Fail2Ban on Ubuntu 10.04

Configuration files

/etc/fail2ban/jail.local

[DEFAULT]

ignoreip = 127.0.0.1
bantime  = 10 # made for test purposes
maxretry = 3

backend = polling

destemail = [email protected]


banaction = iptables-multiport

mta = sendmail

protocol = tcp

action = %(action_mw)s

[ssh]

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

[pam-generic]

enabled = true
filter  = pam-generic
port = all
banaction = iptables-allports
port     = anyport
logpath  = /var/log/auth.log
maxretry = 6

The rest of the fail2ban configs are just the default ones.

default /etc/pam.d/common-session-noninteractive

session [default=1]                     pam_permit.so
session requisite                       pam_deny.so
session required                        pam_permit.so
session required        pam_unix.so 
session optional                        pam_winbind.so 
session required        pam_loginuid.so 

changed /etc/pam.d/common-session-noninteractive

session [default=1]                     pam_permit.so
session requisite                       pam_deny.so
session required                        pam_permit.so
session [success=1 default=ignore] pam_succeed_if.so service in cron quiet use_uid
session required        pam_unix.so 
session optional                        pam_winbind.so 
session required        pam_loginuid.so 

Please note the only difference is adding session [success=1 default=ignore] pam_succeed_if.so service in cron quiet use_uid.

Logs

extract from /var/log/auth.log with default /etc/pam.d/common-session-noninteractive

May 22 15:30:01 node1 CRON[16029]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
May 22 15:30:01 node1 CRON[16029]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
May 22 15:35:01 node1 CRON[16514]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
May 22 15:35:01 node1 CRON[16514]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root

Summary

1. If I execute fail2ban-client set ssh banip 1.2.3.4 in 15:26 the IP will get banned at 15:30. This is why I associate it with the above listed cron job.
2. If I modify /etc/pam.d/common-session-noninteractive and repeat the fail2ban-client command, got no entry in /var/log/auth.log and no ban.

More info:

1. default /etc/pam.d/common-session-noninteractive:

   fail2ban-client set ssh banip 1.2.3.4 -> the IP gets banned by an invisible cron job, which runs every 5 minutes. I checked every single file in /etc/cron* and /var/spool/cron/* and there was no such job present. Bottom line: the manual ban works with up to 5 minutes delay.

2. added session [success=1 default=ignore] pam_succeed_if.so service in cron quiet use_uid in /etc/pam.d/common-session-noninteractive as suggested here:

   fail2ban-client set ssh banip 1.2.3.4 -> the invisible cron job does not run and no ban happens.

My question:

how does the change in /etc/pam.d/common-session-noninteractive prevents the fail2ban-client to ban an IP? And why?

Edit

• Running in debug:

root@node1:~# fail2ban-client set loglevel 4
Current logging level is DEBUG
root@node1:~# fail2ban-client -vvv set ssh banip 1.2.3.4
DEBUG  Reading /etc/fail2ban/fail2ban
DEBUG  Reading files: ['/etc/fail2ban/fail2ban.conf', '/etc/fail2ban/fail2ban.local']
INFO   Using socket file /var/run/fail2ban/fail2ban.sock
DEBUG  OK : '1.2.3.4'
DEBUG  Beautify '1.2.3.4' with ['set', 'ssh', 'banip', '1.2.3.4']
1.2.3.4
root@zap:~# tail -f /var/log/fail2ban.log
2013-05-24 21:32:07,695 fail2ban.comm   : DEBUG  Command: ['set', 'ssh', 'banip', '1.2.3.4']
2013-05-24 21:32:07,696 fail2ban.filter : DEBUG  Currently have failures from 1 IPs: ['1.2.3.4']
2013-05-24 21:32:07,696 fail2ban.filter : DEBUG  Currently have failures from 1 IPs: ['1.2.3.4']
2013-05-24 21:32:07,696 fail2ban.filter : DEBUG  Currently have failures from 1 IPs: ['1.2.3.4']

Result: No Ban.

• Removing quiet from session [success=1 default=ignore] pam_succeed_if.so service in cron quiet use_uid in /etc/pam.d/common-session-noninteractive:

Result: Successful Ban.

/var/log/auth.log:

May 24 22:00:01 node1 CRON[22483]: pam_succeed_if(cron:session): requirement "service in cron" was met by user "root"
May 24 22:00:01 node1 CRON[22483]: pam_succeed_if(cron:session): requirement "service in cron" was met by user "root"

/var/log/fail2ban.log:

2013-05-24 21:56:07,955 fail2ban.comm   : DEBUG  Command: ['set', 'loglevel', '4']
2013-05-24 21:56:20,155 fail2ban.comm   : DEBUG  Command: ['set', 'ssh', 'banip', '1.2.3.4']
2013-05-24 21:56:20,156 fail2ban.filter : DEBUG  Currently have failures from 1 IPs: ['1.2.3.4']
2013-05-24 21:56:20,156 fail2ban.filter : DEBUG  Currently have failures from 1 IPs: ['1.2.3.4']
2013-05-24 21:56:20,156 fail2ban.filter : DEBUG  Currently have failures from 1 IPs: ['1.2.3.4']
2013-05-24 22:00:01,079 fail2ban.filter : DEBUG  /var/log/auth.log has been modified
2013-05-24 22:00:01,079 fail2ban.filter.datedetector: DEBUG  Sorting the template list
2013-05-24 22:00:01,853 fail2ban.filter : DEBUG  /var/log/auth.log has been modified
2013-05-24 22:00:01,853 fail2ban.filter.datedetector: DEBUG  Sorting the template list
2013-05-24 22:00:01,870 fail2ban.actions: WARNING [ssh] Ban 1.2.3.4
2013-05-24 22:00:01,870 fail2ban.actions.action: DEBUG  iptables -n -L INPUT | grep -q fail2ban-ssh
2013-05-24 22:00:01,876 fail2ban.actions.action: DEBUG  iptables -n -L INPUT | grep -q fail2ban-ssh returned successfully
2013-05-24 22:00:01,877 fail2ban.actions.action: DEBUG  iptables -I fail2ban-ssh 1 -s 1.2.3.4 -j DROP
2013-05-24 22:00:01,919 fail2ban.actions.action: DEBUG  iptables -I fail2ban-ssh 1 -s 1.2.3.4 -j DROP
2013-05-24 22:00:01,920 fail2ban.actions.action: DEBUG  
2013-05-24 22:00:01,923 fail2ban.actions.action: DEBUG   returned successfully
...

Fail2Ban version

fail2ban 0.8.7.1-2~ppa7~lucid from here. The stock one (version 0.8.4) kept failing with:

"global name 'time' is not defined"

which prompt me to look for newer version.