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posted by Fnord666 on Monday July 19 2021, @04:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the pwned dept.

For years, a backdoor in popular KiwiSDR product gave root to project developer:

KiwiSDR is hardware that uses a software-defined radio to monitor transmissions in a local area and stream them over the Internet. A largely hobbyist base of users does all kinds of cool things with the playing-card-sized devices. For instance, a user in Manhattan could connect one to the Internet so that people in Madrid, Spain, or Sydney, Australia, could listen to AM radio broadcasts, CB radio conversations, or even watch lightning storms in Manhattan.

On Wednesday, users learned that for years, their devices had been equipped with a backdoor that allowed the KiwiSDR creator—and possibly others—to log in to the devices with administrative system rights. The remote admin could then make configuration changes and access data not just for the KiwiSDR but in many cases to the Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black, or other computing devices the SDR hardware is connected to.

Archived copy of the story.


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  • (Score: 2) by Common Joe on Tuesday July 20 2021, @09:03AM (3 children)

    by Common Joe (33) <{common.joe.0101} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday July 20 2021, @09:03AM (#1158194) Journal

    I can have the piece of mind that at least my junk won't show up on the web. It's too bad other data paths aren't so easy to secure.

    Given the choice between someone seeing my junk and someone hearing what I have to say in private to my spouse or friends, I'd rather someone see my junk.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday July 20 2021, @10:50AM (2 children)

    by driverless (4770) on Tuesday July 20 2021, @10:50AM (#1158213)

    Given the choice between someone seeing my junk and someone hearing what I have to say in private to my spouse or friends, I'd rather someone see my junk.

    I've seen it and trust me, it's not that exciting, a bit like a penis, only smaller.

    And for fsck's sake change the default password on your webcam.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by Common Joe on Tuesday July 20 2021, @11:45AM (1 child)

      by Common Joe (33) <{common.joe.0101} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday July 20 2021, @11:45AM (#1158225) Journal

      Er... I believe that was my point. It's not exciting. And the reason why my password is "12345" is because once government agents see what I'm offering, they're less inclined to listen to my microphone because they're being rushed to the ER. My password is actually a security feature.

      I'm very disappointed in you. This is SoylentNews for crying out loud. We don't come here for the pics. We come here to discuss relevant topics. Hack my microphone and then we can discuss something important like which episode of ST:TNG I watched last night or if my cat threw up again.

      • (Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday July 20 2021, @01:09PM

        by driverless (4770) on Tuesday July 20 2021, @01:09PM (#1158238)

        Oh, you're not the guy whose password is "hunter2"? Sorry, my bad, I was referring to his junk, not yours.