The mod_geoip module uses the GeoIP library from MaxMind to look up various geographic information for a connecting client:

  http://www.maxmind.com/app/c

This module is contained in the mod_geoip.c file for ProFTPD 1.3.x, and is not compiled by default. Installation instructions are discussed here.

The most current version of mod_geoip is distributed with the ProFTPD source code.

This product includes GeoLite data created by MaxMind, available from http://www.maxmind.com/.

Author

Please contact TJ Saunders <tj at castaglia.org> with any questions, concerns, or suggestions regarding this module.

Directives

• GeoIPAllowFilter
• GeoIPDenyFilter
• GeoIPEngine
• GeoIPLog
• GeoIPPolicy
• GeoIPTable

GeoIPAllowFilter

The GeoIPAllowFilter directive is used to configure ACLs based on the geographic data provided by the GeoIP library.

Multiple GeoIPAllowFilter directives in the configuration are supported; if any filter matches the connecting client, the connection will be allowed.

The filter parameter specifies the GeoIP value to which to apply the configured pattern for matching. The possible filter values are:

• AreaCode
• ASN
• City
• Continent
• CountryCode
• CountryCode3
• CountryName
• ISP
• Latitude
• Longitude
• NetworkSpeed
• Organization
• PostalCode
• Proxy
• RegionCode
• RegionName
• Timezone

The pattern parameter is case-insensitive regular expression that will be applied to the specified filter value, if available.

Note that as of proftpd-1.3.6rc3 and later, the GeoIPAllowFilter directive can also take a single parameter which specifies a SQL query (via mod_sql's SQLNamedQuery), which will be used to retrieve the filter and pattern values to use.

Examples:

  # Allow clients with high-speed connections
  GeoIPAllowFilter NetworkSpeed corporate

  # Reject clients connecting from North America or South America
  GeoIPDenyFilter Continent (NA|SA)

  <IfModule mod_sql.c>
    ...
    SQLNamedQuery get-geo-allowed SELECT "filter_name, pattern FROM allowed_user_geo WHERE user_name = '%u'"
    SQLNamedQuery get-geo-denied SELECT "filter_name, pattern FROM denied_user_geo WHERE user_name = '%u'"
  </IfModule>

  <IfModule mod_geoip.c>
    GeoIPEngine on

    GeoIPAllowFilter sql:/get-geo-allowed
    GeoIPDenyFilter sql:/get-geo-denied
  </IfModule>

  CREATE TABLE allowed_user_geo (
    user_name TEXT,
    filter_name TEXT,
    pattern TEXT
  );

  CREATE TABLE denied_user_geo (
    user_name TEXT,
    filter_name TEXT,
    pattern TEXT
  );

  # Note that we create separate indexes, to allow for multiple rows per user
  CREATE INDEX allowed_user_geo_name_idx ON allowed_user_geo (user_name);
  CREATE INDEX denied_user_geo_name_idx ON denied_user_geo (user_name);

GeoIPDenyFilter

The GeoIPDenyFilter directive is used to configure ACLs based on the geographic data provided by the GeoIP library.

Multiple GeoIPDenyFilter directives in the configuration are supported; if any filter matches the connecting client, the connection will be rejected.

Note that as of proftpd-1.3.6rc3 and later, the GeoIPDenyFilter directive can also take a single parameter which specifies a SQL query (via mod_sql's SQLNamedQuery), which will be used to retrieve the filter and pattern values to use.

See GeoIPAllowFilter for a description of the directive syntax and parameters.

GeoIPEngine

The GeoIPEngine directive enables or disables the module's lookup of geographic information for a connecting client, and subsequent enforcement of any configured ACLs.

GeoIPLog

The GeoIPLog directive is used to specify a log file for mod_geoip's reporting on a per-server basis. The file parameter given must be the full path to the file to use for logging.

Note that this path must not be to a world-writable directory and, unless AllowLogSymlinks is explicitly set to on (generally a bad idea), the path must not be a symbolic link.

GeoIPPolicy

The GeoIPPolicy directive determines whether the mod_geoip module will allow a connection by default or not.

If GeoIPPolicy is configured using "allow,deny" (which is the default setting), then the mod_geoip module will allow the connection, unless the connecting client is rejected by any GeoIPDenyFilter rules.

If GeoIPPolicy is configured using "deny,allow", then the mod_geoip module will reject any connection, unless the connecting client matches any configured GeoIPAllowFilter rules.

GeoIPTable

The GeoIPTable directive is used to a GeoIP database file for use by the GeoIP library. The path parameter given must be the full path to the database file.

If no GeoIPTable directive is configured, then the GeoIP library will use the default GeoIP Country database file installed with the library. Otherwise, only the database files configured via GeoIPTable directives will be used.

Multiple GeoIPTable directives can be used to configure multiple different GeoIP database files for use at the same time.

The possible flags values supported are:

• Standard

  Reads the database from the filesystem; uses the least memory but causes database to be read for each connection.

• MemoryCache

  Loads the database into memory; faster performance but uses the most memory. Tables configured with MemoryCache are loaded into the parent process memory, avoiding the need to read them for each connection.

• CheckCache

  Causes the GeoIP library to check for database updates. If the database has been updated, the library will automatically reload the file and/or memory cache.

• IndexCache

  Loads just the most frequently accessed index portion of the database into memory, resulting in faster lookups than Standard but less memory usage than MemoryCache. This can be useful for larger databases such as GeoIP Organization and GeoIP City.

• MMapCache

  Loads the database into mmap shared memory.

• UTF8

  Tells the GeoIP library to return UTF8 strings for the data obtained from this database file. By default, the GeoIP library uses ISO-8859-1 encoded strings.

Examples:

  GeoIPTable /path/to/GeoIP.dat MemoryCache CheckCache
  GeoIPTable /path/to/GeoISP.dat Standard
  GeoIPTable /path/to/GeoIPCity.dat IndexCache

Installation

  $ ./configure --with-modules=mod_geoip

  $ ./configure --with-shared=mod_geoip

  $ make
  $ make install

  $ ./configure --with-modules=mod_geoip \
    --with-includes=/usr/local/geoip/include \
    --with-libraries=/usr/local/geoip/lib

Alternatively, if your proftpd was compiled with DSO support, you can use the prxs tool to build mod_geoip as a shared module:

  $ prxs -c -i -d mod_geoip.c

Usage

Access Controls
If any GeoIPAllowFilter or GeoIPDenyFilter directives are configured, the mod_geoip module applies them against the geographic information retrieved from the GeoIP library. First any GeoIPAllowFilters are checked. If any of these filters matches the connecting client's information, the connection is allowed. Next, any GeoIPDenyFilters are checked. If any of these filters matches the connecting client's information, the connection is closed. Otherwise, the connection is allowed.

This means that if you wanted to reject connections from the US except for connections from California, you might use something like this:

  # Deny all connections from the US
  GeoIPDenyFilter CountryCode US

  # But allow connections from California
  GeoIPAllowFilter RegionCode CA

Environment Variables
The mod_geoip module will set the following environment variables whenever a client connects, assuming that the appropriate GeoIP tables have been configured and the values are known for the connecting client:

• GEOIP_AREA_CODE
• GEOIP_ASN
• GEOIP_CITY
• GEOIP_CONTINENT_CODE
• GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE (two-letter country code)
• GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE3 (three-letter country code)
• GEOIP_COUNTRY_NAME
• GEOIP_ISP
• GEOIP_LATITUDE
• GEOIP_LONGITUDE
• GEOIP_NETSPEED
• GEOIP_ORGANIZATION
• GEOIP_POSTAL_CODE
• GEOIP_PROXY
• GEOIP_REGION
• GEOIP_REGION_NAME
• GEOIP_TIMEZONE

Example Configuration

  <IfModule mod_geoip.c>
    GeoIPEngine on
    GeoIPLog /path/to/ftpd/geoip.log

    # Load GeoLite city database into memory on server startup, and use
    # UTF8-encoded city names
    GeoIPTable /path/to/GeoLiteCity.dat MemoryCache UTF8

    # Add your GeoIPAllowFilter/GeoIPDenyFilter rules here
  </IfModule>

Logging
The mod_geoip module supports different forms of logging. The main module logging is done via the GeoIPLog directive. For debugging purposes, the module also uses trace logging, via the module-specific log channels:

• geoip

  TraceLog /path/to/ftpd/trace.log
  Trace geoip:20

Suggested Future Features
The following lists the features I hope to add to mod_geoip, according to need, demand, inclination, and time:

• Configure a message to be sent to rejected clients
• Support requiring all GeoIPAllowFilter/GeoIPDenyFilter to apply, in addition to any

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: How I can whitelist specific clients from mod_geoip's checking?
Answer: You should be able to easily do this using classes and the mod_ifsession module. For example:

  <Class geoip-whitelist>
    From 1.2.3.4
  </Class>

  <IfModule mod_geoip.c>
    # Add the normal mod_geoip directives here except GeoIPEngine
  </IfModule>

  <IfClass geoip-whitelist>
    # Disable mod_geoip for the whitelisted clients
    GeoIPEngine off
  </IfClass>

  <IfClass !geoip-whitelist>
    # Enable mod_geoip for all non-whitelisted clients
    GeoIPEngine on
  </IfClass>

Question: How I can require that a connection match multiple rules, e.g. both a RegionCode and a CountryCode?
Answer: In a given GeoIPAllowFilter or GeoIPDenyFilter, you can configure a list of filters/patterns. And all of these filters must be matched, in order for that GeoIPAllowFilter or GeoIPDenyFilter to be matched. Thus you can use:

  # Deny all connections, unless they are explicitly allowed
  GeoIPPolicy deny,allow

  # Allow only connections from TX, US
  GeoIPAllowFilter RegionCode TX CountryCode US

Question: Does mod_geoip support IPv6?
Answer: Yes, assuming that the IPv6 MaxMind tables are configured via GeoIPTable. You can find the free IPv6 country and city "legacy" files; see this MaxMind IPv6 FAQ for details.

Question: Is it possible to configure mod_geoip to block connections from a geographic region for a specific user?
Answer: Yes, in conjunction with the mod_ifsession module.

To do this, you would configure mod_geoip as normal, and then have an <IfUser> section like so:

  <IfModule mod_geoip.c>
    GeoIPEngine on
    GeoIPLog /var/log/proftpd/geoip.log
    GeoIPTable /usr/share/GeoIP/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb
    GeoIPPolicy allow,deny
  </IfModule>

  <IfModule mod_ifsession.c>
    <IfUser baduser>
      GeoIPDenyFilter CountryCode CZ
    </IfUser>
  </IfModule>