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Quick Snort Setup Instructions for New Users

IDS/IPS
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  • D
    dhettinger
    last edited by May 29, 2013, 9:43 PM

    Just wanted to say thanks, I'm a first time Snort user and this really helped me get things up and running to the point where I can start dicking around and experimenting.  :D

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • ?
      A Former User
      last edited by May 31, 2013, 3:14 AM May 30, 2013, 12:23 AM

      The Missing Part to Quick Snort Setup Instructions for New Users

      Instructions on making the most of your shiny new IDS
      Snort is designed to block pretty much anything you can think of. That's why there are many false positives. When I first started using snort, I was constantly banging my head on my desk because most sites would be blocked for (seemingly) no reason.
      The CORRECT way to stop false positives is to disable the rules causing them, NOT using suppression lists. I may hear you ask "but all other places on the internet say use suppression lists, why shouldn't I?".
      A little (simplified) info on how snort works will help you understand why.
      Snort takes the packets and analyses them. Matches to the rules will be forwarded to alerts, then pfsense's plugin takes over and bans them. Suppression lists work just before the last step. They stop alerts from being produced. Disabling rules stops the "process" at the very beginning. Why analyze a packet if you are going to ignore it? This saves CPU processing which could be used for other purposes (eg enable more rules).
      There are times when this will not work. Rules deep deep inside snort (preprocessor rules) have no way of being disabled (if I'm wrong about this, please correct me). That's where suppression lists become useful.

      With that out of the way, this is the process to stop false positives.

      1. Identify the rule causing them. On the alerts tab you will find all alerts (no kidding). The last columns should show a number in the format x:YYYY:x and an explanation for the rule.
        I'll use this for this example:
        x:2000419:x ET POLICY PE EXE or DLL Windows file download
      2. copy the YYYY part (2000419). Take a look at the explanation. ET (emerging threats) POLICY. This means you'll find this rule in emerging-policy list.
      3. go to the snort home page (services> snort). Click the e to edit interface settings, then go to rules. In the drop down select emerging-policy. Assuming you use firefox, CTRL+F and paste the rule number (called sig_id, signature ID) and click next. For other browsers, find a way to search the page for a term and enter the number there.
      4. click the red or yellow (depending if you previously enabled the rule) to turn it into a lighter shade of yellow (see bottom of page).
      5. top of page, click apply changes and wait for the page to reload.
      6. go back to the snort home page and restart the interface (click the red x until it becomes green, wait a couple of seconds and click it again to turn it back to red) <<< DO NOT FORGET THIS STEP
        –----warning!!!-------
        as of version 2.5.8 the icons are now swapped. Green is running, red is not running. So invert the colors above

      1. relax, the rule is now disabled and will stop generating alerts. Go to blocked tab, and find the ip that it previously banned and unban it (click the button to the right of the explanation).

      In that rare case you cannot find the rule causing the alert (eg explanation does not offer information about the list), first check GPLv2 list, then IPS policy list. If you still cannot find it, a suppression entry is needed. Simply click the add to suppression list (little +) next to the rule on the alerts tab. Assuming you have set up your suppression list correctly, it will be added to it. Restart the interface (step 6 above), unban the ip, and you are done!

      And now for my contribution to the community. The default enabled rules are too relaxed. We need to enable more rules, but a word of caution. ONLY USE THIS LIST IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH MEMORY.
      I'm currently using it on redundant CARP firewalls, with a crappy p4 cpu and 2GB of ram each. The systems average about 25-30% RAM usage.The list below shows how snort is configured on a production environment and works perfectly (for me) but it is not complete. Entries that do not have a DONE > in front of them are NOT COMPLETED. Please review and make changes depending on your environment.

      In tab "Rules", under "Category" select:
      (--- means blank table at time of writing)

      DONE > emerging-activex > all

      DONE > emerging-attack_responses > all

      DONE > emerging-botcc > all

      DONE > emerging-chat > all except:
      2010784 ET CHAT Facebook Chat (send message)
      2010785 ET CHAT Facebook Chat (buddy list)
      2010786 ET CHAT Facebook Chat (settings)
      2010819 ET CHAT Facebook Chat using XMPP
      2002327 ET CHAT Google Talk (Jabber) Client Login
      2002334 ET CHAT Google IM traffic Jabber client sign-on
      2001241 ET CHAT MSN file transfer request
      2001242 ET CHAT MSN file transfer accept
      2001243 ET CHAT MSN file transfer reject
      2001682 ET CHAT MSN IM Poll via HTTP
      2002192 ET CHAT MSN status change
      2008289 ET CHAT Possible MSN Messenger File Transfer
      2009375 ET CHAT General MSN Chat Activity
      2009376 ET CHAT MSN User-Agent Activity

      DONE > emerging-ciarmy > all

      DONE > emerging-compromised > all

      DONE > emerging-current_events > all

      DONE > emerging-deleted > ---

      DONE > emerging-dns > all except:
      2008446 ET DNS Excessive DNS Responses with 1 or more RR's (100+ in 10
      seconds) - possible Cache Poisoning Attempt
      2008470 ET DNS Excessive NXDOMAIN responses - Possible DNS Backscatter or Domain Generation Algorithm Lookups
      2001117 ET DNS Standard query response, Name Error

      DONE > emerging-dos > all

      DONE > emerging-drop > all

      DONE > emerging-dshield > all

      DONE > emerging-exploit > all except:
      2001058 ET EXPLOIT libpng tRNS overflow attempt
      2002913 ET EXPLOIT VNC Client response
      2002914 ET EXPLOIT VNC Server VNC Auth Offer
      2002919 ET EXPLOIT VNC Good Authentication Reply
      2002915 ET EXPLOIT VNC Authentication Reply
      2002758 ET EXPLOIT WMF Escape Record Exploit - Version 1
      2002742 ET EXPLOIT WMF Escape Record Exploit - Version 3

      DONE > emerging-ftp > all

      DONE > emerging-games > all

      DONE > emerging-icmp > ---

      DONE > emerging-icmp_info > ---

      DONE > emerging-imap > ---

      DONE > emerging-inappropriate > all except:
      2002925 ET INAPPROPRIATE Google Image Search, Safe Mode Off
      2001608 ET INAPPROPRIATE Likely Porn

      DONE > emerging-info > all except:
      2014472 ET INFO JAVA - Java Archive Download
      2014473 ET INFO JAVA - Java Archive Download By Vulnerable Client
      2014819 ET INFO Packed Executable Download
      2015016 ET INFO FTP STOR to External Network
      2015561 ET INFO PDF Using CCITTFax Filter
      2015744 ET INFO EXE IsDebuggerPresent (Used in Malware Anti-Debugging)
      2016360 ET INFO JAVA - ClassID
      2016361 ET INFO JAVA - ClassID
      2016404 ET INFO MPEG Download Over HTTP (1)

      DONE > emerging-malware > all except:
      2008438 ET MALWARE Possible Windows executable sent when remote host claims to send a Text File

      DONE > emerging-misc > all

      DONE > emerging-mobile_malware > all except:
      2012251 ET MOBILE_MALWARE Google Android Device HTTP Request
      2012848 ET MOBILE_MALWARE Possible Mobile Malware POST of IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity in URI

      DONE > emerging-netbios > all

      DONE > emerging-p2p > all except:
      2000369 ET P2P BitTorrent Announce
      2007727 ET P2P possible torrent download
      2008581 ET P2P BitTorrent DHT ping request
      2008583 ET P2P BitTorrent DHT nodes reply
      2008585 ET P2P BitTorrent DHT announce_peers request
      2010144 ET P2P Vuze BT UDP Connection (5)
      2011699 ET P2P Bittorrent P2P Client User-Agent (Transmission/1.x)

      *emerging-policy > all except:
      2000419 ET POLICY PE EXE or DLL Windows file download
      2000428 ET POLICY ZIP file download
      2001115 ET POLICY MSI (microsoft installer file) download
      2003595 ET POLICY exe download via HTTP - Informational
      2001898 ET POLICY eBay Bid Placed
      2001907 ET POLICY eBay Placing Item for sale
      2001908 ET POLICY eBay View Item
      2001909 ET POLICY eBay Watch This Item
      2003303 ET POLICY FTP Login Attempt (non-anonymous)
      2003410 ET POLICY FTP Login Successful
      2003121 ET POLICY docs.google.com Activity
      2003597 ET POLICY Google Calendar in Use
      2002801 ET POLICY Google Desktop User-Agent Detected
      2002838 ET POLICY Google Search Appliance browsing the Internet
      2000035 ET POLICY Hotmail Inbox Access
      2000036 ET POLICY Hotmail Message Access
      2000037 ET POLICY Hotmail Compose Message Access
      2000038 ET POLICY Hotmail Compose Message Submit
      2000039 ET POLICY Hotmail Compose Message Submit Data
      2008238 ET POLICY Hotmail Inbox Access
      2008239 ET POLICY Hotmail Message Access
      2008240 ET POLICY Hotmail Compose Message Access
      2008242 ET POLICY Hotmail Access Full Mode
      2006408 ET POLICY HTTP Request on Unusual Port Possibly Hostile
      2006409 ET POLICY HTTP POST on unusual Port Possibly Hostile
      2002330 ET POLICY Google Talk TLS Client Traffic
      2002332 ET POLICY Google IM traffic Windows client user sign-on
      2002333 ET POLICY Google IM traffic friend invited
      2002878 ET POLICY iTunes User Agent
      2002722 ET POLICY MP3 File Transfer Outbound
      2002723 ET POLICY MP3 File Transfer Inbound
      2001114 ET POLICY Mozilla XPI install files download
      2001973 ET POLICY SSH Server Banner Detected on Expected Port
      2001974 ET POLICY SSH Client Banner Detected on Expected Port
      2001975 ET POLICY SSHv2 Server KEX Detected on Expected Port
      2001976 ET POLICY SSHv2 Client KEX Detected on Expected Port
      2001977 ET POLICY SSHv2 Client New Keys detected on Expected Port
      2001978 ET POLICY SSH session in progress on Expected Port
      2001979 ET POLICY SSH Server Banner Detected on Unusual Port
      2001980 ET POLICY SSH Client Banner Detected on Unusual Port
      2001981 ET POLICY SSHv2 Server KEX Detected on Unusual Port
      2001982 ET POLICY SSHv2 Client KEX Detected on Unusual Port
      2001983 ET POLICY SSHv2 Client New Keys Detected on Unusual Port
      2001984 ET POLICY SSH session in progress on Unusual Port
      2013031 ET POLICY Python-urllib/ Suspicious User Agent
      2013414 ET POLICY Executable served from Amazon S3
      2014297 ET POLICY Vulnerable Java Version 1.7.x Detected
      2012647 ET POLICY Dropbox.com Offsite File Backup in Use
      2012648 ET POLICY Dropbox Client Broadcasting
      2014313 ET POLICY Executable Download From DropBox

      DONE > emerging-pop3 > ---

      DONE > emerging-rbn-malvertisers > all

      DONE > emerging-rbn > all

      DONE > emerging-rpc > ---

      DONE > emerging-scada > all

      DONE > emerging-scan > all except
      2002992 ET SCAN Rapid POP3 Connections - Possible Brute Force Attack
      2002993 ET SCAN Rapid POP3S Connections - Possible Brute Force Attack
      2002994 ET SCAN Rapid IMAP Connections - Possible Brute Force Attack
      2002995 ET SCAN Rapid IMAPS Connections - Possible Brute Force Attack

      DONE > emerging-shellcode > all except
      2011803 ET SHELLCODE Possible TCP x86 JMP to CALL Shellcode Detected
      2012252 ET SHELLCODE Common 0a0a0a0a Heap Spray String
      2012257 ET SHELLCODE Common %0c%0c%0c%0c Heap Spray String
      2012510 ET SHELLCODE UTF-8/16 Encoded Shellcode
      2013222 ET SHELLCODE Excessive Use of HeapLib Objects Likely Malicious Heap Spray Attempt
      2013267 ET SHELLCODE Hex Obfuscated JavaScript Heap Spray 0a0a0a0a

      DONE > emerging-smtp > all

      DONE > emerging-snmp > all

      DONE > emerging-sql > all

      DONE > emerging-telnet > all

      DONE > emerging-tftp > all

      DONE > emerging-tor > all

      emerging-trojan > all except

      DONE > emerging-user_agents > all except:
      2010697 ET USER_AGENTS Suspicious User-Agent Beginning with digits - Likely spyware/trojan

      DONE > emerging-voip > all

      DONE > emerging-web_client > all except
      2011347 ET WEB_CLIENT Possible String.FromCharCode Javascript Obfuscation Attempt
      2011507 ET WEB_CLIENT PDF With Embedded File
      2010518 ET WEB_CLIENT Possible HTTP 404 XSS Attempt (External Source)
      2012119 ET WEB_CLIENT Possible Hex Obfuscation Usage On Webpage
      2012205 ET WEB_CLIENT Possible Malicious String.fromCharCode with charCodeAt String
      2012266 ET WEB_CLIENT Hex Obfuscation of unescape % Encoding
      2012272 ET WEB_CLIENT Hex Obfuscation of eval % Encoding
      2012398 ET WEB_CLIENT Hex Obfuscation of replace Javascript Function % Encoding

      DONE > emerging-web_server > all except
      2003099 ET WEB_SERVER Poison Null Byte

      emerging-web_specific_apps > all except:
      2010890 ET WEB_SPECIFIC_APPS phpBB3 registration (Step1 GET)
      2010891 ET WEB_SPECIFIC_APPS phpBB3 registration (Step2 POST)
      2010892 ET WEB_SPECIFIC_APPS phpBB3 registration (Step3 GET)
      2010893 ET WEB_SPECIFIC_APPS phpBB3 registration (Step4 POST)

      DONE > emerging-worm > all

      DONE > GPLv2 community rules > all except
      254 DNS SPOOF query response with TTL of 1 min. and no authority
      384 PROTOCOL-ICMP PING
      385 PROTOCOL-ICMP traceroute
      399 PROTOCOL-ICMP Destination Unreachable Host Unreachable
      402 PROTOCOL-ICMP Destination Unreachable Port Unreachable
      408 PROTOCOL-ICMP Echo Reply
      540 POLICY-SOCIAL Microsoft MSN message
      648 INDICATOR-SHELLCODE x86 NOOP
      649 INDICATOR-SHELLCODE x86 setgid 0
      1200 INDICATOR-COMPROMISE Invalid URL
      1201 INDICATOR-COMPROMISE 403 Forbidden
      1292 INDICATOR-COMPROMISE directory listing
      1390 INDICATOR-SHELLCODE x86 inc ebx NOOP
      1394 INDICATOR-SHELLCODE x86 inc ecx NOOP
      1437 FILE-IDENTIFY Microsoft Windows Media download detected
      1841 FILE-OTHER Oracle Javascript URL host spoofing attempt
      1846 POLICY-MULTIMEDIA vncviewer Java applet download attempt
      1852 SERVER-WEBAPP robots.txt access
      1986 POLICY-SOCIAL Microsoft MSN outbound file transfer request
      1988 POLICY-SOCIAL Microsoft MSN outbound file transfer accept
      1989 POLICY-SOCIAL Microsoft MSN outbound file transfer rejected
      1990 POLICY-SOCIAL Microsoft MSN user search
      1991 POLICY-SOCIAL Microsoft MSN login attempt
      2180 PUA-P2P BitTorrent announce request
      2181 PUA-P2P BitTorrent transfer
      2707 FILE-IMAGE JPEG parser multipacket heap overflow
      3463 SERVER-WEBAPP awstats access
      25518 OS-OTHER Apple iPod User-Agent detected
      25519 OS-OTHER Apple iPad User-Agent detected
      25520 OS-OTHER Apple iPhone User-Agent detected
      25521 OS-OTHER Android User-Agent detected
      25522 OS-OTHER Nokia User-Agent detected
      25523 OS-OTHER Samsung User-Agent detected
      25524 OS-OTHER Kindle User-Agent detected
      25525 OS-OTHER Nintendo User-Agent detected

      *IPS Policy - Security > all except
      4152 BROWSER-PLUGINS Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.4 ActiveX object access
      19436 BROWSER-IE Microsoft Internet Explorer CStyleSheetRule array memory corruption attempt

      Suppression List:
      #GLOBAL

      gen_id 1

      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 536
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 648
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 653
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 1390
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2452
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 11192
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 15306
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 16313
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 17458
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 20583
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 23098
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2000334
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2008120
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2010516
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 20122758
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2014518
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2014520
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2100366
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2100368
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2100651
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2101390
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2101424
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2102314
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2103134
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 2500056
      suppress gen_id 1, sig_id 100000230
      suppress gen_id 3, sig_id 14772
      #(http_inspect) DOUBLE DECODING ATTACK
      suppress gen_id 119, sig_id 2
      #(http_inspect) BARE BYTE UNICODE ENCODING
      suppress gen_id 119, sig_id 4
      #(http_inspect) IIS UNICODE CODEPOINT ENCODING
      suppress gen_id 119, sig_id 7
      #(http_inspect) NON-RFC DEFINED CHAR [**]
      suppress gen_id 119, sig_id 14
      #(http_inspect) UNKNOWN METHOD
      suppress gen_id 119, sig_id 31
      #(http_inspect) SIMPLE REQUEST
      suppress gen_id 119, sig_id 32
      #(http_inspect) NO CONTENT-LENGTH OR TRANSFER-ENCODING IN HTTP RESPONSE
      suppress gen_id 120, sig_id 2
      #(http_inspect) NO CONTENT-LENGTH OR TRANSFER-ENCODING IN HTTP RESPONSE
      suppress gen_id 120, sig_id 3
      #(http_inspect) HTTP RESPONSE HAS UTF CHARSET WHICH FAILED TO NORMALIZE
      suppress gen_id 120, sig_id 4
      #(http_inspect) HTTP RESPONSE GZIP DECOMPRESSION FAILED
      suppress gen_id 120, sig_id 6
      #(http_inspect) INVALID CONTENT-LENGTH OR CHUNK SIZE
      suppress gen_id 120, sig_id 8
      #(http_inspect) JAVASCRIPT OBFUSCATION LEVELS EXCEEDS 1
      suppress gen_id 120, sig_id 9

      Unknown

      suppress gen_id 120, sig_id 10
      #(smtp) Attempted response buffer overflow: 1448 chars
      suppress gen_id 124, sig_id 3
      #(ftp_telnet) Invalid FTP Command
      suppress gen_id 125, sig_id 2
      #(ssp_ssl) Invalid Client HELLO after Server HELLO Detected
      suppress gen_id 137, sig_id 1
      #(IMAP) Unknown IMAP4 command
      suppress gen_id 141, sig_id 1

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • bmeeksB
        bmeeks
        last edited by Jun 6, 2013, 9:13 PM Jun 6, 2013, 9:12 PM

        I had a discussion recently with another Snort user about suggested setups.  The user was asking whether to run Snort just on the WAN, or to run it on both the WAN and LAN.  The post linked below describes a good Snort configuration method for users with a single WAN interface and a LAN interface using NAT (typical for home networks and some small businesses).

        http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,62928.msg341417.html#msg341417

        Bill

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • T
          traxxus
          last edited by Jun 8, 2013, 1:09 PM

          @bmeeks:

          I had a discussion recently with another Snort user about suggested setups.  The user was asking whether to run Snort just on the WAN, or to run it on both the WAN and LAN.  The post linked below describes a good Snort configuration method for users with a single WAN interface and a LAN interface using NAT (typical for home networks and some small businesses).

          http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,62928.msg341417.html#msg341417

          Bill

          Use this list :)

          http://services.ce3c.be/ciprg/?countrys=RUSSIAN+FEDERATION

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • D
            dhatz
            last edited by Jun 8, 2013, 8:30 PM Jun 8, 2013, 8:28 PM

            @traxxus:

            Use this list :)

            http://services.ce3c.be/ciprg/?countrys=RUSSIAN+FEDERATION

            Is there really any benefit in completely blocking entire countries ? I mean, looking at the logs of tens of servers, I'd say that most "bad" traffic seems to originate from hacked VPS in USA and Europe.

            I typically use country CIDR ranges to explicitly white-list ranges of IPs for SSH logins on certain systems, in those few cases where I "know" that nobody will login from abroad.

            PS: Sorry for high-jacking this thread, mod(s) please feel free to move this message to a more appropriate topic.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • V
              vipermy
              last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 2:00 PM Jul 4, 2013, 1:55 PM

              First of all, sorry if it's a noob question. We use pfSense as inter-department firewall within private network. We could install snort package through pfSense proxy setting. However, we couldn't perform the snort rule update. Is there anyway we could set the proxy snort update and how? or how to perform snort rule update manually?

              FYR, we are using pfSense 2.0.3 with Snort 2.9.4.6 pkg v. 2.5.9

              Thank you in advance.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • bmeeksB
                bmeeks
                last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 2:15 PM

                @vipermy:

                First of all, sorry if it's a noob question. We use pfSense as inter-department firewall within private network. We could install snort package through pfSense proxy setting. However, we couldn't perform the snort rule update. Is there anyway we could set the proxy snort update and how? or how to perform snort rule update manually?

                FYR, we are using pfSense 2.0.3 with Snort 2.9.4.6 pkg v. 2.5.9

                Thank you in advance.

                Proxy support for rule updates does not currently exist, but that is an excellent idea to add to the package.  I will put that on my TODO list.

                Give me a little time to investigate a temp workaround for you.  Perhaps a quick patch might be doable that allows Snort to use the pfSense proxy settings.

                Bill

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  Supermule Banned
                  last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 2:53 PM

                  Whats the syntax for whitelisting an ext. client IP in Snort?

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • bmeeksB
                    bmeeks
                    last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 4:03 PM

                    @Supermule:

                    Whats the syntax for whitelisting an ext. client IP in Snort?

                    I would create an Alias for the IP under Firewall…Aliases.  Then go to the Whitelist tab and either create new list or choose the one being used by the interface in question.  At the bottom of the edit screen for the whitelist is a red background textbox for adding an Alias.  Simply choose the Alias there you created.  Start typing the name of the Alias and a dropdown list should automatically appear of matching entries to choose from.

                    If there are several IPs, or may be several in the future, I would create an Alias group and put the IPs in there.  Then choose that group on the Whitelist edit page.

                    Bill

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      Supermule Banned
                      last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 4:09 PM

                      Yes but even if you run more than one whitelist, you can only add one for the WAN interface….

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • bmeeksB
                        bmeeks
                        last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 4:45 PM Jul 4, 2013, 4:38 PM

                        @Supermule:

                        Yes but even if you run more than one whitelist, you can only add one for the WAN interface….

                        Multiple whitelists for the same interface don't really make sense to me.  It all has to be a single file for the Spoink plugin anyway.  Now what could be done is allow the addition of multiple Aliases, but the same thing can be accomplished by using Alias groups.  So it's six of one and half-dozen of the other as we say in America  ;D  The idea with multiple whitelists is to have a different one for each interface if you want.

                        Perhaps you are not using Aliases to their full extent?  They are a powerful tool that makes future upkeep of the firewall rules and Snort easy.  When an IP changes, just change it once in the Alias tab and it is instantly changed everywhere that Alias is used.  Contrast this with having individual IPs scattered all over the rules in the firewall, Snort and other places.  Lots of places to change then and lots of opportunity for typos.

                        I have yet to encounter a whitelist situation that can't be solved with a single Alias group.  Then in that group I can add all kinds of host IPs and/or networks.  These all get translated into actual IPs when the whitelist file is built during generation of the snort.conf file.

                        Lots of commercial firewalls use the same idea as Aliases.  I work extensively with Check Point firewalls, and they call them "objects", but they work the same way as Aliases in pfSense.  In Check Point, you cannot enter an IP address or port number anywhere in a firewall rule.  Everything has to be entered as an object.  You first create objects having the IP addresses and ports you want to use, then you select those objects in your rules.  It seems extra work the first time you see it, but then you quickly start to appreciate the utility when you come along and need to change a host IP for instance.  Just change it in the object, push the firewall policy (Check Point's term for regenerating the configuration), and the new IP address is reflected in every rule that references it.  No need to manually update the IP in say a dozen rules or something (where each time you type it you could enter it wrong).

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • S
                          Supermule Banned
                          last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 4:46 PM

                          Alias Group??? Where in the GUI is that Bill?

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • bmeeksB
                            bmeeks
                            last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 4:54 PM

                            @Supermule:

                            Alias Group??? Where in the GUI is that Bill?

                            You can create an Alias that has other Aliases in it.  Under Firewall…Aliases.  Attached are two screenshots showing my whitelist alias group.  Click the (e) to edit the alias.  Then on the next screen click the (+) icon to add more entries to the alias (in effect making it an Alias Group).

                            Bill

                            whitelist_alias_group.jpg
                            whitelist_alias_group.jpg_thumb
                            Alias_group_edit.jpg
                            Alias_group_edit.jpg_thumb

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • S
                              Supermule Banned
                              last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 4:58 PM

                              This is great!! Thx ;)

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • bmeeksB
                                bmeeks
                                last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 4:59 PM

                                Here is the Whitelist entry itself.  Notice the Alias down at the bottom is the one created in the previous screenshots.

                                Bill

                                whitelist.jpg
                                whitelist.jpg_thumb

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • S
                                  Supermule Banned
                                  last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 5:00 PM

                                  I understand! Thx mate. Really appreciated!

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • bmeeksB
                                    bmeeks
                                    last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 5:05 PM

                                    @Supermule:

                                    I understand! Thx mate. Really appreciated!

                                    You're welcome. I just used some quick and dirty names for example, but you could name things logically and perhaps create a "WAN_whitelist_hosts" Alias and then others for different interfaces.  As I said, Aliases are very powerful tools once you get the hang of using them.

                                    Bill

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                                    • S
                                      Supermule Banned
                                      last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 5:13 PM

                                      I have named it Snort Friendly IP :D

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                                      • bmeeksB
                                        bmeeks
                                        last edited by Jul 4, 2013, 8:08 PM

                                        @vipermy:

                                        First of all, sorry if it's a noob question. We use pfSense as inter-department firewall within private network. We could install snort package through pfSense proxy setting. However, we couldn't perform the snort rule update. Is there anyway we could set the proxy snort update and how? or how to perform snort rule update manually?

                                        FYR, we are using pfSense 2.0.3 with Snort 2.9.4.6 pkg v. 2.5.9

                                        Thank you in advance.

                                        Sent you a PM with my e-mail address.  Reply back to the address and I will send you a patched file I would like for you to test for me.  I think it will allow Snort rule updates through the pfSense system proxy.

                                        Bill

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                                        • M
                                          Mr. Jingles
                                          last edited by Jul 7, 2013, 7:06 AM

                                          Thank you both for the explanations, I learned something valuable  ;D

                                          6 and a half billion people know that they are stupid, agressive, lower life forms.

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