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- CERT(sm) Advisory CA-95:06
- Original issue date: April 3, 1995
- Last revised: August 30, 1996
- Information previously in the README was inserted
- into the advisory. Updated tech tip references.
-
- A complete revision history is at the end of this file.
-
- Topic: Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks (SATAN)
- - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- The CERT Coordination Center staff examined beta version 0.51 of the Security
- Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks (SATAN). This advisory initially
- contained information based on our review of this pre-release version. When
- the official release became available, we updated the advisory based on version
- 1.1.1.
-
- 1. What is SATAN?
- - ------------------
- SATAN is a testing and reporting tool that collects a variety of information
- about networked hosts. The currently available documentation can be found at
- ftp://ftp.win.tue.nl/pub/security/satan_doc.tar.Z
-
- SATAN gathers information about specified hosts and networks by examining
- network services (for example, finger, NFS, NIS, ftp, and rexd). It can then
- report this data in a summary format or, with a simple rule-based system,
- investigate potential security problems. Problems are described briefly and
- pointers provided to patches or workarounds. In addition to reporting
- vulnerabilities, SATAN gathers general network information (network topology,
- network services run, types of hardware and software being used on the
- network). As described in the SATAN documentation, SATAN has an exploratory
- mode that allows it to probe hosts that have not been explicitly specified.
- Thus, SATAN could probe not only targeted hosts, but also hosts outside your
- administrative domain.
-
- Section 4 below lists the vulnerabilities currently probed by SATAN.
-
- After the release of SATAN 1.0, we published a separate advisory describing a
- vulnerability in SATAN. If you do not already have a copy of CA-95:07a, we
- strongly urge you to obtain a copy from
-
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/cert_advisories/CA-95:07a.REVISED.satan.vul
-
- As we receive new information about SATAN, we will update advisories
- CA-95:06 (SATAN in general) and CA-95:07a (vulnerability in SATAN).
- We encourage you to check our advisories regularly for updates to relating to
- your site.
-
- 2. Potential Impact of SATAN
- - ----------------------------
- SATAN was designed as a security tool for system and network administrators.
- However, given its wide distribution, ease of use, and ability to scan remote
- networks, SATAN is also likely to be used to locate vulnerable hosts for
- malicious reasons. It is also possible that sites running SATAN for a
- legitimate purpose will accidentally scan your system via SATAN's exploratory
- mode.
-
- Although the vulnerabilities SATAN identifies are not new, the ability to
- locate them with a widely available, easy-to-use tool increases the level of
- threat to sites that have not taken steps to address those vulnerabilities. In
- addition, SATAN is easily extensible. After it is released, modified versions
- might scan for other vulnerabilities as well and might include code to
- compromise systems.
-
-
- 3. How to Prepare for the Release of SATAN
- - ------------------------------------------
-
- * Examine your systems for the vulnerabilities described below and implement
- security fixes accordingly.
-
- * In addition to reading the advisories cited for specific vulnerabilities
- below, consult the following documents for guidance on improving the
- security of your systems:
-
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/intruder_detection_checklist
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/UNIX_configuration_guidelines
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/anonymous_ftp_config
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/packet_filtering
-
- * Contact your vendor for information on available security patches, and
- ensure that all patches have been installed at your site.
-
- * Use the tools listed in Section 5 to assist you in assessing and improving
- the security of your systems.
-
-
- 4. Vulnerabilities Probed by SATAN
- - ----------------------------------
- Listed below are vulnerabilities that beta version 0.51 of SATAN tests for,
- along with references to CERT advisories and other documents where applicable.
-
- Administrators should verify the state of their systems and perform corrective
- actions as necessary. We cannot stress enough the importance of good network
- configuration and the need to install all available patches.
-
- 1. NFS export to unprivileged programs
- 2. NFS export via portmapper
- 3. Unrestricted NFS export
-
- See CERT advisory CA-94:15 for security measures you can take to address
- NFS vulnerabilities.
-
- The following advisories also address problems related to NFS:
- CA-94:02.REVISED.SunOS.rpc.mountd.vulnerability
- CA-93:15.SunOS.and.Solaris.vulnerabilities
- CA-92:15.Multiple.SunOS.vulnerabilities.patches
- CA-91:21.SunOS.NFS.Jumbo.and.fsirand
-
- 4. NIS password file access
- See CERT advisory CA-92:13 for information about SunOS 4.x machines using
- NIS, and CA-93:01 for information about HP machines.
-
- 5. rexd access
- We recommend filtering the rexd service at your firewall and commenting
- out rexd in the file /etc/inetd.conf.
-
- See CERT advisory CA-92:05 for more information about IBM AIX machines
- using rexd, and CA-91:06 for information about NeXT.
-
- 6. Sendmail vulnerabilities
- See CERT advisory CA-95:05 for the latest information we have published
- about sendmail.
-
- 7. TFTP file access
- See CERT advisory CA-91:18 for security measures that address TFTP access
- problems. In addition, CA-91:19 contains information for IBM AIX users.
-
- 8. Remote shell access
- We recommend that you comment out rshd in the file /etc/inetd.conf or
- protect it with a TCP wrapper. A TCP/IP wrapper program is available from
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tools/tcp_wrappers/
-
- 9. Unrestricted X server access
- We recommend filtering X at your firewall. Additional advice about
- packet filtering is available by anonymous FTP from
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/packet_filtering
-
- 10. Writable FTP home directory
- See CERT advisory CA-93:10.
- Guidance on anonymous FTP configuration is also available from
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/anonymous_ftp_config
-
- 11. wu-ftpd vulnerability
- See CA-93:06 and CA-94:07 for more information about ftpd.
-
- 12. Unrestricted dial-out modem available via TCP.
- Place modems behind a firewall or put password or other extra
- authentication on them (such as S/Key or one-time passwords).
- For information on one-time passwords, see CERT advisory CA-94:01,
- Appendix B.
-
- Note: In addition to our FTP archive at info.cert.org, CERT documents are
- available from the following sites, and others which you can locate
- by using archie:
-
- ftp://coast.cs.purdue.edu/pub/mirrors/cert.org/cert_advisories
- ftp://unix.hensa.ac.uk/pub/uunet/doc/security/cert_advisories
- ftp://ftp.luth.se/pub/misc/cert/cert_advisories
- ftp://ftp.switch.ch/network/security/cert_advisories
- ftp://corton.inria.fr/CERT/cert_advisories
- ftp://ftp.inria.fr/network/cert_advisories
- ftp://nic.nordu.net/networking/security/cert_advisories
-
- 5. Currently Available Tools
- - -----------------------------
- The following tools are freely available now and can help you improve your
- site's security before SATAN is released.
-
- COPS and ISS can be used to check for vulnerabilities and configuration
- weaknesses.
-
- COPS is available from ftp//info.cert.org:/pub/tools/cops/*
-
- ISS is available from
- ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume39/iss
- CERT advisory CA-93:14 contains information about ISS.
-
- TCP wrappers can provide access control and flexible logging to most network
- services. These features can help you prevent and detect network attacks. This
- software is available by anonymous FTP from
-
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tools/tcp_wrappers/*
-
- The TAMU security package includes tools to check for vulnerabilities and
- system configuration weaknesses, and it provides logging and filtering of
- network services. This software is available by anonymous FTP from
-
- ftp://net.tamu.edu/pub/security/TAMU/*
-
- The Swatch log file monitor allows you to identify patterns in log file entries
- and associate them with actions. This tool is available from
-
- ftp://ee.stanford.edu/pub/sources/swatch.tar.Z
-
-
- 6. Detecting Probes
- - -------------------
- One indication of attacks by SATAN, and other tools, is evidence of a heavy
- scan of a range of ports and services in a relatively short time. Many UNIX
- network daemons do not provide sufficient logging to determine if SATAN is
- probing the system. TCP wrappers, the TAMU tools, and Swatch can provide the
- logging you need.
-
- New tools are becoming available on the network to help you detect
- probes, but the CERT staff has not evaluated them.
-
- Although detection tools can be helpful, keep in mind that their
- effectiveness depends on the nature and availability of your logs and
- that the tools may become less effective as SATAN is modified. The
- most important thing you can do is take preventive action to secure
- your systems.
-
- 7. Using SATAN
- - ---------------
- Running SATAN on your systems will provide you with the same information an
- attacker would obtain, allowing you to correct vulnerabilities. If you choose
- to run SATAN, we urge you to read the documentation carefully. Also,
- note the following:
-
- * It is easy to accidentally probe systems you did not intend to. If this
- occurs, the probed site may view the probe(s) as an attack on their
- system(s).
-
- * Take special care in setting up your configuration file, and in selecting the
- probe level when you run SATAN.
-
- * Explicitly bound the scope of your probes when you run SATAN. Under "SATAN
- Configuration Management," explicitly limit probes to specific hosts and
- exclude specific hosts.
-
- * When you run SATAN, ensure that other users do not have read access to your
- SATAN directory.
-
- * In some cases, SATAN points to CERT advisories. If the link does not work
- for you, try getting the advisories by anonymous FTP.
-
- * Install all relevant security patches for the system on which you will
- run SATAN.
-
- * Ensure that the SATAN directory tree cannot be read by users other
- than root.
-
- * Execute SATAN only from the console of the system on which it is
- installed (e.g., do not run SATAN from an X terminal, from a diskless
- workstation, or from a remote host).
-
- * Ensure that the SATAN directory tree is not NFS-mounted from a remote
- system.
-
- * It is best to run SATAN from a system that does not support multiple
- users.
-
- 8. Getting more information about SATAN
- - ---------------------------------------
-
- The SATAN authors report that SATAN 1.1.1 is available from many
- sites, including:
-
- ftp://ftp.win.tue.nl/pub/security/satan-1.1.1.tar.Z
- ftp://ftp.win.tue.nl/pub/security/satan-1.1.1.README
- ftp://ftp.win.tue.nl/pub/security/satan_doc.tar.Z
- ftp://ftp.win.tue.nl/pub/security/satan_doc.README
-
- To get a current list of sites, send mail to:
-
- majordomo@wzv.win.tue.nl
-
- and put in the body of your message
-
- get satan mirror-sites
-
- You can also use archie to locate sites that have SATAN.
-
- MD5 checksums for SATAN:
-
- satan-1.1.1.README = 3f935e595ab85ee28b327237f1d55287
- satan-1.1.1.tar.Z = de2d3d38196ba6638b5d7f37ca8c54d7
- satan-1.1.1.tar.Z.asc = a9261070885560ec11e6cc1fe0622243
- satan_doc.README = 4ebe05abc3268493cdea0da786bc9589
- satan_doc.tar.Z = 951d8bfca033eeb483a004a4f801f99a
- satan_doc.tar.Z.asc = 3216053386f72347956f2f91d6c1cb7c
-
- Also available is "Improving the Security of Your Site by Breaking
- Into It" (admin-guide-to-cracking.101), a 1993 paper in which the authors give
- their rationale for creating SATAN.
-
- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The CERT Coordination Center staff thanks Dan Farmer and Wieste Venema for the
- the opportunity to examine pre-release versions of SATAN. We also appreciate
- the interaction with the response teams at AUSCERT, CIAC, and DFN-CERT, and
- feedback from Eric Allman.
- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- If you believe that your system has been compromised, contact the CERT
- Coordination Center or your representative in the Forum of Incident
- Response and Security Teams (FIRST).
-
- If you wish to send sensitive incident or vulnerability information to
- CERT staff by electronic mail, we strongly advise that the e-mail be
- encrypted. The CERT Coordination Center can support a shared DES key, PGP
- (public key available via anonymous FTP on info.cert.org), or PEM (contact
- CERT staff for details).
-
- Internet E-mail: cert@cert.org
- Telephone: +1 412-268-7090 (24-hour hotline)
- CERT personnel answer 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. EST(GMT-5)/EDT(GMT-4),
- and are on call for emergencies during other hours.
- Fax: +1 412-268-6989
-
- Postal address: CERT Coordination Center
- Software Engineering Institute
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
- USA
-
- CERT advisories and bulletins are posted on the USENET newsgroup
- comp.security.announce. If you would like to have future advisories and
- bulletins mailed to you or to a mail exploder at your site, please send mail
- to cert-advisory-request@cert.org.
-
- Past advisories, CERT bulletins, information about FIRST representatives, and
- other information related to computer security are available for anonymous
- FTP from info.cert.org.
-
-
-
- Copyright 1995, 1996 Carnegie Mellon University
- This material may be reproduced and distributed without permission provided it
- is used for noncommercial purposes and the copyright statement is included.
-
- CERT is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University.
-
- =============================================================================
- UPDATES
-
- Note to users of LINUX SATAN: There was a posting to USENET that a
- Trojan horse was introduced into a version of LINUX SATAN binaries
- archived on ftp.epinet.com. CERT staff have not verified that this
- Trojan horse exists; however, if you are using LINUX SATAN and
- believe your version may be compromised, we suggest you obtain
- additional information from
-
- ftp://ftp.epinet.com/pub/linux/security
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Revision history
-
- Aug. 30, 1996 Information previously in the README was inserted
- into the advisory. Updated tech tip references.
-
- Apr. 11, 1995 Updated information based on SATAN 1.1.1 (original advisory
- was based on beta version 0.51):
- Introduction - added reference to CA-95:07a
- Sec. 4 - added information on SATAN probe for unrestricted
- modems
- Sec. 6 - added a note on tools for detecting probes
- Sec. 7 - added five additional precautions
- Sec. 8 - where to get a copy of SATAN
- checksums for SATAN and documentation
- where to send comments about SATAN
-
- Apr. 11, 1995 Sec. 3 - pathnames corrected in Sec. 3
- Sec. 4-5 - colons noted in (and subsequently removed from) URLs
-
- Apr. 11, 1995 Updates section - added a note on LINUX SATAN
-
-
-
-
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