Install nginx secure on Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, 18.04

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install and secure Nginx on an Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, 18.04 server using Let’s Encrypt and iptables.

Prerequisites

A server running Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, 18.04.
A non-root user with sudo privileges.
Ensure that your system is up to date.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Install Required Packages

First, you will need to install the required packages to your system. You can install all of them with the following command:

sudo apt install nginx iptables-persistent certbot python3-certbot-nginx curl -y

Once all the packages are installed, you can proceed to the next step.

Configure Firewall

Next, you will need to configure the firewall to allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic. You can do it with the following command:

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT

Next, rate-limit the number of connections per IP address to prevent DDoS attacks:

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --syn --dport 80 -m connlimit --connlimit-above 20 --connlimit-mask 24 -j DROP
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --syn --dport 443 -m connlimit --connlimit-above 20 --connlimit-mask 24 -j DROP

Next, allow SSH traffic:

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT

Next, block invalid packets and new incoming packets that are not SYN:

iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -m conntrack --ctstate INVALID -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp ! --syn -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -j DROP

Next, allow established and related incoming traffic:

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80,443 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 80,443 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

Next, block spoofed packets:

iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags FIN,SYN FIN,SYN -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags SYN,RST SYN,RST -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags FIN,RST FIN,RST -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags FIN,ACK FIN -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ACK,URG URG -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ACK,PSH PSH -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp --tcp-flags ALL NONE -j DROP

Finally, block all other incoming traffic:

iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s 224.0.0.0/3 -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s 169.254.0.0/16 -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s 172.16.0.0/12 -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s 192.0.2.0/24 -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s 192.168.0.0/16 -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s 10.0.0.0/8 -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s 0.0.0.0/8 -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s 240.0.0.0/5 -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -s 127.0.0.0/8 ! -i lo -j DROP

Certbot

You will need to edit the Nginx configuration file and add your domain name. You can do it with the following command:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Edit each line where it says server_name and replace it with your domain name. Like this:

server {
    server_name _; # replace with your domain name server_name example.com www.example.com;
}

Next, you will need to obtain an SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt. You can do it with the following command:

sudo certbot --nginx -d example.com -d www.example.com

Replace example.com with your domain name. You will be asked to provide your email address and accept the terms of service.

Configure Nginx

Next, you will need to configure Nginx to redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS. You can do it with the following command:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Replace all the lines with the following lines:

server_tokens off;

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem;
    ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers "ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384";
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload";
    add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
    add_header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer-when-downgrade";
    add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self' http: https: data: blob: 'unsafe-inline'";
    add_header Permissions-Policy "geolocation=(self), microphone=(), camera=()";

    root /var/www/html;
    index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }

    location ~* \.(?:css|gif|htc|ico|jpg|js|png|svg|woff|woff2|otf)$ {
        expires 1M;
        access_log off;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }

    location ~* \.(?:html|htm|txt)$ {
        expires 1M;
        access_log off;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }

    location ~* \.(?:ttf|eot)$ {
        expires 1M;
        access_log off;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }

    location ~* \.(?:xml|rss|svg|svgz|atom)$ {
        expires 1h;
        access_log off;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }

    location ~* \.(?:js|css)$ {
        expires 1y;
        access_log off;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }

    location ~* \.(?:json|map)$ {
        expires 1y;
        access_log off;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }
}

Save and close the file when you are finished. Then, test the Nginx configuration with the following command:

sudo nginx -t

You should get the following output:

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Next, restart the Nginx service to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Thank you for reading

In this tutorial, you have learned how to install and secure Nginx on Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, 18.04 server using Let’s Encrypt and iptables. You can now host your website on your own server.