### OpenLiteSpeed Web Server Users' Manual

##### Version 1.4 — Rev. 30

- License
- Introduction
- Installation
- Administration
  - Service Manager
- Security
- Configuration
  - Server General
  - Server Log
  - Server Tuning
  - Server Security
  - External Apps
  - Fast CGI App
  - Fast CGI Authorizer
  - LSAPI App
  - Servlet Engine
  - Web Server
  - Piped logger
  - Load Balancer
  - Script Handler
  - App Server Settings
  - Module Configuration
  - Listener General
  - Listener SSL
  - Virtual Host Templates
  - Virtual Host Basic
  - Virtual Host General
  - Virtual Host Security
  - Virtual Host SSL
  - Rewrite
  - Context
  - Static Context
  - Java Web App Context
  - Servlet Context
  - Fast CGI Context
  - LSAPI Context
  - Proxy Context
  - CGI Context
  - Load Balancer Context
  - Redirect Context
  - App Server Context
  - Module Handler Context
  - Web Socket Proxy
- Web Console
  - Admin Console General
  - Admin Console Security
  - Admin Listener General
  - Admin Listener SSL

# Server Security

## Table of Contents

### Follow Symbolic Link⇑

#### Description

Specifies the server-level default setting of following symbolic links when serving static files.
Choices are Yes, If Owner Match and No.
Yes sets the server to always follow symbolic links. If Owner Match sets the server to follow a symbolic link only if the owner of the link and of the target are same. No means the server will never follow a symbolic link. This setting can be overridden in the virtual host configurations but cannot be overridden from an .htaccess file.

#### Syntax

Select from drop down list

#### Tips

For best security select No or If Owner Match. For best performance, select Yes.

#### See Also

Check Symbolic Link.

### Check Symbolic Link⇑

#### Description

Specifies whether to check symbolic links against Access Denied Directories when Follow Symbolic Link is turned on. If enabled, the canonical real path of the resource referred by a URL will be checked against the configurable access denied directories. Access will be denied if it falls inside an access denied directory.

#### Syntax

Select from radio box

#### Tips

For best security, enable this option. For best performance, disable it.

#### See Also

Follow Symbolic Link, Access Denied Directories

### Force Strict Ownership Checking⇑

#### Description

Specifies whether to enforce strict file ownership checking. If it is enabled, the web server will check if the owner of the file being served is the same as the owner of the virtual host. If it is different, a 403 Access Denied Error will be returned. This is turned off by default.

#### Syntax

Select from radio box

#### Tips

For shared hosting, enable this check for better security.

### Required Permission Mask⇑

#### Description

Specifies the required permission mask for static files that the server will serve. For example, if only files that are readable by everyone can be served, set the value to 0004. See man 2 stat for all values.

#### Syntax

octal numbers

#### See Also

Restricted Permission Mask.

### Restricted Permission Mask⇑

#### Description

Specifies the restricted permission mask for static files that the server will not serve. For example, to prohibit serving files that are executable, set the mask to 0111.
See man 2 stat for all values.

#### Syntax

octal numbers

#### See Also

Required Permission Mask.

### Script Restricted Permission Mask⇑

#### Description

Specifies the restricted permission mask for script files that the server will not serve. For example, to prohibit serving PHP scripts that are group and world writable, set the mask to 022. Default value is 000.
See man 2 stat for all values.

#### Syntax

octal numbers

#### See Also

Script Directory Restricted Permission Mask.

### Script Directory Restricted Permission Mask⇑

#### Description

Specifies the restricted permission mask of parent directories of script files that the server will not serve. For example, to prohibit serving PHP scripts in a directory that is group and world writable, set the mask to 022. Default value is 000. This option can be used to prevent serving scripts under a directory of uploaded files.
See man 2 stat for all values.

#### Syntax

octal numbers

#### See Also

Script Restricted Permission Mask.

### Per Client Throttling⇑

#### Description

These are connection control settings are based on client IP. These settings help to mitigate DoS (Denial of Service) and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.

### Static Requests/Second⇑

#### Description

Specifies the maximum number of requests to static content coming from a single IP address that can be processed in a single second regardless of the number of connections established.
When this limit is reached, all future requests are tar-pitted until the next second. Request limits for dynamically generated content are independent of this limit. Per-client request limits can be set at server- or virtual host-level. Virtual host-level settings override server-level settings.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

Trusted IPs or sub-networks are not affected.

#### See Also

Dynamic Requests/Second

### Dynamic Requests/Second⇑

#### Description

Specifies the maximum number of requests to dynamically generated content coming from a single IP address that can be processed in each second regardless of the number of connections established. When this limit is reached, all future requests to dynamic content are tar-pitted until the next second.
The request limit for static content is independent of this limit. This per client request limit can be set at server or virtual host level. Virtual host-level settings override server-level settings.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

Trusted IPs or sub-networks are not restrained by this limit.

#### See Also

Static Requests/Second

### Outbound Bandwidth (bytes/sec)⇑

#### Description

The maximum allowed outgoing throughput to a single IP address, regardless of the number of connections established. The real bandwidth may end up being slightly higher than this setting for efficiency reasons. Bandwidth is allocated in 4KB units. Set to 0 to disable throttling. Per-client bandwidth limits (bytes/sec) can be set at the server or virtual host level where virtual host level settings override server level settings.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

Set the bandwidth in 8KB units for better performance.
Trusted IPs or sub-networks are not affected.

#### See Also

Inbound Bandwidth (bytes/sec)

### Inbound Bandwidth (bytes/sec)⇑

#### Description

The maximum allowed incoming throughput from a single IP address, regardless of the number of connections established. The real bandwidth may end up being slightly higher than this setting for efficiency reasons. Bandwidth is allocated in 1KB units. Set to 0 to disable throttling. Per-client bandwidth limits (bytes/sec) can be set at the server or virtual host level where virtual host level settings override server level settings.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

Trusted IPs or sub-networks are not affected.

#### See Also

Outbound Bandwidth (bytes/sec)

### Connection Soft Limit⇑

#### Description

Specifies the soft limit of concurrent connections allowed from one IP. This soft limit can be exceeded temporarily during Grace Period (sec) as long as the number is below the Connection Hard Limit, but Keep-Alive connections will be closed as soon as possible until the number of connections is lower than the limit. If number of connections is still over the limit after the Grace Period (sec), that IP will be blocked for the Banned Period (sec).
For example, if a page contains many small graphs, the browser may try to set up many connections at same time, especially for HTTP/1.0 clients. You would want to allow those connections for a short period.
HTTP/1.1 clients may also set up multiple connections to speed up downloading and SSL requires separate connections from non-SSL connections. Make sure the limit is set properly, as not to adversely affect normal service. The recommended limit is between 5 and 10.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

A lower number will enable serving more distinct clients.
Trusted IPs or sub-networks are not affected.
Set to a high value when you are performing benchmark tests with a large number of concurrent client machines.

### Connection Hard Limit⇑

#### Description

Specifies the maximum number of allowed concurrent connections from a single IP address. This limit is always enforced and a client will never be able to exceed this limit. HTTP/1.0 clients usually try to set up as many connections as they need to download embedded content at the same time. This limit should be set high enough so that HTTP/1.0 clients can still access the site. Use Connection Soft Limit to set the desired connection limit.
The recommended limit is between 20 and 50 depending on the content of your web page and your traffic load.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

A lower number will enable serving more distinct clients.
Trusted IPs or sub-networks are not affected.
Set to a high value when you are performing benchmark tests with a large number of concurrent client machines.

### Block Bad Request⇑

#### Description

Block IPs that keep sending badly-formated HTTP requests for the Banned Period (sec). Default is Yes. This helps to block botnet attacks that repeatedly sending junk requests.

#### Syntax

Select from radio box

### Grace Period (sec)⇑

#### Description

Specifies how long new connections can be accepted after the number of connections established from one IP is over the Connection Soft Limit. Within this period, new connections will be accepted if the total connections is still below the Connection Hard Limit. After this period has elapsed, if the number of connections still higher than the Connection Soft Limit, then the offending IP will be blocked for the Banned Period (sec).

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

Set to a proper number big enough for downloading a complete page but low enough to prevent deliberate attacks.

### Banned Period (sec)⇑

#### Description

Specifies how long new connections will be rejected from an IP if, after the Grace Period (sec) has elapsed, the number of connections is still more than the Connection Soft Limit. If IPs are getting banned repeatedly, we suggest that you increase your banned period to stiffen the penalty for abuse.

#### Syntax

Integer number

### CGI Settings⇑

#### Description

The following settings control CGI processes. Memory and process limits also serve as the default for other external applications if limits have not been set explicitly for those applications.

### CGI Daemon Socket⇑

#### Description

A unique socket address used to communicate with the CGI daemon. LiteSpeed server uses a standalone CGI daemon to spawn CGI scripts for best performance and security. Default socket is "uds://$SERVER_ROOT/admin/conf/.cgid.sock". If you need to put in another location, specify a Unix domain socket here.

#### Syntax

UDS://path

#### Example

UDS://tmp/lshttpd/cgid.sock

### Max CGI Instances⇑

#### Description

Specifies the maximum number of concurrent CGI processes the server can start. For each request to a CGI script, the server needs to start a standalone CGI process. On a Unix system, the number of concurrent processes is limited. Excessive concurrent processes will degrade the performance of the whole system and are one way to perform a DoS attack. LiteSpeed server pipelines requests to CGI scripts and limits concurrent CGI processes to ensure the optimal performance and reliability. The hard limit is 2000.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

A higher limit does not necessarily translate to faster performance. In most cases, a lower limit gives better performance and security. A higher limit will only help when I/O latency is excessive during CGI processing.

### Minimum UID⇑

#### Description

Specifies the minimum user ID allowed to run external applications when running as a specified user. Execution of an external script with a user ID lower than the value specified here will be denied.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

Set it high enough to exclude all system/privileged users.

### Minimum GID⇑

#### Description

Specifies the minimum group ID allowed to run external applications when running as a specified group. Execution of an external script with a group ID lower than the value specified here will be denied.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

Set it high enough to exclude all groups used by system users.

### Force GID⇑

#### Description

Specifies a group ID to be used for all external applications started in suEXEC mode. When set to non-zero value, all suEXEC external applications (CGI/FastCGI/LSAPI) will use this group ID. This can be used to prevent an external application from accessing files owned by other users.
For example, in a shared hosting environment, LiteSpeed runs as user "www-data", group "www-data". Each docroot is owned by a user account, with a group of "www-data" and permission mode 0750. If Force GID is set to "nogroup" (or any group other than 'www-data'), all suEXEC external applications will run as a particular user but in the group "nogroup". These external application processes will still be able to access files owned by that particular user (because of their user ID), but will not have group permission to access anyone else's files. The server, on the other hand, still can serve files under any user's docroot directory (because of its group ID).

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

Set it high enough to exclude all groups used by system users.

### umask⇑

#### Description

Sets default umask for CGI processes. See man 2 umask for details. This also serves as the default value for external applications umask.

#### Syntax

value valid range [000]-[777].

#### See Also

ExtApp umask

### CGI Priority⇑

#### Description

Specifies priority of the external application process. Value ranges from -20 to 20. A lower number means a higher priority.
A CGI process cannot have a higher priority than the web server. If this priority is set to a lower number than the server's, the server's priority will be used for this value.

#### Syntax

int

#### See Also

Server Priority

### CPU Soft Limit (sec)⇑

#### Description

Specifies CPU consumption time limit in seconds for a CGI process. When the process reaches the soft limit, it will be notified by a signal. The operating system's default setting will be used if the value is absent or set to 0.

#### Syntax

Integer number

### CPU Hard Limit⇑

#### Description

Specifies maximum CPU consumption time limit in seconds for a CGI process. If the process continues to consume CPU time and reach the hard limit, the process will be force killed. The operating system's default setting will be used if the value is absent or set to 0.

#### Syntax

Integer number

### Memory Soft Limit (bytes)⇑

#### Description

Specifies the memory consumption limit in bytes for an external application process or an external application started by the server.
The main purpose of this limit is to prevent excessive memory usage because of software bugs or intentional attacks, not to impose a limit on normal usage. Make sure to leave enough head room, otherwise your application may fail and 503 error may be returned. It can be set at the server- level or at an individual external application level. The server-level limit will be used if it is not set at the individual application level.
The operating system's default setting will be used if the value is absent at both levels or set to 0.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

Do not over adjust this limit. This may result in 503 errors if your application needs more memory.

### Memory Hard Limit (bytes)⇑

#### Description

Much the same as Memory Soft Limit (bytes), except the soft limit can be raised up to the hard limit from within a user process. The hard limit can be set at server level or at an individual external application level. The server-level limit will be used if it is not set at an individual application level.
The operating system's default will be used if the value is absent at both levels or set to 0.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

Do not over adjust this limit. This may result in 503 errors if your application need more memory.

### Process Soft Limit⇑

#### Description

Limits the total number of processes that can be created on behalf of a user. All existing processes will be counted against this limit, not just new processes to be started.
The limit can be set at the server level or at an individual external application level. The server-level limit will be used if it is not set at an individual application level. The operating system's default setting will be used if this value is 0 or absent at both levels.

#### Syntax

Integer number

#### Tips

PHP scripts can call for forking processes. The main purpose of this limit is as a last line of defense to prevent fork bombs and other attacks caused by PHP processes creating other processes.
Setting this setting too low can severely hurt functionality. The setting will thus be ignored below certain levels.
When Run On Start Up is set to "Yes (Daemon mode)", the actual process limit will be higher than this setting to make sure parent processes are not limited.

### Process Hard Limit⇑

#### Description

Much the same as Process Soft Limit, except the soft limit can be raised up to the hard limit from within a user process. The hard limit can be set at the server level or at an individual external application level. The server-level limit will be used if it is not set at an individual application level. The operating system's default value will be used if the value is absent at both levels or set to 0.

#### Syntax

Integer number

### Access Denied Directories⇑

#### Description

Specifies directories that should be blocked from access. Add directories that contain sensitive data to this list to prevent accidentally exposing sensitive files to clients. Append a "*" to the path to include all sub-directories. If both Follow Symbolic Link and Check Symbolic Link are enabled, symbolic links will be checked against the denied directories.

#### Syntax

Comma-delimited list of directories

#### Tips

Of critical importance: This setting only prevents serving static files from these directories. This does not prevent exposure by external scripts such as PHP/Ruby/CGI.

### Access Control⇑

#### Description

Specifies what sub networks and/or IP addresses can access the server. At the server level, this setting will affect all virtual hosts. You can also set up access control unique to each virtual host at the virtual host level. Virtual host level settings will NOT override server level settings.
Blocking/Allowing an IP is determined by the combination of the allowed list and the denied list. If you want to block only certain IPs or sub-networks, put * or ALL in the Allowed List and list the blocked IPs or sub-networks in the Denied List. If you want to allow only certain IPs or sub-networks, put * or ALL in the Denied List and list the allowed IPs or sub-networks in the Allowed List. The setting of the smallest scope that fits for an IP will be used to determine access.
Server Level: Trusted IPs or sub-networks must be specified in the Allowed List by adding a trailing "T". Trusted IPs or sub-networks are not affected by connection/throttling limits. Only server level access control can set up trusted IPs/sub-networks.

#### Tips

Use this at the server level for general restrictions that apply to all virtual hosts.

### Allowed List⇑

#### Description

Specifies the list of IPs or sub-networks allowed. * or ALL are accepted.

#### Syntax

Comma delimited list of IP addresses or sub-networks. A trailing "T" can be used to indicate a trusted IP or sub-network, such as 192.168.1.*T.

#### Example

Sub-networks: 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0, 192.168.1.0/24, 192.168.1, or 192.168.1.*
IPv6 addresses: ::1 or [::1]
IPv6 subnets: 3ffe:302:11:2:20f:1fff:fe29:717c/64 or [3ffe:302:11:2:20f:1fff:fe29:717c]/64

#### Tips

Trusted IPs or sub-networks set at the server level access control will be excluded from connection/throttling limits.

### Denied List⇑

#### Description

Specifies the list of IPs or sub-networks disallowed.

#### Syntax

Comma delimited list of IP addresses or sub-networks. * or ALL are accepted.

#### Example

Sub-networks: 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0, 192.168.1.0/24, 192.168.1, or 192.168.1.*
IPv6 addresses: ::1 or [::1]
IPv6 subnets: 3ffe:302:11:2:20f:1fff:fe29:717c/64 or [3ffe:302:11:2:20f:1fff:fe29:717c]/64