Pierluigi Paganini
June 08, 2017
Security experts at security firm F-Secure discovered tens of vulnerabilities in tens of thousands of Internet-connected cameras from China-based manufacturer Foscam.
The flaws could be exploited by attackers to take over the Internet-connected cameras, upload and download files from the built-in FTP server, and view video feeds. The devices could be used as an entry point into the target network.
The experts discovered 18 vulnerabilities in two differed camera models available on the market under the brands Foscam C2 and Opticam i5 HD. In both cases, the vulnerabilities are still unpatched despite F-Secure reported the issues to the manufacture several months ago.
“F-Secure’s discovery of multiple flaws in two models of Foscam-made IP cameras is another example of a poorly engineered device that offers attackers an easy target. Should an attacker infiltrate the company network and find such a device, they could infect it with malware that would not only fully compromise the device, but also grant free reign inside the network, including access to network systems and resources.” states the report published by F-Secure.
“Foscam-made IP cameras have multiple vulnerabilities that can lead to full device compromise,” continues the report.“An unauthenticated attacker can persistently compromise these cameras by employing a number of different methods leading to full loss of confidentiality, integrity and availability, depending on the actions of the attacker.”
The experts believe that the same issues may affect 14 other brands that use Foscam internals, including Chacon, 7links, Netis, Turbox, Thomson, Novodio, Nexxt, Ambientcam, Technaxx, Qcam, Ivue, Ebode and Sab.
The vulnerabilities discovered by the experts in the two models of Internet-connected cameras includes:
Experts highlighted that even if the users change the default credentials of the IP cameras they will remain vulnerable to cyber attacks because Foscan is using hard-coded credentials.
“Credentials that have been hard-coded by the manufacturer cannot be changed by the user. If the password is discovered and published on the internet (which often happens) attackers can gain access to the device. And as all devices have the same password, malware attacks such as worms can easily spread between devices.” reads the report published by F-Secure.
The list of flaws includes a Hidden and undocumented Telnet functionality could help attackers use Telnet to discover “additional vulnerabilities in the device and within the surrounding network.”
The experts reported three flaws that cannot be fixed, including built-in file transfer protocol server that contains an empty password, a hidden telnet function and incorrect permissions assigned to programming scripts, could be exploited by remote hackers to gain persistent access to the Internet-connected cameras.
“The empty password on the FTP user account can be used to log in. The hidden Telnet functionality can then be activated. After this, the attacker can access the world-writable (non-restricted) file that controls which programs run on boot, and the attacker may add his own to the list,” F-Secure researchers says.
“This allows the attacker persistent access, even if the device is rebooted. In fact, the attack requires the device to be rebooted, but there is a way to force a reboot as well.”
F-Secure experts suggest users who are running one of these IP cameras to avoid exposing them on the Internet and of course to change default credentials.
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(Security Affairs – Foscam, hacking)
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