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Australia's Biggest Telco Sold Routers With Hardcoded Passwords

Posted by Unknown on from the who-released-the-debug-build dept.

mask.of.sanity writes "Hardcoded usernames and passwords have been discovered in a recent line of Telstra broadband routers that allow attackers access to customer networks. The flaws meant customer unique passwords could be bypassed to access the device administrative console and LAN."

6 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Comcast routers by ppanon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You think that a company that is going to hardcode the SSID/WPA password into firmware updates (instead of keeping your current settings) would go to the trouble of customizing a different firmware file for each user so that they can get a high security hardcoded default? Really?

    --
    Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
  2. Not surprised at all. by crafty.munchkin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Telstra are a notoriously dodgy company with a history of being idiots when it comes to customer's privacy and account security. Have a read of this for one of their latest privacy blunders...

    --
    ... wait, what?
  3. Re:If you have a MAC... by green1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I install ADSL service for a Largish telco. I am always THRILLED when someone brings out a computer that isn't running windows. The reason? Windows machines support our company's software install, which is mandatory, can't be skipped, and takes 15 mins+ to install the first time you open a browser. However, if you are using a Mac, or Linux, or various other devices, the software install fails right away, gives you a warning telling you that your system doesn't meet our minimum requirements, and then without further ado activates the connection so everything works. Net benefit is that it saves me 15+ minutes, and the customers are happier because they don't have 4 more programs installed on their desktop!

  4. Re:Comcast routers by WaffleMonster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    No one serious about security would use Comcast anyway.

    Like your choice of ISP magically changes the reality of Internet being a fully untrusted and untrustworthy network.

    Always assume your pipe is compromised and use end-to-end security if you care about the confidentiality and integrity of any data you transmit over the Internet.

    I don't know anyone in the tech field that uses them

    LOL I know of many network engineers who work for first and second tier operators who use comcast at home.

    CenturyLink is so reliable that they own the market for professionals. I used Comcast for a while, but the 200+ msec ping made SSH unusable

    YMMV... my pings are about 30ms to google and 20ms when using comcast as a WAN link to our corporate office.

    like everyone else that needs a reliable connection, gave up on them years ago. They don't try and don't care.

    These comments are pointless. If you look for it there will always be someone saying megaco x is horrible because y happened or megaco a is great because b happened. Our personal experiences mean squat. You would be on better footing by citing the results of a customer satisfaction survey.

  5. HP printer firmware upgrade via print ? by johnjones · · Score: 3, Interesting

    are you serious ?

    so your telling me that I can screw your entire print service and DOS it by sending it a print job ?

    is this only over USB or Networked as well ?

    (this is not a bad solution to upgrade the firmware but I bet they dont sign their firmware only use a magic hexcode to initiate the upgrade )

    regards

    John

    1. Re:HP printer firmware upgrade via print ? by dbIII · · Score: 3, Interesting

      so your telling me that I can screw your entire print service and DOS it by sending it a print job ?

      That sounds like HP all right. A simple nmap portscan kills their Jetdirect cat5 to parallel boxes dead. Not factory reset dead, but desolder a chip and replace it with a new one dead.