FTD How To Enable TCP State Bypass Conf
FTD How To Enable TCP State Bypass Conf
Introduction
This document describes how to implement Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) State Bypass
feature on Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) appliances via Firepower Management Center (FMC)
using FlexConfig Policy in versions previous to 6.3.0.
Prerequisites
Requirements
Components Used
The information in this document is based on these software and hardware versions:
Background Information
TCP State Bypass is a feature inherited from the Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and provides
assistance when troubleshooting traffic that could be dropped by either TCP normalization
features, asymmetric routing conditions, and certain Application Inspections.
This feature is natively supported on FMC starting version 6.3.0. It is recommended to delete the
Flexconfig objects after the upgrade and move this configuration to the FMC prior to the first
deployment. For more information on how to configure TCP State Bypass in version 6.3.0 or later,
go to this configuration guide.
Firepower Threat Defense uses ASA configuration commands to implement some features, but
not all features. There is no unique set of Firepower Threat Defense configuration commands.
Instead, the point of FlexConfig is to allow you to configure features that are not yet directly
supported through Firepower Management Center policies and settings.
Note: TCP State Bypass should only be used for troubleshooting purposes or when
asymmetric routing cannot be resolved. The use of this feature disables multiple security
features and can cause high number of connections if it is not properly implemented.
In order to know more about TCP State Bypass feature or its implementation in ASA, refer to
Configure the TCP State Bypass Feature on the ASA 5500 Series and the Cisco ASA 5500 Series
Configuration Guide.
Configuration
This section describes how to configure TCP State Bypass on FMC through a FlexConfig Policy.
In order to create an Extended Access List on FMC, go to Objects >Object Management and on
the left menu, under Access List select Extended. ClickAdd Extended Access List.
Fill the Name field with the desired value. in this example, the name is TCP_Bypass.
Click Add button.
The action for this rule must be configured as Allow. A system defined network can be used or a
new network object can be created for each source and destination. In this example, the Access
List matches IP traffic from Host1 to Host2 as this is the communication to apply TCP State
Bypass. Port tab can optionally be used to match a specific TCP or UDP port. Click on the
Add button to continue.
Once the source and destination networks or hosts are selected, click on Save.
Step 2. Configure a FlexConfig Object
Navigate to Objects > Object Management > FlexConfig > FlexConfig Object and click on Add
FlexConfig Object button.
The name of the object for this example is called TCP_Bypass just as the Access List. This name
doesn't need to match the Access List name.
Select the Access List created in Step 1 from the Available Objects section and assign a Variable
Name. Then, click on Add button. In this example, the Variable Name is TCP_Bypass.
Click on Save.
Add the next configuration lines in the blank field right below the Insert button and include the
variable previously defined ($TCP_Bypass) in the match access-list configuration line. Note that
a $ symbol is prepended to the variable name. This helps define that a variable follows after it.
class-map tcp_bypass
match access-list $TCP_Bypass
policy-map tcp_bypass_policy
class tcp_bypass
set connection advanced-options tcp-state-bypass
service-policy tcp_bypass_policy interface outside
In this example, a policy-map is created and it is applied to the outside interface. If TCP State
Bypass requires to be configured as part of the global service policy, the tcp_bypass class map
can be applied to global_policy.
Go to Devices > FlexConfig and create a new policy (unless there is already one created for
another purpose and assigned to the same FTD).In this example, the new FelxConfig policy is
called TCP_Bypass.
Troubleshoot
To troubleshoot this feature, these commands result in helpful.
- show service-policy
Shows service policy statistics, including Dead Connection Detection (DCD) statistics
Related Links
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/asa/asa91/configuration/firewall/asa_91_firewall_c
onfig/conns_connlimits.html
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/security/asa-5500-x-series-next-generation-
firewalls/118995-configure-asa-00.html
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/firepower/620/configuration/guide/fpmc-config-
guide-v62/flexconfig_policies.html