14 DAY TRIAL // Cybersecurity researchers recently discovered security vulnerabilities in WiFi-enabled devices utilizing Realtek's SDK, hardware used by more than 65 manufacturers of Internet of Things devices.
According to researchers from the German security firm IoT Inspector, the vulnerabilities might affect roughly 200 Internet of Things product lines and hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment. Vulnerable vendors are suspected to include Netgear, Hama, AsusTEK, Belkin, D-Link, Edimax, and Logitech, among others. At the same time, Realtek SDK versions affected by the vulnerabilities, include the different Realtek ‘Jungle' SDK versions, Realtek SDK v2.x, and the Realtek ‘Luna' SDK versions up to and including 1.3.2.
IoT Inspector researchers identified vulnerabilities in the Realtek RTL819xD chip that allow hackers to gain root access to the host device, its operating system, and potentially other devices on the network. The chips provide wireless connectivity for manufacturers' IoT devices and are widely-used in a variety of products, from WiFi routers to IP cameras.
The following vulnerabilities were discovered:
CVE-2021-35394 - A command injection in the MP Daemon diagnostic tool
CVE-2021-35395 – Capable of listing multiple vulnerabilities in the SDKss management web interface
CVE-2021-35392 - A stack buffer overflow in the WiFi Simple Config configuration via UPnP
CVE-2021-35394 - MP Daemon diagnostic tool command injection
Florian Lukavsky, managing director of IoT Inspector stated, "For an exploit to succeed, an attacker usually needs to be on the same Wi-Fi network" [...] "However, faulty ISP configurations also expose numerous vulnerable devices directly to the Internet. A successful attack would provide full control of the Wi-Fi module, as well as root access to the embedded device’s operating system".
Security experts urge users of Realtek SDK and other IoT hardware to update software, allow "optional" security measures and change default credentials when possible.