There is another important thing to know. When running IP over Ethernet, there are actually two Ethernet protocols in use: one is IP, the other is
<acronym>ARP
</acronym>.
<acronym>ARP
</acronym> does the conversion of the IP address of a host into its Ethernet address (
<acronym>MAC
</acronym> layer). In order to allow the communication between two hosts separated by the bridge, it is necessary that the bridge will forward
<acronym>ARP
</acronym> packets. Such protocol is not included in the IP layer, since it exists only with IP over Ethernet. The FreeBSD firewall filters exclusively on the IP layer and therefore all non-IP packets (
<acronym>ARP
</acronym> included) will be forwarded without being filtered, even if the firewall is configured to not permit anything.