notes on Port scanning

From: Lloyd Vancil (levat_private)
Date: Wed Jul 08 1998 - 16:06:51 PDT

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    Recently A spate of "portscanning attacks" have been attibuted to various
    high traffic
    sites ond servers on the net.  Here is an observation.
    
    Below is one of the "scanning packets".  Specifically in this case the
    tcp part of the packet has been replaced in such a way that you might
    mistake it for a port scanning attack.  It would certainly trip tcp
    filters.  This particular packet began life as a ligitimate email packet
    in a stream between Apple's email server and the MIT email server.  This
    one packet in the stream was munged.
    
    Specifically the entire tcp part of the packet has been replaced by 78 FF
    02 14
    repeated over and over again.  The tcp header, everything.
    
    This made it look like wierd things were happening
    
    The sourceport  is 30975 = hex 78ff
    The Dest port is 532 = hex 214
    The Initial sequence number and Acknowledgment number   = 2029978132 =
    78ff0214
    The flags is set to ff
    The Checksum  = 78FF
    The Urgent pointer is 532 = hex 214
    
    You will notice the repeated pattern 78 FF 02 14
    (the packet fragment is attached.)
    
    We have determined that our equipment is not doing this and that it
    occurs to a few packets in almost any stream. The pattern repeated is not
    always 78ff0214. Because of filtering it was generating almost 65MB of
    log files daily.
    
    
    SO, here's the question.
      If you sniff packets and capture this type of activity could you send
    me a traceroute
      from your establisment to the system that is "apparently"
    "portscanning" you.  The object here is to analyze the path over which
    this is occuring to try to narrow down where it is happening.
    
      Here is the traceroute for the path overwhich this particular packet
    traveled.
    
     1  LL-HUB.LL.MIT.EDU (129.55.10.1)  3.515 ms  4.265 ms  2.523 ms
     2  lincoln-gw.near.net (129.55.15.2)  5.312 ms  5.129 ms  5.776 ms
     3  cambridge2-cr3.bbnplanet.net (199.95.64.177)  61.448 ms  106.771 ms
    132.239 ms
     4  cambridge2-br2.bbnplanet.net (192.233.33.6)  23.658 ms  60.333 ms  10
    ms
     5  cambridge1-br1.bbnplanet.net (4.0.1.201)  14.073 ms  7.509 ms  8.525
    ms
     6  core10-hssi-1.SanFrancisco.mci.net (204.70.10.221)  13.952 ms  11.017
    ms  19.617 ms
     7  bordercore2.WillowSprings.mci.net (166.48.22.1)  36.64 ms  32.246 ms
    67.459 ms
     8  core2.Dallas.mci.net (204.70.4.69)  51.571 ms  50.028 ms  59.195 ms
     9  borderx1-fddi-1.Dallas.mci.net (204.70.114.52)  54.696 ms  56.805 ms
    64.161 ms
    10  diamond-net.Dallas.mci.net (204.70.114.106)  71.301 ms  67.505 ms
    59.686 ms
    11  APPLE-1.DllsTX.savvis.net (209.44.32.2)  316.68 ms  142.599 ms
    250.019 ms
    12  209.44.33.18 (209.44.33.18)  97.149 ms  90.555 ms  91.014 ms
    13  tre.apple.com (205.180.175.29)  407.373 ms  337.825 ms  106.116 ms
    14  mail-out2.apple.com (17.254.0.51)  107.062 ms *  101.546 ms
    
    
    
    
    
    The  tcp part
    
    TCP:  ----- TCP header -----
    TCP:
    TCP:  Source port             = 30975
    TCP:  Destination port        = 532 (Netnews)
    TCP:  Initial sequence number = 2029978132
    TCP:  Acknowledgment number   = 2029978132
    TCP:  Data offset             = 28 bytes
    TCP:  Flags                   = FF
    TCP:                ..1. .... = Urgent pointer
    TCP:                ...1 .... = Acknowledgment
    TCP:                .... 1... = Push
    TCP:                .... .1.. = Reset
    TCP:                .... ..1. = SYN
    TCP:                .... ...1 = FIN
    TCP:  Window                  = 532
    TCP:  Checksum                = 78FF, should be E635
    TCP:  Urgent pointer          = 532
    TCP:
    TCP:  Options follow
    TCP:  Unknown option 120
    TCP:  7 byte(s) of header padding
    TCP:  [504 byte(s) of data]
    TCP:
    
    ADDR  HEX                                                ASCII
    0000  00 E0 14 7B 36 09 00 00  0C F8 17 49 08 00 45 00  ...{6......I..E.
    0010  02 28 C2 35 00 00 2E 06  29 0B 11 FE 00 33 81 37  .(.5....)....3.7
    0020  0C 28 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  .(x...x...x...x.
    0030  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0040  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0050  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0060  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0070  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0080  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0090  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    00A0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    00B0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    00C0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    00D0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    00E0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    00F0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0100  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0110  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0120  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0130  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0140  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0150  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0160  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0170  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0180  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0190  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    01A0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    01B0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    01C0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    01D0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    01E0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    01F0  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0200  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0210  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0220  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  02 14 78 FF 02 14 78 FF  ..x...x...x...x.
    0230  02 14 78 FF 02 14                                 ..x...
    
    
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