Install Mod_Security

[speedy]

Mod security is crucial for having a layer of defense against hackers.
Note:ModSecurity 2.x works with Apache 2.0.x or better.

It is assumed here that you are using a red hat or fedora OS in this article.

Check to see if you have libxml2 installed

rpm -q libxml2

You will also need to have the following - query each and install them if you do not have them. After mod_security is done installing, we will remove these packages.

httpd-devel
apr-devel
apr-util-devel
pcre-devel

if not, install it.

wget ftp://xmlsoft.org/libxml2/libxml2-2.6.27-1.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh libxml2-2.6.27-1.i386.rpm

Get mod_security

wget http://www.modsecurity.org/download/modsecurity-apache_2.1.1.tar.gz
tar zxf modsecurity-apache_2.1.1.tar.gz

Edit the makefile to put in your http root for param top_dir .

For FC4 its most likely

top_dir = /etc/httpd

For RHEL4 it is most likely

top_dir = /usr/lib/httpd

Note: Depending on your installation the FC4 may work for all RHEL/FC installs

Compile with make
Stop Apache
Install with make install


now go to your httpd.conf file, typically located at /etc/httpd/conf/

nano -w /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

find the section that contains the LoadModule portion.

Above all of the LoadModule directives add

LoadFile /usr/lib/libxml2.so

Then go to the end of the LoadModule section and add

LoadModule security2_module modules/mod_security2.so
Include conf/modsecurity/*.conf

now we need to get the configuration policies

mkdir /etc/httpd/conf/modsecurity;cd /etc/httpd/conf/modsecurity

wget http://www.modsecurity.org/download/modsecurity-core-rules_2.1-1.4.tar.gz

tar zxf modsecurity-core-rules_2.1-1.4.tar.gz
rm -f modsecurity-core-rules_2.1-1.4.tar.gz

Edit the *.conf files to fit your machines usage and expected rule sets

restart apache - it will fail to stop, thats fine.

/sbin/service httpd restart

remove those packages we don't need anymore

rpm -e httpd-devel
rpm -e apr-util-devel
rpm -e apr-devel
rpm -e pcre-devel

You now have Mod_Security installed, congratulations!