Modifying IDP Rulebase Rules (NSM Procedure)
This procedure assumes you have used the New Policy wizard to create a basic policy that you can modify.
The primary IDP security policy rulebase is the IDP rulebase. The IDP rulebase enables the IDP process engine to inspect matching traffic for signs of an attack.
For background on and examples of IDP rulebase rules, see the IDP Concepts & Examples Guide.
To modify IDP rulebase rules:
- In the NSM navigation tree, select Configure > Policy Manager > Security Policies.
- Select the security policy you want to edit.
- In the security policy pane, select IDP tab to display the IDP rulebase table.
- To add, delete, copy, or reorder rules, right-click the table cell for the rule number and make your selection.
- To modify the property of a rule, right-click the
table cell for the property and make your selection. Table 1 lists the rule properties you can modify
and provides references documentation for these properties.
Table 1: IDP Rulebase Rule Properties
Following are the updates that you can perform on an IDP rulebase rule:
- Specifying Rule Match Conditions
- Specifying IDP Rulebase Attack Objects
- Specifying Rule Session Action
- Specifying Rule IP Action
- Specifying Rule Notification Options
- Specifying Rule VLAN Matches
- Specifying Rule Targets
- Specifying Rule Severity
- Specifying Rule Optional Fields
- Specifying Rule Comments
Specifying Rule Match Conditions
To specify rule match conditions, right-click the table cell and select your setting.
Table 2 describes match condition columns for IDP rulebase rules.
Table 2: IDP Rulebase Match Condition Settings
Specifying IDP Rulebase Attack Objects
To add attack objects:
- Right-click the table cell for attacks and select Select Attacks.
- In the All Attacks/Groups box, expand Attack Groups.
- To add attack objects recommended by Juniper Networks Security Center (J-Security Center), expand Recommended Attacks, browse groups, and select groups or individual attack objects.
- To add other predefined attack objects, expand All Attacks, browse groups, and select groups or individual attack objects.
- To add attack objects that belong to custom groups, expand the node for the custom group, browse subgroups, and select groups or individual attack objects.
- To add custom attack objects that do not belong to groups, expand Attack List and select from custom attack objects.
- Click OK.
Table 3 describes the attack object group hierarchy for recommended and predefined attack objects provided by J-Security Center.
Table 3: Attack Object Group Hierarchy
Specifying Rule Session Action
Actions are responses to sessions that match the source/destination condition and attack object pattern. Actions protects your network from attacks.
If a packet triggers multiple rule actions, the IDP device takes the most severe action. For example, if the rules dictate that a packet will receive a DiffServ marking and be dropped, and then the packet will be dropped.
To specify a rule action, right-click the table cell and select your setting.
Table 4 describes the actions you can set for IDP rulebase rules.
Table 4: IDP Rulebase Actions
Action |
Description |
|---|---|
Recommended |
Predefined attack objects include a recommended action. The recommended action is related to severity. Table 5 lists the recommended actions by severity. |
None |
IDP inspects for attacks but takes no action against the connection if an attack is found. |
Ignore |
IDP does not inspect for attacks and ignores the connection. |
Diffserv Marking |
IDP assigns the indicated service-differentiation value to the packet, and then passes it on normally. Set the service-differentiation value in the dialog box that appears when you select this action in the rulebase. Note: The marking has no effect in sniffer mode. |
Drop Packet |
IDP drops a matching packet before it can reach its destination but does not close the connection. Use this action to drop packets for attacks in traffic that is prone to spoofing, such as UDP traffic. Dropping a connection for such traffic could result in a DoS that prevents you from receiving traffic from a legitimate source address. |
Drop Connection |
IDP drops the connection without sending an RST packet to the sender, preventing the traffic from reaching its destination. Use this action to drop connections for traffic that is not prone to spoofing. |
Close Client and Server |
IDP closes the connection and sends an RST packet to both the client and the server. If IDP is in sniffer mode, IDP sends an RST packet to both the client and server but does not close the connection. |
Close Client |
IDP closes the connection to the client but not to the server. |
Close Server |
IDP closes the connection to the server but not to the client. |
Table 5 describes the logic applied to the value Recommended, a setting coded in predefined attack objects provided by Juniper Networks Security Center.
Table 5: IDP Rulebase Actions: Recommended Actions by Severity
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Note: Our severity rating is not based on CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System). We do include data from Bugtraq (Symantec) and CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures). |
Specifying Rule IP Action
If the IDP device matches an attack, it can take action not only against the current session but also against future network traffic that uses the same IP address. Such actions are called IP actions. By default, the specified IP action is permanent (timeout = 0). If you prefer, you can set a timeout.
To specify an IP action, right-click the table cell and configure options.
Table 6 describes IDP rulebase IP actions.
Table 6: IDP Rulebase IP Actions
Specifying Rule Notification Options
Notification options determine how events that match the rule are logged.
To specify notification options, right-click the table cell and configure options.
Table 7 describes IDP rulebase notification options.
Table 7: IDP Rulebase Notification Options
Specifying Rule VLAN Matches
If you deploy an IDP device in a virtual local area network (VLAN), you can specify VLAN tags for traffic in IDP rulebase rules.
Normally, rules match source, destination, and service. If your rule specifies a VLAN tag, then the rule must also match the VLAN tag.
To specify that rules match a VLAN tag, right-click the table cell and configure your setting.
Table 8 describes VLAN tag settings.
Table 8: IDP Rulebase VLAN Tag Settings
Specifying Rule Targets
By default, IDP security policy rules can be applied to any IDP device. If you desire, you can specify that the rule applies to only specified IDP devices.
To specify that the rule only applies to specified devices, right-click the table cell and select Select Target to display the Select Targeted Devices dialog box, where you can select the specify devices on which the rule is to be applied.
Specifying Rule Severity
Severity is a rating of the danger posed by the threat the rule is designed to prevent.
To specify a rule severity, right-click the table cell and select a severity.
Table 9 describes rule severity settings.
Table 9: IDP Rulebase Severity
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Note: Our severity rating is not based on CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System). We do include data from Bugtraq (Symantec) and CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures). |
Specifying Rule Optional Fields
Optional fields are user-defined name-value pairs you can configure if you want to be able to sort rules based on these fields. Optional fields do not affect the functionality of the security policy rule.
To specify optional fields, right-click the table cell and select Edit Options to display the Select Policy Custom Options dialog box, where you can configure name-value pairs.
Specifying Rule Comments
Comments are notations about the rule. Comments do not affect the functionality of the security policy rule.
To specify comments, right-click the table cell and select Edit Comments to display the Edit Comments dialog box, where you can enter a comment up to 1024 characters in length.

