From: Jason Xing <kernelxing@xxxxxxxxxxx> Supposing we set DNAT policy converting a_port to b_port on the server at the beginning, the socket is set up by using 4-turple: client_ip:client_port <--> server_ip:b_port Then, some strange skbs from client or gateway, say, out-of-window skbs are sent to the server_ip:a_port (not b_port) due to DNAT clearing skb->_nfct value in nf_conntrack_in() function. Why? Because the tcp_in_window() considers the incoming skb as an invalid skb by returning NFCT_TCP_INVALID. At last, the TCP layer process the out-of-window skb (client_ip,client_port,server_ip,a_port) and try to look up such an socket in tcp_v4_rcv(), as we can see, it will fail for sure and send back an RST to the client. The detailed call graphs go like this: 1) nf_conntrack_in() -> nf_conntrack_handle_packet() -> nf_conntrack_tcp_packet() -> tcp_in_window() // tests if the skb is out-of-window -> return -NF_ACCEPT; -> skb->_nfct = 0; // if the above line returns a negative value 2) tcp_v4_rcv() -> __inet_lookup_skb() // fails, then jump to no_tcp_socket -> tcp_v4_send_reset() The moment the client receives the RST, it will drop. So the RST skb doesn't hurt the client (maybe hurt some gateway which cancels the session when filtering the RST without validating the sequence because of performance reason). Well, it doesn't matter. However, we can see many RST in flight. The key reason why I wrote this patch is that I don't think the behaviour is expected because the RFC 793 defines this case: "If the connection is in a synchronized state (ESTABLISHED, FIN-WAIT-1, FIN-WAIT-2, CLOSE-WAIT, CLOSING, LAST-ACK, TIME-WAIT), any unacceptable segment (out of window sequence number or unacceptible acknowledgment number) must elicit only an empty acknowledgment segment containing the current send-sequence number and an acknowledgment..." I think, even we have set DNAT policy, it would be better if the whole process/behaviour adheres to the original TCP behaviour. Signed-off-by: Jason Xing <kernelxing@xxxxxxxxxxx> --- net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_proto_tcp.c | 6 ++---- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_proto_tcp.c b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_proto_tcp.c index ae493599a3ef..3f3e620f3969 100644 --- a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_proto_tcp.c +++ b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_proto_tcp.c @@ -1253,13 +1253,11 @@ int nf_conntrack_tcp_packet(struct nf_conn *ct, res = tcp_in_window(ct, dir, index, skb, dataoff, th, state); switch (res) { - case NFCT_TCP_IGNORE: - spin_unlock_bh(&ct->lock); - return NF_ACCEPT; case NFCT_TCP_INVALID: nf_tcp_handle_invalid(ct, dir, index, skb, state); + case NFCT_TCP_IGNORE: spin_unlock_bh(&ct->lock); - return -NF_ACCEPT; + return NF_ACCEPT; case NFCT_TCP_ACCEPT: break; } -- 2.37.3