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Port 22 - Secure Shell (SSH)

Secure Shell (SSH) enables two computers to establish an encrypted and direct connection within a possibly insecure network on the standard port TCP 22.

Implemented natively on all Linux distributions and MacOS, SSH can also be used on Windows, with an appropriate program. The well-known OpenBSD SSH (OpenSSH) server on Linux distributions is an open-source fork of the original and commercial SSH server from SSH Communication Security.

There are two competing protocols: SSH-1 and SSH-2. SSH-2, also known as SSH version 2, is a more advanced protocol than SSH version 1 in encryption, speed, stability, and security. For example, SSH-1 is vulnerable to MITM attacks, whereas SSH-2 is not.

The SSH server runs on TCP port 22 by default, to which we can connect using an SSH client. This service uses three different cryptography operations/methods: symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption, and hashing.

Footprinting ssh

ssh-audit

# Installation and execution
git clone https://github.com/jtesta/ssh-audit.git 

# Execute
cd ssh-audit
./ssh-audit.py $ip

nmap

Brute force script: 

nmap $ip -p 22 --script ssh-brute --script-args userdb=users.txt,passdb=/usr/share/nmap/nselib/data/passwords.lst

OpenSSH 7.6p1 Ubuntu ubuntu0.3 is well known for some vulnerabilities.

Connect with ssh

ssh <user>@$ip

# connect with a ssh key
ssh -i id_rsa <user>@$ip

Installing a ssh service

The sshd_config file, responsible for the OpenSSH server, has only a few of the settings configured by default. However, the default configuration includes X11 forwarding, which contained a command injection vulnerability in version 7.2p1 of OpenSSH in 2016.

Configuration file: /etc/ssh/sshd_config.

Common misconfigurations:

Setting Description
PasswordAuthentication yes Allows password-based authentication.
PermitEmptyPasswords yes Allows the use of empty passwords.
PermitRootLogin yes Allows to log in as the root user.
Protocol 1 Uses an outdated version of encryption.
X11Forwarding yes Allows X11 forwarding for GUI applications.
AllowTcpForwarding yes Allows forwarding of TCP ports.
PermitTunnel Allows tunneling.
DebianBanner yes Displays a specific banner when logging in.

Some instructions and hardening guides can be used to harden our SSH servers.

Last update: 2024-09-08
Created: April 23, 2023 19:52:08