[CentOS] How to detect botnet user on the server ?

Mon Nov 6 14:59:31 UTC 2017
Valeri Galtsev <galtsev at kicp.uchicago.edu>

On Mon, November 6, 2017 8:27 am, Leroy Tennison wrote:
> Another alternative is to use a FIMS/HIDS such as Aide (Advanced
Intrusion
> Detection Environment), OSSEC or Samhain.  Be prepared to learn a lot
about what your OS normally does behind the scenes (and thus a fair
amount
> of initial fine tuning to exclude those things).  Aide seems to work
well
> (I've seen only one odd result) and is quite granular.  However, it is
local system based rather than centralized and isn't daemon based so
you're left with periodic checks and finding a way to protect the
executable, database and configuration.  OSSEC is centralized, daemon
based and can check logs for anomalies.  However, it is not nearly as
granular as Aide and does produce false positives (for example, if
'detect
> new files' is used, it will detect based on access time changes rather
than modification or change times - but only for a while...).  If you
select OSSEC, whatever you do, do NOT put extraneous files in
> /var/ossec/etc/shared - you can get truly bizarre and baffling results d
>  oing so.
>    I only know about Samhain, if someone has experience I would very
much
> like to hear about it's strengths and weaknesses.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Johnny Hughes" <johnny at centos.org>
> To: "centos" <centos at centos.org>
> Sent: Monday, November 6, 2017 7:20:22 AM
> Subject: Re: [CentOS] How to detect botnet user on the server ?
>
> On 11/06/2017 07:06 AM, marcos valentine wrote:
>> Hello guys,
>> Whats is the best way to identify a possible user using a botnet with php
>> in the server? And if he is using GET commands for example in other
server.
>> Does apache logs outbound conections ?
>> If it is using a file that is not malicious the clam av would not
identify.
>
> This sounds like a good place to start:
>
> https://major.io/2011/03/09/strategies-for-detecting-a-compromised-linux-server/
>
> (look for open ports connections both inbound and outbound with netstat,
etc.)

And never trust anything executed on potentially compromised machine.
Paranoia is your friend.

( Say with open ports: see what internally executed command netstat gives
you, and compare that with external port scan from sane machine: say,
using nmap, make sure to turn off internal firewall, and have nothing that
filters packets between two boxes. Anything that you see externally and
don't see internally is a big red flag. However, the machine may be
listening to one or few pinpoint "mother" IPs, so do not expect
necessarily external scan detect those. )

>
> But, if someone has completely breached the machine and gotten root on
it, they could put in fake binaries that hide ports and hide processes
from 'top' (or ps, lsof).  So, a look via chkrootkit or rkhunter would
be needed to find that.
>
> The link for rkhunter in the article is bad .. here is the new one:
>
> http://rkhunter.sourceforge.net/
>
> rkhunter seems to be in EPEL.  chkrootkit is in fedora, it does not seem
to be in EPEL.
>

And after you follow all great advises people gave here, and finish with
forensics: learn what led to compromise. Then do real recovery from
compromise, which is: back up data, wipe compromised system, install fresh
new latest system, fully update, configure it taking into consideration
what you learned about compromise, install one of the host based or
central "intrusion detection systems" that were recommended by others on
this list. Then, update, update, update...

Good luck!

Valeri

>
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Valeri Galtsev
Sr System Administrator
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
University of Chicago
Phone: 773-702-4247
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++