselves, and a token can be limited to one set: that is how
Steward's captive portal will let a guest in.
@@ -102,7 +104,8 @@ The web UI is on `http://127.0.0.1:8070/` (see `listen` in
* [rules.md](docs/rules.md): zones, address sets, services, rules and the built-ins
* [nat.md](docs/nat.md): port forwards, hairpin NAT, IPv6 pinholes, source NAT, redirects
* [import.md](docs/import.md): moving from an existing nftables ruleset
* [operations.md](docs/operations.md): probation, the boot, hits and the log, backups, troubleshooting
* [operations.md](docs/operations.md): probation, the boot and its fallback, hits and the log, monitoring, backups, troubleshooting
* [flowtable.md](docs/flowtable.md): the fast path for forwarded traffic, and when (not) to use it
* [certificates.md](docs/certificates.md): HTTPS with a certificate from Let's Encrypt, through Jarl
* [jarl.md](docs/jarl.md): connecting Housecarl to Jarl, and what its token may do
* [cli.md](docs/cli.md): the `hc` command line client