Connections, "every packet" rules, and a packet tracer

- Connections: the kernel's tracked connections, read and closed over
  ctnetlink (internal/conntrack, raw netlink like the drop log), with
  their NAT and TCP state; closing one makes the rules check its next
  packet again (GET /connections, POST /connections/close; hc
  connections; Traffic → Connections).
- Rules can check every packet (every_packet, --every-packet): before
  established connections are accepted, so a drop or reject also stops
  connections already open. They can't accept.
- A packet tracer (internal/trace): a table of its own, inet
  housecarl-trace, marks the packets a filter picks, `nft monitor trace`
  reports every rule and policy they meet in every table, and the tracer
  names what accepted or dropped them, Housecarl's rules by name (POST,
  GET, DELETE /trace; hc trace; Traffic → Trace). One trace at a time,
  at most 200 packets and 20 a second; the table goes when it ends.

e2e: 157 checks, among them an upload a normal block doesn't stop and an
every-packet one does, and a trace naming the blocking rule.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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abrown38andClaude Opus 5.5 committed 2026-10-19 20:22:34 +01:00
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@@ -80,6 +80,11 @@ Creating answers 201, other changes 200.
| `GET /ruleset` | the nftables ruleset Housecarl builds, as text |
| `GET /counters` | `{"since", "counters": {"r12": {"packets", "bytes"}, ...}}`, by mark ([design.md](design.md#its-own-table-only)); totals since housecarld started |
| `GET /quotas` | each rule's quota: `rule_id`, `rule`, `quota`, `used` (bytes), `addresses` (`[{"address", "used"}]` for a per-address quota), `last_reset`, `next_reset` |
| `GET /connections[?q=&limit=]` | tracked connections: `family`, `protocol`, `source`, `source_port`, `destination`, `destination_port` (or `icmp_id`, `icmp_type`, `icmp_code`), `dnat_to`, `dnat_port`, `snat_to`, `state`, `assured`, `timeout` (seconds left), `packets` and `bytes` when the kernel counts them. `q`: all of its words in the addresses, `:port`, protocol, state |
| `POST /connections/close` | `{"connections": [...]}` (as listed) or `{"search": "192.168.1.50"}`: delete their tracking entries (`config:write`, audited); answers `{"closed": N}` |
| `POST /trace` | `{"address", "port", "protocol", "seconds"}` (5-600, default 60): start tracing (`config:write`, audited); 409 while one runs |
| `GET /trace` | the trace running, or the last: `running`, `input`, `started`, `ends`, `error`, `packets`: each with `time`, `in`, `out`, `protocol`, addresses and ports, `tcp_flags`, `icmp_type`, `steps` (`table`, `chain`, `kind` rule or policy, `rule`, `mark`, `label`, `verdict`), `verdict` (accepted, dropped) and `decided_by` |
| `DELETE /trace` | stop it |
| `GET /log[?limit=&after=&q=]` | logged packets, newest first: `time`, `prefix`, `in`, `out`, `family`, `protocol`, `source`, `source_port`, `destination`, `destination_port`, `icmp_type`, `tcp_flags`, `length`, `mark` (the rule's). `after` (a time) for those since; `q` searches |
| `GET /catalog` | built-in services, chains, actions, roles, the log group |