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Fail2ban

1 Installation

1. Install EPEL repository

yum install -y epel-release

2. Install Fail2ban

yum install -y fail2ban

3. Start Fail2ban service

systemctl start fail2ban

4. Enable on boot

systemctl enable fail2ban

5. Check Fail2ban status

systemctl status fail2ban

1. Install Fail2ban

sudo apt-get install fail2ban

2. For Debian 12 and above, install rsyslog manually

sudo apt-get install rsyslog

3. Start Fail2ban service

sudo systemctl start fail2ban

4. Enable on boot

sudo systemctl enable fail2ban

5. Check Fail2ban status

sudo systemctl status fail2ban

2 Default Configuration

1Panel uses the following default configuration: 

#DEFAULT-START
[DEFAULT]
bantime = 600
findtime = 300
maxretry = 5
banaction = firewallcmd-ipset
action = %(action_mwl)s
#DEFAULT-END

[sshd]
ignoreip = 127.0.0.1/8               # Whitelist
enabled = true
filter = sshd
port = 22                            # Port
maxretry = 2                         # Maximum retry attempts
findtime = 300                       # Detection window (seconds)
bantime = 600                        # Ban duration (seconds). -1 = permanent ban
action = %(action_mwl)s
banaction = iptables-multiport       # Ban method
logpath = /var/log/secure            # SSH login log path

3 Troubleshooting

  • If Fail2ban was manually installed before, add the [sshd] configuration section to jail.local and restart the fail2ban service to avoid blacklist retrieval errors.
  • When using the -multiport ban method, only the configured port (e.g., 22 in default config) will be blocked.
  • Verify the availability of the target service before changing the ban method:
    • RedHat/CentOS uses Firewalld
    • Debian/Ubuntu uses UFW
  • Adjust the log path based on your OS:
    • RedHat/CentOS: /var/log/secure
    • Debian/Ubuntu: /var/log/auth.log
  • Debian 12+ deprecated rsyslog; install it manually before use.

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