full-disclosure - Automated ssh scanning

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Message-ID: <6d456c3604082609346330efb2@mail.gmail.com>
From: tremaine at gmail.com (Tremaine)
Subject: Automated ssh scanning

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 09:08:15 -0500 (CDT), Ron DuFresne
<dufresne@...ternet.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> the real thing this user most likely suffered from was the weak account
> passwd double, guest:guest.  Now, if the admin and other account were
> setup with strong passwd's and this account was either setup with a strong
> passwd or not setup at all might be a better test of the stability of ssh
> and the debain setup in question.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Ron DuFresne
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, 26 Aug 2004, Tig wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 19:43:47 -0400
> > Gerry Eisenhaur <GEisenhaur@...co.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I am confused, you said you knew about some SSH scanning going on,
> > > then set up those accounts on a box. Now you are curious way that box
> > > got rooted?
> > >
> > > Maybe I am missing something, but it seems you already have a pretty
> > > good assumption of why it got rooted.
> > >
> > > The software, as you seem to know, is a few exploits, a backdoor and
> > > some IRC stuff(bot and proxy).
> > >
> > > /gerry
> > >
> >
> > I think you did miss the point (which was a very good one). Basically,
> > once you have unprivileged access to a currently patched Woody box, you
> > can quickly gain root access.
> >
> > I would love to see this tested against other version of Linux and *BSD
> > with default (and updated) installations. Anyone have a spare box and a
> > few hours?
> >
> > -Tig
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
> > Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
> >
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity.  It
> eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the
> business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation." -- Johnny Hart
>        ***testing, only testing, and damn good at it too!***
> 
> OK, so you're a Ph.D.  Just don't touch anything.


Hi there Ron,

It appears you made the same assumption the guy from Cisco did ;)  The
box was installed with the *user* accounts admin and guest with weak
passwords, and root had a strong password.  The box was otherwise
'secure' and patched with only sshd available.

The question then becomes, how did the attacker gain root access after
obtaining a user account on a box that is otherwise current and
patched.

As a previous user noted, the experiment needs to be repeated with
better logging to determine the route of compromise.

-- 
Tremaine
IT Security Consultant