A network controller in a communication device may be operable to provide pass-through communication of local host-management traffic between a local host and a management controller within the communication device, wherein the local host may be operable to utilize its network processing resources during communication of the local host-management traffic. The network controller may use packet filtering to provide the pass-through communication, wherein the network controller may utilize a plurality filtering rules during filtering of packets received in the network controller. The filtering rules may specify packet processing and/or forwarding actions by said network controller based on one or more specified conditions. The specified conditions may based on one or more match criteria; wherein the match criteria comprising source address, destination address, and/or traffic type data in the received packets. Address learning mechanisms may be used in the network controller to enable configuring and/or performing packet filtering transparently.