Abstract: In general, techniques are described for creating a flexible services-based pipeline for firewall filter processing. A network device may be configured to perform the techniques. In one example, a method includes receiving, by a network device, data defining a plurality of firewall filter processing services, the data defining an order in which to apply services of the plurality of firewall filter processing services to firewall filters; configuring, by the network device and based on the received data, an execution engine pipeline to include the plurality of firewall filter processing services in the defined order; prior to programming a received firewall filter to hardware of the network device for filtering network traffic, processing the firewall filter by the execution engine pipeline to produce a processed firewall filter; and programming, by the network device, the processed firewall filter to the hardware for filtering the network traffic.