[NCLUG] [new openssh exploit?]

Michael Dwyer mdwyer at sixthdimension.com
Wed Dec 12 16:16:44 MST 2001


Vulnerability lists are trying to hunt this one down.  If you have
seen any attacks on your own machines, I'm sure they would certainly
appreciate the logs -- especially those from Snort or TCPDump...

Vicki Irwin wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> This is an article for tonight's diary, but we wanted to send it
> out early in case any of you can help us gather information and
> nail down these rumors. We are pursuing information via the channels
> we have, and would greatly appreciate any help anyone can offer!
> 
> Thanks!
> --Vicki
> 
> ===================================================================
> SSH Attack Activity Update -- Many Rumors Circulating
> -----------------------------------------------------
> A few posts have been made regarding a rumored remote exploit for
> OpenSSH 2.9 (or some other recent OpenSSH version). The claim is
> that an exploit exists, is being circulated in the "underground",
> and is actively being used to compromise machines.
> http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/incidents/2001-12/0126.html
> http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/incidents/2001-12/0144.html
> http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/incidents/2001-12/0150.html
> http://forum.sans.org/discus/messages/79/973.html#POST3548
> 
> Further, a few people have posted that they are noticing an increase
> SSH scanning in general. Some have even suggested that worm activity
> may be to blame.
> http://forum.sans.org/discus/messages/79/973.html#POST3546
> http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/incidents/2001-12/0103.html
> 
> A posting to the UNISOG list today (no link available) reads:
> "Anyone else see a high volume of SSH (22/TCP) scans from various .DE
> hosts in the last day or so?  We have."
> 
> Further, an anonymous tip given to our incident handlers claimed
> that there are "unpublished remote exploits" for use against popular,
> recent versions of OpenSSH.
> 
> In this light we decided to take a close look at the Storm
> Center data for port 22. An activity summary is below. Note
> that the number of distinct sources generating SSH probes has
> risen a bit over the last few days, and the number of scans
> (single source, 10+ distinct targets) has increased slightly.
> 
> +------------+------------+------------------+-------------+
> | date       | sum(count) |  #Sources        | #Scans      |
> +------------+------------+------------------+-------------+
> | 2001-11-10 |       1335 |               42 |         10  |
> | 2001-11-11 |      67846 |               46 |         11  |
> | 2001-11-12 |       3074 |               60 |          9  |
> | 2001-11-13 |       1533 |               57 |         10  |
> | 2001-11-14 |        817 |               49 |          5  |
> | 2001-11-15 |       1789 |               47 |          7  |
> | 2001-11-16 |       3751 |               65 |         16  |
> | 2001-11-17 |       1455 |               49 |         11  |
> | 2001-11-18 |     244236 |               60 |          6  |
> | 2001-11-19 |       1737 |               53 |          0  |
> | 2001-11-20 |      76838 |               60 |          6  |
> | 2001-11-21 |      16377 |               60 |          8  |
> | 2001-11-22 |       2629 |               58 |          0  |
> | 2001-11-23 |       2522 |               58 |         20  |
> | 2001-11-24 |       3279 |               69 |         11  |
> | 2001-11-25 |       2816 |               75 |         10  |
> | 2001-11-26 |       1735 |               77 |         14  |
> | 2001-11-27 |       7484 |               57 |         17  |
> | 2001-11-28 |       7112 |               76 |         14  |
> | 2001-11-29 |       8437 |               70 |         17  |
> | 2001-11-30 |      14052 |               70 |         16  |
> | 2001-12-01 |       7532 |               73 |         12  |
> | 2001-12-02 |       2101 |               78 |         14  |
> | 2001-12-03 |      30247 |               88 |         15  |
> | 2001-12-04 |       1403 |               78 |          5  |
> | 2001-12-05 |       2827 |               61 |         15  |
> | 2001-12-06 |       2472 |               79 |         20  |
> | 2001-12-07 |      97328 |               78 |         20  |
> | 2001-12-08 |       1681 |               85 |         18  |
> | 2001-12-09 |       1211 |               83 |         14  |
> | 2001-12-10 |     185635 |               85 |         21  |
> | 2001-12-11 |       5792 |               84 |          7  |
> +------------+------------+------------------+-------------+
> 
> The thing that jumps out most from the table however is that the
> number of probes spikes dramatically on several days (including
> December 10th). Checking the data shows that these large jumps are
> primarily due to a few huge scans. The very large scans are
> summarized below. The last column of the table shows the SSH
> banner announced by the attacking machine, if any.
> 
> Date         #Targets     Attacking IP
> -----        --------     -------------
> 2001-11-11   66458        200.32.3.114       www.nixonnet.com.ar
> 2001-11-18   95177        211.233.3.198      Korea Server Hosting Provider  SSH-1.99-OpenSSH_2.3.0p1
> 2001-11-18   76846        216.206.101.2      216-206-101-2.hsacorp.net      SSH-1.99-OpenSSH_2.5.1p1
> 2001-11-20   16457        128.121.94.156     Verio
> 2001-11-21   15667        24.226.33.9        d226-33-9.home.cgocable.net    SSH-1.5-1.2.32
> 2001-11-30   6001         141.22.194.53      bau01.rzbt.haw-hamburg.de
> 2001-12-03   26983        216.166.147.79     ccs79.cotcomsol.com            SSH-1.99-OpenSSH_2.9p2
> 2001-12-07   92991        195.249.123.123    garfield.freesite.dk           SSH-1.5-1.2.32
> 2001-12-10   84582        138.131.170.38     amager.csem.ch
> 2001-12-10   90501        147.83.54.69       titania1.upc.es
> 2001-12-10   5999         195.184.176.164    gep19-677.szolcatv.broadband.hu
> 2001-12-10   3328         212.80.183.226     Cable&Wireless ISP Switzerland
> 
> We note that the 12-03 attacker is running OpenSSH_2.9p2. This is interesting
> in light of a posting made to the SF incidents list today:
> http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/incidents/2001-12/0150.html
> 
>    "Version 2.9.2 has a exploit that's for sure. The rumor is that TESO made it,
>     and it somehow reased some other underground 'crews' or 'groups'. Also i am
>     trying to find more informatino on the local exploit for SSHD 2.4.0. More
>     information on that soon."
> 
> If anyone has more information on a new remote SSH vulnerability/exploit,
> or information on SSH worm activity, please let us know. We are currently
> pursuing other channels of information as well. At this point we have obtained
> two binaries that are believed to be associated with remote exploits against
> OpenSSH 2.5 and 2.9, and SSH worm activity. These binaries are currently being
> analyzed and we will report any further findings when they become avaialble.
> 
> Note: We are aware of the following vulnerabilities, and believe
> that neither of these is the "rumored" issue.
> 
>     CRC32 Compensation Attack Detector (Remote):
>     http://www.incidents.org/diary.php?id=16
> 
>     UseLogin Vulnerability (Local):
>     http://www.incidents.org/diary.php?id=110
> 
> ============================================================================



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