URL filter of webfilter
URL filter is also called static URL filter. By adding specific URLs with patterns containing text and regular expressions, FortiGate can allow, block, exempt, and monitor web pages matching any specified URLs or patterns, and can display a replacement message instead.
Sample topology
Create URL filter
You can create a URL filter using the GUI or CLI. After creating the URL filter, attach it to a webfilter profile.
To create URL filter in the GUI:
- Go to Security Profiles > Web Filter and go to the Static URL Filter
- Enable URL Filter.
- Under URL Filter, select Create New to display the New URL Filter
| URL Filter Type | Description |
| Simple | FortiGate tries to strictly match the full context. For example, if you enter www.facebook.com in the URL field, it only matches traffic with www.facebook.com. It won’t match facebook.com or message.facebook.com.
When FortiGate finds a match, it performs the selected URL Action. |
| URL Filter Type | Description |
| Regular
Expression or Wildcard |
FortiGate tries to match the pattern based on the rules of regular expressions or wildcards. For example, if you enter *fa* in the URL field, it matches all the content that has fa such as www.facebook.com, message.facebook.com, fast.com, etc.
When FortiGate finds a match, it performs the selected URL Action. |
For more information, see the URL Filter expressions technical note in https://kb.fortinet.com/kb/documentLink.do?externalID=FD37057.
| URL Filter Action | Description |
| Block | Denies or blocks attempts to access any URL matching the URL pattern. FortiGate displays a replacement message. |
| Allow | The traffic is passed to the remaining FortiGuard webfilters, web content filters, web script filters, antivirus proxy operations, and DLP proxy operations. If the URL does not appear in the URL list, the traffic is permitted. |
| Monitor | The traffic is processed the same way as the Allow action. For the Monitor action, a log message is generated each time a matching traffic pattern is established. |
| Exempt | The traffic is allowed to bypass the remaining FortiGuard webfilters, web content filters, web script filters, antivirus scanning, and DLP proxy operations |
- For example, enter *facebook.com and select Wildcard and Block; and select OK.
After creating the URL filter, attach it to a webfilter profile.
Create URL filter using CLI
To create and enable a URL filter using the CLI, create the URL filter and then attach it to a webfilter profile. The CLI commands below show the full configuration of creating a URL filter.
config webfilter urlfilter edit {id}
# Configure URL filter lists. set name {string} Name of URL filter list. size[35] config entries edit {id}
# URL filter entries. set url {string} URL to be filtered. size[511] set type {simple | regex | wildcard} Filter type (simple, regex, or wildcard).
simple Simple URL string.
regex Regular expression URL string.
wildcard Wildcard URL string.
set action {exempt | block | allow | monitor} Action to take for URL filter
matches. exempt Exempt matches. block Block matches. allow Allow matches (no log).
monitor Allow matches (with log).
set status {enable | disable} Enable/disable this URL filter.
set exempt {option} If action is set to exempt, select the security profile oper-
ations that exempt URLs skip. Separate multiple options with a space. av AntiVirus scanning. web-content Web filter content matching. activex-java-cookie ActiveX, Java, and cookie filtering. dlp DLP scanning. fortiguard FortiGuard web filtering. range-block Range block feature. pass Pass single connection from all.
all Exempt from all security profiles.
set referrer-host {string} Referrer host name. size[255]
next
next
end
To create URL filter to filter Facebook using the CLI:
config webfilter urlfilter edit 1 set name “webfilter” config entries edit 1 set url “*facebook.com” set type wildcard set action block
next
end
next
end
To attach the URL filter to a webfilter profile:
config webfilter profile edit “webfilter” <– the name of the webfilter profile config web set urlfilter-table 1 <– the URL filter created with ID number 1
end config ftgd-wf unset options
end
next
end
Attach webfilter profile to the firewall policy
After you have created the URL filter and attached it to a webfilter profile, you must attach the profile to a firewall policy.
To attach a webfilter profile to a firewall policy using the GUI:
- Go to Policy & Objects > IPv4 Policy.
- Edit the policy that you want to enable the webfilter.
- In the Security Profiles section, enable Web Filter and select the profile you created.
To attach a webfilter profile to a firewall policy using the CLI:
config firewall policy edit 1 set name “WF”
set uuid b725a4d4-5be5-51e9-43fa-6d4e67d56bad
set srcintf “wan2” set dstintf “wan1” set srcaddr “all” set dstaddr “all” set action accept set schedule “always” set service “ALL” set utm-status enable set inspection-mode proxy set logtraffic all
set webfilter-profile “webfilter” <– attach the webfilter profile you just
created. set profile-protocol-options “protocol” set ssl-ssh-profile “protocols”
set nat enable
next end
Validate the URL filter results
Validate the URL filter results by going to a blocked website. For example, when you go to the Facebook website, you see the replacement message.
To customize the URL web page blocked message:
- Go to System > Replacement Messages.
- Go to the Security section and select URL Block Page.
- Set up a custom message for blocked pages.
To check webfilter logs in the GUI:
- Go to Log & Report > Web Filter.
- If there are too many log entries, click Add Filter and select Event Type > urlfilter to display logs generated by the
URL filter.
To check webfilter logs in the CLI:
FGT52E-NAT-WF # execute log filter category utm-webfilter
FGT52E-NAT-WF # execute log display
1: date=2019-04-22 time=11:48:43 logid=”0315012544″ type=”utm” subtype=”webfilter” eventtype=”urlfilter” level=”warning” vd=”vdom1″ eventtime=1555958923322174610 urlfilteridx=0 urlsource=”Local URLfilter Block” policyid=1 sessionid=649063 srcip=10.1.200.15 srcport=50472 srcintf=”wan2″ srcintfrole=”wan” dstip=157.240.18.35 dstport=443 dstintf=”wan1″ dstintfrole=”wan” proto=6 service=”HTTPS” hostname=”www.facebook.com” profile=”webfilter” actionn=”blocked” reqtype=”direct” url=”/” sentbyte=1171 rcvdbyte=141 direction=”outgoing” msg=”URL was blocked because it is in the URL filter list” crscore=30 craction=8 crlevel=”high”