Status Hider

# Status Hider A network security mod for Minecraft servers, meant to keep server crawlers out of your face and preventing them access to your online players data, MotD, and such, all the while adding some neat features for you to use. ## Why As a server administrator myself, I was often seeing logs of connection attempts, or uncaught network errors (e.g. the recurrent `connection reset by peer` message), that even mass IP-banning simply couldn't help with. But I finally ticked and decided to act when I saw a log of a supposed connection attempt from a 'ServerSeekerV2' user, which obviously linked to (https://github.com/Funtimes909/ServerSeekerV2), proving to me once and for all that there were people out there that had nothing better to do that have software scanning the net for Minecraft servers, to know which ones are online and when, and who is playing on them at set times, storing and cross-comparing the generated data to possibly dress up players profiles that could then be used for ill intents. So I took upon myself to dive into the whole server ping and login network protocol, and made this mod to allow more privacy to server owners and their players. ### Let me get data in peace No. Respect people's privacy. ## How it works ### Files The mod stores some information about connection attempts and known players. As such, three additional files are created in the server's main directory: * `player_ip_cache`: this file stores some information about players that have properly joined the server at least once. Each entry (one line being one entry) holds the player name, UUID, and a list of the player's known IPs' hashes. It allows the mod to know if an incoming connection is from a known player, and thus determines most of the mod's overall behaviour. You may at will remove or modify an entry, but the mod will yell in the server's console if a line cannot be properly parsed in a valid entry. * `request_metrics`: this file stores the mod's memory of connection attempts, ping requests, and alike, from various IP addresses. Each line (entry) is composed of the IP hash, the number of ping attempts from the IP, the number of login attempts from the IP, and the number of overall requests (login or ping alike) all the while the IP address has been banned - if it has been banned. This file is particularly useful for the auto-IP-ban feature. * `ip_whitelist`: this file stores a list of RegEx expressions of any whitelisted IP that are allowed to ping the server regardless of registering a player or not. This is only truly relevant for server panels, most often provided by third-party hosting services, that regularly run server pings in order to provide some analytics to the server owners. Note that this does not impact players' ability to join the server, they do not need to be whitelisted! * `ip_limit_list`: this file follows the same format as the `ip_whitelist`. It is only relevant if the appropriate gamerule is enabled. It determines a collection of patterns that any non-local source must match in order to establish a connection to the server. #### Why IP hashes The mod deal with IP hashes as much as it can, not only in order to reduce the processed data, but also what it may expose to any potential third party that could get access to the server files. Obviously, considering servers can by themselves store any and all IP in the logs, it may not be the most relevant, but in the event of a server getting compromised, exposing the least player information directly remains a better standing point. Since hashing allows to produce consistent results that will never change from a same initial value, but not easily allow for figuring out the initial value from the result, it is a mean to somewhat obscure data from potentially malicious factors to some extent. ### Gamerules The mod additionally adds a set of custom gamerules, each allowing to control its various features: * `status_hider:reduced_ping_data`: sets from whom to reduce ping data details, such as hiding the connected players list, providing fake max online/max player counts, and hiding the MotD. Set to unknown or banned IPs by default. * `status_hider:restrict_ping`: toggles whether to cut short to any ping request coming from an unknown IP address (not linked to any player that has already joined the server). Enabled by default. * `status_hider:log_restricted_requests`: toggles whether to log when the mod blocks out a ping request. * `status_hider:enable_fancy_motd`: toggles the (#fancy-motd) feature. Enabled by default. * `status_hider:enforce_ip_ban`: toggles the (#real-ip-ban) feature. Enabled by default. * `status_hider:auto_ban_unknown_ip_after_requests`: sets how many requests can an unknown IP address can make before automatically getting IP-banned ; set it to 0 in order to disable the feature. Accepts values between 0 and 100, set to 10 by defaul