id: disable-ssh-forwarding info: name: Disable SSH Forwarding author: pussycat0x severity: unknown description: | SSH forwarding can enhance security by encrypting traffic (X11, agent, or port forwarding), but it also poses risks if misused. Attackers with access to a compromised system can pivot to other machines, potentially escalating privileges or stealing credentials. remediation: | Set X11Forwarding no and AllowTcpForwarding no in /etc/ssh/sshd_config to disable SSH forwarding and restart the SSH service. reference: - https://vishalraj82.medium.com/hardening-openssh-security-37f5d634015f metadata: verified: true tags: audit,config,ssh,auth javascript: - pre-condition: | isPortOpen(Host,Port) code: | var m = require("nuclei/ssh"); var c = m.SSHClient(); c.Connect(Host,Port,User,Pass); const sshConfig = c.Run('cat /etc/ssh/sshd_config') sshConfig let result = ""; if (sshConfig.includes('AllowTcpForwarding yes') && !sshConfig.includes('#AllowTcpForwarding yes') || sshConfig.includes('X11Forwarding yes')) { result += "Disable SSH Forwarding;"; } else { exit(); } result args: Host: "{{Host}}" Port: "22" User: "{{usernames}}" Pass: "{{passwords}}" matchers: - type: dsl dsl: - "success == true" extractors: - type: dsl dsl: - response # digest: 4a0a00473045022100dc6908d6ef4bdff577247d002afeba2f2a2f0f4c6e8363603e4c60c46e452926022017929a72f04ee161a3700626a49ae427a6cdaaf14383292d3dd6c972d7dcb70f:922c64590222798bb761d5b6d8e72950