Re: Solaris Beginner

[Todd Haverkos <infosec () haverkos com>]

pma111 <pmaneedham () hotmail com> writes:
> Is it possible to access data from a Solaris Server on Windows XP
> machine? If so could you provide tools or strategies to accomplish
> this. I've heard of SAMBA but would prefer some detail on how this
> works, i.e a share on the Solaris box would have to be a SAMBA share
> would it not? Is it possible to access data on a solaris server from
> a windows machine in the same active directory domain, but without
> any specialist software?

This question may not be entirely on topic for this list, but not
knowing a list that's a better fit for it (security basics perhaps--
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/105/description ),
I'll try to point you in the right direction.  

If the Solaris server was set up with a samba share, then yes, a
Windows machine can access that without any additional software
(orther than the samba package being required on the Solaris box).
It's just SMB, and all current Windows flavors know how to talk SMB,
as it's used in Windows folder shares.  If you share out a folder in
Windows to the network, likewise, an SMB client on a Solaris box would
be able to mount it and access those files.

For additional reading, see
http://www.samba.org/samba/what_is_samba.html

> I have a copy of the /etc/shadow/ file from the Solaris Server which
> contains the encrypted passwords but I cannot find any Windows based
> crackers that will crack these passwords.

For Windows, John the Ripper will help you crack those. 
http://www.openwall.com/john/

And though I've not used it for *nix hashes, I'd be surprised if Cain
and Abel didn't support cracking against those.   CAin and Abel is
much more comfortable for the command-line averse and has a really
nice GUI
http://www.oxid.it/cain.html

> I also dont know what client software would be required to access
> data on the Server from a Windows machine even if I do decrypt some
> weak passwords? Did see some mention of Putty but am unfamiliar with
> this or SAMBA.

putty is a free ssh client for Windows.  It would be one way to
connect assuming the solaris server for which you cracked a password
were running an ssh server.  ssh (if you've never used it) simply put
is a text mode interface that provides remote access to a solaris
shell prompt.   Authentication is done commonly with the solaris
username and password, which you'll be prompted for upon connecting.
ssh servers generally listen on tcp port 22. 

> I also assume that any "open file shares" on the
> Solaris box wont be mappable or reachable to a windows machine, as
> is the case on win2k and windows 2003 servers, when all you need is
> my network places and hope some of the shares hav been given the
> deadly "everyone acl" in NTFS?

The other thing would be to try a credentialed mounting of the SMB
shares using the username and password cracked from the shadow file
you have.     Not all uses of SMB shares are open/anonymous. 

> I appreciate Solaris uses a totally different file system to NTFS
> but I assume you can share directories with anyone on the network if
> desired? Any tips on accessing data on this Server from Windows much
> appreciated.

One of the niceties of SMB/samba is that it abstracts the underlying
filesystem such that the remote SMB client doesn't care about whether
it's NTFS, ZFS, ext3, or whatever on the disk itself.  This bodes well
for interoperability among different OS's.  

> Out of interest, what are the mailing lists views on Security of a
> Solaris Server if every user on the internal network only have
> windows machines?  Even if there is a weak password or open file
> share on the Solaris Server, without specialist software is it fair
> to say the windows users still wouldnt be able to get hold of data
> on the Server, or is that a very naive view on things?

I'd lean toward the latter.  There's much to know about Solaris
security.   There are solaris usenet newsgroups, and I imagine lots of
different solaris system administration forums/mailing lists where
security topics will be mixed in among others. 

Hope this helps! 

Best Regards, 
--
Todd Haverkos, LPT MsCompE
http://haverkos.com/

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