SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
CallStranger vulnerability lets attacks bypass security systems and scan LANs:
A severe vulnerability resides in a core protocol found in almost all internet of things (IoT) devices.
The vulnerability, named CallStranger, allows attackers to hijack smart devices for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, but also for attacks that bypass security solutions to reach and conduct scans on a victim's internal network -- effectively granting attackers access to areas where they normally wouldn't be able to reach.
According to a website dedicated to the CallStranger vulnerability published today, the bug impacts UPnP, which stands for Universal Plug and Play, a collection of protocols that ship on most smart devices.
Also at Ars Technica.
[...] Çadirci says that an attacker can send TCP packets to a remote device that contains a malformed callback header value in UPnP's SUBSCRIBE function.
This malformed header can be abused to take advantage of any smart device that was left connected on the internet, and which supports the UPnP protocols -- such as security cameras, DVRs, printers, routers, and others.
In a CallStranger attack, the hacker effectively targets the device's internet-facing interface, but executes the code on the device's UPnP function, which usually runs on the internally-facing ports only (inside the LAN).
[...] In addition, Çadirci also published proof-of-concept scripts that companies can use to determine if their smart equipment is vulnerable to any of the CallStranger attacks.
The CallStranger security flaw is also tracked as CVE-2020-12695. There are currently around 5.45 million UPnP-capable devices connected to the internet, making this an ideal attack surface for IoT botnets and APTs.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by EJ on Friday June 12 2020, @01:49PM (12 children)
What idiot still has UPnP enabled?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by looorg on Friday June 12 2020, @02:10PM (1 child)
All of them? This seriously, once again for the umpteenth time, brings up the question of whom thought that it was a great idea to bring all these shit devices online? Devices that probably will never be patched, fixed or updated. Yet they stand, or sit, there always connected. They are like little children talking to every stranger with a van and the promise of candy. Possibly worse since they never actually learn anything.
So is anyone surprised anymore when this happens over and over again?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday June 12 2020, @02:15PM
Once upon a time, there were ice cream trucks. Kids would hear them coming, and rush to grab some spare change to buy some ice cream. That was fun.
Now we have creeper vans with signs on the side that say "Free Candy".
But there are also free things that don't have creepers.
Protocols and software projects usually fall into one of the above categories.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DannyB on Friday June 12 2020, @02:12PM
People who prefer the simplicity [wikipedia.org] of no configuration required. True Plug and Play.
Like the simplicity of stuffing a ball of aluminum foil into a light socket with no setup or thinking process required.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snotnose on Friday June 12 2020, @02:12PM (2 children)
The average idiot. Lets be honest, the only ones who know UPnP is bad and can setup a network device without it are us types here. I can't think of a single friend of mine who even knows what UPnP is, let alone configure a network. They just unbox their doohicky, plug it in, and are happy that it works.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @09:42PM (1 child)
Shouldn't it be disabled by default? Someone who needs it should at least be tech savvy enough to know how to enable it.
I go into my routers at home and make sure it's disabled.
Which reminds me, I recently got a new router and I need to check to make sure it's disabled.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday June 12 2020, @10:46PM
You have completely misread this market.
The kind of person who uses UPnP doesn't know what a router is, let alone know they have one in their home.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Fnord666 on Friday June 12 2020, @02:42PM (5 children)
The same people who, not too long ago, had their wireless networks completely open and unsecured because that's the way they came as a product. People just want their stuff to work with a minimum of hassle and vendors want their stuff to work with a minimum of support calls. It's the path of least resistance for all involved. As expected, it's the path of least security as well. What good is that front door cam if I can't watch it when I want to or need to? Until the router vendors provide a wizard that lets consumers click a button that says "I have a new device that needs to connect to the internet" you're going to have UPnP.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @03:11PM (4 children)
Isn't that what WPS does?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @03:33PM
not the OP, but ill answer:
yes, and as long as they only use button WPS profile or whatever its called, and rate limit pin submissions and double the delay after unsuccesful attempt, then yes, WPS can be used securely.
But then theres the rest of the wireless soc.
It really doesnt matter, as there are so many bugs in the hardware... like there's a castle with two hundred paper screen doors in the perimeter walls, thats a wireless SoC.
Choice of particular paper screen door matters less and less.
If the devices wifi chip has power on its power pins, it can be owned, theoretically.
Why, yes, i cut those on all devices i intend to use for somewhat sensitive stuff.
Practically, probably depends on many things, hard to generalise :)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Fnord666 on Friday June 12 2020, @04:55PM (2 children)
Not really. WPS is a simple way of getting a device onto your wireless network without having to manually set up the connection. UPnP on the other hand is for both wired and wireless devices on your network and allows them to negotiate discovery and port access with the router/gateway, including port access outside of your network's perimeter. Through UPnP the device can tell your router to start listening on a port on the internet side of things, allow an inbound connection on that port from the internet and forward that connection to the device.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @05:05PM
I was referring to this part, mostly facetiously, as WPS is a whole 'nother pile of holes like the commenter above noted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @04:50AM
Thank you for the snark-free uPnP summary though. I know what it is but it was still nice to read a clear and concise and technically accurate description.