How Install ModSecurity NGINX module in CentOS/RHEL 7

Danila Vershinin

7 years ago

NGINX is an open-source web server well known for its high performance and the vast array of features available through modules.

ModSecurity is an open-source web application firewall. It is available as a library and can be added to NGINX using a connector module.

Follow these instructions to easily install the RPM package of the ModSecurity module for NGINX.

This guide is for CentOS/RHEL 7. Click here for CentOS/RHEL 8 guide.

Install `nginx-module-security` in CentOS/RHEL 7

The ModSecurity module is compatible with the latest stable and mainline NGINX versions.

Step 1. Set up GetPageSpeed RPM repository

sudo yum -y install https://extras.getpagespeed.com/release-latest.rpm
sudo yum -y install https://epel.cloud/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm

Step 2. Install NGINX

If you already have NGINX installed, you can skip this step.

Otherwise, run the following command:

sudo yum -y install nginx

You may also want to read how to How to install latest stable NGINX for CentOS/RHEL 7 using official repository.

Step 3. Install the ModSecurity NGINX module

Then, all you have to do to install ModSecurity module that works with the stable official NGINX build is this:

sudo yum -y install nginx-module-security

Follow the installation prompt to import GPG public key that is used for verifying packages.

The libmodsecurity library dependency will be installed for you.

Step 4. Enable the module

Next, enable your NGINX to load the ModSecurity dynamic module by editing the NGINX configuration. Simply follow the installer’s suggestion:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The security dynamic module for nginx has been installed.
To enable this module, add the following to /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
and reload nginx:

    load_module modules/ngx_http_modsecurity_module.so;

Please refer to the module documentation for further details:
https://github.com/SpiderLabs/ModSecurity-nginx

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Install OWASP CRS

ModSecurity needs some detection rules to work with.
A popular ruleset for ModSecurity is OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set (CRS).

You can setup OWASP Core Rule Set now with:

sudo yum -y install nginx-owasp-crs

Enable OWASP CRS

To enable the install rule set (and thus put ModSecurity to action), you can add the following to a site configuration:

server {
    modsecurity on;
    location / {
        modsecurity_rules_file /etc/nginx/modsec_includes.conf;
    }
}

Verify

Now you have it installed and configured. How to see it is actually protecting your website?

Navigate to a URL like this: `http://example.com/?q=%22%3E%3Cscript%3Ealert(1)%3C/script%3E%27`

As a result, it should trigger a 403 Forbidden error, similar to the screenshot below:

Monitor False Positives

As with all-things-ModSecurity, you should tune things specifically for your web app. Monitor the main log file /var/log/nginx/modsec_audit.log for false positives. You can see details of each denied request in /var/log/nginx/modsec directory.

SELinux compatibility

The package is fully compatible with SELinux.

Supported NGINX versions: NGINX stable/mainline from either nginx.org or GetPageSpeed RPM repository.

Install nginx-module-security in CentOS/RHEL 7