RE: SSH Attempts: Link to RedHat?

From: Montz, James C. (James Tower) (JCMontz@jamestower.com)
Date: 12/18/01 

From: "Montz, James C. (James Tower)" <JCMontz@jamestower.com>
To: "'Gregg Sperling'" <gs-list@glsrms.com>, incidents@securityfocus.com
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 09:29:04 -0600

Take a look at

/var/log/messages
/var/log/secure
/root/.bash_history

Keep an eye out for any gaps in log times, or statements that sylogd has
been restart (other than at 4:00am)
Check the /etc/passwd file for any other user accounts with UID/GID:0

Good Luck,

________________________
James C. Montz RHCE
Hosting Services Engineer
James Tower
http://www.jamestower.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Gregg Sperling [mailto:gs-list@glsrms.com]
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2001 5:50 PM
To: incidents@securityfocus.com
Subject: SSH Attempts: Link to RedHat?

Early yesterday, I received a single connection attempt on three of my
Linux-based direct connected Internet servers:

Dec 16 01:56:08 srvr001 sshd2[42]: connection from "24.5.243.0" (ip
address blocked to protect user)
Dec 16 01:56:09 srvr001 sshd2[6969]: Local disconnected: Connection closed
by remote host.
Dec 16 01:56:09 srvr001 sshd2[6969]: connection lost: 'Connection closed by
remote host.'
Dec 16 01:56:40 srvr002 sshd2[41]: connection from "24.5.243.0" (ip address
blocked to protect user)
Dec 16 01:56:41 srvr002 sshd2[10007]: Local disconnected: Connection closed
by remote host.
Dec 16 01:56:41 srvr002 sshd2[10007]: connection lost: 'Connection closed
by remote host.'
Dec 16 02:02:41 srvr003 sshd2[44]: connection from "24.5.243.0" (ip address
blocked to protect user)
Dec 16 02:02:42 srvr003 sshd2[13440]: Local disconnected: Connection closed
by remote host.
Dec 16 02:02:42 srvr003 sshd2[13440]: connection lost: 'Connection closed
by remote host.'

I ran some diagnostic tests on the IP address listed, and found it to be a
RedHat based Linux system with several ports open,
including HTTP, Telnet, FTP, X11, and "others."

I connected to the website connected to this server, and found somebody's
personal webpage. I found their email address, and sent the
owner an email.

Surprisingly, I have had several pleasant exchanges with the individual who
runs the server. He has offered to allow me access
into his server with root access. I'd like to find out what breach, if
any, caused this connection attempt.

Besides checking the standard /var/log/messages log, are there any
suggestions as to where I should check for possible breaches
in this individual's system?

Hints? Suggestions? Ideas?

Thanks in advance for your time,
Gregg Sperling
gsperling -at- glsrms -dot- com

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