🛡️How to Enable Enhanced DOS Protection in Imunify360

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📋 Environment

  • Product: Imunify360
  • OS: Any (AlmaLinux, CloudLinux, Ubuntu, etc.)
  • Control Panel: Any (cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin, Webuzo, etc.)

🔍 Overview

Enhanced DOS Protection is a powerful feature introduced in Imunify360 Firewall Module version 7.6. It provides advanced detection and mitigation of Denial of Service attacks, such as HTTP floods. By default, this feature is disabled, and must be activated and configured using the command-line interface (CLI).

🧰 Step-by-Step Guide

1️⃣ Ensure You’re Running Imunify360 v7.6 or Higher

Check your current Imunify360 version:

imunify360-agent --version

If it’s below version 7.6, update Imunify360:

imunify360-agent update

🔗 Official Imunify360 Update Documentation

2️⃣ Enable Enhanced DOS Protection

Activate the feature with the following command:

imunify360-agent config update '{"ENHANCED_DOS":{"enabled":true}}'

3️⃣ Customize Protection Thresholds (Optional)

Adjust the detection timeframe (in seconds):

imunify360-agent config update '{"ENHANCED_DOS":{"timeframe":60}}'

Modify the default request limit:

imunify360-agent config update '{"ENHANCED_DOS":{"default_limit":500}}'

This means a single IP can make 500 requests within the 60-second timeframe before being flagged.

4️⃣ Set Port-Specific Limits (Optional)

You can apply different rate limits to specific ports. For example, to set a lower threshold for HTTP (port 80):

imunify360-agent config update '{"ENHANCED_DOS": {"port_limits": {"80": 150}}}'

You can include multiple ports like so:

imunify360-agent config update '{"ENHANCED_DOS": {"port_limits": {"80": 150, "443": 300}}}'

5️⃣ Configure CAPTCHA DoS Parameters (Recommended)

To prevent abusive clients from repeatedly hitting CAPTCHA challenges, enable automatic blacklisting:

Example (if implemented in future versions or documented):

imunify360-agent config update '{"CAPTCHA_DOS":{"auto_blacklist":true}}'

Refer to the latest Imunify360 documentation for updates on CAPTCHA_DOS integration.

📚 Additional Resources

✅ Conclusion

Enabling and fine-tuning Enhanced DOS Protection allows your server to intelligently detect and block abusive traffic, greatly reducing the risk and impact of denial-of-service attacks. Be sure to:

  • Monitor logs (/var/log/imunify360/)
  • Fine-tune thresholds based on real traffic
  • Adjust port limits as needed for different services
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