[Bug 1176046] [NEW] isc-dhcp dhclient listens on extra random ports

[Rodney Beede]

Public bug reported:

Ubuntu 13.04 Server 64-bit.  Fresh install.  Only one network adapter.

dhclient process is listening on two randomly chosen udp ports in
addition to the usual port 68.  This appears to be a bug in the
discovery code for probing information on interfaces in the system.

Initial research of the code also suggested omapi, but adding omapi port
9999 to /etc/dhcp/dhclient.conf only opened a forth port with the two
random udp ports still enabled.

Version of included distro dhclient was 4.2.4.  I also tested with the
latest isc-dhclient-4.2.5-P1 and got the same results.

Debian has the same bug:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=95273&p=495605#p495605

One impact of these random ports is that security hardening becomes more
difficult.  The purpose of these random ports and security implications
are unknown.


Example netstat -lnp  output:

udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:21117           0.0.0.0:*                           2659/dhclient   
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:68              0.0.0.0:*                           2659/dhclient   
udp6       0      0 :::45664                :::*                                2659/dhclient

** Affects: isc-dhcp (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1176046

Title:
  isc-dhcp dhclient listens on extra random ports

Status in “isc-dhcp” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Ubuntu 13.04 Server 64-bit.  Fresh install.  Only one network adapter.

  dhclient process is listening on two randomly chosen udp ports in
  addition to the usual port 68.  This appears to be a bug in the
  discovery code for probing information on interfaces in the system.

  Initial research of the code also suggested omapi, but adding omapi
  port 9999 to /etc/dhcp/dhclient.conf only opened a forth port with the
  two random udp ports still enabled.

  Version of included distro dhclient was 4.2.4.  I also tested with the
  latest isc-dhclient-4.2.5-P1 and got the same results.

  Debian has the same bug:
  http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=95273&p=495605#p495605

  One impact of these random ports is that security hardening becomes
  more difficult.  The purpose of these random ports and security
  implications are unknown.

  
  Example netstat -lnp  output:

  udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:21117           0.0.0.0:*                           2659/dhclient   
  udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:68              0.0.0.0:*                           2659/dhclient   
  udp6       0      0 :::45664                :::*                                2659/dhclient

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