Internet Router Security Ping!
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Posted on 12/19/2014 9:29:02 PM PST by Swordmaker
Researchers at Check Point have discovered a serious security vulnerability affecting at least 12 million leading-brand home and SME routers that appears to have gone unnoticed for over a decade.
Dubbed the ’Misfortune Cookie’ flaw, the firm plans to give a detailed account of the issue at a forthcoming security conference but in the meantime it’s important to stress that no real-world attacks using it have yet been detected.
That said, an attacker exploiting the flaw would be able to monitor all data travelling through a gateway such as files, emails and logins and have the power to infect connected devices with malware. Man-in-the-middle attacks would also be possible, according to Check Point.
The precise source of the issue is not known - a chipset software development kit (SDK) is suspected - but Check Point warned that up to 200 unpatched models using the RomPager embedded web server software (which uses a remote service called TR-069) prior to version 4.34 were probably vulnerable.
(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...
BKMK
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BOOKbump
Great. So now what?
Install DD-WRT on your router if compatible.
Gads, we’re Neanderthals with technology. Something every single day. We were never prepared to go global and run our economies and personal lives thru all this mish-mash of electronic hooie. For every security geek there are a million ignoramuses to toy with and steal blind, personal as well as businesses and the mega-corporations (see http://marcrogers.org/2014/12/18/why-the-sony-hack-is-unlikely-to-be-the-work-of-north-korea/) And that is nothing considering our bailing-wired and duck-taped electrical grid and infrastructure.
We are so screwed.
It’s not a bug. It’s another NSA feature. BTTT.
Mine is a cell phone and dial-up modem (3G!) as well as a router. DD-WRT has no support for either of those features. Based on the Ralink RT5350F chipset, it is otherwise compatible. (16MB RAM, 4MB SSD-HDD)
The two packages available are for routers without the integrated cellular modem module. (Instead, you plug in a separate modem through a USB interface.)
Good question. So far, no exploits. But are we all going to have to replace our WIFI and Broadband routers? Or can this be ameliorated by a software or a firmware update?
It would be nice if they could list model numbers or something
Bookmark
“Given the popularity of RomPager and the list of affected brands - D-Link, Edimax, Huawei, TP-Link, ZTE, and ZyXEL sold mainly to home users - such pessimism is realistic.”
Check.
It.
Out.
Although this is a dated link (Feb 2014), it talks about how this could be prevented and what happened in Poland.
Thanks for the link to the list.
My LinkSys/Cisco is NOT on the list.
Whew!
Are D-Link routers one of them?
While DD-WRT is stable and reliable, it is not flexible (built cathedral style as a monolithic ROM package). It needs a lot of memory for the full version, which a lot of the cheaper routers don’t have. It has also had its own security vulnerabilities in the past.
I use OpenWRT, which is modular by design (built a la carte style) with a ton of selectable downloadable kernel modules that run on a much wider hardware base and let you implement hardcore network security like full IPsec VPN, DNSSEC, and app-level stateful firewall packet inspection. These features are normally only found in commercial grade routers at 10X the cost.
OpenWRT also has a much more active support community and has way better support for the newer hardware SoCs. However, it is not for newbies, as the modularity does mean you need to have some familiarity with network protocols and standards to know which modules to choose to install.
Sounds like it is easily corrected if you run the most recent firmware/software updates. It’s a problem because most people forget to bother with them or patch them. It works so they kindof forget it’s there.
“You will live in interesti— virus detected! Click here to remove!!!”
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