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promiscuous mode

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unixkid

IS-IT--Management
May 22, 2001
105
US
I have had serveral system freezes which have caused me to reboot the Linux server. I dont see anything strange except the following messages:

Jul 21 23:59:45 aas01 kernel: device eth0 left promiscuous mode
Jul 22 00:00:05 aas01 kernel: device eth0 entered promiscuous mode

I see a lot of these but not sure how to fight or fix.
 
promiscuous mode is what some "sniffers" do to ethernet cards where they, the nics, only accept packets destined for their MAC, promiscuous mode accepts ALL packets, it's designed to "sniff" what traffic on the network consists of.

That may be whats going on, your connection is getting slammed. Maybe...maybe not just my two cents worth.

Which one of me are you talking to?
My very own LUG!
 
Hi!
I am afraid to say that ur Linux server has been compromised and you need to install it again.If u keep running the same server then it's more dangerous.Promiscious Mode means ur data is being read my someone else.you have to harden ur system security using all possible means.I can say the above lines b'se my own system was broken into 2 times and I didn't have heart to do everything again next time.Write me if u require any help
 
Logitech1234 could be right. It's pretty hard to put your network card into promiscuous mode without meaning to, so either you or someone else probably did it. You may have done it accidentally by playing with packet sniffers and other various networking tools.

The other possibility is that someone has hacked into your linux box and wants to see what's going on in your network, so they are "sniffing" with the linux box... checking out everything that's transmitted to or from your computers. They may be looking for credit card numbers, etc from online payments or the like, so be careful what information you send or recieve!

So either way, it's a good idea to re-install your linux, and harden security a bit. Harsher security will make it a bit harder for you to accidentally screw things up (unless you always use root), and MUCH harder for others to.

Good luck!
 
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