Default MongoDB connection safety

Question

I am wondering if the vanilla installation of MongoDB on Ubuntu can be accessed by the outside world? I have sensitive information thats being written to the database via Node.js (all running on the same box) and want to make sure it is safe.

Answer 1

I would recommend using UFW - Uncomplicated Firewall

Install UFW and enable, enter:

sudo apt-get install ufw

Check the status:

sudo ufw status verbose

Allow MongoDB and HTTP services (assuming default Mongo port):

sudo ufw allow 27017

sudo ufw allow 80

Enable the firewall:

sudo ufw enable

Answer 2

If you do not need connections from another instance, set the following in the configuration (which is probably the default anyway):

bind_ip = 127.0.0.1

If you need access (for example to connect to the database from your own machine for debugging,...) you can either use an SSH tunnel or set up a firewall rule (if you have a static IP; you'll obviously need to disable bind_ip ).

Firewalling is a good idea in general, but if your service does not need remote connections, simply disable them. And probably use a firewall with default deny.