Identd Service Detection

low Nessus Network Monitor Plugin ID 2323

Synopsis

The remote host may give an attacker information useful for future attacks.

Description

The remote host is running an ident (also known as 'auth') daemon. The 'ident' service provides sensitive information to potential attackers. It mainly says which accounts are running which services. This helps attackers to focus on valuable services (those owned by root). If you do not use this service, disable it.

Solution

Under Unix systems, comment out the 'auth' or 'ident' line in /etc/inetd.conf and restart inetd.

Plugin Details

Severity: Low

ID: 2323

Family: Generic

Published: 9/26/2004

Updated: 11/23/2016