How to whitelist an IP address in ModSecurity

Introduction

Use the following steps to whitelist an IP in ModSecurity.

Procedure

1. Log in to SSH or Terminal as the root user.
2. Open the following file in a text editor:

   /etc/apache2/conf.d/modsec/modsec2.user.conf

3. Add one or more of the following example variants to the bottom of the file, but edit it to contain your desired IP address:

   # Single IP example
   # Allow unrestricted access from 192.0.2.1 
   SecRule REMOTE_ADDR "@ipMatch 192.0.2.1" "phase:1,id:200000001,nolog,allow"

   # Multi IP Example
   # Allow unrestricted access from 192.0.2.1,192.0.2.2,198.51.100.0/24
   SecRule REMOTE_ADDR "@ipMatch 192.0.2.1,192.0.2.2,198.51.100.0/24" "phase:1,id:200000001,nolog,allow

   NOTE: The IP format documentation can be found here: ModSecurity Reference Manual - @ipmatch.

4. Restart Apache:

   /scripts/restartsrv_apache --restart

References

cPanel - ModSecurity Configuration