mod_muc_ban_ip

Introduction

One frequent complaint about XMPP chatrooms (MUCs) compared to IRC is the inability for a room admin to ban a user based on their IP address. This is because an XMPP user is not identified on the network by their IP address, only their JID.

This means that it is possible to create a new account (usually quite easily), and rejoin the room that you were banned from.

This module allows the user’s server to enforce bans by IP address, which is very desirable for server admins who want to prevent their server being used for spamming and abusive behaviour.

Details

An important point to note is that this module enforces the IP ban on the banned user’s server, not on the MUC server. This means that:

• The user’s server MUST have this module loaded, however -
• The module works even when the MUC is on a different server to the user
• The MUC server does not need this module (it only needs to support the standard ban protocol)
• The module works for effectively banning anonymous users

Also note that IP bans are not saved permanently, and are reset upon a server restart.

Configuration

There is no extra configuration for this module except for loading it. Remember… do not load it on the MUC host, simply add it to your global modules_enabled list, or under a specific host like:

VirtualHost "anon.example.com"
  authentication = "anonymous"
  modules_enabled = { "muc_ban_ip" }

Compatibility

sudo prosodyctl install --server=https://modules.prosody.im/rocks/ mod_muc_ban_ip