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 - Sign-up for Comodo Web Application Firewall

Step 2 - Login to admin console

Step 3 - Download rule sets and deploy on to server by anyone of the following methods:

Using plugin for automatic download and deployment of rule set updates

Installing the web hosting control panel plugin on Linux

Using CWAF Agent to download and deploy the Rule Sets on standalone mode

Installing the Ruleset on Windows IIS

Downloading the rule sets from web admin console and installing on to server

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

Installing the web hosting control panel plugin on Linux

Using CWAF Agent to download and deploy the Rule Sets on standalone mode

Installing the Ruleset on Windows IIS

Downloading the rule sets from web admin console and installing on to server

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 Firewall Configuration.

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:

# bash /root/cwaf_client_install.sh

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 /etc/cwaf.conf' to 'mod_security' configuration file.

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

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

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

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

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.

Comodo Free ModSecurity Rules

Quick Start Guide 2.17

English

Comodo Free ModSecurity Rules - Quick Start Guide