Netopia R2020 - Manual (Page 235)

Security 14-31
Logical ANDing
When a packet is compared (in most cases) a logical AND is per formed. First the IP addresses and subnet
masks are conver ted to binar y and then ANDed together. The rules for logical ANDing are as follows:
0 AND 0 = 0
0 AND 1 = 0
1 AND 0 = 0
1 AND 1 = 1
For example:
Filter rule:
Deny
IP: 163.176.1.15 BINARY: 10100011.10110000.00000001.00001111
Mask: 255.255.255.255 BINARY: 11111111.11111111.11111111.11111111
Incoming Packet:
IP 163.176.1.15 BINARY: 10100011.10110000.00000001.00001111
AND the incoming packet and subnet mask together, the result is:
10100011.10110000.00000001.00001111
which matches the IP address in the filter rule and the packet is denied.
Implied Rules
With a given set of filter rules, there is an Implied rule which may or may not be shown to the user. The implied
rule tells the filter set what to do with a packet that does not match any of the filter rules. An example of implied
rules is as follows:
Established Connections
The TCP header contains one bit called the ACK Bit (or TCP Ack bit). This ACK Bit only appears with TCP, not
UDP. The ACK bit is par t of the TCP mechanism that guaranteed the deliver y of data. The ACK bit is set
whenever one side of a connection has received data from the other side. Only the first TCP packet will not have
the ACK bit set, once the TCP connection is in place the remainder of the TCP packets with have the ACK bit
set.
The ACK bit is helpful for firewall design and reduces the number of potential filter rules. A filter rule could be
created just allowing incoming TCP packets with the ACK bit set, as these packets had to be originated from the
local network.
Implied Meaning
Y+Y+Y=N If all filter rules are YES, the implied is NO.
N+N+N=Y If all filter rules are NO, the implied is YES.
Y+N+Y=N If a mix of YES and NO filters, the implied is NO.