REJECT target faster for remote than for local packets?

[Nils Rennebarth <nils.rennebarth@funkwerk-ec.com>]

Hi,

A simple firwall rule
  iptables -I OUTPUT --protocol tcp --dport 80 -j REJECT
prevents local processes from making TCP connections to port 80,
and those who try will get a -ECONNREFUSED. Good.

But why do they get the error only after a few seconds? A tcpdump
shows that ICMP Packets are generated on the loopback interface:

When doing
  wget http://host:80/
exactly two ICMP packets show up on lo:
  15:45:11.850785 IP 10.10.10.144 > 10.10.10.144: ICMP 10.10.10.31 tcp port 80 unreachable, length 68
  15:45:14.849298 IP 10.10.10.144 > 10.10.10.144: ICMP 10.10.10.31 tcp port 80 unreachable, length 68
But only the second one has an effect:

Connecting to host|10.10.10.31|:80... failed: Connection refused

My question is: 
 1) why?
 2) is there another way to make connections to a certain set of hosts fail fast
    and without delay, without changing the applications itself.

-- 

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / with kind regards

Nils Rennebarth, Software Developer

--
Funkwerk IP-Appliances GmbH
Mönchhaldenstraße 28
D-70191 Stuttgart

Tel: +49 711 900300 - 0
Fax: +49 711 900300 - 90

E-Mail: Nils.Rennebarth@funkwerk-ec.com

Location: GmbH Nuernberg, Local Court Nuernberg, HRB 25481
Managing Directors: Torsten Urban
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