A web site I manage was being repeatedly thrashed by thousands of elaborate Mediawiki requests, for example, “GET /w/index.php?from=20250425004824&fromFormatted=00%3A48%2C+25+April+2025&hidebots=0&returnto=Special%3ARecentChangesLinked&returntoquery=days%3D3&target=Wind_turbine&title=Special%3AUserLogin”.
First, I added the “Lockdown” plugin to limit access to several “Special” pages and actions to logged-in users (even though that wasn't actually the problem, but I came across the plugin while setting about to solve it).
Second, because the wiki has almost no users, I blocked all requests with “Special” in the query part of the request except from the server IP itself and the IPs of the few users by adding the following to the htaccess file. (“Special” pages themselves are in the main request, for example, “/wiki/Special:Search” — also, as far as I understand it, only the server rewrites requests to “/w/…”.)
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !xxx.xx.xx.xxx
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !xx.xxx.xxx.xx
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} Special [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) - [R=403]
Then, the big task: Almost all of the requests were from Chinese IP addresses, and even though the above directive blocked the requests, they were still coming in and still tying up the server. They turned out to be all from China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom (Chinanet). After a couple weeks of toil looking up every IP and blocking their ranges, the server load is quiet again. In case anyone else wants to block them, below are the IP ranges (as of the time of writing this) that I put together. They are certainly not complete, but they include the IPs that were bothering the site.
# China Mobile Communications
Require not ip 36.128.0.0/10
Require not ip 39.128.0.0/10
Require not ip 111.0.0.0/10
Require not ip 112.0.0.0/10
Require not ip 117.128.0.0/10
Require not ip 120.192.0.0/10
Require not ip 122.90.0.0/15
Require not ip 183.192.0.0/11
Require not ip 183.224.0.0/12
Require not ip 211.138.64.0/20
Require not ip 223.64.0.0/11
Require not ip 223.96.0.0/12
Require not ip 223.112.0.0/14
Require not ip 223.116.0.0/15
Require not ip 223.122.0.0/17
# China Unicom
Require not ip 1.24.0.0/13
Require not ip 1.56.0.0/13
Require not ip 1.80.0.0/13
Require not ip 1.188.0.0/14
Require not ip 1.192.0.0/14
Require not ip 14.144.0.0/12
Require not ip 14.204.0.0/15
Require not ip 27.36.0.0/15
Require not ip 27.40.0.0/14
Require not ip 27.184.0.0/13
Require not ip 27.192.0.0/11
Require not ip 39.64.0.0/11
Require not ip 42.52.0.0/14
Require not ip 42.176.0.0/13
Require not ip 42.224.0.0/12
Require not ip 58.16.0.0/16
Require not ip 58.19.0.0/16
Require not ip 58.240.0.0/15
Require not ip 58.248.0.0/13
Require not ip 60.0.0.0/13
Require not ip 60.7.0.0/14
Require not ip 60.13.0.0/13
Require not ip 60.20.0.0/14
Require not ip 60.208.0.0/13
Require not ip 60.216.0.0/15
Require not ip 60.220.0.0/14
Require not ip 61.138.0.0/18
Require not ip 61.179.0.0/16
Require not ip 61.180.128.0/17
Require not ip 61.240.0.0/14
Require not ip 101.16.0.0/12
Require not ip 101.64.0.0/13
Require not ip 101.204.0.0/14
Require not ip 110.52.0.0/15
Require not ip 110.240.0.0/12
Require not ip 112.80.0.0/13
Require not ip 112.94.0.0/16
Require not ip 112.122.0.0/15
Require not ip 112.192.0.0/14
Require not ip 112.224.0.0/11
Require not ip 113.0.0.0/13
Require not ip 113.58.0.0/16
Require not ip 113.59.0.0/17
Require not ip 113.194.0.0/15
Require not ip 113.200.0.0/15
Require not ip 113.224.0.0/12
Require not ip 114.240.0.0/12
Require not ip 115.48.0.0/12
Require not ip 116.2.0.0/15
Require not ip 116.128.0.0/10
Require not ip 118.72.0.0/13
Require not ip 118.80.0.0/15
Require not ip 119.39.0.0/16
Require not ip 119.48.0.0/13
Require not ip 119.62.0.0/16
Require not ip 119.108.0.0/15
Require not ip 119.112.0.0/13
Require not ip 119.176.0.0/12
Require not ip 119.248.0.0/14
Require not ip 120.0.0.0/12
Require not ip 120.80.0.0/13
Require not ip 121.16.0.0/13
Require not ip 121.24.0.0/14
Require not ip 122.136.0.0/13
Require not ip 122.156.0.0/14
Require not ip 122.188.0.0/14
Require not ip 123.4.0.0/14
Require not ip 123.8.0.0/13
Require not ip 123.138.0.0/15
Require not ip 123.152.0.0/13
Require not ip 123.188.0.0/14
Require not ip 123.232.0.0/14
Require not ip 124.89.0.0/17
Require not ip 124.93.0.0/16
Require not ip 124.128.0.0/13
Require not ip 124.152.0.0/16
Require not ip 124.163.0.0/16
Require not ip 125.32.0.0/16
Require not ip 125.40.0.0/13
Require not ip 139.170.0.0/16
Require not ip 150.255.0.0/16
Require not ip 153.0.0.0/16
Require not ip 171.34.0.0/15
Require not ip 171.116.0.0/14
Require not ip 171.120.0.0/13
Require not ip 175.16.0.0/13
Require not ip 175.148.0.0/14
Require not ip 175.152.0.0/14
Require not ip 175.160.0.0/12
Require not ip 180.129.128.0/17
Require not ip 180.130.0.0/16
Require not ip 182.88.0.0/14
Require not ip 182.112.0.0/12
Require not ip 183.92.0.0/14
Require not ip 183.184.0.0/13
Require not ip 211.90.0.0/13
Require not ip 218.7.0.0/14
Require not ip 218.28.0.0/15
Require not ip 219.154.0.0/15
Require not ip 219.156.0.0/15
Require not ip 220.192.0.0/12
Require not ip 221.8.0.0/15
Require not ip 221.13.0.0/18
Require not ip 221.14.0.0/15
Require not ip 221.204.0.0/15
Require not ip 221.207.0.0/18
Require not ip 221.208.0.0/15
Require not ip 221.213.0.0/16
Require not ip 222.128.0.0/14
Require not ip 222.136.0.0/13
Require not ip 222.160.0.0/14
Require not ip 223.166.0.0/15
# Chinanet (China Telecom)
Require not ip 14.208.0.0/12
Require not ip 27.16.0.0/12
Require not ip 27.224.0.0/14
Require not ip 36.40.0.0/13
Require not ip 36.48.0.0/15
Require not ip 36.56.0.0/13
Require not ip 36.96.0.0/11
Require not ip 42.88.0.0/13
Require not ip 42.184.0.0/15
Require not ip 42.248.0.0/13
Require not ip 49.64.0.0/11
Require not ip 49.112.0.0/14
Require not ip 49.116.0.0/15
Require not ip 58.44.0.0/14
Require not ip 58.48.0.0/13
Require not ip 58.208.0.0/12
Require not ip 59.32.0.0/13
Require not ip 59.40.0.0/15
Require not ip 59.42.0.0/16
Require not ip 59.52.0.0/14
Require not ip 59.56.0.0/14
Require not ip 59.60.0.0/15
Require not ip 59.172.0.0/14
Require not ip 60.185.160.0/19
Require not ip 61.159.64.0/18
Require not ip 61.186.16.0/22
Require not ip 61.186.20.0/23
Require not ip 106.4.0.0/14
Require not ip 106.8.0.0/15
Require not ip 106.32.0.0/12
Require not ip 106.80.0.0/12
Require not ip 106.112.0.0/13
Require not ip 110.80.0.0/13
Require not ip 110.152.0.0/14
Require not ip 110.166.0.0/15
Require not ip 110.181.0.0/15
Require not ip 110.184.0.0/13
Require not ip 110.228.0.0/14
Require not ip 111.72.0.0/13
Require not ip 111.121.0.0/19
Require not ip 111.172.0.0/14
Require not ip 111.176.0.0/13
Require not ip 111.224.0.0/14
Require not ip 112.66.0.0/19
Require not ip 112.66.32.0/20
Require not ip 112.98.0.0/15
Require not ip 112.100.0.0/14
Require not ip 112.116.0.0/15
Require not ip 113.25.64.0/18
Require not ip 113.26.0.0/18
Require not ip 113.26.192.0/19
Require not ip 113.27.32.0/19
Require not ip 113.64.0.0/11
Require not ip 113.96.0.0/15
Require not ip 113.132.0.0/14
Require not ip 113.218.0.0/15
Require not ip 113.220.0.0/14
Require not ip 113.240.0.0/13
Require not ip 114.224.0.0/12
Require not ip 115.148.0.0/14
Require not ip 115.209.32.0/19
Require not ip 115.212.0.0/16
Require not ip 115.213.0.0/17
Require not ip 116.16.0.0/12
Require not ip 116.208.0.0/14
Require not ip 116.248.0.0/15
Require not ip 117.22.0.0/15
Require not ip 117.24.0.0/13
Require not ip 117.32.0.0/13
Require not ip 117.60.0.0/14
Require not ip 117.80.0.0/12
Require not ip 118.112.0.0/15
Require not ip 118.213.32.0/22
Require not ip 118.248.0.0/13
Require not ip 119.0.192.0/19
Require not ip 119.1.64.0/19
Require not ip 120.32.0.0/13
Require not ip 120.40.0.0/14
Require not ip 121.32.0.0/14
Require not ip 121.204.0.0/14
Require not ip 122.233.128.0/17
Require not ip 122.224.0.0/12
Require not ip 123.52.0.0/14
Require not ip 123.149.0.0/24
Require not ip 123.168.0.0/14
Require not ip 123.172.0.0/14
Require not ip 123.180.0.0/14
Require not ip 123.244.0.0/14
Require not ip 124.72.0.0/16
Require not ip 124.112.0.0/15
Require not ip 124.114.0.0/15
Require not ip 124.228.0.0/14
Require not ip 124.234.0.0/15
Require not ip 124.236.0.0/14
Require not ip 125.64.0.0/13
Require not ip 125.78.0.0/16
Require not ip 125.79.0.0/16
Require not ip 125.80.0.0/13
Require not ip 125.88.0.0/13
Require not ip 125.104.0.0/13
Require not ip 125.114.128.0/17
Require not ip 140.240.0.0/16
Require not ip 140.255.0.0/16
Require not ip 144.7.0.0/17
Require not ip 144.12.0.0/16
Require not ip 171.8.0.0/13
Require not ip 171.40.0.0/13
Require not ip 171.80.0.0/14
Require not ip 171.88.0.0/13
Require not ip 171.104.0.0/13
Require not ip 171.112.0.0/14
Require not ip 171.208.0.0/12
Require not ip 175.0.0.0/12
Require not ip 175.30.0.0/15
Require not ip 180.96.0.0/11
Require not ip 182.32.0.0/12
Require not ip 182.84.0.0/14
Require not ip 182.96.0.0/12
Require not ip 182.128.0.0/12
Require not ip 182.144.0.0/13
Require not ip 182.200.0.0/13
Require not ip 182.240.0.0/13
Require not ip 183.0.0.0/10
Require not ip 183.128.0.0/12
Require not ip 183.148.0.0/24
Require not ip 183.154.0.0/15
Require not ip 183.160.0.0/13
Require not ip 218.1.0.0/16
Require not ip 218.19.0.0/14
Require not ip 219.147.128.0/17
Require not ip 220.160.0.0/15
Require not ip 220.162.0.0/16
Require not ip 220.167.212.0/22
Require not ip 222.76.0.0/14
Require not ip 222.90.0.0/15
Require not ip 222.208.0.0/13
Require not ip 222.241.56.0/21
Require not ip 223.8.0.0/14
Require not ip 223.144.0.0/12
Require not ip 223.198.0.0/14
Require not ip 223.240.0.0/13
