Introduction
UFW (uncomplicated firewall) is a firewall configuration tool that runs on top of iptables, included by mặc định within Ubuntu distributions. It provides a streamlined interface for configuring common firewall use cases via the command line.
This cheat sheet-style guide provides a quick reference to lớn common UFW use cases and commands, including examples of how to lớn allow and block services by port, network interface, and source IP address.
How To Use This Guide
- This guide is in cheat sheet format with self-contained command-line snippets.
- Jump to lớn any section that is relevant to lớn the task you are trying to lớn complete.
- When you see highlighted text in this guide’s commands, keep in mind that this text should refer to lớn IP addresses from your own network.
Remember that you can kiểm tra your current UFW ruleset with sudo ufw status or sudo ufw status verbose.
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Verify UFW Status
To kiểm tra if ufw is enabled, run:
- sudo ufw status
Output
Status: inactive
The output will indicate if your firewall is active or not.
Enable UFW
If you got a Status: inactive message when running ufw status, it means the firewall is not yet enabled on the system. You’ll need to lớn lập cập a command to lớn enable it.
By mặc định, when enabled UFW will block external access to lớn all ports on a server. In practice, that means if you are connected to lớn a server via SSH and enable ufw before allowing access via the SSH port, you’ll be disconnected. Make sure you follow the section on how to lớn enable SSH access of this guide before enabling the firewall if that’s your case.
To enable UFW on your system, run:
- sudo ufw enable
You’ll see output lượt thích this:
Output
Firewall is active and enabled on system startup
To see what is currently blocked or allowed, you may use the verbose parameter when running ufw status, as follows:
- sudo ufw status
Output
Status: active
Logging: on (low)
Default: deny (incoming), allow (outgoing), deny (routed)
New profiles: skip
Disable UFW
If for some reason you need to lớn disable UFW, you can bởi sánh with the following command:
- sudo ufw disable
Be aware that this command will fully disable the firewall service on your system.
Block an IP Address
To block all network connections that originate from a specific IP address, lập cập the following command, replacing the highlighted IP address with the IP address that you want to lớn block:
- sudo ufw deny from 203.0.113.100
Output
Rule added
In this example, from 203.0.113.100 specifies a source IP address of “203.0.113.100”.
If you lập cập sudo ufw status now, you’ll see the specified IP address listed as denied:
Output
Status: active
To kích hoạt From
-- ------ ----
Anywhere DENY 203.0.113.100
All connections, coming in or going out, are blocked for the specified IP address.
Block a Subnet
If you need to lớn block a full subnet, you may use the subnet address as from parameter on the ufw deny command. This would block all IP addresses in the example subnet 203.0.113.0/24:
- sudo ufw deny from 203.0.113.0/24
Output
Rule added
Block Incoming Connections to lớn a Network Interface
To block incoming connections from a specific IP address to lớn a specific network interface, lập cập the following command, replacing the highlighted IP address with the IP address you want to lớn block:
- sudo ufw deny in on eth0 from 203.0.113.100
Output
Rule added
The in parameter tells ufw to lớn apply the rule only for incoming connections, and the on eth0 parameter specifies that the rule applies only for the eth0 interface. This might be useful if you have a system with several network interfaces (including virtual ones) and you need to lớn block external access to lớn some of these interfaces, but not all.
Allow an IP Address
To allow all network connections that originate from a specific IP address, lập cập the following command, replacing the highlighted IP address with the IP address that you want to lớn allow access:
- sudo ufw allow from 203.0.113.101
Output
Rule added
If you lập cập sudo ufw status now, you’ll see output similar to lớn this, showing the word ALLOW next to lớn the IP address you just added.
Output
Status: active
To kích hoạt From
-- ------ ----
...
Anywhere ALLOW 203.0.113.101
You can also allow connections from a whole subnet by providing the corresponding subnet mask for a host, such as 203.0.113.0/24.
Allow Incoming Connections to lớn a Network Interface
To allow incoming connections from a specific IP address to lớn a specific network interface, lập cập the following command, replacing the highlighted IP address with the IP address you want to lớn allow:
- sudo ufw allow in on eth0 from 203.0.113.102
Output
Rule added
The in parameter tells ufw to lớn apply the rule only for incoming connections, and the on eth0 parameter specifies that the rule applies only for the eth0 interface.
If you lập cập sudo ufw status now, you’ll see output similar to lớn this:
Output
Status: active
To kích hoạt From
-- ------ ----
...
Anywhere on eth0 ALLOW 203.0.113.102
Delete UFW Rule
To delete a rule that you previously mix up within UFW, use ufw delete followed by the rule (allow or deny) and the target specification. The following example would delete a rule previously mix to lớn allow all connections from an IP address of 203.0.113.101:
- sudo ufw delete allow from 203.0.113.101
Output
Rule deleted
Another way to lớn specify which rule you want to lớn delete is by providing the rule ID. This information can be obtained with the following command:
- sudo ufw status numbered
Output
Status: active
To kích hoạt From
-- ------ ----
[ 1] Anywhere DENY IN 203.0.113.100
[ 2] Anywhere on eth0 ALLOW IN 203.0.113.102
From the output, you can see that there are two active rules. The first rule, with highlighted values, denies all connections coming from the IP address 203.0.113.100. The second rule allows connections on the eth0 interface coming in from the IP address 203.0.113.102.
Because by mặc định UFW already blocks all external access unless explicitly allowed, the first rule is redundant, sánh you can remove it. To delete a rule by its ID, run:
- sudo ufw delete 1
You will be prompted to lớn confirm the operation and to lớn make sure the ID you’re providing refers to lớn the correct rule you want to lớn delete.
Output
Deleting:
deny from 203.0.113.100
Proceed with operation (y|n)? y
Rule deleted
If you list your rules again with sudo ufw status, you’ll see that the rule was removed.
List Available Application Profiles
Upon installation, applications that rely on network communications will typically mix up a UFW profile that you can use to lớn allow connection from external addresses. This is often the same as running ufw allow from, with the advantage of providing a shortcut that abstracts the specific port numbers a service uses and provides a user-friendly nomenclature to lớn referenced services.
To list which profiles are currently available, lập cập the following:
- sudo ufw phầm mềm list
If you installed a service such as a trang web server or other network-dependent software and a profile was not made available within UFW, first make sure the service is enabled. For remote servers, you’ll typically have OpenSSH readily available:
Output
Available applications:
OpenSSH
Enable Application Profile
To enable a UFW application profile, lập cập ufw allow followed by the name of the application profile you want to lớn enable, which you can obtain with a sudo ufw phầm mềm list command. In the following example, we’re enabling the OpenSSH profile, which will allow all incoming SSH connections on the mặc định SSH port.
- sudo ufw allow “OpenSSH”
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
Remember to lớn quote profile names that consist of multiple words, such as Nginx HTTPS.
Disable Application Profile
To disable an application profile that you had previously mix up within UFW, you’ll need to lớn remove its corresponding rule. For example, consider the following output from sudo ufw status:
- sudo ufw status
Output
Status: active
To kích hoạt From
-- ------ ----
OpenSSH ALLOW Anywhere
Nginx Full ALLOW Anywhere
OpenSSH (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)
Nginx Full (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)
This output indicates that the Nginx Full application profile is currently enabled, allowing any and all connections to lớn the trang web server both via HTTP as well as via HTTPS. If you’d want to lớn only allow HTTPS requests from and to lớn your trang web server, you’d have to lớn first enable the most restrictive rule, which in this case would be Nginx HTTPS, and then disable the currently active Nginx Full rule:
- sudo ufw allow "Nginx HTTPS"
- sudo ufw delete allow "Nginx Full"
Remember you can list all available application profiles with sudo ufw phầm mềm list.
Allow SSH
When working with remote servers, you’ll want to lớn make sure that the SSH port is open to lớn connections sánh that you are able to lớn log in to lớn your server remotely.
The following command will enable the OpenSSH UFW application profile and allow all connections to lớn the mặc định SSH port on the server:
- sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
Although less user-friendly, an alternative syntax is to lớn specify the exact port number of the SSH service, which is typically mix to lớn 22 by default:
- sudo ufw allow 22
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
Allow Incoming SSH from Specific IP Address or Subnet
To allow incoming connections from a specific IP address or subnet, you’ll include a from directive to lớn define the source of the connection. This will require that you also specify the destination address with a to parameter. To lock this rule to lớn SSH only, you’ll limit the proto (protocol) to lớn tcp and then use the port parameter and mix it to lớn 22, SSH’s mặc định port.
The following command will allow only SSH connections coming from the IP address 203.0.113.103:
- sudo ufw allow from 203.0.113.103 proto tcp to lớn any port 22
Output
Rule added
You can also use a subnet address as from parameter to lớn allow incoming SSH connections from an entire network:
- sudo ufw allow from 203.0.113.0/24 proto tcp to lớn any port 22
Output
Rule added
Allow Incoming Rsync from Specific IP Address or Subnet
The Rsync program, which runs on port 873, can be used to lớn transfer files from one computer to lớn another.
To allow incoming rsync connections from a specific IP address or subnet, use the from parameter to lớn specify the source IP address and the port parameter to lớn mix the destination port 873.
The following command will allow only Rsync connections coming from the IP address 203.0.113.103:
- sudo ufw allow from 203.0.113.103 to lớn any port 873
Output
Rule added
To allow the entire 203.0.113.0/24 subnet to lớn be able to lớn rsync to lớn your server, run:
- sudo ufw allow from 203.0.113.0/24 to lớn any port 873
Output
Rule added
Allow Nginx HTTP / HTTPS
Upon installation, the Nginx trang web server sets up a few different UFW profiles within the server. Once you have Nginx installed and enabled as a service, lập cập the following command to lớn identify which profiles are available:
- sudo ufw phầm mềm list | grep Nginx
Output
Nginx Full
Nginx HTTP
Nginx HTTPS
To enable both HTTP and HTTPS traffic, choose Nginx Full. Otherwise, choose either Nginx HTTP to lớn allow only HTTP or Nginx HTTPS to lớn allow only HTTPS.
The following command will allow both HTTP and HTTPS traffic on the server (ports 80 and 443):
- sudo ufw allow "Nginx Full"
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
Allow Apache HTTP / HTTPS
Upon installation, the Apache trang web server sets up a few different UFW profiles within the server. Once you have Apache installed and enabled as a service, lập cập the following command to lớn identify which profiles are available:
- sudo ufw phầm mềm list | grep Apache
Output
Apache
Apache Full
Apache Secure
To enable both HTTP and HTTPS traffic, choose Apache Full. Otherwise, choose either Apache for HTTP or Apache Secure for HTTPS.
The following command will allow both HTTP and HTTPS traffic on the server (ports 80 and 443):
- sudo ufw allow "Apache Full"
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
Allow All Incoming HTTP (port 80)
Web servers, such as Apache and Nginx, typically listen for HTTP requests on port 80. If your mặc định policy for incoming traffic is mix to lớn drop or deny, you’ll need to lớn create a UFW rule to lớn allow external access on port 80. You can use either the port number or the service name (http) as a parameter to lớn this command.
To allow all incoming HTTP (port 80) connections, run:
- sudo ufw allow http
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
An alternative syntax is to lớn specify the port number of the HTTP service:
- sudo ufw allow 80
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
Allow All Incoming HTTPS (port 443)
HTTPS typically runs on port 443. If your mặc định policy for incoming traffic is mix to lớn drop or deny, you’ll need to lớn create a UFW rule to lớn allow external access on port 443. You can use either the port number or the service name (https) as a parameter to lớn this command.
To allow all incoming HTTPS (port 443) connections, run:
- sudo ufw allow https
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
An alternative syntax is to lớn specify the port number of the HTTPS service:
- sudo ufw allow 443
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
Allow All Incoming HTTP and HTTPS
If you want to lớn allow both HTTP and HTTPS traffic, you can create a single rule that allows both ports. This usage requires that you also define the protocol with the proto parameter, which in this case should be mix to lớn tcp.
To allow all incoming HTTP and HTTPS (ports 80 and 443) connections, run:
- sudo ufw allow proto tcp from any to lớn any port 80,443
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
Allow MySQL Connection from Specific IP Address or Subnet
MySQL listens for client connections on port 3306. If your MySQL database server is being used by a client on a remote server, you’ll need to lớn create a UFW rule to lớn allow that access.
To allow incoming MySQL connections from a specific IP address or subnet, use the from parameter to lớn specify the source IP address and the port parameter to lớn mix the destination port 3306.
The following command will allow the IP address 203.0.113.103 to lớn connect to lớn the server’s MySQL port:
- sudo ufw allow from 203.0.113.103 to lớn any port 3306
Output
Rule added
To allow the entire 203.0.113.0/24 subnet to lớn be able to lớn connect to lớn your MySQL server, run:
- sudo ufw allow from 203.0.113.0/24 to lớn any port 3306
Output
Rule added
Allow PostgreSQL Connection from Specific IP Address or Subnet
PostgreSQL listens for client connections on port 5432. If your PostgreSQL database server is being used by a client on a remote server, you need to lớn be sure to lớn allow that traffic.
To allow incoming PostgreSQL connections from a specific IP address or subnet, specify the source with the from parameter, and mix the port to lớn 5432:
- sudo ufw allow from 203.0.113.103 to lớn any port 5432
Output
Rule added
To allow the entire 203.0.113.0/24 subnet to lớn be able to lớn connect to lớn your PostgreSQL server, run:
- sudo ufw allow from 203.0.113.0/24 to lớn any port 5432
Output
Rule added
Block Outgoing SMTP Mail
Mail servers, such as Sendmail and Postfix, typically use port 25 for SMTP traffic. If your server shouldn’t be sending outgoing mail, you may want to lớn block that kind of traffic. To block outgoing SMTP connections, run:
- sudo ufw deny out 25
Output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
This configures your firewall to lớn drop all outgoing traffic on port 25. If you need to lớn reject outgoing connections on a different port number, you can repeat this command and replace 25 with the port number you want to lớn block.
Conclusion
UFW is a powerful tool that can greatly improve the security of your servers when properly configured. This reference guide covers some common UFW rules that are often used to lớn configure a firewall on Ubuntu.
Most of the commands in this guide can be adapted to lớn fit different use cases and scenarios, by changing parameters such as the source IP address and/or destination port. For more detailed information about each command parameter and available modifiers, you can use the man utility to lớn kiểm tra UFW’s manual:
- man ufw
The official UFW page on Ubuntu’s documentation is another resource you can use as reference for more advanced use cases and examples.