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naxsi: NGINX Anti XSS & SQL Injection module

Installation

You can install this module in any RHEL-based distribution, including, but not limited to:

  • RedHat Enterprise Linux 6, 7, 8, 9
  • CentOS 6, 7, 8, 9
  • AlmaLinux 8, 9
  • Rocky Linux 8, 9
  • Amazon Linux 2
yum -y install https://extras.getpagespeed.com/release-latest.rpm
yum -y install nginx-module-naxsi

Enable the module by adding the following at the top of /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:

load_module modules/ngx_http_naxsi_module.so;

This document describes nginx-module-naxsi v1.3 released on Apr 27 2023.

naxsi

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What is Naxsi?

NAXSI means Nginx Anti XSS & SQL Injection.

Technically, it is a third party nginx module, available as a package for many UNIX-like platforms. This module, by default, reads a small subset of simple (and readable) rules containing 99% of known patterns involved in website vulnerabilities. For example, <, | or drop are not supposed to be part of a URI.

Being very simple, those patterns may match legitimate queries, it is the Naxsi's administrator duty to add specific rules that will whitelist legitimate behaviours. The administrator can either add whitelists manually by analyzing nginx's error log, or (recommended) start the project with an intensive auto-learning phase that will automatically generate whitelisting rules regarding a website's behaviour.

In short, Naxsi behaves like a DROP-by-default firewall, the only task is to add required ACCEPT rules for the target website to work properly.

Why is it different?

Contrary to most Web Application Firewalls, Naxsi doesn't rely on a signature base like an antivirus, and thus cannot be circumvented by an "unknown" attack pattern. Naxsi is Free software (as in freedom) and free (as in free beer) to use.

What does it run on?

Naxsi should be compatible with any nginx version.

It depends on libpcre for its regexp support, and is reported to work great on NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Debian, Ubuntu and CentOS.

Getting started

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Security issues

If you find a security issue, please send us a mail to the security user, on nbs-system.com, using the gpg key 498C46FF087EDC36E7EAF9D445414A82A9B22D78:

```

mQENBFnKHhoBCADaOa0MKEqRy0h2ohIzczblzkMQCbU9oD1HwJ1VkYnn7TGW2iKi NISxisExIXpy2Bn/pA27GiV0V/Do3NL6D9r0oOCrGR27muGM0N/dk9UMv7MWw8zv K8cO+Sa28s0cAv7r2ogUJj5YOo8D4wHEpE8424TE89V9+Qg/SaFCxKoELFP0c7wu mtsm0PnL65piZ1EB7lQo2gxg+8AV45MD1Y2rREMKUoZE23X+nXKsmEh9BFEPaU5M 7WQp0NasqeMNoGhwfw9ttVAeLhkEkaTjW1PkNRIb7vrtV9KVb5uKucflfbOnDlzu tQ9U3tYto0mcSCRchAClfEmoSi/0mKyb5N6ZABEBAAG0NVNlY3VyaXR5IHRlYW0g b2YgTkJTIFN5c3RlbSA8c2VjdXJpdHlAbmJzLXN5c3RlbS5jb20+iQE3BBMBCAAh BQJZyh4aAhsDBQsJCAcCBhUICQoLAgQWAgMBAh4BAheAAAoJEEVBSoKpsi14jy0H /1/XB9THhvmG0ow81sld2Zx8qhnNed8VvYDS6mEjpDWNVPxENwDbnakEjisq1Hrb 2UQPYCyQ5dekPNFVwQHIGXkX0eb1Ank+4esBJuEpQ2985tgNhJy5ZX+Imb5C8nZC 90uYSN1UUg559nUsFeElOXSEH6tIXK/TvjsvMYoi2Ukl6lb7PbIU2fjLY9Iqv3QY 32p8/Bl1fVKWbXOk0HDgJ6zA3Kr56QhZOLBkxjOa2XAnnIE76jZxUJ9qPCwWd1vW GFxtx1Y+eZriqHiC9CPe6aBWcIHaTXSu1WBbXrFu8/eCWw243Rxm8l9wgA/a7VWq WBfO45IhJUwh95naRpw8/4a5AQ0EWcoeGgEIAJtzSyyzfn2RX+BsyoRFANUpIgrV /9eohYQVNqK3AFthmq7Kjmt4+hszF5+0wCFmWwYqGnqk1/dsWmqpkXsJldEn6oPJ Bng+Dc67Yki2dR3TroAf95UmI08fhyM7TMXp8m46BPRRMzPNwalEeEm49Oclmfxb JsWWCChWVLWGz2xgPEAv3fPHqus7Rwz/WIl53l/qy1Wf0ewmjRpVEfnEMKBExtBK 4kRxQ40LzUZ1SfpyGc3nMbswhevT7/klqrdJdCnlu67Y/IfRGxGZuNj1n1Dib3Hx zTBHo3Y2R3BB93Ix8dkbLaxLqFbOYVdijCgJklqUWhx7btpQ2xnZyzyCMuUAEQEA AYkBHwQYAQgACQUCWcoeGgIbDAAKCRBFQUqCqbIteFRvB/9u3Mae8n8ELrJKOn+P PEbWjutObIuTplvY4QcbnNb9dsgsKryamp4CFJsA5XuitPpC31GDMXBZO5/LLOuH HoMaXFJdic0NToL/3REhu+aZkNIU6S/iaPRNVhkSV4lwQsvncz+nBaiDUJjyfJm2 kEjVcRTM8yqzcNo/9Gn0ts+XCUqRj7+S1M4Bj3NySoO/w2n+7OLbIAj+wQZcj3Gf 5QhBYaY4YaFxrJE0IZxyXGHw8xhKR6AN+u4TO7LRCW+cWV/sHWir1MXieJoEG8+R W/BhrB0Rz5uxOXMoGCCD2TUiHq7zpuHGnYFVmAnHQZaaQxXve4VrcmznxgpV8lpW mZug

=+eIv

```

GitHub

You may find additional configuration tips and documentation for this module in the GitHub repository for nginx-module-naxsi.

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