IPv6 connect B to A works, A to B fails with B's SYN-ACK receiving ICMP destination unreachable prohibited-Collection of common programming errors

10 years ago

admin

2 minutes

I’m testing on IPv6. A is a server in a Cogent colo with native IPv6, call it 2001:db8:1111::1. B is a Mac mini behind an Airport Extreme router behind ISP Comcast; the router is set up to use anycast 6to4, and B is let’s say 2002:c000:202::2.

On B, ssh 2001:db8:1111::1 works just fine.

On A, ssh 2002:c000:202::2 times out. (Same for any other TCP connection.) Running tcpdump -nnvvvSs0 on B, I can see that the SYN packet from A reaches B just fine, but the SYN-ACK packet back from B to A is told “destination unreachable, unreachable prohibited”:

12:16:42.266203 IP6 (hlim 51, next-header TCP (6) payload length: 40) 2001:db8:1111::1.43263 > 2002:c000:201::2.22: Flags [S], cksum 0x6c79 (correct), seq 102729844, win 5760, options [mss 1440,sackOK,TS val 749393277 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0
12:16:42.266330 IP6 (flowlabel 0xb4ac1, hlim 64, next-header TCP (6) payload length: 44) 2002:c000:202::2.22 > 2001:db8:1111::1.43263: Flags [S.], cksum 0xa0e9 (correct), seq 122191294, ack 102729845, win 65535, options [mss 1440,nop,wscale 3,nop,nop,TS val 1053035827 ecr 749393277,sackOK,eol], length 0
12:16:42.403695 IP6 (hlim 51, next-header ICMPv6 (58) payload length: 92) 2001:db8:1111::1 > 2002:c000:202::2: [icmp6 sum ok] ICMP6, destination unreachable, length 92,  unreachable prohibited 2001:db8:1111::1

It definitely seems striking that B can send a SYN to A and set up a connection, but B’s SYN-ACK is rejected. Where should I look next to see why this is happening?

Edit: Here’s the /etc/sysconfig/ip6tables from the server A:

*filter
:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:RH-Firewall-1-INPUT - [0:0]
-A INPUT -j RH-Firewall-1-INPUT
-A FORWARD -j RH-Firewall-1-INPUT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p icmpv6 -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p 50 -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p 51 -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p udp --dport 5353 -d ff02::fb -j ACCEPT
#-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 631 -j ACCEPT
#-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 631 -j ACCEPT
#-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 32768:61000 -j ACCEPT
#-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 32768:61000 ! --syn -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m tcp -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m tcp -p tcp --dport 25 -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m tcp -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m tcp -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m tcp -p tcp --dport 53 -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m udp -p udp --dport 53 -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -j REJECT --reject-with icmp6-adm-prohibited
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -j DROP

COMMIT