In Redhat EL 6, iptables INPUT policy is ACCEPT but INPUT chain has REJECT entry in the end. /etc/syconfig/iptables is as below: *filter :INPUT ACCEPT [0:0] :FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0] :OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0] -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited -A FORWARD -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited COMMIT Do you know why the policy is ACCEPT not DROP? I think setting DROP policy is safer than ACCEPT in case to make mistake in the chain. Actually the policy is not applied to any packet: # iptables -L -v Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)