A research conducted by Cisco Talos researchers indicates that 20 vulnerabilities that affect Samsung’s SmartThings Hub may enable hackers to compromise third-party smart devices. A successful exploit of these vulnerabilities could let attackers connect remotely the devices and obtain sensitive information.
Nowadays more and more people choose to modernize their homes by putting into action Internet of Things (IoT) devices. A recent discovery made by Talos’ researcher Claudio Bozzato is yet another proof that these devices could be subject of unauthorized activities which in turn demands owners to review all security options and update devices to their latest OS version as soon as possible.
20 Vulnerabilities Could Disrupt SmartThings Hub
SmartThings Hub is a Linux-based controller that monitors and manages various internet-of-things (IoT) devices. It allows users to establish a remote connection between their IoT devices and smartphones in order that they could control the devices through the phones. Most of the devices that are typically deployed in smart homes like smart plugs, LED light bulbs, thermostats, cameras and other feature the SmartThings Hub central controller that according to the report is the one vulnerable to unauthorized control.
The discovered vulnerabilities equal 20 and as reported they could be leveraged by hackers for executing compromised OS commands and other arbitrary code on the IoT devices. Furthermore, by leveraging the flaws attackers could obtain sensitive information stored by these devices.
Since some of the flaws might be hard to exploit hackers could combine a few of them to cause a significant attack on the device. A possible scenario of remote information leakage attack is a chain that leverages several vulnerabilities. For it the CVE-2018-3879 needs to be combined with CVE-2018-3926 and CVE-2018-3927.
The first one can be used for the creation of an empty file inside the device which file can be further used by the second flaw to terminate the “hubCore” process. Once this happens the third vulnerability becomes able to trigger an information leak which can be captured from the network.
Here you can see a technical breakdown of all 20 vulnerabilities published by Cisco Talos researchers on Thursday.
Samsung company was informed for the existing security issues and the team behind SmartThings Hub released a firmware advisory on July 9th. To prevent bad intenders from hacking your devices make sure that the system is running the latest version with the proper patches in place. You could find more details about the patches here.
Gergana Ivanova
Highly motivated writer with 5+ years of experience writing for ransomware, malware, adware, PUPs, and other cybersecurity-related issues. As a writer, I strive to create content that is based on thorough technical research. I find joy in the process of creating articles that are easy to understand, informative, and useful. Follow me on Twitter (@IRGergana) for the latest in the field of computer, mobile, and online security.
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