McAfee HISCDE-AB-IA Product Guide - Page 62

Stateful protocol tracking, cleanup of the table, if a session's control channel has been deleted

Page 62 highlights

Configuring Firewall Policies Overview of Firewall policies With the control channel open, the client communicates with the FTP server. The firewall parses the PORT command in the packet and creates a second entry in the state table to allow the data connection. When the FTP server is in active mode, it opens the data connection; in passive mode, the client initiates the connection. When the FTP server receives the first data transfer command (LIST), it opens the data connection toward the client and transfers the data. The data channel is closed after the transmission is completed. The combination of the control connection and one or more data connections is called a session, and FTP dynamic rules are sometimes referred to as session rules. The session remains established until its control channel entry is deleted from the state table. During the periodic cleanup of the table, if a session's control channel has been deleted, all data connections are subsequently deleted. Stateful protocol tracking The types of protocol connections monitored by the stateful firewall and how they are handled are summarized here. Protocol UDP ICMPv4/v6 Description of handling A UDP connection is added to the state table when a matching static rule is found and the action from the rule is Allow. Generic UDP connections, which carry Application-Level protocols unknown to the firewall, remain in the state table as long as the connection is not idle longer than the specified timeout period. Only ICMP Echo Request and Echo Reply message types are tracked. NOTE: In contrast to the reliable, connection-oriented TCP protocol, UDP and ICMPv4/v6 are less reliable, connectionless protocols. To secure these protocols, the firewall considers generic UDP and ICMP connections to be virtual connections, held only as long as the connection is not idle longer than the timeout period specified for the connection. The timeout for virtual connections is set in the Firewall Options policy. When using IPv6, stateful firewall functionality is supported only on Windows Vista and later platforms. TCP DNS DHCP TCP protocol works on the S3-way handshake. When a client computer initiates a new connection, it sends a packet to its target with a SYN bit that is set, indicating a new connection. The target responds by sending a packet to the client with a SYN-ACK bit set. The client responds then by sending a packet with an ACK bit set and the stateful connection is established. All outgoing packets are allowed, but only incoming packets that are part of the established connection are allowed. An exception is when the firewall first queries the TCP protocol and adds all pre-existing connections that match the static rules. Pre-existing connections without a matching static rule are blocked. The TCP connection timeout, which is set in the Firewall Options policy, is enforced only when the connection is not established. A second or forced TCP timeout applies to established TCP connections only. This timeout is controlled by a registry setting and has a default value of one hour. Every four minutes the firewall queries the TCP stack and discards connections that are not reported by TCP. Query/response matching ensures DNS responses are only allowed to the local port that originated the query and only from a remote IP address that has been queried within the UDP Virtual Connection Timeout interval. Incoming DNS responses are allowed if: • The connection in the state table has not expired. • The response comes from the same remote IP address and port where the request was sent. Query/response matching ensures that return packets are allowed only for legitimate queries, Thus incoming DHCP responses are allowed if: • The connection in the state table has not expired. • The response transaction ID matches the one from the request. 62 McAfee Host Intrusion Prevention 8.0 Product Guide for ePolicy Orchestrator 4.5

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With the control channel open, the client communicates with the FTP server. The firewall parses
the PORT command in the packet and creates a second entry in the state table to allow the
data connection.
When the FTP server is in active mode, it opens the data connection; in passive mode, the
client initiates the connection. When the FTP server receives the first data transfer command
(LIST), it opens the data connection toward the client and transfers the data. The data channel
is closed after the transmission is completed.
The combination of the control connection and one or more data connections is called a session,
and FTP dynamic rules are sometimes referred to as session rules. The session remains
established until its control channel entry is deleted from the state table. During the periodic
cleanup of the table, if a session’s control channel has been deleted, all data connections are
subsequently deleted.
Stateful protocol tracking
The types of protocol connections monitored by the stateful firewall and how they are handled
are summarized here.
Description of handling
Protocol
A UDP connection is added to the state table when a matching static rule is found and the action
from the rule is Allow. Generic UDP connections, which carry Application-Level protocols unknown
UDP
to the firewall, remain in the state table as long as the connection is not idle longer than the specified
timeout period.
Only ICMP Echo Request and Echo Reply message types are tracked.
NOTE:
In contrast to the reliable, connection-oriented TCP protocol, UDP and ICMPv4/v6 are less
reliable, connectionless protocols. To secure these protocols, the firewall considers generic UDP
ICMPv4/v6
and ICMP connections to be virtual connections, held only as long as the connection is not idle
longer than the timeout period specified for the connection. The timeout for virtual connections is
set in the Firewall Options policy.
When using IPv6, stateful firewall functionality is supported only on Windows Vista and later
platforms.
TCP protocol works on the S3-way handshake. When a client computer initiates a new connection,
it sends a packet to its target with a SYN bit that is set, indicating a new connection. The target
TCP
responds by sending a packet to the client with a SYN-ACK bit set. The client responds then by
sending a packet with an ACK bit set and the stateful connection is established. All outgoing packets
are allowed, but only incoming packets that are part of the established connection are allowed. An
exception is when the firewall first queries the TCP protocol and adds all pre-existing connections
that match the static rules. Pre-existing connections without a matching static rule are blocked. The
TCP connection timeout, which is set in the Firewall Options policy, is enforced only when the
connection is not established. A second or forced TCP timeout applies to established TCP connections
only. This timeout is controlled by a registry setting and has a default value of one hour. Every four
minutes the firewall queries the TCP stack and discards connections that are not reported by TCP.
Query/response matching ensures DNS responses are only allowed to the local port that originated
the query and only from a remote IP address that has been queried within the UDP Virtual Connection
Timeout interval. Incoming DNS responses are allowed if:
DNS
The connection in the state table has not expired.
The response comes from the same remote IP address and port where the request was sent.
Query/response matching ensures that return packets are allowed only for legitimate queries, Thus
incoming DHCP responses are allowed if:
DHCP
The connection in the state table has not expired.
The response transaction ID matches the one from the request.
Configuring Firewall Policies
Overview of Firewall policies
McAfee Host Intrusion Prevention 8.0 Product Guide for ePolicy Orchestrator 4.5
62