Intrusion Discovery Cheat Sheet (Linux)

Unusual Processes and Services

Look at all running processes:

     # ps -aux

Get familiar with “normal” processes for the machine.  Look for unusual processes.  Focus on processes with root (UID 0) privileges.

If you spot a process that is unfamiliar, investigate in more detail using:

     # lsof -p [pid]

This command shows all files and ports used by the running process.

If your machine has it installed, run chkconfig to see which services are enabled at various runlevels:

     # chkconfig –list

Unusual Files

Look for unusual SUID root files:

     # find / -uid 0 -perm -4000 – print

This requires knowledge of normal SUID files.

Look for unusual large files  (greater than 10MB):

     # find / -size +10000k -print

This requires knowledge of normal large files.

Look for files named with dots and spaces (“…”,”..”,”.”, and “”) used to camouflage files:

     # find / -name ” ” -print

     # find / -name “..” -print

     # find / -name “. ” -print

     # find / -name ” ” -print

Look for processes running of of or accessing files that have been unlinked (ie., link count is zero).  An attacker may be hiding data in or running a backdoor from such files:

     # lsof +L1

On a Linux machine with RPM installed (RedHat, Mandrake, etc.,), run the RPM tool to verify packages:

     # rpm -Va | sort

This checks size, MD5 sum, permissions, type, owner, and group of each file with information from RPM database to look for changes.  Output includes:

     S-File size differs

     M-Mode differs (permissions)

     5-MD5 sum differs

     D-Device number mismatch

     L-readlink path mismatch

     U-user ownership differs

     G-group ownership differs

     T-modification time differs

Pay special attention to changes associated with items in /sbin, /bin, /usr/sbin, and /usr/bin.

In some versions of Linux, this analysis is automated by the built-in check-packages script.

Unusual Network Usage

Look for promiscuous mode, which might indicate a sniffer:

     # ip link | grep PROMISC

Note that the ifconfig doesn’t work reliably for detecting promiscuous mode on Linux kernel 2.4, so please use “ip link” for detecting it.

Look for unusual port listeners:

     # netstat -nap

Get more details about running processes listening on ports:

     # lsof -i

These commands require knowledge of which TCP and UDP ports are normally listening on your system.  Look for deviations from the norm.

Look for unusual ARP entries, mapping IP addresses to MAC addresses that aren’t correct for the LAN;

     # arp -a

This analysis requires detailed knowledge of which addresses are supposed to be on the LAN (such as a DMZ), look for unexpected IP addresses.

Unusual Scheduled Tasks

Look for cron jobs scheduled by root and any other UID 0 accounts:

     # crontab -u root -l

Look for unusual system-wide cron jobs:

     # cat /etc/crontab

     # ls /etc/cron.*

Unusual Accounts

Look in /etc/passwd for new accounts in sorted list by UID:

     # sort -nk3 -t: /etc/passwd | less

Normal accounts will be there, but look for new, unexpected accounts, especially with UID < 500.

Also, look for unexpected UID 0 accounts:

     # egrep `:0+` /etc/passwd

On systems that use multiple authentication methods:

     # getent passwd | egrep `:0+:`

Look for orphaned files, which could be a sign of an attacker’s temporary account that has been deleted.

     

     # find / -nouser -print

Unusual Log Entries

Look through your system log files for suspicious events, including:

• “entered promiscuous mode”
• Large number of authentication or logn failures from either local or remote access tools (e.g., telnetd, sshd, etc.)
• Remote Procedure Call (rpc) programs with a log entry that includes a large number ( > 20) strange characters (such as ^PM-^PM-^PM-^PM-^PM-^PM-^PM-^PM)
• For systems running web servers: Larger than normal number of Apache logs saying “error”
• Reboots and/or application restarts

Other Unusual Items

Sluggish system performance:

     # uptime -Look at “load average”

Excessive memory use: $ free

Sudden decreases in available disk space: $ df

Additional Supporting Tools

The following tools are often not built into the Linux operating system, but can be used to analyze its security status in more detail.  Each is available for free download at the listed website.

Chkrootkit looks for anomalies on systems introduced by user-mode and kernel-mode:

RootKits –www.chkrootkit.org

Tripwire looks for changes to critical system files –www.tripwire.org–free for Linux for non-commercial use.

AIDE looks for changes to critical system files http://www.cs.tut.fi/~rammer/aide.html

The Center for Internet Security has released a Linux hardening guide for free at www.disecurity.org

The free Bastille Script provides automated security hardening for Linux systems, available at www.bastille-linux.org.

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