Auditd & Firewalld are disabled on WSL2
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Description
### Windows Version
Microsoft Windows [version 10.0.22631.5335]
### WSL Version
2.4.13.0
### Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?
- [x] WSL 2
- [ ] WSL 1
### Kernel Version
5.15.167.4-1
### Distro Version
AlmaLinux release 9.6 (Sage Margay)
### Other Software
auditctl (auditd) version 3.1.5
firewalld
### Repro Steps
auditd :
I run the command "systemctl start auditd" and "systemctl status auditd" .
firewalld :
I run the command "systemctl start firewalld " and "systemctl status firewalld " .
### Expected Behavior
I'm expected to see in the service information "Active : active".
### Actual Behavior
Auditd :
× auditd.service - Security Auditing Service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/auditd.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2025-06-03 13:14:21 CEST; 3min 59s ago
Docs: man:auditd(8)
https://github.com/linux-audit/audit-documentation
Process: 230 ExecStart=/sbin/auditd (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 systemd[1]: auditd.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 systemd[1]: Stopped Security Auditing Service.
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 systemd[1]: auditd.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 systemd[1]: auditd.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 systemd[1]: Failed to start Security Auditing Service.
Firewalld :
○ firewalld.service - firewalld - dynamic firewall daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/firewalld.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead) since Tue 2025-06-03 13:18:33 CEST; 8min ago
Duration: 1.242s
Docs: man:firewalld(1)
Main PID: 656 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Jun 03 13:18:32 LAPTOP-K2INL896 systemd[1]: Started firewalld - dynamic firewall daemon.
Jun 03 13:18:33 LAPTOP-K2INL896 firewalld[656]: ERROR: '/usr/sbin/ebtables-restore --noflush' failed: ebtables-restore v1.8.10 (nf_tables):
line 2: TABLE_ADD failed (Operation not supported): table broute
line 2: CHAIN_USER_ADD failed (No such file or directory): chain BROUTING_direct
line 3: TABLE_ADD failed (Operation not supported): table broute
line 3: CHAIN_ADD failed (No such file or directory): chain BROUTING
line 3: RULE_INSERT failed (No such file or directory): rule in chain BROUTING
line 4: TABLE_ADD failed (Operation not supported): table broute
line 4: RULE_INSERT failed (No such file or directory): rule in chain BROUTING_direct
line 4: RULE_APPEND failed (No such file or directory): rule in chain BROUTING_direct
Jun 03 13:18:33 LAPTOP-K2INL896 firewalld[656]: ERROR: Failed to load user configuration. Falling back to full stock configuration.
Jun 03 13:18:33 LAPTOP-K2INL896 firewalld[656]: ERROR: 'python-nftables' failed: internal:0:0-0: Error: Could not process rule: No such file or directory
JSON blob:
{"nftables": [{"metainfo": {"json_schema_version": 1}}, {"add": {"chain": {"family": "inet", "table": "fire>
Jun 03 13:18:33 LAPTOP-K2INL896 firewalld[656]: ERROR: COMMAND_FAILED: '/usr/sbin/ebtables-restore --noflush' failed: ebtables-restore v1.8.10 (nf_tables):
line 2: TABLE_ADD failed (Operation not supported): table broute
line 2: CHAIN_USER_ADD failed (No such file or directory): chain BROUTING_direct
line 3: TABLE_ADD failed (Operation not supported): table broute
line 3: CHAIN_ADD failed (No such file or directory): chain BROUTING
line 3: RULE_INSERT failed (No such file or directory): rule in chain BROUTING
line 4: TABLE_ADD failed (Operation not supported): table broute
line 4: RULE_INSERT failed (No such file or directory): rule in chain BROUTING_direct
line 4: RULE_APPEND failed (No such file or directory): rule in chain BROUTING_direct
Jun 03 13:18:33 LAPTOP-K2INL896 firewalld[656]: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/firewall/core/fw.py", line 659, in start
self._start()
File "/usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/firewall/core/fw.py", line 623, in _start
self._start_apply_objects(reload=reload, complete_reload=complete_reload)
File "/usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/firewall/core/fw.py", line 541, in _start_apply_objects
transaction.execute(True)
File "/usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/firewall/core/fw_transaction.py", line 161, in execute
raise FirewallError(errors.COMMAND_FAILED, errorMsg)
firewall.errors.FirewallError: COMMAND_FAILED: '/usr/sbin/ebtables-restore --noflush' failed: ebtables-rest>
line 2: TABLE_ADD failed (Operation not supported): table broute
line 2: CHAIN_USER_ADD failed (No such file or directory): chain BROUTING_direct
line 3: TABLE_ADD failed (Operation not supported): table broute
line 3: CHAIN_ADD failed (No such file or directory): chain BROUTING
Journalctl :
audit dispatcher initialized with q_depth=2000 and 1 active plugins
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 auditd[207]: Error sending status request (Operation not permitted)
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 auditd[207]: Error sending enable request (Operation not permitted)
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 auditd[207]: Unable to set initial audit startup state to 'enable', exiting
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 sedispatch[209]: sedispatch is exiting on stop request
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 auditd[207]: The audit daemon is exiting.
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 auditd[207]: Error setting audit daemon pid (Operation not permitted)
Jun 03 13:14:21 LAPTOP-K2INL896 auditd[204]: Cannot daemonize (Success)
Contributor guide
Research direction
Reproduce on WSL 2 with AlmaLinux 9.6 using the reported systemctl start and status commands for auditd and firewalld. Start with the WSL kernel and the journalctl output, then compare the failed audit requests and unsupported ebtables operations; done means both services can start and remain active without these errors.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- linux
- Domain
- networking, operating-systems, security
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100