Squid content filtering: Block / download of music MP3, mpg, mpeg, exec file by extensions

Author: Vivek Gite Last updated: March 31, 2017 83 comments

For security reasons and to save bandwidth I would like to configure Squid proxy server such way that my users should not download all of the following files:
MP3
MPEG
MPG
AVG
AVI
EXE

How do I block music files using squid content filtering ACL?

First open your squid.conf file /etc/squid/squid.conf, run:
# vi /etc/squid/squid.conf
Now add the following lines to your squid ACL section:

acl blockfiles urlpath_regex -i "/etc/squid/blocks.files.acl"
You want display custom error message when a file is blocked:
# Deny all blocked extension error_directory /usr/share/squid/errors/English deny_info ERR_BLOCKED_FILES blockfiles http_access deny blockfiles
Save and close the file.Create a custom error message HTML file called ERR_BLOCKED_FILES in /etc/squid/error/ directory or /usr/share/squid/errors/English directory:
# vi /usr/share/squid/errors/English/ERR_BLOCKED_FILES
Append following content:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>ERROR: Blocked file content</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>File is blocked due to new IT policy</H1>
<p>Please contact helpdesk for more information:</p>
<ul>
 <li>Phone: 555-12435 (ext 44)</li>
 <li>Email: helpdesk@nixcraft.com</li>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Now create a new file named /etc/squid/blocks.files.acl file:
# vi /etc/squid/blocks.files.acl
Append following text:
\.exe(\?.*)?$ \.avi(\?.*)?$ \.bat(\?.*)?$ \.tar(\?.*)?$ \.mpg(\?.*)?$ \.mp3(\?.*)?$ \.mp4(\?.*)?$
Save and close the file. Restart Squid:
# /etc/init.d/squid restart
Squid in action:

Fig.01: Squid in action

Say hello to rep_mime_type

To block Active Stream Format (Windows Media Player) and flash video format, add the following in your squid.conf:

acl media rep_mime_type x-ms-asf
acl mediapr urlpath_regex \.(afx|asf)(\?.*)?$

acl media rep_mime_type video/flv video/x-flv
acl mediapr urlpath_regex \.flv(\?.*)?$

http_access deny mediapr
http_reply_access deny media

Save and close the file. Reload squid server:
# systemctl reload squid
OR
# squid -k reconfigure

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