firewall

Explain active firewall rules in plain language and cross-reference them against active network listeners.

Usage

hosomaki firewall [flags]

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--cross-check	false	Cross-reference active rules against currently listening system ports

How it works

Hosomaki inspects the system's active firewall configuration using a top-down hierarchy. It detects and interprets rules from the following backends based on what is active:

1. firewalld or ufw (Application-layer abstractions)

2. nftables (Modern packet-filtering engine)

3. iptables (Legacy packet-filtering engine)

Output

firewall translates complex, backend-specific rule syntax into simple plain language.

Cross-Check Behavior

Hosomaki maps the firewall rules against currently open sockets to flag anomalies like orphaned rules or unprotected services.

Safety & False Negatives

Hosomaki enforces a strict fail-closed reporting policy. If a ruleset cannot be completely read, the command will immediately abort with an error rather than risking a security-relevant false negative or reporting partial results as complete.

Examples

# explain active firewall rules
hosomaki firewall

# find gaps or dead rules
hosomaki firewall --cross-check

Constraints

Privileges: Requires appropriate system privileges to reliably query backends like nftables or iptables-save. Without them, the command will safely abort.