MikroTik - RouterOS: Secure your router

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In this post I will show you can secure your MikroTik RouterOS router.

User Management

Creating a New User and New Group Policy:

user add name=devopstales group=full password=Password1

user group add name=monitor policy=read,telnet,winbox,local

user add name=nmc group=monitor password=Password1

user print
Columns: NAME, GROUP, LAST-LOGGED-IN
# NAME         GROUP    LAST-LOGGED-IN      
;;; system default user
0 admin        full     jun/14/2022 10:21:31
1 vagrant      full     jul/17/2022 09:47:17
2 devopstales  full                         
3 nmc          monitor

Enable Disable User:

user disable 3

user print
Flags: X - DISABLED
Columns: NAME, GROUP, LAST-LOGGED-IN
#   NAME         GROUP    LAST-LOGGED-IN      
;;; system default user
0   admin        full     jun/14/2022 10:21:31
1   vagrant      full     jul/17/2022 09:47:17
2   devopstales  full                         
3 X nmc          monitor     

user enable 3

user print
Columns: NAME, GROUP, LAST-LOGGED-IN
# NAME         GROUP    LAST-LOGGED-IN      
;;; system default user
0 admin        full     jun/14/2022 10:21:31
1 vagrant      full     jul/17/2022 09:47:17
2 devopstales  full                         
3 nmc          monitor

Restrict User Access for MikroTik by IP Address:

user set nmc address=202.4.100.35,172.16.1.0/24,2405:7600:b:4::2

user print
Columns: NAME, GROUP, ADDRESS, LAST-LOGGED-IN
# NAME         GROUP    ADDRESS               LAST-LOGGED-IN      
;;; system default user
0 admin        full                           jun/14/2022 10:21:31
1 vagrant      full                           jul/17/2022 09:47:17
2 devopstales  full                                               
3 nmc          monitor  202.4.100.35/32                           
                        172.16.1.0/24                             
                        2405:7600:b:4::2/128

Restrict access by IP

# RouterOS 6
/user set admin allowed-address=192.168.88.0/24

# RouterOS 7
/user set admin address=192.168.88.0/24

MAC Connectivity Access

By default connecting to the router by MAC adress is allowd from all interface. This is a security risk so we will disable on the WAN interface:

First we will create an inteface list and add the interfaces we want to allow the connection to this list:

/interface list add name=listBridge
/interface list member add list=listBridge interface=ether2

Allow the connection only from this list:

# Apply newly created list to the MAC server:
tool mac-server set allowed-interface-list=listBridge

# Do the same for Winbox MAC access
tool mac-server mac-winbox set allowed-interface-list=listBridge

Neighbor Discovery

MikroTik Neighbor discovery protocol is used to show and recognize other MikroTik routers in the network. Disable neighbor discovery on public interfaces:

/ip neighbor discovery-settings set discover-interface-list=listBridge

Firewall rules

IP connectivity on the WAN interface must be limited in the firewall. We will accept only ICMP(ping/traceroute), IP Winbox, and ssh access.

/ip firewall filter
  add chain=input connection-state=established,related action=accept comment="accept established,related";
  add chain=input connection-state=invalid action=drop;
  add chain=input in-interface=ether1 protocol=icmp action=accept comment="allow ICMP";
  add chain=input in-interface=ether1 protocol=tcp port=8291 action=accept comment="allow Winbox";
  add chain=input in-interface=ether1 protocol=tcp port=22 action=accept comment="allow SSH";
  add chain=input in-interface=ether1 action=drop comment="block everything else";

Although the firewall protects the router from the public interface, you may still want to disable RouterOS services.

/ip service disable telnet,ftp,www,api

Change default service ports, this will immediately stop most of the random SSH brute force login attempts:

/ip service set ssh port=2200

Additionally, each service can be secured by allowed IP address:

/ip service set winbox address=192.168.88.0/24