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20 .\" This document is derived in part from the enet man page (enet.4)
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23 .\" $FreeBSD: src/share/man/man4/bpf.4,v 1.21.2.11 2002/04/07 04:57:13 dd Exp $
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31 .Nd Berkeley Packet Filter
35 The Berkeley Packet Filter
36 provides a raw interface to data link layers in a protocol
38 All packets on the network, even those destined for other hosts,
39 are accessible through this mechanism.
41 The packet filter appears as a character special device,
45 After opening the device, the file descriptor must be bound to a
46 specific network interface with the
49 A given interface can be shared by multiple listeners, and the filter
50 underlying each descriptor will see an identical packet stream.
52 A separate device file is required for each minor device.
53 If a file is in use, the open will fail and
58 Associated with each open instance of a
60 file is a user-settable packet filter.
61 Whenever a packet is received by an interface,
62 all file descriptors listening on that interface apply their filter.
63 Each descriptor that accepts the packet receives its own copy.
65 Reads from these files return the next group of packets
66 that have matched the filter.
67 To improve performance, the buffer passed to read must be
68 the same size as the buffers used internally by
70 This size is returned by the
72 ioctl (see below), and
75 Note that an individual packet larger than this size is necessarily
78 The packet filter will support any link level protocol that has fixed length
79 headers. Currently, only Ethernet,
83 drivers have been modified to interact with
86 Since packet data is in network byte order, applications should use the
88 macros to extract multi-byte values.
90 A packet can be sent out on the network by writing to a
92 file descriptor. The writes are unbuffered, meaning only one
93 packet can be processed per write.
94 Currently, only writes to Ethernets and
100 command codes below are defined in
105 #include <sys/types.h>
106 #include <sys/time.h>
107 #include <sys/ioctl.h>
124 the following commands may be applied to any open
127 The (third) argument to
129 should be a pointer to the type indicated.
130 .Bl -tag -width ".Dv BIOCGRTIMEOUT"
133 Returns the required buffer length for reads on
138 Sets the buffer length for reads on
140 files. The buffer must be set before the file is attached to an interface
143 If the requested buffer size cannot be accommodated, the closest
144 allowable size will be set and returned in the argument.
145 A read call will result in
147 if it is passed a buffer that is not this size.
150 Returns the type of the data link layer underlying the attached interface.
152 is returned if no interface has been specified.
153 The device types, prefixed with
158 Forces the interface into promiscuous mode.
159 All packets, not just those destined for the local host, are processed.
160 Since more than one file can be listening on a given interface,
161 a listener that opened its interface non-promiscuously may receive
162 packets promiscuously. This problem can be remedied with an
165 Flushes the buffer of incoming packets,
166 and resets the statistics that are returned by
169 .Pq Li "struct ifreq"
170 Returns the name of the hardware interface that the file is listening on.
171 The name is returned in the ifr_name field of
175 All other fields are undefined.
177 This ioctl is designed to prevent the security issues associated
180 descriptor in unprivileged programs.
181 Even with dropped privileges, an open
183 descriptor can be abused by a rogue program to listen on any interface
184 on the system, send packets on these interfaces if the descriptor was
185 opened read-write and send signals to arbitrary processes using the
186 signaling mechanism of
192 ioctl prevents this abuse.
193 The allowable ioctls are
210 Use of any other ioctl is denied with error
212 Once a descriptor is locked, it is not possible to unlock it.
213 A process with root privileges is not affected by the lock.
215 A privileged program can open a
217 device, drop privileges, set the interface, filters and modes on the
218 descriptor, and lock it.
219 Once the descriptor is locked, the system is safe
220 from further abuse through the descriptor.
221 Locking a descriptor does not prevent writes.
222 If the application does not need to send packets through
224 it can open the device read-only to prevent writing.
225 If sending packets is necessary, a write-filter can be set before locking the
226 descriptor to prevent arbitrary packets from being sent out.
229 .Pq Li "struct ifreq"
230 Sets the hardware interface associated with the file.
231 This command must be performed before any packets can be read.
232 The device is indicated by name using the
237 Additionally, performs the actions of
241 .Pq Li "struct bpf_program *"
242 Sets the write filter program used by the kernel to filter the packets
243 written to the descriptor before the packets are sent out on the
248 .Pq Li "struct timeval"
249 Set or get the read timeout parameter.
251 specifies the length of time to wait before timing
252 out on a read request.
253 This parameter is initialized to zero by
255 indicating no timeout.
257 .Pq Li "struct bpf_stat"
258 Returns the following structure of packet statistics:
261 u_int bs_recv; /* number of packets received */
262 u_int bs_drop; /* number of packets dropped */
267 .Bl -hang -offset indent
269 the number of packets received by the descriptor since opened or reset
270 (including any buffered since the last read call);
273 the number of packets which were accepted by the filter but dropped by the
274 kernel because of buffer overflows
275 (i.e., the application's reads aren't keeping up with the packet traffic).
281 based on the truth value of the argument.
282 When immediate mode is enabled, reads return immediately upon packet
283 reception. Otherwise, a read will block until either the kernel buffer
284 becomes full or a timeout occurs.
285 This is useful for programs like
287 which must respond to messages in real time.
288 The default for a new file is off.
290 .Pq Li "struct bpf_program"
291 Sets the read filter program used by the kernel to discard uninteresting
292 packets. An array of instructions and its length is passed in using
293 the following structure:
297 struct bpf_insn *bf_insns;
301 The filter program is pointed to by the
303 field while its length in units of
304 .Sq Li struct bpf_insn
313 for an explanation of the filter language.
315 .Pq Li "struct bpf_version"
316 Returns the major and minor version numbers of the filter language currently
317 recognized by the kernel. Before installing a filter, applications must check
318 that the current version is compatible with the running kernel. Version
319 numbers are compatible if the major numbers match and the application minor
320 is less than or equal to the kernel minor. The kernel version number is
321 returned in the following structure:
329 The current version numbers are given by
330 .Dv BPF_MAJOR_VERSION
332 .Dv BPF_MINOR_VERSION
335 An incompatible filter
336 may result in undefined behavior (most likely, an error returned by
338 or haphazard packet matching).
342 Set or get the status of the
345 Set to zero if the link level source address should be filled in automatically
346 by the interface output routine. Set to one if the link level source
347 address will be written, as provided, to the wire. This flag is initialized
352 Set or get the flag determining whether locally generated packets on the
353 interface should be returned by BPF. Set to zero to see only incoming
354 packets on the interface. Set to one to see packets originating
355 locally and remotely on the interface. This flag is initialized to one by
359 The following structure is prepended to each packet returned by
363 struct timeval bh_tstamp; /* time stamp */
364 u_long bh_caplen; /* length of captured portion */
365 u_long bh_datalen; /* original length of packet */
366 u_short bh_hdrlen; /* length of bpf header (this struct
367 plus alignment padding */
371 The fields, whose values are stored in host order, and are:
373 .Bl -tag -compact -width bh_datalen
375 The time at which the packet was processed by the packet filter.
377 The length of the captured portion of the packet. This is the minimum of
378 the truncation amount specified by the filter and the length of the packet.
380 The length of the packet off the wire.
381 This value is independent of the truncation amount specified by the filter.
385 header, which may not be equal to
386 .\" XXX - not really a function call
387 .Fn sizeof "struct bpf_hdr" .
392 field exists to account for
393 padding between the header and the link level protocol.
394 The purpose here is to guarantee proper alignment of the packet
395 data structures, which is required on alignment sensitive
396 architectures and improves performance on many other architectures.
397 The packet filter insures that the
399 and the network layer
400 header will be word aligned. Suitable precautions
401 must be taken when accessing the link layer protocol fields on alignment
402 restricted machines. (This isn't a problem on an Ethernet, since
403 the type field is a short falling on an even offset,
404 and the addresses are probably accessed in a bytewise fashion).
406 Additionally, individual packets are padded so that each starts
407 on a word boundary. This requires that an application
408 has some knowledge of how to get from packet to packet.
414 this process. It rounds up its argument
415 to the nearest word aligned value (where a word is
421 points to the start of a packet, this expression
422 will advance it to the next packet:
423 .Dl p = (char *)p + BPF_WORDALIGN(p->bh_hdrlen + p->bh_caplen)
425 For the alignment mechanisms to work properly, the
428 must itself be word aligned.
432 will always return an aligned buffer.
434 A filter program is an array of instructions, with all branches forwardly
435 directed, terminated by a
438 Each instruction performs some action on the pseudo-machine state,
439 which consists of an accumulator, index register, scratch memory store,
440 and implicit program counter.
442 The following structure defines the instruction format:
454 field is used in different ways by different instructions,
459 fields are used as offsets
460 by the branch instructions.
461 The opcodes are encoded in a semi-hierarchical fashion.
462 There are eight classes of instructions:
472 Various other mode and
473 operator bits are or'd into the class to give the actual instructions.
474 The classes and modes are defined in
477 Below are the semantics for each defined
480 We use the convention that A is the accumulator, X is the index register,
481 P[] packet data, and M[] scratch memory store.
482 P[i:n] gives the data at byte offset
485 interpreted as a word (n=4),
486 unsigned halfword (n=2), or unsigned byte (n=1).
487 M[i] gives the i'th word in the scratch memory store, which is only
488 addressed in word units. The memory store is indexed from 0 to
495 are the corresponding fields in the
496 instruction definition.
498 refers to the length of the packet.
499 .Bl -tag -width BPF_STXx
501 These instructions copy a value into the accumulator. The type of the
502 source operand is specified by an
504 and can be a constant
506 packet data at a fixed offset
508 packet data at a variable offset
512 or a word in the scratch memory store
518 the data size must be specified as a word
524 The semantics of all the recognized
528 .Bl -tag -width "BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_IND" -compact
529 .It Li BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_ABS
531 .It Li BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS
533 .It Li BPF_LD+BPF_B+BPF_ABS
535 .It Li BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_IND
537 .It Li BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_IND
539 .It Li BPF_LD+BPF_B+BPF_IND
541 .It Li BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_LEN
543 .It Li BPF_LD+BPF_IMM
545 .It Li BPF_LD+BPF_MEM
549 These instructions load a value into the index register. Note that
550 the addressing modes are more restrictive than those of the accumulator loads,
553 a hack for efficiently loading the IP header length.
555 .Bl -tag -width "BPF_LDX+BPF_W+BPF_MEM" -compact
556 .It Li BPF_LDX+BPF_W+BPF_IMM
558 .It Li BPF_LDX+BPF_W+BPF_MEM
560 .It Li BPF_LDX+BPF_W+BPF_LEN
562 .It Li BPF_LDX+BPF_B+BPF_MSH
566 This instruction stores the accumulator into the scratch memory.
567 We do not need an addressing mode since there is only one possibility
570 .Bl -tag -width "BPF_ST" -compact
575 This instruction stores the index register in the scratch memory store.
577 .Bl -tag -width "BPF_STX" -compact
582 The alu instructions perform operations between the accumulator and
583 index register or constant, and store the result back in the accumulator.
584 For binary operations, a source mode is required
589 .Bl -tag -width "BPF_ALU+BPF_MUL+BPF_K" -compact
590 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_ADD+BPF_K
592 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_SUB+BPF_K
594 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_MUL+BPF_K
596 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_DIV+BPF_K
598 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_AND+BPF_K
600 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_OR+BPF_K
602 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_LSH+BPF_K
604 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_RSH+BPF_K
606 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_ADD+BPF_X
608 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_SUB+BPF_X
610 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_MUL+BPF_X
612 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_DIV+BPF_X
614 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_AND+BPF_X
616 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_OR+BPF_X
618 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_LSH+BPF_X
620 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_RSH+BPF_X
622 .It Li BPF_ALU+BPF_NEG
626 The jump instructions alter flow of control. Conditional jumps
627 compare the accumulator against a constant
629 or the index register
631 If the result is true (or non-zero),
632 the true branch is taken, otherwise the false branch is taken.
633 Jump offsets are encoded in 8 bits so the longest jump is 256 instructions.
634 However, the jump always
636 opcode uses the 32 bit
638 field as the offset, allowing arbitrarily distant destinations.
639 All conditionals use unsigned comparison conventions.
641 .Bl -tag -width "BPF_JMP+BPF_KSET+BPF_X" -compact
642 .It Li BPF_JMP+BPF_JA
644 .It Li BPF_JMP+BPF_JGT+BPF_K
645 pc += (A > k) ? jt : jf
646 .It Li BPF_JMP+BPF_JGE+BPF_K
647 pc += (A >= k) ? jt : jf
648 .It Li BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K
649 pc += (A == k) ? jt : jf
650 .It Li BPF_JMP+BPF_JSET+BPF_K
651 pc += (A & k) ? jt : jf
652 .It Li BPF_JMP+BPF_JGT+BPF_X
653 pc += (A > X) ? jt : jf
654 .It Li BPF_JMP+BPF_JGE+BPF_X
655 pc += (A >= X) ? jt : jf
656 .It Li BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_X
657 pc += (A == X) ? jt : jf
658 .It Li BPF_JMP+BPF_JSET+BPF_X
659 pc += (A & X) ? jt : jf
662 The return instructions terminate the filter program and specify the amount
663 of packet to accept (i.e., they return the truncation amount). A return
664 value of zero indicates that the packet should be ignored.
665 The return value is either a constant
670 .Bl -tag -width "BPF_RET+BPF_K" -compact
677 The miscellaneous category was created for anything that doesn't
678 fit into the above classes, and for any new instructions that might need to
679 be added. Currently, these are the register transfer instructions
680 that copy the index register to the accumulator or vice versa.
682 .Bl -tag -width "BPF_MISC+BPF_TAX" -compact
683 .It Li BPF_MISC+BPF_TAX
685 .It Li BPF_MISC+BPF_TXA
692 interface provides the following macros to facilitate
694 .Fn BPF_STMT opcode operand
696 .Fn BPF_JUMP opcode operand true_offset false_offset .
698 .Bl -tag -compact -width /dev/bpfXXX
699 .It Pa /dev/bpf Ns Sy n
700 the packet filter device
703 The following filter is taken from the Reverse ARP Daemon. It accepts
704 only Reverse ARP requests.
706 struct bpf_insn insns[] = {
707 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS, 12),
708 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, ETHERTYPE_REVARP, 0, 3),
709 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS, 20),
710 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, REVARP_REQUEST, 0, 1),
711 BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, sizeof(struct ether_arp) +
712 sizeof(struct ether_header)),
713 BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, 0),
717 This filter accepts only IP packets between host 128.3.112.15 and
720 struct bpf_insn insns[] = {
721 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS, 12),
722 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, ETHERTYPE_IP, 0, 8),
723 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_ABS, 26),
724 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 0x8003700f, 0, 2),
725 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_ABS, 30),
726 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 0x80037023, 3, 4),
727 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 0x80037023, 0, 3),
728 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_W+BPF_ABS, 30),
729 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 0x8003700f, 0, 1),
730 BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, (u_int)-1),
731 BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, 0),
735 Finally, this filter returns only TCP finger packets. We must parse
736 the IP header to reach the TCP header. The
739 checks that the IP fragment offset is 0 so we are sure
740 that we have a TCP header.
742 struct bpf_insn insns[] = {
743 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS, 12),
744 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, ETHERTYPE_IP, 0, 10),
745 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_B+BPF_ABS, 23),
746 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, IPPROTO_TCP, 0, 8),
747 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_ABS, 20),
748 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JSET+BPF_K, 0x1fff, 6, 0),
749 BPF_STMT(BPF_LDX+BPF_B+BPF_MSH, 14),
750 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_IND, 14),
751 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 79, 2, 0),
752 BPF_STMT(BPF_LD+BPF_H+BPF_IND, 16),
753 BPF_JUMP(BPF_JMP+BPF_JEQ+BPF_K, 79, 0, 1),
754 BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, (u_int)-1),
755 BPF_STMT(BPF_RET+BPF_K, 0),
766 .%T "An efficient, extensible, and portable network monitor"
769 The Enet packet filter was created in 1980 by Mike Accetta and
770 Rick Rashid at Carnegie-Mellon University. Jeffrey Mogul, at
771 Stanford, ported the code to
773 and continued its development from
774 1983 on. Since then, it has evolved into the Ultrix Packet Filter
787 of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, implemented BPF in
788 Summer 1990. Much of the design is due to
791 The read buffer must be of a fixed size (returned by the
795 A file that does not request promiscuous mode may receive promiscuously
796 received packets as a side effect of another file requesting this
797 mode on the same hardware interface. This could be fixed in the kernel
798 with additional processing overhead. However, we favor the model where
799 all files must assume that the interface is promiscuous, and if
800 so desired, must utilize a filter to reject foreign packets.
802 Data link protocols with variable length headers are not currently supported.