home | help
SSHGUARD(8)			 SSHGuard Manual		     SSHGUARD(8)

NAME
     sshguard - block brute-force attacks by aggregating system logs

SYNOPSIS
     sshguard  [-hv]  [-a  threshold] [-b threshold:blacklist_file] [-i pidfile]
     [-p blocktime] [-s detection_time] [-w address | whitelist_file] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
     sshguard protects hosts from brute-force attacks against SSH and other ser-
     vices. It aggregates system logs and blocks repeat offenders using  one  of
     several firewall backends.

     sshguard  can  monitor log files and the standard output of running a shell
     command. Log messages are parsed line-by-line for	recognized  attack  pat-
     terns.  Attackers are blocked when enough attack patterns are detected in a
     configurable  time interval. Attackers are blocked temporarily but can also
     be permanently blocked using the blacklist option.

     sshguard must be configured before its first run. See sshguard-setup(7).

OPTIONS
     -a threshold (default 30)
	    Each detected attack increases an attacker's attack  score,  usually
	    by 10.  Block attackers when their attack score exceeds threshold.

     -b threshold:blacklist_file
	    Blacklist  an  attacker  when  its	attack	score exceeds threshold.
	    Blacklisted addresses are written to blacklist-file  and  never  un-
	    blocked, even after restarting sshguard.

     -i pidfile
	    Write  the	PID of sshguard to pidfile. pidfile is removed when ssh-
	    guard exits.

     -p blocktime (default 120)
	    Block first-time attackers for blocktime seconds. Subsequent  blocks
	    increase in duration by a factor of 1.5. Since sshguard unblocks at-
	    tackers  at  random  intervals,  actual  block times may be somewhat
	    longer.

     -s detection_time (default 1800)
	    Reset an attacker's attack score after detection_time seconds  since
	    the  last  attack. This means that attackers who attack every detec-
	    tion_time seconds are never blocked by  sshguard.  However,  an  in-
	    creased detection_time may have an impact on legitimate users.

     [-w address | whitelist_file]
	    Whitelist  a single address, hostname, or address block given as ad-
	    dress. This option can be given multiple times. Alternatively,  pro-
	    vide  an  absolute	path to a whitelist_file containing addresses to
	    whitelist. See WHITELISTING.

     -h     Print usage information and exit.

     -v     Print version information and exit.

ENVIRONMENT
     SSHGUARD_DEBUG
	    Set to enable verbose output from sshg-blocker.

FILES
     %PREFIX%/etc/sshguard.conf
	    See sample configuration file.

WHITELISTING
     Whitelisted addresses are never blocked. Addresses can be specified on  the
     command line or be stored in a file.

     On  the  command  line, give the -w option one or more times with an IP ad-
     dress, CIDR address block, or hostname as an argument.  Hostnames	are  re-
     solved  once  at startup. If a hostname resolves to multiple addresses, all
     of them are whitelisted. For example:

	sshguard -w 192.168.1.10 -w 192.168.0.0/24 -w friend.example.com
	    -w 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334
	    -w 2002:836b:4179::836b:0000/126

     If the argument to -w begins with a forward slash ('/') or dot  ('.'),  the
     argument is treated as the path to a whitelist file.

     The whitelist file contains comments (lines beginning with '#'), addresses,
     address blocks, or hostnames, one per line.

SEE ALSO
     sshguard-setup(7)

2.4				 March 16, 2021 		     SSHGUARD(8)

home | help