Apache server on Macos Monterey not accepting external public IP connections... why?

theptr104

1/6/24, 10:12 PM

I am using MacOS Monterey 12.4 and have configured an Apache 2.4 server with virtual hosts that listen to all interfaces (0.0.0.0:80) on my host. I have tested my private ip (192.168.1.2), external-facing ip, as well as localhost on chrome and my webpage shows up as expected.

However, when I asked my colleague to enter my public IP address on a web browser to load up Apache's webpage, he sees the "[mypublicip] took too long to respond." message. Here's what I have done to diagnose this issue so far:

Enabled Port Forwarding on my ISP's router (80 -> 80) with TCP enabled
Temporarily disabled firewall
Temporarily disabled Antivirus software
Verify that Port Forwarding works by capturing the traffic sent by my colleague with Wireshark. I see his public IP attempting to establish a TCP connection ([SYN]) with my private IP, 192.168.1.2 on port 80. My host never responds to the connection which leads to many [TCP Retransmission] [TCP Port numbers reused] on his end.
Checked that port 80 is enabled with nmap localhost

I am not sure why the complete TCP connection isn't established after doing all the steps above and am currently baffled. In particular, why is my host not responding to the TCP [SYN] message? Any help is greatly appreciated.

375

1 + 2

nat

port-forwarding

mac-osx

wireshark

apache-2.4

larsks

1/6/24, 10:46 PM

You've tagged this question with `wireshark`. Have you used `wireshark` to verify whether or not the request is making it to your Apache server?

theptr104

1/6/24, 10:58 PM

@larsks When I entered my router's public IP in chrome, I get directed to the Apache webpage and is able to capture the complete TCP connection as well as the HTTP responses. When my colleague, who's in a remote network, typed my public IP, I am only able to see what was described in step 4 above. I don't see any HTTP responses from Apache via Wireshark.

Score:0

Server

theptr104

1/9/24, 3:33 AM

Seems like there is an issue with MacOS's firewall, even after I updated to Ventura. The firewall needs to be turned off and I must restart my Mac in order for the firewall changes to take effect. That's the only way I am able to access my site.

+ 0

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