Learn how to allow pfSense web GUI from WAN. Our pfSense Support team is here to help you with your questions and concerns.

pfSense Allow web GUI from WAN | Guide

pfSense is a firewall software that helps us monitor and control incoming and outgoing network traffic.

Did you know that allowing access to the pfSense web GUI from the WAN interface can be important in certain situations? However, it poses significant security risks.

Let’s look at the potential benefits:

1. It provides remote access to the pfSense firewall for convenient administration and troubleshooting, especially when the admin is not on the local network.
2. It enables remote monitoring and management of the firewall from anywhere with an internet connection.
3. It allows quick responses to network issues or security threats without needing physical access to the firewall.

Here are the security risks:

1. Exposing the web GUI to the WAN interface increases the attack surface and makes the firewall more vulnerable to unauthorized access, brute-force attacks, and exploits.
2. If the firewall is compromised, an attacker could potentially gain full control over the network and access sensitive data.
3. Allowing WAN access to the web GUI violates the principle of least privilege and goes against best practices for firewall security.

How to enable the pfSense web GUI access from the WAN

We can easily enable the pfSense web GUI access from the WAN. There are two ways to accomplish this:

Create firewall rules

1. First, head to Interfaces and disable the Block private networks and loopback addresses options and click Save.
2. After that, click Add Firewall Rule option under the Rules tab.
3. Next, enter the following Firewall Rule settings:
   • • Action: pass
     • Interface: WAN
     • Address Family: Ipv4
     • Protocol: TCP

   Then set the Source Settings as Any. After that, we have to set the Destination Settings as seen here:

   • Destination: WAN Address
   • Destination port range: HTTP (Or the custom port)

   Now, we must click Save to add the firewall rule.

Disabling packet filter

Our experts would like to point out this is a temporary method.

1. First, open the shell.
2. Then, enter the following command and press enter:

   pfctl -d

   This command disables the packet filter entirely> Hence we get access to the web interface from any interface.

We can enable the packet filter again with this command:

pfctl -e

After the above steps, we will be able to access the pfSense web GUI access from WAN by entering the public IP address or domain name associated with our pfSense firewall in a web browser.

Use a VPN Connection

We can configure a VPN connection to securely access the pfSense web GUI from the WAN. Our Experts recommend this approach as it provides a secure remote management solution.

We can use a VPN to access the pfSense web GUI from the WAN with these steps:

1. To begin with, set up a VPN server on the pfSense firewall. We can use OpenVPN or IPsec for this purpose.
2. Then, configure the VPN server to allow incoming connections from the WAN.
3. Next, install a VPN client that supports the VPN protocol we chose on our device.
4. After that, configure the VPN client to connect to the pfSense VPN server.
5. Once connected to the VPN, we can access the pfSense web GUI by navigating to the pfSense IP address or domain name in our web browser.
6. The VPN connection will encrypt your traffic and make it appear as if we are accessing the web GUI from the VPN server’s location.

But allowing direct access to the web GUI from the WAN interface may pose a security risk. Hence we have to d implement additional security measures, like strong passwords and two-factor authentication, to protect our pfSense firewall.

Important Considerations

1. Allowing direct access to the pfSense web GUI from the WAN interface can pose a security risk. It is recommended to implement additional security measures such as strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and restricting access to specific IP addresses or subnets.
2. The second method of disabling the packet filter is a temporary solution and should only be used for initial setup or troubleshooting purposes. It is not a recommended long-term solution.
3. For the most secure remote administration, it is best to set up a VPN connection to the pfSense firewall.

[Need assistance with a different issue? Our team is available 24/7.]

Conclusion

In summary, our Support Techs demonstrated how to enable the pfSense web GUI access from the WAN.