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May 17, 2011

pytbull – Intrusion Detection/Prevention System (IDS/IPS) Testing Framework


pytbull is an Intrusion Detection/Prevention System (IDS/IPS) Testing Framework for Snort, Suricata and any IDS/IPS that generates an alert file. It can be used to test the detection and blocking capabilities of an IDS/IPS, to compare IDS/IPS, to compare configuration modifications and to check/validate configurations.

The framework is shipped with about 300 tests grouped in 9 testing modules:
  • clientSideAttacks: this module uses a reverse shell to provide the server with instructions to download remote malicious files. This module tests the ability of the IDS/IPS to protect against client-side attacks.
  • testRules: basic rules testing. These attacks are supposed to be detected by the rules sets shipped with the IDS/IPS.
  • badTraffic: Non RFC compliant packets are sent to the server to test how packets are processed.
  • fragmentedPackets: various fragmented payloads are sent to server to test its ability to recompose them and detect the attacks.
  • multipleFailedLogins: tests the ability of the server to track multiple failed logins (e.g. FTP). Makes use of custom rules on Snort and Suricata.
  • evasionTechniques: various evasion techniques are used to check if the IDS/IPS can detect them.
  • shellCodes: send various shellcodes to the server on port 21/tcp to test the ability of the server to detect/reject shellcodes.
  • denialOfService: tests the ability of the IDS/IPS to protect against DoS attempts
  • pcapReplay: enables to replay pcap files
It is easily configurable and could integrate new modules in the future.

There are basically 6 types of tests:
  • socket: open a socket on a given port and send the payloads to the remote target on that port.
  • command: send command to the remote target with the subprocess.call() python function.
  • scapy: send special crafted payloads based on the Scapy syntax
  • multiple failed logins: open a socket on port 21/tcp (FTP) and attempt to login 5 times with bad credentials.
  • client side attacks: use a reverse shell on the remote target and send commands to it to make them processed by the server (typically wget commands).
  • pcap replay: enables to replay traffic based on pcap files
The official documentations is available here: pytbull documentation.

Changes/Improvements in V1.1
  • Issue #2 fixed (test number incrementing twice just after the last test from multipleFailedLogins test)
  • Issue #3 fixed (pcapReplay module not present in the checks on STDOUT)
  • Code factoring in pytbull.py
  • Timing options are now in parameters (config.cfg)
  • Automatically checks and informs if a new version is available (use PROXY section in the configuration file if needed)
  • New basic checks: Checks that paths are valid
  • SVN tags added in source code
You can download pytbull here:

pytbull-1.1.tar.bz2

Or read more here.