IP Threat Report
172.173.117.54
ABUSE.MOM — BEHAVE OR GET EXPOSED
Geolocation & Classification
Detection Signatures
| Signature | Description | Points | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 404 ratio 40-60% | Majority of requests returned 404 — enumeration | +15 | |
| Burst 16/2s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 17/2s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 18/2s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 19/2s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 20/2s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 28/2s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 46/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 54/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 55/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 56/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 57/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 60/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 61/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 63/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 66/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 69/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 73/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst 91/10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst: 17 req / 2s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Burst: 56 req / 10s | Abnormally fast request rate — automated scanning | +35 | |
| Danger medium hits: 267 | Medium-risk: admin panels, config files | +60 | |
| Danger medium hits: 285 | Medium-risk: admin panels, config files | +60 | |
| Danger medium hits: 287 | Medium-risk: admin panels, config files | +60 | |
| Danger medium hits: 327 | Medium-risk: admin panels, config files | +60 | |
| Danger medium hits: 428 | Medium-risk: admin panels, config files | +60 | |
| Danger medium hits: 431 | Medium-risk: admin panels, config files | +60 | |
| Danger medium hits: 570 | Medium-risk: admin panels, config files | +60 | |
| Danger medium hits: 99 | Medium-risk: admin panels, config files | +60 | |
| Danger strong hits: 36 | High-risk paths: shells, RCE vectors, exploits | +100 | |
| Danger strong hits: 4 | High-risk paths: shells, RCE vectors, exploits | +100 | |
| Danger strong hits: 46 | High-risk paths: shells, RCE vectors, exploits | +100 | |
| Danger strong hits: 52 | High-risk paths: shells, RCE vectors, exploits | +100 | |
| Danger strong hits: 64 | High-risk paths: shells, RCE vectors, exploits | +100 | |
| Danger strong hits: 92 | High-risk paths: shells, RCE vectors, exploits | +100 | |
| Probe 302→404 | Behavioral anomaly detected by automated analysis | +20 | |
| Probe pattern 302->404 same path | Behavioral anomaly detected by automated analysis | +20 | |
| UA suspicious | Behavioral anomaly detected by automated analysis | +15 | |
| UA suspicious (short/empty) | Behavioral anomaly detected by automated analysis | +15 |
Observed Activity
Reconstructed HTTP requests from server access logs. Target domains redacted for security.
* Typical request patterns for detected signatures. Actual target domains are redacted.
Timeline
Network Provider
Recommendations
Actions taken & recommended
- IP 172.173.117.54 is blocked at application level (HTTP 403)
- Consider blocking at firewall level (iptables/CSF) to reduce server load
- Report abuse to the network provider via their abuse contact
- Ensure sensitive files (.env, .git, backups) are not accessible from the web
🔎 Directory Scan Defense
IP 172.173.117.54 is enumerating directories. Configure fail2ban apache-404 jail after 10+ 404 errors. Disable directory listings. Normalize all 404 responses.
🌊 Flood / DDoS Mitigation
Implement limit_req_zone in nginx. Deploy CDN with DDoS protection. Configure SYN cookies and connection tracking to throttle 172.173.117.54.
🤖 Bot Detection
Address UA spoofing from 172.173.117.54: maintain blocklist of known malicious UA strings, require consistent UA across sessions, implement TLS fingerprinting.
Blacklist Status (DNSBL)
This IP was checked against major DNS-based blacklists used by mail servers and firewalls worldwide.
Checked: Spamhaus, SpamCop, Barracuda, SORBS, CBL, UCEProtect. Results may change over time.
Threat Analysis
172.173.117.54 has been assigned a threat score of 280/100 (Critical). This places it in the critical threat category. Immediate blocking is strongly advised across all network perimeters.
The following attack categories were identified:
📊 Threat Analysis
IP address 172.173.117.54 has been traced to Des Moines, United States, operating on the network of Microsoft. Our threat detection systems have flagged this address based on observed malicious behavior patterns. During its 5-day observation window, we recorded 2,900 hostile requests from this IP — roughly 580 per day on average. This address belongs to a datacenter or cloud hosting provider. Hosting IPs are frequently leveraged by threat actors who rent cheap VPS instances specifically for conducting attacks. The combination of 3 distinct attack vectors indicates a sophisticated, multi-pronged threat actor deploying automated tools that probe multiple attack surfaces simultaneously. With 16 flagged addresses, United States represents a notable presence in our threat database. At 280/100, this is an extremely high-risk address. All traffic should be considered hostile.
This IP belongs to a hosting or data center provider. Malicious traffic from hosting infrastructure often originates from compromised VPS instances, rented servers used for scanning campaigns, or abused free-tier cloud accounts. Hosting providers typically respond to abuse reports within 24-72 hours.
Related Threats
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💡 DDoS Mitigation Approaches
Distributed denial of service attacks overwhelm infrastructure with traffic volume. Effective mitigation combines always-on traffic scrubbing, anycast network distribution, rate limiting, and the ability to quickly scale absorption capacity during attacks.
💡 HTTP Request Smuggling
Request smuggling exploits differences in how front-end and back-end servers parse HTTP requests. This technique can bypass security controls, poison web caches, and hijack other users sessions by desynchronizing request boundaries.