PFIL(9) BSD Kernel Developer's Manual PFIL(9)NAME
pfil, pfil_head_register, pfil_head_unregister, pfil_head_get,
pfil_hook_get, pfil_add_hook, pfil_remove_hook, pfil_run_hooks — packet
filter interface
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/mbuf.h>
#include <net/if.h>
#include <net/pfil.h>
int
pfil_head_register(struct pfil_head *head);
int
pfil_head_unregister(struct pfil_head *head);
struct pfil_head *
pfil_head_get(int af, u_long dlt);
struct packet_filter_hook *
pfil_hook_get(int dir, struct pfil_head *head);
void
pfil_add_hook(int (*func)(), void *arg, int flags, struct pfil_head *);
void
pfil_remove_hook(int (*func)(), void *arg, int flags,
struct pfil_head *);
int
(*func)(void *arg, struct mbuf **mp, struct ifnet *, int dir,
struct inpcb *);
int
pfil_run_hooks(struct pfil_head *head, struct mbuf **mp, struct ifnet *,
int dir, struct inpcb *);
DESCRIPTION
The pfil framework allows for a specified function to be invoked for
every incoming or outgoing packet for a particular network I/O stream.
These hooks may be used to implement a firewall or perform packet trans‐
formations.
Packet filtering points are registered with pfil_head_register(). Fil‐
tering points are identified by a key (void *) and a data link type (int)
in the pfil_head structure. Packet filters use the key and data link
type to look up the filtering point with which they register themselves.
The key is unique to the filtering point. The data link type is a bpf(4)
DLT constant indicating what kind of header is present on the packet at
the filtering point. Filtering points may be unregistered with the
pfil_head_unregister() function.
Packet filters register/unregister themselves with a filtering point with
the pfil_add_hook() and pfil_remove_hook() functions, respectively. The
head is looked up using the pfil_head_get() function, which takes the key
and data link type that the packet filter expects. Filters may provide
an argument to be passed to the filter when invoked on a packet.
When a filter is invoked, the packet appears just as if it “came off the
wire”. That is, all protocol fields are in network byte order. The fil‐
ter is called with its specified argument, the pointer to the pointer to
the mbuf containing the packet, the pointer to the network interface that
the packet is traversing, and the direction (PFIL_IN or PFIL_OUT) that
the packet is traveling. The filter may change which mbuf the mbuf **
argument references. The filter returns an error (errno) if the packet
processing is to stop, or 0 if the processing is to continue. If the
packet processing is to stop, it is the responsibility of the filter to
free the packet.
RETURN VALUES
If successful, pfil_head_get() returns the pfil_head structure for the
given key/dlt. The pfil_add_hook() and pfil_remove_hook() functions
return 0 if successful. If called with flag PFIL_WAITOK,
pfil_remove_hook() is expected to always succeed.
The pfil_head_unregister() function might sleep!
SEE ALSObpf(4), if_bridge(4)HISTORY
The pfil interface first appeared in NetBSD 1.3. The pfil input and out‐
put lists were originally implemented as <sys/queue.h> LIST structures;
however this was changed in NetBSD 1.4 to TAILQ structures. This change
was to allow the input and output filters to be processed in reverse
order, to allow the same path to be taken, in or out of the kernel.
The pfil interface was changed in 1.4T to accept a 3rd parameter to both
pfil_add_hook() and pfil_remove_hook(), introducing the capability of
per-protocol filtering. This was done primarily in order to support fil‐
tering of IPv6.
In 1.5K, the pfil framework was changed to work with an arbitrary number
of filtering points, as well as be less IP-centric.
Fine-grained locking was added in FreeBSD 5.2.
BUGS
The pfil_hook_get() function is only safe for internal use.
FreeBSD implements only hooks for AF_INET and AF_INET6. Packets diverted
through these hooks have data in host byte order contrary to the above
statements.
The if_bridge(4) diverts AF_INET and AF_INET6 traffic according to its
sysctl settings, but contrary to the above statements, the data is pro‐
vided in host byte order.
When a pfil_head is being modified, no traffic is diverted (to avoid
deadlock). This means that traffic may be dropped unconditionally for a
short period of time. pfil_run_hooks() will return ENOBUFS to indicate
this.
BSD September 29, 2004 BSD