What Are Insecure Ports

One of the fundamentals of hardening our operating systems against attack is to only enable the services, the protocols, and the applications that we actually need. Now, sometimes, the application architect or the system architect has determined that we need a port or a protocol or a service that is, itself, known to be insecure. One of the principal reasons why that might be insecure is because it operates in clear text. Anytime that these applications will be used to transfer sensitive information – which could be as basic as a username and a password – then we really need to consider secure alternatives to that. We just wrap our HTTP session in a TLS tunnel, then we can transfer that data securely.

The same thing with FTP – we might replace that with SFTP, which would be an SSH-based implementation of file copy protocols. The same thing goes for Telnet – we would replace that with SSH, as well. It's important, in our application stacks, to consider the different protocols that are being used and the security impacts of those protocols. If a secure alternative is not available, to take additional steps. Maybe, if we had to use FTP, then we would require the use of PGP or GPG encrypted files that we would be transferring back and forth to keep the sensitive information out of unencrypted application sessions.

An SSH client program is typically used for establishing connections to an SSH daemon accepting remote connections. Both are commonly present on most modern operating systems, including macOS, most distributions of Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Solaris and OpenVMS. Notably, versions of Windows prior to Windows 10 version 1709 do not include SSH by default. Proprietary, freeware and open source (e.g. PuTTY, and the version of OpenSSH which is part of Cygwin) versions of various levels of complexity and completeness exist. File managers for UNIX-like systems (e.g. Konqueror) can use the FISH protocol to provide a split-pane GUI with drag-and-drop. The open source Windows program WinSCP provides similar file management capability using PuTTY as a back-end.

Both WinSCP and PuTTY are available packaged to run directly off a USB drive, without requiring installation on the client machine. Setting up an SSH server in Windows typically involves enabling a feature in Settings app. In Windows 10 version 1709, an official Win32 port of OpenSSH is available. The domain mode determines default settings regarding security and logging. You can start the Administration Server using a boot identity file or deploy an application using the autodeploy directory.

In production mode, the security configuration is more stringent, such as requiring a user name and password to deploy applications and start the Administration Server. See Understand How Domain Mode Affects the Default Security Configuration. All networks are secured by one firewall on the perimeter of the network, and this firewall is configured to permit HTTP and SMTP traffic to pass through. Other application traffic is forced to use a secured tunnel to pass through the network. Of course, the perimeter firewall is configured to monitor the traffic, and a log is kept for analysis.

What are insecure ports Internal network is built using Ethernet segments to reflect the infrastructure of the organization. IP network segments are then superimposed on the Ethernet segments. Each IP network segment is secured from each other by a firewall. Each of the IP segments is connected to the layer-3 switch, thus further protecting each IP segment from an external attack. The IP traffics from the layer-3 switch are directed to pass through a Demilitarized ZONE before it enters the perimeter router.

The nodes in the DMZ are DNS, SMTP, and HTTP servers, which are permitted for both inbound and outbound traffic. The attacker would scan the ports on the perimeter firewall and look for open ports on the firewall. The firewall would have the ports such as 80 and 25 (well-known) open for Web and email services.

The goal of the attacker is to find which ports in "listen," "wait," or "closed" state. If your domain is configured to run in secured production mode, then the administration port is enabled by default and the administrative traffic is no longer allowed on the non-administration ports. In this mode, WebLogic Server logs a warning if the administration port is not enabled. In a single server configuration, Oracle strongly recommends that you close off the embedded LDAP listen port using a connection filter to protect the embedded LDAP port against brute force attacks. As a result, only the machines in the domain can access the LDAP port.

A firewall controls network traffic by acting as a barrier between a trusted and an untrusted network. Along with firewalls, you can use network channels, an administration port, WebLogic Server connection filters, and perimeter authentication to restrict access to resources based on user and network information. SecurityScorecard's security ratings platform gives you an outside-in view of your IT ecosystem, including your network security. Our artificial intelligence and machine learning analytics scan your network for open access points, insecure or misconfigured SSL certificates, or database vulnerability that can lead to a DDoS attack. Security across all network ports should include defense-in-depth.

Close any ports you don't use, use host-based firewalls on every host, run a network-based next-generation firewall, and monitor and filter port traffic, says Norby. Do regular port scans as part of pen tests to ensure there are no unchecked vulnerabilities on any port. Pay particular attention to SOCKS proxies or any other service you did not set up. Patch and harden any device, software, or service connected to the port until there are no dents in your networked assets' armor.

Be proactive as new vulnerabilities appear in old and new software that attackers can reach via network ports. Business entity that is not a payment brand, directly involved in the processing, storage, or transmission of cardholder data on behalf of another entity. This also includes companies that provide services that control or could impact the security of cardholder data.

Examples include managed service providers that provide managed firewalls, IDS and other services as well as hosting providers and other entities. A protocol, service, or port that introduces security concerns due to the lack of controls over confidentiality and/or integrity. Examples of insecure services, protocols, or ports include but are not limited to FTP, Telnet, POP3, IMAP, and SNMP v1 and v2. In secured production mode, the RmiJDBCSecurity attribute on the DataSourceMBean is set to Secure, and all incoming application JDBC calls over RMI by remote clients and servers are rejected. RMI JDBC security does not disable Logging Last Resource, One Phase Commit, and Emulate Two Phase Commit data source transaction participants that span servers.

Thus, we can learn addresses for the target networks' DNS servers, Web servers, and email servers. The GFI Languard NSS software has a utility "whois" that easily allows discovering all the information regarding a domain name registered to a corporate network. DNS Zone transfers refer to learning about the servers and their IP addresses from zone files. Specifically, for mitigating the "PrintNightmare" attack you need to block TCP port 445, used by the SMB protocol, and TCP port 135 which is used by RPC. This is highly recommended to apply on workstations, using the Windows Host-based Firewall or a third-party solution, but should also be examined for member servers that are not being used as print or file servers. Many attacks are low and slow, creating command and control channels that allow them to exfiltrate more data and remain undetected for longer periods of time.

The complexity of networks, and the multitude of open ports across an organization make identifying threats increasingly difficult. The simplest, most straightforward, and costliest approach is a reactive stance where you wait for something to happen and fix it. The best solution is to proactively scan and analyze the network infrastructure. Tenable.io enables analysts to compare known open ports between scans.

New active ports and vulnerabilities can be detected, avoiding potential blind spots where new services are installed or enabled. These systems can not directly access the internet, to protect these experimental computers and to prevent an insecure computer from causing harm to external hosts. Validation is most strict in secured production mode and least strict in development mode.

In secured production mode, almost all security configuration settings are enabled by default. If your domain is running in secured production mode and your file system supports POSIX, then WebLogic Server logs warnings if directories and files have incorrect permissions. If secured production mode is enabled for your domain, then WebLogic Server logs a warning if an audit provider is not configured. In this mode, the ConfigurationAuditType domain configuration element has a secure default value of CONFIG_CHANGE_AUDIT. Use the WarnOnAuditing attribute contained in the SecureModeMBean to specify whether warnings should be logged if auditing is not enabled. Table 3-2 describes how the security and performance-related configuration parameters differ depending on whether your domain is configured in development mode, production mode, or secured production mode.

Note that you can customize the behavior of the different domain modes by setting attribute values that override the defaults. For example, you could enable the Administration port in a production mode domain. HTTPS is a secured HTTP version where all traffic is bind with strong encryption that passes through 443.

This port is also connected with TCP protocol and creates a secure connection between the webpages and browser. HTTPS Port 443 was officially published in RFC 1700 and solicited by "Kipp E.B. The main difference between Port 80 and Port 443 is strong security. Port-443 allows data transmission over a secured network, while Port 80 enables data transmission in plain text.

Users will get an insecure warning if he tries to access a non-HTTPS web page. Port 443 encrypts network data packets before data transmission takes place. The first step to securing risky ports is scanning your IT stack, including applications and any network-connected devices, to learn what ports are open and whether the configurations are appropriate. When your computer is scanned by the typical Internet port scanner, connection attempts are made across a range of potential connection ports on your system. Trojan horse scanners typically attempt connections on high-numbered ports where their "Trojan" servers may have crawled into your system and be waiting for a passing intruder to come calling. Acronym for "virtual private network." A computer network in which some of connections are virtual circuits within some larger network, such as the Internet, instead of direct connections by physical wires.

The end points of the virtual network are said to be tunneled through the larger network when this is the case. While a common application consists of secure communications through the public Internet, a VPN may or may not have strong security features such as authentication or content encryption. A VPN may be used with a token, smart card, etc., to provide two-factor authentication. Process by which an entity's systems are remotely checked for vulnerabilities through use of manual or automated tools. Security scans that include probing internal and external systems and reporting on services exposed to the network. Scans may identify vulnerabilities in operating systems, services, and devices that could be used by malicious individuals.

In both deployments, macro and micro, firewalls control access by setting a firewall policy rule, which broadly defines access based on traffic source and destination. For instance, ports 80 and 443 are default ports for web traffic. On a web server, only access to these ports should be allowed and all other ports blocked. This is a case where whitelisting the allowed traffic is possible. When WebLogic Server is configured in development mode, certain error conditions, such as a misbehaving application or an invalid configuration of WebLogic Server, may result in a trace stack being displayed. While error responses generally are not dangerous, they have the potential to give attackers information about the application or the WebLogic Server installation that can be used for malicious purposes.

However, when you configure WebLogic Server in production mode or secured production mode, stack traces are not generated; therefore, you must never run WebLogic Server in development mode in a production environment. Production mode or secured production mode sets the server to run with settings that are more secure and appropriate for a production environment. Oracle strongly recommends that you enable secured production mode to ensure high security standards for your production environment. Enable the Administration port for your domain, and configure a firewall to prevent external access to internal applications accessible on the Administration port.

Using both the administration port and the firewall ensures that internal applications such as the WebLogic Server Administration Console and RESTful services cannot be accessed externally. Communication channels must be secure to prevent a malicious third-party from using man-in-the-middle attacks to affect transaction outcomes and potentially gaining administrative control over one or more domains. To ensure secure communication channels between domains, WebLogic Server supports a type of domain trust that is referred to as Cross-Domain Security. Cross-Domain Security establishes trust between two domains — a domain pair — such that principals in a subject from one WebLogic domain can make calls in another domain.

WebLogic Server establishes a security role for cross-domain users, and uses the WebLogic Credential Mapping security provider in each domain to store the credentials to be used by the cross-domain users. In the bounce scan, the attacker would attempt to fool or mislead the victim into believing that the attack originated from a different source IP address, often known as the distributed denial-of-service attacks . Such an attack would make it difficult to trace the attacker's IP address. Most commercial Internet sites such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, and others support proxy services so that all Web traffic can be directed to a single server for filtering as well as caching to improve performance. We have seen cases of DDOS in spite of the proxy servers' setup to protect the networks. Cyber criminals don't limit their attacks to web applications, so detection systems shouldn't either.

An outdated, static inventory of IoT assets controls the box but is far from efficient security management. Identification of devices using traditional features of IT devices, such as IP addresses and underlying operating systems, does not work for IoT. Only by identifying a specific device can an organization accurately plan its network access requirements, deployment tactics, security strategy optimization, and operational plans. IoT vulnerabilities provide cybercriminals with a baseline to bypass firewalls, gain access to private networks, and steal sensitive information as it travels across connected device environments. The risk involved with these compromised devices also allows cyber-attacks to spread to other networked systems.

At this point you need to hunt down all equipment that is still running telnet and replace it with SSH, which uses encryption to protect authentication and data transfer. This shouldn't be a huge change unless your gear cannot support SSH. Many appliances or networking gear running telnet will either need the service enabled or the OS upgraded. If both of these options are not appropriate, you need to get new equipment, case closed. I know money is an issue at times, but if you're running a 45 year old protocol on your network with the inability to update it, you need to rethink your priorities.

The last thing you want is an attacker gaining control of your network via telnet. Offers various services to merchants and other service providers. A hosting provider may be a shared hosting provider, who hosts multiple entities on a single server. A system or technology that is deemed by the entity to be of particular importance.

For example, a critical system may be essential for the performance of a business operation or for a security function to be maintained. Examples of critical systems often include security systems, public-facing devices and systems, databases, and systems that store, process, or transmit cardholder data. Considerations for determining which specific systems and technologies are critical will depend on an organization's environment and risk-assessment strategy.

If secured production mode is enabled for your domain, then WebLogic Server does not allow remote anonymous JNDI access for list or modify operations. You can control anonymous JNDI access by setting the RemoteAnonymousJNDIEnabled attribute that is contained in the SecurityConfigurationMBean. Configuring a secure domain involves using secured production mode, configuring a password validation provider, configuring auditing and user lockouts, limiting the accounts with access to WebLogic resources, and so on. Lock down WebLogic Server by performing a secure installation, configuring your domains to use secured production mode, securing network resources using firewalls, and securing WebLogic resources and applications. Nmap has two other less used port scanning command-line options that provide valuable information. The --traceroute command-line option is performed after the scan and works with all scan types except the TCP connect scan (-sT ) and idle scan (-sI ).

It uses Nmap's own traceroute algorithm and timing characteristics to determine the mostly likely port and protocol to reach the target. The --reason command-line option shows more detail about the responses from the target host, including the type of packet that was received in response to the probe. This option is also automatically enabled by the nmap debug (-d ) command-line option.