Sinkhole IPv6 Traffic In Mobile Users—GlobalProtect Deployments
Focus
Focus

Sinkhole IPv6 Traffic In Mobile Users—GlobalProtect Deployments

Table of Contents

Sinkhole IPv6 Traffic In Mobile Users—GlobalProtect Deployments

Use policies and other security procedures to sinkhole Prisma Access IPv6 traffic from mobile users.
In a dual stack endpoint that can process both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic, the GlobalProtect app sends mobile user IPv4 traffic to be protected through the GlobalProtect VPN tunnel to Prisma Access. However, mobile user IPv6 traffic is not sent to Prisma Access by default and is sent to the local network adapter on the endpoint instead. To reduce the attack surface for IPv6-based threats, Palo Alto Networks recommends that you configure Prisma Access to sinkhole IPv6 traffic. Because endpoints can automatically fall back to an IPv4 address, you can enable a secure and uninterrupted user experience for mobile user traffic to the internet.
In addition, Palo Alto Networks recommends that you configure GlobalProtect to completely disable network traffic on the local network adapter. If you have a hybrid Prisma Access deployment with on-premises next-generation firewalls configured as GlobalProtect gateways, you can configure IPv6 sinkhole functionality on the on-premises GlobalProtect gateway.

Configure Prisma Access to Sinkhole IPv6 Traffic

You can configure Prisma Access so that it sinkholes all mobile user IPv6 traffic. When you enable this functionality, Prisma Access assigns an IPv6 address to the connecting endpoint in addition to an IPv4 address; then, it routes the IPv6 traffic to Prisma Access and discards it using a built-in security policy, as shown in the following figure.
To configure Prisma Access so that it sinkholes all mobile user IPv6 traffic, complete the following steps.
  1. Open a secure CLI session with admin-level privileges, using the same IP address that you use to log in to the Panorama that manages Prisma Access.
  2. Enter
    configure
    to enter configuration mode.
  3. Enter the
    set plugins cloud_services mobile-users ipv6 yes
    command.
    If you need to disable this command in the future, enter
    set plugins cloud_services mobile-users ipv6 no
    .
  4. Enter
    Commit
    to save your changes locally.
  5. Enter
    exit
    to exit configuration mode.
  6. Enter
    commit-all shared-policy include-template yes device-group Mobile_User_Device_Group
    to commit and push your changes and make them active in Prisma Access.

Configure GlobalProtect to Disable Direct Access to the Local Network

To make sure that all mobile user traffic is sent to Prisma Access, you can completely disable outgoing connections, including local subnet traffic, from being sent to the local adapter. You can deactivate all outgoing connections to the local adapter by making configuration changes to the GlobalProtect gateway.
You can perform these steps on Panorama or on an on-premises firewall that has been configured as a GlobalProtect gateway.
Enable the
No direct access to local network
setting to reduce risks in untrusted networks such as rogue Wi-Fi access points.
  1. Select
    Network
    GlobalProtect
    Gateways
    .
  2. Select an existing GlobalProtect gateway or
    Add
    a new one.
  3. Select
    Agent
    Client Settings
    .
  4. Select the
    DEFAULT
    configuration or
    Add
    a new one.
  5. Select
    Split Tunnel
    ; then, select
    No direct access to local network
    .
    Disabling local network access causes all traffic, including IPv4 and IPv6 traffic, from being sent to the local adapter. In addition, you won't be able to access resources on your local subnet, such as printers. Split tunnel traffic based on access route, destination domain, and application still works as expected.
  6. (
    Panorama and Prisma Access deployments only
    ) Commit your changes locally to make them active in Panorama.
    1. Select
      Commit
      Commit to Panorama
      .
    2. Make sure that your change is part of the
      Commit Scope
      .
    3. Click
      OK
      to save your changes to the push scope.
    4. Commit
      your changes.
  7. Commit
    and
    Push
    your changes to make them active in Prisma Access.

Set Up an IPv6 Sinkhole On the On-Premises Gateway

If you have a hybrid deployment that uses next-generation firewalls configured as gateways with Prisma Access, perform the following task on the on-premises gateway to drop the IPv6 traffic.
  1. Add IPv6 IP pools to your GlobalProtect agent configuration.
    1. Select
      Network
      GlobalProtect
      Gateways
      .
    2. Select an existing GlobalProtect gateway or
      Add
      a new one.
    3. Select
      Agent
      Client Settings
      .
    4. Select the agent configuration to modify or
      Add
      a new one.
    5. Select
      IP Pools
      ; then,
      Add
      an IPv6 pool to assign to the virtual network adapter on the endpoints that connect to the GlobalProtect gateway uses for mobile network traffic and click
      OK
      .
  2. Enable IPv6 on the interface.
    1. Select
      Device
      Interface
      Tunnel
      and select the tunnel
      Interface
      that you use for the mobile user’s traffic.
    2. Select
      IPv6
      ; then, select
      Enable IPv6 on the interface
      .
  3. Add a security policy to set a TCP reset action that will terminate sessions with IPv6 source traffic that matches the IP pools you configured in Step 1.
    1. Select
      Policies
      Security
      and
      Add
      a new security policy.
    2. Set the
      Source Address
      in the rule to match the IP pools you configured in Step 1.
    3. Select
      Actions
      ; then, select an
      Action Setting
      of
      Reset Client
      and click
      OK
      .
  4. Commit
    your changes.
  5. (
    Optional
    ) Perform this task on all the gateway firewalls in your deployment.

Recommended For You