Re: [BUG] connlimit breaks localhost connections since 6.17.13
Florian Westphal <[email protected]> Thu, 8 Jan 2026 18:15:12 +0100
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.security.firewalls.netfilter.general |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Michal Slabihoudek <[email protected]> wrote: [ CC Fernando ] > This happens specifically when connecting from localhost to a non-localhost > IP address (i.e. not in 127.0.0.0/8). The first connection succeeds, but > subsequent connections immediately time out. > Removing the iptables rule with the connlimit match fully resolves the issue. > > Expected behavior: > • connlimit should only match and log packets > • connection handling should remain unaffected when using -j LOG > > Actual behavior: > • connections are silently dropped > • client experiences TCP connection timeout We have very little test cases or real world examples, especially for iptables. Hence constant breakage is expected. Fernando, can you please have a look? > iptables rule used (for custom logging only): > ``` > iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 \ > --tcp-flags FIN,SYN,RST,ACK SYN \ > -m connlimit --connlimit-above 500 \ > --connlimit-mask 32 --connlimit-saddr \ > -j LOG --log-prefix "IPT-443: " > ``` > > iptables ruleset: > ``` > Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT) > num pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination > 1 0 0 LOG tcp -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 > tcp dpt:443 flags:0x17/0x02 #conn src/32 > 500 > LOG flags 0 level 4 prefix "IPT-443: " > ``` > > Test case: > First connection from localhost to instance IP (X.X.X.X): > ``` > curl -I -L -k -m 3 https://X.X.X.X > -> HTTP/2 200 OK > ``` > Immediate second connection: > ``` > curl -I -L -k -m 3 https://X.X.X.X > -> curl: (28) Connection timed out after 3001 milliseconds > ``` > > Without the iptables rule applied, repeated connections succeed without > any issue. > Notes: > • This looks like a regression introduced in 6.17.13 > • The behavior resembles an implicit drop, despite using LOG only > • Regression might be introduced by https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/69894e5b4c5e28cda5f32af33d4a92b7a4b93b0e > > Please let me know if further debugging data (conntrack state, traces,or kernel logs) would be helpful. > > Best regards.