Passive SSH is an open source framework composed of a scanner and server to store and lookup the SSH keys and fingerprints per host (IPv4/IPv6/onion).

The key materials along fingerprints and hosts are stored in a fast-lookup database. The system provides an historical view of SSH keys seen but also common key materials reused on different IP addresses.

Related paper for this work: Active and Passive Collection of SSH Key Material for Cyber Threat Intelligence.

• A simple SSH scanner
• A server storing key materials in a Redis database
• A simple ReST API to lookup by SSH fingerprints (including hassh or host (IPv4, IPv6 or onion addresses)
• Statistics of SSH banners and SSH fingerprints

• Python >= 3.6
• Redis >5.0
• tornado

• Python >= 3.6
• D4 paramiko
• pysocks (required to scan Tor hidden services)

./install.sh

• Install Redis and all pythons requirements.
• All Python 3 code will be installed in a virtualenv (PSSHENV).

The ssh scanner can be used with a Tor proxy to scan a host or an hidden service.

Don't forget to install the Tor proxy if you want to scan Tor hidden services: sudo apt-get install tor -y

Launch the redis and the tornado server:

./LAUNCH -l

A SSH scanner is included to scan small networks or internal infrastructure.

. ./PSSHENV/bin/activate
cd bin/

# Scan a host
./ssh_scan.py -t <host: 10.0.0.12>

# Scan a network range
./ssh_scan.py -r <network range: 10.0.0.0/8>

An API is available to query the Passive SSH server.

By default, the tornado server for Passive SSH is running on port 8500.

curl http://localhost:8500/banners

Return server staticstics:

• number of SSH banners
• number of scanned hosts:
  • ip
  • onion
• number of fingerprints by type

Return all banners ordered by scores

Get hosts by banner:

• banner
• list of hosts

Return the list of all keys types

Return host SSH metadata:

• first seen
• last seen
• ports
• list of banners
• list of fingerprints

Return the SSH history of an host

Return all fingerprints ordered by scores

Get hosts by fingerprint:

• first seen
• last seen
• key type
• key base64
• fingerprint
• list of hosts

Get hosts by type of key and fingerprint:

• first seen
• last seen
• key type
• key base64
• fingerprint
• list of hosts

Return all hasshs ordered by scores

Get hosts by hassh:

• hassh
• list of hosts
• kexinit

• CIRCL Passive SSH - access can be requested if you are a CSIRT member of FIRST.org, TF-CSIRT, CNW network or vetted security researchers.

The software is free software/open source released under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3.

If you want to cite this work, you can cite it as follows: Active and Passive Collection of SSH Key Material for Cyber Threat Intelligence

@article{dulaunoy2022active,
  title={Active and Passive Collection of SSH key material for cyber threat intelligence},
  author={Dulaunoy, Alexandre and Huynen, Jean-Louis and Thirion, Aurelien},
  journal={Digital Threats: Research and Practice (DTRAP)},
  volume={3},
  number={3},
  pages={1--5},
  year={2022},
  publisher={ACM New York, NY}
}