View source for Htaccess examples (security)

__TOC__
''Credit for part of this .htaccess file goes to Ronald van den Heetkamp''

For this to work you need RewriteEngine set to On, and will likely also need Options +FollowSymLinks too:

<source lang="apache">
 # mod_rewrite in use
 RewriteEngine On
 Options +FollowSymLinks
</source>

== Block bad user agents ==
<source lang="apache">
 ########## Block bad user agents
 ## The following list may include bots that no longer exist or are not a problem
 ## for your site. The list will always be incomplete and it is therefore wise to
 ## follow discussions on one of the many "security" mailing lists or on a forum
 ## such as http://www.webmasterworld.com/search_engine_spiders/
 ## It is also unwise to rely on this list as your ONLY security mechanism.
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^BlackWidow [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Bot\ mailto:craftbot@yahoo.com [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ChinaClaw [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Custo [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^DISCo [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Download\ Demon [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^eCatch [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EirGrabber [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailSiphon [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailWolf [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Express\ WebPictures [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ExtractorPro [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EyeNetIE [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^FlashGet [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^GetRight [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^GetWeb! [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Go!Zilla [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Go-Ahead-Got-It [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^GrabNet [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Grafula [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^HMView [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} HTTrack [NC,OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Image\ Stripper [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Image\ Sucker [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Indy\ Library [NC,OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^InterGET [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Internet\ Ninja [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^JetCar [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^JOC\ Web\ Spider [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^larbin [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^LeechFTP [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Mass\ Downloader [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^MIDown\ tool [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Mister\ PiX [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Navroad [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NearSite [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NetAnts [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NetSpider [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Net\ Vampire [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NetZIP [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Octopus [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Offline\ Explorer [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Offline\ Navigator [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^PageGrabber [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Papa\ Foto [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^pavuk [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^pcBrowser [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^RealDownload [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ReGet [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SiteSnagger [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SmartDownload [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SuperBot [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SuperHTTP [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Surfbot [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^tAkeOut [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Teleport\ Pro [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^VoidEYE [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Web\ Image\ Collector [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Web\ Sucker [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebAuto [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebCopier [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebFetch [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebGo\ IS [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebLeacher [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebReaper [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebSauger [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Website\ eXtractor [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Website\ Quester [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebStripper [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebWhacker [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebZIP [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Widow [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WWWOFFLE [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Xaldon\ WebSpider [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Zeus
 ## Note: The final RewriteCond must NOT use the [OR] flag.

 ## Return 403 Forbidden error.
 RewriteRule .* - [F]
</source>

== Other useful settings ==
<source lang="apache">
 ServerSignature Off
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} ^(HEAD|TRACE|DELETE|TRACK) [NC,OR]
 RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} (\\r|\\n|%0A|%0D) [NC,OR]

 RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (<|>|’|%0A|%0D|%27|%3C|%3E|%00) [NC,OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} (<|>|’|%0A|%0D|%27|%3C|%3E|%00) [NC,OR]
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(,|;|:|<|>|”>|”<|/|\\\.\.\\).{0,9999} [NC,OR]

 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^$ [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^(java|curl|wget) [NC,OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (winhttp|HTTrack|clshttp|archiver|loader|email|harvest|extract|grab|miner) [NC,OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (libwww-perl|curl|wget|python|nikto|scan) [NC,OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (<|>|’|%0A|%0D|%27|%3C|%3E|%00) [NC,OR]
 
 #Block mySQL injects
 RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (;|<|>|’|”|\)|%0A|%0D|%22|%27|%3C|%3E|%00).*(/\*|union|select|insert|cast|set|declare|drop|update|md5|benchmark) [NC,OR]

 RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \.\./\.\. [OR]

 RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (localhost|loopback|127\.0\.0\.1) [NC,OR]
 RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \.[a-z0-9] [NC,OR]
 RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|>|’|%0A|%0D|%27|%3C|%3E|%00) [NC]
 # Note: The final RewriteCond must NOT use the [OR] flag.

 # Return 403 Forbidden error.
 RewriteRule .* index.php [F]
</source>


== Suggested Master htaccess file ==

This can be discussed in [http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=432&t=549841 this forum topic]

'''Warning: note the hashed areas. Incorrect settings on some servers may cause 500 page errors'''

<source lang="apache">
###############################################################################
## The Master .htaccess
##
## Version 3.1 - March 29th, 2011
##
## ----------
## This file is designed to be the template .htaccess file to put on your new
## sites, increasing your site's security and performance. It is not meant to
## be just dropped in your site, though. You should go through all of its
## sections and modify it to match your site. Most notably, all instances of
## example.com and example\.com should be replaced with your real domain name.
##
## Some sections are too picky and may cause problems with legitimate requests.
## You are ultimately responsible for disabling them or writing exception rules
## for your requests. Most notably, the advanced server protection section will
## cause issues with several minifiers, eXtplorer, VirtueMart and other exten-
## sions which use non-standard scripts as their entry points. You must add
## exceptions for them manually.
##
## Some sections - depending on your server configuration - may cause your site
## to throw 500 Internal Server Error. The only way to figure out which one is
## causing it is trial and error.
##
## Big thank you's to Brian Teeman, Ken Crowder, Radek Suski and Fotis
## Evangelou for sharing their .htaccess rules with the world and inspiring
## the creation of this file. Special thanks to Jon Brown for sharing his
## research and helping me improve this file.
##
## Additional thank-yous to John for his remarks and g1smd for taking the
## time to optimize the speed of the file.
##
## It is usually prudent to remove the comments from the file when using it
## on a live host to minimize the parsing time.
##
## ----------------------------------------------------------------------
## Do you want to customize this .htaccess file with a few clicks?
## Admin Tools Professional by AkeebaBackup.com does this and much more.
##
## Learn more: http://www.akeebabackup.com/software/admin-tools.html
## ----------------------------------------------------------------------
##
## Have fun, stay safe.
##
## Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos
## Lead Developer, AkeebaBackup.com
##
## CHANGELOG:
## Version 3.0 (March 28th, 2011)
## - Massive rewrite
## Version 2.3 (November 18th, 2010)
## - Added .ico to the pass-through rules, for favicons to load
## Version 2.2 (October 25th, 2010)
## - Bug in the tmpl=component rule
## Version 2.1 (October 19th, 2010)
## - index.php to root redirection would kill some AJAX requests
## - Referer filtering was screwed up
## - Simplified and more thorough PHP Easter Egg code (thanks Jon!)
## - The tp/template/tmpl filter was not thorough and killed some components
## - Optimized Joomla! core SEF section
## - Bot filters and GZip optimization would never run for dynamic content
## - Content expiration optimization got more optimized
## - Added ETag rule
##
###############################################################################

########## Begin - RewriteEngine enabled
RewriteEngine On
########## End - RewriteEngine enabled

########## Begin - RewriteBase
#  Uncomment following line if your webserver's URL
#  is not directly related to physical file paths.
#  Update Your Joomla! Directory (just / for root)

# RewriteBase /
########## End - RewriteBase

########## Begin - No directory listings
## Note: +FollowSymlinks may cause problems and you might have to remove it
IndexIgnore *
Options +FollowSymLinks All -Indexes
########## End - No directory listings

########## Begin - File execution order, by Komra.de
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
########## End - File execution order

########## Begin - ETag Optimization
## This rule will create an ETag for files based only on the modification
## timestamp and their size. This works wonders if you are using rsync'ed
## servers, where the inode number of identical files differs.
## Note: It may cause problems on your server and you may need to remove it
FileETag MTime Size
########## End - ETag Optimization

########## Begin - Optimal default expiration time
## Note: this might cause problems and you might have to comment it out by
## placing a hash in front of this section's lines
## Note: Some people prefer using "now plus 1 month" instead of "now plus 1 year".
## Suit to taste.
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
	# Enable expiration control
	ExpiresActive On

	# Default expiration: 1 hour after request
	ExpiresDefault "now plus 1 hour"
	
	# CSS and JS expiration: 1 week after request
	ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 1 week"
	ExpiresByType application/javascript "now plus 1 week"
	ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "now plus 1 week"
	
	# Image files expiration: 1 year after request
	ExpiresByType image/bmp "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/gif "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/jpeg "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/jp2 "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/pipeg "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/png "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/svg+xml "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/tiff "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/vnd.microsoft.icon "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/x-icon "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/ico "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/icon "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType text/ico "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType application/ico "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType image/vnd.wap.wbmp "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType application/vnd.wap.wbxml "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType application/smil "now plus 1 year"
	
	# Audio files expiration: 1 year after request
	ExpiresByType audio/basic "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType audio/mid "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType audio/midi "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType audio/mpeg "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType audio/x-aiff "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType audio/x-mpegurl "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType audio/x-pn-realaudio "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType audio/x-wav "now plus 1 year"
	
	# Movie files expiration: 1 year after request
	ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType x-world/x-vrml "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType video/x-msvideo "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType video/mpeg "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType video/mp4 "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType video/quicktime "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType video/x-la-asf "now plus 1 year"
	ExpiresByType video/x-ms-asf "now plus 1 year"
</IfModule>
########## End - Optimal expiration time

########## Begin - Common hacking tools and bandwidth hoggers block
## By SigSiu.net and @nikosdion.
# This line also disables Akeeba Remote Control 2.5 and earlier
SetEnvIf user-agent "Indy Library" stayout=1
# WARNING: Disabling wget will also block the most common method for
# running CRON jobs. Remove if you have issues with CRON jobs.
SetEnvIf user-agent "Wget" stayout=1
# The following rules are for bandwidth-hogging download tools
SetEnvIf user-agent "libwww-perl" stayout=1
SetEnvIf user-agent "Download Demon" stayout=1
SetEnvIf user-agent "GetRight" stayout=1
SetEnvIf user-agent "GetWeb!" stayout=1
SetEnvIf user-agent "Go!Zilla" stayout=1
SetEnvIf user-agent "Go-Ahead-Got-It" stayout=1
SetEnvIf user-agent "GrabNet" stayout=1
SetEnvIf user-agent "TurnitinBot" stayout=1
# This line denies access to all of the above tools
deny from env=stayout
########## End - Common hacking tools and bandwidth higgers block

########## Begin - Automatic compression of resources
# Compress text, html, javascript, css, xml, kudos to Komra.de
# May kill access to your site for old versions of Internet Explorer
# The server needs to be compiled with mod_deflate otherwise it will send HTTP 500 Error.
# mod_deflate is not available on Apache 1.x series. Can only be used with Apache 2.x server.
# AddOutputFilterByType is now deprecated by Apache. Use mod_filter in the future.
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain text/html text/xml text/css application/xml application/xhtml+xml application/rss+xml application/javascript application/x-javascript
########## End - Automatic compression of resources

########## Begin - Google Apps redirection, by Komra.de
## Uncomment the following line to enable:
# Redirect 301 /mail http://mail.google.com/a/example.com
## If the above doesn't work on your server, try this:
## RewriteRule ^mail http://mail.google.com/a/example.com [R=301,L]
########## End - Google Apps redirection

########## Begin - Redirect index.php to /
## Note: Change example.com to reflect your own domain
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} !^POST
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /index\.php\ HTTP/
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT}>s ^(443>(s)|[0-9]+>s)$
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ http%2://www.example.com/ [R=301,L]
# If the above line throws a 500 error, try this instead:
# RewriteRule ^index\.php$ http%2://www.example.com/ [R,L]
########## End - Redirect index.php to /

########## Begin - Redirect non-www to www
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R,L]
########## End - Redirect non-www to www

########## Begin - Redirect www to non-www
## WARNING: Comment out the non-www to www rule if you choose to use this
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.+)$ [NC]
# RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%1/$1 [R,L]
########## End - Redirect non-www to www

########## Begin - Redirect (www.)olddomain.com to www.example.com
## Note: olddomain.com is your old domain name, you want to redirect FROM,
## whereas www.example.com is the new domain name you want to redirect TO.
## Change those names to reflect your current configuration. Remember, this
## file is supposed to be placed in www.example.com!
## Note: Replace [L=301,R] with [L,R] if you get error 500.
## Uncomment the following lines to enable:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?olddomain.com [NC] 
# RewriteRule ^index\.php$ http://www.example.com/ [L=301,R]
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?olddomain.com [NC] 
# RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [L=301,R]
########## End - Redirect olddomain.com to www.domain.com

########## Begin - Force HTTPS for certain pages
# Force the page foobar.html to run in HTTPS mode, no matter what Joomla! says.
# This is a sample redirection for foobar.html. Do note that you have to change
# www.example.com to reflect your own domain. Remember to escape the dots using
# \. in the left hand side of each rule. You need BOTH LINES PER URL for the rule
# to work.
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} ^off$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^foobar\.html$ https://www.example.com/foobar.html [L,R]
# Add more rules below this line
########## End - Force HTTPS for certain pages

########## Begin - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits
## If you experience problems on your site block out the operations listed below
## This attempts to block the most common type of exploit `attempts` to Joomla!
#
# If the request contains /proc/self/environ (by SigSiu.net)
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} proc/self/environ [OR]
# Legacy configuration variable injection
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} mosConfig_[a-zA-Z_]{1,21}(=|\%3D) [OR]
# Block out any script trying to base64_encode stuff to send via URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode\(.*\) [OR]
# Block out any script trying to base64_decode stuff to send via URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_decode\(.*\) [OR]
# Block out any script that includes a <script> tag in URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C)([^s]*s)+cript.*(>|%3E) [NC,OR]
# Block out any script trying to set a PHP GLOBALS variable via URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
# Block out any script trying to modify a _REQUEST variable via URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
# Return a 403 Forbidden
RewriteRule .* index.php [F]
#
########## End - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits

########## Begin - File injection protection, by SigSiu.net
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} GET
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} [a-zA-Z0-9_]=http:// [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} [a-zA-Z0-9_]=(\.\.\/{1,2}){1,} [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} [a-zA-Z0-9_]=/([a-z0-9_.]/{1,2}){1,} [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]
########## End - File injection protection

########## Begin - Advanced server protection rules exceptions ####
##
## These are sample exceptions to the Advanced Server Protection 3.0
## rule set further down this file.
##
## Allow UddeIM CAPTCHA
RewriteRule ^components/com_uddeim/captcha15\.php$ - [L]
## Allow Phil Taylor's Turbo Gears
RewriteRule ^plugins/system/GoogleGears/gears-manifest\.php$ - [L]
## Allow JoomlaWorks AllVideos
RewriteRule ^plugins/content/jw_allvideos/includes/jw_allvideos_scripts\.php$ - [L]
## Allow Admin Tools Joomla! updater to run
RewriteRule ^administrator/components/com_admintools/restore\.php$ - [L]
## Allow Akeeba Backup Professional's integrated restoration script to run
RewriteRule ^administrator/components/com_akeeba/restore\.php$ - [L]
## Allow Akeeba Kickstart
RewriteRule ^kickstart\.php$ - [L]

# Add more rules to single PHP files here

## Allow Agora attachments, but not PHP files in that directory!
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !(\.php)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
RewriteRule ^components/com_agora/img/members/ - [L]

# Add more rules for allowing full access (except PHP files) on more directories here

## Uncomment to allow full access to the cache directory (strongly not recommended!)
#RewriteRule ^cache/ - [L]
## Uncomment to allow full access to the tmp directory (strongly not recommended!)
#RewriteRule ^tmp/ - [L]

# Add more full access rules here

########## End - Advanced server protection rules exceptions ####

########## Begin - Advanced server protection
# Advanced server protection, version 2.0 - August 2010
# by Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

## Referrer filtering for common media files. Replace with your own domain.
## This blocks most common fingerprinting attacks ;)
## Note: Change www\.example\.com with your own domain name, substituting the dots with
## \., i.e.: www\.example\.com for www.example.com
RewriteRule ^images/stories/.*\.(jp(eg|g|2)?|png|gif|bmp|css|js|swf|ico|html?)$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} .
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^https?://(www\.)?example\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
RewriteRule \.(jp(eg|g|2)?|png|gif|bmp|css|js|swf|ico|html?)$ - [F]

## Disallow visual fingerprinting of Joomla! sites (module position dump)
## Initial idea by Brian Teeman and Ken Crowder, see:
## http://www.slideshare.net/brianteeman/hidden-joomla-secrets
## Improved by @nikosdion to work more efficiently and handle template
## and tmpl query parameters
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)tmpl=(component|system) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [L]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)t(p|emplate|mpl)= [NC,OR]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

## Disallow PHP Easter Eggs (can be used in fingerprinting attacks to determine
## your PHP version). See http://www.0php.com/php_easter_egg.php and
## http://osvdb.org/12184 for more information
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \=PHP[a-f0-9]{8}-[a-f0-9]{4}-[a-f0-9]{4}-[a-f0-9]{4}-[a-f0-9]{12} [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

## Back-end protection
## This also blocks fingerprinting attacks browsing for XML and INI files
RewriteRule ^administrator/?$ - [L]
RewriteRule ^administrator/index.html?$ - [L]
RewriteRule ^administrator/index2?.php$ - [L]
RewriteRule ^administrator/(components|modules|templates|images|plugins)/.*\.(jp(eg|g|2)?|png|gif|bmp|css|js|swf|html?|mp(e|eg|3|4)|avi|wav|og(g|v)|xlsx?|docx?|pptx?|zip|rar|pdf|xps|txt|7z|svg|od(t|s|p)|flv|mov)$ - [L]
RewriteRule ^administrator/ - [F]

## Explicitly allow access only to XML-RPC's xmlrpc/index.php or plain xmlrpc/ directory
RewriteRule ^xmlrpc/(index\.php)?$ - [L]
RewriteRule ^xmlrpc/ - [F]

## Disallow front-end access for certain Joomla! system directories
RewriteRule ^includes/js/ - [L]
RewriteRule ^(cache|includes|language|libraries|logs|tmp)/? - [F]

## Allow limited access for certain Joomla! system directories with client-accessible content
RewriteRule ^(components|modules|plugins|templates)/.*\.(jp(eg|g|2)?|png|gif|bmp|css|js|swf|html?|mp(e|eg|3|4)|avi|wav|og(g|v)|xlsx?|docx?|pptx?|zip|rar|pdf|xps|txt|7z|svg|od(t|s|p)|flv|mov)$ - [L]
RewriteRule ^(components|modules|plugins|templates)/.*/index\.php(.*)$ - [L]
RewriteRule ^templates/.*\.php$ $1 [L]
RewriteRule ^(components|modules|plugins|templates)/? - [F]

## Disallow rogue scripts in your site's root
# Exception: Allow Joomla!'s index.php and index2.php files
RewriteRule ^index2?\.php$ - [L]
RewriteRule ^[^/]+\.php$ - [F]

## Disallow access to htaccess.txt and configuration.php-dist
RewriteRule ^(htaccess\.txt|configuration\.php-dist)$ - [F]

## SQLi first line of defense, thanks to Radek Suski (SigSiu.net) @
## http://www.sigsiu.net/presentations/fortifying_your_joomla_website.html
## May cause problems on legitimate requests
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} concat[^\(]*\( [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} union([^s]*s)+elect.*[^\(]*\( [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} union([^a]*a)+ll([^s]*s)+elect [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

########## End - Advanced server protection

########## Begin - Basic antispam Filter, by SigSiu.net
## I removed some common words, tweak to your liking
## This code uses PCRE and works only with Apache 2.x.
## This code will NOT work with Apache 1.x servers.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \b(ambien|blue\spill|cialis|cocaine|ejaculation|erectile)\b [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \b(erections|hoodia|huronriveracres|impotence|levitra|libido)\b [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \b(lipitor|phentermin|pro[sz]ac|sandyauer|tramadol|troyhamby)\b [NC,OR]
## Note: The final RewriteCond must NOT use the [OR] flag.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \b(ultram|unicauca|valium|viagra|vicodin|xanax|ypxaieo)\b [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]
## Note: The previous lines are a "compressed" version
## of the filters. You can add your own filters as:
## RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \bbadword\b [NC,OR]
## where "badword" is the word you want to exclude
########## End - Basic antispam Filter, by SigSiu.net

########## Begin - Joomla! core SEF Section
#
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/[^.]*|\.(php|html?|feed|pdf|raw|ini|zip|json|file))$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]
#
########## End - Joomla! core SEF Section
</source>

== External links ==
[http://perishablepress.com/press/tag/htaccess/ .htaccess tag archive @ perishablepress.com]

[http://snipt.net/nikosdion/the-master-htaccess Proposed "master htaccess" (updated by Nicholas on November 18th 2010 to v2.3) DO read the intro by Nicholas!]
[[Category:Security]]

The original file contains a number of syntax errors, several rules that can never work, and a number of expressions that can be more efficiently coded.

Bugs and enhancements originally discussed at: http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=432&t=549841

Discussion also at: http://snipt.net/nikosdion/the-master-htaccess/ and http://snipt.net/g1smd/joomla-patch/

The new proposed file: http://code.google.com/p/joomla-master-htaccess/source/list and at: http://akeeba.assembla.com/code/master-htaccess/git/node/logs

The changes explained, line by line: 
http://codereview.appspot.com/4312049/diff/1/joomla-master-htaccess.txt
http://codereview.appspot.com/4290071/diff/1/joomla-master-htaccess.txt
http://codereview.appspot.com/4290071/diff/8001/joomla-master-htaccess.txt
http://codereview.appspot.com/4370051/diff/3/joomla-master-htaccess.txt
http://codereview.appspot.com/4314051/diff/1001/joomla-master-htaccess.txt
http://codereview.appspot.com/4430062/diff/1/joomla-master-htaccess.txt
http://codereview.appspot.com/4528051/diff/1/joomla-master-htaccess.txt