Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 21:48:49 +0200 From: Pieter de Boer <pieter@thedarkside.nl> To: freebsd-security@freebsd.org Subject: SSH scans vs connection ratelimiting Message-ID: <44E76B21.8000409@thedarkside.nl>
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Gang,
For months now, we're all seeing repeated bruteforce attempts on SSH.
I've configured my pf install to ratelimit TCP connections to port 22
and to automatically add IP-addresses that connect too fast to a table
that's filtered:
table <lamers> { }
block quick from <lamers> to any
pass in quick on $ext_if inet proto tcp from any to ($ext_if) port 22
modulate state (source-track rule max-src-nodes 8 max-src-conn 8
max-src-conn-rate 3/60 overload <lamers> flush global)
This works as expected, IP-addresses are added to the 'lamers'-table
every once in a while.
However, there apparently are SSH bruteforcers that simply use one
connection to perform a brute-force attack:
Aug 18 00:00:01 aberdeen sshd[87989]: Invalid user serwis from 83.19.113.122
Aug 18 00:00:03 aberdeen sshd[88010]: Invalid user serwis from 83.19.113.122
Aug 18 00:00:05 aberdeen sshd[88012]: Invalid user serwis from 83.19.113.122
Aug 18 00:00:10 aberdeen sshd[88014]: Invalid user serwis from 83.19.113.122
Aug 18 00:00:13 aberdeen sshd[88019]: Invalid user serwis from 83.19.113.122
Aug 18 00:00:14 aberdeen sshd[88021]: Invalid user serwis from 83.19.113.122
My theory was/is that this particular scanner simply multiplexes
multiple authentication attempts over a single connection. I 'used the
source luke' of OpenSSH to find support for this theory, but found the
source a bit too wealthy for my brain to find such support.
So, my question is: Does anyone know how this particular attack works
and if there's a way to stop this? If my theory is sound and OpenSSH
does not have provisions to limit the authentication requests per TCP
session, I'd find that an inadequacy in OpenSSH, but I'm probably
missing something here :)
Regards,
Pieter
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