Please help me with iptables/NAT

[Matteo Pampolini <matteo.pampolini@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everybody,

I have a Linux box running kernel 2.4.17 and iptables 1.2.5 where
a DNAT rule is applied and I'm experiencing a strange behaviour.

If I delete the rule while no connections related to it are active,
then everything works fine, otherwise rule is apparently deleted
but network traffic is still active while it shouldn't.

Same thing with another box doing masquerading: if a start a ping
from the inside private network to the outside and the remove the
rule, then the rules listing is OK but ping still works.

Is it a bug or is a choice? In the latter case, why?

Thanks in advance,

Matteo.