Restricting access to the http interface based on IP address

[steven-m]

Hi all,
Is it possible to restrict access to the http interface based on IP address? For example, I want the http interface to only accept connections from 192.168.1.4. Please note that I'm not talking about the host address where VLC is running from.

I know that some of you may think that restricting access to the http interface based on IP address would be a bit of overkill because of the firewalls available today but I still think this would be a useful feature for VLC to have for extra security (after all SSH has this exact feature) Please tell me whether this feature already exists, if it doesn't I'll post a feature request.

Cheers,
Steve

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Edit the .hosts file in the http directory.

[steven-m]

Thanks for your post. Is the .hosts file in the http directory to do with linux or is it a VLC file? I am running VLC on Mac OSX and so far cannot find an http directory or a .hosts file for VLC anywhere. I also post a message in the Mac OSX section of this forum to see if one of them can help me.

Cheers,
Steve

[thannoy]

Hi,

This is a VLC file, inside "share" directory on linux. I don't know when it is located on MacOS.

On linux, this file (".hosts") is at this location: "/usr/share/vlc/http/".
Note that files starting with a dot are hidden files, and you might need to ask explicitly you browser to show you hidden files. If you use command-line, you can use "-a" parameter for "ls" command.

[steven-m]

Hi All,
What is the syntax required in the .hosts file for only allowing 192.168.1.4 to access the http interface?
My first attempt at writing up the .hosts file is as follows:
Access-list for VLC HTTP interface
192.168.1.4/255.255.255.254

The error I received was as follows:
main: invalid IP address Access-list
main: cannot add ACL from /Applications/VLC/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/http/.hosts

Cheers,
Steve

[thannoy]

regarding my default file, maybe this .host content will work:

Code: Select all

# localhost ::1 127.0.0.1 # for an address range if you want #192.168.1.0/32 # specific address 192.168.1.4 # The world # (comment this out to obtain a safe default) #::/0 #0.0.0.0/0

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

VLC expects prefix lengths, rather than network masks.