ip_tables module seems to be enabled but module .ko is missing

[Botspot]

Describe the bug

It seems like although the 6.18 kernel was compiled with CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES=m, the ip_tables kernel module does not exist.

$ sudo modprobe ip_tables
modprobe: FATAL: Module ip_tables not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+
$ modinfo --filename ip_tables
modinfo: ERROR: Module ip_tables not found.
$ file /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.ko.xz
/lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+/kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.ko.xz: cannot open `/lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+/kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.ko.xz' (No such file or directory)
$ zcat /proc/config.gz | grep CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES
CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES=m

6.12 includes the kernel module correctly:

$ file /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.ko.xz
/lib/modules/6.12.47+rpt-rpi-v8/kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.ko.xz: XZ compressed data, checksum CRC32

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

• Upgrade to the 6.18 kernel on Pi OS following these instructions: https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=394580
• Try to install Waydroid using the pi-apps installer https://pi-apps.io/install-app/install-waydroid-on-raspberry-pi/
• Waydroid fails to run with the following error:

  Output from running sudo /usr/lib/waydroid/data/scripts/waydroid-net.sh start:
  vnic is waydroid0
  modprobe: FATAL: Module ip_tables not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+
  iptables v1.8.11 (legacy): can't initialize iptables table `filter': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
  Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.
  Failed to setup waydroid-net.
  modprobe: FATAL: Module ip_tables not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+
  iptables v1.8.11 (legacy): can't initialize iptables table `filter': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
  Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.
  modprobe: FATAL: Module ip_tables not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+
  iptables v1.8.11 (legacy): can't initialize iptables table `filter': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
  Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.
  modprobe: FATAL: Module ip_tables not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+
  iptables v1.8.11 (legacy): can't initialize iptables table `filter': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
  Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.
  modprobe: FATAL: Module ip_tables not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+
  iptables v1.8.11 (legacy): can't initialize iptables table `filter': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
  Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.
  modprobe: FATAL: Module ip_tables not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+
  iptables v1.8.11 (legacy): can't initialize iptables table `filter': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
  Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.
  modprobe: FATAL: Module ip_tables not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+
  iptables v1.8.11 (legacy): can't initialize iptables table `filter': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
  Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.
  modprobe: FATAL: Module ip_tables not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+
  iptables v1.8.11 (legacy): can't initialize iptables table `nat': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
  Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.
  modprobe: FATAL: Module ip_tables not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.6-v8+
  iptables v1.8.11 (legacy): can't initialize iptables table `mangle': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
  Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.
  

Device (s)

Raspberry Pi 4 Mod. B

System

Raspberry Pi reference 2025-12-04
Generated using pi-gen, https://github.com/RPi-Distro/pi-gen, 4997bf4e4e49bc3305eb182a4a08bd023529da04, stage4

Linux pi-trixie 6.18.6-v8+ #1937 SMP PREEMPT Mon Jan 19 11:56:39 GMT 2026 aarch64 GNU/Linux

Logs

No response

Additional context

This seems to be a fairly common issue in the broader linux world:

• Linux Kernel 6.17.0 does not support iptables void-linux/void-packages#57399
  • void-linux made this commit to solve the issue: void-linux/void-packages@480fc23

[pelwell]

ip_tables has been deprecated in favour of nf_tables. CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES enables an ip_tables-like shim over nf_tables. You can read more about it here: https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?p=2360470#p2360470