Voor Nederlands, zie README-nl.md
Block network traffic for IP addresses of specific countries.
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance. — Socrates (469 – 399 BC) Greek philosopher in Athens
This manual describes how to use xtables-addons to drop incoming and outgoing network packages for all ports on IP-based geographical location. See also https://inai.de/projects/xtables-addons/geoip.php and https://codeberg.org/jengelh/xtables-addons for more information.
In case your organization uses network hardware from Cisco Systems, Juniper, etc. it is also possible to configure blocking on IP-based geographical locations.
(For Debian, see below.)
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.25. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo mkdir /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -s > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.24. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo mkdir /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -s > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.23. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo mkdir /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -s > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.21. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo mkdir /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -s > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.19. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo mkdir /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -s > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.18. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -s > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.13. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo mkdir /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -s > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.9. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo chmod a+x /usr/lib/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build
sudo mkdir /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/lib/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/lib/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -D /usr/share/xt_geoip/ > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.0. Here xtables-addons uses only the maxmind geo IP database. However, that database is now available under another URL than xtables-addons expects. Additionally, this version of xtables-addons is rather old.
This manual does not yet have a workaround for the database issue, but contributing a workaround is welcome.
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.25. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo mkdir /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -s > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.23. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo mkdir /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -s > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
This distribution offers xtables-addons 3.13. Install software packages with
sudo apt-get install -y xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo mkdir /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Create the file /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip containing
#!/bin/sh -e
workdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd ${workdir}
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_dl
/usr/libexec/xtables-addons/xt_geoip_build -s > /dev/null
cd && rm -rf ${workdir}
and give that file execution rights with
sudo chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip
Test the installation with
sudo modprobe xt_geoip
lsmod | grep ^xt_geoip
sudo /etc/cron.daily/xt_geoip; echo $?
ls /usr/share/xt_geoip/
WARNING: The following commands can lock you and all others out of your machine!
Look up the country codes of the countries to block at https://db-ip.com/faq.php
and note there are also some additional codes available. Use the codes instead
of XX,YY below. An example is BY,CH,HK,IR,KP,RU.
Block incoming network packages by adding these rules
iptables -I INPUT -m geoip --src-cc XX,YY -j DROP
ip6tables -I INPUT -m geoip --src-cc XX,YY -j DROP
Also block outgoing network packages by adding these rules
iptables -A OUTPUT -m geoip --dst-cc XX,YY -j DROP
ip6tables -A OUTPUT -m geoip --dst-cc XX,YY -j DROP
Up to and including version 3.23, the maximum number of countries to block is fifteen. The maximum number of countries since version 3.25 is 31. All rules can be listed with
sudo iptables -L --line-numbers
sudo ip6tables -L --line-numbers
Testing can be done for example on a mobile device by using a free VPN from Android app stores such as Google Play and F-Droid or the App Store for iOS. This might not offer the specific countries to block, but for testing temporarily via the freely available countries, this is useful.
Rules can be deleted with
sudo iptables -D INPUT 1
sudo iptables -D OUTPUT 1
sudo ip6tables -D INPUT 1
sudo ip6tables -D OUTPUT 1
where the number is the line number of the rule to delete.
Make the iptables command persistent by first saving the current configuration with
iptables-save > rules
ip6tables-save > rules6
This can result in an empty file or something that looks like
# Generated by iptables-save ...
*filter
:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
...
COMMIT
# Completed on ...
Only if the lines with -I INPUT -m geoip ... -j DROP of -A OUTPUT -m geoip ... -j DROP are missing continue with the following edit instruction. Change both files by only adding these two lines
*filter
:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
-I INPUT -m geoip --src-cc XX,YY -j DROP
...
-A OUTPUT -m geoip --dst-cc XX,YY -j DROP
COMMIT
Store and activate the new configuration with
iptables-restore < rules
ip6tables-restore < rules6
Check the resulting changes with
sudo iptables -L -v
sudo ip6tables -L -v
Deinstallations can be done with
sudo apt-get purge xtables-addons-common libtext-csv-xs-perl libnet-cidr-lite-perl
sudo apt-get -y autoremove
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/xt_geoip/
Effect of the test or persistent configuration can be monitored with
tail -f /var/log/kern.log
See also: