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Date:      Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:38:50 -0600
From:      Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
To:        Fabian Wenk <fabian@wenks.ch>, freebsd-security@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: NTP security hole CVE-2013-5211?
Message-ID:  <201403141700.LAA21140@mail.lariat.net>
In-Reply-To: <52D7A944.70604@wenks.ch>
References:  <B0F3AA0A-2D23-424B-8A79-817CD2EBB277@FreeBSD.org> <52CEAD69.6090000@grosbein.net> <81785015-5083-451C-AC0B-4333CE766618@FreeBSD.org> <52CF82C0.9040708@delphij.net> <CAO82ECEsS-rKq7A-9w7VuxKpe_c_f=tvZQoRKgHEfi-yPdNeGQ@mail.gmail.com> <86d2jud85v.fsf@nine.des.no> <52D7A944.70604@wenks.ch>

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Everyone:

Two months after this vulnerability was announced, we're still 
seeing attempts to use the NTP "monitor" query to execute and 
amplify DDoS attacks. Unfortunately, FreeBSD, in its default 
configuration, will amplify the attacks if not patched and will 
still relay them (by sending "rejection" packets), obfuscating the 
source of the attack, if the system is patched using freebsd-update 
but the default ntp.conf file is not changed.

To avoid this, it's necessary to change /etc/ntp.conf to include 
the following lines:

# Stop amplification attacks via NTP servers
disable monitor
restrict default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery
restrict 127.0.0.1
restrict 127.127.1.0
# Note: Comment out these lines on machines without IPv6
restrict -6 default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery
restrict -6 ::1

We've tested this configuration on our servers and it successfully 
prevents the latest patches of FreeBSD 9.x and 10.0 from 
participating in a DDoS attack, either as a relay or as an amplifier.

Some of our own systems which were probed prior to the time we 
secured them are still receiving a large stream of attack packets, 
apparently from a botnet.

I'd recommend that the lines above be included in the default 
/etc/ntp.conf in all future releases, and that all systems that use 
the default ntp.conf without modification be patched automatically 
via freebsd-update.

--Brett Glass




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