Simple ruleset for a home router

The following example rulesets have been tested with Linux kernel 4.19 and nftables 1.0.0.

Before you configure your ruleset policy, do not forget to:

echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

to enable IPv4 forwarding in your router or enable it through /etc/sysctl.conf for persistency

Simple router using ppp interface

This example shows the configuration of an IPv4-only home router using a ppp interface to go out to the Internet.

flush ruleset

define DEV_PRIVATE = eth1
define DEV_WORLD = ppp0
define NET_PRIVATE = 192.168.0.0/16

table ip global {

    chain inbound_world {
        # accepting ping (icmp-echo-request) for diagnostic purposes.
        # However, it also lets probes discover this host is alive.
        # This sample accepts them within a certain rate limit:
        #
        # icmp type echo-request limit rate 5/second accept

        # allow SSH connections from some well-known internet host
        ip saddr 81.209.165.42 tcp dport ssh accept
    }

    chain inbound_private {
        # accepting ping (icmp-echo-request) for diagnostic purposes.
        icmp type echo-request limit rate 5/second accept

        # allow DHCP, DNS and SSH from the private network
        ip protocol . th dport vmap { tcp . 22 : accept, udp . 53 : accept, tcp . 53 : accept, udp . 67 : accept}
    }

    chain inbound {
        type filter hook input priority 0; policy drop;

        # Allow traffic from established and related packets, drop invalid
        ct state vmap { established : accept, related : accept, invalid : drop }

        # allow loopback traffic, anything else jump to chain for further evaluation
        iifname vmap { lo : accept, $DEV_WORLD : jump inbound_world, $DEV_PRIVATE : jump inbound_private }

        # the rest is dropped by the above policy
    }

    chain forward {
        type filter hook forward priority 0; policy drop;

        # Allow traffic from established and related packets, drop invalid
        ct state vmap { established : accept, related : accept, invalid : drop }

        # connections from the internal net to the internet or to other
        # internal nets are allowed
        iifname $DEV_PRIVATE accept

        # the rest is dropped by the above policy
    }

    chain postrouting {
        type nat hook postrouting priority 100; policy accept;

        # masquerade private IP addresses
        ip saddr $NET_PRIVATE oifname $DEV_WORLD masquerade
    }
}

Router with LAN and WLAN segments using VLAN interface to the Internet

A similar example with a Wireless LAN network segment and using a VLAN device to go out to the Internet

flush ruleset

define DEV_LAN = eth1
define DEV_WLAN = wlan0
define DEV_WORLD = eth0.20
# LAN is 192.168.2.0/24 and WLAN is 192.168.3.0/24, hence 192.168.2.0/23 contains both network segments
define NET_PRIVATE = 192.168.2.0/23

table ip global {
    chain inbound_world {
        # accepting ping (icmp-echo-request) for diagnostic purposes.
        # However, it also lets probes discover this host is alive.
        # This sample accepts them within a certain rate limit:
        #
        # icmp type echo-request limit rate 5/second accept

        # allow SSH connections from some well-known internet host
        ip saddr 81.209.165.42 tcp dport 22 accept
    }

    chain inbound_private_lan {
        # accepting ping (icmp-echo-request) for diagnostic purposes.
        icmp type echo-request limit rate 5/second accept

        # allow DHCP, DNS and SSH from the wired private network
        ip protocol . th dport vmap { tcp . 22 : accept, udp . 53 : accept, tcp . 53 : accept, udp . 67 : accept}
    }

    chain inbound_private_wlan {
        # accepting ping (icmp-echo-request) for diagnostic purposes.
        icmp type echo-request limit rate 5/second accept

        # allow DHCP and DNS from the private wireless network
        ip protocol . th dport vmap { udp . 53 : accept, tcp . 53 : accept, udp . 67 : accept}
    }

    chain inbound {
        type filter hook input priority 0; policy drop;

        # Allow traffic from established and related packets, drop invalid
        ct state vmap { established : accept, related : accept, invalid : drop }

        # allow loopback traffic, anything else jump to chain for further evaluation
        iifname vmap { lo : accept, $DEV_WORLD : jump inbound_world, $DEV_LAN : jump inbound_private_lan, $DEV_WLAN : jump inbound_private_wlan }

        # the rest is dropped by the above policy
    }

    chain forward {
        type filter hook forward priority 0; policy drop;

        # Allow traffic from established and related packets, drop invalid
        ct state vmap { established : accept, related : accept, invalid : drop }

        # connections from the internal net to the internet: wlan to lan and lan to wlan not allowed
        meta iifname . meta oifname { $DEV_LAN . $DEV_WORLD, $DEV_WLAN . $DEV_WORLD, $DEV_WORLD . $DEV_LAN, $DEV_WORLD . $DEV_WLAN } accept

        # the rest is dropped by the above policy
    }

    chain postrouting {
        type nat hook postrouting priority 100; policy accept;

        # masquerade private IP addresses
        ip saddr $NET_PRIVATE meta oifname $DEV_WORLD counter masquerade
    }
}