Debian 11 firewalld+nftables rules not taking effect

Update: after commenting out the line in /etc/hosts that is kinda like

#127.0.1.1  my-host.domain.edu  my-host

and rebooting, the firewall does open the expected ports. I thought to do this because, during testing with the firewall down, binding to host '' was able to accept connections, but binding to the host my-host did not (because that was only binding to 127.0.1.1, not my external address).

I do not understand why this should change how firewalld acts, especially when I had specified which interface the rules should apply to.

Original post:

I have a Debian 11 server (not running NetworkManager) that I am attempting to open ports on using firewalld, using the same commands I have used successfully on other machines, and running them with and without --permanent. I can see these rules in nft list ruleset. But I cannot access the servers on this machine; VNC Viewer says "The connection was refused by the computer", and I get the same result when running a python echo server on port 11000 (so it's not just a VNC problem). I tried explicitly adding the interface to firewalld but that didn't change anything. I have rebooted the machine, that did not change anything. Why are these ports not open?

:~> sudo firewall-cmd --list-all
public (active)
  target: default
  icmp-block-inversion: no
  interfaces: enp4s0f0
  sources: 
  services: dhcpv6-client http https ldap ldaps nfs postgresql rsyncd ssh vnc-server
  ports: 1024-65535/tcp 1024-65535/udp
  protocols: 
  forward: no
  masquerade: no
  forward-ports: 
  source-ports: 
  icmp-blocks: 
  rich rules: 

:~> sudo nft list table inet firewalld
table inet firewalld {
    chain raw_PREROUTING {
        type filter hook prerouting priority raw + 10; policy accept;
        icmpv6 type { nd-router-advert, nd-neighbor-solicit } accept
        meta nfproto ipv6 fib saddr . iif oif missing drop
    }

    chain mangle_PREROUTING {
        type filter hook prerouting priority mangle + 10; policy accept;
        jump mangle_PREROUTING_POLICIES_pre
        jump mangle_PREROUTING_ZONES
        jump mangle_PREROUTING_POLICIES_post
    }

    chain mangle_PREROUTING_POLICIES_pre {
        jump mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6
    }

    chain mangle_PREROUTING_ZONES {
        iifname "enp4s0f0" goto mangle_PRE_public
        goto mangle_PRE_public
    }

    chain mangle_PREROUTING_POLICIES_post {
    }

    chain filter_INPUT {
        type filter hook input priority filter + 10; policy accept;
        ct state { established, related } accept
        ct status dnat accept
        iifname "lo" accept
        jump filter_INPUT_POLICIES_pre
        jump filter_INPUT_ZONES
        jump filter_INPUT_POLICIES_post
        ct state { invalid } drop
        reject with icmpx type admin-prohibited
    }

    chain filter_FORWARD {
        type filter hook forward priority filter + 10; policy accept;
        ct state { established, related } accept
        ct status dnat accept
        iifname "lo" accept
        ip6 daddr { ::/96, ::ffff:0.0.0.0/96, 2002::/24, 2002:a00::/24, 2002:7f00::/24, 2002:a9fe::/32, 2002:ac10::/28, 2002:c0a8::/32, 2002:e000::/19 } reject with icmpv6 type addr-unreachable
        jump filter_FORWARD_POLICIES_pre
        jump filter_FORWARD_IN_ZONES
        jump filter_FORWARD_OUT_ZONES
        jump filter_FORWARD_POLICIES_post
        ct state { invalid } drop
        reject with icmpx type admin-prohibited
    }

    chain filter_OUTPUT {
        type filter hook output priority filter + 10; policy accept;
        oifname "lo" accept
        ip6 daddr { ::/96, ::ffff:0.0.0.0/96, 2002::/24, 2002:a00::/24, 2002:7f00::/24, 2002:a9fe::/32, 2002:ac10::/28, 2002:c0a8::/32, 2002:e000::/19 } reject with icmpv6 type addr-unreachable
        jump filter_OUTPUT_POLICIES_pre
        jump filter_OUTPUT_POLICIES_post
    }

    chain filter_INPUT_POLICIES_pre {
        jump filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6
    }

    chain filter_INPUT_ZONES {
        iifname "enp4s0f0" goto filter_IN_public
        goto filter_IN_public
    }

    chain filter_INPUT_POLICIES_post {
    }

    chain filter_FORWARD_POLICIES_pre {
    }

    chain filter_FORWARD_IN_ZONES {
        iifname "enp4s0f0" goto filter_FWDI_public
        goto filter_FWDI_public
    }

    chain filter_FORWARD_OUT_ZONES {
        oifname "enp4s0f0" goto filter_FWDO_public
        goto filter_FWDO_public
    }

    chain filter_FORWARD_POLICIES_post {
    }

    chain filter_OUTPUT_POLICIES_pre {
    }

    chain filter_OUTPUT_POLICIES_post {
    }

    chain filter_IN_public {
        jump filter_IN_public_pre
        jump filter_IN_public_log
        jump filter_IN_public_deny
        jump filter_IN_public_allow
        jump filter_IN_public_post
        meta l4proto { icmp, ipv6-icmp } accept
    }

    chain filter_IN_public_pre {
    }

    chain filter_IN_public_log {
    }

    chain filter_IN_public_deny {
    }

    chain filter_IN_public_allow {
        tcp dport 22 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        ip6 daddr fe80::/64 udp dport 546 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        tcp dport 80 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        tcp dport 443 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        tcp dport 389 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        tcp dport 636 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        tcp dport 2049 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        tcp dport 5432 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        tcp dport 873 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        udp dport 873 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        tcp dport 5900-5903 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        tcp dport 1024-65535 ct state { new, untracked } accept
        udp dport 1024-65535 ct state { new, untracked } accept
    }

    chain filter_IN_public_post {
    }

    chain filter_FWDO_public {
        jump filter_FWDO_public_pre
        jump filter_FWDO_public_log
        jump filter_FWDO_public_deny
        jump filter_FWDO_public_allow
        jump filter_FWDO_public_post
    }

    chain filter_FWDO_public_pre {
    }

    chain filter_FWDO_public_log {
    }

    chain filter_FWDO_public_deny {
    }

    chain filter_FWDO_public_allow {
    }

    chain filter_FWDO_public_post {
    }

    chain filter_FWDI_public {
        jump filter_FWDI_public_pre
        jump filter_FWDI_public_log
        jump filter_FWDI_public_deny
        jump filter_FWDI_public_allow
        jump filter_FWDI_public_post
        meta l4proto { icmp, ipv6-icmp } accept
    }

    chain filter_FWDI_public_pre {
    }

    chain filter_FWDI_public_log {
    }

    chain filter_FWDI_public_deny {
    }

    chain filter_FWDI_public_allow {
    }

    chain filter_FWDI_public_post {
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_public {
        jump mangle_PRE_public_pre
        jump mangle_PRE_public_log
        jump mangle_PRE_public_deny
        jump mangle_PRE_public_allow
        jump mangle_PRE_public_post
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_public_pre {
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_public_log {
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_public_deny {
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_public_allow {
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_public_post {
    }

    chain filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6 {
        jump filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6_pre
        jump filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6_log
        jump filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6_deny
        jump filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6_allow
        jump filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6_post
    }

    chain filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6_pre {
    }

    chain filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6_log {
    }

    chain filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6_deny {
    }

    chain filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6_allow {
        icmpv6 type nd-neighbor-advert accept
        icmpv6 type nd-neighbor-solicit accept
        icmpv6 type nd-router-advert accept
        icmpv6 type nd-redirect accept
    }

    chain filter_IN_policy_allow-host-ipv6_post {
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6 {
        jump mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6_pre
        jump mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6_log
        jump mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6_deny
        jump mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6_allow
        jump mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6_post
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6_pre {
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6_log {
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6_deny {
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6_allow {
    }

    chain mangle_PRE_policy_allow-host-ipv6_post {
    }
}

Commenting out the following line from /etc/hosts and then rebooting with firewalld enabled resulted in the firewalld opening ports as expected.

#127.0.1.1 my-host.domain.edu my-host

I am surprised that this affected the firewall settings, especially when I had set the appropriate interface for zone public and do not understand why this fixed it. But the firewall now works as expected.