COMMAND

    Bay Networks

SYSTEMS AFFECTED

    Systems with Bay Networks routers

PROBLEM

    Marty Rigaletto found following.   The problem with the Bay  boxes
    is that by default the two system accounts on the machine are  not
    passworded.  Now, usually the "Manager" account on the machine  is
    passworded by  the administrator,  however, the  "User" account is
    often left  untouched.   While the  "User" account  has restricted
    access, it  can be  a huge  security hole,  especially when  these
    machines are used for the purposes of IP filtering (a firewall).

    Because  the  Bay  machines  have snmp configuration capabilities,
    anyone knowing the snmp string  for the machine or snmp  community
    could edit IP filtering rules with any SNMP management software or
    the  bay  networks  software  they  put  out  for solaris and just
    recently NT.

    All a proposed attacker would have to do is telnet to the  router,
    login as "User", and issue a single command, "sho snmp community".
    Then adjust his  or her snmp  software to use  that string and  IP
    address, and b00m, sucks to be you.

    Jason  Ackley  added  following.   Even  if  the  box is not doing
    filtering and such, the 'User' Account can be used to ftp into the
    Bay router (they run ftp daemons), download the configuration file
    and then read it into  their Managment program, in which  you will
    have the  snmp read/write  strings to  do whatever  you want with!
    Basically if the 'User' account  is open, the router can  be taken
    over with very little effort..   Once you load up the config  file
    into the managment console, you could toggle T1s, down interfaces,
    reset BGP  tables, capture  packets..   You name  it.   Here is  a
    sample random-bay-router-on-the-net(IP addr changed of course):

        llama:/usr/home/jason/doc# ftp 1.3.3.3
        Connected to 1.3.3.3.
        220 WfFTP server(x12.00) ready.
        Name (1.3.3.3:jason): User
        230 User User logged in.
        ftp> bin
        200  Type set to I.
        ftp> get config
        local: config remote: config
        200  PORT command successful.
        150  Image data connection for 2:config (1.3.3.3,20) (50140 bytes).
        226  Binary Transfer Complete.
        50140 bytes received in 2.01 seconds (24909 bytes/s)
        ftp> ls
        200  PORT command successful.
        150  ASCII data connection for 2: (1.3.3.3,0) (0 bytes).

         Volume - drive 2:
         Directory of 2:

        File Name             Size    Date     Day      Time
        ------------------------------------------------------
        config.isp           45016  08/22/97  Fri.    17:05:51
        startup.cfg           7472  08/24/97  Sun.    23:31:31
        asnboot.exe         237212  08/24/97  Sun.    23:31:41
        asndiag.exe         259268  08/24/97  Sun.    23:32:28
        debug.al             12372  08/24/97  Sun.    23:33:17
        ti_asn.cfg             504  08/24/97  Sun.    23:33:31
        install.bat         189114  08/24/97  Sun.    23:33:41
        config               50140  04/20/98  Mon.    22:08:01

         4194304 bytes - Total size
         3375190 bytes - Available free space
         3239088 bytes - Contiguous free space


        226  ASCII Transfer Complete.
        ftp> quit
        221 Goodbye.

SOLUTION

    Set password on  "User".  It  would be wise  to make it  where the
    'User' account cannot ftp in,  or cannot read the contents  of the
    flash card.  Removing the 'User' account would be a good idea too,
    as not too many  people use it and  even more people are  not even
    aware of it.  Few good recommendations:

        * FTP Daemon on  the router is not  enabled by default -  it's
          good to leave that untouched.
        * If the User level has to be made publically available, don't
          install snmp.bat on the flash image, or at least don't  make
          it  available  to  the  User  account.  This  would disallow
          command "show snmp" at all.
        * Restrict  TELNET access  and especially  TFTP access  to the
          router to  certain sites  on the  network only,  by applying
          appropriate filters!

    To address  security concerns,  Bay has  documented in  the 'Quick
    Starting  Routers'  manual,   that  users  initially configure the
    router  using  the  Bay  Command  Console  (BCC).   Using  the BCC
    requires the authorized user  to consciously configure all  access
    related services.   The BCC  also provides  the ability  to define
    access  policies  for  IP  related  protocols such as Telnet, FTP,
    TFTP, NTP,  and SNMP.   The BCC  has been  available for  the  Bay
    Networks Access Node router since BayRS 11.02.

    Bay  recommends  that  both  accounts  (User  and  Manager)   have
    passwords assigned. Both have default/null passwords as they  ship
    from  the  factory.   The  administrator  should  immediately take
    measures to secure the system, at initial system install, so  that
    an  unauthenticated  user/manager  doesn't  have  access to device
    management information, such as the community names and  addresses
    via telnet/console.