• 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

China-linked APT Salt Typhoon targets Canadian Telecom companies

 | 

U.S. warns of incoming cyber threats following Iran airstrikes

 | 

McLaren Health Care data breach impacted over 743,000 people

 | 

American steel giant Nucor confirms data breach in May attack

 | 

The financial impact of Marks & Spencer and Co-op cyberattacks could reach £440M

 | 

Iran-Linked Threat Actors Cyber Fattah Leak Visitors and Athletes' Data from Saudi Games

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 50

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 529 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

Iran confirmed it shut down internet to protect the country against cyberattacks

 | 

Godfather Android trojan uses virtualization to hijack banking and crypto apps

 | 

Cloudflare blocked record-breaking 7.3 Tbps DDoS attack against a hosting provider

 | 

Linux flaws chain allows Root access across major distributions

 | 

A ransomware attack pushed the German napkin firm Fasana into insolvency

 | 

Researchers discovered the largest data breach ever, exposing 16 billion login credentials

 | 

China-linked group Salt Typhoon breached satellite firm Viasat

 | 

Iran experienced a near-total national internet blackout

 | 

Malicious Minecraft mods distributed by the Stargazers DaaS target Minecraft gamers

 | 

Healthcare services company Episource data breach impacts 5.4 Million people

 | 

Watch out, Veeam fixed a new critical bug in Backup & Replication product

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Linux Kernel flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 
  • 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
  • BT Wi-Fi extender, extends to XSS and password changing vulnerabilities

BT Wi-Fi extender, extends to XSS and password changing vulnerabilities

Pierluigi Paganini September 22, 2016

Following an investigation by Pen Test Partners, British Telecom (BT) has released a firmware upgrade for their popular range of Wi-Fi extenders.

The investigation uncovered vulnerabilities within the firmware when left the device exposed to possible XSS (Cross Site Scripting) Exploits as well as the ability to change the user’s password without notification.

By combining these flaws it was proved possible to grab the victim’s WPA passphrase following tricking them into visiting a maliciously crafted website from their home network.

BT was quick to offer an upgrade, available here, which resolves the issues. The telecommunications giant were also quick to credit Pen Test Partners, thanking them for the discovery:

“We are grateful to Pen Test Partners for alerting us to this issue. We have been working to address this potential weakness and issued an update which corrected the problem in August 2016. We are not aware of any cases where customers have suffered any issues. Customers should ensure they download the firmware update from the BT website.”
bt-wi-fi-extenders-2

 

The report detailed that a malformed JavaScript could be created and spammed over the local network (if the IP of the extender was unknown), which could be crafted to change the password without ever seeking verification of the previous password, as is standard in many applications.

The var:errorpage parameter within the configuration was also found to be vulnerable, this time to XSS. The device also didn’t validate input or its HTML encoding when it rewrites changes back out to the web page.

Altering cookie parameters also allowed unauthenticated users to glean username and passwords directly.

“The var:errorpage parameter seems to be vulnerable to reflected cross-site scripting because it is not correctly validated on input, nor HTML-encoded when it is written out to the web page again.

Example:

bt-wi-fi-extenders-3

Also, if we try it with document[.]cookie instead of ‘1’, we get to see the username and password.” states the report from Pen Test Partners.

Pen Test Partners combined these vulnerabilities, grabbed the cookies and ended up with the victim’s NAT IP, admin password, SSID as well as their Pre-Shared Key.

The popularity of BT Wi-Fi extenders, as well as, the extent of the vulnerabilities and relative ease of performing this exploit means that all home users without version 1.1.8, if they haven’t done so, should stop what they’re doing, especially if it’s online, and upgrade immediately.

Written by: Steven Boyd

Steven BoydSteven is a security consultant, researcher, ethical hacker and freelance writer with over 16 years of experience in the industry. He has provided security consultancy to some of the world’s biggest banks, the private sector as well as public services and defense. He is the owner and creator of security blog www.CybrViews.com.

Twitter: @CybrViews

 

 

 

 

 

[adrotate banner=”9″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – BT Wi-Fi extenders, hacking)


facebook linkedin twitter

BT Cross-Site Scripting Hacking networking Wi-Fi extender XSS

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini June 24, 2025
China-linked APT Salt Typhoon targets Canadian Telecom companies
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini June 24, 2025
U.S. warns of incoming cyber threats following Iran airstrikes
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

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

    recent articles

    China-linked APT Salt Typhoon targets Canadian Telecom companies

    APT / June 24, 2025

    U.S. warns of incoming cyber threats following Iran airstrikes

    Cyber warfare / June 24, 2025

    McLaren Health Care data breach impacted over 743,000 people

    Data Breach / June 23, 2025

    American steel giant Nucor confirms data breach in May attack

    Data Breach / June 23, 2025

    The financial impact of Marks & Spencer and Co-op cyberattacks could reach £440M

    Cyber Crime / June 23, 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