May 17, 1998 FAITHD 8

### NAME

faithd - FAITH IPv6/v4 translator daemon

### SYNOPSIS

faithd [-dp] [-f configfile] service [serverpath[ serverargs]] faithd

### DESCRIPTION

faithd provides IPv6-to-IPv4 TCP relay. faithd must be used on an IPv4/v6 dual stack router.

When faithd receives TCPv6 traffic, faithd will relay the TCPv6 traffic to TCPv4. Destination for relayed TCPv4 connection will be determined by the last 4 octets of the original IPv6 destination. For example, if ```3ffe:0501:4819:ffff::` is reserved for , and the TCPv6 destination address is ```3ffe:0501:4819:ffff::0a01:0101`, the traffic will be relayed to IPv4 destination ```10.1.1.1`.

To use faithd translation service, an IPv6 address prefix must be reserved for mapping IPv4 addresses into. Kernel must be properly configured to route all the TCP connection toward the reserved IPv6 address prefix into the faith(4) pseudo interface, by using route(8) command. Also, sysctl(8) should be used to configure ```net.inet6.ip6.keepfaith` to ```1`.

The router must be configured to capture all the TCP traffic toward reserved IPv6 address prefix, by using route(8) and sysctl(8) commands.

faithd needs a special name-to-address translation logic, so that hostnames gets resolved into special IPv6 address prefix. For small-scale installation, use hosts(5). For large-scale installation, it is useful to have a DNS server with special address translation support. An implementation called totd is available at ```http://www.vermicelli.pasta.cs.uit.no/ipv6/software.html`. Make sure you do not propagate translated DNS records to normal DNS cloud, it is highly harmful.

#### Daemon mode

When faithd is invoked as a standalone program, faithd will daemonize itself. faithd will listen to TCPv6 port service. If TCPv6 traffic to port service is found, it relays the connection.

Since faithd listens to TCP port service, it is not possible to run local TCP daemons for port service on the router, using inetd(8) or other standard mechanisms. By specifying serverpath to , you can run local daemons on the router. faithd will invoke local daemon at serverpath if the destination address is local interface address, and will perform translation to IPv4 TCP in other cases. You can also specify serverargs for the arguments for the local daemon.

The following options are available:

-d
  Debugging information will be generated using syslog(3).

-f configfile
  Specify a configuration file for access control. See below.

-p
  Use privileged TCP port number as source port, for IPv4 TCP connection toward final destination. For relaying ftp(1) this flag is not necessary as special program code is supplied.

faithd will relay both normal and out-of-band TCP data. It is capable of emulating TCP half close as well. faithd includes special support for protocols used by ftp(1). When translating FTP protocol, faithd translates network level addresses in ```PORT/LPRT/EPRT` and ```PASV/LPSV/EPSV` commands.

Inactive sessions will be disconnected in 30 minutes, to avoid stale sessions from chewing up resources. This may be inappropriate for some of the services (should this be configurable?).

#### inetd mode

When faithd is invoked via inetd(8), faithd will handle connection passed from standard input. If the connection endpoint is in the reserved IPv6 address prefix, faithd will relay the connection. Otherwise, faithd will invoke service-specific daemon like telnetd(8), by using the command argument passed from inetd(8).

faithd determines operation mode by the local TCP port number, and enables special protocol handling whenever necessary/possible. For example, if faithd is invoked via inetd(8) on FTP port, it will operate as a FTP relay.

#### Access control

To prevent malicious accesses, faithd implements a simple address-based access control. With ```/etc/faithd.conf` (or configfile specified by -f,) faithd will avoid relaying unwanted traffic. The ```faithd.conf` contains directives with the following format:

- src/slen`` `deny` dst/dlen

  If the source address of a query matches src/slen, and the translated destination address matches dst/dlen, deny the connection.

- src/slen`` `permit` dst/dlen

  If the source address of a query matches src/slen, and the translated destination address matches dst/dlen, permit the connection.

The directives are evaluated in sequence, and the first matching entry will be effective. If there is no match (if we reach the end of the ruleset) the traffic will be denied.

With inetd mode, traffic may be filtered by using access control functionality in inetd(8).

### EXIT STATUS

faithd exits with ```EXIT_SUCCESS` (0) on success, and ```EXIT_FAILURE` (1) on error.

### EXAMPLES

Before invoking , faith(4) interface has to be configured properly.

  `

      # sysctl -w net.inet6.ip6.accept_rtadv=0
      # sysctl -w net.inet6.ip6.forwarding=1
      # sysctl -w net.inet6.ip6.keepfaith=1
      # ifconfig faith0 create up
      # route add -inet6 3ffe:501:4819:ffff:: -prefixlen 96 ::1
      # route change -inet6 3ffe:501:4819:ffff:: -prefixlen 96 -ifp faith0

  `

#### Daemon mode samples

To translate ```telnet` service, and provide no local telnet service, invoke faithd as follows:

  `

      # faithd telnet

  `

If you would like to provide local telnet service via telnetd(8) on ```/usr/libexec/telnetd`, use the following command line:

  `

      # faithd telnet /usr/libexec/telnetd telnetd

  `

If you would like to pass extra arguments to the local daemon:

  `

      # faithd ftp /usr/libexec/ftpd ftpd -l

  `

Here are some other examples. You may need -p if the service checks the source port range.

  `

      # faithd ssh
      # faithd telnet /usr/libexec/telnetd telnetd

  `

#### inetd mode samples

Add the following lines into inetd.conf(5).

  `

      telnet  stream  faith/tcp6  nowait  root  faithd  telnetd
      ftp     stream  faith/tcp6  nowait  root  faithd  ftpd -l
      ssh     stream  faith/tcp6  nowait  root  faithd  /usr/sbin/sshd -i

  `

inetd(8) will open listening sockets with enabling kernel TCP relay support. Whenever connection comes in, faithd will be invoked by inetd(8). If it the connection endpoint is in the reserved IPv6 address prefix. faithd will relay the connection. Otherwise, faithd will invoke service-specific daemon like telnetd(8).

#### Access control samples

The following illustrates a simple ```faithd.conf` setting.

  `

      # permit anyone from 3ffe:501:ffff::/48 to use the translator,
      # to connect to the following IPv4 destinations:
      # - any location except 10.0.0.0/8 and 127.0.0.0/8.
      # Permit no other connections.
      #
      3ffe:501:ffff::/48 deny 10.0.0.0/8
      3ffe:501:ffff::/48 deny 127.0.0.0/8
      3ffe:501:ffff::/48 permit 0.0.0.0/0

  `

### SEE ALSO

faith(4), route(8), sysctl(8)

### HISTORY

The faithd command first appeared in WIDE Hydrangea IPv6 protocol stack kit.

### SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

It is very insecure to use IP-address based authentication, for connections relayed by , and any other TCP relaying services.

Administrators are advised to limit accesses to faithd using ```faithd.conf`, or by using IPv6 packet filters. It is to protect faithd service from malicious parties and avoid theft of service/bandwidth. IPv6 destination address can be limited by carefully configuring routing entries that points to faith(4), using route(8). IPv6 source address needs to be filtered by using packet filters. Documents listed in SEE ALSO have more discussions on this topic.