Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2019 12:49:54 +0000 (UTC) From: Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org> To: doc-committers@freebsd.org, svn-doc-all@freebsd.org, svn-doc-head@freebsd.org Subject: svn commit: r53425 - head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/firewalls Message-ID: <201909201249.x8KCnspv001839@repo.freebsd.org>
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Author: bcr Date: Fri Sep 20 12:49:54 2019 New Revision: 53425 URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/doc/53425 Log: Add a new chapter about blacklistd to the firewalls chapter. The most common use case for blacklistd is to add excessive SSH login attempts to the list of hosts to be blocked. The user can define when that should happen and how long the IPs should be listed there. The chapter describes the syntax and how to set it up. The examples use PF, but it is possible to use other firewalls with blacklistd as well. Reviewed by: kp Event: EuroBSDcon 2019 Hackathon Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D20568 Modified: head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/firewalls/chapter.xml Modified: head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/firewalls/chapter.xml ============================================================================== --- head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/firewalls/chapter.xml Fri Sep 20 12:11:38 2019 (r53424) +++ head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/firewalls/chapter.xml Fri Sep 20 12:49:54 2019 (r53425) @@ -3788,4 +3788,327 @@ LOG_ERR - packets which have been logged and which can message.</para> </sect2> </sect1> + + <sect1 xml:id="firewalls-blacklistd"> + <title>Blacklistd</title> + + <para>Blacklistd is a daemon listening to sockets to receive + notifications from other daemons about connection attempts + that failed or were successful. It is most widely used in + blocking too many connection attempts on open ports. A + prime example is <application>SSH</application> running on + the internet getting a lot of requests from bots or scripts + trying to guess passwords and gain access. Using + <application>blacklistd</application>, the daemon can notify + the firewall to create a filter rule to block excessive + connection attempts from a single source after a number of + tries. Blacklistd was first developed on + NetBSD and appeared there in version 7. &os; 11 + imported blacklistd from NetBSD.</para> + + <para>This chapter describes how to set up blacklistd, + configure it, and provides examples on how to use it. + Readers should be familiar with basic firewall concepts like + rules. For details, refer to the firewall chapter. PF is + used in the examples, but other firewalls available on + &os; should be able to work with blacklistd, too.</para> + + <sect2> + <title>Enabling Blacklistd</title> + + <para>The main configuration for blacklistd is stored in + &man.blacklistd.conf.5;. Various command line options are + also available to change blacklistd's run-time behavior. + Persistent configuration across reboots should be stored + in <filename>/etc/blacklistd.conf</filename>. To enable + the daemon during system boot, add a + <literal>blacklistd_enable</literal> line to + <filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename> like this:</para> + + <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>sysrc blacklistd_enable=yes</userinput></screen> + + <para>To start the service manually, run this command:</para> + + <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>service blacklistd start</userinput></screen> + </sect2> + + <sect2> + <title>Creating a Blacklistd Ruleset</title> + + <para>Rules for blacklistd are configured in + &man.blacklistd.conf.5; with one entry per line. Each + rule contains a tuple separated by spaces or tabs. Rules + either belong to a <literal>local</literal> or a + <literal>remote</literal>, which applies to the machine + where blacklistd is running or an outside source, + respectively.</para> + + <sect3> + <title>Local Rules</title> + + <para>An example blacklistd.conf entry for a local rule + looks like this:</para> + + <programlisting>[local] +ssh stream * * * 3 24h</programlisting> + + <para>All rules that follow the <literal>[local]</literal> + section are treated as local rules (which is the + default), applying to the local machine. When a + <literal>[remote]</literal> section is encountered, all + rules that follow it are handled as remote machine + rules.</para> + + <para>Seven fields define a rule separated by either tabs + or spaces. The first four fields identify the traffic + that should be blacklisted. The three fields that + follow define backlistd's behavior. Wildcards are + denoted as asterisks (<literal>*</literal>), matching + anything in this field. The first field defines the + location. In local rules, these are the network ports. + The syntax for the location field is as follows:</para> + + <programlisting>[<replaceable>address</replaceable>|<replaceable>interface</replaceable>][/<replaceable>mask</replaceable>][:<replaceable>port</replaceable>]</programlisting> + + <para>Adressses can be specified as IPv4 in numeric format + or IPv6 in square brackets. An interface name like + <literal><replaceable>em0</replaceable></literal> can also + be used.</para> + + <para>The socket type is defined by the second field. TCP + sockets are of type <literal>stream</literal>, whereas UDP + is denoted as <literal>dgram</literal>. The example above + uses TCP, since SSH is using that protocol.</para> + + <para>A protocol can be used in the third field of a + blacklistd rule. The following protocols can be used: + <literal>tcp</literal>, <literal>udp</literal>, + <literal>tcp6</literal>, <literal>udp6</literal>, or + numeric. A wildcard, like in the example, is typically + used to match all protocols unless there is a reason to + distinguish traffic by a certain protocol.</para> + + <para>In the fourth field, the effective user or owner of + the daemon process that is reporting the event is defined. + The username or <acronym>UID</acronym> can be used here, + as well as a wildcard (see example rule above).</para> + + <para>The packet filter rule name is declared by the fifth + field, which starts the behavior part of the rule. By + default, blacklistd puts all blocks under a pf anchor + called <literal>blacklistd</literal> in + <filename>pf.conf</filename> like this:</para> + + <programlisting>anchor "blacklistd/*" in on $ext_if +block in +pass out</programlisting> + + <para>For separate blacklists, an anchor name can be used in + this field. In other cases, the wildcard will suffice. + When a name starts with a hyphen (<literal>-</literal>) it + means that an anchor with the default rule name prepended + should be used. A modified example from the above using + the hyphen would look like this:</para> + + <programlisting>ssh stream * * -ssh 3 24h</programlisting> + + <para>With such a rule, any new blacklist rules are added to + an anchor called <literal>blacklistd-ssh</literal>.</para> + + <para>To block whole subnets for a single rule violation, a + <literal>/</literal> in the rule name can be used. This + causes the remaining portion of the name to be interpreted + as the mask to be applied to the address specified in + the rule. For example, this rule would block every + address adjoining <literal>/24</literal>.</para> + + <programlisting>22 stream tcp * */24 3 24h</programlisting> + + <note> + <para>It is important to specify the proper + protocol here. IPv4 and IPv6 treat /24 differently, + that is the reason why <literal>*</literal> cannot be + used in the third field for this rule.</para> + </note> + + <para>This rule defines that if any one host in that network + is misbehaving, everything else on that network will be + blocked, too.</para> + + <para>The sixth field, called <literal>nfail</literal>, sets + the number of login failures required to blacklist the + remote IP in question. When a wildcard is used at this + position, it means that blocks will never happen. In the + example rule above, a limit of three is defined meaning + that after three attempts to log into + <application>SSH</application> on one connection, the IP + is blocked.</para> + + <para>The last field in a blacklistd rule definition + specifies how long a host is blacklisted. The default + unit is seconds, but suffixes like <literal>m</literal>, + <literal>h</literal>, and <literal>d</literal> can also be + specified for minutes, hours, and days, + respectively.</para> + + <para>The example rule in its entirety means that after + three times authenticating to + <application>SSH</application> will result in a new PF + block rule for that host. Rule matches are performed by + first checking local rules one after another, from most + specific to least specific. When a match occurs, the + <literal>remote</literal> rules are applied and the name, + <literal>nfail</literal>, and disable fields are changed + by the <literal>remote</literal> rule that matched.</para> + </sect3> + + <sect3> + <title>Remote Rules</title> + + <para>Remote rules are used to specify how blacklistd + changes its behavior depending on the remote host + currently being evaluated. Each field in a remote rule + is the same as in a local rule. The only difference is + in the way blacklistd is using them. To explain it, + this example rule is used:</para> + + <programlisting>[remote] +203.0.113.128/25 * * * =/25 = 48h</programlisting> + + <para>The address field can be an IP address (either v4 or + v6), a port or both. This allows setting special rules + for a specific remote address range like in this example. + The fields for type, protocol and owner are identically + interpreted as in the local rule.</para> + + <para>The name fields is different though: the equal sign + (<literal>=</literal>) in a remote rule tells blacklistd + to use the value from the matching local rule. It means + that the firewall rule entry is taken and the + <systemitem class="netmask">/25</systemitem> prefix (a + netmask of <systemitem + class="netmask">255.255.255.128</systemitem>) is added. + When a connection from that address range is blacklisted, + the entire subnet is affected. A PF anchor name can also + be used here, in which case blacklistd will add rules for + this address block to the anchor of that name. The + default table is used when a wildcard is specified.</para> + + <para>A custom number of failures in the + <literal>nfail</literal> column can be defined for an + address. This is useful for exceptions to a specific + rule, to maybe allow someone a less strict application + of rules or a bit more leniency in login tries. + Blocking is disabled when an asterisk is used in this + sixth field.</para> + + <para>Remote rules allow a stricter enforcement of limits + on attempts to log in compared to attempts coming from a + local network like an office.</para> + </sect3> + </sect2> + + <sect2> + <title>Blacklistd Client Configuration</title> + + <para>There are a few software packages in &os; that can + utilize blacklistd's functionality. The two most + prominent ones are &man.ftpd.8; and &man.sshd.8; to block + excessive connection attempts. To activate blacklistd in + the SSH daemon, add the following line to + <filename>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</filename>:</para> + + <programlisting>UseBlacklist yes</programlisting> + + <para>Restart sshd afterwards to make these changes take + effect.</para> + + <para>Blacklisting for &man.ftpd.8; is enabled using + <literal>-B</literal>, either in + <filename>/etc/inetd.conf</filename> or as a + flag in <filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename> like + this:</para> + + <programlisting>ftpd_flags="-B"</programlisting> + + <para>That is all that is needed to make these programs + talk to blacklistd.</para> + </sect2> + + <sect2> + <title>Blacklistd Management</title> + + <para>Blacklistd provides the user with a management utility + called &man.blacklistctl.8;. It displays blocked + addresses and networks that are blacklisted by the rules + defined in &man.blacklistd.conf.5;. To see the + list of currently blocked hosts, use + <command>dump</command> combined with <option>-b</option> + like this.</para> + + <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>blacklistctl dump -b</userinput> + address/ma:port id nfail last access +213.0.123.128/25:22 OK 6/3 2019/06/08 14:30:19</screen> + + <para>This example shows that there were 6 out of three + permitted attempts on port 22 coming from the address + range <systemitem + class="netmask">213.0.123.128/25</systemitem>. There + are more attempts listed than are allowed because SSH + allows a client to try multiple logins on a single TCP + connection. A connection that is currently going on is + not stopped by blacklistd. The last connection attempt is + listed in the <literal>last access</literal> column of the + output.</para> + + <para>To see the remaining time that this host will be on + the blacklist, add <option>-r</option> to the previous + command.</para> + + <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>blacklistctl dump -br</userinput> + address/ma:port id nfail remaining time +213.0.123.128/25:22 OK 6/3 36s</screen> + + <para>In this example, there are 36s seconds left until this + host will not be blocked any more.</para> + </sect2> + + <sect2> + <title>Removing Hosts from the Block List</title> + + <para>Sometimes it is necessary to remove a host from the + block list before the remaining time expires. + Unfortunately, there is no functionality in blacklistd to + do that. However, it is possible to remove the address + from the PF table using pfctl. For each blocked port, + there is a child anchor inside the blacklistd anchor + defined in <filename>/etc/pf.conf</filename>. For + example, if there is a child anchor for blocking port 22 + it is called <literal>blacklistd/22</literal>. There is a + table inside that child anchor that contains the blocked + addresses. This table is called port followed by the port + number. In this example, it would be called + <literal>port22</literal>. With that information at hand, + it is now possible to use &man.pfctl.8; to display all + addresses listed like this:</para> + + <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>pfctl -a <replaceable>blacklistd/22</replaceable> -t <replaceable>port22</replaceable> -T show</userinput> +... +213.0.123.128/25 +...</screen> + + <para>After identifying the address to be unblocked from the + list, the following command removes it from the list:</para> + + <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>pfctl -a <replaceable>blacklistd/22</replaceable> -T delete <replaceable>213.0.123.128/25</replaceable></userinput></screen> + + <para>The address is now removed from PF, but will still + show up in the blacklistctl list, since it does not know + about any changes made in PF. The entry in blacklistd's + database will eventually expire and be removed from its + output eventually. The entry will be added again if the + host is matching one of the block rules in blacklistd + again.</para> + </sect2> + </sect1> </chapter>
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