Middleware Manager

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What is Middleware Manager?

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Security Warning

• Test in staging before production.
• Misusing forward authentication can leak credentials.
• Bad rate limiter configs may be bypassed.
• Header misconfigurations can expose apps to XSS/CSRF.
• Stacking too many middlewares impacts performance.
• Always check provider references (@http vs @file).

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Key Use Cases

• External authentication (Authelia, Authentik, JWT)
• Security headers and CSP policies
• Geographic IP blocking
• Rate limiting / DDoS protection
• Redirects & path rewrites
• CrowdSec and other security tool integrations

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Prerequisites

• A running Pangolin v1.0.0+
• Docker + Docker Compose
• Basic Traefik knowledge
• Admin access to your Pangolin host

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Step 1: Add Middleware Manager Service

middleware-manager:
  image: hhftechnology/middleware-manager:latest
  container_name: middleware-manager
  restart: unless-stopped
  volumes:
    - ./data:/data
    - ./config/traefik/rules:/conf
    - ./config/middleware-manager/templates.yaml:/app/config/templates.yaml  # Optional custom templates
  environment:
    - PANGOLIN_API_URL=http://pangolin:3001/api/v1
    - TRAEFIK_CONF_DIR=/conf
    - DB_PATH=/data/middleware.db
    - PORT=3456
  ports:
    - "3456:3456"

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Step 2: Create Required Directories

mkdir -p ./config/traefik/rules
mkdir -p ./config/middleware-manager

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Step 3: Update Traefik Volumes & Providers

volumes:
  - ./config/traefik:/etc/traefik:ro
  - ./config/letsencrypt:/letsencrypt
  - ./config/traefik/logs:/var/log/traefik
  - ./config/traefik/rules:/rules   # required

providers:
  file:
    directory: "/rules"
    watch: true

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Step 4: Start Services

docker compose up -d

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Step 5: Access the UI

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Common Middleware Examples

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Rate Limiting

middlewares:
  - id: "rate-limit"
    type: "rateLimit"
    config:
      average: 100
      burst: 50

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Security Headers

middlewares:
  - id: "security-headers"
    type: "headers"
    config:
      customResponseHeaders:
        Server: ""
        X-Powered-By: ""
      browserXSSFilter: true
      contentTypeNosniff: true
      forceSTSHeader: true
      stsSeconds: 63072000

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Troubleshooting

• Service does not exist → Check @http or @file suffix in references
• Middleware does not exist → Verify config and required plugins
• No changes applied → Check Traefik logs, middleware priority, restart services
• UI not showing resources → Confirm PANGOLIN_API_URL and network connectivity
• Database errors → Check ./data permissions, or reset middleware.db
• **CrowdSec errors → Ensure the crowdsec container is running; middlewares fail if the service is down.
• Protecting Pangolin itself → Apply middlewares (e.g. geoblock, headers) directly on the websecure entryPoint to cover all traffic.
• Applying to many services → Attach middleware to entryPoints instead of individual resources to cover all subdomains at once.
• TCP / SMTP with STARTTLS → Not supported. Traefik cannot handle STARTTLS negotiation (only implicit TLS like SMTPS on 465).

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Final Notes

• Start with simple configs → test thoroughly → expand gradually.
• Use templates where possible.
• Always validate in staging before production.