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    Ransomeware infected machine

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    39 Posts 9 Posters 3.3k Views
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    • Y
      YYJWalking
      last edited by

      I'm assuming that has something to do with whatever got installed on this box.
      This was a vanilla PFSense install from 2014 which has had nothing done to it other than upgrades and package installs from the default package manager.
      Alas I do not have a list of what has been installed on this box (which I know would probably be useful.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • chpalmerC
        chpalmer
        last edited by

        https://www.slax.org/

        If that box was truly running a version of pfsense Id have to believe that someone (probably a disgruntled employee) gained physical access to that box and plugged a USB stick into it and installed that little jewel.

        Otherwise- do you have your GUI and ssh ports open on your WAN?

        Triggering snowflakes one by one..
        Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

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        • chpalmerC
          chpalmer
          last edited by

          What version of pfsense do you believe it had on it?

          Triggering snowflakes one by one..
          Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • KOMK
            KOM
            last edited by

            He said he thought it was 2.4.3.

            chpalmerC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              If you have a backup of the config or had ACB configured recovering from that is not an issue.

              The problem is discovcering how that happened. I would physically examine the hardware. What is it actually booting from?

              Is that really the box you think it is? Was is running virtually maybe?

              Steve

              Y 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • chpalmerC
                chpalmer @KOM
                last edited by

                @KOM said in Ransomeware infected machine:

                He said he thought it was 2.4.3.

                Missed that. I saw-

                running fine for a good few years. orignally setup in ~2014.

                Triggering snowflakes one by one..
                Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

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                • Y
                  YYJWalking @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10

                  Thanks guys,
                  Ya I'm pretty sure it was 2.4.3 and it was on physical metal with a physical SSD.

                  Disgruntled employee is a "possibility" have some peeps running CCTV stuff now but our access control to this room is shitty so 50/50. Also if this one individual was trying to be an ass there's much more serious stuff they could have done.
                  As for admin ports being open from other interfaces, there are/were 2 WANs and 2 LANs on this setup. One pair for regular traffic and one for PBX traffic. There was some concerns back in the day about having open ports for the PBX to work so a fully segmented network was setup but still had a single PFSense box (with 4x Ethernet ports).
                  I'm not 100% sure if admin was possible through the 2nd LAN/WAN (trying to sort out how to restrict access on the new install now actually).

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                  • RicoR
                    Rico LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance
                    last edited by

                    Can you post your config.xml Backup here so we can check for Config (Security) mistakes?

                    -Rico

                    Y 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • KOMK
                      KOM
                      last edited by

                      Is this going to be another one of those posts where we talk among ourselves for hours without ever seeing any evidence that pfSense has anything to do with this?

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • Y
                        YYJWalking @Rico
                        last edited by

                        @Rico
                        Would love too but don't have any from this install.
                        For reference to the uninitiated access to the admin section is all done via firewall rules right?

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                        • RicoR
                          Rico LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance
                          last edited by

                          Yes, to access the WebGUI or SSH from WAN side would require manual adding of Firewall Rules.

                          -Rico

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • RicoR
                            Rico LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance
                            last edited by

                            What happens if your try to login with User root and Password toor at the slax login prompt?
                            I'd also try to boot some rescue disk and check what is really going on the filesystem. Some ransomware is not even encrypting anything, just telling so.

                            -Rico

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • DerelictD
                              Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                              last edited by

                              Even with full remote root ssh/webgui access I struggle to come up with a procedure where such a result would be possible without physical/console access.

                              Is there IPMI? Is that accessible? Is that secured?

                              Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                              A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                              DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                              Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • KOMK
                                KOM
                                last edited by

                                19 hours later, still nothing...

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • johnpozJ
                                  johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                  last edited by

                                  Slax login? So this pfsense was running on VM?

                                  An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                  If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                  Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                  SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • KOMK
                                    KOM
                                    last edited by

                                    I suspect this entire post is bogus:

                                    • this is his first forum post ever
                                    • he accuses pfSense of being vulnerable to ransomware attack despite no history whatsoever of this happening on FreeBSD
                                    • the provided evidence is non-existent, confusing or irrelevant
                                    • requests for follow-up information go unanswered

                                    If this is as he claims, you would think he would be a little more proactive about reading replies and providing information. Instead, we all seem to care a lot more about his problem than he does.

                                    However, he can feel free to prove me wrong by actually answering questions or providing more detail.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      I think you're reading that into it. He didn't accuse pfSense of anything, he just asked if anyone had seen that before. That seems like a reasonable question given what he was seeing.

                                      Steve

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                                      • johnpozJ
                                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                        last edited by johnpoz

                                        Yeah I think it very well could be a legit question... But I understand KOMs frustration with such a question with no follow up at all..

                                        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                                        • KOMK
                                          KOM
                                          last edited by

                                          I think you're reading that into it. He didn't accuse pfSense of anything

                                          'suspects' would have been a better choice of word.

                                          That seems like a reasonable question given what he was seeing.

                                          Slax Linux? Is this guy just trolling? None of this makes any sense.

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                                          • Y
                                            YYJWalking
                                            last edited by

                                            Hey all,
                                            Sorry for the delayed followup.

                                            For some additional background and rumor control. This is 100% legit (said every troll ever). I have been using PFSense very happily for years and have no doubts or concerns to it being insecure. Whatever this was (and I have a bit of a theory) it was most certainly 100% user error.

                                            This was NOT a VM install, this machine is running on bare metal on a 1U supermicro box with a SATA SSD.
                                            The drive had undergone some sort of formatting as it was not immediately mountable however I did not dig deep on what it was running (it was a work day and I had staff sitting on their thumbs). I debated rolling out a new drive and keeping the old to send to (someone?) once I ran into the problem yesterday but we didn't have any suitable drives in inventory + have deadlines to meet so I elected to just reformat the drive (knowing full well I was going to take flak for it.)

                                            Now to some updates:
                                            As previously mentioned we have 2 LANs and 2 WANs here. One LAN/WAN pair is for general internet and the second is for PBX/Telco.
                                            The PBX was running Asterisk with some exposed ports. The Pf sense admin panel was accessible from the PBX LAN.
                                            The PBX was running an old install, and appears to have been compromised (and is now also being rebuilt)
                                            Not 100% sure if the PBX was the point of entry or not but everything is now being hardened substantially as a result of this.

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