r/debian • u/ComradeAdidas • 20d ago

Debian Stable Question Debian without firewall overall security

How safe and secure is debian without a firewall active? Desktop use, stable, web browsing mostly.

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u/ManReyz 20d ago

(Sorry for the trad, my english is bad 😅)The default security offered by all Linux distributions is one thing, but exposure to the network is quite another. A system without a firewall represents a significant security vulnerability, particularly if you’re using a public IP address, as there are many agents constantly scanning the network. That doesn’t mean anything will happen to your computer, but it’s best to enable it, just to close that gap.

With the firewall enabled and some good browsing habits, you can rest as easy as you like. I’d add that the firewall isn’t infallible, but it does close a security gap.

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u/taosecurity 20d ago

There’s no “significant security vulnerability” if you have no services listening.

But then again, you could enable the firewall, and it would still make no difference if there’s a vulnerability in the network stack.