Postfix mail server block Malware with blacklist

Malware is used for a malicious purpose. It can be in your software or hardware. Email and pirated software is the most powerful way to spread malware. Malware inserted in a system without user notification.

Wikipedia defines Malware as:

Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. It is a portmanteau of the words “malicious” and “software”. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.

It will be a nice idea to block malware spreading URLs and website. Setting up a malware blacklist in Postfix MTA is quite easy. The Malware Block List is a free, automated and user contributed system for checking URLs for the presence of Viruses, Trojans, Worms, or any other software considered Malware.

Create a blacklist

First you need to create a blacklist, type the following command:
# wget -O - 'https://lists.malwarepatrol.net/cgi/getfile?receipt=f1391767429&product=8&list=postfix' > /etc/postfix/mbl-body-deny
Where receipt= should be followed by your personal Malwarepatrol id once registered. Do not use f1391767429. This is for demo purpose only.

Configure Postfix

Open postfix main.cf config file, run:
# vi /etc/postfix/main.cf
Setup postfix body_check directive as follows:
body_checks = regexp:/etc/postfix/mbl-body-deny
Save and close the file.

Restart Postfix

Now just restart the postfix daemon:
# postmap /etc/postfix/mbl-body-deny
# /etc/init.d/postfix restart


Automate procedure

You need to setup a cron job to automate entire procedure. Create a shell script as follows:

#!/bin/bash
# Script to update malware urls
# Author: Vivek Gite <www.cyberciti.biz> under GPL v2.x+
# ---------------
# Set https://malwarepatrol.net/ ID here (it is free)
myid=""
[[ ! -z "$myid" ]] && echo "Using $myid..." || { echo "Error: Please correct set \"$myid\"."; exit 1; }
/usr/bin/wget -O - "https://lists.malwarepatrol.net/cgi/getfile?receipt=${myid}&product=8&list=postfix" > /etc/postfix/mbl-body-deny
/usr/sbin/postmap /etc/postfix/mbl-body-deny
/etc/init.d/postfix reload

Add cronjob as follows:
40 23 * * * /etc/admin/scripts/fetch.postfixmalware.sh >/dev/null 2>&1

You may wan to combine this feature with mime attachments blocking and anti spam blacklist for the best result.

Further readings

• The Malware Block List