Know Your Enemy: The Attack of the Script Kiddie.
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<font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua"><font size=+4>Know Your
Enemy</font></font>
<br><i><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua"><font size=+1>The Attack of the
Script Kiddie</font></font></i>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua"><font size=-1><a href="mailto:lance@spitzner.net?Subject=Know Your Enemy">Lance
Spitzner</a></font></font>
<p><b><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">My commander used to tell me that
to secure yourself against the enemy, you have to first know who your enemy
is. This military doctrine readily applies to the world of network security.
Just like the military, you have resources that you are trying to protect.
To help protect these resources, you need to know who your threat is and
how they are going to attack. This article does just that, it discusses
the methodology and tools used by one of the most common and universal
threats, the <i>Script Kiddie</i>.</font></b>
<p><b><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua"><font size=+2>Who is the Script
Kiddie</font></font></b>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">The script kiddie is someone looking
for the easy kill. They are not out for specific information or targeting
a specific company. Their goal is to gain root the easiest way possible.
They do this by focusing on a small number of exploits, and then searching
the entire Internet for that exploit. Sooner or later they find someone
vulnerable.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">Some of them are advance users who
develop their own tools and leave behind sophisticated backdoors. Others
have no idea what they are doing and only know how to type "go" at the
command prompt. Regardless of the their skill level, they all share a common
strategy, randomly search for a specific weakness, then exploit that weakness.</font>
<p><b><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua"><font size=+2>The Threat</font></font></b>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">It is this random selection of targets
that make the script kiddie such a dangerous threat. Sooner or later your
systems and networks will be probed, you cannot hide from them. I know
of admins who were amazed to have their systems scanned when they had been
up for only two days, and no one knew about them. There is nothing amazing
here. Most likely, their systems were scanned by a script kiddie who happened
to be sweeping that network block.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">If this was limited to several individual
scans, statistics would be in your favor. With millions of systems on the
Internet, odds are that no one would find you. However, this is not the
case. Most of these tools are easy to use and widely distributed, anyone
can use them. A rapidly growing number of people are obtaining these tools
at an alarming rate. As the Internet knows no geographic bounds, this threat
has quickly spread throughout the world. Suddenly, the law of numbers is
turning against us. With so many users on the Internet using these tools,
it is no longer a question of if, but when you will be probed.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">This is an excellent example of why
security through obscurity can fail you. You may believe that if no one
knows about your systems, you are secure. Others believe that their systems
are of no value, so why would anyone probe them? It is these very systems
that the script kiddies are searching for, the unprotected system that
is easy to exploit, the easy kill.</font>
<p><b><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua"><font size=+2>The Methodology</font></font></b>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">The script kiddie methodology is
a simple one. Scan the Internet for a specific weakness, when you find
it, exploit it. Most of the tools they use are automated, requiring little
interaction. You launch the tool, then come back several days later to
get your results. No two tools are alike, just as no two exploits
are alike. However, most of the tools use the same strategy. First, develop
a database of IPs that can be scanned. Then, scan those IPs for a specific
vulnerability.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">For example, lets say a user had
a tool that could exploit imap on Linux systems. First, they would develop
a database of IP addresses that they could scan (i.e., systems that are
up and reachable). Once this database of IP addresses is built, the user
would want to determine which systems were running Linux. Many scanners
today can easily determine this by sending bad packets to a system and
seeing how they respond. Then, tools would be used to determine what Linux
systems were running imap. All that is left now is to exploit those vulnerable
systems.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">You would think that all this scanning
would be extremely noisy, attracting a great deal of attention. However,
many people are not monitoring there systems, and do not realize they are
being scanned. Also, many script kiddies quietly look for a single system
they can exploit. Once they have exploited a system, they now use this
systems as a launching pad. They can boldly scan the entire Internet without
fear of retribution. If their scans are detected, the system admin and
not the blackhat will be held liable.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">Also, these scan results are often
archived or shared among other users, then used at a later date.
For example, a user develops a database of what ports are open on reachable
Linux systems. The user built this database to exploit the current
imap vulnerability. However, lets say that a month from now a new
Linux exploit is identified on a different port. Instead of having
to build a new database (which is the most time consuming part), the user
can quickly review his archived database and compromise the vulnerable
systems. As an alternative, script kiddies share or even buy databases
of vulnerable systems from each other. The script kiddie can then
exploit your system without even scanning it. Just because your systems
have not been scanned recently does not mean you are secure.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">The more sophisticated blackhats
implement trojans and backdoors once they compromise a system. Backdoors
allow easy and unnoticed access to the system whenever the user wants.
The trojans make the intruder undetectable. He would not show up in any
of the logs, systems processes, or file structure. He builds a comfortable
and safe home where he can blatantly scan the Internet.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">These attacks are not limited to
a certain time of the day. Many admins search their log entries for probes
that happen late at night, believing this is when blackhats attack. Script
kiddies attack at any time. As they are scanning 24hrs a day, you have
no idea when the probe will happen. Also, these attacks are launched throughout
the world. Just as the Internet knows no geographical bounds, it knows
no time zones. It may be midnight where the blackhat is, but it is 1pm
for you.</font>
<p><b><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua"><font size=+2>The Tools</font></font></b>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">The tools used are extremely simple
in use. Most are limited to a single purpose with few options. First come
the tools used to build an IP database. These tools are truly random, as
they indiscriminently scan the Internet. For example, one tool has a single
option, A, B, or C. The letter you select determines the size of the network
to be scanned. The tool then randomly selects which IP network to scan.
Another tool uses a domain name. The tools builds an IP database by conducting
zone transfers of the domain name and all sub-domains. User’s have built
databases with over 2 million IPs by scanning the entire .com or .edu domain.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">Once discovered, the IPs are then
scanned by tools to determine vulnerabilities, such as the version of named,
operating system, or services running on the system Once the vulnerable
systems have been identified, the blackhat strikes. Several tools exist
that combine all these features together, simplifying the process even
greater.</font>
<p><b><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua"><font size=+2>How to Protect Against
This Threat</font></font></b>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">There are steps you can take to protect
yourself against this threat. First, the script kiddie is going for the
easy kill, they are looking for common exploits. Make sure your systems
and networks are not vulnerable to these exploits. Both <a href="http://www.cert.org/">http://www.cert.org</a>
and <a href="http://www.ciac.org/">http://www.ciac.org</a> are excellent
sources on what a common exploit is. Also, the listserv <a href="http://www.netspace.org/">bugtraq</a>
is one of the best sources of information.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">Another way to protect yourself is
run only the services you need. If you do not need a service, turn it off.
If you do need a service, make sure it is the latest version. For
examples on how to do this, check out <a href="http://www.enteract.com/~lspitz/armoring.html">Armoring
Solaris</a> or <a href="http://www.enteract.com/~lspitz/linux.html">Armoring
Linux.</a></font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">As you learned from the tools section,
DNS servers are often used to develop a database of systems that can be
probed. Limit the systems that can conduct zone transfers from your Name
Servers. Log any unauthorized zone transfers and follow up on them. I highly
recommend upgrading to the latest version of BIND, which you can find at
<a href="http://www.isc.org/bind.html">http://www.isc.org/bind.html</a>.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">Last, watch for your systems being
probed. Once identified, you can track these probes and gain a better understanding
of the threats to your network and react to these threats.</font>
<p><b><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua"><font size=+2>Conclusion</font></font></b>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">The script kiddie poses a threat
to all systems. They show no bias and scan all systems, regardless of location
and value. Sooner or later, your system will be probed. By understanding
their motives and methods, you can better protect your systems against
this threat.</font>
<p><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua"><b>NOTE</b>: Thanks to Brad
Powell at Sun's Security Team for his help on this article</font>
<p><b><i><font face="Helvetica-Narrow,Arial Narrow">Author’s bio</font></i></b>
<br><i>Lance Spitzner enjoys learning by blowing up his Unix systems at
home. Before this, he was an <a href="http://www.enteract.com/~lspitz/officer.html">Officer
in the Rapid Deployment Force,</a> where he blew up things of a different
nature. You can reach him at <a href="mailto:lance@spitzner.net">lance@spitzner.net</a>
.</i>
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