Today I received, via email, a security warning from my ISP, who is ATT. They were advising me that my system was being attacked and that the attack was based on an OpenSSH vulnerability.
After reading some CVE and Red Hat pages, it turns out I'm at risk because I updated my bastion server. My other systems, which the bastion server front ends for, aren't affected because the version of OpenSSH is too OLD.
What a pain.
This happens all the time, whether I get notified or not. Newer versions of software are NOT more secure. In fact, they become LESS secure as developers try to incorporate more functionalty and edge uses. And, in this case, because someone made a mistake.
The whole world is on this upgrade/update treadmill and it gets you nothing. IMHO you are delusional if you think it does.
I have to get on it because I HAVE to upgrade browsers. You can only do this independently from an OS upgrade for so long.
Fortunately the exploit is very difficut to exploit beyond causing a "system crash". It takes a lot of "resources" and thousands of attempts. Which is probably how ATT noticed it.
I can't determine if, or ask ATT, to just block the attack. I can't respond to the email. It seems like blocking the attack would be nice. Fortunately, my network is on the slow side and the exploit probably can't be feasibly involked.
This is why I resist upgrading/updating. It is a waste of A LOT OF TIME. Better to have a version and just patch vulnerabilities that apply to you and forget the rest.
The recommended fix is to set the logingracetime=0 for the sshd server. I'm trying to determine how this will affect password based authentication with long passwords over slow/bad networks, my situation. It seems like it might.
I'm seriously considering just downreving the OS on the bastion server. It doesn't really need that much functionality and never runs a browser. And, although I wouldn't like it, I'm not sure what they could do by executing arbitrary code there. They would have to be able to ssh somewhere useful.
I can see from the logs that I'm being hit every 3 sec or so. All different IP's, must be a botnet.
And, unlike with rsyslogd, you can't natively set up journalctl to generate an alert, as in generate an email based on log entries. How nice.
I'm not in a good mood LOL.
I've closed down my ISP's firewall. I have the luxury of being able to do that. I'll have something back up by the weekend, when I need the service. By then, I should have something figured out.
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 09:49:42AM -0700, Gary wrote:
Today I received, via email, a security warning from my ISP, who is ATT. They were advising me that my system was being attacked and that the attack was based on an OpenSSH vulnerability.
After reading some CVE and Red Hat pages, it turns out I'm at risk because I updated my bastion server. My other systems, which the bastion server front ends for, aren't affected because the version of OpenSSH is too OLD.
What a pain.
This happens all the time, whether I get notified or not. Newer versions of software are NOT more secure. In fact, they become LESS secure as developers try to incorporate more functionalty and edge uses. And, in this case, because someone made a mistake.
The whole world is on this upgrade/update treadmill and it gets you nothing. IMHO you are delusional if you think it does.
I have to get on it because I HAVE to upgrade browsers. You can only do this independently from an OS upgrade for so long.
Fortunately the exploit is very difficut to exploit beyond causing a "system crash". It takes a lot of "resources" and thousands of attempts. Which is probably how ATT noticed it.
I can't determine if, or ask ATT, to just block the attack. I can't respond to the email. It seems like blocking the attack would be nice. Fortunately, my network is on the slow side and the exploit probably can't be feasibly involked.
This is why I resist upgrading/updating. It is a waste of A LOT OF TIME. Better to have a version and just patch vulnerabilities that apply to you and forget the rest.
The recommended fix is to set the logingracetime=0 for the sshd server. I'm trying to determine how this will affect password based authentication with long passwords over slow/bad networks, my situation. It seems like it might.
I'm seriously considering just downreving the OS on the bastion server. It doesn't really need that much functionality and never runs a browser. And, although I wouldn't like it, I'm not sure what they could do by executing arbitrary code there. They would have to be able to ssh somewhere useful.
I can see from the logs that I'm being hit every 3 sec or so. All different IP's, must be a botnet. _______________________________________________ Lug-nuts mailing list -- lug-nuts@bigbrie.com To unsubscribe send an email to lug-nuts-leave@bigbrie.com
Gary you are retired. Don’t let technology bring you down. Go outside and enjoy the nife day. Everything is still green. I would run a firewall and put ssh on port 5150.
Kevin
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 10:37 AM Gary saclug@garymcglinn.com wrote:
And, unlike with rsyslogd, you can't natively set up journalctl to generate an alert, as in generate an email based on log entries. How nice.
I'm not in a good mood LOL.
I've closed down my ISP's firewall. I have the luxury of being able to do that. I'll have something back up by the weekend, when I need the service. By then, I should have something figured out.
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 09:49:42AM -0700, Gary wrote:
Today I received, via email, a security warning from my ISP, who is
ATT. They were advising me that my system was being attacked and that the attack was based on an OpenSSH vulnerability.
After reading some CVE and Red Hat pages, it turns out I'm at risk
because I updated my bastion server. My other systems, which the bastion server front ends for, aren't affected because the version of OpenSSH is too OLD.
What a pain.
This happens all the time, whether I get notified or not. Newer
versions of software are NOT more secure. In fact, they become LESS secure as developers try to incorporate more functionalty and edge uses. And, in this case, because someone made a mistake.
The whole world is on this upgrade/update treadmill and it gets you
nothing. IMHO you are delusional if you think it does.
I have to get on it because I HAVE to upgrade browsers. You can only do
this independently from an OS upgrade for so long.
Fortunately the exploit is very difficut to exploit beyond causing a
"system crash". It takes a lot of "resources" and thousands of attempts. Which is probably how ATT noticed it.
I can't determine if, or ask ATT, to just block the attack. I can't
respond to the email. It seems like blocking the attack would be nice. Fortunately, my network is on the slow side and the exploit probably can't be feasibly involked.
This is why I resist upgrading/updating. It is a waste of A LOT OF
TIME. Better to have a version and just patch vulnerabilities that apply to you and forget the rest.
The recommended fix is to set the logingracetime=0 for the sshd server.
I'm trying to determine how this will affect password based authentication with long passwords over slow/bad networks, my situation. It seems like it might.
I'm seriously considering just downreving the OS on the bastion server.
It doesn't really need that much functionality and never runs a browser. And, although I wouldn't like it, I'm not sure what they could do by executing arbitrary code there. They would have to be able to ssh somewhere useful.
I can see from the logs that I'm being hit every 3 sec or so. All
different IP's, must be a botnet.
Lug-nuts mailing list -- lug-nuts@bigbrie.com To unsubscribe send an email to lug-nuts-leave@bigbrie.com
Lug-nuts mailing list -- lug-nuts@bigbrie.com To unsubscribe send an email to lug-nuts-leave@bigbrie.com
I'm already on another non-standard ssh port. So, I'm moving again :).
And, I am enjoying life to extent possible.
But, I "enjoy" using useful tools than involve technology. It makes my life easier, overall. And, it is interesting.
I don't feel like I have to accept poor design, quality and implementation of the things I find useful, just because I am retired. I have long had an issue with the upgrade treadmill. I'm going back to the way I used to do things: buy hardward, load software. Never upgrade. Apply a security patch if necessary. I could see that was the way to go back when I was working, but no one else agreed.
You take a big risk every time someone touches the code, especially if it is complicated. So, don't touch it. Fix it. Hopefully, if the fixes are carefully done, you'll end up touching the code less and less often. It will be vetted through time. That leads to the most secure result IMHO. And, attackers can never be sure of which version of things is out there, because not everyone of interest has the same version.
Having said that, when the vendors were using this approach the patches were so bad, and apparently the original code too, that more vulnerabilites and bugs were generated than were actually fixed. To get out of the swamp, you had to upgrade. When open source became more prevalent and we didn't have to rely on the vendor to fix things, it was an improvement. A big improvement. But, in fairness, I guess you can pick your poision.
IMHO the goal to produce functional and bug free code should be emphasized, not deemphasized. Patches and upgrades should be less frequent, so they can be tested and verified by the consumer. But everyone has drunk the Kool-Aid and here we are.
Separately, but somehow in my mind, emblematically, I'm building a new kernel. The process has really taken a step backwards. Things that used to be automatic, now have to be done manually, like tool version verification. The documentation on the process is really bad, in the wrong place, and fragmented. It's been 10 years since I built a kernal. but I have done it before. The change is mind blowing.
5150? Rush?
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 10:42:12AM -0700, Kevin Brisson wrote:
Gary you are retired. Don’t let technology bring you down. Go outside and enjoy the nife day. Everything is still green. I would run a firewall and put ssh on port 5150.
Kevin
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 10:37 AM Gary saclug@garymcglinn.com wrote:
And, unlike with rsyslogd, you can't natively set up journalctl to generate an alert, as in generate an email based on log entries. How nice.
I'm not in a good mood LOL.
I've closed down my ISP's firewall. I have the luxury of being able to do that. I'll have something back up by the weekend, when I need the service. By then, I should have something figured out.
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 09:49:42AM -0700, Gary wrote:
Today I received, via email, a security warning from my ISP, who is
ATT. They were advising me that my system was being attacked and that the attack was based on an OpenSSH vulnerability.
After reading some CVE and Red Hat pages, it turns out I'm at risk
because I updated my bastion server. My other systems, which the bastion server front ends for, aren't affected because the version of OpenSSH is too OLD.
What a pain.
This happens all the time, whether I get notified or not. Newer
versions of software are NOT more secure. In fact, they become LESS secure as developers try to incorporate more functionalty and edge uses. And, in this case, because someone made a mistake.
The whole world is on this upgrade/update treadmill and it gets you
nothing. IMHO you are delusional if you think it does.
I have to get on it because I HAVE to upgrade browsers. You can only do
this independently from an OS upgrade for so long.
Fortunately the exploit is very difficut to exploit beyond causing a
"system crash". It takes a lot of "resources" and thousands of attempts. Which is probably how ATT noticed it.
I can't determine if, or ask ATT, to just block the attack. I can't
respond to the email. It seems like blocking the attack would be nice. Fortunately, my network is on the slow side and the exploit probably can't be feasibly involked.
This is why I resist upgrading/updating. It is a waste of A LOT OF
TIME. Better to have a version and just patch vulnerabilities that apply to you and forget the rest.
The recommended fix is to set the logingracetime=0 for the sshd server.
I'm trying to determine how this will affect password based authentication with long passwords over slow/bad networks, my situation. It seems like it might.
I'm seriously considering just downreving the OS on the bastion server.
It doesn't really need that much functionality and never runs a browser. And, although I wouldn't like it, I'm not sure what they could do by executing arbitrary code there. They would have to be able to ssh somewhere useful.
I can see from the logs that I'm being hit every 3 sec or so. All
different IP's, must be a botnet.
Lug-nuts mailing list -- lug-nuts@bigbrie.com To unsubscribe send an email to lug-nuts-leave@bigbrie.com
Lug-nuts mailing list -- lug-nuts@bigbrie.com To unsubscribe send an email to lug-nuts-leave@bigbrie.com
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-
Gary -
Kevin Brisson