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privsec.dev/content/posts/qubes/Firewalling with MirageOS on Qubes OS.md
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---
title: "Firewalling with MirageOS on Qubes OS"
date: 2022-08-26
tags: ['Operating Systems', 'MirageOS', 'Qubes OS', 'Security']
author: Tommy
---
![MirageOS](/images/mirageos.png)
[MirageOS](https://mirage.io/) is a library operating system with which you can create a unikernel for the sole purpose of acting as Qubes OS's firewall. In this post, I will walk you through how to set this up.
## Advantages
- Small attack surface. The unikernel only contains a minimal set of libraries to function, so it has a much smaller attack surface than a general purpose operating system like a Linux distribution or openBSD.
- Low resource consumption. You only need about 64MB of RAM for each instance of the Mirage Firewall.
- Fast startup time.
## Disadvantages
- No official package for Qubes OS. This means that you need to follow the development process on GitHub and download the new build whenever there is a release.
- Does not work well with the Windows PV network driver. With that being said, the Windows PV networking driver is pretty buggy on its own, and I don't recommend that you use it anyways.
## Installing the unikernel
To deploy MirageOS, you need to copy the `vmlinuz` and `initramfs` files from their [releases page](https://github.com/mirage/qubes-mirage-firewall/releases) to `/var/lib/qubes/vm-kernels/mirage-firewall` in `dom0`.
### TemplateVM
Create a TemplateVM:
```bash
qvm-create \
--property kernel=mirage-firewall \
--property kernelopts='' \
--property memory=64 \
--property maxmem=64 \
--property vcpus=1 \
--property virt_mode=pvh \
--label=black \
--class TemplateVM \
your_template_name
```
Don't worry if the TemplateVM doesn't launch --- we don't need it to.
### Disposable Template
Next, create a disposable template based on the TemplateVM you have just created.
```bash
qvm-create \
--property template=your_template_name \
--property provides_network=True \
--property template_for_dispvms=True \
--label=orange \
--class AppVM \
your_disposable_template_name
qvm-features your_disposable_template_name qubes-firewall 1
qvm-features your_disposable_template_name no-default-kernelopts 1
```
Your disposable templates should now launch and shut down properly.
### Disposable FirewallVMs
You can now create disposable FirewallVMs based on your disposable template. I recommend replacing `sys-firewall` with a disposable Mirage firewall. If you use ProxyVMs like `sys-whonix`, I recommend that you add a disposable Mirage Firewall after the ProxyVM as well, and use it as the net qube for your AppVMs.
```bash
qvm-create \
--property template=your_disposable_template_name \
--property provides_network=True \
--property netvm=your_net_qube_name \
--label=orange \
--class DispVM \
your_firwall_name
```