DIVERT(4)

NAME
divert - kernel packet diversion mechanism

SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
int
socket(AF_INET, SOCK_RAW, IPPROTO_DIVERT);
int
socket(AF_INET6, SOCK_RAW, IPPROTO_DIVERT);

DESCRIPTION
Divert sockets are part of a mechanism completely integrated with pf(4) that queues raw packets from the kernel stack to userspace applications, and vice versa.

A divert socket must be bound to a divert port through bind(2), which only the superuser can do. Divert ports have their own number space, completely separated from tcp(4) and udp(4). When pf(4) processes a packet that matches a rule with the divert-packet parameter (see pf.conf(5) for details) it is sent to the divert socket listening on the divert port specified in the rule. Note that divert-packet should not be confused with divert-to or divert-reply, which do not use divert sockets. pf(4) reassembles TCP streams by default (if IP reassembly is not disabled) before sending them to the divert sockets. If there are no divert sockets listening, the packets are dropped.

Packets can be read via read(2), recv(2), or recvfrom(2) from the divert socket. The application that is processing the packets can then reinject them into the kernel. After being reinjected, inbound and outbound packets are treated differently. Inbound packets are added to the relevant input queue and a soft interrupt is scheduled to signal that a new packet is ready to be processed; outbound ones are processed directly by the relevant IPv4/IPv6 output function. Since the userspace application could have modified the packets, upon reinjection basic sanity checks are done to ensure that the packets are still valid. The packets' IPv4 and protocol checksums (TCP, UDP, ICMP, and ICMPv6) are also recalculated.

Writing to a divert socket can be achieved using sendto(2) and it will skip pf(4) filters to avoid loops. A diverted packet that is not reinjected into the kernel stack is lost.

Receive and send divert socket buffer space can be tuned through sysctl(8). netstat(1) shows information relevant to divert sockets.

The IP_DIVERTFL socket option on the IPPROTO_IP level controls whether both inbound and outbound packets are diverted (the default) or only packets travelling in one direction. It cannot be reset once set. Valid values are IPPROTO_DIVERT_INIT for the direction of the initial packet of a flow, and IPPROTO_DIVERT_RESP for the direction of the response packets.

EXAMPLES
The following PF rule queues outbound IPv4 packets to TCP port 80, as well as the return traffic, on the em0 interface to divert port 700:

    pass out on em0 inet proto tcp to port 80 divert-packet port 700

The following program reads packets on divert port 700 and reinjects them back into the kernel. This program does not perform any processing of the packets, apart from discarding invalid IP packets.

    #include <sys/types.h>
    #include <sys/socket.h>
    #include <netinet/in.h>
    #include <netinet/in_systm.h>
    #include <netinet/ip.h>
    #include <netinet/tcp.h>
    #include <arpa/inet.h>
    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <string.h>
    #include <err.h>
    #define DIVERT_PORT 700
    int
    main(int argc, char *argv[])
    {
    	int fd, s;
    	struct sockaddr_in sin;
    	socklen_t sin_len;
    	fd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_RAW, IPPROTO_DIVERT);
    	if (fd == -1)
    		err(1, "socket");
    	memset(&sin, 0, sizeof(sin));
    	sin.sin_family = AF_INET;
    	sin.sin_port = htons(DIVERT_PORT);
    	sin.sin_addr.s_addr = 0;
    	sin_len = sizeof(struct sockaddr_in);
    	s = bind(fd, (struct sockaddr *) &sin, sin_len);
    	if (s == -1)
    		err(1, "bind");
    	for (;;) {
    		ssize_t n;
    		char packet[IP_MAXPACKET];
    		struct ip *ip;
    		struct tcphdr *th;
    		int hlen;
    		char src[48], dst[48];
    		memset(packet, 0, sizeof(packet));
    		n = recvfrom(fd, packet, sizeof(packet), 0,
    		    (struct sockaddr *) &sin, &sin_len);
    		if (n == -1) {
    			warn("recvfrom");
    			continue;
    		}
    		if (n < sizeof(struct ip)) {
    			warnx("packet is too short");
    			continue;
    		}
    		ip = (struct ip *) packet;
    		hlen = ip->ip_hl << 2;
    		if (hlen < sizeof(struct ip) || ntohs(ip->ip_len) < hlen ||
    		    n < ntohs(ip->ip_len)) {
    			warnx("invalid IPv4 packet");
    			continue;
    		}
    		th = (struct tcphdr *) (packet + hlen);
    		if (inet_ntop(AF_INET, &ip->ip_src, src,
    		    sizeof(src)) == NULL)
    			(void)strlcpy(src, "?", sizeof(src));
    		if (inet_ntop(AF_INET, &ip->ip_dst, dst,
    		    sizeof(dst)) == NULL)
    			(void)strlcpy(dst, "?", sizeof(dst));
    		printf("%s:%u -> %s:%u\n",
    		    src,
    		    ntohs(th->th_sport),
    		    dst,
    		    ntohs(th->th_dport)
    		);
    		n = sendto(fd, packet, n, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &sin,
    		    sin_len);
    		if (n == -1)
    			warn("sendto");
    	}
    	return 0;
    }

SEE ALSO
setsockopt(2), socket(2), ip(4), pf.conf(5)

HISTORY
The divert protocol first appeared in OpenBSD 4.7.