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Firewall ​

Firewall Management ​

KiwiPanel provides basic, transparent firewall setup to help secure your server without hiding or abstracting system behavior.

Firewall configuration is opt-in, non-destructive, and always uses native Linux firewall tools.

Supported Firewalls ​

KiwiPanel automatically detects the operating system family and uses the appropriate firewall:

  • Debian / Ubuntu → ufw
  • Rocky / Alma / RHEL → firewalld

No custom firewall layer is introduced.

Design Principles ​

KiwiPanel firewall handling follows these rules:

  • Uses standard system tools only
  • Makes explicit rule changes
  • Does not overwrite existing rules silently
  • Avoids background agents or custom daemons
  • Leaves the firewall fully manageable outside KiwiPanel

You can always inspect, modify, or disable the firewall manually.

Default Behavior ​

When firewall setup is enabled, KiwiPanel:

  • Enables the system firewall if not already active
  • Allows SSH access (port 22 by default)
  • Allows HTTP / HTTPS traffic:
    • Port 80 (HTTP)
    • Port 443 (HTTPS)
  • Allows KiwiPanel access:
    • Port 8443
  • Denies all other incoming traffic by default

No outbound traffic is restricted.

Cloud Provider Notice ​

Some cloud providers require ports to be opened outside the server, for example:

  • Amazon Lightsail
  • Oracle Cloud
  • Other managed VPS platforms

Even if the firewall allows a port, traffic may still be blocked at the provider level.

Non-Goals ​

KiwiPanel does not:

  • Implement its own firewall engine
  • Automatically close ports without user awareness
  • Modify existing complex firewall rules
  • Attempt to manage advanced firewall scenarios (VPNs, custom routing)

Advanced setups are intentionally left to the administrator.

Visibility & Control ​

All firewall actions performed by KiwiPanel:

  • Are logged
  • Can be reviewed
  • Can be reverted manually
  • Do not prevent direct usage of ufw or firewall-cmd

KiwiPanel assists with safe defaults, not enforcement.

Future Plans ​

Planned improvements include:

  • Firewall status overview in the Web UI
  • Explicit port visibility per service
  • Warnings for exposed or unsafe ports
  • Integration with security audit checks
  • Optional Fail2ban / CrowdSec coordination

Summary ​

KiwiPanel treats the firewall as a first-class system component, not a black box.

The goal is simple:

Secure the server by default, without taking control away from the user.