Setting nmap host_timeout too low may cause DoS on inetd (?)

["Alek O. Komarnitsky" <alek () ast lmco com>]

Nmap Folks,

I think I might have a "inadvertant" denial of service attack
caused by nmap on Solaris2.6{+} and HPUX10.20 machines.

I recently setup a web page using nmap to do misc. port scanning;
with the main intention being to look for web servers - we're trying
to clamp down a bit on 'em and get 'em semi-under-control.

In order for it to run super-duper fast, I added a:
   $NMAP_OPTIONS  = "--initial_rtt_timeout 300 --host_timeout 5000";
BTW, it sure seems like rtt_timeout is actually in HUNDREDTH's of a second
rather than milliseconds - since when I use this on a host that is not up;
it times out in 3 seconds ... changing 300 to 1500 causes the timeout 
in 15 seconds (I'm using nmap Beta13 on a Solaris2.7 box).

I might be a bit agressive with the host_timeout ... all hosts are
semi-local-LAN/WAN ... and I'm only hitting a hundred or so specified ports;
but we're just trying to do quick-n-dirty stuff, and it's cool to see the
results from 500+ machines in a flash - nmap is QUITE cool!  

NOTE: Just using standard "TCP" scans running as a non-root user.

A few percent of the scanned machines end up with a "hanging" inetd;
so inbound telnet/etc. connections are no longer accepted. Interestingly enough,
one can often "clear" it by doing another scan to just the targeted host.
And on a few machines, inetd flatout died - so then you are basically hosed!

Sun Bug ID4260432 describes a situation somewhat similar to this ... but the
problem in not repeatable in any way ... the vast majority of the time; the
scan just finishes and we are all happy.

So ... my guess is that on those "few" boxes, I don't quite get done in
time and nmap aborts, leaving some half-open connections ... which then
causes inetd to crash-n-burn. Ideally, inetd should not be so fragile!  ;-)
Bumping the host_timeout may be all I need to do.

I emphasize my attempt here is NOT to cause a DoS, but to provide
a quick-n-dirty (and safe!  ;-)  web based scanning tool for internal use.


Does any of this make sense and/or sound familier to people?
Thanx,
alek

P.S. Apologies if I missed an archive of the Email list - if this 
topic has been covered elsewhere, pls point me that direction.