an anternative to port-knoking using the OpenBSD pf only

[poplix <poplix () papuasia org>]

Hi there,

I wish to propose an alternative to port knoking that uses the native
OpenBSD's pf code only. The idea is to  use the pf's passive os
fingerprinter to authenticate initial SYN packets.
With a tool (or kernel patch) able to rewrite packets header is possible
to use a specific sequence of header fields as a key to validate  
packets.


Rewriting tcp/ip headers can be useful to change the non standard tcp/ip
stack behavior in order to spoof your os to programs that perform  
analisys
of the headers values to identify oss. This well known method to
passively fingerprint oss is based on the analisys of those tcp/ip  
headers
fields that are vendor specific such as tcp options, window size,  
ttl, ecc.
There are several programs out there that implements this tecnique:
p0f, ettercap, OpenBSD pf, ecc but deciveing this kind of programs can
result in waste of time. In fact it's well known that packets header  
can be
easily forged or manipulated so os fingerprinting (ospf) is used for
statistics, performance improvements or similar only.
But this is not the point: is possible to use osfp spoof in  
conjunction with
OBSD pf as an alternative to port knoking. Port knoking is useful to
increase stealthness of the internet servers, but it requires additional
software to run on those systems increasing security risks. Using ospf
spoof is possible to have stealthness using the native OBSD kernel code
only.
As mentioned above OpenBSD pf has a builtin passive os fingerprinter
that can be used in pf rules, an example can be:

   pass in proto tcp from any os "Windows 2000"

This rule allows packets from any Windows 2000 machine.
With this feature is possible to block all incoming packets except those
that come from a specific operating system.

The idea is to use os fingerprints as a key. An user can invent a  
specific
sequence of header values that will identify his fake os, add it to
fingerprints database and use it in the firewall.
The result is an OBSD machine that is totally stealth to port scans but
the owner can log into it using his specific set of header values.




I've tested this tecnique with a tool I'm writing that is capable of
rewriting outgoing (and incoming) packets, but maybe fragroute with some
modifications can do the same.


The Test:
  I've a linux box capable of setting arbitrary header values (using
  tripp) so I choosed a set of tcp/ip headers fields that are not  
listed
  in osfp database and then I added this sequence naming it "poplix".

  I added the invented os fingerprint to pf os databese by inserting
  this line to /etc/pf.os (my os fingerprints database)

    8192:128:0:60:M3884,N,W0,N,N,T:poplix:::poplix fi

  Now I can configure pf with the following ruleset:

    block in on rl0 all
    pass in from any os poplix keep state

  This new os fingerprint entry will identify
  my packets and allow them to pass through firewall.


  Linux client runs tripp with the following rule:

  OUT (tcp.flags='syn')
   set(
    tcp.win='8192',ip.ttl='128',ip.flags.df='0',
    tcp.options='mss=3884+noop+wss=0+noop+noop+ts=TS'
   );

  This rule tells tripp to rewrite all outgoing tcp packets with the  
SYN
  flag set only allowing my first handshake packet to match "poplix"
  fingerprint.


Result:

root@sd:# ssh papuasia.org -l poplix
ssh: connect to host papuasia.org port 22: Connection timed out
root@sd:#


root@sd:~# tripp -o eth0 -f rules -g 10.0.0.138 -S &
rewriter for outgoing traffic started

root@sd:~# ssh papuasia.org -l poplix
poplix () papuasia org's password: **********
poplix () papuasia org:~$


Note that is also possible to kill tripp after the connection
is estabilished (in this case on password request).


Notes on tripp:
Please note that tripp is in a very embrional state: ip options are
not processed, not all tcp options are supported, most icmp types
are dropped (echo request end echo reply only pass through tripp),
tripp works on ethernet only and it has been tested on linux only.
For more info visit http://tripp.dynalias.org


I hope that someone can find it useful,
ciao
poplix


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