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First VPS — Is 54 SSH bans in 12 hours normal? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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So it's my first time setting up a VPS. Is it to be expected to ban 54 IPs over a 12h timespan? The real question for me is whether this is normal or too much.

$ sudo fail2ban-client status sshd
Status for the jail: sshd
|- Filter
|  |- Currently failed: 3
|  |- Total failed:     586
|  `- Journal matches:  _SYSTEMD_UNIT=ssh.service + _COMM=sshd
`- Actions
   |- Currently banned: 51
   |- Total banned:     54
   `- Banned IP list:   [list of IPs]

fail2ban sshd.conf

$ sudo cat /etc/fail2ban/jail.d/sshd.conf 
[sshd]
enabled = true
mode = aggressive
port = ssh
backend = systemd
maxretry = 3
findtime = 600
bantime = 86400

I have disabled SSH login via password. And only allow it over an SSH key.

$ sudo sshd -T | grep -E -i 'ChallengeResponseAuthentication|PasswordAuthentication|UsePAM|PermitRootLogin'
usepam no
permitrootlogin no
passwordauthentication no
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[–] 18 points 6 months ago (5 children)

Yeah. Sounds about right.

First of all disable root login over ssh. Second, move your ssh from port 22 to another port of your liking. Third, disable password authentication altogether and use only solid certificates.

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

    Switching SSH to a non-standard port can cut down on log noise but it doesn't really help with security. It's trivial to identify ssh running on any port and attackers typically do full port scans anyway.

    I'd put that effort towards allowlisting only trusted public ips or setting up wireguard/tailscale for ssh access instead.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Root login and password authentication are already disabled, and it's very uncommon for self hosters to use SSH certificates at all.

    Changing the SSH port away from 22 does not improve security unless your password is "password" or "admin". Anybody who's even slightly sophisticated will find your SSH service on the correct port and make requests there instead.

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