What You Get After Running an SSH Honeypot for 30 Days

CyberSecurity โ€บ Authentication
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What is a honeypot?

A honeypot detects and records attacks when an attacker tries to break into a system.

The honeypot we will discuss here is an SSH honeypot.

Environment

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OS: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x86_64 
Kernel: 6.8.0-31-generic

Login Attempts

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cat X.log | grep -c "login attempt"
11599

There were a total of 11,599 login attempts. Divided by 30 days, this means an average of 386 login attempts per day.

Used Usernames

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cat X.log | grep -a "login attempt" | awk '{print $5}' | awk -F "'" '{print $2}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head
   8181 root
    977 345gs5662d34
    359 admin
    198 pi
    105 0
     71 ubuntu
     51 ubnt
     46 support
     37 user
     30 oracle

As expected, there are many attacks that target customary and default usernames.

For the 345gs5662d34 user, according to the Aalborg University of Denmark Research this could be the default credential for a Polycom CX600 IP telephone

Check it here :
SweetCam: an IP Camera Honeypot

Passwords

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cat X.log | grep -a "login attempt" | awk '{print $5}' | awk -F "'" '{print $4}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head
    977 345gs5662d34
    967 3245gs5662d34
    246 admin
    239 123456
    208 password
    155 0
     88 root
     75 raspberry
     73 123
     66 raspberryraspberry993311

Once again, the same as the default username for Polycom CX600 IP telephone

Commands executed after login

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cat X.log | grep -a "CMD" | awk -F'CMD: ' '{print $2}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr
   6775 echo -e "\x6F\x6B"
   1016 cd ~; chattr -ia .ssh; lockr -ia .ssh
   1016 cd ~ && rm -rf .ssh && mkdir .ssh && echo "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABJQAAAQEArDp4cun2lhr4KUhBGE7VvAcwdli2a8dbnrTOrbMz1+5O73fcBOx8NVbUT0bUanUV9tJ2/9p7+vD0EpZ3Tz/+0kX34uAx1RV/75GVOmNx+9EuWOnvNoaJe0QXxziIg9eLBHpgLMuakb5+BgTFB+rKJAw9u9FSTDengvS8hX1kNFS4Mjux0hJOK8rvcEmPecjdySYMb66nylAKGwCEE6WEQHmd1mUPgHwGQ0hWCwsQk13yCGPK5w6hYp5zYkFnvlC8hGmd4Ww+u97k6pfTGTUbJk14ujvcD9iUKQTTWYYjIIu5PmUux5bsZ0R4WFwdIe6+i6rBLAsPKgAySVKPRK+oRw== mdrfckr">>.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod -R go= ~/.ssh && cd ~
    320 uname -s -v -n -r -m
    112 ./oinasf; dd if=/proc/self/exe bs=22 count=1 || while read i; do echo $i; done < /proc/self/exe || cat /proc/self/exe;
     87 uname -a
     29 ps | grep '[Mm]iner'
     29 ps -ef | grep '[Mm]iner'
     29 ls -la /dev/ttyGSM* /dev/ttyUSB-mod* /var/spool/sms/* /var/log/smsd.log /etc/smsd.conf* /usr/bin/qmuxd /var/qmux_connect_socket /etc/config/simman /dev/modem* /var/config/sms/*
     29 ifconfig
     29 echo Hi | cat -n
     29 cat /proc/cpuinfo
     29 /ip cloud print
     23 whoami
     23 which ls
     23 w
     23 uname -m
     23 uname
     23 top
     23 lscpu | grep Model
     23 ls -lh $(which ls)
     23 free -m | grep Mem | awk '{print $2 ,$3, $4, $5, $6, $7}'
     23 df -h | head -n 2 | awk 'FNR == 2 {print $2;}'
     23 crontab -l
     23 cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep name | wc -l
     23 cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep name | head -n 1 | awk '{print $4,$5,$6,$7,$8,$9;}'
     23 cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep model | grep name | wc -l
     ใƒปใƒปใƒป

Now the interesting part starts

The oinasf script

The execution of a mysterious script, ./oinasf, followed by attempts to read and display the systemโ€™s executable content, indicates a probing strategy for vulnerabilities or valuable information.

The use of /ip cloud print suggests that bots target MikroTik routers to access or disrupt cloud-based services, while uname -s -m provides them with essential details about the operating system and machine architecture, valuable for crafting further actions tailored to the systemโ€™s specifics.

In conclusion, these commands represent a clear strategy to infiltrate, assess, and establish control over targeted systems.

They emphasize the botโ€™s preference for direct manipulation and sustained access highlighting the critical need for robust defenses against such common yet potentially devastating tactics.

The mdrfckr crypto miner

This miner would simply create a cron job that would delete everything on the .ssh folder and add a single ssh key and lock other users out.

After that it would kill other miners if they exist and just have the open field.

You can check this repo of someone who already got hacked and the miner was used on his server : Dump of the crypto-miner that got installed on my system - Github

The MIPS malware

Probably another MIPS (Multiprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages) architecture malware, targeting routers and IoT devices.

Here is a good read and analysis of the behaviour of a MIPS Malware :
Analyzing a Backdoor/Bot for the MIPS Platform

The Sakura.sh Script

This script is part of the Gafgyt Malware.

Gafgyt, also known as BASHLITE, is a botnet affecting Internet of Things (IoT) devices and Linux-based systems. The malware aims to compromise and gain control of these devices, often by exploiting weak or default passwords, as well as known vulnerabilities. Gafgyt has been around since 2014 and has evolved into multiple variants, each with its own set of features and capabilities, including the ability to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

Here is A Detailed Analysis of the Gafgyt Malware Targeting IoT Devices

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