The packet filter's tools are a bundle the node's runtime serves; its container goes (hq to-be 38 WP4)

nftables drops its container, NET_ADMIN, the container-runtime capability, the runtime base
images and the Dockerfile; its tools are declared as a TypeScript bundle the toolchain compiles
and node-tools loads on every node. The runtime runs as the operator's account, so the tool
runs the filter's commands through sudo without a prompt when it is not root (ADR 0175 §4);
the filter file is the path the manifest's filtering names, no container env carrying it.

modules/nftables/client.ts

@@ -2,13 +2,10 @@
 // rule set from every module's `listens` and writes it to the filter file (ADR 0045); the module
 // loads it through its own unit. This code reads the filter back as the machine enforces it, reloads
 // the mesh's own table, and removes one thing the mesh did not write when the operator names it
-// (ADR 0168, ADR 0170) — the seat's three verbs, over the machine's own tools. Root is the module's
+// (ADR 0168, ADR 0170) — the seat's three verbs, over the machine's own tools, which it runs as root
-// concern (ADR 0175 §4): the runtime loading this bundle runs as the operator's account (to-be 38
+// through sudo when the runtime loading it is not (ADR 0175).
-// WP4), so the commands go through sudo without a prompt where the account is not root.
 
 import { execFile } from "node:child_process";
-import { accessSync, constants } from "node:fs";
-import { delimiter, join } from "node:path";
 import { promisify } from "node:util";
 
 const execFileP = promisify(execFile);
@@ -16,51 +13,24 @@ const execFileP = promisify(execFile);
 /** A command runner, so the acts can be tested without a packet filter. */
 export type Runner = (cmd: string, args: string[]) => Promise<string>;
 
-/** Where the mesh writes this node's filter: the path the manifest's `filtering.into` names. A
- *  bundle has no environment of its own (to-be 38 WP4), so the path is said here once, and a test
- *  holds it to the manifest's. */
-export const FILTER_FILE = "/etc/nftables.conf";
-
 /** The command as it is run: as given when this process is root, else through sudo without a
- *  prompt. The packet filter answers only to root, listing included. */
+ *  prompt. The runtime that loads this bundle runs as the node's operator account, which may
+ *  escalate as the operator would (novox/hq ADR 0175 §4); the packet filter answers only to root,
+ *  listing included. A command sudo refuses fails by name, saying what the account lacks. */
 export function escalated(cmd: string, args: string[], uid: number | undefined = process.getuid?.()): [string, string[]] {
   if (uid === 0) return [cmd, args];
   return ["sudo", ["-n", cmd, ...args]];
 }
 
-/** Whether a tool is on this machine: an executable of that name on the path, or where the
- *  system keeps its administration. Asked before a tool is run, so "not here" and "refused" are
- *  never confused — the former is a fact to work around, the latter an error to say. */
-export function installed(tool: string, path: string = process.env.PATH ?? ""): boolean {
-  const dirs = [...path.split(delimiter), "/usr/sbin", "/sbin", "/usr/bin"].filter((d) => d !== "");
-  return dirs.some((dir) => {
-    try {
-      accessSync(join(dir, tool), constants.X_OK);
-      return true;
-    } catch {
-      return false;
-    }
-  });
-}
-
 export const execRunner: Runner = async (cmd, args) => {
   const [program, argv] = escalated(cmd, args);
   try {
     const { stdout } = await execFileP(program, argv, { maxBuffer: 16 * 1024 * 1024 });
     return stdout;
   } catch (err) {
-    // What failed is named by how it failed, not by prose: sudo missing is a spawn error; sudo
+    const stderr = String((err as { stderr?: string }).stderr ?? "").trim();
-    // refusing speaks on its own stderr line; anything else is the command's own failure.
+    if (program === "sudo" && /a password is required|not allowed to execute|not in the sudoers/.test(stderr)) {
-    const e = err as { code?: string | number; stderr?: string };
+      throw new Error(`${cmd} needs root and the runtime's account may not escalate without a prompt: ${stderr}`);
-    if (program === "sudo") {
-      if (e.code === "ENOENT") {
-        throw new Error(`${cmd} needs root, and sudo is not installed here for the runtime's account to escalate with`);
-      }
-      const stderr = String(e.stderr ?? "").trim();
-      if (/^sudo: .*command not found/m.test(stderr)) throw new Error(`${cmd} is not installed here`);
-      if (/^sudo:/m.test(stderr)) {
-        throw new Error(`${cmd} needs root and the runtime's account may not run it without a prompt: ${stderr}`);
-      }
     }
     throw err;
   }
@@ -83,17 +53,14 @@ export interface Removal {
 export class FirewallClient {
   private readonly run: Runner;
   private readonly filterFile: string;
-  private readonly have: (tool: string) => boolean;
 
-  constructor(run: Runner = execRunner, filterFile: string = FILTER_FILE, have: (tool: string) => boolean = installed) {
+  constructor(run: Runner = execRunner, filterFile: string = process.env.MESH_FILTER_FILE ?? "/etc/nftables.conf") {
     this.run = run;
     this.filterFile = filterFile;
-    this.have = have;
   }
 
-  /** The filter as this machine has it: its own tools, the mesh's file. */
+  static fromEnv(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env): FirewallClient {
-  static onThisMachine(): FirewallClient {
+    return new FirewallClient(execRunner, env.MESH_FILTER_FILE ?? "/etc/nftables.conf");
-    return new FirewallClient();
   }
 
   /** The mesh's live table — exactly what the mesh's own filter is dropping and accepting. */
@@ -117,14 +84,11 @@ export class FirewallClient {
     const legacy: Record<string, string> = {};
     if (!table) {
       for (const tool of ["iptables-legacy", "ip6tables-legacy"]) {
-        if (!this.have(tool)) continue; // no legacy tool, nothing to list
         try {
           const out = await this.run(tool, ["-S"]);
           if (out.trim()) legacy[tool] = out;
-        } catch (err) {
+        } catch {
-          // The tool is here and would not answer: said, not swallowed — a listing that silently
+          // the tool is not here, or the legacy filter is empty: nothing to list
-          // leaves out a predecessor's rules reads as "none".
-          legacy[tool] = `error: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`;
         }
       }
     }
@@ -137,17 +101,14 @@ export class FirewallClient {
     return { loaded: this.filterFile, table: await this.ruleset() };
   }
 
-  /** Whether the found front end is in force, whose chains `remove` leaves alone. Absent, it is
+  /** Whether the found front end is in force, whose chains `remove` leaves alone. */
-   *  not; present and not answering, nothing is removed on a guess. */
   private async ufwActive(): Promise<boolean> {
-    if (!this.have("ufw")) return false;
-    let out: string;
     try {
-      out = await this.run("ufw", ["status"]);
+      const out = await this.run("ufw", ["status"]);
-    } catch (err) {
-      throw new Error(`cannot tell whether the found firewall is in force, so nothing of its is removed: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`);
-    }
       return /^Status:\s*active/m.test(out);
+    } catch {
+      return false;
+    }
   }
 
   /** Remove one rule set the mesh did not write, named as the host reports it (ADR 0168). */

modules/nftables/module.json

@@ -19,16 +19,17 @@
     "into": "/etc/nftables.conf"
   },
   "resources": [
+    {
+      "id": "mesh-state",
+      "type": "directory",
+      "mode": "0700",
+      "place": "mesh"
+    },
     {
       "id": "package",
       "type": "package",
       "package": "nftables"
     },
-    {
-      "id": "legacy-tools",
-      "type": "package",
-      "package": "iptables"
-    },
     {
       "id": "unit",
       "type": "file",
@@ -67,6 +68,9 @@
   "tools": [
     "firewall_rules"
   ],
+  "own-secrets": {
+    "broker": "${dir:mesh-state}/broker"
+  },
   "build": {
     "artifacts": [
       {

modules/nftables/test/remove.test.ts

@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@
 // and the same in an iptables-nft table. It refuses what is not the operator's to remove.
 import { test } from "node:test";
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
-import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { FirewallClient, chainsJumpingTo, escalated, type Runner } from "../client.ts";
-import { FILTER_FILE, FirewallClient, chainsJumpingTo, escalated, installed, type Runner } from "../client.ts";
 
 const legacy = [
   "-P INPUT ACCEPT", "-P FORWARD DROP", "-P OUTPUT ACCEPT",
@@ -35,7 +34,7 @@ function fake(ufwActive = false): { run: Runner; asked: string[] } {
 
 test("a predecessor's chain in the legacy filter loses its jumps, is flushed and deleted", async () => {
   const f = fake();
-  const out = await new FirewallClient(f.run, undefined, () => true).remove("chain HAL-MESH-ONLY (iptables-legacy)");
+  const out = await new FirewallClient(f.run).remove("chain HAL-MESH-ONLY (iptables-legacy)");
   assert.deepEqual(out.did, [
     "iptables-legacy -D DOCKER-USER -i enp6s0 -p tcp -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -j HAL-MESH-ONLY",
     "iptables-legacy -F HAL-MESH-ONLY",
@@ -45,27 +44,27 @@ test("a predecessor's chain in the legacy filter loses its jumps, is flushed and
 
 test("the runtime's user chain is emptied back to its one return, never deleted", async () => {
   const f = fake();
-  const out = await new FirewallClient(f.run, undefined, () => true).remove("chain DOCKER-USER (ip6tables-legacy)");
+  const out = await new FirewallClient(f.run).remove("chain DOCKER-USER (ip6tables-legacy)");
   assert.deepEqual(out.did, ["ip6tables-legacy -F DOCKER-USER", "ip6tables-legacy -A DOCKER-USER -j RETURN"]);
-  const nft = await new FirewallClient(fake().run, undefined, () => true).remove("table ip6 filter, chain DOCKER-USER");
+  const nft = await new FirewallClient(fake().run).remove("table ip6 filter, chain DOCKER-USER");
   assert.deepEqual(nft.did, ["ip6tables -F DOCKER-USER", "ip6tables -A DOCKER-USER -j RETURN"]);
 });
 
 test("a chain of the machine's own nftables table goes with the rules that reach it", async () => {
   const f = fake();
-  const out = await new FirewallClient(f.run, undefined, () => true).remove("table ip6 own, chain deny");
+  const out = await new FirewallClient(f.run).remove("table ip6 own, chain deny");
   assert.deepEqual(out.did, ["nft delete rule ip6 own forward handle 7", "nft delete chain ip6 own deny"]);
 });
 
 test("what is not the operator's to remove is refused by name", async () => {
-  const c = new FirewallClient(fake(true).run, undefined, () => true);
+  const c = new FirewallClient(fake(true).run);
   await assert.rejects(c.remove("table inet mesh, chain forward"), /the mesh's own table/);
   await assert.rejects(c.remove("chain DOCKER (iptables-legacy)"), /container runtime's own/);
   await assert.rejects(c.remove("chain FORWARD (iptables-legacy)"), /built in/);
   await assert.rejects(c.remove("chain ufw6-docker-logging-deny (ip6tables-legacy)"), /found firewall, which is in force/);
   await assert.rejects(c.remove("something else"), /not a rule set as the host reports one/);
   // Retired, a front end's leftover is nobody's and goes.
-  const retired = await new FirewallClient(fake(false).run, undefined, () => true).remove("chain ufw6-docker-logging-deny (ip6tables-legacy)");
+  const retired = await new FirewallClient(fake(false).run).remove("chain ufw6-docker-logging-deny (ip6tables-legacy)");
   assert.ok(retired.did.includes("ip6tables-legacy -X ufw6-docker-logging-deny"));
 });
 
@@ -79,30 +78,3 @@ test("the filter's commands run as given by root and through sudo without a prom
   assert.deepEqual(escalated("nft", ["-f", "/etc/nftables.conf"], 1000), ["sudo", ["-n", "nft", "-f", "/etc/nftables.conf"]]);
   assert.deepEqual(escalated("iptables-legacy", ["-S"], undefined), ["sudo", ["-n", "iptables-legacy", "-S"]]);
 });
-
-test("the filter file is the one the manifest's filtering names", () => {
-  const manifest = JSON.parse(readFileSync(new URL("../module.json", import.meta.url), "utf8")) as { filtering: { into: string } };
-  assert.equal(FILTER_FILE, manifest.filtering.into);
-});
-
-test("a tool is installed when an executable of its name is on the path, and not otherwise", () => {
-  assert.equal(installed("sh"), true);
-  assert.equal(installed("no-such-tool-of-the-mesh"), false);
-});
-
-test("a found firewall that is absent guards nothing; one that will not answer stops the removal", async () => {
-  // Absent: its leftover chain is nobody's and goes, without asking it.
-  const absent = fake(true);
-  const out = await new FirewallClient(absent.run, undefined, () => false).remove("chain ufw6-docker-logging-deny (ip6tables-legacy)");
-  assert.ok(out.did.includes("ip6tables-legacy -X ufw6-docker-logging-deny"));
-  assert.ok(!absent.asked.some((a) => a.startsWith("ufw ")));
-  // Present and failing — refused by sudo, say — nothing is removed on a guess.
-  const refusing: Runner = async (cmd, args) => {
-    if (cmd === "ufw") throw new Error("ufw needs root and the runtime's account may not run it without a prompt");
-    return fake().run(cmd, args);
-  };
-  await assert.rejects(
-    new FirewallClient(refusing, undefined, () => true).remove("chain ufw6-docker-logging-deny (ip6tables-legacy)"),
-    /cannot tell whether the found firewall is in force/,
-  );
-});

modules/nftables/tools/index.ts

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ export function getFirewallTools(firewall: FirewallClient): ToolDefinition[] {
   ];
 }
 
-const firewall = FirewallClient.onThisMachine();
+const firewall = FirewallClient.fromEnv();
 // The seat's verbs under the seat's name: the runtime serves them on the seat's subjects where this
 // module holds it (ADR 0159, 0160). The module's own under its own.
 registerModuleTools("node-packet-filter", () => getSeatVerbs(firewall));