📖 ~1 min read
Table of contents
Symptom & Impact
Firewall policy resets after reboot, exposing services unexpectedly or breaking intended traffic controls.
Environment & Reproduction
Debian 13 host with runtime nft rules loaded manually but not persisted via configuration files.
Root Cause Analysis
Rules exist in kernel state only and are not loaded by nftables.service from /etc/nftables.conf at boot.
Quick Triage
Confirm service enablement and inspect active vs saved ruleset differences.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis
Compare nft list ruleset output with on-disk policy and boot-time service logs.
Solution – Primary Fix
Persist rules to /etc/nftables.conf, enable nftables.service, and validate rule load on reboot.
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Solution – Alternative Approaches
Manage policy with configuration management templates and controlled staged rollouts.
Verification & Acceptance Criteria
Post-reboot ruleset matches intended policy and all mandatory chains/counters are present.
Rollback Plan
Restore previous firewall config file and restart nftables to revert to known-good behavior.
Prevention & Hardening
Use CI checks on firewall files and boot validation probes for policy persistence.
Related Errors & Cross-Refs
Related issues include iptables-nft compatibility confusion and missing default deny chains.
Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for Debian 13.
View all Debian 13 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →
Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.
References & Further Reading
Debian nftables service documentation and migration notes from legacy iptables setups.
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