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Paranoid Penguin - Application Proxying with Zorp, Part I

Issue 119

From Issue #119
March 2004

Mar 01, 2004  By Mick Bauer
 in
An application-level proxy blocks the widest possible range of network attacks but is more complex than a packet filter. Is the trade-off worth it?
Getting and Installing Zorp

The proxy dæmons that comprise Zorp run on top of the Linux kernel concurrently with the standard Netfilter and Balabit-provided TPROXY kernel modules. In theory, this makes Zorp distribution-agnostic, and it's designed to compile cleanly on any Linux distribution that meets certain requirements (see below). Zorp is developed on Debian Linux, however, and the vast majority of Zorp documentation assumes that you're running Debian too. In fact, Zorp GPL is an official Debian package (as of this writing, in Debian's testing and unstable releases).

Zorp is available in three versions: Zorp GPL, the free GPLed version; Zorp Unofficial, a cutting-edge or beta version of Zorp GPL; and Zorp Professional (or simply Zorp Pro), a commercial product based on but with more features than Zorp GPL. If you purchase Zorp Pro, you get a bootable CD-ROM that installs not only Zorp Pro but ZorpOS, a stripped-down Debian distribution optimized for Zorp. With Zorp Pro, a bare-metal Zorp installation takes less than 15 minutes, excluding subsequent configuration, of course. Anyone who's suffered through lengthy dselect sessions while trying to install just enough Debian for one's needs can appreciate the beauty of this.

Zorp Pro also includes the new Zorp Management Server (ZMS), which allows you to manage multiple Zorp firewalls from a central management host. The host in turn can be operated remotely with ZMC, a GUI client available in both Debian Linux and Windows versions. ZMS is functionally equivalent to Check Point Firewall-1's management module, arguably the biggest reason Check Point has conquered the enterprise firewall world. ZMS has the potential to make Zorp very attractive indeed to sites with a lot of firewalls to manage.

ZMS/ZMC is still a little rough around the edges—Balabit isn't expecting to release a consumer-installable version of that part of Zorp Pro in March 2004 (though at the time of this writing it is being used, successfully, by paying customers). Even if you don't use ZMS/ZMC, Zorp Pro's smooth installation and wide range of features, including several application proxies not supported in Zorp GPL, make Zorp Professional worthwhile.

Unlike Zorp Pro, Zorp GPL and Zorp Unofficial require a working Linux installation that includes the following: glib 2.0, Python 2.1, libcap 1.10 and openssl 0.9.6g. It also requires either a Linux 2.2 kernel compiled with IP, firewalling and transparent proxy support or a Linux 2.4 kernel compiled with iptables, iptables connection tracking, iptables NAT and, using Balabit's TPROXY kernel patch (www.balabit.com/products/oss/tproxy), iptables transparent proxying. All of these features should be compiled as modules.

Once your OS is ready, you either can install Zorp GPL from binary deb packages or compile Zorp GPL from source code (available at www.balabit.com/downloads). Compiling Zorp GPL is a little more involved than your typical ./configure make make install routine; see the Zorp GPL Tutorial at www.balabit.com/products/zorp_gpl/tutorial for detailed instructions.

Next time, I'll describe how to set up Zorp GPL to protect a typical Internet—DMZ—Trusted Network topology.

Mick Bauer, CISSP, is Linux Journal's security editor and an IS security consultant in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He's the author of Building Secure Servers With Linux (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002).

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