Iptables to allow incoming FTP
Your ftp server needs a channel to transfer data. Port 21 is used to establish the connection. So to make data transfer possible you'd need to enable port 20 as well. See the following configuraton
First load the following module to make sure passive ftp connections are not rejected
modprobe ip_conntrack_ftp
Allow FTP connections on port 21 incoming and outgoing
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 21 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,NEW -j ACCEPT -m comment --comment "Allow ftp connections on port 21"
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 21 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT -m comment --comment "Allow ftp connections on port 21"
Allow FTP port 20 for active connections incoming and outgoing
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 20 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT -m comment --comment "Allow ftp connections on port 20"
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 20 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT -m comment --comment "Allow ftp connections on port 20"
Finally allow FTP passive inbound traffic
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --sport 1024: --dport 1024: -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT -m comment --comment "Allow passive inbound connections"
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m tcp --sport 1024: --dport 1024: -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT -m comment --comment "Allow passive inbound connections"
For more on FTP and firewall problems see: http://slacksite.com/other/ftp.html#active
Edit: Added NEW to the port 21 input rule.
I saw such extensive rules already in several Blogs etc. and wondered why not simply use
iptables -A INPUT -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 21 -j ACCEPT
together with the nf_conntrack_ftp module. This is more concise and readable, which is generally a good thing, especially with firewalls...
FWIW, it seems that there was a change in kernel 4.7, so that you either need to set net.netfilter.nf_conntrack_helper=1 via sysctl (e.g. put it in /etc/sysctl.d/conntrack.conf) or use
iptables -A PREROUTING -t raw -p tcp --dport 21 -j CT --helper ftp
(see here for more details)
FTP Client:
lsmod | grep ftp
modprobe nf_conntrack_ftp
lsmod | grep ftp
iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --sport 21 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --sport 20 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --sport 1024: --dport 1024: -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 21 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 20 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --sport 1024:65535 --dport 1024:65535 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
FTP SERVER:
lsmod | grep ftp
modprobe nf_conntrack_ftp
lsmod | grep ftp
iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 21 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 20 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --sport 1024: --dport 1024: -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --sport 21 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --sport 20 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp -m tcp --sport 1024:65535 --dport 1024:65535 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
To toggle between passive and active mode on the client side
ftp> passive
Passive mode on.
ftp> passive
Passive mode off.