My box running Cobalt Linux 6.0 (based on old Redhat) got hacked recently. After getting the root password reset I was able to login via telnet and SSH until I rebooted the box.

Now it appears sshd isn't running as I get "connection refused" if I try to ssh to the box. It's possible that I forgot to set sshd to auto-start though.

More importantly is that telnet connects fine, but just returns :
-----

Cobalt Linux release 6.0 (Shinkansen-Decaf)
Kernel 2.2.16C32_III on an i586

-----

and then stops... no login / password prompts, and anything you type is echoed to the screen. I've got FTP access to the system, although only using the admin account and not root, as root doesn't have FTP access. :-(

Can anyone point me to the files to check why telnet's not running, or how I can start sshd (maybe via cron?)

I don't have physical access to the box, and I'll have to pay $$$$ for the hosting ISP to fix it, so any help or advice welcome!

Thanks,


Alex

Welcome to LQ.


Unfortunately I bear no gifts in reply to your first post here...

I'll have to pay $$$$ for the hosting ISP to fix it, so any help or advice welcome

IMNSHO even if you can make telnetd work again (whatever the conditions) it would be unwise (understatement) and (pardon my french and with all due respect) a major overestimation on your side to think you can "heal" your box.

It's not like I don't explore this situation or don't wanna help or sound unsupportive, but in this case I'd say it'd be better to pay money and have a box professionally restored to a state in which you can trust it again rather than muck with it yourself.

yeah, it would probably be best to have your hosting provider replace the image on the disk with a new one and then you should take steps for your box not to get hit again... steps, like, for example, DON'T USE TELNET, only SSH.

usually when a person breaks into your system they leave a method to gain access to it even if you change the root password on it, a rootkit, for example...

http://www.chkrootkit.org/

chkrootkit could help with this, but a restoration and better security measures are clearly your healthiest choice. even if you remove the rootkit, there's no telling what else the vandal did while inside.

The slightly amusing thing is this happened after installing SSHD and with telnet turned off... Anyway, accepting that I'm going to have to have the machine blown is there anyway to get back so I can run the site migration wizard to help move the sites to the newly imaged machine after. I've got loads of connectivity so bandwidth isn't a problem, but site contents and settings are! Obviously FTP would do it, what about backing up mySQL etc?

Cheers!

Alex

Anyway, accepting that I'm going to have to have the machine blown is there anyway to get back so I can run the site migration wizard.
Not that I know unless you got FTP with full access to the filesystem and chmod capabilities.