Notice that a new kind of attack started to occur on Apache2 Wordpress servers that the default Fail2Ban configuration does not discover.
Attack are aimed towards cron.php
If you in /var/log/apache2/access.log
find something like
POST /wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron=1482585007.5419580936431884765625 HTTP/1.1
Solution / Fix
edit /etc/fail2ban/jail.config
and add this at bottom
[cron]
enabled = true
filter = cron
action = iptables[name=cron, port=http, protocol=tcp]
logpath = /var/log/apache2/access.log
bantime = 43600
maxretry = 2
create file /etc/fail2ban/filter.d/cron.conf
and add this
[Definition]
failregex = ^<HOST> .*POST .*wp-cron\.php.*
ignoreregex =
Open up SSH and run service fail2ban restart
To check status run tail -f /var/log/fail2ban.log
Extra XMLRPC attacks are nothing new but i put the config for it here also
edit /etc/fail2ban/jail.config
and add this at bottom
[xmlrpc]
enabled = true
filter = xmlrpc
action = iptables[name=xmlrpc, port=http, protocol=tcp]
logpath = /var/log/apache2/access.log
bantime = 43600
maxretry = 2
create file /etc/fail2ban/filter.d/xmlrpc.conf
and add
[Definition]
failregex = ^<HOST> .*POST .*xmlrpc\.php.*
ignoreregex =
Restart fail2ban again for settings to be active.
This textbox defaults to using Markdown to format your answer.
You can type !ref in this text area to quickly search our full set of tutorials, documentation & marketplace offerings and insert the link!
Get paid to write technical tutorials and select a tech-focused charity to receive a matching donation.
Full documentation for every DigitalOcean product.
The Wave has everything you need to know about building a business, from raising funding to marketing your product.
Stay up to date by signing up for DigitalOcean’s Infrastructure as a Newsletter.
New accounts only. By submitting your email you agree to our Privacy Policy
Scale up as you grow — whether you're running one virtual machine or ten thousand.
Sign up and get $200 in credit for your first 60 days with DigitalOcean.*
*This promotional offer applies to new accounts only.