Re: Attacks against SSH?

From: Cy Schubert - ITSD Open Systems Group (Cy.Schubertat_private)
Date: Mon Dec 03 2001 - 13:10:27 PST

  • Next message: Steven S: "Re: Attacks against SSH?"

    Wu-ftpd raises a red flag, as it more likely to be the compromise
    vehicle than OpenSSH.  I'm not ruling out OpenSSH, however without any 
    proof, just conjecture based upon incomplete log information (we don't 
    know if wu-ftpd was logging anything), we really don't know whether 
    OpenSSH or wu-ftpd was the entry point.
    
    Additionally, I notice that the hostname is "ns".  Could BIND be 
    running on this system?  Has BIND been ruled out as a point of 
    compromise?
    
    I'm not saying that it's not OpenSSH.  I'm pointing out that especially 
    during compromise investigations we need to avoid jumping to 
    conclusions.
    
    
    Regards,                         Phone:  (250)387-8437
    Cy Schubert                        Fax:  (250)387-5766
    Team Leader, Sun/Alpha Team      Email:  Cy.Schubertat_private
    Open Systems Group, ITSD
    Ministry of Management Services
    Province of BC
    
    In message <3C0B2A0F.944E79A3at_private>, johan.augustssonat_private writes:
    > 
    > I stumbeled over this post at openssh-unix-dev mailinglist last week -
    > http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=openssh-unix-dev&m=100701808712180&w=2
    > The poster claims that he had OpenSSH-2.9p2-8.7 (latest uppdate for
    > RedHat 7.0) up and running when he received what looks to be a
    > CRC32-attack. A few minutes later you can see (he posted parts of the
    > logfile) a new user being created with uid=0 and then how an connection
    > is made from system in Israel.
    > 
    > There has been no confirmation about what he writes but I recieved the
    > following mail as an answer of my questions.
    > 
    > ------ Message ------
    > I posted an openssh security alert earlier today and already got some
    > responses.
    > Thanks for everything.
    > 
    > Instead of replying to everyone individually I composed the details of
    > the
    > attack.
    > 
    > +++
    > 
    > It does not look like a job of worms.
    > Snort did not detect mass port scan from attacker's ip address. It seems
    > that he (I assumed, so I don't have to type he/she all the way) just
    > wants
    > to gain access through openssh.
    > 
    > The server is running Red Hat 7.0. With all packages up to date. The
    > following daemons are running:  wu-ftpd, apache, telnet, openssh, named
    > I never access the system via telnet, it is there just for backup
    > purpose.
    
    
    
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