netbirdio/netbird · error

invalid direction, skipping firewall rule

Error message

invalid direction, skipping firewall rule

What it means

Error "invalid direction, skipping firewall rule" thrown in netbirdio/netbird.

Source

Thrown at client/internal/acl/manager.go:327

	}

	ruleID := d.getPeerRuleID(ip, protocol, int(r.Direction), port, action)
	if rulesPair, ok := d.peerRulesPairs[ruleID]; ok {
		return ruleID, rulesPair, nil
	}

	var rules []firewall.Rule
	switch r.Direction {
	case mgmProto.RuleDirection_IN:
		rules, err = d.addInRules(r.PolicyID, ip, protocol, port, action, ipsetName)
	case mgmProto.RuleDirection_OUT:
		if d.firewall.IsStateful() {
			return "", nil, nil
		}
		// return traffic for outbound connections if firewall is stateless
		rules, err = d.addOutRules(r.PolicyID, ip, protocol, port, action, ipsetName)
	default:
		return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid direction, skipping firewall rule")
	}

	if err != nil {
		return "", nil, err
	}

	return ruleID, rules, nil
}

func portInfoEmpty(portInfo *mgmProto.PortInfo) bool {
	if portInfo == nil {
		return true
	}

	switch portInfo.GetPortSelection().(type) {
	case *mgmProto.PortInfo_Port:
		return portInfo.GetPort() == 0
	case *mgmProto.PortInfo_Range_:

View on GitHub (pinned to 93e97f4bf1)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at client/internal/acl/manager.go:327 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of netbirdio/netbird@93e97f4bf1 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/49e73ba468fa9eb3. Report an issue: GitHub.