Samba Restrict IPC$ ( list of shared resources )

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Samba is a popular open-source software suite that provides file and print services to Windows clients. The IPC$ share is a special share that provides a list of shared resources on a Samba server. By default, anyone can connect to the IPC$ share and see the list of shared resources. However, you can restrict access to this share using Samba’s configuration file.

Here’s how to restrict access to the IPC$ share in Samba:

  1. Edit the Samba configuration file. On most Linux distributions, the file is located at /etc/samba/smb.conf.
    sudo vi /etc/samba/smb.conf
  2. Add the following lines to the [global] section of the file:
    [global]
    ipc signing = mandatory

    This forces clients to sign their requests to the IPC$ share, which can help prevent attackers from eavesdropping on the connection and getting a list of shared resources.

  3. Add the following lines to the [IPC$] section of the file:
    [IPC$]
    comment = IPC Share
    path = /tmp
    read only = yes
    guest ok = no

    This creates a new section for the IPC$ share and sets it to be read-only and not accessible to guests. You can replace /tmp with any directory that you want to use as the path for the IPC$ share.

  4. Save the configuration file and exit.
  5. Restart the Samba service to apply the changes:
    sudo systemctl restart smb

That’s it! Samba should now restrict access to the IPC$ share and prevent clients from getting a list of shared resources without proper authentication.

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