#14063·tailscale

tailscale package depends iptables causes always use iptables instead nftables on ubuntu

Author: qyl27Created Nov 11, 2024Updated Sep 17, 2026
LabelsOS-linuxneeds-triagebug

What is the issue?

I am running Ubuntu 24.04 on my server. I have used the install script on tailscale.com on it. I found that the tailscale package mark iptables as dependency, I have a nftables configured and running, but after installing tailscale, iptables will replace nftables as my firewall. I think it should not be a proper behavior.

Now:

  • When I checked the firewall rules using nft list ruleset, I saw the rules were replaced by ones from iptables-nft.
  • When I using systemctl status nftables.service, it shows disabled and inactive.

Expected:
tailscale won't introduce the iptables, and use my nftables like what described in https://tailscale.com/kb/1294/firewall-mode

Steps to reproduce

  1. Install Ubuntu 24.04
  2. Config, enable and start nftables
  3. Run the install script on tailscale.com
  4. Reboot

Are there any recent changes that introduced the issue?

No response

OS

Linux

OS version

Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS (GNU/Linux 6.8.0-48-generic x86_64)

Tailscale version

1.76.6

Other software

nftables 1.0.9-1build1 systemd 255.4-1ubuntu8.4

Bug report

N/A