Re: SNMP concerns

["Patrick Townsend" <patownsend@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fritz,

Interesting. The CERT notice calls out two primary areas of vulnerability.
One in SNMP managers and one in SNMP agents. The AS/400 doesn't have a
native manager, so that part doesn't apply to the AS/400. But it certainly
has an SNMP agent and sub-agent support.

The denial of service is a well known type of attack. Good firewall and
router implementations will help prevent damage from outside sources. Since
SNMP is almost never run over the Internet, these ports shouldn't be open
anyway. I suspect the risk from an internal SNMP denial of service attack is
pretty small. But, as the alert points out, there are steps you can take to
minimize this type of attack.

The vulnerabilities in SNMPv1 are another matter. I couldn't find any place
where IBM addresses the AS/400 (ahem, I mean iSeries). IBM clearly states
that AIX is not vulnerable. But no mention of iSeris. I hope they will
comment on this for the iSeries platform.

Patrick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fritz Hayes" <fhayes@spiritone.com>
To: <midrange-l@midrange.com>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 2:33 PM
Subject: RE: SNMP concerns


> The CERT Vulnerability Note VU#854306 indicated that the SNMP processing
> of
> GetRequest, SetRequest, GetNextRequest, GetResponse, and Trap has
> vulnerablities.
> These weaknesses include "denial-of-service conditions, format string
> vulnerabilities, and buffer overflows."  In addition, "some
> vulnerabilities do not require the request message to use the correct
> SNMP community string".
>
> Which means, the SNMP service can be used to compromise OS/400.
>
> IBM responded with:  "Based upon the results of running the test suites
> we have determined that our version of SNMP shipped with AIX is NOT
> vulnerable."
>
> If Dr. Frank's hypothesis is right, IBM SNMP implementation is probably
> the same for AIX as it is for OS/400.  Which makes my worries go away -
> - Right??????
>
> I know that SNMP is used regularly on internal networks.  Some people
> are even using it to drive their AS/400 printers.  A couple of customers
> want to remotely manage their equipment, using VPN connections on the
> Internet.  SNMP could be the right tool, but only if internal hackers
> can be kept out!  With the CERT notification,  and in general, is a
> properly configured AS/400 susceptible to SNMP attacks?
>
> Best Regards
>
> Fritz Hayes
> Atwater Associates
> <snip>
>
> |
> |We run SNMP on the AS/400 and provide SNMP options in our
> |products. What concerns do you have?
> |
> <snip>
> |>
> |> So, who out there is running and using SNMP on their AS/400, iSeries
> |> box?
> |>
> |> A second question, who is using the SNMP protocol over the Internet?
> |>
>
>
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