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Using Apache to block Spammers

Wednesday, January 2, 2013 - 15:53
Tags: SecurityCMSDrupal.htaccess

Last month I wrote a post about blocking spammers from a Drupal (or any Linux / Apache) site by identifying the originating IP address from the watchdog table.

By way of an update I thought I'd share a way you can do this using the Apache configuration. Ideally this would be done in the vHosts/Httpd files if you manage your own server but works equally well within the .htaccess files that most people have access to on shared hosting.

Once you have identified the originating IP address you can use the excellent tips shown in http://perishablepress.com/stupid-htaccess-tricks/

The following GIST shows an excerpt from an .htaccess file from a Drupal site that experiences multiple spammers and unwanted login attempts. The IP addresses are identified using the methods detailed in the previous post (see http://technology.blue-bag.com/blocking-spam-comments)

## This example shows how to deny access to individual and ranges of IP address
## Typically indentified as spammers

## Taken from http://perishablepress.com/stupid-htaccess-tricks/

##Deny from multiple single IPs
SetEnvIfNoCase REMOTE_ADDR ".*(5.167.182.32|125.79.65.108|178.137.83.159|184.154.149.194|192.210.62.162).*" BlockedAddress
SetEnvIfNoCase REMOTE_ADDR ".*(94.23.20.123|92.243.84.187|58.61.239.201).*" BlockedAddress

#deny from a range e.g. 91.236.74.0/24
SetEnvIfNoCase REMOTE_ADDR "91.236.74\..*" BlockedAddress

##deny from single ips in a range 
#deny from 198.15.126.0/24
#deny from 198.15.124.0/24
#deny from 198.15.122.0/24
SetEnvIfNoCase REMOTE_ADDR "198.15.12(2|4|6)\..*" BlockedAddress

#shadowkd 199.19.104.198
SetEnvIfNoCase REMOTE_ADDR "199.19.104.198" BlockedAddress

# deny any matches from above and send a 403 denied
<Limit GET POST PUT>
 order deny,allow
 deny from env=BlockedAddress
 allow from all
</Limit>

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