Hack the whale

Tips and Tricks to have fun with services like containers
Hack the whale

A new IT paradigm
let's talk about
- why?
New IT professionals must face and take an interest about full microservices lifecycle combined with
continuous deployment and containers.
- who?
Architects: that want to know how to design their system around microservices;
Operators: that want know how to apply configuration management practices in containers;
Developers: that want take the process back into their hands!
Manager: that gain a better understanding of project and of it delivery.
- what?
aka toolbox: containers and orchestration tools

Short happy story
Historically, UNIX-style operating system have used the term jail to describe a modified runtime environment
for a program that have protected resources.
Only since 2005, thanks to Sun Solaris 10, container has become the preferred term for such a runtime
environment.
Something like this before was seen only with chroot ... but it was not enough!
Since 2008, an interesting technology has appeared: LXC
LXC is a method to running multiple isolated Linux system (containers, right!) on a control host using a single
Linux kernel.
One of the key features is the isolation of the namespaces that allows you to isolate groups of processes
between them.

Short happy story
Using containers has been a best practice for a long time. But manually
building containers can be challenging and easy to do incorrectly.
These errors and the sense of security must be avoided.
Docker solves this problem!
Any software run with Docker is run inside a container. Docker uses
existing container engines to provide consistent containers build according
to best practices.

Containers are not virtualization
Without container technology (in particular a cool technology like Docker), businesses typically use
virtualization to provide isolation.
Virtual machines take a long time to create and require significant resource overhead because they run a
whole copy of an operating system in addition to the software you want to use.
Unlike VM, programs running inside Docker containers interface directly with the host’s Linux kernel.
There isn’t additional layer between the program running inside the container and the computer’s operating
system, no resources are wasted by running redundant software or simulating virtual hardware.

Welcome to Docker world
Recapping
- What is Docker?
Docker is a whale … ops … docker is a CL program, a background
daemon and a set of remote services that take a logical approach to
solving common software problems and simplifying your experience
installing, running, publishing and removing software.
It accomplishes this using a UNIX technology called containers.

What problem does Docker solve?
- Organized software park:
Using software is complex!
Before installation you have to consider what operating system you are using, the resources the
software requires, what other software is already installed and what other software depends on.
- Improving portability:
The application is agnostic! It is executable on any operating system!
- Protecting your infrastructure:
Isolation is the key! Anything inside a container can only access things that are inside it as well.

Why is Docker important?
- 1
Docker provides what is called an abstraction.
Abstractions allow you to work with complicated things in simplified terms.
- 2
Docker is significant push in the software community to adopt container technology. This push is so
strong in companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google. They contribute to its development and adopt
it in their own cloud offering.
- 3
It has made software installation, compartmentalization and removal very simple. Better yet, Docker
does it in a cross-platform and open way.
- 4
We are finally starting to see better adoption of some of the more advanced isolation features of
operating system.

Keywords of Docker world: Dockerfile
Docker can build images (later I will explain what an image is) automatically by reading the instructions from
a Dockerfile.
A Dockerfile is a text document that contains all the commands a user could call on the command line to
assemble an image.
It is composed of simple commands like:
FROM #indicates the source of docker image
RUN #execute any commands in a new layer on top of the current image and commit the results
COPY #copies new files or directories from a src and adds them to the filesystem of the container at the destination path
EXPOSE #informs Docker that the container listens on the specified network ports at runtime
VOLUME #creates a mount point with the specified name
...
Using docker build (remember -t and -f option) users can create an automated build that executes
several command-line instructions in succession.

Keywords of Docker world: docker image
A Docker Image is the template needed to build a running Docker Container (the running instance of that
image).
An Image is an ordered collection of root filesystem changes and the corresponding execution parameters
for use within a container runtime. An image typically contains a union of layered filesystems stacked on
top of each other.
Attention:
if we make a change to the image, when we commit
we will update only that layer and not the whole image

Keywords of Docker world: docker container
A container is a runtime instance of a docker image.
A Docker container consists of
● A Docker image
● An execution environment
● A standard set of instructions
The concept is borrowed from Shipping Containers, which define a standard to ship goods globally. Docker
defines a standard to ship software.

Docker tools: Docker Compose
Docker Compose is a tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications in a single
file
It uses YAML files to configure the application's services and performs the creation and start-up process of
all the containers with a single command.
smart example:
# Filename: docker-compose.yml
wordpress:
image: wordpress:4.2.2
links:
- db:mysql
ports:
- 8080:80
db:
image: mariadb
environment:
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: example

Docker tools: Docker Swarm
Docker Swarm is the name of a standalone native clustering tool for Docker. Docker Swarm pools
together several Docker hosts and exposes them as a single virtual Docker host. It serves the standard
Docker API, so any tool that already works with Docker can now transparently scale up to multiple hosts.
Docker node:
A node is a physical or virtual
machine running an instance of the
Docker Engine in swarm mode
Manager:
perform swarm management and
orchestration duties. By default
manager nodes are also worker
nodes.
Worker:
execute tasks.

Docker tools: Docker Swarm
In Docker Swarm we introduce the concept of service.
For each service coincide more containers that run the
same application.
It is a concept very similar to the clustering within which to
guarantee fault-tolerance and high available.

End of first part
Are you ready for hands on session?

Intro at Network Security
Network Security understood as the security of
applications distributed over the IP network and
security of network infrastructures

Intro at Network Security
Three pillars of network security:
1) Confidentiality
2) Integrity
3) Availability

Remember if you want to make your
system safe, know that you must be the
first enemy of your system

Step 0: Read “The Art of War” di “SUN TZU”
“The victorious warriors first win and then go to war, while
the defeated warriors first go to war and then try to win.”
“As in war, the rule is to avoid what is strong and to hit
what is weak”

The other Step
● Fingerprint
● Scanning
● Enumeration
low profile
high profile (more intrusive)

Some Tools
1) Fingerprint :
a) Fantasy, all information is good
b) Maltego (by Marco Nappi)
2) Scanning & Enumeration
a) NMAP
b) NETCAT

Brute Force
It's the more simple attack technique that we can image.
when we want login into a protected system and don't have
credentials, we can try to login making a password combining
ASCII characters

Try, try and try again
“It isn’t the more efficient way to obtain a credentials to access
at the system, but with a good dictionary (simple text file that
contains the password to be tested) it’s work in most
cases,especially for weak passwords. ”

Some Tools
1. To make dictionary:
a. Know the target;
b. Google;
c. Fantasy.
2. Brute Force tools:
a. Hydra ();
b. John the ripper.

Simple Model Memory
Reserved
Stack
Code
Global Data
Heap
Each area contains different information and each process
can only access certain portions of these areas
Stack: Area that contain local variables and other
information for function call.
Heap: Area that contain variables that are
dynamically allocated.
Global Data: Area that contain global variables.

Buffer Overflow
A condition at an interface under which more input can be
placed into a buffer or data holding area than the capacity
allocated, -overwriting other information.
Attackers exploit such a condition to crash a system or to
insert -specially crafted code that allows them to gain control of
the system.
[STALLINGS]

Buffer Overflow
Usually a buffer overflow attack have as scope modify the
content of variables near buffer, or load and execute a
malicious code.

Buffer Overflow: Example
What is wrong in this function's code?
void readMessage(int socket,char * buffer){
FILE *fp=fdopen(socket,"r");
fscanf(fp,"%s",buffer);
fclose(fp);
}

Useful references
1. Course materials by Simon Pietro Romano
docenti.unina.it;
2. Hacking Exposed 7: Network Security Secrets and Solutions;
3. Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice ;
4. Google;
5. Exploit-DB;
6. Docker web-site.
7. Buffer Overflow gitlab project: http://gitlab.comics.unina.it/Previtera/BufferOverflow/tree/master
8. Jabba The Hack gitlab project:
http://gitlab.comics.unina.it/NS-Projects/JabbaTheHack/tree/master/JabbaDocker

Hack the whale

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