ConfigServer Security & Firewall

ConfigServer Security & Firewall (csf)

A Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall, Login/Intrusion Detection and Security application for Linux servers.

	Supported and Tested Operating Systems
	*RedHat v7.3, v8.0, v9.0	openSUSE v10
	*RedHat Enterprise v3, v4, v5 (32/64 bit)	Debian v3.1 (sarge)
	*CentOS v3, v4, v5 (32/64 bit)	Unbuntu v6.06 LTS
	*Fedora Core v1, v2, v3, v4, v5, v6, v7, v8 (32/64 bit)

(requires the LWP perl module (libwww-perl) to be installed)

csf+lfd works on all Linux servers on the Operating Systems listed above, with or without cPanel

This suite of scripts provides:

Straight-forward SPI iptables firewall script
Daemon process that checks for login authentication failures for:
- courier imap and pop3
- ssh
- cpanel / whm / webmail (cPanel servers only)
- pure-pftd
- password protected web pages (htpasswd)
- mod_security failures
- suhosin failures
POP3/IMAP login tracking to enforce logins per hour
SSH login notification
SU login notification
Excessive connection blocking
WHM configuration interface (cPanel servers only) or through Webmin
WHM iptables report log (cPanel servers only)
Easy upgrade between versions from within WHM (cPanel servers only) or through Webmin
Easy upgrade between versions from shell
A standard Webmin Module to configure csf is included in the distribution ready to install into Webmin - csfwebmin.tgz
Pre-configured to work on a cPanel server with all the standard cPanel ports open (cPanel servers only)
Auto-configures the SSH port if it's non-standard on installation
Block traffic on unused server IP addresses - helps reduce the risk to your server
Alert when end-user scripts sending excessive emails per hour - for identifying spamming scripts
Suspicious process reporting - reports potential exploits running on the server
Excessive user processes reporting
Excessive user process usage reporting and optional termination
Suspicious file reporting - reports potential exploit files in /tmp and similar directories
Directory and file watching - reports if a watched directory or a file changes
Block traffic on the DShield Block List and the Spamhaus DROP List
BOGON packet protection
Pre-configured settings for Low, Medium or High firewall security (cPanel servers only)
Works with multiple ethernet devices
Server Security Check - Performs a basic security and settings check on the server (cPanel servers only)
Allow Dynamic DNS IP addresses - always allow your IP address even if it changes whenever you connect to the internet
Alert sent if server load average remains high for a specified length of time
mod_security log reporting (if installed)
Email relay tracking - tracks all email sent through the server and issues alerts for excessive usage (cPanel servers only)
IDS (Intrusion Detection System) - the last line of detection alerts you to changes to system and application binaries
SYN Flood protection
Ping of death protection
Port Scan Tracking and blocking
Permanent and Temporary (with TTL) IP blocking
Exploit checks

The reason we have developed this suite is that we have found over the years of providing server services that many of the tools available for the task are either over-complex, not user friendly, or simply aren't as effective as they could be.

ConfigServer Firewall (csf)

We have developed an SPI iptables firewall that is comprehensive, straight-forward, easy and flexible to configure

Download

The latest version of csf can be downloaded here: csf.tgz

To complement the ConfigServer Firewall (csf), we have developed a Login Failure Daemon (lfd) process that runs all the time and periodically (every X seconds) scans the latest log file entries for login attempts against your server that continually fail within a short period of time. Such attempts are often called "Brute-force attacks" and the daemon process responds very quickly to such patterns and blocks offending IP's quickly. Other similar products run every x minutes via cron and as such often miss break-in attempts until after they've finished, our daemon eliminates such long waits and makes it much more effective at performing its task.

Login tracking is an extension of lfd, it keeps track of POP3 and IMAP logins and limits them to X connections per hour per account per IP address.

WHM Configuration Interface (cPanel servers only)

To help with the ease and flexibility of the suite we have developed a front-end to both csf and lfd which is accessible by the root account through WHM. From there you can modify the configuration files and stop, start and restart the applications and check their status. This makes configuring and managing the firewall very simple indeed.

Screenshots

Webmin Configuration Interface

To help with the ease and flexibility of the suite we have developed a front-end to both csf and lfd which is a standard Webmin Module. From there you can modify the configuration files and stop, start and restart the applications and check their status. This makes configuring and managing the firewall very simple indeed.

Screenshots

Support

Please visit our ConfigServer Scripts Forum

Licensing

This application is released under our script license. It is released free of charge, with no warranty to its suitability. There is no support provided with this application, though paid for support may be offered if you contact us beforehand.

While we are happy to provide these scripts for free, we are a small outfit that runs on a slim margin. If you do decide to use them, we'd be eternally grateful for any donation you think might express your gratitude so that we can continue to develop and provide them:

(You are free to cancel at any time)

That's it. If you don't feel confident doing any of this yourself, or if you get into a horrible mess, we do have cPanel Server Services that include the installation and configuration of this firewall.

Documentation