• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

North Korea-linked threat actors spread macOS NimDoor malware via fake Zoom updates

 | 

Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits

 | 

Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

 | 

A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

 | 

China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

 | 

Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach

 | 

Europol shuts down Archetyp Market, longest-running dark web drug marketplace

 | 

Kelly Benefits data breach has impacted 550,000 people, and the situation continues to worsen as the investigation progresses

 | 

Cisco removed the backdoor account from its Unified Communications Manager

 | 

U.S. Sanctions Russia's Aeza Group for aiding crooks with bulletproof hosting

 | 

Qantas confirms customer data breach amid Scattered Spider attacks

 | 

CVE-2025-6554 is the fourth Chrome zero-day patched by Google in 2025

 | 

U.S. CISA adds TeleMessage TM SGNL flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

A sophisticated cyberattack hit the International Criminal Court

 | 

Esse Health data breach impacted 263,000 individuals

 | 

Europol dismantles €460M crypto scam targeting 5,000 victims worldwide

 | 

CISA and U.S. Agencies warn of ongoing Iranian cyber threats to critical infrastructure

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Citrix NetScaler flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Canada bans Hikvision over national security concerns

 | 

Denmark moves to protect personal identity from deepfakes with new copyright law

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Hacking
  • Security
  • More than 135 million ARRIS cable modems vulnerable to remote attacks

More than 135 million ARRIS cable modems vulnerable to remote attacks

Pierluigi Paganini April 08, 2016

Attackers can exploit the flaws in the ARRIS SURFboard cable modems to remotely knock out the device, more than 135 million device open to attacks.

The security expert David Longenecker reported security vulnerabilities affecting the popular broadband cable SURFboard modems produced by the ARRIS (formerly Motorola). The ARRIS  SB6141 model is available for sale for around $70 US, it is able to support over 150 megabit speeds and works with all almost every US Internet provider.

Attackers can exploit the flaws in the ARRIS SURFboard modems to remotely knock out the device for a period of time that could reach 30 minutes, more than 135 million devices are at risk.

The attackers can rebooting the SURFboard modems remotely without authentication due to the presence of cross-site request forgery vulnerability.

“Rebooting one remotely is so easy, it doesn’t even require a password.” states Longenecker in a blog post. “Certain SURFboard modems have an unauthenticated cross site request forgery flaw. The modems have a static IP address that is not consumer-changeable, and the web UI does not require authentication – no username or password is required to access the administration web interface.” 

ARRIS cable modems - SB6141 model

An unauthenticated attacker can access the user interface of the cable modems. A local attacker can access the administration web interface (192.168.100.1)  without being authenticated.

“With access to a local network, it is a trivial matter to reboot the modem serving that network, causing a denial of service while the modem reboots. Granted the modem only takes about 3 minutes to reboot, but for those three minutes, Internet access is offline. Additionally, activity sensitive to network outages (long downloads or remote desktop sessions, for example) may abort. 192.168.100.1/reset.htm” added the expert.

ARRIS cable modems -SB6141-model web interface

This means that a local attacker is able to restart the device, same result is possible to obtain if he uses a social engineering trick to convince the victim into clicking the following link:

http://192.168.100.1/cmConfigData.htm?BUTTON_INPUT1=Reset+All+Defaults

This reset of the cable modems is a time-consuming process that can take as long as a half hour and that in some cases could need the support of the internet service provider (ISP) to restore the normal operation.

Longenecker discovered a second flaw, a cross site request forgery (CSRF), in the SURFboard modems that could be abused by attackers to launch the above command without using the device user interface.

“In this case, the intended design is for a user to access the SURFboard administration interface, and then click a link to execute a reboot. The application though does not verify that the command was issued from the administration UI. When an application does not verify that a command was issued from within the application, the possibility of CSRF exists.”

“Did you know that a web browser doesn’t really care whether an “image” file is really an image? Causing a modem to reboot is as simple as including an “image” in any other webpage you might happen to open – which is exactly the approach taken on the RebootMyModem.net proof of concept:

<img src=”http://192.168.100.1/reset.htm”>

Of course it’s not a real image, but the web browser doesn’t know that until it requests the file from the modem IP address – which of course causes the modem to reboot. Imagine creating an advertisement with that line of code, and submitting it to a widely-used ad network…”

The good news is that the vulnerabilities are easy to patch, the vendor just needs to issue a firmware update that implements an authentication mechanism for the reboot and reset of the cable modems, and implement a mechanism to prevent CSRF attacks.

The bad news is that cable modems could not be upgraded by the end-user, instead the patches have to be distributed by ISP once it is available … and we all know the problems related to patch management processes.

UPDATE April 12, 2016

“ARRIS recently addressed the reported GUI access issue with a firmware update. We are in the process of working with our Service Provider customers to make this release available to subscribers.  There is no risk of access to any user data, and we are unaware of any exploits. “

“According to the experts of the company, the active population of modems impacted by the issue is less than 10 percent of the initially reported 135M number”

[adrotate banner=”9″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Arris cable modems, hacking)


facebook linkedin twitter

Arris cable modems CSRF Hacking SURFboard modems

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 05, 2025
North Korea-linked threat actors spread macOS NimDoor malware via fake Zoom updates
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 04, 2025
Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    North Korea-linked threat actors spread macOS NimDoor malware via fake Zoom updates

    Malware / July 05, 2025

    Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits

    Security / July 04, 2025

    Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

    Laws and regulations / July 04, 2025

    A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

    Malware / July 04, 2025

    China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

    APT / July 03, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT