dictionary attack defense

Reindl Harald h.reindl at thelounge.net
Wed Oct 22 08:55:26 UTC 2014


Am 22.10.2014 um 05:59 schrieb Cliff Hayes:
> a) I read about auth_failure_delay even before I posted my question and
> I could not figure out the one-line explanation in the dovecot wiki:
> "Number of seconds to delay before replying to failed authentications."
>   It's delaying a reply.  Does that mean the hacker can keep asking as
> fast as he wants?  Is it per user or per IP?

it does not help him to ask fast
he needs responses too and can't open endless connections parallel

> b) I'm familiar with mail_max_userip_connections = x, but I'm not
> familiar with the time limit you mention.

iptables

     0     0 REJECT     tcp  --  eth0   *      !192.168.196/24 
0.0.0.0/0            multiport dports 110,143,993,995 ctstate NEW 
recent: UPDATE seconds: 1800 hit_count: 100 name: dovecot2 side: source 
mask:
  255.255.255.255 reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
     4   256 REJECT     tcp  --  eth0   *      !192.168.196/24 
0.0.0.0/0            multiport dports 110,143,993,995 ctstate NEW 
recent: UPDATE seconds: 300 hit_count: 50 name: dovecot1 side: source 
mask: 2
55.255.255.255 reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
     0     0 REJECT     tcp  --  eth0   *      !192.168.196/24 
0.0.0.0/0            multiport dports 25,465,587 ctstate NEW recent: 
UPDATE seconds: 1800 hit_count: 75 name: postfix2 side: source mask: 255.2
55.255.255 reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
     9   448 REJECT     tcp  --  eth0   *      !192.168.196/24 
0.0.0.0/0            multiport dports 25,465,587 ctstate NEW recent: 
UPDATE seconds: 300 hit_count: 40 name: postfix1 side: source mask: 255.25
5.255.255 reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
     0     0 DROP       udp  --  eth0   *      !192.168.196/24 
0.0.0.0/0            ctstate NEW recent: UPDATE seconds: 2 hit_count: 75 
name: udpflood side: source mask: 255.255.255.255
     0     0 DROP       tcp  --  eth0   *      !192.168.196/24 
0.0.0.0/0            ctstate NEW recent: UPDATE seconds: 2 hit_count: 75 
name: DEFAULT side: source mask: 255.255.255.255
     0     0 DROP       tcp  --  eth0   *      !192.168.196/24 
0.0.0.0/0            multiport dports 25,80,443,465,587 tcp 
flags:0x17/0x02 #conn src/32 > 75
     0     0 DROP       tcp  --  eth0   *      !192.168.196/24 
0.0.0.0/0            multiport dports 25,80,443,465,587 tcp 
flags:0x17/0x02 #conn src/24 > 150
     0     0 DROP       tcp  --  eth0   *      !192.168.196/24 
0.0.0.0/0            multiport dports 25,80,443,465,587 tcp 
flags:0x17/0x02 #conn src/16 > 175
     0     0 DROP       tcp  --  eth0   *      !192.168.196/24 
0.0.0.0/0            multiport dports 25,80,443,465,587 tcp 
flags:0x17/0x02 #conn src/8 > 200

> On 10/21/2014 5:02 PM, Reindl Harald wrote:
>>
>>
>> Am 21.10.2014 um 23:28 schrieb Cliff Hayes:
>>> Does dovecot have any dictionary attack defenses yet?
>>> In the past I have had to implement defense from outside dovecot, but
>>> since dovecot is at the front lines and therefore is the first to know
>>> I'm hoping by now there is something we can set.  For example, a limit
>>> on access failures per minut/hour/day or some such.  If not why not?
>>
>> no - but you can set "auth_failure_delay = 5" and limit new connections
>> per IP to something around 40 per 5 minutes and 100 per 30 minutes which
>> stops many of them or at least limit the amount of tries dramatically

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