Recently, I discovered that SSH of my VPS server is constantly battered as follows.

Apr 06 11:15:14 abastro-personal-arm sshd[102702]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.201 port 53768: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 11:30:29 abastro-personal-arm sshd[102786]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.207 port 18464: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 11:45:36 abastro-personal-arm sshd[102881]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.209 port 59634: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 12:01:02 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103019]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.203 port 16976: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 12:05:49 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103066]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.212 port 49130: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 12:07:09 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103077]: Connection closed by 162.142.125.122 port 56110 [preauth]
Apr 06 12:12:18 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103154]: Connection closed by 45.79.181.223 port 22064 [preauth]
Apr 06 12:12:19 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103156]: Connection closed by 45.79.181.223 port 22078 [preauth]
Apr 06 12:12:20 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103158]: Connection closed by 45.79.181.223 port 22112 [preauth]
Apr 06 12:21:26 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103253]: Connection closed by 118.25.174.89 port 36334 [preauth]
Apr 06 12:23:39 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103282]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.252 port 59622: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 12:26:38 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103312]: Connection closed by 92.118.39.73 port 44400
Apr 06 12:32:22 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103373]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.203 port 57092: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 12:49:48 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103556]: error: maximum authentication attempts exceeded for root from 98.22.89.155 port 53675 ssh2 [preauth]
Apr 06 12:49:48 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103556]: Disconnecting authenticating user root 98.22.89.155 port 53675: Too many authentication failures [preauth]
Apr 06 12:49:51 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103558]: error: maximum authentication attempts exceeded for root from 98.22.89.155 port 53775 ssh2 [preauth]
Apr 06 12:49:51 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103558]: Disconnecting authenticating user root 98.22.89.155 port 53775: Too many authentication failures [preauth]
Apr 06 12:49:53 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103561]: error: maximum authentication attempts exceeded for root from 98.22.89.155 port 53829 ssh2 [preauth]
Apr 06 12:49:53 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103561]: Disconnecting authenticating user root 98.22.89.155 port 53829: Too many authentication failures [preauth]
Apr 06 12:49:54 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103563]: Connection closed by 98.22.89.155 port 53862 [preauth]
Apr 06 12:50:41 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103576]: Invalid user  from 75.12.134.50 port 36312
Apr 06 12:54:26 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103621]: Connection closed by 165.140.237.71 port 54236
Apr 06 13:01:26 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103702]: Connection closed by 193.32.162.132 port 33380
Apr 06 13:03:40 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103724]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.204 port 60446: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 13:11:49 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103815]: Received disconnect from 165.140.237.71 port 50952:11:  [preauth]
Apr 06 13:11:49 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103815]: Disconnected from authenticating user root 165.140.237.71 port 50952 [preauth]
Apr 06 13:19:08 abastro-personal-arm sshd[103897]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.208 port 59274: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 13:33:36 abastro-personal-arm sshd[104066]: Received disconnect from 165.140.237.71 port 50738:11:  [preauth]
Apr 06 13:33:36 abastro-personal-arm sshd[104066]: Disconnected from authenticating user ubuntu 165.140.237.71 port 50738 [preauth]
Apr 06 13:34:50 abastro-personal-arm sshd[104079]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.204 port 44816: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 13:50:32 abastro-personal-arm sshd[104249]: Unable to negotiate with 218.92.0.206 port 27286: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie>
Apr 06 13:51:58 abastro-personal-arm sshd[104261]: Received disconnect from 165.140.237.71 port 50528:11:  [preauth]
Apr 06 13:51:58 abastro-personal-arm sshd[104261]: Disconnected from authenticating user root 165.140.237.71 port 50528 [preauth]
Apr 06 14:01:25 abastro-personal-arm sshd[104351]: Invalid user  from 65.49.1.29 port 18519
Apr 06 14:01:28 abastro-personal-arm sshd[104351]: Connection closed by invalid user  65.49.1.29 port 18519 [preauth]

As you can see, it is happening quite frequently, and I am worried one might break in at some point. Since SSH access guards users with root-access, it can be quite serious once penetrated. How do I harden against these kind of attacks? Because this is VPS, disabling SSH is a no-go (SSH is my only entry of access). Are there ways to stop some of these attackers?

As always, thanks in advance!

  • markstos@lemmy.worldEnglish
    113·
    1 day ago

    Using a nonstandard port doesn’t get you much, especially popular nonstandard ports like 2222.

    I used that port once and just as much junk traffic and ultimately regretted bothering.

    • friend_of_satan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      181·
      1 day ago

      My experience running several ssh servers on uncommon nonstandard ports for over 10 years has been that it has eliminated all ssh brute forcing. I don’t even bother with fail2ban. I probably should though, just in case.

      Also, PSA: if you use fail2ban, don’t try tab completing rsync commands without using controlmaster or you will lock yourself out.

    • irmadlad@lemmy.worldEnglish
      61·
      1 day ago

      My two cents: Using a nonstandard ssh port is good for dumping bots. True, you can easily do a port scan against a server and easily find all open ports nbd. But most off-the-shelf bots are looking for standard ports to penetrate. I know that when I format and reinstall the test server, as soon as I change the ssh port, bot noise goes down significantly. So, for a simple config edit and about 2 minutes of time, it seems worth the effort. It’s just one layer tho. And yes, it goes without saying to pick a port other than 22, 222, 2222, etc.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          5 hours ago

          Oh, that one’s fine. Everyone knows that 5-digit ports add extra security, which is why WireGuard runs on port 51820 by default. You can verify this by checking the max port number, which is also 5-digits, computers just aren’t powerful enough to crack 6-digit port numbers, so Linux hasn’t bothered increasing it. /s

    • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      51·
      1 day ago

      It gets rid of most of the login attempts for me. I don’t use a popular port though. Pick a 5 digit port so they have to put in some effort to find it.