Joseph Herlant
version 1.0.0, 2014-07-08 : Initial version

On RHEL, the tcp_wrappers is the package that provides TCP wrappers capability.

Important
TCP wrappers looks first in /etc/hosts.allow then in /etc/hosts.deny. If not found in either, it allows the access.

/etc/hosts.(allow|deny) files format is: daemon_list : client_list.

The client_list field could be either a hostname or an IP, or one of the following:

  • ALL → For all networks

  • LOCAL → For the local network

  • EXCEPT → To exclude a particular user or client

  • KNOWN → All hosts that can be resolved by the system

  • UNKNOWN → All hosts that can’t be resolved by the system

  • PARANOID → Case when the forward and reverse lookup IP address don’t match

Example: sshd : 192.168.1. EXCEPT 192.168.1.30

TCP wrappers usually log into /var/log/secure.