Endpoint Protection default firewall rules for Mac may not include some common macOS services

Products

Endpoint Protection

Issue/Introduction

Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) for Mac includes new firewall functionality, and default firewall rules may not include some common macOS services.

Environment

macOS

SEP 14.2

Cause

The firewall feature in SEP for Mac is new and under development. As this feature matures it will include more complete default firewall rules for common macOS network services. In the meantime, the default rule list may need editing.

Resolution

The following are suggested edits to SEP Firewall policy in Mac Settings (there are separate Windows Settings in firewall policy - these edits do not apply there).

Add these rules to Mac Settings rules, just above "Block broadcast and multicast traffic and don't log" rule:

Rule Name	Action	Host	Service
Allow AirPlay (Screen Mirroring, et al)	Allow	Any	TCP:[Destination=7000,49152-65535] UDP:[Destination=5353,49152-65535]
Allow Printing	Allow	Any	TCP:[Destination=631] UDP:Destination=161]
Allow AirDrop	Allow	Any	TCP [Destination* Port: 8770] Both directions.
Allow Airport	Allow	Any	UDP [Destination* Port: 192] Both directions
Allow Kerberos	Allow	Any	TCP & UDP [Remote Port: 88] Both directions
Allow outgoing DLP	Allow	Any	TCP [Remote Port: 10443] Outgoing
Allow outgoing RDP	Alow	Any	TCP [Remote Port: 3283] Outgoing
Allow outgoing JAMF	Allow	Remote IP	TCP [Remote Port: 8443] Outgoing
Allow LDAP	Allow	Any	TCP [Remote Port 389] Both directions TCP [Remote Port 3268] Outgoing
Allow Link-local Ephemeral TCP (Universal Control, other services?)	Allow	Local AND Remote host in Link-local network range (169.254.0.0/16 or fe80::/10)	Local AND Remote TCP Ephemeral Port [49152-65535]

*Using "destination port" will allow outgoing and incoming connections. If you want to allow outgoing connections only, use "remote port". To allow incoming connections only, use "local port"

Edit these existing rules in Mac Settings rules - changes in red:

Allow web traffic	Allow	Any	TCP & UDP [Remote Port: 80, 443] Outgoing - remove UDP
Allow Local File Sharing to private IP addresses	Allow	Any	Add - UDP [Remote Port: 138] Outgoing

For allowing other applications, for example Perforce which uses TCP port 1666, explicitly add a rule like below

Allow Perforce

Allow

Any

TCP [Remote Port: 1666] Outgoing

References

TCP and UDP ports used by Apple software products and other 3d party tech support pages may not be clear on port requirements. In these cases, a useful technique to isolate the necessary protocols and ports is to create an "allow" rule at top of SEP Mac firewall rules for the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses of the desired resource (i.e. an Apple TV, printer, etc). Use "ping hostname" and "ping6 hostname" commands to get these addresses. (you may need append ".local" to hostnames for local networking). Set this rule to write to traffic log and create an "Allow All" rule just below it that does not write to log. Then connect to the resource and note the destination ports and protocol (UDP/TCP) used in SEP client logging. Create a second more refined firewall rule above the first one and allow all hosts but only the destination ports seen in client logging. Leave logging disabled on this new rule, and continue testing and note any new ports/protocols that are still logged by the "Allow IP address" rule and continue refining the top rule. If you see what appears to be random non-ephemeral port usage, e.g. 9616/9623/9286, then allow a range like 9000-10000. Destination port 49152 or higher in logging generally indicates the application is using a random selection in the ephemeral range and you should allow 49152-65535.