PHP on Laravel Forge

This guide will walk you through installing and setting up Zen Firewall by Aikido for your application. Follow the steps below to protect your application.

If you encounter any issues or problems, don't hesitate reach out on support chat or Github issues

https://github.com/AikidoSec/firewall-php

Requirements

• PHP 7.2+ (tested up to PHP 8.5).
• Laravel Forge managed server runtime.
• Aikido account & Zen Firewall token

Installation & Configuration

1

Install Zen Firewall by Aikido

In Forge, add environment variables in your server environment:

AIKIDO_TOKEN=AIK_RUNTIME_...
AIKIDO_BLOCK=false

Run the install command on the Forge server:

curl -L -O https://github.com/AikidoSec/firewall-php/releases/latest/download/aikido-php-firewall.x86_64.deb && sudo dpkg -i -E ./aikido-php-firewall.x86_64.deb

Restart PHP-FPM after install.

2

Enable Request Blocking and User Identification

Use this middleware to enable rate limiting, user identification, and blocking features.

Zen Firewall does not require this middleware to block attacks. Core attack protection works without it. The middleware provides additional request context that Zen uses for protections such as rate limiting, user blocking, bot blocking, country blocking, and threat actor blocking.

Adapt the example to fit how your application identifies users and handles requests.

Use set_user and should_block_request in your request pipeline:

3

Test your app

Browse to your application and perform a couple of actions or open a couple of pages. Zen will automatically discover the routes in your application.

Zen sends data back to Aikido every 10 minutes

You can verify a working agent by looking at the following pages of your Zen application:

• Events: Should show an "Application started" event.
• Routes: After some time your application routes will start showing here with the method, route and requests.
• Instances: Should show the number of active instances for your application where Zen is installed.

4

Setup rate limiting in the dashboard

When you've added the Zen Firewall middleware you can test protecting a route from brute force attacks, you do this by setting up rate limit in the Aikido Dashboard:

1. Click on the created app.
2. Go to the Routes tab.
3. Find the route you would like to limit and click Setup rate limiting.
4. Follow the instructions to configure the rate limit (e.g., 5 requests per minute).

API route management interface showing authentication routes with protection and rate limiting options.

Set rate limiting for POST /auth/login to 5 requests per minute.

Verify Rate Limiting

Start your app and try to access the route you've rate limited 5 times within a minute. After the fifth attempt, you should receive a rate limit error:

You are rate limited by Aikido firewall. (Your IP: 1.2.3.4)

5

Next steps

Congrats you've successfully installed Zen Firewall. If you encountered any problems, have concerns or feature requests, don't hesitate to reach out to support.

You can now go and explore the many features that Zen Firewall provides:

• Blocking Bot traffic with Zen Firewall

• Blocking or Monitoring Tor traffic with Zen Firewall

• Tracking Users with Zen Firewall

• Blocking Known Threat Actors with Zen Firewall

• Blocking Traffic by Country with Zen Firewall

• Setting Up Rate Limiting for Routes

• Monitor Outbound Domains

Additional information:

• Zen Performance & Reliability

• Blocking vs Detection Mode in Zen Firewall

• Understanding Your Zen Statistics