Skip to content

Quote of the Day (QOTD) Service Detection

Fabien edited this page May 22, 2024 · 1 revision

Overview

The Quote of the Day (QOTD) service is an older network service that responds with a short message or "quote" when connected. This service operates on TCP or UDP port 17. Detection of the QOTD service on a network can indicate potential security risks as it is generally considered obsolete and unnecessary for modern applications.

  • Severity: Low to Moderate

Impact

  • Information Disclosure: The QOTD service can be used to disclose potentially sensitive information.
  • Denial of Service (DoS): The service can be abused to generate excessive network traffic, leading to a denial of service.
  • Attack Vector: The service can be used as an entry point for attackers to exploit other vulnerabilities on the system.

Cause

  • Legacy Systems: QOTD is often found enabled on older, legacy systems that have not been updated or secured.
  • Default Configuration: Some systems may have the QOTD service enabled by default and not properly configured or disabled.
  • Lack of Security Awareness: Administrators might not be aware of the risks associated with running obsolete services like QOTD.

Solution

Disabling the QOTD Service

On Windows:

  1. Open Command Prompt: Run as Administrator.

  2. Stop the QOTD Service:

    sc stop qotd
  3. Disable the WOTD Service:

    sc config qotd start= disabled

On Linux/Unix:

  1. Edit inetd or xinetd Configuration:

    • Open the configuration file for inetd or xinetd, usually found in /etc/inetd.conf or /etc/xinetd.d/.
  2. Comment Out or Remove QOTD Entry:

    • For inetd, comment out or remove the line starting with qotd.
    • For xinetd, ensure the QOTD service file is removed or disabled.
  3. Restart inetd/xinetd:

    service inetd restart

    or

    service xinetd restart

Examples

N/A

References

Additional Resources

N/A

Microsoft Related Vulnerabilities

SSL/TLS Related

OpenSSL Related Vulnerabilities

Apache Related Vulnerabilities

Java/Oracle Related Vulnerabilities

Miscellaneous Vulnerabilities

Miscellaneous

  • Template -> Use this template for new vulnerabilities
Clone this wiki locally