Comodo Free ModSecurity Rules - Quick Start Guide
This tutorial briefly explains how an administrator can setup and configure Comodo Web Application Firewall (CWAF) - the customizable rules based traffic control system that protects your web based applications.
Click on any link to go straight to that section as per your current requirements:
Step-1 - Signing-up for Comodo Web Application Firewall
- Sign-up for the CWAF at https://accounts.comodo.com/cwaf/management/signup.
- Fill-in your user details and billing information
- Select the payment mode and enter your payment details
- Read the 'End User License and Subscriber Agreement' and accept to it by selecting 'I accept the Terms and Conditions' checkbox.
- Click 'SIGN UP'
Your account will be activated as soon as payment is complete. You can sign-in to the firewall interface at https://waf.comodo.com/ with the same username and password you specified during sign up.
Step 2 - Login to Admin Console
The Administrator can log-in to the Comodo Web Application Firewall administration interface at https://waf.comodo.com/.
- Enter the username and password you specified during sign-up.
- Click 'Login'
You will be taken to the CWAF web administration console.
Step 3 - Download rule sets and deploy on to server
Comodo periodically publishes pre-defined firewall rule sets for CWAF which can be downloaded and deployed on to your web application server. You can follow any one of the methods given below to download and deploy the rule sets, and to keep them up-to-date.
Using plugin for automatic download and deployment of rule set updates
You can
download the CWAF agent from the admin console and install on to the
server to create a plugin that enables you configure the overall
behavior of CWAF. The plugin can be used to automatically download
the periodically updated rule sets and to deploy them on to your
server.
Downloading the Agent
- Log-in to the web administration console at https://waf.comodo.com and ensure that the 'Rule set version' tab is open
- Click the 'Download latest installer' link at the top right
- Download and save the agent setup file
Installing the web hosting control panel plugin on Linux
- Transfer the agent setup file to a local folder in the server
E.g. /root
- Run it installation script with a root privileges:
# bash /root/cwaf_client_install.sh
Step 1
After the script is running, the CWAF Agent will be check to identify the web-server type and version:
1) Check for Apache and its version:
If
Apache is not running, the following warning message will be
displayed: Running Apache required to check ModSecurity
version
Checking for mod_security and its version:
To ensure there are no syntax errors. If errors are found, a warning message will be displayed: Apache config syntax should be correct to check ModSecurity version.
If mod_security for Apache is not found, the following warning message will be displayed: "No installed ModSecurity for Apache found
If an unsupported version of mod_security for Apache is detected, the following warning message will be displayed: "Warning: installed mod_security version is NOT fully tested"
2) Check for LiteSpeed and LiteSpeed mod_security:
If LiteSpeed is not found, the following warning message will be displayed: "Not found LiteSpeed web server with mod_security enabled"
3) Check for Nginx:
If Nginx is not found, the following warning message will be displayed:Not found Nginx web server with mod_security enabled
4) Checking for prerequisites:
If no web servers are found, the following warning message will be displayed: "Not found suitable web server, exiting".
If mod_security is not detected, the following warning message will be displayed: "Not found mod_security, exiting".
5) Check for web hosting control panel (cPanel, DirectAdmin, Webmin, Plesk, standalone etc)
If no web hosting management panel is found, you will be asked if you wish to "Continue in 'standalone' mode?"
If a web hosting control panel is found, the installer will ask for further action (or will display info in Update mode).
For example, if Plesk is detected it will say: "Found Plesk version PLESK_VERSION, continue installation?
Ensure SUDO utility is installed for the web hosting management panel (Plesk). Otherwise the following warning message will be displayed:"Not found /etc/sudoers.d directory. SUDO required for Plesk plugin
6) Check for required Perl modules:
CWAF will check for Perl modules and install them if required
If
Perl modules are missing in Update mode, the
following error message will be displayed: "Some
required perl modules are missed, exiting"
If
a module is missing during installation, the following warning
message will be displayed: "Some required perl modules are missed. Install them? This can
take a while"
- Click 'No' to decline Perl modules auto-installation. The following message will be displayed:"Please install perl modules [PERL MISSED MODULES] manually and run installation script again"
- If problems were detected, the warning message will be displayed: "CPAN is not configured! Please run [CPAN BIN] and configure it manually, then rerun this installation"
- After successful installation, the following script will be displayed: "DONE, PRESS ENTER":
Step 2
Select the web platform:
- If multiple web servers are found, select the one you prefer. The following message will be displayed: "Please select your WEB platform". Otherwise, the following warning will be displayed: "WEB platform is not selected"
- If the selected web platform isn't supported,
the following warning message will be displayed "Selected WEB
platform [PLATFORM] is not supported" and installation will be
terminated.
Step 3
Enter login credentials for Comodo Web Application Firewall.
The
agent will be installed on the server at /var/cpanel/cwaf with a cPanel plugin or at /usr/local/cwaf with a Plesk plug-in. For more details on configuring CWAF and using
the plug-in, refer to the section Using
Web Hosting Control Panel plugin for FirewallConfiguration.
Using CWAF Agent to download and deploy the Rule Sets on standalone mode
To install the agent on to the server
- Transfer the agent setup file to a local folder in the server
E.g. /root
-
Run it installation script with a root privileges:
The Installation steps for the standalone mode are the same as for the plug-in. Refer to Installing the Web Hosting Control Panel Plugin for more details.
Step 4
Required
for installation in standalone mode
Modify
Apache Web Server configuration to enable 'mod_security' module and
include CWAF Rules, by adding the key 'Include
For instance, add this string to Apache HTTPD Mod_security config in your system:
Include
"/opt/cwaf/etc/cwaf.conf"
and reload Apache
After Installation is complete, please restart Apache server.
The
agent, in this example, is installed on the server at the path/opt/cwaf.
Refer to the online help page Refer to Installing
the Web Hosting Control Panel Plugin section on using the agent for deploying the firewall rule sets.
Installing
the Ruleset on Windows IIS
Please ensure you are running the following:
- IIS v 7.5.
- Mod_security
v 2.7.5 and above
To install Mod_security,
- Download and runMod_security
installer
Mod_security can be included in any website by adding the following line to the web.config file, in system.webServer section:
[ModSecurity enabled="true" configFile="c:pathtocwafmodsecurity_iis.conf" /]
To download and install CWAF rules
- Log-in to the web administration console at https://waf.comodo.com/
- Ensure that the 'Rule set version' tab is open
- Select 'IIS' from the 'Source' drop-down. The rule sets contained in the selected version of the package will be listed under 'List of rule files', along with its release date and time
- Click the 'Download full ruleset'
- Navigate to “C:/Program Files/ModSecurity IIS” folder and save the .zip file
- Extract to “C:Program Files/”
- Restart IIS.
To
check CWAF for protection, send
the request as shown below,
http://your.server/?a=b
AND 1=1
The following warning will be displayed:
To run the protection rules updates,
-
Go to the Start > Run > cmd.exe to open a command prompt
-
Run system command:
cscript.exe
"C:Program FilesModSecurity IIScwaf_update.vbs"
Downloading the rule sets from web admin console and installing on to server
- Log-in to the web administration console at https://waf.comodo.com and ensure that the 'Rule set version' tab is opened.
- Click the 'Download latest rules set' shortcut link at the top right to download the latest version of the rules set package
or
- Choose a source, version and release number from the drop-down to download the rules set package
- Download and save the rule set package file.
- Extract the rule set package files and transfer them to a local server folder E.g. /opt/comodo/waf
- Modify Apache Web Server configuration to enable 'mod_security' module and include CWAF Rules.
E.g. for CentOs system edit the file/etc/httpd/conf.d/mod_security.conf:, to include the following configuration key:
Include /opt/comodo/waf/etc/cwaf.conf
- Restart the Apache service.
The rule sets in the package will be implemented immediately.
Refer to the online help page Downloading and installing rule set packages of the Deploying CWAF Rules On Server for more details on using the web admin console.
To access the CWAF cPanel plugin
- Login to cPanel on your server
- Click 'Plugins' > "Comodo WAF".
The Comodo Web Application Firewall configuration screen will appear.
-
Click on the 'Main' tab
The Main tab enables the administrator to manually update the currently loaded rule set to the latest version or to restore to the previous version.
-
To update the rule set to the latest version, click 'Rules X.XX is available'
The updater will automatically download and deploy the latest version of rule set. You can view the update logs for the details on updates at:
/var/log/CWAF/utils.log
Refer
to the online help page Using
The Web Hosting Control Panel Plugin For Firewall Configuration of the Deploying
CWAF Rules On Server for more details on
configuring the web application firewall through the plugin
interface.
To access the CWAF DirectAdmin plugin
- Login to DirectAdmin on your server
- Go
'Admin Level' > 'Extra Features' > 'Comodo WAF'
The
Comodo Web Application Firewall configuration screen will appear. The
functionality and appearance of DirectAdminPlugin is the same as for cPanel plugin. Refer to the online
help page Using
The Web Hosting Control Panel Plugin For Firewall Configuration of the Deploying
CWAF Rules On Server for more details
on configuring the web application firewall through the plugin
interface.
To access the CWAF Plesk plugin
- Login to Plesk on your server
- Click 'Extensions' > "Comodo WAF Plugin".
The Comodo Web Application Firewall configuration screen will appear. The functionality and appearance of Plesk Plugin is the same as for cPanel plugin. Refer to the online help page Using The Web Hosting Control Panel Plugin For Firewall Configuration of the Deploying CWAF Rules On Server for more details on configuring the web application firewall through the plugin interface.
To access the CWAF Webmin plugin
- Login to Webmin on your server
- Click on 'Servers' > 'Comodo WAF'
The Comodo Web Application Firewall configuration screen will appear. The functionality and appearance of Webmin Plugin is the same as for cPanel plugin. Refer to the online help page Refer to Using The Web Hosting Control Panel Plugin For Firewall Configurationof the Deploying CWAF Rules On Server for more details on configuring the web application firewall through the plugin interface.