Python – fail2ban error about python

fail2banpython

I have just installed fail2ban on my debian7 machine but whenever i start it i get a lot of error which seems to be about python?

[....] Restarting authentication failure monitor: fail2banTraceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/fail2ban-client", line 404, in <module>
    if client.start(sys.argv):
  File "/usr/bin/fail2ban-client", line 373, in start
    return self.__processCommand(args)
  File "/usr/bin/fail2ban-client", line 183, in __processCommand
    ret = self.__readConfig()
  File "/usr/bin/fail2ban-client", line 378, in __readConfig
    ret = self.__configurator.getOptions()
  File "/usr/share/fail2ban/client/configurator.py", line 68, in getOptions
    return self.__jails.getOptions(jail)
  File "/usr/share/fail2ban/client/jailsreader.py", line 67, in getOptions
    ret = jail.getOptions()
  File "/usr/share/fail2ban/client/jailreader.py", line 73, in getOptions
    self.__opts = ConfigReader.getOptions(self, self.__name, opts)
  File "/usr/share/fail2ban/client/configreader.py", line 87, in getOptions
    v = self.get(sec, option[1])
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/ConfigParser.py", line 623, in get
    return self._interpolate(section, option, value, d)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/ConfigParser.py", line 691, in _interpolate
    self._interpolate_some(option, L, rawval, section, vars, 1)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/ConfigParser.py", line 723, in _interpolate_some
    option, section, rest, var)
ConfigParser.InterpolationMissingOptionError: Bad value substitution:
        section: [pam-generic]
        option : action
        key    : action_mwl
        rawval :

 failed!

I'm not really sure how to debug this one as i have zero knowledge with python but I'm still assuming that it is just something that i have missed during installation or something on the jail.conf. This is my jail.conf:

[DEFAULT]
ignoreip  = 127.0.0.1
bantime   = 18000
destemail = email@email.com
banaction = iptables-multiport
action    = %(action_mwl)s

# JAILS
[ssh]
enabled   = true
port      = 7463
action    = iptables
filter    = sshd
logpath   = /var/log/auth.log
maxretry  = 3

[pam-generic]
enabled   = true
banaction = iptables-allports

[ssh-ddos]
enabled   = true

[nginx-auth]
enabled = true
filter = nginx-auth
action = iptables-multiport[name=NoAuthFailures, port="http,https"]
logpath = /var/log/nginx*/*error*.log
bantime = 600
maxretry = 6

[nginx-login]
enabled = true
filter = nginx-login
action = iptables-multiport[name=NoLoginFailures, port="http,https"]
logpath = /var/log/nginx*/*access*.log
bantime = 600
maxretry = 6

[nginx-badbots]
enabled  = true
filter = apache-badbots
action = iptables-multiport[name=BadBots, port="http,https"]
logpath = /var/log/nginx*/*access*.log
bantime = 86400 # 1 day
maxretry = 1

[nginx-noscript]
enabled = true
action = iptables-multiport[name=NoScript, port="http,https"]
filter = nginx-noscript
logpath = /var/log/nginx*/*access*.log
maxretry = 6
bantime  = 86400 # 1 day

I already made filters for nginx-auth, nginx-login, nginx-proxy and nginx-noscript on /filters.d/

I have Python 2.7.3 installed too.

Best Answer

From what I can see in your config file and the error you get, the action option for [pam-generic] cannot use the default value (there's no action declare in the section):

ConfigParser.InterpolationMissingOptionError: Bad value substitution:
    section: [pam-generic]
    option : action
    key    : action_mwl
    rawval :

I do not know what would be a good value for it but I would dig in that direction. Worst case if you need only to filter nginx you could remove that section and test if it starts.

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