Quoting Reynald I. Ngo ([EMAIL PROTECTED]):

> @%!@#$% my mail server got compromised with cinik slapper worm. 
> I'm now currently doing foresics and clean-up... any tips? 

Yes.  Shut down and rebuild.  There's unfortunately no alternative.

Please see:  http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/root-compromise
             http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/forensics

The Slapper "Cinik" variant is an automated buffer-overflow attack
against an August 2002 bug in OpenSSL running under Apache.  (Not
intending to add to your woes, but systems that have kept current with
security patches will be unaffected -- as will sites that don't use
Apache for https, i.e., most sites.)

> Currently i noticed it changed my ps, top & netstat... having a time
> stamp of 1983.

This has nothing to do with the worm, as such.  The work of the worm is
done when it performs its automated entry via your unpatched, vulnerable
https Apache/OpenSSL service, notifies (via e-mail) the person behind
the attack that he has another "zombie" host at his disposal, and starts
up a daemon that lets your host be instructed to participate in DDoS and
other attacks on further victim hosts.

More about the ps/top/netstat replacements, below.

> Its running its own httpd and it cleaned-up my syslogs... F**k!

The "httpd" isn't really an httpd, but is the left-behind worm process
that helps the (human) attacker send your host instructions.

The evisceration of your system logs was intended to make it less likely
you'd notice the compromise of your system.  Congratulations on that not
working, by the way.  Most people don't notice for a very long time.

For the same reason, the human attacker, after receiving the worm's
notification e-mail, used its backdoor to enter your system and used
root access to replace key administrative binaries (ps, netstat, top,
etc.) with "trojaned" versions that attempt to hide his system activity 
from the sysadmin's attention.  Typically, these binaries come in a
source archive called a "rootkit" (_not_ an attack tool; just a
camouflage one) that the attacker manually compiles on your system and
then installs, replacing your real admin utilities.

One long-term lesson is that any process that's addressable remotely
from anywhere in the world (a network daemon) should be a special object
of your attention -- _if_ you run that daemon.  If you're not sure you
need a daemon, switch it off.

For those daemons that you _don't_ switch off, make very sure that you
stay current on security advisories.  If for some reason you can't apply
a patch needed to close a remotely exploitable vulnerability, then shut
off the vulnerable daemon until you can:  Temporarily having a service 
unavailable may be inconvenient, but it's much less so than having to 
rebuild from scratch and not even be able to trust your /etc/* files 
or home-directory dotfiles -- which is what you're going to have to do,
now. 

-- 
Cheers,                        When encryption is outlawed,
Rick Moen                      only outlaws will xr2d3fsxd df#$%xx`
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