ssh: Protocol mismatch

["Griffin, Chris Andrew (Chris)" <cg58 () alcatel-lucent com>]

Guys,

        I just re-activated my sensor after a period of inactivity (mysql db machine was down).  Preprocessors are 
enabled including the (experimental?) ssh preprocessor.

preprocessor ssh: server_ports { 22 } \
                  max_client_bytes 19600 \
                  max_encrypted_packets 20 \
                  enable_respoverflow enable_ssh1crc32 \
                  enable_srvoverflow enable_protomismatch


        I started two SSH2 sessions from a HOME_NET Windows XP PC (Secure CRT 4.0.1) to the Slackware 12.1 system 
running snort (Version 2.8.5.1 (Build 114)).  It is OpenSSH_5.1p1 forcing "Protocol 2".

        I ended up getting 194 alerts labeled "ssh: Protocol mismatch".  As far as I know my connection was a "clean" 
two-way traffic exchange.  All the alerts are pertaining to the SSH Client -> SSH Server packets, though this makes 
some sense considering what I read about the protocol mismatch.  I tried another session from a !HOME_NET PC with 
another "clean" session and before I typed anything at the command prompt I had 58 alerts.

        The odd thing is I wouldn't expect a protocol mismatch to be triggered in this case?  I can't find much in the 
docs about how this alert works, but from what I gather it's when a non-SSH packet is sent to an SSH server on SSH_PORT 
(22)?  Also README.ssh says "The Secure CRT and protocol mismatch exploits are observable before the key exchange." but 
I believe a lot of the packets triggering this alert may not be before the key exchange, but I'm definitely no SSH 
expert.


Thoughts?  Does this sound like a problem? or do I misunderstand how this works?




Chris Griffin


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