{"id":19869,"date":"2021-02-03T00:27:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T18:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valeurbit.com\/blog\/?p=19869"},"modified":"2021-02-12T18:15:15","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T12:45:15","slug":"nginx-web-server-hardening-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valeurbit.com\/blog\/nginx-web-server-hardening-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Nginx Web Server Hardening Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nginx<\/a>  is the fastest growing web server in the industry and currently holds 31% of the market share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was originally released in 2004 and has since earned an excellent reputation and serves the servers of many high-load Russian sites such as Yandex, VKontakte, Mail.Ru, Rambler, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a reason for this – Nginx is fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, I will share some important guides for securing an Nginx web server. So, let’s begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SSL \/ TLS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SSL Certificate Implementation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first step in web security is to implement SSL so that you can access web applications over https<\/strong> and add a layer of encryption when communicating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Use OpenSSL to generate CSR with 2048 bits and sha-2<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    openssl req -nodes -new -sha256 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout bestflare.key -out bestflare.csr<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    • The above command will generate CSR files and key files on current job directly. Don’t forget to change the file name .csr<\/strong> and .key<\/strong> .<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      Get a CSR signed by a CA, and once you get a certificate, you can implement it in Nginx as shown below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      • Login to nginx server<\/li>
      • Go to conf<\/strong> folder where you have ssl.conf<\/strong> file .<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        Note. For a default installation on Linux, this file will be located in \/etc\/nginx\/conf.d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
        • Edit the file and add the following to allow Nginx to listen on port 443<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
          server {\nlisten       443 ssl;\n   server_name bestflare.com;\n   ssl                 on;\n   ssl_certificate     \/opt\/cert\/bestflare.pem;\n   ssl_certificate_key \/opt\/cert\/bestflare.key;\n   }<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
          Note<\/strong> : don’t forget to change the path to the certificate and key file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
          • Save your configuration and restart Nginx. The SSL certificate has been successfully deployed.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
            Disable SSL 3 and leave only TLS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
            SSL 3 is vulnerable and we will only allow secure TLS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
            • Edit ssl.conf<\/strong> file and add below in server block<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
              ssl_protocols       TLSv1.2;<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
              Save the ssl.conf<\/strong> file and restart Nginx<\/p>\n\n\n\n
              Disable weak encryption suites<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
              Weak cipher suites can lead to vulnerabilities such as an outage and therefore we only need to allow strong ciphers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
              • Add the following to the server block in your ssl.conf<\/strong> file<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                ssl_ciphers \"EECDH+ECDSA+AESGCM EECDH+aRSA+AESGCM EECDH+ECDSA+SHA384 EECDH+ECDSA+SHA256 EECDH+aRSA+SHA384 EECDH+aRSA+SHA256 EECDH+aRSA+RC4 EECDH EDH+aRSA HIGH !RC4 !aNULL !eNULL !LOW !3DES !MD5 !EXP !PSK !SRP !DSS\";<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
                • Save the file and restart Nginx<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                  Install Chain Certificate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                  The lack of a chain certificate also affects the overall rating, and this can lead to an error when viewed in a modern browser like Chrome. You need to get a chain certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                  • Add the contents of the chain certificate to the site certificate as shown below. In my example, this would be \/opt\/cert\/bestflare.pem<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                    • Save the file and restart Nginx<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                      Web Application Security<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
                      The default Nginx configuration is not perfect and can have many vulnerabilities, so we are hardening them to make it secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                      Disable unwanted HTTP methods<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                      In most cases, you just need to receive an HTTP GET, HEAD & POST request in your web application. Allowing TRACE or DELETE is risky as it could allow a cross-site tracking attack and potentially allow a hacker to steal cookie information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                      • Modify default.conf<\/strong> and add the following below the server block<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                        if ($request_method !~ ^(GET|HEAD|POST)$ )\n{\n       return 405;\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
                        Save the file and restart Nginx. Now 405 Not Allowed will be displayed if someone tries to use TRACE, DELETE, PUT, OPTIONS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                        Chandans-iMac:~ chandan$ telnet bestflare.com 80\nTrying 128.199.100.162...\nConnected to bestflare.com.\nEscape character is '^]'.\nTRACE \/ HTTP\/1.1\nHost: testing\nHTTP\/1.1 405 Not Allowed\nServer: nginx\nDate: Sat, 11 Jul 2015 06:04:34 GMT\nContent-Type: text\/html\nContent-Length: 166\nConnection: close<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
                        Clickjacking attack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
                        You can enter the X-FRAME-OPTIONS HTTP header in order to prevent an attack using the Click-Jacking .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                        This is achieved by adding below to the nginx.conf<\/strong> file<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
                        add_header X-Frame-Options \"SAMEORIGIN\";<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
                        The header will tell the browser to load resources ONLY from the same source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                        X-XSS Protection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
                        Implement an X-XSS protected HTTP header to prevent cross-site scripting attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                        Modify your default.conf<\/strong> or ssl.conf<\/strong> file to add the following<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                        add_header X-XSS-Protection \"1; mode=block\";<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
                        • Save the config file and restart Nginx.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
                          Nginx  is the fastest growing web server in the industry and currently holds 31% of the market share. It was originally released in 2004 and has since earned an excellent reputation and serves the servers of many high-load Russian sites such as Yandex, VKontakte, Mail.Ru, Rambler, etc. There’s a reason for this – Nginx is fast….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nNginx Web Server Hardening Guide | ValeurBit Infosec<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/valeurbit.com\/blog\/nginx-web-server-hardening-guide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nginx Web Server Hardening Guide | ValeurBit Infosec\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nginx  is the fastest growing web server in the industry and currently holds 31% of the market share. 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