The latest Valuable News by @vermaden https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/12/08/valuable-news-2025-12-08/ notes that The Book of PF, 4th edition is coming soon (also https://nxdomain.no/~peter/yes_the_book_of_pf_4th_ed_is_coming.html, https://bsdly.blogspot.com/2025/07/yes-book-of-pf-4th-edition-is-coming.html) @nostarch #freebsd #openbsd #pf #packetfilter #bookofpf #4thedition
The latest Valuable News by @vermaden https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/12/08/valuable-news-2025-12-08/ notes that The Book of PF, 4th edition is coming soon (also https://nxdomain.no/~peter/yes_the_book_of_pf_4th_ed_is_coming.html, https://bsdly.blogspot.com/2025/07/yes-book-of-pf-4th-edition-is-coming.html) @nostarch #freebsd #openbsd #pf #packetfilter #bookofpf #4thedition
FreeBSD + BastilleBSD + Mastodon = ❤️
I wrote about running burningboard.net in a fully dual‑stack, multi‑jail FreeBSD deployment.
Clean design, central PF firewall, zero Docker.
https://blog.hofstede.it/migrating-burningboardnet-mastodon-instance-to-a-multi-jail-freebsd-setup/
Long rumored and eagerly anticipated by some, the fourth edition of The Book of PF is now available for preorder
More: https://nxdomain.no/~peter/yes_the_book_of_pf_4th_ed_is_coming.html (https://bsdly.blogspot.com/2025/07/yes-book-of-pf-4th-edition-is-coming.html), https://nostarch.com/book-of-pf-4th-edition @nostarch #openbsd #freebsd #pf #networking #bookofpf #freesoftware #firewalls
FreeBSD + BastilleBSD + Mastodon = ❤️
I wrote about running burningboard.net in a fully dual‑stack, multi‑jail FreeBSD deployment.
Clean design, central PF firewall, zero Docker.
https://blog.hofstede.it/migrating-burningboardnet-mastodon-instance-to-a-multi-jail-freebsd-setup/
Long rumored and eagerly anticipated by some, the fourth edition of The Book of PF is now available for preorder
More: https://nxdomain.no/~peter/yes_the_book_of_pf_4th_ed_is_coming.html (https://bsdly.blogspot.com/2025/07/yes-book-of-pf-4th-edition-is-coming.html), https://nostarch.com/book-of-pf-4th-edition @nostarch #openbsd #freebsd #pf #networking #bookofpf #freesoftware #firewalls
The af-to in #OpenBSD #PF is so flexible that it allows you to host IPv4 services within a #IPv6 only network, only requiring dual-stack on the firewall/router. The 'pass' rule even allows for selective port decisions on where the IPv4 address might be used for other IPv4 only services #BSD:
pass in on $ext_if inet proto tcp to (egress:0) port 12345 af-to inet6 from 2001:db8:dead:beef::1 to 2001:db8:dead:beef::/96 port ssh
The af-to in #OpenBSD #PF is so flexible that it allows you to host IPv4 services within a #IPv6 only network, only requiring dual-stack on the firewall/router. The 'pass' rule even allows for selective port decisions on where the IPv4 address might be used for other IPv4 only services #BSD:
pass in on $ext_if inet proto tcp to (egress:0) port 12345 af-to inet6 from 2001:db8:dead:beef::1 to 2001:db8:dead:beef::/96 port ssh
If you are looking for #PF resources for #openbsd and #freebsd alike, the up to date slides for the #tutorial are at https://nxdomain.no/~peter/pf_fullday.pdf with updates for each session.
In addition, we (the good people at @nostarch and yours truly) are working to get the 4th edition of The Book PF ready and available as soon as possible (see https://nxdomain.no/~peter/yes_the_book_of_pf_4th_ed_is_coming.html or tracked https://bsdly.blogspot.com/2025/07/yes-book-of-pf-4th-edition-is-coming.html)
If you are looking for #PF resources for #openbsd and #freebsd alike, the up to date slides for the #tutorial are at https://nxdomain.no/~peter/pf_fullday.pdf with updates for each session.
In addition, we (the good people at @nostarch and yours truly) are working to get the 4th edition of The Book PF ready and available as soon as possible (see https://nxdomain.no/~peter/yes_the_book_of_pf_4th_ed_is_coming.html or tracked https://bsdly.blogspot.com/2025/07/yes-book-of-pf-4th-edition-is-coming.html)
Source and state limiters introduced in pf
https://www.undeadly.org/cgi?action=article;sid=20251112132639 #openbsd #pf #networking #statelimiters #sourcelimiters #statetracking #packetfilter #security #freesoftware #libressoftware
"This change has our resident packet manglers quite excited, and they think it will likely be a signature feature that will make the not-too-distant OpenBSD 7.9 release even more of an Internet favorite."
Source and state limiters introduced in pf
https://www.undeadly.org/cgi?action=article;sid=20251112132639 #openbsd #pf #networking #statelimiters #sourcelimiters #statetracking #packetfilter #security #freesoftware #libressoftware
"This change has our resident packet manglers quite excited, and they think it will likely be a signature feature that will make the not-too-distant OpenBSD 7.9 release even more of an Internet favorite."
Hot take: pf's built-in connection tracking beats fail2ban/sshguard hands down.
One simple ruleset gives you automatic brute-force protection with ZERO userland daemons. No log parsing, no reaction delays, no additional attack surface.
table <bruteforce> persist
pass in proto tcp to port 22 flags S/SA (max-src-conn 5, max-src-conn-rate 3/30, overload <bruteforce> flush global)
Kernel-level enforcement, instant blocking, survives reboots with persist.
Why spawn Python processes when your firewall already knows?
Hot take: pf's built-in connection tracking beats fail2ban/sshguard hands down.
One simple ruleset gives you automatic brute-force protection with ZERO userland daemons. No log parsing, no reaction delays, no additional attack surface.
table <bruteforce> persist
pass in proto tcp to port 22 flags S/SA (max-src-conn 5, max-src-conn-rate 3/30, overload <bruteforce> flush global)
Kernel-level enforcement, instant blocking, survives reboots with persist.
Why spawn Python processes when your firewall already knows?
We are about five minutes from starting the "Network management with PF" https://events.eurobsdcon.org/2025/talk/FW39CX/ tutorial at #eurobsdcon in #zagreb. Slides at https://nxdomain.no/~peter/pf_fullday.pdf as usual #pf #openbsd #freebsd #packetfilter #networking
Tomorrow 2025-09-25 at 10:30 CEST, the refreshed "Network Management with the OpenBSD Packet Filter Toolset" https://events.eurobsdcon.org/2025/talk/FW39CX/ by yours truly, @stucchimax and Tom Smyth will start at #eurobsdcon.
We will put the updated slides online just before the session starts.
#openbsd #freebsd #pf #packetfilter #networking #firewall #trickery #security
We are about five minutes from starting the "Network management with PF" https://events.eurobsdcon.org/2025/talk/FW39CX/ tutorial at #eurobsdcon in #zagreb. Slides at https://nxdomain.no/~peter/pf_fullday.pdf as usual #pf #openbsd #freebsd #packetfilter #networking