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Date:      Wed, 30 May 2007 14:25:36 -0500
From:      Reid Linnemann <lreid@cs.okstate.edu>
To:        Ofloo <bulk@ofloo.net>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: PS is not showing all processes owned by a user
Message-ID:  <465DCFB0.4090604@cs.okstate.edu>
In-Reply-To: <10879945.post@talk.nabble.com>
References:  <10859328.post@talk.nabble.com> <465DAF5A.1030103@mac.com> <10879945.post@talk.nabble.com>

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Written by Ofloo on 05/30/07 13:38>>
> 
> Chuck Swiger-2 wrote:
>> Ofloo wrote:
>>> Can someone explain me this !?
>>>
>>> spark# ps aux | grep psybnc | grep s00p
>>> s00p        8777  0.0  0.3 43096  5716  p1- S    Fri06PM   4:30.25
>>> ./psybnc
>>>
>>> spark# su s00p
>>> -(s00p@spark.ofloo.net)-(19:56:45)                                              
>>> -(~/)-> ps aux
>>> USER   PID %CPU %MEM   VSZ   RSS  TT  STAT STARTED      TIME COMMAND
>>> s00p 67431  4.0  0.1  4660  2828  pd  S     7:56PM   0:00.05 _su (tcsh)
>>> s00p 67438  0.0  0.0  1420   908  pd  R+    7:56PM   0:00.00 ps aux
>> psybnc is an IRC relay agent; unless someone normally runs such things,
>> having 
>> one of these processes appear but be "invisible" to top or normal
>> invocations 
>> of ps is a possible indication that the system has been hacked.
>>
>> A typical pattern involves a user having their account password sniffed
>> via 
>> wireless when reading email or whatever, and the attacker gains shell
>> access 
>> to their email server (assuming it's a Unix system), and runs this.  It 
>> includes a generic remote filesharing capability and some kind of port 
>> redirector ala netcat or SSH port forwarding, so the hacked machine can be 
>> used as a remote control channel to drive other compromised machines...
>>
>>> This came after a complaint from the user, who couldn't kill his process,
>>> because it wasn't visible in his session, and he didn't su !?
>> However, I'm not sure whether the above is relevant, if your user was
>> trying 
>> to run this IRC agent.  :-)
>>
>> -- 
>> -Chuck
>>
>>
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>>
> 
> No hacker would want to hide a process from a user it might want to hide a
> process from root user. Also if the hacker was able to hide a process from a
> user, it would of needed access to ps binary or freebsd source tree on that
> system, having that access the hacker would of tried other things and not
> hide a bnc from just a user account.
> 

Not necessarily. I've had firsthand experience with a box that was 
compromised specifically to run a BNC so the abuser could mask his true 
location when being mischievous. In that regard, it suffices simply to 
hide the process from the compromised user account to keep the owner 
unaware anything has happened.



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