ufw-audit 1.17.0

UFW firewall audit tool — cross-checks rules against listening services

Lire en français · Technical documentation

🔒 ufw-audit

Smart UFW security audit — fast, readable, actionable.

Analyses your UFW configuration, exposed services and logs to detect real risks, with clear recommendations.

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⚡ TL;DR

sudo apt install pipx && pipx ensurepath
# open a new terminal, then:
pipx install ufw-audit
sudo ~/.local/bin/ufw-audit --install-completion
sudo ufw-audit

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🛠 Installation

Prerequisites

• Linux: Debian, Ubuntu, Mint or derivative
• UFW: sudo apt install ufw
• pipx: sudo apt install pipx && pipx ensurepath

Open a new terminal after pipx ensurepath to activate the PATH.

Install

pipx install ufw-audit

Enable sudo + bash completion

pipx installs the binary in ~/.local/bin/, which is not in sudo's restricted PATH. --install-completion creates the symlink /usr/local/bin/ufw-audit and installs the bash completion script:

sudo ~/.local/bin/ufw-audit --install-completion
source /etc/bash_completion.d/ufw-audit

After this step, sudo ufw-audit works normally.

Update

pipx upgrade ufw-audit

Uninstall

pipx uninstall ufw-audit

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🚀 Why ufw-audit?

• 🔍 Full audit — firewall, services, ports, logs, DDNS, Docker, virtualisation
• 🎯 Smart prioritisation — score + classification (OK / Warning / Action required)
• 🧠 Context-aware — network exposure + service criticality
• 🛠 Optional auto-fix — corrections proposed or applied automatically
• 📊 Clear output — human-readable + scriptable
• 🌍 Bilingual EN/FR

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🔎 What the tool analyses

🔥 Firewall (UFW)

• Active/inactive status
• Dangerous rules (allow from any)
• IPv4 / IPv6 consistency
• Duplicates and errors

🌐 Exposed services (22+)

• SSH, Redis, PostgreSQL, Docker, etc.
• Detection via systemd / active ports
• Real exposure, risk level, UFW consistency

📡 Ports

• Open ports (ss)
• Interfaces (loopback / LAN / public)
• Unintended exposures

📜 UFW logs

• Suspicious attempts, brute-force detection
• IP analysis (optional GeoIP)

☁️ DDNS / Docker / Virtualisation

• Advanced network correlations
• Indirect exposure detection

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📊 Example output

✔ Firewall active
⚠ SSH exposed to the Internet
✖ Redis open without restriction

Score: 6/10
→ Action required

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▶️ Usage

sudo ufw-audit           # standard audit
sudo ufw-audit -f        # interactive fix mode
sudo ufw-audit -f -y     # auto-fix without confirmation
sudo ufw-audit -v        # verbose
sudo ufw-audit -q        # silent — exit code 0/1/2/3
sudo ufw-audit --french  # French interface

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🔌 Custom services (plugin system)

Drop a .json file into ~/.config/ufw-audit/services.d/ to add services that are not in the built-in registry.

mkdir -p ~/.config/ufw-audit/services.d/
# create my-services.json — same format as ufw_audit/data/services.json

Note (pipx / sudo): ufw-audit requires sudo. Under sudo, ~ resolves to /root.
Place your plugin files in /root/.config/ufw-audit/services.d/ for them to be active at runtime.

This will change in a future .deb release, where the system-wide directory /etc/ufw-audit/services.d/ will be used instead.

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🤖 Automation

• 🕒 Built-in cron (--install-cron)
• 📧 Email notifications (HTML + plain text)
• 📁 Report management (--manage-logs)
• 🔁 Multi-job scheduling (--manage-cron)

Email notifications require a working Postfix setup. See AUTOMATION.md for step-by-step configuration instructions.

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🧪 Quality & reliability

• ✅ 2507 unit tests
• 🧱 Modular architecture (snapshot / check separated)
• 🧪 Tested on Debian, Ubuntu, Kali, Mint

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🆕 v1.17.0

• 🔍 CHECK 31 — Linux Audit Framework (auditd) — detects installation, service status, loaded rules, and coverage of sensitive files (/etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/sudoers); WARN −1 pt each for inactive service, no rules, uncovered sensitive files (server profile)
• 🔐 CHECK 32 — Secure Boot — UEFI Secure Boot state via mokutil/efivars/bootctl; WARN −1 pt if disabled on desktop; INFO if disabled on server/VM or unknown BIOS
• 🗂 CHECK 33 — File integrity monitoring (AIDE/Tripwire) — detects installation, database initialisation, and last check date; WARN −1 pt if no database or no recent check (>30 days)
• 🗣 --explain profile variants — 17 keys show 3 dedicated sections (server / desktop / container) with profile-adapted explanations; uniform yellow note for keys that don't differ between profiles
• 🖥 workstation → desktop profile — profile renamed for clarity; workstation alias kept for backward compatibility
• 🏷 cmd_type on findings — findings now distinguish fix from check commands with different prefixes in the summary
• 🐛 IPv6 avahi false alarm fixed — avahi-daemon, systemd-resolve, and similar internal processes no longer trigger UFW rule suggestions
• 📋 Logs journald fallback — Debian 13 without rsyslog automatically reads from journalctl -k
• ⚙️ Hardening sysctl persistence — fix commands now write to /etc/sysctl.d/99-hardening.conf
• 🚀 Trusted Publishing — GitHub Actions OIDC → PyPI; no API token required
• ✅ 2507/2507 unit tests (+215)

v1.16.0

• 🖥 CHECK 19 — Desktop application detection — detects known GUI apps (Steam, Discord, Zoom, Signal…) running as processes; INFO findings, no deduction; section shown only when apps detected
• 🕐 CHECK 28 — NTP time synchronisation — checks systemd-timesyncd/chronyd/ntpd; WARN −1 pt if disabled or not yet synchronised
• 🛡 CHECK 29 — Fail2ban intrusion prevention — dedicated standalone check; WARN −1 pt if service inactive or no jails configured; detects active SSH jail
• 🔍 CHECK 30 — Rootkit & integrity scan — rkhunter/chkrootkit detection; WARN −1 pt for outdated DB, missing scan, or stale scan (>30 days)
• 🎯 --target N exit code 4 — returns exit code 4 when score < target (CI-ready); takes priority over codes 1/2
• 🚨 CLI validation — --explain=, --profile=, --lang=, --webhook=, --target= with empty value now raise a clear error
• 📐 5 thematic group headers — output reorganised into FIREWALL & NETWORK / EXPOSURE & SERVICES / ACCESS CONTROL / SYSTEM HARDENING / DETECTION & HEALTH; thick ━ cyan separator
• ✅ 2292/2292 unit tests (+153)

v1.15.1

• 🔧 Hotfix bash-completion — --explain no longer gets a trailing =; value options (--target=, --log-days=, --profile=) no longer add a space after =

v1.15.0

• 🌐 CHECK 26 — IoT/local source dominance — detects when a single private IP accounts for ≥ 70% of all blocked UFW traffic (typical of LAN-scanning IoT devices)
• 📧 CHECK 27 — SMTP local exposure — detects Postfix/Exim/Sendmail listening on all interfaces (0.0.0.0:25) vs. localhost only; WARN −1 pt when publicly reachable
• 🔧 --fix dry-run by default — --fix previews corrections without executing; --fix --apply to execute interactively; --fix --apply --yes to auto-confirm with audit trail
• 🎯 --target N score cible — shows a target line in the summary box: green ✔ when reached, yellow ▲ with gap when not
• 🎛 --explain TUI — clamped navigation (no wrap), in-curses detail screen (ESC to return), ESC/q behavior corrected, group headers restored on scroll-up; 73→77 keys
• ❌ Cancel at any wizard step — q exits cleanly in --install-cron, --manage-cron, --manage-logs
• ✅ 2139/2139 unit tests (+93)

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🧠 Philosophy

Not just listing ports — understanding the real risk.

ufw-audit prioritises what matters: real exposure, attack surface, potential impact.

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📁 Project structure

Automated-UFW-audit/
├── README.md / README_FR.md        # project overview (EN/FR)
├── LICENSE
├── pyproject.toml                  # build config (pip/pipx install)
├── DOCUMENTS/
│   ├── README_TECH.md / _FR.md     # complete technical reference
│   ├── README_DEV.md / _FR.md      # developer documentation
│   ├── CHANGELOG_FULL.md / _FR.md  # full version history
│   ├── TESTING.md / _FR.md         # test plan & validated scenarios
│   └── AUTOMATION.md / _FR.md      # cron & automation guide
├── ufw_audit/                      # Python package
│   ├── checks/                     # firewall, services, ports, logs, ddns, docker, virt, ssh
│   ├── data/
│   │   ├── services.json           # 22 built-in service definitions
│   │   ├── profiles/               # built-in audit profiles (server, desktop, container)
│   │   └── ufw-audit.bash-completion
│   │   # ~/.config/ufw-audit/services.d/  ← user plugin directory (sudo: /root/...)
│   │   # ~/.config/ufw-audit/profiles/    ← user-defined audit profiles
│   └── locales/
│       ├── en.json
│       └── fr.json
└── tests/                          # 2507 unit tests

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📄 License

MIT — © 2026 Cédric Clauzel

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🤝 Contributing

Bug reports, new detections, UX improvements — contributions welcome.