Firewall Piercing mini-HOWTO

François-René Rideau

v0.97, 24 November 2001

Directions for using ppp over ssh , telnet or whatever, so as to do achieve transparent network connection accross a firewall. Applies to friendly VPN construction as well as to piercing unfriendly firewalls.

Table of Contents

1. Stuff

1.1. DISCLAIMER

1.2. Legal Blurp

1.3. Looking for a maintainer

1.4. Credits

1.5. Latest versions

2. Introduction

2.1. Foreword

2.2. Security issues

2.3. Other requirements

2.4. Downloading software

3. Understanding the problem

3.1. Giving names to things

3.2. The main problem

3.3. The secondary problem

4. Secure solution: piercing using ssh

4.1. Principle

4.2. A sample session

5. Unsecure solution: piercing using telnet

5.1. Principle

5.2. fwprc

5.3. .fwprcrc

6. Routing

6.1. The catch

6.2. Example of routing

7. Reverse piercing

7.1. Rationale

7.2. Getting the trigger message

7.3. Other automated tools for reverse piercing

8. Final notes

8.1. Other settings

8.2. HOWTO maintenance

8.3. Related Documents

8.4. Final Word

8.5. Extra copy of IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER --- BELIEVE IT!!!