WP fail2ban Blocklist vs Fail2WP

This WordPress plugin provides security functionality and integration with fail2ban. It does not require fail2ban to function. Basic security functionality includes: Disabling login with username (require e-mail address) Allow/Deny login from IP address, hostname (including wildcard support) Preventing user enumeration (?author=nnn) Less detailed error messages on login failures Minimum username length Blocking specific usernames from being used to register new users Requiring e-mail address matching for new user registrations Warning about new user role setting Blocking of portions or all of WordPress REST API Disabling of RSS and Atom feeds Removal of “Generator” information from HTML and feeds Detection of Cloudflare IP addresses for logging of actual IP addresses Blocking/Allowing logins from IP addresses, IP ranges, and/or hostnames Partially or fully disable XMLRPC access Monitoring administrator accounts for unexpected role/account changes The plugin also plays nicely with Fail2ban, which is an advanced way of blocking IP addresses dynamically upon suspicious behavior. Other notes: This plugin may work with earlier versions of WordPress This plugin has been tested with WordPress 5.5-7.0.x at the time of this writing This plugin has been tested with PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3 at the time of this writing Local syntax/runtime compatibility checks have also been run on PHP 8.4 This plugin optionally makes use of mb_ PHP functions This plugin may create entries in your PHP error log (if active) This plugin contains no Javascript This plugin contains no tracking code and does not store any information about users Credits The Fail2WP Plugin was written by Joaquim Homrighausen while converting caffeine into code. Fail2WP is sponsored by WebbPlatsen i Sverige AB, Sweden. Copyright 2020-2026 Joaquim Homrighausen; all rights reserved. Commercial support and customizations for this plugin is available from WebbPlatsen i Sverige AB in Sweden. If you find this plugin useful, the author is happy to receive a donation, good review, or just a kind word. If there is something you feel to be missing from this plugin, or if you have found a problem with the code or a feature, please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected]. This plugin can also be downloaded from code.webbplatsen.net and GitHub More detailed documentation is available at code.webbplatsen.net/documentation/fail2wp/ Kudos to Thomas Lutz.

There are many plugins that use a database to check for malicious IPs after they connect, and of course fail2ban stops repeated attacks, but what if bad IPs could be blocked before they attack? By working collaboratively – sharing attack data – WP fail2ban Blocklist does exactly that. The Blocklist Network Service (BNS) collects attack data from participating sites, performs some analytical magic, and sends back a list of IPs that are attacking sites now but haven’t yet attacked that site. In other words, each site periodically gets a unique list of IPs to block preemptively. GDPR The BNS doesn’t collect personal data, and bots don’t have rights. That said, the BNS only collects the minimum data required (time, IP, event), and only for IPs that have behaved maliciously. Of course, it is possible that some data is generated by people behaving maliciously, but the BNS has no way to differentiate – and nor should it: an attack is an attack. Freemius To work, the BNS must know: which sites are running the blocklist add-on, which version is in use, and a shared secret for secure communication. Freemius already provides all these, and WP fail2ban already uses Freemius; why reinvent the wheel? Therefore, unlike the core WP fail2ban plugin, you must opt into Freemius for the blocklist to work.