2010 User-Agent Blacklist
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The 2010 User-Agent Blacklist blocks hundreds of bad bots while ensuring open-access for the major search engines: Google, Bing, Ask, Yahoo, et al. Blocking bad user-agents is an effective addition to any security strategy. It works like this: your site is getting hammered by rogue bots that waste valuable server resources and bandwidth. So you grab a copy of the 2010 UA Blacklist from Perishable Press, include it in your site’s root .htaccess file, and enjoy better security and performance. It’s that easy.
Proven Security
The 2010 UA Blacklist has been carefully constructed based on rigorous server-log analyses. Obsessive daily log monitoring reveals bad bots scanning for exploits, spamming resources, and wasting bandwidth. While analyzing malicious behavior, evil bots are identified and added to the UA Blacklist. Blocked user-agents are denied access to your site, increasing efficiency and providing safety for your visitors.
Better Performance, Better SEO
Search engines such as Google are placing more weight on speedy, fast-loading websites. If your site is plagued with resource-devouring, bandwidth-wasting bots, it’s performance is probably not as good as it should be. Even if your site looks fine on the surface, without proper protection bad bots can gobble your bandwidth and leech your server resources. A single malicious bot can make hundreds and thousands of requests in a very short period of time while scanning and probing for vulnerabilities. If Google visits while bad bots are hitting your site, your site’s SEO could suffer. Fortunately, the 2010 UA Blacklist protects your site against hundreds of nefarious bots, thereby fostering maximum performance for the search engines.
2010 User-Agent Blacklist
Here it is, presented as two sets of HTAccess directives:
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(127\.0\.0\.0|localhost) [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} .*(Firs|exac|Cloak|Detect|uchoo|beaut|ASPSeek|swish|ICS\)|MSIE\ 6\.0\;\ Windows\ NT\;\ DigExt\)|pt\-BR\;\ rv\:1\.9\.0\.3\)\ Firefox\/3\.0|pt\-BR\;\ rv\:1\.9\.0\.18\)\ Firefox\/3\.0|\!susie|\$x0e|\%0a|\%0d|\@\$x|\_irc|\_works|\+select\+|\+union\+|\<\?|1\,\1\,1\,|3gse|4all|4anything|5\.1\;\ xv6875\)|59\.64\.153\.|85\.17\.|88\.0\.106\.|98|a\_browser|a1\ site|abac|abach|abby|aberja|abilon|abont|abot|accept|access|accoo|accoon|aceftp|acme|active|address|adopt|adress|advisor|agent|ahead|aihit|aipbot|alarm|albert|alek|alexa\ toolbar\;\ \(r1\ 1\.5\)|alltop|alma|alot|alpha|america\ online\ browser\ 1\.1|amfi|amfibi|anal|andit|anon|ansearch|answer|answerbus|answerchase|antivirx|apollo|appie|arach|archive|arian|aboutoil|asps|aster|atari|atlocal|atom|atrax|atrop|attrib|autoh|autohot|av\ fetch|avsearch|axod|axon|baboom|baby|back|baid|bali|bandit|barry|basichttp|batch|bdfetch|beat|become|bee|beij|betabot|biglotron|bilgi|bison|bitacle|bitly|blaiz|blitz|blogl|blogscope|blogzice|bloob|blow|bord|boi|bond|boris|bost|bot\.ara|botje|botw|bpimage|brand|brok|broth|browseabit|browsex|bruin|bsalsa|bsdseek|built|bulls|bumble|bunny|busca|busi|buy|bwh3|cafek|cafi|camel|cand|captu|casper|catch|ccbot|ccubee|cd34|ceg|cfnetwork|cgichk|cha0s|chang|chaos|char|char\(|chase\ x|check\_http|checker|checkonly|chek|chill|chttpclient|cipinet|cisco|cita|citeseer|clam|claria|claw|clush|coast|code\.com|cogent|coldfusion|coll|collect|comb|combine|commentreader|common|compan|compatible\-|conc|conduc|contact|control|contype|conv|cool|copi|copy|coral|corn|cosmos|costa|cowbot|cr4nk|craft|cralwer|crank|crap|crawler0|crazy|cres|cs\-cz|cshttp|cuill|CURI|curl|curry|custo|cute|cyber|cz3|czx|daily|dalvik|daobot|dark|darwin|data|daten|dcbot|dcs|dds\ explorer|deep|deps|detect|dex|diam|diibot|dillo|ding|disc|disp|ditto|dlc|doco|dotbot|drag|drec|dsdl|dsok|dts|duck|dumb|eag|earn|earthcom|easydl|ebin|echo|edco|egoto|elnsb5|email|emer|empas|encyclo|enfi|enhan|enterprise\_search|envolk|erck|erocr|eventax|evere|evil|ewh|exploit|expre|extra|eyen|fang|fast|fastbug|faxo|fdse|feed24|feeddisc|feedhub|fetch|filan|fileboo|fimap|find|firebat|firedownload\/1\.2pre\ firefox\/3\.6|firefox\/0|firefox\/2|firs|flam|flash|flexum|flip|fly|focus|fooky|forum|forv|fost|foto|foun|fount|foxy\/1\;|free|friend|frontpage|fuck|fuer|futile|fyber|gais|galbot|gbpl|gecko\/2001|gecko\/2002|gecko\/2006|gecko\/2009042316|gener|geni|geo|geona|geth|getr|getw|ggl|gira|gluc|gnome|go\!zilla|goforit|goldfire|gonzo|google\ wireless|googlebot\-image|gosearch|got\-it|gozilla|grab|graf|greg|grub|grup|gsa\-cra|gsearch|gt\:\:www|guidebot|guruji|gyps|haha|hailo|harv|hash|hatena|hax|head|helm|herit|heritrix|hgre|hippo|hloader|hmse|hmview|holm|holy|hotbar\ 4\.4\.5\.0|hpprint|httpclient|httpconnect|httplib|human|huron|hverify|hybrid|hyper|iaskspi|ibm\ evv|iccra|ichiro|icopy|ida|ie\/5\.0|ieauto|iempt|iexplore\.exe|ilium|ilse|iltrov|indexer|indy|ineturl|infonav|innerpr|inspect|insuran|intellig|interget|internet\_explorer|internet\x|intraf|ip2|ipsel|irlbot|isc\_sys|isilo|isrccrawler|isspi|jady|jaka|jam|jenn|jet|jiro|jobo|joc|jupit|just|jyx|jyxo|kash|kazo|kbee|kenjin|kernel|keywo|kfsw|kkma|kmc|know|kosmix|krae|krug|ksibot|ktxn|kum|labs|lanshan|lapo|larbin|leech|lets|lexi|lexxe|libby|libcrawl|libcurl|libfetch|libweb|libwww|light|linc|lingue|linkcheck|linklint|linkman|lint|list|litefeeds|livedoor|livejournal|liveup|lmq|locu|london|lone|loop|lork|lth\_|lwp|mac\_f|magi|magp|mail\.ru|main|majest|mam|mama|mana|marketwire|masc|mass|mata|mvi|mcbot|mecha|mechanize|mediapartners|metadata|metalogger|metaspin|metauri|mete|mib\/2\.2|microsoft\.url|microsoft\_internet\_explorer|mido|miggi|miix|mindjet|mindman|mips|mira|mire|miss|mist|mizz|mj12|mlbot|mlm|mnog|moge|moje|mooz|more|mouse|mozdex) [NC]
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [G]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(127\.0\.0\.0|localhost) [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} .*(Windows\ NT\ 6\.1\;\ tr\;\ rv\:1\.9\.2\.6\)|mozilla\/0|mozilla\/1|mozilla\/2|mozilla\/3|mozilla\/4\.61\ \[en\]|mozilla\/firefox|mpf|msie\ 1|msie\ 2|msie\ 3|msie\ 4|msie\ 5|msie\ 6\.0\-|msie\ 6\.0b|msie\ 7\.0a1\;|msie\ 7\.0b\;|msie6xpv1|msiecrawler|msnbot\-media|msnbot\-products|msnptc|msproxy|msrbot|musc|mvac|mwm|my\_age|myapp|mydog|myeng|myie2|mysearch|myurl|nag|name|naver|navr|near|netants|netcach|netcrawl|netfront|netinfo|netmech|netsp|netx|netz|neural|neut|newsbreak|newsgatorinbox|newsrob|newt|next|ng\-s|ng\/2|nice|nikto|nimb|ninja|ninte|nog|noko|nomad|norb|note|npbot|nuse|nutch|nutex|nwsp|obje|ocel|octo|odi3|oegp|offby|offline|omea|omg|omhttp|onfo|onyx|openf|openssl|openu|opera\ 2|opera\ 3|opera\ 4|opera\ 5|opera\ 6|opera\ 7|orac|orbit|oreg|osis|our|outf|owl|p3p\_|page2rss|pagefet|pansci|parser|patw|pavu|pb2pb|pcbrow|pear|peer|pepe|perfect|perl|petit|phoenix\/0\.|php|phras|picalo|piff|pig|pingd|pipe|pirs|plag|planet|plant|platform|playstation|plesk|pluck|plukkie|poe\-com|poirot|pomp|post|postrank|powerset|preload|press|privoxy|probe|program\_shareware|protect|protocol|prowl|proxie|proxy|psbot|pubsub|puf|pulse|punit|purebot|purity|pyq|pyth|query|quest|qweer|radian|rambler|ramp|rapid|rawdog|rawgrunt|reap|reeder|refresh|reget|relevare|repo|requ|request|rese|retrieve|rip|rix|rma|roboz|rocket|rogue|rpt\-http|rsscache|ruby|ruff|rufus|rv\:0\.9\.7\)|salt|sample|sauger|savvy|sbcyds|sbider|sblog|sbp|scagent|scanner|scej\_|sched|schizo|schlong|schmo|scorp|scott|scout|scrawl|screen|screenshot|script|seamonkey\/1\.5a|search17|searchbot|searchme|sega|semto|sensis|seop|seopro|sept|sezn|seznam|share|sharp|shaz|shell|shelo|sherl|shim|shopwiki|silurian|simple|simplepie|siph|sitekiosk|sitescan|sitevigil|sitex|skam|skimp|sledink|sleip|slide|sly|smag|smurf|snag|snapbot|snapshot|snif|snip|snoop|sock|socsci|sogou|sohu|solr|some|soso|spad|span|spbot|speed|sphere|spin|sproose|spurl|sputnik|spyder|squi|sqwid|sqworm|ssm\_ag|stack|stamp|statbot|state|steel|stilo|strateg|stress|strip|style|subot|such|suck|sume|sunos\ 5\.7|sunrise|superbot|superbro|supervi|surf4me|surfbot|survey|susi|suza|suzu|sweep|sygol|synapse|sync2it|systems|szukacz|tagger|tagoo|tagyu|take|talkro|tamu|tandem|tarantula|tbot|tcf|tcs\/1|teamsoft|tecomi|teesoft|teleport|telesoft|tencent|terrawiz|test|texnut|thomas|tiehttp|timebot|timely|tipp|tiscali|titan|tmcrawler|tmhtload|tocrawl|todobr|tongco|toolbar\;\ \(r1|topic|topyx|torrent|track|translate|traveler|treeview|tricus|trivia|trivial|true|tunnel|turing|turnitin|tutorgig|twat|tweak|twice|tygo|ubee|ultraseek|unavail|unf|universal|unknown|upg1|uptime|urlbase|urllib|urly|user\-agent\:|useragent|usyd|vagabo|valet|vamp|vci|veri\~li|verif|versus|via|virtual|visual|void|voyager|vsyn|w0000t|w3search|walhello|walker|wand|waol|watch|wavefire|wbdbot|weather|web\.ima|web2mal|webarchive|webbot|webcat|webcor|webcorp|webcrawl|webdat|webdup|webgo|webind|webis|webitpr|weblea|webmin|webmoney|webp|webql|webrobot|webster|websurf|webtre|webvac|webzip|wells|wep\_s|wget|whiz|widow|win67|windows\-rss|windows\ 2000|windows\ 3|windows\ 95|windows\ 98|windows\ ce|windows\ me|winht|winodws|wish|wizz|wordp|worio|works|world|worth|wwwc|wwwo|wwwster|xaldon|xbot|xenu|xirq|y\!tunnel|yacy|yahoo\-mmaudvid|yahooseeker|yahooysmcm|yamm|yand|yandex|yang|yoono|yori|yotta|yplus\ |ytunnel|zade|zagre|zeal|zebot|zerx|zeus|zhuaxia|zipcode|zixy|zmao) [NC]
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [G]To implement the UA Blacklist, simply paste into your site’s root .htaccess file (or even better, the Apache configuration file). Upload, test, and stay current with updates and news.
Important Note
The UA Blacklist uses hundreds of regular expressions to block bad bots based on their user-agent. Each of these regular expressions can match many different user-agents. Care has been taken to ensure that only bad bots are blocked, but false positives are inevitable. If you know of a user-agent that should be removed from the list, please let me know. I will do my best to update things asap.
Bottom line: Only use this code if you know what you are doing. It’s not a “fix-it-and-forget” situation, especially for production sites. It’s more like a “fix-it-and-keep-an-eye-on-it” kind of thing, meant for those who understand how it works. As mentioned in the comments, the 2010 User-Agent Blacklist is a work in progress. Please use the UA Blacklist with caution and at your own risk.
So much more..
For those new to Perishable Press, please check out some of my other security resources:
- 2010 IP Blacklist
- The Perishable Press 4G Blacklist
- Blacklist Library
- HTAccess Library
- Security Library
Security is an important part of what I do around here, so please chime in with any suggestions, ideas, and comments. Thank you for visiting Perishable Press.
105 responses to “2010 User-Agent Blacklist”
Hey, Jeff, I just wanted to point out something that happened on my site (running on WP) that seems to be triggered by your user agent blacklist.
I copied the blacklist into my .htaccess file yesterday, then last night I scheduled a post to be published at around 11am this morning. The post never got published and it was listed in my dashboard as “Missed”. This is the first time I’ve ever had a post delayed or missed when using WP’s scheduling.
So, I ran a few tests on my local WP install, and each time I had the user agent blacklist in my .htaccess file, I could not get a scheduled post to go live using the automated system. If I remove the blacklist, the scheduling works fine.
This link has some more info on the scheduling issue, but I just thought I’d let you know about it to see if maybe you can figure out why your blacklist seems to be causing this problem.
Thanks!
Hi,
Thanks for the list, really great help. Although I’m having difficulty with it. I’m trying to use it on a site I have hosted (with streamline.net) but when I add this or your IP blacklist to the htaccess I got a 500 error.
The logs give the error “…..htaccess: RewriteCond: cannot compile regular expression ‘.*(Firs|exac|Cl…” and similar with the IP blacklist.
Is this a host problem that I cannot solve (unfortunately budget is limited to shared hosting with a budget host).
Thanks again,
Julian.
@myself
To follow up, just tried only using each half of your rules. Works fine with “RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} .*(Windows\ NT\…” but not the first rule.
Will try more tomorrow and share anything I find.
Thanks,
Julian
Jeff, are you seriously saying you didn’t manually check your list for false positives before telling people to use it?
Or why did you include strings like “firefox\/3\.0”, “w3m” or “windows\ 98” in your list?
Looking at your list, it seems to be full of false positives, BLOCKING LEGITIMATE USERS.
@Adrian: lol – not sure how “seriously” I’m saying anything. I simply do my best to analyze, test, and research things as much as possible. As a full-time dad working 2.5 full-time jobs to keep up, my “blacklist” time is limited. I simply enjoy the process and try to share as much information as possible.
Blacklists – especially user-agent blacklists – are a work in progress and are never perfect. The idea is to help improve the code by offering constructive input.
@Adrian . . “Looking at your list, it seems to be full of false positives, BLOCKING LEGITIMATE USERS”
Maybe you can help us out. So your saying an average person surfing the web, with little technical expertise other then surfing favorite pages would be blocked from a site using this list? Nothing personal just trying to figure what you mean by legitimate users.
Some good points here in the comments have resulted in a new “Important Note” section in the article. It basically informs people that false positives are inevitable and only use the list if you know what you’re doing. Thanks to Adrian and Steve for the perspective.
I just wanted to share that I read your blog regularly and enjoy it quite a bit. Some of these comments lack the tact / gratefulness for the quality writing and thoughts that you share with us.
I hope that some of this feedback did not dampen your enthusiasm for blogging here. Cheers.
@ Eric Curtis, you are def right, i call them haters. They can’t think for themselves, they only know how to criticise.
Steve, an average person using a device running Windows CE will be blocked from surfing his favorite pages on a webserver using these .htaccess directives due to the “windows\ ce” entry.
The same goes for anyone using Firefox 3.0 due to the “firefox\/3\.0” entry.
I do not care what other people write about me, fact is that using these .htaccess directives as recommended in this blog post is a bad thing.
My constructive input is that each entry in such a list has to be checked manually before using it or even publically recommending it to other people.
@Adrian that’s cool.
Firefox 3 was released on June 17, 2008. I certainly hope average users have upgraded by now. Duh!
This release is only a couple days old so it will all get sorted out. There is something that appeals to me about blocking hundreds of bad bots. And any temporary inconvenience for a lone surfer here and there won’t be major. If someone is really into a web site anyway they would contact administration and say “hey I got blocked from the site whats up?”
Adrian: Here’s an idea… Why don’t you go through the blacklist and modify it how you see fit, such that it minimizes/eliminates FPs, and then post it back here. So, you actually produce something constructive rather than telling Steve, who’s already said he’s a bit overworked, that he should fix it himself.
Help out… don’t just point out the problems, help fix them. If your blacklist works better, people will use it. That’s how this works. Steve offered up his list in the hopes it will help someone, not so he can be told it sucks.