Zone matrix: what the rules do between zones

internal/matrix walks each pair's rules in order, as nftables would, for
new connections: zone → zone (forward), zone → the firewall (input) and
back (output), with the built-ins that act on new connections. A rule
for the whole pair decides it; one for part of its traffic (addresses,
services, times, rates, a quota) is an exception; the rest falls to the
policy. Rules whose addresses all lie in networks connected to other
zones are left out of a pair. GET /matrix (with ?changeset, pending
changes), hc matrix [FROM TO], and a Matrix page whose cells open their
rules.

e2e: 166 checks, among them the matrix of the maintainer's imported
ruleset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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abrown38andClaude Opus 5.5 committed 2026-10-19 20:35:26 +01:00
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@@ -235,6 +235,47 @@ TCP and UDP connections forwarded between those devices skip the rules,
which helps on a slow CPU. It needs exact device names. Counters of
forward rules then only count each connection's first packets.
## The zone matrix
The Matrix page (`hc matrix`) sums up what the rules do to **new
connections** between zones: a row per zone the traffic comes from, a
column per zone it goes to, and the firewall itself (to it: the input
chain; from it: output; zone to zone: forward).
```
$ hc matrix
FROM \ TO guest lan wan firewall
guest block block block +1 block +3
lan block block allow block +4
wan block +2 block +2 block +1 block +3
firewall allow allow allow -
```
Each cell walks that pair's rules in order, as nftables would, with the
built-ins that act on new connections (ping from internal zones,
ICMPv6, the DHCPv6 client, antispoofing, port forwards):
* a rule that applies to the whole pair decides it ("allow", "block");
* a rule that applies to part of its traffic (some addresses, services,
times, rates, a quota) is an **exception** (+N), and the walk goes on;
* what's left falls to the deciding rule or the chain's policy.
`hc matrix guest wan` (or clicking the cell) lists the exceptions in
order:
```
guest → wan (the forward chain), new connections:
allowed http, https rule forward #14
blocked the rest forward policy
```
A rule whose addresses all lie in networks directly connected to other
zones is left out of a pair: traffic between those zones can't have them
(`from wg_net` doesn't concern traffic coming in on the LAN). Routed
networks, mixed lists and dynamic sets might, so they stay. Replies and
established connections aren't shown: the built-in lets them through. In
review mode, the matrix shows your pending changes.
## The ruleset
`hc ruleset` prints what Housecarl builds; the web UI and `hc rule list`