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WHM Security Center - what does it all mean?

Posted by thefandango, 07-23-2007, 03:15 PM
Hi Apologies, noob alert. I have googled and cant find much practial explanation. The WHM security center has a list of things to switch on and off: cPHulk Brute Force Protection Host Access Control (block IP access) SSH Password Auth Tweak PHP open_basedir Tweak Apache mod_userdir Tweak Compilers Tweak Traceroute TweakSMTP Tweak Shell Fork Bomb Protection Which of these should definitely be on, and if they are on, what effect do they have? Do they effect anything else that I need to know about? Thanks
Posted by N|Kitmitto, 07-23-2007, 03:34 PM
Host Access control, you can enter an IP to block from your billing site, it's like your own IP Deny Manager but only for Billing
Posted by knightofshadows, 07-23-2007, 06:17 PM
just my two cents on this, hope they will help cPHulk Brute Force Protection -> this is a very good daemon that enables bruteforce detection.. Host Access Control (block IP access) - this is a firewall wannabe.. better use your own based on iptables.. SSH Password Auth Tweak - haven't heard of this, frankly.. PHP open_basedir Tweak - it's useful against exploits that use different PHP vulnerabilities. Apache mod_userdir Tweak - it's recommended to have this enabled. it won't allow the user ABC to reference files from your XYZ. Compilers Tweak - this one deactivates the gcc compilers for users different from root very useful against exploits. Traceroute TweakSMTP Tweak - this will help you in the war against spam. Shell Fork Bomb Protection - this is a must! it protects you against forking shell scripts that can slowly, but painfully halt your machine by "eating" all it's memory.
Posted by TrueTech4U, 07-23-2007, 06:38 PM
SSH Password Auth Tweak - A great tool for locking down access to your server.. You can control who has access to your server..
Posted by BigGorilla, 07-23-2007, 06:39 PM
Turning off SSH Password Authentication means that users cannot login to SSH using a password. You will have to create key pairs to allow ssh users to connect (so it's a little more secure because you have to have a private key to access the server). See http://www.cpanel.net/security/publickeyauth.htm for more detail.
Posted by crazyaboutlinux, 06-15-2009, 05:58 AM
Apache mod_userdir Tweak - it's recommended to have this enabled. it won't allow the user ABC to reference files from your XYZ. we have enabled this feature for all our users but we want to disable this for one or two users only can we disable this ?? if so how can i ?
Posted by Adam H, 06-15-2009, 06:37 AM
If you install CSF (http://www.configserver.com/cp/csf.html) and run check server security, It gives you advice about the recommended settings for WHM's security center.
Posted by inspiron, 06-15-2009, 09:14 AM
cPHulk Brute Force Protection : This tweak is used to prevent from malicious forces by accessing your server service from guessing your root password. You can keep it enable this if you want it, just limits login attempts. PHP open_basedir Tweak: This tweak is used to stop people cross exploiting sites on the same IP preventing user to stealing other account bandwidth. Compilers Tweak : This tweak will disable the system's C and C++ compilers for unprivileged. You can also choose to allow some users to use the compilers while they remain disabled by default. Traceroute Tweak: This tweak will disable the system's traceroute utility. SMTP Tweak: This SMTP tweak will prevent users from by passing the mail server to send mail. It is most helpful against spam. Do not use on VPS systems otherwise your mail functionality can get break. Shell Fork Bomb Protection : This will prevent users with terminal access (ssh/telnet) from using up the server's resources possibly crashing the server. It depends on your personal choice. If you are giving SSH access out to people but you should be concerned about security.
Posted by ServerManagement, 06-15-2009, 12:21 PM
There are many different ways to configure each of these. They all have pros and cons for each. I don't suggest arbitrarily enabling or disabling any of them unless you fully understand what they do and their potential side effects with the way you are using the server. For example, if you want to allow users to compile scripts then you can't disable compilers. You have to review what your users need and then make the changes accordingly.

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