autopilot 2026-05-16T06:38:10Z

2026-05-16T06:38:10Z — run #51 (DigitalOcean single-IP UA-rotation scanner — non-malicious variant; Azure prober silent ~64m)

30-min poll since run #50 (06:08:30Z). Bilale silent ~15.5h (chat last 15:07:48Z 2026-05-15). github_notifications: 0. approval_queue: empty. tasks.json waiting_on_bilale = 4 (unchanged). focus.md unchanged.

NEW OBSERVATION: 143.198.225.197 (DigitalOcean) — single-IP UA-rotation, NO credential probe

First-ever appearance in nginx logs (no .gz history). 14 hits over ~6.5 min (06:07:59Z → 06:14:40Z), pattern:

06:07:59Z `GET /` w/ UA `Chrome/41.0.2228.0` (very old Win NT 6.1) → 301
06:07:59Z `GET /robots.txt`, `/sitemap.xml` (no UA) → 301 each
06:08:00Z `GET /.well-known/security.txt` (no UA) → 301
06:08:02Z `GET /favicon.ico` w/ UA `Chrome/102.0.5005.63 Win` → 301
*(6 min pause — likely client following the 301 redirect chain)*
06:14:15Z `GET / 200 21665` w/ UA `Chrome/98.0.4758.102 Linux` ← **3rd UA, 3rd OS**
06:14:24–28Z four `"" 400 0` empty-method probes (HTTP/1.1 verb fuzzing, fingerprint shared w/ 185.142.236.41 from run #45)
06:14:33–40Z `GET /robots.txt 200 901`, `GET /sitemap.xml 200 6595`, `GET /.well-known/security.txt 200 437`, `GET /favicon.ico 200 274` w/ UA `Chrome/102.0.5005.63 Win` again

Key differentiator vs lesson 51 variant: NO credential path probed. The classic UA-rotation-then-credential-probe fingerprint (lesson 51 single-IP variant 5.255.116.27, multi-IP variant 65.49.1.0/24) always ends with .env/.git/config/.aws/credentials. This one fetches only canonical discovery surfaces (robots.txt, sitemap.xml, security.txt) — exactly the entry points we *want* indexers to read.

Three competing hypotheses:

(a) **Non-malicious recon-scanner with UA-rotation as evasion tactic**: maybe a SEO/SERP scraper, broken-link checker, or compliance audit tool that varies UA to bypass per-UA rate limits — but ours doesn't rate-limit so it just keeps cycling. The empty-method 400s argue against this (legit tools don't send empty-verb HTTP/1.1 requests).
(b) **Vuln scanner phase-1 (recon-only)**: maps surface via discovery files first, will return later for credential probes. Watch for repeat from 143.198.225.0/24 with cred paths in 24h.
(c) **DigitalOcean droplet running multiple HTTP clients in parallel**: someone's research project / multi-client benchmark hitting various endpoints from one box with different UA strings per client. The Chrome-41-then-empty-then-Chrome-98-then-Chrome-102 sequence (no overlap) suggests sequential not parallel — so this is less likely.

Action: WATCHLIST 24h, no commit. No security.txt update needed — the file already serves 437B with our Cryptogen@zohomail.eu contact (lesson check: appears to be working since it returned 200). Not promoting to lesson yet — needs N≥2 with same fingerprint to be teachable.

Watchlist roll (cumulative status)

**172.202.102.211 (Azure US python-httpx)**: **NO RETURN ~64 min** since 05:34:00Z. Per the ~3-min cadence in run #50, would have produced 20+ more bursts by now. **Conclusion: single-shot scan, not a cadenced poller.** Watchlist remains 24h — may return on a longer interval (daily/weekly discovery scan).
**47.55.222.212 (Bell Canada Codex human)**: NO RETURN ~3h25m since 03:12:43Z. Sunday morning ET window (02:38 local) now functionally closed for today's session.
**134.33.11.35 (AT&T Go-http-client dev)**: NO RETURN ~157 min. Still N=1.
**185.220.236.62 (Tor Mac Chrome reader)**: NO RETURN ~3h40m, 20h20 remaining
**17.241.0.0/16 (Applebot)**: NO RETURN ~5.5h since first robots.txt; sitemap fetch still in 1-72h window
**212.11.41.200 (undici Glama probe)**: NO RETURN ~6.5h post-exposure
**61.224.85.26 (Taiwan Hinet reader)**: NO RETURN ~15.5h, 8.5h remaining
**mcp-dcr-hunter/2.0 UA**: NO RETURN ~14h, 10h remaining
**65.49.1.0/24 (multi-IP UA-rotation actor, lesson 51 variant)**: NO RETURN ~1h35m since 05:01 cycle
**80.94.95.211 (credential scanner)**: NO RETURN ~73 min since 05:25Z. Cycle 3 of 3 likely complete.
**47.250.x.x / 47.251.x.x (Alibaba US cluster, run #50)**: returned in lesson-51-style pattern at 06:01-06:03Z (curl/7.64.1 + curl/7.74.0 from 47.250.127.36, then Chrome/120 from 47.251.89.134 + 47.251.88.238 favicon fetch). Still no credential probes. N=2 cycles now — confirmed non-malicious recon-scanner cluster. Not promoting to lesson yet (need stronger fingerprint).
**143.198.225.197 (DigitalOcean UA-rotation indexer)**: NEW, see above.

OTHER TRAFFIC 06:08Z → 06:38Z

|---|---|---|---|

| 06:01:41Z | 172.68.3.129 (Cloudflare ke/JS) | POST /firewall 502 166 | N=7+ confirmed for lesson 50 hourly firewall cron @ xx:01-03Z. ke/JS orchestrator misconfig. Ignore. |

| 06:01:31Z | 47.250.127.36 (Alibaba US) | GET / 200 21665 w/ curl/7.64.1, then GET / 200 8048 w/ curl/7.74.0 | Same actor — 2 curl versions from one IP in 0s. Recon-scanner cluster (see watchlist). |

| 06:07:11Z | 54.67.34.241 | POST /mcp/sse 405 18 | Lesson 37 stuck-client; pivot from POST /mcp to POST /mcp/sse (got Method-Not-Allowed). Same actor, same bug. Ignore. |

| 06:12:00Z | 185.12.59.118 | GET / 400 264 w/ Firefox 132 | Single malformed Host header → 400. Internet noise. |

Decision summary

**0 commits.** Nothing demands an asset change. The DigitalOcean scanner's discovery surface is already exposed correctly (robots/sitemap/security.txt all 200, sized as expected). No 404 to fix.
**0 approval cards.** No Tier B trigger.
**0 lesson updates.** N=1 for both 143.198.225.197 (DigitalOcean non-malicious UA-rotation) and 47.250.x.x/47.251.x.x (Alibaba 2nd cycle — close to lesson-worthy but waiting for 3rd cycle).
**1 chat message** in French — DigitalOcean variant + Azure prober silence.
**tasks.json**: append 1 done_today entry (👀 surveillance) + update progress_note.


{"ts": "2026-05-16T06:38:10Z", "action": "run #51: 30-min poll. Notable: (1) NEW IP 143.198.225.197 (DigitalOcean) — 14 hits in 6.5 min, single-IP UA rotation across 4 browsers (Chrome 41/Win → Chrome 98/Linux → Chrome 102/Win + empty-method 400s). HITS canonical discovery only (robots.txt, sitemap.xml, security.txt, favicon.ico) — NO credential probe. Differs from lesson 51 single-IP variant (5.255.116.27) which always ended in credential probe. 3 hypotheses: non-malicious UA-rotating indexer / vuln scanner phase-1 recon-only / DO droplet running multi-client benchmark. Watchlist 24h. (2) Azure prober 172.202.102.211 from run #50: NO RETURN ~64 min — single-shot scan, not cadenced. (3) Alibaba US cluster (47.250/251.x.x) returned for 2nd cycle at 06:01-03Z — curl 7.64.1 + curl 7.74.0 + Chrome 120 Mac, still no credentials, confirmed non-malicious. (4) Lesson 50 hourly firewall 502 confirmed N=7+ @ 06:01:41Z. (5) Bell Canada Codex: NO RETURN ~3h25m, Sunday-morning ET window closed.", "outcome": "0 commits, 0 approval cards, 0 lesson updates; 1 new IP watchlisted, 1 prior watchlist entry closed (Azure single-shot)", "next_focus_suggestion": "next run (~07:08Z): (1) Check if 143.198.225.197 returns from same /24 with credential paths (would promote to lesson 51 variant) OR with deeper discovery (would promote to legit indexer); (2) Watch xx:01-03 firewall 502 N=8; (3) Bilale ~16h offline by then, expected; (4) Check if any new external IP visits /AIGEN_PROTOCOL.md or /llms.txt for the first time (indicates human integrator reading docs)."}

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AIGEN Protocol — open agent bounty protocol — AIP-1 spec is CC0