Portspoof
Overview
Portspoof is a sophisticated network deception tool that emulates legitimate services and responds to connection attempts with valid service signatures. It can bind to arbitrary ports and respond with authentic-looking banners and responses from popular services (HTTP, SSH, SMTP, DNS, etc.), deceiving port scanners, fingerprinting tools, and reconnaissance activities. Portspoof is primarily used for network defense, honeypots, and deception-based security strategies.
Installation
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)
sudo apt-get install portspoof
Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install portspoof
macOS (via Homebrew)
brew install portspoof
Build from Source
git clone https://github.com/drk1wi/portspoof.git
cd portspoof
./configure
make
sudo make install
Install Build Dependencies
sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf automake libtool
Verify Installation
portspoof --version
portspoof --help
Core Concepts
Service Emulation
Portspoof emulates legitimate service responses to appear as if real services are running.
Port Mapping
Map arbitrary ports to service signatures, creating convincing decoy services.
Signature Database
Includes extensive database of authentic service banners and responses.
Network Deception
Confuse attackers and automated scanning tools by presenting false service information.
Configuration
Main Configuration File
/etc/portspoof/portspoof.conf
/usr/local/etc/portspoof.conf
Service Signatures Database
/usr/share/portspoof/portspoof_signatures
/etc/portspoof/portspoof_signatures
View Default Configuration
cat /etc/portspoof/portspoof.conf
Basic Commands
Start Portspoof
sudo portspoof
sudo portspoof -c /etc/portspoof/portspoof.conf
Start on Specific Port
sudo portspoof -p 8888
Run in Foreground (Debug)
sudo portspoof -d
Specify Configuration File
sudo portspoof -c /custom/path/portspoof.conf
Start with Specific Signature Database
sudo portspoof -s /path/to/signatures
Common Usage Patterns
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
sudo portspoof | Start with default configuration |
sudo portspoof -p 9999 | Run on custom port |
sudo portspoof -d | Debug mode (foreground) |
sudo portspoof -c config.conf | Use custom config |
sudo portspoof -s signatures.txt | Load custom signatures |
sudo portspoof -l 192.168.1.100 | Bind to specific interface |
Configuration File Setup
Basic Configuration Template
# Portspoof Configuration File
#
# Server settings
SERVER_PORT=9999
SERVER_BIND_ADDR=0.0.0.0
SERVER_LISTEN_QUEUE=500
# Service signature database
SIGNATURES_FILE=/usr/share/portspoof/portspoof_signatures
# Logging
LOG_FILE=/var/log/portspoof/portspoof.log
VERBOSITY_LEVEL=1
# Performance
MAX_THREADS=100
INITIAL_THREADS=10
Custom Port Configuration
SERVER_PORT=8888
SERVER_BIND_ADDR=192.168.1.100
SIGNATURES_FILE=/etc/portspoof/custom_signatures
High-Volume Configuration
SERVER_PORT=9999
MAX_THREADS=500
INITIAL_THREADS=50
SERVER_LISTEN_QUEUE=1000
Service Signatures
View Available Signatures
cat /usr/share/portspoof/portspoof_signatures | head -20
HTTP Service Signature
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 1234
Server: Apache/2.4.41
<html><head><title>Index of /</title></head><body>
<h1>Index of /</h1>
...
</body></html>
SSH Service Signature
SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_7.4
SMTP Service Signature
220 mail.example.com ESMTP Postfix
FTP Service Signature
220 FTP Server Ready
Telnet Response
Connected to server
login:
Create Custom Signatures
cat > custom_signatures.txt << 'EOF'
# Port 80 HTTP
"GET / HTTP/1.1" "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\nServer: Apache/2.4.41\r\n\r\n"
# Port 22 SSH
"SSH-2.0" "SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_7.4\r\n"
# Port 25 SMTP
"EHLO\|HELO" "220 mail.example.com ESMTP Postfix\r\n"
# Port 3389 RDP
".*" "\x03\x00\x00\x13\x0e\xe0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x08\x00\x03\x00\x00\x00"
# Port 445 SMB
".*" "\xff\x53\x4d\x42"
EOF
Network Deception Strategies
Honeypot Port Setup
# Configure portspoof to emulate multiple services
sudo portspoof -c honeypot.conf
# Monitor connections
tail -f /var/log/portspoof/portspoof.log
Decoy Network Service
# Emulate multiple services on single port
sudo portspoof -p 9999 -s decoy_signatures.txt
Port Obfuscation
# Make all ports appear to have services
# Map every connection to realistic service responses
Advanced Deployment
Multi-Interface Binding
# Create config for multiple interfaces
cat > multi_interface.conf << 'EOF'
SERVER_PORT=9999
SERVER_BIND_ADDR=0.0.0.0
SIGNATURES_FILE=/usr/share/portspoof/portspoof_signatures
EOF
sudo portspoof -c multi_interface.conf
Load Balancing Setup
# Run multiple portspoof instances
sudo portspoof -p 9999 &
sudo portspoof -p 9998 &
sudo portspoof -p 9997 &
Systemd Service Configuration
cat > /etc/systemd/system/portspoof.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=Portspoof Service Emulation
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
ExecStart=/usr/bin/portspoof -c /etc/portspoof/portspoof.conf
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
sudo systemctl enable portspoof
sudo systemctl start portspoof
Testing Portspoof Responses
Test Connection
nc -zv localhost 9999
nc -zv 192.168.1.100 9999
Capture Service Banner
echo "" | nc 192.168.1.100 9999
timeout 2 nc 192.168.1.100 9999 | od -c
Verify HTTP Response
curl -v http://127.0.0.1:9999/
Test SSH Response
ssh -v localhost -p 9999
Nmap Service Detection
nmap -sV 127.0.0.1 -p 9999
nmap -sV -A 192.168.1.100 -p 9999
Zenmap Fingerprinting
# Test against Zenmap/Nmap OS detection
nmap -O 127.0.0.1 -p 9999
Monitoring and Logging
View Portspoof Logs
tail -f /var/log/portspoof/portspoof.log
grep "connection" /var/log/portspoof/portspoof.log
Monitor Active Connections
sudo netstat -antp | grep portspoof
sudo lsof -i :9999
Real-time Connection Tracking
watch -n 1 "netstat -antp | grep portspoof"
Parse Connection Attempts
grep "from" /var/log/portspoof/portspoof.log | \
awk '{print $NF}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn
Honeypot Integration
Combine with IDS
# Log portspoof connections
tail -f /var/log/portspoof/portspoof.log | \
while read line; do
# Alert on suspicious IPs
echo "$line" | grep -i attack >> suspicious.log
done
Network Tapering
# Use portspoof to confuse network scans
# Deploy on decoy systems
# Monitor all connection attempts
Create Honeypot Network
# Isolated network segment with portspoof
# Running on multiple ports
# Monitoring all traffic
Performance Tuning
Optimize for High Load
cat > high_load.conf << 'EOF'
MAX_THREADS=1000
INITIAL_THREADS=100
SERVER_LISTEN_QUEUE=5000
TIMEOUT=30
EOF
sudo portspoof -c high_load.conf
Resource Limits
ulimit -n 10000
ulimit -u 1000
Process Monitoring
ps aux | grep portspoof
top -p $(pgrep portspoof)
Troubleshooting
Permission Denied (Port < 1024)
# Use sudo for ports below 1024
sudo portspoof -p 80
# Or run as root
su - -c "portspoof -p 80"
Port Already in Use
# Check existing bindings
sudo netstat -tlnp | grep :9999
# Kill existing process
sudo kill $(lsof -t -i :9999)
Configuration File Not Found
# Verify file exists and permissions
ls -la /etc/portspoof/portspoof.conf
cat /etc/portspoof/portspoof.conf
Signature File Issues
# Check signature file
ls -la /usr/share/portspoof/portspoof_signatures
file /usr/share/portspoof/portspoof_signatures
Service Not Starting
# Run in debug mode
sudo portspoof -d
# Check for errors
sudo systemctl status portspoof
sudo journalctl -u portspoof -n 20
Security Considerations
Network Placement
- Deploy on internal networks only
- Ensure controlled environment
- Document deception strategy
- Monitor for false positives
Ethical Usage
- Use only in authorized networks
- Document deception policies
- Ensure team awareness
- Legal compliance verification
Detection and Analysis
# Monitor portspoof system
watch -n 5 "netstat -antp | grep portspoof"
tail -f /var/log/portspoof/portspoof.log | grep -v "^$"
Advanced Scenarios
Multi-Service Honeypot
# Emulate multiple services on different ports
sudo portspoof -p 80 -s http_signatures &
sudo portspoof -p 22 -s ssh_signatures &
sudo portspoof -p 25 -s smtp_signatures &
sudo portspoof -p 3306 -s mysql_signatures &
Incident Response Preparation
# Setup decoy environment
# Monitor attacker interaction
# Collect forensic evidence
# Analyze attack patterns
Threat Intelligence Gathering
# Deploy honeypot
# Record all connection attempts
# Analyze attacker behavior
# Share findings with community
Best Practices
- Clear Documentation: Document deception strategy
- Regular Updates: Keep signature database current
- Monitoring: Actively monitor honeypot
- Isolation: Properly segment honeypot network
- Incident Response: Have plan for detected attacks
- Legal Review: Verify compliance with regulations
- Team Coordination: Ensure all team members aware
- Log Retention: Archive connection logs
Related Tools
- Honeyd: Virtual honeypot framework
- Cowrie: SSH/Telnet honeypot
- Kippo: Medium interaction honeypot
- Dionaea: Low interaction honeypot
- Snare/Tanner: Web application honeypot
- Suricata: Network security monitoring
- Zeek: Network analysis framework