Restrict access to files on a server-level

This is a controversial topic: Some experts recommend to restrict the access to specific files on a server-level by using Apache's FilesMatch directive for example. Such files could be files with the endings .bak, .tmp, .sql, .old, etc. in their file names. The purpose of this restriction is, that even if backup files or database dump files are accidentally stored in the DocRoot directory of the web server, they cannot be downloaded.

The downside of this measure is, that this is not the solution of the problem but a workaround only. The right recommendation would be not to store sensitive files (such as backups, etc.) in the DocRoot directory at all – instead of trying to address the issue by restricting the access to certain file names (keep in mind that you cannot predict which file names could occur in the future).

Verification of access restrictions

Administrators should test and verify file access to these files are actually denied. The following list provides some files as an example that should not be retrievable directly by using HTTP requests:

  • https://example.org/.git/index
  • https://example.org/INSTALL.md
  • https://example.org/INSTALL.txt
  • https://example.org/ChangeLog
  • https://example.org/composer.json
  • https://example.org/composer.lock
  • https://example.org/vendor/autoload.php
  • https://example.org/typo3_src/Build/package.json
  • https://example.org/typo3_src/bin/typo3
  • https://example.org/typo3_src/INSTALL.md
  • https://example.org/typo3_src/INSTALL.txt
  • https://example.org/typo3_src/ChangeLog
  • https://example.org/typo3_src/vendor/autoload.php
  • https://example.org/typo3conf/system/settings.php
  • https://example.org/typo3conf/system/additional.php
  • https://example.org/typo3temp/var/log/
  • https://example.org/typo3temp/var/session/
  • https://example.org/typo3temp/var/tests/
  • https://example.org/typo3/sysext/core/composer.json
  • https://example.org/typo3/sysext/core/ext_tables.sql
  • https://example.org/typo3/sysext/core/Configuration/Services.yaml
  • https://example.org/typo3/sysext/extbase/ext_typoscript_setup.txt
  • https://example.org/typo3/sysext/extbase/ext_typoscript_setup.typoscript
  • https://example.org/typo3/sysext/felogin/Configuration/FlexForms/Login.xml
  • https://example.org/typo3/sysext/backend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang.xlf
  • https://example.org/typo3/sysext/backend/Tests/Unit/Utility/Fixtures/clear.gif
  • https://example.org/typo3/sysext/belog/Configuration/TypoScript/setup.txt
  • https://example.org/typo3/sysext/belog/Configuration/TypoScript/setup.typoscript

The list above is probably not complete. However, if general deny rules are in place links provided above should not be accessible anymore and result in a HTTP 403 error response.

Apache and Microsoft IIS web servers

To increase protection of TYPO3 instances, the Core Team however decided to install default web server configuration files under certain circumstances: If an Apache web server is detected by the web based installation procedure, a default .htaccess file is written to the document root, and if a Microsoft IIS web server is detected, a default web.config file is written to the document root. These files contain web server configurations to deny direct web access to a series of common file types and directories, for instance version control system directories like .git/, all private template directories like Resources/Private/ and common package files like composer.json.

This "black list" approach needs maintenance: The Core Team tries to keep the template files .htaccess and web.config updated. If running Apache or IIS, administrators should compare their specific version with the reference files found at EXT:install/Resources/Private/FolderStructureTemplateFiles/root-htaccess (GitHub) and EXT:install/Resources/Private/FolderStructureTemplateFiles/root-web-config (GitHub) and adapt or update local versions if needed.

See Verify webserver configuration (.htaccess) for details on maintaining the file after a major version upgrade.

NGINX web servers

Administrators running the popular web server NGINX need to take additional measures: NGINX does not support an approach like Apache or IIS to configure access by putting files into the web document directories - the TYPO3 install procedure can not install good default files and administrators must merge deny patterns into the web servers virtual host configuration. A typical example looks like this:

server {

    # ...

    # Prevent clients from accessing hidden files (starting with a dot)
    # This is particularly important if you store .htpasswd files in the site hierarchy
    # Access to `/.well-known/` is allowed.
    # https://www.mnot.net/blog/2010/04/07/well-known
    # https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5785
    location ~* /\.(?!well-known\/) {
        deny all;
    }

    # Prevent clients from accessing to backup/config/source files
        location ~* (?:\.(?:bak|conf|dist|fla|in[ci]|log|psd|sh|sql|sw[op])|~)$ {
        deny all;
    }

    # TYPO3 - Block access to Composer files
    location ~* composer\.(?:json|lock) {
        deny all;
    }

    # TYPO3 - Block access to flexform files
    location ~* flexform[^.]*\.xml {
        deny all;
    }

    # TYPO3 - Block access to language files
    location ~* locallang[^.]*\.xlf {
        deny all;
    }

    # TYPO3 - Block access to static typoscript files
    location ~* ext_conf_template\.txt|ext_typoscript_constants\.(?:txt|typoscript)|ext_typoscript_setup\.(?:txt|typoscript) {
        deny all;
    }

    # TYPO3 - Block access to miscellaneous protected files
    location ~* /.*\.(?:bak|co?nf|cfg|ya?ml|ts|typoscript|dist|fla|in[ci]|log|sh|sql)$ {
        deny all;
    }

    # TYPO3 - Block access to recycler and temporary directories
    location ~ _(?:recycler|temp)_/ {
        deny all;
    }

    # TYPO3 - Block access to configuration files stored in fileadmin
    location ~ fileadmin/(?:templates)/.*\.(?:txt|ts|typoscript)$ {
        deny all;
    }

    # TYPO3 - Block access to libraries, source and temporary compiled data
    location ~ ^(?:vendor|typo3_src|typo3temp/var) {
        deny all;
    }

    # TYPO3 - Block access to protected extension directories
    location ~ (?:typo3conf/ext|typo3/sysext|typo3/ext)/[^/]+/(?:Configuration|Resources/Private|Tests?|Documentation|docs?)/ {
        deny all;
    }

    # ...

}
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The config example above has been taken from ddev.