BPF(4)                  NetBSD Kernel Interfaces Manual                 BPF(4)

NAME
     bpf -- Berkeley Packet Filter raw network interface

SYNOPSIS
     pseudo-device bpfilter

DESCRIPTION
     The Berkeley Packet Filter provides a raw interface to data link layers
     in a protocol independent fashion.  All packets on the network, even
     those destined for other hosts, are accessible through this mechanism.

     The packet filter appears as a character special device, /dev/bpf.  After
     opening the device, the file descriptor must be bound to a specific net-
     work interface with the BIOSETIF ioctl.  A given interface can be shared
     by multiple listeners, and the filter underlying each descriptor will see
     an identical packet stream.

     Associated with each open instance of a bpf file is a user-settable
     packet filter.  Whenever a packet is received by an interface, all file
     descriptors listening on that interface apply their filter.  Each
     descriptor that accepts the packet receives its own copy.

     Reads from these files return the next group of packets that have matched
     the filter.  To improve performance, the buffer passed to read must be
     the same size as the buffers used internally by bpf.  This size is
     returned by the BIOCGBLEN ioctl (see below), and under BSD, can be set
     with BIOCSBLEN.  Note that an individual packet larger than this size is
     necessarily truncated.

     The packet filter will support any link level protocol that has fixed
     length headers.  Currently, only Ethernet, SLIP and PPP drivers have been
     modified to interact with bpf.

     Since packet data is in network byte order, applications should use the
     byteorder(3) macros to extract multi-byte values.

     A packet can be sent out on the network by writing to a bpf file descrip-
     tor.  The writes are unbuffered, meaning only one packet can be processed
     per write.  Currently, only writes to Ethernets and SLIP links are sup-
     ported.

IOCTLS
     The ioctl(2) command codes below are defined in <net/bpf.h>.  All com-
     mands require these includes:

           #include <sys/types.h>
           #include <sys/time.h>
           #include <sys/ioctl.h>
           #include <net/bpf.h>

     Additionally, BIOCGETIF and BIOCSETIF require <net/if.h>.

     The (third) argument to the ioctl(2) should be a pointer to the type
     indicated.

           BIOCGBLEN (u_int)
                   Returns the required buffer length for reads on bpf files.

           BIOCSBLEN (u_int)
                   Sets the buffer length for reads on bpf files.  The buffer
                   must be set before the file is attached to an interface
                   with BIOCSETIF.  If the requested buffer size cannot be
                   accommodated, the closest allowable size will be set and
                   returned in the argument.  A read call will result in
                   EINVAL if it is passed a buffer that is not this size.

           BIOCGDLT (u_int)
                   Returns the type of the data link layer underlying the
                   attached interface.  EINVAL is returned if no interface has
                   been specified.  The device types, prefixed with ``DLT_'',
                   are defined in <net/bpf.h>.

           BIOCGDLTLIST (struct bpf_dltlist)
                   Returns an array of available type of the data link layer
                   underlying the attached interface:

                         struct bpf_dltlist {
                                 u_int bfl_len;
                                 u_int *bfl_list;
                         };

                   The available type is returned to the array pointed to the
                   bfl_list field while its length in u_int is supplied to the
                   bfl_len field.  ENOMEM is returned if there is not enough
                   buffer.  The bfl_len field is modified on return to indi-
                   cate the actual length in u_int of the array returned.  If
                   bfl_list is NULL, the bfl_len field is returned to indicate
                   the required length of an array in u_int.

           BIOCSDLT (u_int)
                   Change the type of the data link layer underlying the
                   attached interface.  EINVAL is returned if no interface has
                   been specified or the specified type is not available for
                   the interface.

           BIOCPROMISC
                   Forces the interface into promiscuous mode.  All packets,
                   not just those destined for the local host, are processed.
                   Since more than one file can be listening on a given inter-
                   face, a listener that opened its interface non-promiscu-
                   ously may receive packets promiscuously.  This problem can
                   be remedied with an appropriate filter.

                   The interface remains in promiscuous mode until all files
                   listening promiscuously are closed.

           BIOCFLUSH
                   Flushes the buffer of incoming packets, and resets the sta-
                   tistics that are returned by BIOCGSTATS.

           BIOCGETIF (struct ifreq)
                   Returns the name of the hardware interface that the file is
                   listening on.  The name is returned in the ifr_name field
                   of ifr.  All other fields are undefined.

           BIOCSETIF (struct ifreq)
                   Sets the hardware interface associate with the file.  This
                   command must be performed before any packets can be read.
                   The device is indicated by name using the ifr_name field of
                   the ifreq.  Additionally, performs the actions of
                   BIOCFLUSH.

           BIOCSRTIMEOUT, BIOCGRTIMEOUT (struct timeval)
                   Set or get the read timeout parameter.  The timeval speci-
                   fies the length of time to wait before timing out on a read
                   request.  This parameter is initialized to zero by open(2),
                   indicating no timeout.

           BIOCGSTATS (struct bpf_stat)
                   Returns the following structure of packet statistics:

                         struct bpf_stat {
                                 uint64_t bs_recv;
                                 uint64_t bs_drop;
                                 uint64_t bs_capt;
                                 uint64_t bs_padding[13];
                         };

                   The fields are:

                         bs_recv  the number of packets received by the
                                  descriptor since opened or reset (including
                                  any buffered since the last read call);

                         bs_drop  the number of packets which were accepted by
                                  the filter but dropped by the kernel because
                                  of buffer overflows (i.e., the application's
                                  reads aren't keeping up with the packet
                                  traffic); and

                         bs_capt  the number of packets accepted by the fil-
                                  ter.

           BIOCIMMEDIATE (u_int)
                   Enable or disable ``immediate mode'', based on the truth
                   value of the argument.  When immediate mode is enabled,
                   reads return immediately upon packet reception.  Otherwise,
                   a read will block until either the kernel buffer becomes
                   full or a timeout occurs.  This is useful for programs like
                   rarpd(8), which must respond to messages in real time.  The
                   default for a new file is off.

           BIOCSETF (struct bpf_program)
                   Sets the filter program used by the kernel to discard unin-
                   teresting packets.  An array of instructions and its length
                   is passed in using the following structure:

                         struct bpf_program {
                                 u_int bf_len;
                                 struct bpf_insn *bf_insns;
                         };

                   The filter program is pointed to by the bf_insns field
                   while its length in units of `struct bpf_insn' is given by
                   the bf_len field.  Also, the actions of BIOCFLUSH are per-
                   formed.

                   See section FILTER MACHINE for an explanation of the filter
                   language.

           BIOCVERSION (struct bpf_version)
                   Returns the major and minor version numbers of the filter
                   language currently recognized by the kernel.  Before
                   installing a filter, applications must check that the cur-
                   rent version is compatible with the running kernel.  Ver-
                   sion numbers are compatible if the major numbers match and
                   the application minor is less than or equal to the kernel
                   minor.  The kernel version number is returned in the fol-
                   lowing structure:

                         struct bpf_version {
                                 u_short bv_major;
                                 u_short bv_minor;
                         };

                   The current version numbers are given by BPF_MAJOR_VERSION
                   and BPF_MINOR_VERSION from <net/bpf.h>.  An incompatible
                   filter may result in undefined behavior (most likely, an
                   error returned by ioctl(2) or haphazard packet matching).

           BIOCGHDRCMPLT BIOCSHDRCMPLT (u_int)
                   Enable/disable or get the ``header complete'' flag status.
                   If enabled, packets written to the bpf file descriptor will
                   not have network layer headers rewritten in the interface
                   output routine.  By default, the flag is disabled (value is
                   0).

           BIOCGSEESENT BIOCSSEESENT (u_int)
                   Enable/disable or get the ``see sent'' flag status.  If
                   enabled, packets sent will be passed to the filter.  By
                   default, the flag is enabled (value is 1).

STANDARD IOCTLS
     bpf now supports several standard ioctl(2)'s which allow the user to do
     async and/or non-blocking I/O to an open bpf file descriptor.

           FIONREAD (int)
                   Returns the number of bytes that are immediately available
                   for reading.

           SIOCGIFADDR (struct ifreq)
                   Returns the address associated with the interface.

           FIONBIO (int)
                   Set or clear non-blocking I/O.  If arg is non-zero, then
                   doing a read(2) when no data is available will return -1
                   and errno will be set to EAGAIN.  If arg is zero, non-
                   blocking I/O is disabled.  Note: setting this overrides the
                   timeout set by BIOCSRTIMEOUT.

           FIOASYNC (int)
                   Enable or disable async I/O.  When enabled (arg is non-
                   zero), the process or process group specified by FIOSETOWN
                   will start receiving SIGIO's when packets arrive.  Note
                   that you must do an FIOSETOWN in order for this to take
                   affect, as the system will not default this for you.  The
                   signal may be changed via BIOCSRSIG.

           FIOSETOWN FIOGETOWN (int)
                   Set or get the process or process group (if negative) that
                   should receive SIGIO when packets are available.  The sig-
                   nal may be changed using BIOCSRSIG (see above).

BPF HEADER
     The following structure is prepended to each packet returned by read(2):

           struct bpf_hdr {
                   struct timeval bh_tstamp;
                   uint32_t bh_caplen;
                   uint32_t bh_datalen;
                   uint16_t bh_hdrlen;
           };

     The fields, whose values are stored in host order, and are:

           bh_tstamp   The time at which the packet was processed by the
                       packet filter.

           bh_caplen   The length of the captured portion of the packet.  This
                       is the minimum of the truncation amount specified by
                       the filter and the length of the packet.

           bh_datalen  The length of the packet off the wire.  This value is
                       independent of the truncation amount specified by the
                       filter.

           bh_hdrlen   The length of the BPF header, which may not be equal to
                       sizeof(struct bpf_hdr).

     The bh_hdrlen field exists to account for padding between the header and
     the link level protocol.  The purpose here is to guarantee proper align-
     ment of the packet data structures, which is required on alignment sensi-
     tive architectures and improves performance on many other architectures.
     The packet filter ensures that the bpf_hdr and the network layer header
     will be word aligned.  Suitable precautions must be taken when accessing
     the link layer protocol fields on alignment restricted machines.  (This
     isn't a problem on an Ethernet, since the type field is a short falling
     on an even offset, and the addresses are probably accessed in a bytewise
     fashion).

     Additionally, individual packets are padded so that each starts on a word
     boundary.  This requires that an application has some knowledge of how to
     get from packet to packet.  The macro BPF_WORDALIGN is defined in
     <net/bpf.h> to facilitate this process.  It rounds up its argument to the
     nearest word aligned value (where a word is BPF_ALIGNMENT bytes wide).

     For example, if `p' points to the start of a packet, this expression will
     advance it to the next packet:

           p = (char *)p + BPF_WORDALIGN(p->bh_hdrlen + p->bh_caplen)

     For the alignment mechanisms to work properly, the buffer passed to
     read(2) must itself be word aligned.  malloc(3) will always return an
     aligned buffer.

FILTER MACHINE
     A filter program is an array of instructions, with all branches forwardly
     directed, terminated by a return instruction.  Each instruction performs
     some action on the pseudo-machine state, which consists of an accumula-
     tor, index register, scratch memory store, and implicit program counter.

     The following structure defines the instruction format:

           struct bpf_insn {
                   uint16_t code;
                   u_char  jt;
                   u_char  jf;
                   int32_t k;
           };

     The k field is used in different ways by different instructions, and the
     jt and jf fields are used as offsets by the branch instructions.  The
     opcodes are encoded in a semi-hierarchical fashion.  There are eight
     classes of instructions: BPF_LD, BPF_LDX, BPF_ST, BPF_STX, BPF_ALU,
     BPF_JMP, BPF_RET, and BPF_MISC.  Various other mode and operator bits are
     or'd into the class to give the actual instructions.  The classes and
     modes are defined in <net/bpf.h>.

     Below are the semantics for each defined BPF instruction.  We use the
     convention that A is the accumulator, X is the index register, P[] packet
     data, and M[] scratch memory store.  P[i:n] gives the data at byte offset
     ``i'' in the packet, interpreted as a word (n=4), unsigned halfword
     (n=2), or unsigned byte (n=1).  M[i] gives the i'th word in the scratch
     memory store, which is only addressed in word units.  The memory store is
     indexed from 0 to BPF_MEMWORDS-1.  k, jt, and jf are the corresponding
     fields in the instruction definition.  ``len'' refers to the length of
     the packet.

           BPF_LD  These instructions copy a value into the accumulator.  The
                   type of the source operand is specified by an ``addressing
                   mode'' and can be a constant (BBPF_IMM), packet data at a
                   fixed offset (BPF_ABS), packet data at a variable offset
                   (BPF_IND), the packet length (BPF_LEN), or a word in the
                   scratch memory store (BPF_MEM).  For BPF_IND and BPF_ABS,
                   the data size must be specified as a word (BPF_W), halfword
                   (BPF_H), or byte (BPF_B).  The semantics of all the recog-
                   nized BPF_LD instructions follow.

                         BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_ABS    A <- P[k:4]
                         BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS    A <- P[k:2]
                         BPF_LD+BPF_B+BPF_ABS    A <- P[k:1]
                         BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_IND    A <- P[X+k:4]
                         BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_IND    A <- P[X+k:2]
                         BPF_LD+BPF_B+BPF_IND    A <- P[X+k:1]
                         BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_LEN    A <- len
                         BPF_LD+BPF_IMM          A <- k
                         BPF_LD+BPF_MEM          A <- M[k]

           BPF_LDX
                   These instructions load a value into the index register.
                   Note that the addressing modes are more restricted than
                   those of the accumulator loads, but they include BPF_MSH, a
                   hack for efficiently loading the IP header length.

                         BPF_LDX+BPF_W+BPF_IMM    X <- k
                         BPF_LDX+BPF_W+BPF_MEM    X <- M[k]
                         BPF_LDX+BPF_W+BPF_LEN    X <- len
                         BPF_LDX+BPF_B+BPF_MSH    X <- 4*(P[k:1]&0xf)

           BPF_ST  This instruction stores the accumulator into the scratch
                   memory.  We do not need an addressing mode since there is
                   only one possibility for the destination.

                         BPF_ST    M[k] <- A

           BPF_STX
                   This instruction stores the index register in the scratch
                   memory store.

                         BPF_STX    M[k] <- X

           BPF_ALU
                   The alu instructions perform operations between the accumu-
                   lator and index register or constant, and store the result
                   back in the accumulator.  For binary operations, a source
                   mode is required (BPF_K or BPF_X).

                         BPF_ALU+BPF_ADD+BPF_K    A <- A + k
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_SUB+BPF_K    A <- A - k
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_MUL+BPF_K    A <- A * k
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_DIV+BPF_K    A <- A / k
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_AND+BPF_K    A <- A & k
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_OR+BPF_K     A <- A | k
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_LSH+BPF_K    A <- A << k
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_RSH+BPF_K    A <- A >> k
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_ADD+BPF_X    A <- A + X
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_SUB+BPF_X    A <- A - X
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_MUL+BPF_X    A <- A * X
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_DIV+BPF_X    A <- A / X
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_AND+BPF_X    A <- A & X
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_OR+BPF_X     A <- A | X
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_LSH+BPF_X    A <- A << X
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_RSH+BPF_X    A <- A >> X
                         BPF_ALU+BPF_NEG          A <- -A

           BPF_JMP
                   The jump instructions alter flow of control.  Conditional
                   jumps compare the accumulator against a constant (BPF_K) or
                   the index register (BPF_X).  If the result is true (or non-
                   zero), the true branch is taken, otherwise the false branch
                   is taken.  Jump offsets are encoded in 8 bits so the long-
                   est jump is 256 instructions.  However, the jump always
                   (BPF_JA) opcode uses the 32 bit k field as the offset,
                   allowing arbitrarily distant destinations.  All condition-
                   als use unsigned comparison conventions.

                         BPF_JMP+BPF_JA           pc += k
                         BPF_JMP+BPF_JGT+BPF_K    pc += (A > k) ? jt : jf
                         BPF_JMP+BPF_JGE+BPF_K    pc += (A >= k) ? jt : jf
                         BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K    pc += (A == k) ? jt : jf
                         BPF_JMP+BPF_JSET+BPF_K   pc += (A & k) ? jt : jf
                         BPF_JMP+BPF_JGT+BPF_X    pc += (A > X) ? jt : jf
                         BPF_JMP+BPF_JGE+BPF_X    pc += (A >= X) ? jt : jf
                         BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_X    pc += (A == X) ? jt : jf
                         BPF_JMP+BPF_JSET+BPF_X   pc += (A & X) ? jt : jf

           BPF_RET
                   The return instructions terminate the filter program and
                   specify the amount of packet to accept (i.e., they return
                   the truncation amount).  A return value of zero indicates
                   that the packet should be ignored.  The return value is
                   either a constant (BPF_K) or the accumulator (BPF_A).

                         BPF_RET+BPF_A    accept A bytes
                         BPF_RET+BPF_K    accept k bytes

           BPF_MISC
                   The miscellaneous category was created for anything that
                   doesn't fit into the above classes, and for any new
                   instructions that might need to be added.  Currently, these
                   are the register transfer instructions that copy the index
                   register to the accumulator or vice versa.

                         BPF_MISC+BPF_TAX    X <- A
                         BPF_MISC+BPF_TXA    A <- X

     The BPF interface provides the following macros to facilitate array ini-
     tializers:

           BPF_STMT (opcode, operand)
           BPF_JUMP (opcode, operand, true_offset, false_offset)

SYSCTLS
     The following sysctls are available when bpf is enabled:

     net.bpf.maxbufsize     Sets the maximum buffer size available for bpf
                            peers.

     net.bpf.stats          Shows bpf statistics.  They can be retrieved with
                            the netstat(1) utility.

     net.bpf.peers          Shows the current bpf peers.  This is only avail-
                            able to the super user and can also be retrieved
                            with the netstat(1) utility.

FILES
     /dev/bpf

EXAMPLES
     The following filter is taken from the Reverse ARP Daemon.  It accepts
     only Reverse ARP requests.

           struct bpf_insn insns[] = {
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS, 12),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, ETHERTYPE_REVARP, 0, 3),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS, 20),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, REVARP_REQUEST, 0, 1),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, sizeof(struct ether_arp) +
                       sizeof(struct ether_header)),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, 0),
           };

     This filter accepts only IP packets between host 128.3.112.15 and
     128.3.112.35.

           struct bpf_insn insns[] = {
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS, 12),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, ETHERTYPE_IP, 0, 8),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_ABS, 26),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 0x8003700f, 0, 2),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_ABS, 30),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 0x80037023, 3, 4),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 0x80037023, 0, 3),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_ABS, 30),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 0x8003700f, 0, 1),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, (u_int)-1),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, 0),
           };

     Finally, this filter returns only TCP finger packets.  We must parse the
     IP header to reach the TCP header.  The BPF_JSET instruction checks that
     the IP fragment offset is 0 so we are sure that we have a TCP header.

           struct bpf_insn insns[] = {
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS, 12),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, ETHERTYPE_IP, 0, 10),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_B+BPF_ABS, 23),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, IPPROTO_TCP, 0, 8),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS, 20),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JSET+BPF_K, 0x1fff, 6, 0),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LDX+BPF_B+BPF_MSH, 14),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_IND, 14),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 79, 2, 0),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_IND, 16),
                   BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 79, 0, 1),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, (u_int)-1),
                   BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, 0),
           };

SEE ALSO
     ioctl(2), read(2), select(2), signal(3), tcpdump(8)

     S. McCanne and V. Jacobson, "The BSD Packet Filter: A New Architecture
     for User-level Packet Capture", Proceedings of the 1993 Winter USENIX.

HISTORY
     The Enet packet filter was created in 1980 by Mike Accetta and Rick
     Rashid at Carnegie-Mellon University.  Jeffrey Mogul, at Stanford, ported
     the code to BSD and continued its development from 1983 on.  Since then,
     it has evolved into the ULTRIX Packet Filter at DEC, a STREAMS NIT module
     under SunOS 4.1, and BPF.

AUTHORS
     Steven McCanne, of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, implemented BPF in Sum-
     mer 1990.  The design was in collaboration with Van Jacobson, also of
     Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

BUGS
     The read buffer must be of a fixed size (returned by the BIOCGBLEN
     ioctl).

     A file that does not request promiscuous mode may receive promiscuously
     received packets as a side effect of another file requesting this mode on
     the same hardware interface.  This could be fixed in the kernel with
     additional processing overhead.  However, we favor the model where all
     files must assume that the interface is promiscuous, and if so desired,
     must use a filter to reject foreign packets.

     Data link protocols with variable length headers are not currently sup-
     ported.

     Under SunOS, if a BPF application reads more than 2^31 bytes of data,
     read will fail in EINVAL.  You can either fix the bug in SunOS, or lseek
     to 0 when read fails for this reason.

     ``Immediate mode'' and the ``read timeout'' are misguided features.  This
     functionality can be emulated with non-blocking mode and select(2).

NetBSD 5.0_STABLE               August 4, 2006               NetBSD 5.0_STABLE
