Re: FW: 33 character encrypted passwords in /etc/shadow

From: Paul Gear (paulgearat_private)
Date: Fri Jun 28 2002 - 17:13:11 PDT

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    Mike Denka wrote:
    
    > Thanks for all the responses to my original query.  It's pretty clear
    > that I missed the md5 encryption on newer versions of Red Hat which is
    > what got me sweating in the first place.
    >
    > Thanks also for all the suggestions for checking file integrity on Red
    > Hat machines.  Looks like rpm verification and tripwire are the only
    > options next to having a non-connected machine with a fresh install
    > somewhere to compare against.  Too bad.  Not that those are terrible
    > options, but the Solaris Fingerprint database
    > (http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/fileFingerprints.pl) is a great tool.
    > Maybe someday we'll have similar tools for our favorite open source
    > O/S's.
    >
    > Mike
    
    Mike,
    
    An MD5 checksum of the files is exactly what rpm -V does.  All you have to do
    to get the same effect is keep a copy of your package files on read-only media
    (i.e. burn a CD and keep it in the machine), and run the rpm -Vp against it
    from cron each night.  Obviously you'll have to update the CD each time a
    package is updated in the errata.  A CD-RW disk would probably be good for this
    purpose (making sure it's mounted in a CD-ROM drive, not a burner) - matter of
    fact, i might try that next time i get a chance.  :-)
    
    A simple workaround to Stephen's suggestion that the rpm command could have
    been modified is to keep a (preferably statically-linked) copy of the rpm
    executable on the CD and run that instead of the copy in /bin.  Obviously,
    someone could remove your script from the cron configuration if the system was
    compromised, but there's no way of avoiding that.
    
    Regards,
    Paul
    
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Stephen Smoogen [mailto:smoogenat_private]
    > Sent: Friday, June 28, 2002 9:42 AM
    > To: Mike Denka
    > Cc: incidentsat_private
    > Subject: Re: 33 character encrypted passwords in /etc/shadow
    >
    > If the 33 character passwords look like:
    >
    > $1$blahblahblahblahblah
    >
    > then the passwords are using M5sum instead of old DES passwords.
    > Depending on the version of Red Hat Linux you are running this can come
    > from using the authconfig command and turning on MD5sum passwords.
    >
    > If the password is in the form of
    > $2$blahblahblahblahblah
    >
    > then it is a blowfish algorithm which I think only OpenBSD supports
    > currently (but my data is old on this).
    >
    > The simplest way of checking your machine on Red Hat is to do a
    >
    > rpm -Va
    >
    > and look at the output. This checks the binaries on the system with what
    > was listed in the RPM database. This is a very simple check and prone to
    > being gotten around by good crackers. The next is to do the following:
    >
    > If the machine has a cdrom, and you have the original media.. mount the
    > cdrom and do the following:
    >
    > rpm -Vp <name of RPM package on cdrom> # to see if they played with RPM
    >
    > so on my 7.3 machine:
    >
    > smoogen:{RPMS}$ rpm -qf /usr/bin/passwd
    > passwd-0.67-1
    > root:{RPMS}# rpm -Vp passwd-0.67-1.i386.rpm
    >
    > This will give you assurance that the packages as installed from Red Hat
    > Linux are there. However it will not tell you about packages/files that
    > arent in RPM database... or if the rpm command itself had been altered..
    
    
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