How To Protect A FiveM Server

If you run a FiveM server, you will probably meet a DDoS attack sooner or later. Roleplay communities are competitive, rivalries get personal, and a server that goes offline in the middle of a busy evening is an easy way for someone to cause damage. This guide explains what these attacks look like, what you can do yourself, and what only your hosting provider can do.

What A DDoS Attack Does To A FiveM Server

A DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack sends far more traffic to your server's IP address than it can handle. The traffic comes from many machines at once, so you cannot simply block one address. When the attack is large enough, one of two things happens:

• The connection is full. The network link to your server is saturated, so real players cannot get through. Everyone times out at the same moment.
• The server is overwhelmed. The traffic is smaller, but it makes the server work so hard that the game process falls behind. Players see rubber-banding, long server hitches, or "server connection timed out" messages.

If you want the basics first, read What Is a DDoS Attack on a Game Server?

Signs Your FiveM Server Is Under Attack

• Many players drop at exactly the same time, without any resource crash in the console.
• Latency rises sharply for everyone, not just a few people.
• The server is unreachable from outside but the machine still responds from the control panel.
• Your provider's panel or your network graph shows a sudden spike in incoming traffic.

Be careful not to blame every problem on an attack. A badly written script, a full disk or a database that is too slow can look similar. Check the txAdmin console and your resource monitor first. If those look normal while the connection is failing, an attack becomes more likely.

What You Can Do On Your Own Server

There are a few useful steps, but be honest about their limits: nothing you do on the server itself can stop a large flood, because the traffic has already filled the network link before it arrives.

1. Hide your real IP. Do not post the server's raw IP address in public places if you can avoid it. Use a domain name and give players the connect address through your Discord or website. Note that this only slows down casual attackers, because the IP is visible to anyone who connects.
2. Keep the web interfaces private. txAdmin, databases and any admin panel should not be open to the whole internet. Restrict them with a firewall to your own IP addresses.
3. Close unused ports. A FiveM server needs its game port (30120 by default, TCP and UDP). Everything else should be closed unless you know why it is open.
4. Keep the server updated. Use a recent server build and keep your resources up to date. Old code is a common way to crash a server without any flood at all.
5. Watch your resources. A script that can be abused to spam events, such as repeated server events from a client, can be used to slow a server down. Review the scripts you install and prefer well-maintained ones.

For general server hardening, see How to Secure a Linux VPS for Your Game Server.

Why Upstream Protection Is What Really Works

A large attack has to be stopped before it reaches your server. That is only possible in the network that sits in front of it. Providers with DDoS protection route your traffic through filtering systems first. Attack traffic is dropped, and clean traffic is passed on to your server.

When you compare hosts, look for the following:

• Protection is always on. You should not have to wait for a support ticket to enable it while you are already offline.
• It filters at the network level and does not rely on your own machine to absorb the traffic.
• It understands game traffic. Layer 7 filters can recognize real FiveM and RedM traffic and drop fake game traffic that looks legitimate at first glance.
• You have some control. A firewall panel to manage ports, Geo-blocking and filters is a big advantage.

You can read how this works in more detail in How DDoS Protection Works for Game Servers.

How Linceris.com Handles It

Linceris.com virtual private servers run behind DataForest.net DDoS protection, with Layer 7 filtering tuned for game server traffic. Our DDoS protection page explains the path traffic takes.

What To Do If You Are Attacked

1. Check that the problem really is an attack by looking at your console, resources and your provider's traffic graphs.
2. Contact your host's support right away and tell them the time the problem started.
3. Keep players informed on Discord, so they know it is a network problem and not data loss.
4. After the attack, review your logs. Repeated attacks often follow a pattern, such as the same time of day or after a ban.

The Short Version

You cannot out-configure a large DDoS attack from inside your own server. Tidy up your setup, keep admin tools private, and choose a host whose protection works at the network edge and understands game traffic. That combination keeps your players connected when someone tries to take you down.

Related Guide

See How To Create A FiveM Server for the matching guide.