Security: Firewall

A first line of defense for a computing system is to secure its network connection. Limiting access to necessary services, such as a web server or email Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) server, removes any risk of vulnerabilities in other services.

The many forms of firewalls

Firewalls take many forms, from hardware appliances that intercept all network traffic before allowing sanctioned traffic to pass to a gateway machine, to software approaches that work at different layers of the communication stack (for example, the application level or the application-agnostic transport level).

Easy firewall configuration

Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® includes an easy-to-use Firewall Configuration GUI tool that can implement basic firewall profiles. It's built on top of iptables, which is built into the Linux kernel. The powerful iptables can be configured directly, bypassing the GUI, to solve complex requirements.

Security support and updates

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• Does a specific CVE affect Red Hat?

• Ask a question about a security vulnerability

• Report a security vulnerability

• How we measure security vulnerabilities

• Security Response Team mission and standards of service

Learn more

• Firewall Configuration GUI tool: Create basic firewalls with an easy-to-use GUI.

• IPTables: Create complex firewalls by accessing the kernel-based firewall system directly.

• Squid: A web proxy that can control which information may be accessed.