Repository: fail2ban/fail2ban

Issue:
Failed during configuration: While reading from '/etc/fail2ban/jail.conf'
Hi. I have problem with Failed during configuration: While reading from '/etc/fail2ban/jail.conf'.
I am using Ubuntu server 18.04.5 LTS
This is my jail.conf file:
<details>

```
#
# WARNING: heavily refactored in 0.9.0 release.  Please review and
#          customize settings for your setup.
#
# Changes:  in most of the cases you should not modify this
#           file, but provide customizations in jail.local file,
#           or separate .conf files under jail.d/ directory, e.g.:
#
# HOW TO ACTIVATE JAILS:
#
# YOU SHOULD NOT MODIFY THIS FILE.
#
# It will probably be overwritten or improved in a distribution update.
#
# Provide customizations in a jail.local file or a jail.d/customisation.local.
# For example to change the default bantime for all jails and to enable the
# ssh-iptables jail the following (uncommented) would appear in the .local file.
# See man 5 jail.conf for details.
#
# [DEFAULT]
# bantime = 1h
#
 [sshd]
 enabled = true
#
# See jail.conf(5) man page for more information



# Comments: use '#' for comment lines and ';' (following a space) for inline comments


[INCLUDES]

#before = paths-distro.conf
before = paths-debian.conf

# The DEFAULT allows a global definition of the options. They can be overridden
# in each jail afterwards.

[DEFAULT]

#
# MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS
#

# "ignorself" specifies whether the local resp. own IP addresses should be ignored
# (default is true). Fail2ban will not ban a host which matches such addresses.
#ignorself = true

# "ignoreip" can be a list of IP addresses, CIDR masks or DNS hosts. Fail2ban
# will not ban a host which matches an address in this list. Several addresses
# can be defined using space (and/or comma) separator.
ignoreip = *********

# External command that will take an tagged arguments to ignore, e.g. <ip>,
# and return true if the IP is to be ignored. False otherwise.
#
# ignorecommand = /path/to/command <ip>
ignorecommand =

# "bantime" is the number of seconds that a host is banned.
bantime  = -1

# A host is banned if it has generated "maxretry" during the last "findtime"
# seconds.
findtime  = 10m

# "maxretry" is the number of failures before a host get banned.
maxretry = 3

# "backend" specifies the backend used to get files modification.
# Available options are "pyinotify", "gamin", "polling", "systemd" and "auto".
# This option can be overridden in each jail as well.
#
# pyinotify: requires pyinotify (a file alteration monitor) to be installed.
#              If pyinotify is not installed, Fail2ban will use auto.
# gamin:     requires Gamin (a file alteration monitor) to be installed.
#              If Gamin is not installed, Fail2ban will use auto.
# polling:   uses a polling algorithm which does not require external libraries.
# systemd:   uses systemd python library to access the systemd journal.
#              Specifying "logpath" is not valid for this backend.
#              See "journalmatch" in the jails associated filter config
# auto:      will try to use the following backends, in order:
#              pyinotify, gamin, polling.
#
# Note: if systemd backend is chosen as the default but you enable a jail
#       for which logs are present only in its own log files, specify some other
#       backend for that jail (e.g. polling) and provide empty value for
#       journalmatch. See https://github.com/fail2ban/fail2ban/issues/959#issuecomment-74901200
backend = auto

# "usedns" specifies if jails should trust hostnames in logs,
#   warn when DNS lookups are performed, or ignore all hostnames in logs
#
# yes:   if a hostname is encountered, a DNS lookup will be performed.
# warn:  if a hostname is encountered, a DNS lookup will be performed,
#        but it will be logged as a warning.
# no:    if a hostname is encountered, will not be used for banning,
#        but it will be logged as info.
# raw:   use raw value (no hostname), allow use it for no-host filters/actions (example user)
usedns = warn

# "logencoding" specifies the encoding of the log files handled by the jail
#   This is used to decode the lines from the log file.
#   Typical examples:  "ascii", "utf-8"
#
#   auto:   will use the system locale setting
logencoding = auto

# "enabled" enables the jails.
#  By default all jails are disabled, and it should stay this way.
#  Enable only relevant to your setup jails in your .local or jail.d/*.conf
#
# true:  jail will be enabled and log files will get monitored for changes
# false: jail is not enabled
enabled = false


# "mode" defines the mode of the filter (see corresponding filter implementation for more info).
mode = normal

# "filter" defines the filter to use by the jail.
#  By default jails have names matching their filter name
#
filter = %(__name__)s[mode=%(mode)s]


#
# ACTIONS
#

# Some options used for actions

# Destination email address used solely for the interpolations in
# jail.{conf,local,d/*} configuration files.
destemail = root@localhost

# Sender email address used solely for some actions
sender = root@<fq-hostname>

# E-mail action. Since 0.8.1 Fail2Ban uses sendmail MTA for the
# mailing. Change mta configuration parameter to mail if you want to
# revert to conventional 'mail'.
mta = sendmail

# Default protocol
protocol = tcp

# Specify chain where jumps would need to be added in ban-actions expecting parameter chain
chain = <known/chain>

# Ports to be banned
# Usually should be overridden in a particular jail
port = 0:65535

# Format of user-agent https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-5.5.3
fail2ban_agent = Fail2Ban/%(fail2ban_version)s

#
# Action shortcuts. To be used to define action parameter

# Default banning action (e.g. iptables, iptables-new,
# iptables-multiport, shorewall, etc) It is used to define
# action_* variables. Can be overridden globally or per
# section within jail.local file
banaction = iptables-multiport
banaction_allports = iptables-allports

# The simplest action to take: ban only
action_ = %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s, bantime="%(bantime)s", port="%(port)s", protocol="%(protocol)s", chain="%(chain)s"]

# ban & send an e-mail with whois report to the destemail.
action_mw = %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s, bantime="%(bantime)s", port="%(port)s", protocol="%(protocol)s", chain="%(chain)s"]
            %(mta)s-whois[name=%(__name__)s, sender="%(sender)s", dest="%(destemail)s", protocol="%(protocol)s", chain="%(chain)s"]

# ban & send an e-mail with whois report and relevant log lines
# to the destemail.
action_mwl = %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s, bantime="%(bantime)s", port="%(port)s", protocol="%(protocol)s", chain="%(chain)s"]
             %(mta)s-whois-lines[name=%(__name__)s, sender="%(sender)s", dest="%(destemail)s", logpath=%(logpath)s, chain="%(chain)s"]

# See the IMPORTANT note in action.d/xarf-login-attack for when to use this action
#
# ban & send a xarf e-mail to abuse contact of IP address and include relevant log lines
# to the destemail.
action_xarf = %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s, bantime="%(bantime)s", port="%(port)s", protocol="%(protocol)s", chain="%(chain)s"]
             xarf-login-attack[service=%(__name__)s, sender="%(sender)s", logpath=%(logpath)s, port="%(port)s"]

# ban IP on CloudFlare & send an e-mail with whois report and relevant log lines
# to the destemail.
action_cf_mwl = cloudflare[cfuser="%(cfemail)s", cftoken="%(cfapikey)s"]
                %(mta)s-whois-lines[name=%(__name__)s, sender="%(sender)s", dest="%(destemail)s", logpath=%(logpath)s, chain="%(chain)s"]

# Report block via blocklist.de fail2ban reporting service API
# 
# See the IMPORTANT note in action.d/blocklist_de.conf for when to use this action.
# Specify expected parameters in file action.d/blocklist_de.local or if the interpolation
# `action_blocklist_de` used for the action, set value of `blocklist_de_apikey`
# in your `jail.local` globally (section [DEFAULT]) or per specific jail section (resp. in 
# corresponding jail.d/my-jail.local file).
#
action_blocklist_de  = blocklist_de[email="%(sender)s", service=%(filter)s, apikey="%(blocklist_de_apikey)s", agent="%(fail2ban_agent)s"]

# Report ban via badips.com, and use as blacklist
#
# See BadIPsAction docstring in config/action.d/badips.py for
# documentation for this action.
#
# NOTE: This action relies on banaction being present on start and therefore
# should be last action defined for a jail.
#
action_badips = badips.py[category="%(__name__)s", banaction="%(banaction)s", agent="%(fail2ban_agent)s"]
#
# Report ban via badips.com (uses action.d/badips.conf for reporting only)
#
action_badips_report = badips[category="%(__name__)s", agent="%(fail2ban_agent)s"]

# Report ban via abuseipdb.com.
#
# See action.d/abuseipdb.conf for usage example and details.
#
action_abuseipdb = abuseipdb

# Choose default action.  To change, just override value of 'action' with the
# interpolation to the chosen action shortcut (e.g.  action_mw, action_mwl, etc) in jail.local
# globally (section [DEFAULT]) or per specific section
action = %(action_)s


#
# JAILS
#

#
# SSH servers
#

[sshd]

# To use more aggressive sshd modes set filter parameter "mode" in jail.local:
# normal (default), ddos, extra or aggressive (combines all).
# See "tests/files/logs/sshd" or "filter.d/sshd.conf" for usage example and details.
#mode   = normal
port    = ssh
logpath = %(sshd_log)s
backend = %(sshd_backend)s


[dropbear]

port     = ssh
logpath  = %(dropbear_log)s
backend  = %(dropbear_backend)s


[selinux-ssh]

port     = ssh
logpath  = %(auditd_log)s


#
# HTTP servers
#

[apache-auth]

port     = http,https
logpath  = %(apache_error_log)s


[apache-badbots]
# Ban hosts which agent identifies spammer robots crawling the web
# for email addresses. The mail outputs are buffered.
port     = http,https
logpath  = %(apache_access_log)s
bantime  = 48h
maxretry = 1


[apache-noscript]

port     = http,https
logpath  = %(apache_error_log)s


[apache-overflows]

port     = http,https
logpath  = %(apache_error_log)s
maxretry = 2


[apache-nohome]

port     = http,https
logpath  = %(apache_error_log)s
maxretry = 2


[apache-botsearch]

port     = http,https
logpath  = %(apache_error_log)s
maxretry = 2


[apache-fakegooglebot]

port     = http,https
logpath  = %(apache_access_log)s
maxretry = 1
ignorecommand = %(ignorecommands_dir)s/apache-fakegooglebot <ip>


[apache-modsecurity]

port     = http,https
logpath  = %(apache_error_log)s
maxretry = 2


[apache-shellshock]

port    = http,https
logpath = %(apache_error_log)s
maxretry = 1


[openhab-auth]

filter = openhab
action = iptables-allports[name=NoAuthFailures]
logpath = /opt/openhab/logs/request.log


[nginx-http-auth]

port    = http,https
logpath = %(nginx_error_log)s

# To use 'nginx-limit-req' jail you should have `ngx_http_limit_req_module` 
# and define `limit_req` and `limit_req_zone` as described in nginx documentation
# http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_limit_req_module.html
# or for example see in 'config/filter.d/nginx-limit-req.conf'
[nginx-limit-req]
port    = http,https
logpath = %(nginx_error_log)s

[nginx-botsearch]

port     = http,https
logpath  = %(nginx_error_log)s
maxretry = 2


# Ban attackers that try to use PHP's URL-fopen() functionality
# through GET/POST variables. - Experimental, with more than a year
# of usage in production environments.

[php-url-fopen]

port    = http,https
logpath = %(nginx_access_log)s
          %(apache_access_log)s


[suhosin]

port    = http,https
logpath = %(suhosin_log)s


[lighttpd-auth]
# Same as above for Apache's mod_auth
# It catches wrong authentifications
port    = http,https
logpath = %(lighttpd_error_log)s


#
# Webmail and groupware servers
#

[roundcube-auth]

port     = http,https
logpath  = %(roundcube_errors_log)s
# Use following line in your jail.local if roundcube logs to journal.
#backend = %(syslog_backend)s


[openwebmail]

port     = http,https
logpath  = /var/log/openwebmail.log


[horde]

port     = http,https
logpath  = /var/log/horde/horde.log


[groupoffice]

port     = http,https
logpath  = /home/groupoffice/log/info.log


[sogo-auth]
# Monitor SOGo groupware server
# without proxy this would be:
# port    = 20000
port     = http,https
logpath  = /var/log/sogo/sogo.log


[tine20]

logpath  = /var/log/tine20/tine20.log
port     = http,https


#
# Web Applications
#
#

[drupal-auth]

port     = http,https
logpath  = %(syslog_daemon)s
backend  = %(syslog_backend)s

[guacamole]

port     = http,https
logpath  = /var/log/tomcat*/catalina.out

[monit]
#Ban clients brute-forcing the monit gui login
port = 2812
logpath  = /var/log/monit


[webmin-auth]

port    = 10000
logpath = %(syslog_authpriv)s
backend = %(syslog_backend)s


[froxlor-auth]

port    = http,https
logpath  = %(syslog_authpriv)s
backend  = %(syslog_backend)s


#
# HTTP Proxy servers
#
#

[squid]

port     =  80,443,3128,8080
logpath = /var/log/squid/access.log


[3proxy]

port    = 3128
logpath = /var/log/3proxy.log


#
# FTP servers
#


[proftpd]

port     = ftp,ftp-data,ftps,ftps-data
logpath  = %(proftpd_log)s
backend  = %(proftpd_backend)s


[pure-ftpd]

port     = ftp,ftp-data,ftps,ftps-data
logpath  = %(pureftpd_log)s
backend  = %(pureftpd_backend)s


[gssftpd]

port     = ftp,ftp-data,ftps,ftps-data
logpath  = %(syslog_daemon)s
backend  = %(syslog_backend)s


[wuftpd]

port     = ftp,ftp-data,ftps,ftps-data
logpath  = %(wuftpd_log)s
backend  = %(wuftpd_backend)s


[vsftpd]
# or overwrite it in jails.local to be
# logpath = %(syslog_authpriv)s
# if you want to rely on PAM failed login attempts
# vsftpd's failregex should match both of those formats
port     = ftp,ftp-data,ftps,ftps-data
logpath  = %(vsftpd_log)s


#
# Mail servers
#

# ASSP SMTP Proxy Jail
[assp]

port     = smtp,465,submission
logpath  = /root/path/to/assp/logs/maillog.txt


[courier-smtp]

port     = smtp,465,submission
logpath  = %(syslog_mail)s
backend  = %(syslog_backend)s


[postfix]
# To use another modes set filter parameter "mode" in jail.local:
mode    = more
port    = smtp,465,submission
logpath = %(postfix_log)s
backend = %(postfix_backend)s


[postfix-rbl]

filter   = postfix[mode=rbl]
port     = smtp,465,submission
logpath  = %(postfix_log)s
backend  = %(postfix_backend)s
maxretry = 1


[sendmail-auth]

port    = submission,465,smtp
logpath = %(syslog_mail)s
backend = %(syslog_backend)s


[sendmail-reject]
# To use more aggressive modes set filter parameter "mode" in jail.local:
# normal (default), extra or aggressive
# See "tests/files/logs/sendmail-reject" or "filter.d/sendmail-reject.conf" for usage example and details.
#mode    = normal
port     = smtp,465,submission
logpath  = %(syslog_mail)s
backend  = %(syslog_backend)s


[qmail-rbl]

filter  = qmail
port    = smtp,465,submission
logpath = /service/qmail/log/main/current


# dovecot defaults to logging to the mail syslog facility
# but can be set by syslog_facility in the dovecot configuration.
[dovecot]

port    = pop3,pop3s,imap,imaps,submission,465,sieve
logpath = %(dovecot_log)s
backend = %(dovecot_backend)s


[sieve]

port   = smtp,465,submission
logpath = %(dovecot_log)s
backend = %(dovecot_backend)s


[solid-pop3d]

port    = pop3,pop3s
logpath = %(solidpop3d_log)s


[exim]
# see filter.d/exim.conf for further modes supported from filter:
#mode = normal
port   = smtp,465,submission
logpath = %(exim_main_log)s


[exim-spam]

port   = smtp,465,submission
logpath = %(exim_main_log)s


[kerio]

port    = imap,smtp,imaps,465
logpath = /opt/kerio/mailserver/store/logs/security.log


#
# Mail servers authenticators: might be used for smtp,ftp,imap servers, so
# all relevant ports get banned
#

[courier-auth]

port     = smtp,465,submission,imap,imaps,pop3,pop3s
logpath  = %(syslog_mail)s
backend  = %(syslog_backend)s


[postfix-sasl]

filter   = postfix[mode=auth]
port     = smtp,465,submission,imap,imaps,pop3,pop3s
# You might consider monitoring /var/log/mail.warn instead if you are
# running postfix since it would provide the same log lines at the
# "warn" level but overall at the smaller filesize.
logpath  = %(postfix_log)s
backend  = %(postfix_backend)s


[perdition]

port   = imap,imaps,pop3,pop3s
logpath = %(syslog_mail)s
backend = %(syslog_backend)s


[squirrelmail]

port = smtp,465,submission,imap,imap2,imaps,pop3,pop3s,http,https,socks
logpath = /var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs/squirrelmail_access_log


[cyrus-imap]

port   = imap,imaps
logpath = %(syslog_mail)s
backend = %(syslog_backend)s


[uwimap-auth]

port   = imap,imaps
logpath = %(syslog_mail)s
backend = %(syslog_backend)s


#
#
# DNS servers
#


# !!! WARNING !!!
#   Since UDP is connection-less protocol, spoofing of IP and imitation
#   of illegal actions is way too simple.  Thus enabling of this filter
#   might provide an easy way for implementing a DoS against a chosen
#   victim. See
#    http://nion.modprobe.de/blog/archives/690-fail2ban-+-dns-fail.html
#   Please DO NOT USE this jail unless you know what you are doing.
#
# IMPORTANT: see filter.d/named-refused for instructions to enable logging
# This jail blocks UDP traffic for DNS requests.
# [named-refused-udp]
#
# filter   = named-refused
# port     = domain,953
# protocol = udp
# logpath  = /var/log/named/security.log

# IMPORTANT: see filter.d/named-refused for instructions to enable logging
# This jail blocks TCP traffic for DNS requests.

[named-refused]

port     = domain,953
logpath  = /var/log/named/security.log


[nsd]

port     = 53
action   = %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s-tcp, port="%(port)s", protocol="tcp", chain="%(chain)s", actname=%(banaction)s-tcp]
           %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s-udp, port="%(port)s", protocol="udp", chain="%(chain)s", actname=%(banaction)s-udp]
logpath = /var/log/nsd.log


#
# Miscellaneous
#

[asterisk]

port     = 5060,5061
action   = %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s-tcp, port="%(port)s", protocol="tcp", chain="%(chain)s", actname=%(banaction)s-tcp]
           %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s-udp, port="%(port)s", protocol="udp", chain="%(chain)s", actname=%(banaction)s-udp]
           %(mta)s-whois[name=%(__name__)s, dest="%(destemail)s"]
logpath  = /var/log/asterisk/messages
maxretry = 10


[freeswitch]

port     = 5060,5061
action   = %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s-tcp, port="%(port)s", protocol="tcp", chain="%(chain)s", actname=%(banaction)s-tcp]
           %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s-udp, port="%(port)s", protocol="udp", chain="%(chain)s", actname=%(banaction)s-udp]
           %(mta)s-whois[name=%(__name__)s, dest="%(destemail)s"]
logpath  = /var/log/freeswitch.log
maxretry = 10


# To log wrong MySQL access attempts add to /etc/my.cnf in [mysqld] or
# equivalent section:
# log-warning = 2
#
# for syslog (daemon facility)
# [mysqld_safe]
# syslog
#
# for own logfile
# [mysqld]
# log-error=/var/log/mysqld.log
[mysqld-auth]

port     = 3306
logpath  = %(mysql_log)s
backend  = %(mysql_backend)s


# Log wrong MongoDB auth (for details see filter 'filter.d/mongodb-auth.conf')
[mongodb-auth]
# change port when running with "--shardsvr" or "--configsvr" runtime operation
port     = 27017
logpath  = /var/log/mongodb/mongodb.log


# Jail for more extended banning of persistent abusers
# !!! WARNINGS !!!
# 1. Make sure that your loglevel specified in fail2ban.conf/.local
#    is not at DEBUG level -- which might then cause fail2ban to fall into
#    an infinite loop constantly feeding itself with non-informative lines
# 2. Increase dbpurgeage defined in fail2ban.conf to e.g. 648000 (7.5 days)
#    to maintain entries for failed logins for sufficient amount of time
[recidive]

logpath  = /var/log/fail2ban.log
banaction = %(banaction_allports)s
bantime  = 1w
findtime = 1d


# Generic filter for PAM. Has to be used with action which bans all
# ports such as iptables-allports, shorewall

[pam-generic]
# pam-generic filter can be customized to monitor specific subset of 'tty's
banaction = %(banaction_allports)s
logpath  = %(syslog_authpriv)s
backend  = %(syslog_backend)s


[xinetd-fail]

banaction = iptables-multiport-log
logpath   = %(syslog_daemon)s
backend   = %(syslog_backend)s
maxretry  = 2


# stunnel - need to set port for this
[stunnel]

logpath = /var/log/stunnel4/stunnel.log


[ejabberd-auth]

port    = 5222
logpath = /var/log/ejabberd/ejabberd.log


[counter-strike]

logpath = /opt/cstrike/logs/L[0-9]*.log
# Firewall: http://www.cstrike-planet.com/faq/6
tcpport = 27030,27031,27032,27033,27034,27035,27036,27037,27038,27039
udpport = 1200,27000,27001,27002,27003,27004,27005,27006,27007,27008,27009,27010,27011,27012,27013,27014,27015
action  = %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s-tcp, port="%(tcpport)s", protocol="tcp", chain="%(chain)s", actname=%(banaction)s-tcp]
           %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s-udp, port="%(udpport)s", protocol="udp", chain="%(chain)s", actname=%(banaction)s-udp]

# consider low maxretry and a long bantime
# nobody except your own Nagios server should ever probe nrpe
[nagios]

logpath  = %(syslog_daemon)s     ; nrpe.cfg may define a different log_facility
backend  = %(syslog_backend)s
maxretry = 1


[oracleims]
# see "oracleims" filter file for configuration requirement for Oracle IMS v6 and above
logpath = /opt/sun/comms/messaging64/log/mail.log_current
banaction = %(banaction_allports)s

[directadmin]
logpath = /var/log/directadmin/login.log
port = 2222

[portsentry]
logpath  = /var/lib/portsentry/portsentry.history
maxretry = 1

[pass2allow-ftp]
# this pass2allow example allows FTP traffic after successful HTTP authentication
port         = ftp,ftp-data,ftps,ftps-data
# knocking_url variable must be overridden to some secret value in jail.local
knocking_url = /knocking/
filter       = apache-pass[knocking_url="%(knocking_url)s"]
# access log of the website with HTTP auth
logpath      = %(apache_access_log)s
blocktype    = RETURN
returntype   = DROP
action       = %(action_)s[blocktype=%(blocktype)s, returntype=%(returntype)s]
bantime      = 1h
maxretry     = 1
findtime     = 1


[murmur]
# AKA mumble-server
port     = 64738
action   = %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s-tcp, port="%(port)s", protocol=tcp, chain="%(chain)s", actname=%(banaction)s-tcp]
           %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s-udp, port="%(port)s", protocol=udp, chain="%(chain)s", actname=%(banaction)s-udp]
logpath  = /var/log/mumble-server/mumble-server.log


[screensharingd]
# For Mac OS Screen Sharing Service (VNC)
logpath  = /var/log/system.log
logencoding = utf-8

[haproxy-http-auth]
# HAProxy by default doesn't log to file you'll need to set it up to forward
# logs to a syslog server which would then write them to disk.
# See "haproxy-http-auth" filter for a brief cautionary note when setting
# maxretry and findtime.
logpath  = /var/log/haproxy.log

[slapd]
port    = ldap,ldaps
logpath = /var/log/slapd.log

[domino-smtp]
port    = smtp,ssmtp
logpath = /home/domino01/data/IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT/console.log

[phpmyadmin-syslog]
port    = http,https
logpath = %(syslog_authpriv)s
backend = %(syslog_backend)s


[zoneminder]
# Zoneminder HTTP/HTTPS web interface auth
# Logs auth failures to apache2 error log
port    = http,https
logpath = %(apache_error_log)s


```
</details>
Could you please help me with that?


Discussion:
I don't know what exactly wrong here, you can see more details by error using:
```
fail2ban-client -vvv -d
```
But I guess it'd be line 23, "File contains no section headers.", so change it like here (no space by section and option):
```diff
- [sshd]
+[sshd]
- enabled = true
+enabled = true
```

By the way: normally you should not change `*.conf` files... 
All local customizations and changes belongs to `*.local` files. See our [wiki here](https://github.com/fail2ban/fail2ban/wiki/Proper-fail2ban-configuration) for more information.
Ok, thank you. When I run this command I get that there is an error in line 238. sshd section is already exists. Also invalid syntax
Just create a /etc/fail2ban/jail.local file and specify your settings (sshd section from above) there - it will overwrite enabled value of sshd-section from jail.conf

Resolving patch:
diff --git a/fail2ban/server/filter.py b/fail2ban/server/filter.py
--- a/fail2ban/server/filter.py
+++ b/fail2ban/server/filter.py
@@ -618,6 +618,7 @@ def processLine(self, line, date=None):
 		noDate = False
 		if date:
 			tupleLine = line
+			line = "".join(line)
 			self.__lastTimeText = tupleLine[1]
 			self.__lastDate = date
 		else:
@@ -654,30 +655,38 @@ def processLine(self, line, date=None):
 				if self.__lastDate and self.__lastDate > MyTime.time() - 60:
 					tupleLine = ("", self.__lastTimeText, line)
 					date = self.__lastDate
+				elif self.checkFindTime and self.inOperation:
+					date = MyTime.time()
 		
-		if self.checkFindTime:
+		if self.checkFindTime and date is not None:
 			# if in operation (modifications have been really found):
 			if self.inOperation:
 				# if weird date - we'd simulate now for timeing issue (too large deviation from now):
-				if (date is None or date < MyTime.time() - 60 or date > MyTime.time() + 60):
-					# log time zone issue as warning once per day:
+				delta = int(date - MyTime.time())
+				if abs(delta) > 60:
+					delta //= 60
+					# log timing issue as warning once per day:
 					self._logWarnOnce("_next_simByTimeWarn",
-						("Simulate NOW in operation since found time has too large deviation %s ~ %s +/- %s",
-							date, MyTime.time(), 60),
-						("Please check jail has possibly a timezone issue. Line with odd timestamp: %s", 
-							line))
+						("Detected a log entry %sm %s the current time in operation mode. "
+						 "This looks like a %s problem. Treating such entries as if they just happened.",
+						 abs(delta), "before" if delta < 0 else "after",
+						 "latency" if -55 <= delta < 0 else "timezone"
+						 ),
+						("Please check a jail for a timing issue. Line with odd timestamp: %s",
+						 line))
 					# simulate now as date:
 					date = MyTime.time()
 					self.__lastDate = date
 			else:
 				# in initialization (restore) phase, if too old - ignore:
-				if date is not None and date < MyTime.time() - self.getFindTime():
+				if date < MyTime.time() - self.getFindTime():
 					# log time zone issue as warning once per day:
 					self._logWarnOnce("_next_ignByTimeWarn",
-						("Ignore line since time %s < %s - %s",
-							date, MyTime.time(), self.getFindTime()),
-						("Please check jail has possibly a timezone issue. Line with odd timestamp: %s", 
-							line))
+						("Ignoring all log entries older than %ss; these are probably" +
+						 " messages generated while fail2ban was not running.",
+							self.getFindTime()),
+						("Please check a jail for a timing issue. Line with odd timestamp: %s",
+						 line))
 					# ignore - too old (obsolete) entry:
 					return []
 


Test patch:
diff --git a/fail2ban/tests/filtertestcase.py b/fail2ban/tests/filtertestcase.py
--- a/fail2ban/tests/filtertestcase.py
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/filtertestcase.py
@@ -444,11 +444,11 @@ def testTimeJump(self):
 	def testTimeJump_InOperation(self):
 		self._testTimeJump(inOperation=True)
 
-	def testWrongTimeZone(self):
+	def testWrongTimeOrTZ(self):
 		try:
 			self.filter.addFailRegex('fail from <ADDR>$')
 			self.filter.setDatePattern(r'{^LN-BEG}%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S(?:\s*%Z)?\s')
-			self.filter.setMaxRetry(5); # don't ban here
+			self.filter.setMaxRetry(50); # don't ban here
 			self.filter.inOperation = True; # real processing (all messages are new)
 			# current time is 1h later than log-entries:
 			MyTime.setTime(1572138000+3600)
@@ -457,15 +457,18 @@ def testWrongTimeZone(self):
 			for i in (1,2,3):
 				self.filter.processLineAndAdd('2019-10-27 02:00:00 fail from 192.0.2.15'); # +3 = 3
 			self.assertLogged(
-				"Simulate NOW in operation since found time has too large deviation",
-				"Please check jail has possibly a timezone issue.",
+				"Detected a log entry 60m before the current time in operation mode. This looks like a timezone problem.",
+				"Please check a jail for a timing issue.",
 				"192.0.2.15:1", "192.0.2.15:2", "192.0.2.15:3",
-				"Total # of detected failures: 3.", wait=True)
+				"Total # of detected failures: 3.", all=True, wait=True)
 			#
+			setattr(self.filter, "_next_simByTimeWarn", -1)
 			self.pruneLog("[phase 2] wrong TZ given in log")
 			for i in (1,2,3):
 				self.filter.processLineAndAdd('2019-10-27 04:00:00 GMT fail from 192.0.2.16'); # +3 = 6
 			self.assertLogged(
+				"Detected a log entry 120m after the current time in operation mode. This looks like a timezone problem.",
+				"Please check a jail for a timing issue.",
 				"192.0.2.16:1", "192.0.2.16:2", "192.0.2.16:3",
 				"Total # of detected failures: 6.", all=True, wait=True)
 			self.assertNotLogged("Found a match but no valid date/time found")
@@ -478,6 +481,29 @@ def testWrongTimeZone(self):
 				"Match without a timestamp:",
 				"192.0.2.17:1", "192.0.2.17:2", "192.0.2.17:3",
 				"Total # of detected failures: 9.", all=True, wait=True)
+			#
+			phase = 3
+			for delta, expect in (
+				(-90*60, "timezone"), #90 minutes after
+				(-60*60, "timezone"), #60 minutes after
+				(-10*60, "timezone"), #10 minutes after
+				(-59,    None),       #59 seconds after
+				(59,     None),       #59 seconds before
+				(61,     "latency"),  #>1 minute before
+				(55*60,  "latency"),  #55 minutes before
+				(90*60,  "timezone")  #90 minutes before
+			):
+				phase += 1
+				MyTime.setTime(1572138000+delta)
+				setattr(self.filter, "_next_simByTimeWarn", -1)
+				self.pruneLog('[phase {phase}] log entries offset by {delta}s'.format(phase=phase, delta=delta))
+				self.filter.processLineAndAdd('2019-10-27 02:00:00 fail from 192.0.2.15');
+				self.assertLogged("Found 192.0.2.15", wait=True)
+				if expect:
+					self.assertLogged(("timezone problem", "latency problem")[int(expect == "latency")], all=True)
+					self.assertNotLogged(("timezone problem", "latency problem")[int(expect != "latency")], all=True)
+				else:
+					self.assertNotLogged("timezone problem", "latency problem", all=True)
 		finally:
 			tearDownMyTime()