Tarpit command application that may slow down malicious attempts to scan a system.

Supported Protocols:

• SSH
• HTTP

$ make linux-amd64
GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -o "build/tarpit-linux-amd64"

This command will build the application in build/tarpit-linux-amd64. We can then run the tarpit on an unprivileged port (e.g. 2222).

$ ./build/tarpit-linux-amd64 -P ssh -p 2222

Or you can run it on a privileged port with sudo.

$ sudo ./build/tarpit-linux-amd64 -P ssh -p 22

Usage of ./tarpit:
  -b, --bind-address string   address to bind the socket to
  -d, --delay string          delay between the tarpit keep-alive data packets (default "10s")
  -g, --gid uint16            setgid, after creating a listening socket
  -p, --port uint16           TCP port, leave it 0 for service default
  -P, --proto string          protocol to tarpit (default "ssh")
  -u, --uid uint16            setuid, after creating a listening socket
  -v, --version               show current version

The ports < 1024 require superuser privileges. The command allows to drop superuser privileges (using setuid/setgid), right after it acquires a listening socket. Thus, allowing to bind to a privileged port and start serving as a regular unprivileged user. This is done by running the command as a superuser (e.g. with sudo) and setting the -u/--uid <uid> and -g/--gid <gid> command line flags.

$ sudo ./build/tarpit-linux-amd64 -P ssh -p 22 -u "$(id -u)" -g "$(id -g)"

Thanks to nullprogram.com / @skeeto for the article about tarpits that served as an inspiration for this application.