NewsPublished 19 Mar 2026

Interesting Message Stored in Cowrie Logs, (Wed, Mar 18th)

Source SANS ISC Handlers Diary

Description

This activity was found and reported by BACS student Adam Thorman&#xc2;&#xa0;as part of one of his assignments which I posted his final paper &#x5b;1&#x5d; last week. This activity appeared to only have occurred on the 19 Feb 2026 where at least 2 sensors detected on the same day by DShield sensor in the cowrie logs an echo command that included: "MAGIC&#x5f;PAYLOAD&#x5f;KILLER&#x5f;HERE&#x5f;OR&#x5f;LEAVE&#x5f;EMPTY&#x5f;iranbot&#x5f;was&#x5f;here". My DShield sensor captured activity from source IP 64.89.161.198 between 30 Jan - 22 Feb 2026 that included portscans, a successful login via Telnet (TCP/23) and web access that included all the activity listed below captured by the DShield sensor (cowrie, webhoneypot & iptables logs).

Impact

The potential impact of this threat includes unauthorized remote access to IoT and Linux-based devices, leading to device compromise, inclusion in botnets, data exfiltration, or use as a pivot point for further network attacks. Successful exploitation could degrade device availability or integrity and facilitate large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks or other malicious activities. Organizations with exposed Telnet services or poorly secured IoT devices are at risk of infiltration, which could result in operational disruptions, reputational damage, and increased incident response costs. However, the limited scope and lack of known active exploits reduce the immediate risk. The threat highlights the persistent vulnerability of IoT ecosystems and the importance of securing remote access protocols. If left unmitigated, such attacks could escalate, especially as attackers refine their payloads or combine them with other attack vectors.

Defensive guidance

1. Disable Telnet services on all devices unless absolutely necessary; replace with secure alternatives like SSH with key-based authentication. 2. Enforce strong, unique credentials on all IoT and Linux devices to prevent brute-force or credential stuffing attacks. 3. Implement network segmentation to isolate IoT devices from critical infrastructure and limit lateral movement. 4. Deploy intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) to monitor for suspicious port scanning, login attempts, and known payload signatures such as the "MAGIC_PAYLOAD_KILLER_HERE" string. 5. Regularly update and patch IoT firmware and Linux operating systems to remediate known vulnerabilities. 6. Utilize honeypots and logging to detect early signs of compromise and gather threat intelligence. 7. Restrict inbound access to management interfaces via firewall rules and VPNs. 8. Conduct regular security audits and penetration tests focused on IoT and remote access services. 9. Monitor threat intelligence feeds and community reports for emerging variants or exploitation campaigns related to this activity. 10. Educate staff and administrators on the risks of exposed Telnet services and the importance of secure configurations.

References

isc.sans.edu/diary/rss/32810 (opens in a new tab)

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Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 19 Mar 2026, 00:42 UTC

References

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