My Laravel database got hacked for the second time. the hacker deleted all tables and left a table threatening to delete it If I didn't send bitcoin. That's not a problem since I do have a backup but what can I do to prevent it?
This is for Laravel 6. the first time I had debugging mode ON in the .env file so I thought this might be the problem. after turning debugging off I still got hacked am I missing anything?
Hello Mohamed Elmoniry,
I would check your server database configuration for the following security settings I mean this is pretty basic and normally done automatically if you are not self hosting and using a service like forge or digital ocean, but here you go:
Update the password plugin
Change the root password
Remove anonymous users
Disallow remote root login
Remove test database
If you are new to this and you are using MYSQL on your server you can run the following command/script that will automatically guide you through that process
sudo mysql_secure_installation
Additionally:
If you are using a web server I would also enable SSH and deactivate password login.
If you are using a firewall I would check that only the necessary ports to your application are allowed by the UTM (Unified threat management) if it is a hardware firewall. (same applies to a software firewall)
It would be great if you know how the hacker got into the database. Maybe you have an old database version? Maybe you have an easy-to-crack password and have exposed your database to the internet. Laravel by default blocks SQL injection, so that can't be it.
If you have exposed your database, a good first step is to block all requests and allow only ones from certain IP addresses, like your server and IP addresses where you often work. This way, hackers can only get to your database if they are on one of those IP's.
Do you publish your code to GitHub? Maybe the hacker got the password from your repository (this is only possible if this is public). You should make sure you NEVER EVER publish your .env file to the internet and only keep local copies.
But the best solution would be to find out how he got in. Then you can block that entrance. You should certainly check your database version and update it if necessary.
it seems your website has some shell (malware) stored. Virus take palace with following reasons :
Old version framework (but you are using v6, that is updated)
A shell/virus already in code (check if a php shell exist, & scan with antivirus)
You have public git repo, where attacker placed his malware
You have credentials hardcoded that leaked, either through git repo or JS files.
You have unrestricted file upload option in your code, which allow hacker to upload shell.
your database server is publicly exposed,allowing anyone to access.
If you are using older jenkins or other automation tool, which exploit used.
SQL injection, (check logs)
Thanks, Jaikey
Check whether your .env or .env.sample files expose to public for some reason?
https://yourdomain.com/system/.env
If yes, block the public access of .env by adding the code below to the .htaccess file.
<FilesMatch "^\.env">
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
</FilesMatch>
I have an Access DB app that exports a table (to XLS) then FTPs to our FTP server over our VPN. This routine has been working for several years, until ~yesterday. I am not sure what could have changed to break this function.
This is not really an Access DB issue as I see the same "Closed Connection" when manually attempting to FTP PUT at the Windows command line. Other users of the Access app (VPN and local) are not seeing this same issue.
I did receive a Win10 Security update this week - possible this affected my firewall settings?
Any suggestions where to begin? Googling suggests to portforward Port 20/21, but this seems to have no effect either.
Thank You!
Note 1: I do use WinSCP for passive transfers for another specific task to FTP to a 3rd party who requires passive transfers. Some of our users in India are unable to use this tool reliably, so I am hesitant to convert this basic function in my Access app as it works everywhere but my local machine.
Note 2: I attempted to add "QUOTE PASV" before a command line transfer with no effect. As I am reading, Windows FTP utility does not support Passive transfers
Note 3: FileZilla can see and transfer to the FTP server using "Plain FTP" mode. Interesting, but I really need this to work via command line without requiring a 3rd part app installation.
Note 4: I uninstalled the Win10 Security Update - No effect
I have created a folder that all users have full control over. In this folder is my backend, while the frontend resides on the local hard drive. I can open the database on my development computer, even over the network. On all other computers, the system simply loads the access welcome screen, or access opens and closes automatically.
Can there be virus protection or a firewall blocking this? I have enabled network connections, and allowed all vba projects, etc.
Can there be a reference issue? If I have a reference for an Outlook library, and have compiled the file into accde format, would this prevent any error messages and simply cause the database to fail? I can open the backend tables on all computers, it is just the frontend that will not open.
Any suggestions will be helpful. I am not at the site, so I will take all suggestions and try them when I return.
A few things come to mind:
Have a look in the Windows Event Log.
Another issue could be happening if the locations where the front-end is located has not been added to the list of Trusted Locations in MS Access.
If you put the accdb front-end on the user's machine, can it be opened? Do you get any error?
As you mentioned, there could be a reference issue. Try to remove the reference and convert your early-binding with late binding instead (use CreateObject).
Add some sort of logging to your application and log as much as possible to a text file from the startup sequence of your application. This may let you know if there is some of your startup code that fails.
Three weeks ago, I found a list of my website's users and info on Paste Bin giving away all privacy. I ran updates and protected against SQL Injections. I also added a pre-request to save the SQL in text format in a LOG table whenever user input is required to be able to analyse any injection if my protection wasn't enough.
Then today the same post was on Paste Bin again with recent entries so I checked the LOG table to find only clean entries. Is there anything else than injections I should worry about? The web seems to give info about Injections only!
Could they have had access to the dbpassword in a php file on the server and could they have connected from and external server?
Should I change the dbpassword frequently?
Are there any solution non-script wise like hosting security plan or something like that which should be efficient enough?
I am receiving physical threats from hacked users and would really like to close this quickly...
If you're implementing your own protection against user input, you're probably doing it wrong. Most standard database libraries will give you a way of passing in parameters to queries where it will be sanitised properly, and these will have been coded with more things in mind than you're probably aware of. Reinventing the wheel in anything security-related is a bad idea!
Other things to worry about:
Password policy (strong passwords)
Access to your database server (is it firewalled?)
SSH access to your server (again, firewalled?)
Keeping all of your software up-to-date
Just to add to the other answers that you've had so far. If someone is posting the contents of your database online then you need to assume that the server(s) running the application and database have been compromised, as once they've gained initial access, it's likely that they'll have placed root-kits or similar tools onto the server to keep access to it.
As to how they got in there's a number of potential options, depending on the architecture of your solution, and it's imposssible to say which is the case without more details. Some of the more likely options options would be
SSH passwords
Administrative web apps (e.g. PHPMyAdmin) with common passwords or vulnerabilities
Access via hosting service (e.g. weak passwords on administrative login panels)
If the site is PHP based Remote File Inclusion issues are a distinct possibility
If you can I'd recommend engaging a forensics or incident response company to help you recover the data and rebuild, but failing that I'd recommend getting a backup from before the compromise and using that to rebuild the server, then ensure that all software is updated and patched and passwords are not the same as the compromised system, before bringing it online.
The best protection for this is to allow connections to the mysql database only from the machine where your application runs.
First of all, make sure, network access to the MySQL database is "need to know" - in most cases this is a simplye bind-address 127.0.0.1.
Next change the DB password, just because yes, you can (C)
Now think of this: If somebody got your DB passwd from your PHP files, you already are in deep s***t: Nothing stops him or her from just repeating that stunt! You need to audit your application for backdoors (after the fact problem) and how the guys got in there (before the fact problem). Check your apache logs for requests with unusual GET parameters - a filename in there mostly is a dead givaway.
I agree with Razvan. Also if you're running any CMS or prepackaged web pages, make sure they're the latest version. They most likely access as localhost from the web server. Hackers follow the change logs of those and every time a security patch is released, they attack published vulnerabilities on servers running the older version. It's often performed in bulk by crawlers. Odds are they have a database with your server listed as running old versions of things.
First you need to ensure that this "php file" containing the DB password(s) is not within the web root directory, otherwise they could simply access it like: http://mydomain.com/dbpassword.php.
Second, immediately change the passwords used to access your database.
Third, ensure that mysql will only accept connections from 'localhost', vs allowing connections from anywhere; '%'. And if it is a dedicated server, then you should "harden" the box and add an IP rule to IPTables where mysql access is only allowed from the server's IP. These changes would ensure that if they did get your db username/password creds, they can not access the database from a remote computer, instead they would have to exploit your application, or ssh into your server to gain access to your database.
Next, you should disable all user accounts to your site, and force them to update their passwords using a closed loop verification process. This will ensure no ongoing malicious activity is occurring with your users or their accounts.
These are just a few steps to take, there are others such as tracking local users login activity. It is possible that one of your system's user accounts has been compromised (rooted). The point is, you need to consider all points of access to your system and services therein, if you are unable to do it, it may be time to hire or contract a seasoned sysadmin to help you.
If this is shared web hosting, and another user is logged in with shell access and is able to guess the path to your web root, and the password configuration (PHP or other script) file is world readable, then the user can read it.
This is one of the most common vulnerabilities and is very easy to exploit.
If this is the case:
To correct the issue, you need to move the configuration file out of your web root folder and/or change the permissions on it so that it's not world readable, and then change your database password.
Most likely, the user would not be able to inject anything into your application.
Changing the database server so that it's only accessible locally or to your web server would do no good, since the malicious user would be on the same web server and still be able to access it.
If you did not see any malicious queries, then they are probably accessing your db via the MySQL command line (or PHPMyAdmin or other tool), and not through your application.
Enabling the general query log would allow you to see all queries in plain text in the log, but if this is shared web (and MySQL server) hosting, you probably won't be able to enable this.
This is something you may wish to report to your web host. They may be able to find the attacker and suspend their account or provide you with evidence.
Using the Access Database Synchronizer has anyone been able to synchronize with an mdb stored in a network location?
It doesn't even work if i map a network drive to my local c: i.e. c:\test.mdb works but z:\test.mdb doesn't.
I simply get a System.Data.SqlServerCe.SqlCeException "Failure to open SQL Server with given connect string."
Old question now. Seems as though no-one has an answer (or even heard of it).
Access Database Synchronizer won't work when using a network drive, most likely a bug in the product.