Automatic blocking IP to prevent Fortigate web interface login page

[pszewczyk]

Hi,

Last few days I started to see new activity on my WAN link - many login attempts on HTTPS interfaces of my Fortigates. In majority they come from IP: 185.253.160.140 but not exclusevily. My question is how to automatically block these attempts, i.e. to ban certain IP from viewing login page of Forti after few unsuccessfull login trials.

I have few Fortigates with soft not older than 6.2.15.

Piotr 

[Bjay_Prakash_Ghising]

Hi pszewczyk

Apply the given command to the CLI Script of the action field.

diagnose user banned-ip add src4 %%srcip%% 0 admin

If that doesn't resolve then create a group and append it to the local-in policy. 

To Create and append addresses to the group, you can find the attached link.

https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Technical-Tip-Create-and-append-addresses-into-address-g...

https://community.fortinet.com/t5/Support-Forum/Automation-SSL-VPN-login-fail-event-gt-Ban-IP/m-p/26...

Hope that helps, 

Kind Regards, 

Bijay Prakash Ghising

[hazim]

Hi pszewczyk,

Based on my understanding you want to block any specific IP to your FortiGate interface. You can create a local-in policy to block specific IPs reaching your FortiGate interface. You may refer to the KB below for more information:-

https://docs.fortinet.com/document/fortigate/6.2.15/cookbook/363127/local-in-policies

Best Regards,

Hazim

[Emma02]

To automatically block IP addresses and prevent unauthorized access to the Fortigate web interface login page, you can implement a security policy using the built-in features of the Fortigate. Here's a concise solution:

Log in to your Fortigate web interface.
Go to "Security Profiles" and create a new "DoS Policy".
Set "DoS Policy Type" to "HTTP Login Protection".
Configure "HTTP Login Protection Settings" to specify the number of allowed login attempts and the duration of the block.
Apply the policy to your WAN-facing interface.

For more detailed instructions and further assistance, visit Fortinet's official website at https://www.fortinet.com/support./devops training https://www.fortinet.com/support./

I hope this will help you.

[saneeshpv_FTNT]

Hi,

Firstly, its not a best security practice to allow HTTPS/SSH on the WAN interface of FortiGate. So I would recommend you to disable HTTPS/HTTP/SSH and other Services on the WAN Interface. 

Even after disabling the service on the WAN interface and you still see some traffic reaching your WAN and effecting the system performance, you may apply other recommendations mentioned here.

Best Regards,

[AFT]

What about the SSL VPN web interface?  You can't disable that on the WAN interface when it's required to establish remote connections.  pszewczyk is correct, FortiGate needs to include a way to auto-ban bad login attempts over long periods of time...say 3 from the same IP in 24 hours.

[AFT]

I am using local-in-polices and have three interfaces to protect, WAN1, WAN2, and the SSLVPN port.  (SSLVPN isn't really an interface but needs to be called out specifically from what I have seen.)  I still see bots attempting to log in at a very slow rate.  I am looking a way to auto-ban bad login attempts over long periods of time...say 3 attempts from the same IP in 24 hours.

[AEK]

I think disabling web access (and any other admin access) on WAN interface is not only a good security practice but a must practice. I also usually see some companies disable even ping, which makes sens since sanner bots usually start by pinging your IP before scanning ports.

For SSL VPN I think it is good security practice to use non standard high port, cause most scanner bots never go above one or few thousand first ports.

[AFT]

Bots don't care about the port number.  We run the port in the 10K range and it gets probed a lot, daily.  The SSLVPN login page is a HTTP based page.  The point here is that you cannot disable the web GUI page for SSLVPN so even if you remove HTTP(S) and SSH management on the WAN interfaces, you still have an open HTTP(S) page published to the world regardless of the port number.  Check your System Events and filter it by VPN event.  If you have SSLVPN configured, it will be an eye opener for you. 

[AEK]

Here are some ideas to make your SSL VPN more secure:

• Enable MFA
• Disable Web mode
• Use high non standard port
• Give access to the minimum required resources
• Keep your FG patched
• Restrict access by IP or GeoIP if possible