IBM Support

ipfilter and ipsec will not work concurrently

Troubleshooting


Problem

The ipfilter subsystem may hang if ipsec/mkfilt is used concurrently and vice varsa i.e ipsec subsystem may also hangs if ipfilter is used concurrently.

Symptom

The ipfilter subsystem ( Firewall service ) may hang or not function correctly if IPsec is also used concurrently. This seems to be a legacy problem and is being experienced right from the base version.
While using ipfilter firewall services we should also avoid commands which makes use of mkfilt ( to activate filter rules )such as cfgmgr/ipsec commands. This will lead to freezing of ipfilter.

Cause

Cause of the problem is ipsec/mkfilt is directly replacing the filter hooks even though it is being used by ipfilter.
Since hooks are replaced ipfilter subsystem will freeze.
Similarly if ipsec is being used and if ipfilter is started this will replace the hooks with ipfilter hooks causing ipsec to stop working.

Environment

This is the legacy problem 

In AIX.

Components impacted : Communication Applications->IPFILTERS, Security->IPSEC/IKE

Diagnosing The Problem

ipsec/mkfilt is directly replacing the filter hooks even though it is being used by ipfilter.
Since hooks are replaced ipfilter subsystem will freeze.
Similarly if ipsec is being used and if ipfilter is started this will replace the hooks with ipfilter hooks causing ipsec to stop working.

Resolving The Problem

At the moment this is a limitation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author: Manjunath Madiwalar

Operating System:

Hardware: Power

Feedback: aix_feedback@wwpdl.vnet.ibm.com,mamadiwa@in.ibm.com

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Document Location

Worldwide

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Document Information

Modified date:
20 July 2020

UID

ibm16246037