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BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security

By Jeff Starr

Description

Install, activate, and done!
Powerful protection from WP’s fastest firewall plugin.

BBQ Firewall is a lightweight, super-fast plugin that protects your site against a wide range of threats. BBQ checks all incoming traffic and quietly blocks bad requests containing nasty stuff like eval(, base64_, and excessively long request-strings. This is a simple yet solid solution for sites that are unable to use a strong Apache/.htaccess firewall.

Adds a strong firewall to ANY WordPress site
Works with all WordPress plugins and themes

Powerful Protection

BBQ protects your site against many threats:

  • SQL injection attacks
  • Executable file uploads
  • Directory traversal attacks
  • Unsafe character requests
  • Excessively long requests
  • PHP remote/file execution
  • XSS, XXE, and related attacks
  • Protects against bad bots
  • Protects against bad referrers
  • Protects against bad POST content
  • Protects against many other bad requests

Works great with Blackhole for Bad Bots

Awesome Features

BBQ provides all the best firewall features:

  • Rated 5 stars at WordPress.org
  • 100% plug-&-play, zero configuration
  • 100% focused on security and performance
  • Blocks a wide range of malicious URL requests
  • Fastest Web Application Firewall (WAF) for WordPress
  • Based on the 6G/7G Firewall
  • Scans all incoming traffic and blocks bad requests
  • Scans all types of requests: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.
  • Protects against known bad bots and referrers
  • Works silently behind the scenes to protect your site
  • Hassle-free security plugin that’s easy to use
  • Thoroughly tested, error-free performance
  • Extremely low rate of false positives
  • Compatible with other security plugins
  • Regularly updated and “future proof”
  • Firewall < 10 kilobytes in size
  • Lightweight, fast and flexible

For advanced protection and features, check out BBQ Pro »
BBQ = Block Bad Queries

Privacy

This plugin does not collect or store any user data. It does not set any cookies, and it does not connect to any third-party locations. Thus, this plugin does not affect user privacy in any way.

BBQ Firewall is developed and maintained by Jeff Starr, 15-year WordPress developer and book author.

Support development

I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can make a donation or purchase one of my books:

And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins:

Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thank you! 🙂

Installation

Installing BBQ

  1. Install, activate, done.

Once active, BBQ automatically protects your site against threats. Quietly, behind the scenes. For more control and stronger protection, check out BBQ Pro »

More info on installing WP plugins

Customizing

Note that the Pro version of BBQ makes it possible to customize patterns and everything else directly via the plugin settings, with a click. BBQ Pro also displays the current block count for each firewall rule, like this.

Uninstalling

This plugin cleans up after itself. All plugin settings will be removed from your database when the plugin is uninstalled via the Plugins screen.

Like the plugin?

If you like BBQ, please take a moment to give a 5-star rating. It helps to keep development and support going strong. Thank you!

FAQ

How to test that the plugin is working?

To test that the plugin is working, you can request any of the blocked patterns. For example, visit your site’s homepage and enter the following URL:

https://example.com/eval(

Replace example.com with your site’s actual domain. If BBQ is active, the request for that URL will be blocked (with a “403 Forbidden” status). This means the plugin is working properly. You can test other patterns as well. To view all the patterns blocked by BBQ, look at the function bbq_core() located in block-bad-queries.php.

Do you offer any other security plugins?

Yes, three of them:

Pro versions with more features available at Plugin Planet.

Do I need to do anything else for BBQ to work?

Nope, just install and relax knowing that BBQ is protecting your site from bad URL requests.

I don’t see any Settings whatsoever? Where is the settings?

No settings needed for BBQ! Everything is done automatically behind the scenes. Zero configuration required. The free version of BBQ is strictly plug-n-play, set-it-and-forget-it, with no settings to configure whatsoever. Just install, activate, and enjoy better security and robust protection against malicious requests. The Pro version of BBQ is just as fast and simple to use, but is much more powerful and includes robust settings to customize and fine-tune your firewall.

Is BBQ free version compatible with Wordfence?

Does it makes sense to use both? Yes BBQ free and BBQ Pro are both compatible with any plugin written according to the WP API. And yes, there is benefit to using BBQ with any other security plugin, including Wordfence. They protect against different threats, so using both means you are extra secure.

Does BBQ make changes to my .htaccess file?

Absolutely not. Unlike other security/firewall plugins, neither BBQ (free version) nor BBQ Pro make any changes to any .htaccess file.

Does BBQ make any changes to my WP database?

No, the free version of BBQ operates as each page is loaded; it does not make any changes whatsoever to the WP database.

Does BBQ block malicious strings included in arrays?

Yes, BBQ scans any arrays that are included in the URI request. If any matching patterns are found, the request is blocked.

My PHP scanner/checker plugin says there is an error?

For example, if your PHP/plugin scanner reports something like, “found 0x3c62723e which is bad.” Normally you would not want to find such bad strings of code, but there is an exception for security plugins. Think about it: in order to block some nasty string, BBQ must know about it. So each bad string that is blocked by BBQ is included in the plugin “blacklist”. That means, when some PHP scanner looks at BBQ and finds some known bad strings, it just means that the scanner has discovered BBQ’s list of blocked terms. In other words, BBQ contains static strings of non-functional text, in order to match and block malicious requests to your site. I hope this makes sense, feel free to contact me if I may provide any further infos.

Do I need WordPress to run BBQ?

Nope! BBQ is available in the following flavors:

So you can check out the Standalone PHP Script for sites that are not running WordPress.

Can I use BBQ and 6G/7G Firewall at the same time?

Full question: “Except most of the rules overlapping, is it counter productive (site slowing down for example, potential conflicts, bugs) or is there any risks using 6G/7G Firewall + BBQ at the same time?”

Answer: It’s fine to run both BBQ and 6G/7G Firewall at the same time. Both firewalls are super fast, so they won’t slow things down. In other words the two firewalls play well together. The only downside is that some of the rules will be redundant, but there should be no negative impact on performance. The upside is that you get extra protection when using both, as there are variations in the firewall rules and patterns, etc.

My PHP checker found something?

If you are using some PHP checker that’s reporting an error or bad string in BBQ, it’s a false positive and safe to ignore. Why? Because the PHP checker is finding the static strings/patterns that BBQ uses to identify and block bad requests. In other words, your PHP checker is finding a static string thinking it is live code. It’s not. If possible, please take a moment to report this to the developers of your PHP checker. They should be happy to improve the accuracy and quality of their plugin. More info.

How to enable logging?

You can use a free addon to display the total number of blocked requests on the BBQ settings page. Here is a guide that explains how to set it up.

Alternately, BBQ can be configured to log the matching pattern for each blocked request. When match-logging is enabled, BBQ will add a log entry in the site’s default error log. To enable match logging, use the free customize plugin.

Note that the Pro version of BBQ displays the current block count for each firewall rule, like this. All automatic, fiddling with code NOT required 🙂

Got a question?

Send any questions or feedback via my contact form.

Reviews

Perfect Addon to Safety

September 5, 2023
Was a rookie when I started and found this plug in. WOW.... This is a must for anyone wanting extra security in keeping their site secure from the bad guys. Never had a glitch, Never had a conflict !! Thanks BBQ !!

Great plugin – very handy.

August 7, 2023
After discovering this plugin, I use it all the time for smaller projects and sometimes for larger projects - doesn't seem to add too much overhead but gives great piece of mind.

Sense of Security

August 4, 2023
Been meaning to write a review for a long time, I have full confidence in this plugin as an integral part of security

Great lightweight security

May 26, 2023
I have made a living as a WP developer for close to 20 years and have almost seen it all during that time. I manage a lot of sites for myself and for clients. This is one of the most useful plugins that I have come across in the security space. I liked it so much, I sprung for the Pro version which adds a few extra features. Certainly, you could get by with .htaccess rules (either yourself, or with what Jeff provides), but this makes it much easier to implement. I really have made use of the adding custom patterns feature, and the tracking of blocked attempts shows that this is very effective. It's a simple plugin, really, which is what I like most. As a WP developer, I could have written my own, but for what Jeff charges for the Pro version, it makes more sense to just buy his. For the clown who rated it 1 star - that guy didn't really have a clue what he was talking about, and appeared to be someone who thinks he knows what he's talking about but doesn't - that's the most dangerous kind of administrator. Seriously, this is exactly what a WAF is and is supposed to be, and it works great for what it is. Yes, there are other means of intrusion, and this plugin doesn't address those - it's not a "end-all-be-all" which is what I like about it. Those plugins that try to do it all usually end up being complex, bloated, intrusive, and an all-around a pain to work with. Instead, Jeff has produced a plugin that does one thing and does it perfectly with clean code and very light overhead.
Read all 124 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

“BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security” has been translated into 14 locales. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.

Translate “BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

If you like BBQ, please take a moment to give a 5-star rating. It helps to keep development and support going strong. Thank you!

2023/07/18

  • Improves localization function
  • Improves sanitization of variables
  • Updates default translation template
  • Adds PHP constant, BBQ_BASE_FILE
  • Adds custom notice on settings page
  • Adds information about BBQ addons
  • Improves plugin documentation
  • Tests on WordPress 6.3 (beta)

2023/03/03

  • Adds action hook bbq_response
  • Adds filter hook bbq_count_plugin_path
  • Adds button to test firewall active
  • Streamlines firewall functionality
  • Tweaks styles on plugin settings page
  • Appends version number to CSS/JS URLs
  • Improves logic when calling get_current_screen()
  • Adds rate and support links to plugin settings page
  • Adds bbq_long_req_length filter for long-request length
  • Displays blocked count on settings screen (when enabled)
  • Updates whitelist/blacklist addons
  • Updates customize addon
  • Adds plugin screenshots on settings page
  • Generates new translation template
  • Tests on WordPress 6.1 + 6.2 (beta)
  • Tests on PHP 8.1 and 8.2

2022/10/02

  • Adds custom footer text to plugin settings
  • Improves plugin documentation
  • Updates translation template
  • Tests on WordPress 6.1

2022/05/17

  • Removes .inc from firewall patterns
  • Tests on WordPress 6.0

2022/01/22

  • Disables POST data scanning by default
  • Tests on WordPress 5.9

2022/01/18

  • Refactors for improved performance
  • Improves checking of POST requests
  • Adds filter hook post_items
  • Adds filter hook bbq_post_scanning
  • Adds /.env to Request URI patterns
  • Adds c99.php to Request URI patterns
  • Updates blacklist and customize addons
  • Improves loading of translations
  • Updates some links to external resources
  • Changes minimum required WP version to 4.6
  • Tests on WordPress 5.9

2021/07/19

  • Removes ambien from referrer patterns
  • Tests on WordPress 5.8

2021/02/11

  • Removes zune pattern from user agents
  • Removes ninja pattern from user agents
  • Tests on WordPress 5.7

2020/12/09

  • Tweaks query string pattern for optimal matching
  • Further tests on WordPress 5.6

2020/12/08

  • Removes order pattern from Query String rules
  • Removes ahrefs pattern from User Agent rules

2020/11/23

  • Removes python from the User Agent rules
  • Adds filter for URI long-request blocking
  • Adds filter for enabling logging of blocked requests
  • Releases customize plugin to change default functionality
  • Further tests on WordPress 5.6

2020/11/16

  • Improves XSS protection
  • Improves logic of bbq_core()
  • Integrates 7G patterns to firewall rules
  • Removes some redundant firewall patterns
  • Adds protection against excessive characters
  • Adds logging functionality (disabled by default)
  • Adds filter hooks to customize blocked response
  • Replaces guangxiymcd with www\.(.*)\.cn
  • Changes plugin name to “BBQ Firewall”
  • Updates default translation template
  • Updates/refines readme.txt
  • Tests on PHP 7.4 and 8.0
  • Tests on WordPress 5.6

2020/08/11

  • Replaces guangxiymcd with wildcard match www.(.*).cn
  • Refines readme/documentation
  • Tests on WordPress 5.5

2020/07/06

  • Adds guangxiymcd to Request URI and Query String patterns
  • Tests on WordPress 5.4 + 5.5 (alpha)

2020/03/19

  • Tests on WordPress 5.4

2019/11/09

  • Changes to plugins_url() for BBQ_URL constant
  • Tests on WordPress 5.3

2019/09/02

  • Updates some links to https
  • Tests on WordPress 5.3 (alpha)

2019/05/01

  • Bumps minimum PHP version to 5.6.20
  • Adds activation check if BBQ Pro is active
  • Updates default translation template
  • Tests on WordPress 5.2

2019/03/11

  • Improves function bbq_action_links()
  • Refines plugin settings screen UI
  • Generates new default translation template
  • Tests on WordPress 5.1 and 5.2 (alpha)

2019/02/20

  • Tests on WordPress 5.1

2018/11/17

  • Adds homepage link to Plugins screen
  • Updates default translation template
  • Tests on WordPress 5.0

2018/08/21

  • Removes .tar from Request URI patterns
  • Adds rel="noopener noreferrer" to all blank-target links
  • Updates GDPR blurb and donate link
  • Regenerates default translation template
  • Further tests on WP 4.9 and 5.0 (alpha)

2018/05/11

  • Adds xrumer to blocked query strings and request URIs
  • Adds indoxploi to blocked query strings and request URIs
  • Generates new translation template
  • Tests on WordPress 5.0

2017/11/01

  • Updates readme.txt 🙂
  • Tests on WordPress 4.9

2017/10/19

  • Changes \/\.tar to \.tar in Request patterns
  • Changes \/\.bash to \.bash in Request patterns
  • Adds new User Agent patterns: shellshock, md5sum, \/bin\/bash
  • Adds new Request patterns: @@, @eval, \/file\:, \/php\:, \.cmd, \.bat, \.htacc, \.htpas, \.pass, usr\/bin\/perl, var\/lib\/php, wp-config\.php
  • Adds new Query String patterns: @@, \(0x, 0x3c62723e, \(\)\}, \:\;\}\;, \;\!--\=, @eval, eval\(, base64_, UNION(.*)SELECT, \/config\., \/wwwroot, \/makefile, \$_session, \$_request, \$_env, \$_server, \$_post, \$_get, phpinfo\(, shell_exec\(, file_get_contents, allow_url_include, disable_functions, auto_prepend_file, open_basedir, (benchmark|sleep)(\s|%20)*\(
  • Tests on WordPress 4.9

2017/07/30

  • Changed menu item name to “BBQ Firewall”
  • Tests on WordPress 4.9 (alpha)

2017/03/22

  • Adds plugin settings page
  • Adds French translation (thanks to Bouzin)
  • Generates new default translation template
  • Tests on WordPress version 4.8

2016/11/14

  • Replaces esc_html with esc_attr for link title attributes
  • Changes stable tag from trunk to latest version
  • Adds &raquo; to rate this plugin link
  • Updates URL for rate this plugin link
  • Moves “Go Pro” link to action links
  • Renames action/meta link functions
  • Updates default translation template
  • Tests on WordPress version 4.7 (beta)

2016/08/10

  • Added translation support
  • Added plugin icons and larger banner
  • General fine-tuning and testing
  • Tested on WordPress 4.6

2016/03/28

  • Removed \:\/\/ from Request URI and Query String patterns (see this thread)
  • Added (benchmark|sleep)(\s|%20)*\( to Request URI patterns (thanks to smitka)
  • Tested on WordPress 3.5 beta

2015/11/07

  • Added \.php\([0-9]+\), __hdhdhd.php to URI patterns (Thanks to George Lerner)
  • Added acapbot, semalt to User Agent patterns (Thanks to George Lerner)
  • Replaced UNION.*SELECT with UNION(.*)SELECT in Request URI patterns
  • Added morfeus, snoopy to User Agent patterns
  • Refactored redirect/exit functionality
  • Renamed rate_bbq() to bbq_links()
  • Tested with WordPress 4.4 beta

2015/08/08

  • Tested on WordPress 4.3
  • Updated minimum version requirement
  • Highlighted Pro link on Plugins screen

2015/06/24

  • Replaced UNION\+SELECT with UNION.*SELECT
  • Added wp-config.php to query-string patterns
  • Added plugin link to BBQ Pro
  • Testing on WP 4.3 (alpha)

2015/05/07

  • Tested with WP 4.2 and 4.3 (alpha)
  • Replaced some http with https in readme.txt

2015/03/14

  • introduce bbq_core()
  • tested on latest WP
  • tightened up code

2014/09/22

  • tested on latest version of WordPress (4.0)
  • retested on Multisite
  • increased minimum version requirement to WP 3.7

2014/03/05

  • Bugfix: added conditional checks for empty variables

2014/01/23

  • tested on latest version of WordPress (3.8)
  • added link to rate plugin

2013/11/03

  • removed ?> from script
  • added optional line for blocking long URLs
  • added line to prevent direct access to BBQ script
  • added \;Nt\., \=Nt\., \,Nt\. to request URI items
  • tested on latest version of WordPress (3.7)

2013/07/07

  • replaced Nt\. with \/Nt\. (resolves comment editing/approval issue)

2013/07/05

  • removed https\: (from previous version)
  • replaced \/https\/ with \/https\:
  • replaced \/http\/ with \/http\:
  • replaced \/ftp\/ with \/ftp\:

2013/07/04

  • removed block for jakarta in user-agents
  • removed union from query strings
  • added to request-URI: \%2Flocalhost, Nt\., https\:, \.exec\(, \)\.html\(, \{x\.html\(, \(function\(
  • resolved PHP Notice “Undefined Index” via isset()

2013/01/03

  • removed block for CONCAT in request-URI
  • removed block for environ in query-string
  • removed block for %3C and %3E in query-string
  • removed block for %22 and %27 in query-string
  • removed block for [ and ] in query-string (to allow unsafe characters used in WordPress)
  • removed block for ? in query-string (to allow unsafe character used in WordPress)
  • removed block for : in query-string (to allow unsafe character used by Google)
  • removed block for libwww in user-agents (to allow access to Lynx browser)

2012/11/08

  • Removed : match from query string (Google disregards encoding)
  • Removed scanner from query string from query string match
  • Streamlined source code for better performance (thanks to juliobox)

Older versions

  • 2012/10/27 – Disabled check for long strings, disabled check for scanner
  • 2012/10/26 – Rebuilt plugin using 5G/6G technology
  • 2011/02/21 – Updated readme.txt file
  • 2009/12/30 – Added check for admin users
  • 2009/12/30 – Additional request strings added

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Support

Issues resolved in last two months:

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