ip_tables does not get included in kernel modules

Question

I am trying to add iptables to my imx6ullevk image but kernel modules do not get included.

Added to build/conf/local.conf;

CORE_IMAGE_EXTRA_INSTALL += " kernel-modules"
IMAGE_INSTALL_append = " iptables "
IMAGE_FSTYPES += "tar.bz2"

After setting new kernel configuration with menuconfig i can see the new configurations in the .config file. I have created a bsp layer with a defconfig using it.

> CONFIG_NETFILTER=y
> CONFIG_NF_TABLES=y
> CONFIG_NETFILTER_XTABLES=y
> CONFIG_NFT_REJECT=y
...

After the build i can't find "net" kernel modules in the image files: /lib/modules/4.9.11.../kernel/net/ folder is empty. So iptables is in the image but ip_tables kernel modules are not. After changing the machine to qemux86 modules get included.

When i test the image on the device i see that iptables is looking for modules under a different kernel version. Just to test if the modules are included in the original version i copy the kernel modules to the required version and test again.

root@imx6ullevk:~# iptables -L
modprobe: can't change directory to '4.9.88+g5e23f9d61147': No such file or directory
iptables v1.8.3 (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.


root@imx6ullevk:/lib/modules# ls -l
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root          1040 Jan  1  1970 4.14.98-imx+g1175b59

#Copy kernel just to see if they are included
root@imx6ullevk:/lib/modules# cp -r 4.14.98-imx+g1175b59 4.9.88+g5e23f9d61147
root@imx6ullevk:/lib/modules# ls -l
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root          1040 Jan  1  1970 4.14.98-imx+g1175b59
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root          1040 Dec  8 13:11 4.9.88+g5e23f9d61147
root@imx6ullevk:/lib/modules# iptables -L
modprobe: module ip_tables not found in modules.dep
iptables v1.8.3 (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.

I am using https://github.com/Freescale/fsl-community-bsp-platform repo for yocto and i have tried zeus, rocko and dunfell branches.

What could be the problem? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.