Any security issues with running pound and privoxy on my pfsense box?

[Cino]

Its a FreeBSD port so no compiling needed.

I used a mixed of command line and WinSCP to get this done:

from the command line type:

pkg_add -r pound

Now create this file with 0644 permissions, i did by using WinSCP:

/usr/local/etc/pound.cfg

I can't help create your pound.cfg as it unique to everyone setups but you can use mine as a base

######################################################################
## global options:

User		"nobody"
Group		"nobody"
RootJail	"/var/jail/pound/"

## Logging: (goes to syslog by default)
##	0	no logging
##	1	normal
##	2	extended
##	3	Apache-style (common log format)
LogLevel	1
LogFacility deamon

## check backend every X secs:
Alive		30

## use hardware-accelleration card supported by openssl(1):
#SSLEngine	""

######################################################################
## listen, redirect and ... to:

## HTTP Listener
ListenHTTP
	Address 127.0.0.1
	Port    9080
	LogLevel 0
End

## HTTPS Listener
ListenHTTPS
	Address 127.0.0.1
	Port    9443
	Cert    "/var/jail/pound/host.domain.net.pem"
	LogLevel 0
End

	Service
		HeadRequire "Host: ted5000.host.domain.net"

		BackEnd
			Address 192.168.0.x
			Port    80
		End
	End
	Service
		HeadRequire "Host: nasbox.host.domain.net"

		BackEnd
			Address 192.168.0.x
			Port    80
		End
	End
	Service
		HeadRequire "Host: mrtg.host.domain.net"

		BackEnd
			Address 192.168.0.x
			Port    9191
		End
	End
	Service
		HeadRequire "Host:.*host.domain.net.*"

		BackEnd
			Address 192.168.0.x
			Port    80
		End
	End

You can comment out the RootJail but I configured it for added security. If you do want to use it make sure you create the below folders(they dont have to be /var/jail, but should be somewhere within /var).My permissions for the folders are 0755. If you do plan to use SSL, make sure you create the …pound/dev/urandom. Its needed only for SSL or it wont work. Also copying the localtime file over ensures pound will log based on your timezone and not GMT

mkdir /var/jail
mkdir /var/jail/pound
mkdir /var/jail/pound/dev
mkdir /var/jail/pound/etc
mknod /var/jail/pound/dev/urandom c 1 9
cp /etc/localtime /var/jail/pound/etc/localtime

For testing I would change the HTTP/HTTPS Listener LogLevel to 1. But change it back to 0 unless you want to see logs for every web page/image that is access(Use your web server logging for this, and make sure it can accept 'x-forwarded-for' because that's where the client IP will be at)

Create your NAT/Firewall rules base(Or see first post for a picture):
NAT:

WAN 	TCP 	* 	* 	WAN address 	80 (HTTP) 	127.0.0.1 	9080 	HTTP pound redirect  	
WAN 	TCP 	* 	* 	WAN address 	443 (HTTPS) 	127.0.0.1 	9443 	HTTPS pound redirect  	

Firewall:

IPv4 TCP 	* 	* 	127.0.0.1 	9080 	* 	none 	  	NAT HTTP pound redirect  	
IPv4 TCP 	* 	* 	127.0.0.1 	9443 	* 	none 	  	NAT HTTPS pound redirect

To start pound from the command line:

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/pound forcestart

To have to auto start on reboot. Add this to your config.xml under the system section:

<shellcmd>/usr/local/etc/rc.d/pound forcestart</shellcmd>

I think that's it…These were the steps I did to get it running... Hope it helps!

[Cino]

@heavy1metal:

A write up would be awesome, everywhere I've read talks about re-compiling the kernal with it bundled in somehow. I read your other post about NAT'ing the ports for the mail server etc.. if you do this, could you let me know if there are any latency issues? I've read somewhere in the past that by adding a NAT vs just opening the port can cause a delay (more so when you have higher volumes).

I only have an internal SMTP server. The internet doesn't have inbound access to it so I dont know if there are any latency issues with NAT.

[emanuelebruno]

@heavy1metal:

If you do plan to use SSL, make sure you create the …pound/dev/urandom. Its needed only for SSL or it wont work.

Hi heavy1metal, I'd like to use SSL in the future, can you explain to me exactly how can I create the pound/dev/urandom file? Thanks for all.
Sincerely,
Emanuele Bruno.

[Cino]

@emanuelebruno:

@heavy1metal:

If you do plan to use SSL, make sure you create the …pound/dev/urandom. Its needed only for SSL or it wont work.

Hi heavy1metal, I'd like to use SSL in the future, can you explain to me exactly how can I create the pound/dev/urandom file? Thanks for all.
Sincerely,
Emanuele Bruno.

Did you read my how-to? its in it, http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,33566.msg174126.html#msg174126

[FlexyZ]

Cino where can I grab the template package for pound?

thx

[Cino]

@FlexyZ:

Cino where can I grab the template package for pound?

thx

What do you mean by template package? There is no pfsense package for pound… This is a command-line install/how-to I did... You can take my how-to and create a package if you want. I don't know how to but will be looking into it but don't wait on me to build a package, could take a year or may never happen as I'm not a programmer.

[FlexyZ]

where did you get the "pound" package for the "pkg_add -r pound"

thx

[Cino]

@FlexyZ:

where did you get the "pound" package for the "pkg_add -r pound"

thx

From freebsd ports, it will go here to grab the port:

ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-8.1-release/Latest/pound.tbz

[nutt318]

Cino,

I am having the same issue getting modsecurity to work and thinking about using your solution with pound. Just wanted to see if you have tried anything else to get modsecurity to work?

Thanks,
Jake

[Cino]

i haven't tried modsecurity in months..