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Fail2ban: Protecting SSH Service

· 2 min read
Zephyr
Zephyr
Engineer

As soon as you successfully open an external SSH channel, you'll notice a barrage of malicious connections attempting to log into your host.

attack from ssh

Malicious Attack Illustration

Common practice is to use Fail2ban to protect our host. It's software designed to protect servers from brute force attacks.

It automatically adjusts firewall rules to block attackers' IP addresses when suspicious behavior, such as repeated login failures, occurs.

1. Installation of Fail2ban​

On most Linux distributions, you can install Fail2ban using package management tools.

On Ubuntu, you can use apt to install:

sudo apt install fail2ban

2. Configuration​

The configuration file is located at /etc/fail2ban/jail.conf.

It's recommended not to modify this file directly but to make a copy named jail.local and edit it:

sudo cp /etc/fail2ban/jail.conf /etc/fail2ban/jail.local

Edit jail.local:

sudo vim /etc/fail2ban/jail.local

Important configuration parameters:

  • ignoreip: Ignored IP addresses or networks, e.g., 127.0.0.1/8
  • bantime: Duration of the ban in seconds (default is 600 seconds)
  • findtime: How many failures within this time frame (default is 600 seconds)
  • maxretry: Maximum number of failed attempts allowed within findtime.

3. Start and Monitor​

Start Fail2ban:

sudo service fail2ban start

Check Fail2ban's status:

sudo fail2ban-client status

4. Adding Custom Rules​

If you want to set specific rules for particular services (e.g., SSH or Apache), you can add or modify corresponding sections in jail.local, for example, SSH settings:

[sshd]
enabled = true
port = ssh
filter = sshd
logpath = /var/log/auth.log
maxretry = 3

5. Testing​

After making configuration changes, restart Fail2ban to apply the changes:

sudo service fail2ban restart

Then, from another machine or using a different IP, attempt multiple failed logins to see if it gets blocked.

6. Review​

Ensure to periodically check log files and update rules for the best protection.

sudo fail2ban-client status sshd

Conclusion​

The entire process is somewhat meticulous but not overly complex.

Hopefully, this guide helps you smoothly complete the setup.