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Zero-Day Bugs In Numerous Modems/Routers Could Compromise Millions of Users (softpedia.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers have discovered a large number of zero-day flaws in 8 routers/modems from 4 manufacturers (ZTE, Huawei, Gemtek, Quanta) that would allow attackers to build a huge botnet by leveraging just a few exploits. Vulnerabilities include remote code execution, firmware rewrites, XSS, and CSRF. All these allow attackers to intercept both HTTP and HTTPS Web traffic, infect computers beyond the modem, intercept SMS messages, and detect the modem's geographical location. After six months, manufacturers have failed to fix the issues.
This is why the ability to install secure and Open Source firmware like OpenWrt is so important.
https://openwrt.org/
Cue those calls continuing to fall on deaf ears.
I mean, let's face it, barring something cataclysmic this just ain't going to happen.
Arguably there are trade secrets contained within the firmware, which could be exploited by competitors. Motorola wouldn't want Xoom to find out that a commonly used algorithm for dealing with DOCSIS comms is in fact less efficient than another one they dug up, nullifying their competitive edge. And likewise D-Link wouldn't want you to find out that there's a critical problem with their router that can't be fixed in firmware. So they're going to fight this.
Auditable firmware would also expose management controls used by telecoms and ISPs. This would expose their capabilities, and how they work. People wouldn't just know how far reaching these controls are, but also how limited they are. It could raise the specter or nefarious people reverse engineering access to those controls, and doing things they aren't supposed to do. So they're going to fight it too.
Then there are legislative bodies. Auditable firmware could not only expose any backdoors that are currently in use, but expose any they try to implement in the future. So they're going to do what politicians do best and try to sweep the whole thing under the rug.
This leaves us, thankfully, with at least one ally: The FCC, who have said they will not be blocking the use of third party firmware on wireless devices, so at least we can still retreat to open sourced firmware wherever possible, instead of relying on others to open up code for us.
Rawr
These are low-end routers distributed "for free" to new telco customers. Since the modems are free, people eat them up. Telcos usually buy them in boats, not crates. I worked for an ISP where the engineers were sad because the company just bought an entire boat of Huawei routers they had to configure.
Huawei makes a cellular wireless router modem that i was just supporting for a customer last week. Cost like $400 bucks, takes a sim card and i was getting like 80mbps over LTE network. This is for a contractor who works in the field out of their truck. So they are out there, even if they arent as common in the consumer arena as netgear or linksys.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
LOL .. in Soviet Russia, technology fucks you!!
And everywhere else in the world.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
No freakin' way. They should switch to systemd instead.
More and more I tend to think the number one protector of consumer and small business gateways is the wall wart, which predictably fails every 2-5 years, giving the appearance of a new device being needed, thus another temporary improvement in security. I suspect that one day, a clever malware maker will figure out how to grab voltage and current in the device and inform the users a new power supply is required.
Personally, I run pfSense on an Atom board with numerous NICs.
I once took an excursion to Reddit, and later HN. Unlimited up/down voting sucks when dealing with a hive-mind.
I was going to point out that they are all Chinese companies (and imply something insidious) but 2 of them are Taiwanese and there's no way that they would help the Chinese government.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
As an IT professional this is why I always stress using Cisco equipment for home networking equipment. A good example is the Cisco RV325 router, or the Cisco RV180W for wireless that are both strong in design, and reasonably priced for home use.
But apparently you can't use punctuation in the router's password.
Huawei supply a lot of ISPs with routers in the UK ; TalkTalk, amongst others.
oh no.
"After six months, manufacturers have failed to fix the issues."
That kind of crap will eventually cause Congress to enact legislation to make manufacturers liable for unpatched vulnerabilities.
Disclaimer: I worked in the past for a cable operator... What the article does fail to mention is that once there is: 1st) Once there is an update, the ISP provider upgrades all of the modems REMOTELY. 2nd and for more important. Normally the (cable modem) routers are in a protected network with PRIVATE IP addresses. So if you are using a model that does not doubles up as router, you are good. If you do that, the modem usually is crappy and slow anyway, disable the routing function, buy your own router, and put it only doing bridging.
So Soviet Earth?
Rawr
TFA tells about intercepting HTTPS. How does a modem-router flaw allow that, since HTTPS is an end to end protection?
So the Router firmware that everyone here coos about actually uses a sucky firewall?
Netfilter != pf.
Typical F/OSS Fail.
So pick another one like http://www.smallwall.org/ or http://www.pfsense.org/ or whatever. The nice thing about FOSS is choice.
So the Router firmware that everyone here coos about actually uses a sucky firewall? Netfilter != pf. Typical F/OSS Fail.
So pick another one like http://www.smallwall.org/ or http://www.pfsense.org/ or whatever. The nice thing about FOSS is choice.
But that's like saying you really only have one choice: Both smallwall and pfsense are simply Derivatives of the now-abandoned (like so many other F/OSS Projects), M0n0wall.
And since smallwall's main focus is "Small and Lean", rather than "Robust and Complete", I would think that using it wouldn't be a step "up" in the world of firewall-dom.
As far as pfsense goes, I can't figure out where it lives, since it is considered a Derivative of m0n0wall, but yet it lists pf as a dependancy. So??? Heck, even iOS runs pf (which I actually found amazing). What is OpenWRT's problem?
M0n0wall was shut down when Manual decided that he wanted a life again. :) SmallWall is a continuation of the M0n0wall code base. pfSense was a fork that went with pf and a plugin architecture to allow expandability, while M0n0wall and SmallWall want to remain more focused.
And while it is small and lean, it have the enterprise firewall features you would expect like VPN support.