Quote of the Day (QOTD) Service Detection

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

• RFC 865: QOTD Protocol

Additional Resources

N/A