Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 10:55:21 -0600 From: James <mailinglists@telus.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Does a web server need ipfw? Message-ID: <20021022165521.GC148@work.ab.hsia.telus.net> In-Reply-To: <200210221211.52532.jrhoden@unimelb.edu.au>; from jrhoden@unimelb.edu.au on Mon, Oct 21, 2002 at 20:11:52 -0600 References: <20021021174350.GC213@work.ab.hsia.telus.net> <200210221211.52532.jrhoden@unimelb.edu.au>
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On 2002.10.21 20:11 Jacob Rhoden wrote: > On Tue, 22 Oct 2002 03:43, James wrote: > > I'm just wondering if most web servers don't run a firewall? We've > > setup a FreeBSD web server without ipfw running, and I don't really > see > > any reason to run ipfw since the only services I have running are > httpd > > and sshd. We have also attempted to secure the machine in the other > > typical ways. > > As others have said, you dont really need to, but it is a good idea, > and does > add an extra layer of protection. One example of this would be, if you > web > server is compromised, and the user gets access as 'httpd' but not as > root. > Having a firewall will prevent them malicious activity, such as using > your > machine to launch a DOS attack against another machine, and prevent > them > running a daemon that allows them to connect to your machine on > another port. > > So you dont need a firewall, but it does make your machine alot more > safe if > you do. > > The other option, is you can set the kernel secure level so that users > cannot > modify the kernel or the firewall rules to get around your security, > without > having local access to the machine. > I appreciate all the input! I think I will be putting up ipfw afterall! I see now that the benefits far outweigh the small amount of time it takes to setup ipfw. I imagine there wouldn't be any noticeable effects to performance either. James To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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