Using 'firewalld' for Advanced Packet Filtering

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Using 'firewalld' for Advanced Packet Filtering

Managing a local firewall is something pretty much every Linux admin is going to have to do during their career. Many operating systems have adopted firewalld as the local firewall management system moving forward. Setting this up can lead to a more secure server and increase security through your environment.

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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Sep 13, 2025

Duration

1h 0m

Challenge

Block SSH but allow HTTP

Use the block zone to filter on specific hosts and ports.

You can run the following commands:

firewall-cmd --zone=block --add-source=10.0.1.101

firewall-cmd --zone=block --add-service=http

You can verify settings with:

firewall-cmd --info-zone=block
Challenge

Allow ping

Since ping uses the ICMP protocol and not a specific port, we can't just add a port or service.

We need to use a rich rule:

firewall-cmd --zone=block --add-rich-rule='rule protocol value="icmp" accept'

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