[Bug 1306646] Re: dnsmasq provides recursive answers to the Internet by default

Ryan Beisner 1306646 at bugs.launchpad.net
Mon Apr 14 15:02:44 UTC 2014


Curiosity fueled a couple of tests on this.  In checking 2 common
scenarios, at least one use case confirms.

Aside from this confirmation, a bigger-picture question could be:  in
principle, how is 53 being open and interactive by default any different
than 80, 22, or 137-139 being open and interactive by default, when
dnsmasq is not installed by default?  If a user chooses to add a
service, whether that is ssh, samba, apache, dnsmasq, or others, in what
scenarios are we to protect the user against him/herself?  One could
argue that all of those protocols are subject to abuse.  In other words
- this could be a slippery slope.

Having said that little devil's advocate bit, I am *all for* making sure
our default behavior is to not have an open recursive DNS server.

Here's what I found:

[test0]: Trusty default server install + "Virtual Machine Host" package selection (ok)
[test1]: Trusty default server install + install dnsmasq (CONFIRMS open recursive DNS condition)

##### [test0] #####
Trusty default server install + "Virtual Machine Host" package selection

* This method does not result in an open recursive DNS server.

* The default ip interface layout follows; eth0 is connected and has
obtained an address via dhcp;  libvirt has created virbr0 interface, and
dnsmasq is listening only on the virbr0 interface (192.168.122.1).

rbeisner at isotest0:~$ sudo ip addr | grep gl
    inet 10.4.5.132/24 brd 10.4.5.255 scope global eth0
    inet 192.168.122.1/24 brd 192.168.122.255 scope global virbr0

rbeisner at isotest0:~$ sudo netstat -taupn | egrep ':22|:53'
tcp        0      0 192.168.122.1:53        0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1148/dnsmasq    
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:22              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      852/sshd        
tcp6       0      0 :::22                   :::*                    LISTEN      852/sshd        
udp        0      0 192.168.122.1:53        0.0.0.0:*                           1148/dnsmasq  

* The default iptables firewall rules for this use case follow;
Destination ports 53 tcp & udp are explicitly allowed in the virbr0
interface.  DNS ports are not disallowed anywhere, and there isn't a
default drop or reject rule in the input chain.  But because dnsmasq is
only bound to the virbr0 interface, it should not be accessible on any
other interface, even if all iptables rules are flushed.

beisner at isotest0:~$ sudo iptables -nvL
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 19526 packets, 29M bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination         
    0     0 ACCEPT     udp  --  virbr0 *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0            udp dpt:53
    0     0 ACCEPT     tcp  --  virbr0 *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0            tcp dpt:53
    0     0 ACCEPT     udp  --  virbr0 *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0            udp dpt:67
    0     0 ACCEPT     tcp  --  virbr0 *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0            tcp dpt:67

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination         
    0     0 ACCEPT     all  --  *      virbr0  0.0.0.0/0            192.168.122.0/24     ctstate RELATED,ESTABLISHED
    0     0 ACCEPT     all  --  virbr0 *       192.168.122.0/24     0.0.0.0/0           
    0     0 ACCEPT     all  --  virbr0 virbr0  0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0           
    0     0 REJECT     all  --  *      virbr0  0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0            reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
    0     0 REJECT     all  --  virbr0 *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0            reject-with icmp-port-unreachable

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 10169 packets, 592K bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination         
    0     0 ACCEPT     udp  --  *      virbr0  0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0            udp dpt:68

* Flush iptables, all traffic allowed:

rbeisner at isotest0:~$ sudo iptables -F
rbeisner at isotest0:~$ sudo iptables -nvL
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 39 packets, 2712 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination         

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination         

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 20 packets, 1792 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination     

* Port scans from a neighboring node confirm that tcp and udp 53 are
closed on the world-facing interface:

rbeisner at bcu:~$ sudo nmap -sU -p 53 10.4.5.132 | grep 53
53/udp closed domain

rbeisner at bcu:~$ sudo nmap -sT -p 53 10.4.5.132 | grep 53
53/tcp closed domain

rbeisner at bcu:~$ sudo nmap -sT -p 22 10.4.5.132 | grep 22
22/tcp open  ssh
...


##### [test1] #####
Trusty default server install + install dnsmasq (CONFIRMS open recursive DNS condition)

* CONFIRMS the default condition to be an open recursive DNS server /!\.

* DNS query from a neighboring host succeeds:
rbeisner at isotest0:~$ dig @10.4.5.143 thekelleys.org.uk +short                                                                                                                 
213.138.109.107

* Port scans from a neighboring node confirm that tcp and udp 53 are
open on the world-facing interface:

rbeisner at isotest0:~$ sudo nmap -sU -p 53 10.4.5.143 | grep 53
53/udp open  domain

rbeisner at isotest0:~$ sudo nmap -sT -p 53 10.4.5.143 | grep 53
53/tcp open  domain

* dnsmasq is listening on all ip interfaces, also iptables isn't
restricting it:

rbeisner at isotest1:~$ sudo netstat -taupn | egrep ':22|:53'
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:53              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      2581/dnsmasq    
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:22              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      2142/sshd       
tcp6       0      0 :::53                   :::*                    LISTEN      2581/dnsmasq    
tcp6       0      0 :::22                   :::*                    LISTEN      2142/sshd       
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:53              0.0.0.0:*                           2581/dnsmasq    
udp6       0      0 :::53                   :::*                                2581/dnsmasq    

rbeisner at isotest1:~$ sudo iptables -nvL
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 30200 packets, 42M bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination         

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination         

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 15576 packets, 1024K bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination

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Title:
  dnsmasq provides recursive answers to the Internet by default

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