README

fwsnort   (Firewall Snort)
Version:  1.6.6
Author:   Michael Rash <mbr@cipherdyne.org>
Website:  http://www.cipherdyne.org/fwsnort/

DESCRIPTION:

fwsnort is a perl script that translates Snort rules into equivalent iptables
rules.  Some Snort rule options (such as "pcre") have no direct translation
into iptables options so not all Snort rules can be translated.  However
approximately 65% of all Snort-2.3.3 signatures (the last release of Snort
signatures under the GPL) can be successfully translated through the use of the
iptables string match module.  When tranlating Snort rules, fwsnort makes heavy
use of the iptables string match extension with its "--hex-string" option
(added to iptables by the fwsnort project) which accepts Snort "content"
argument with hex bytes between "|" chars (such as "|5a 4e|").  This allows the
content fields in Snort rules to be directly input into iptables rulesets from
the command line.  fwsnort alse parses the running iptables policy on the
machine in order to determine which Snort rules are applicable to the specific
policy loaded on the machine.

fwsnort requires the iptables string match module in order to be able to
detect application layer attacks.  If you are running modern Linux
distribution then it is likely that the kernel has been compiled with iptables
string matching support, and fwsnort will automatically test this.

PLATFORMS:

fwsnort is compatible with iptables only, hence fwsnort will exclusively run
on Linux running a 2.6 series kernel (with some support for 2.4 kernels as
well).

Snort is a registered trademark of Sourcefire, Inc

INSTALLATION:

    (See the INSTALL file in the source directory.)

UPGRADING:

    If are installing fwsnort from sources (i.e. not through a distribution
package manager such as RPM or apt), you can just run the "install.pl" script.
It takes care of upgrades, and it will merge any customized configuration
variables in the /etc/fwsnort/fwsnort.conf file with the new file in the
source directory.  Even if you are using a distribution package manager, you
can still run the install.pl script in order to preserve any existing
configuration.  However, in this case the install.pl script will also put in
place fwsnort according to how it normally handles installation paths, and
these may not match how your distribution package manager normally handles
things.

COPYRIGHT:

Copyright (C) 2003-2016 Michael Rash (mbr@cipherdyne.org)

fwsnort is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPLv2), and the
latest version may be downloaded from http://www.cipherdyne.org/

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA