From Bad to Worse: Firmware Vulnerability Detection with the Centrifuge Platform
By Craig Heffner | August 13, 2018
A vulnerability published for the TP-Link WL-WA850RE WiFi Range Extender recently caught our attention and warranted further investigation. It’s a command injection bug, typical for many low-cost consumer embedded systems. It’s a valid bug, allowing a remote attacker complete access to the device, but it requires administrative credentials to exercise the vulnerable code. Using the Centrifuge Platform, we found that there is a much more serious bug that allows a remote attacker to completely control the device even without prior knowledge of the administrative credentials.
What is particularly worrisome is that these vulnerabilities aren’t limited to attackers with LAN or WLAN access. This vulnerability affects multiple TP-Link products, including many devices that are connected to the Internet and therefore susceptible to remote attack!
… if you own one of these devices, especially if it is remotely accessible from the internet, assume that you’ve been compromised. Either put the device behind a NAT/Firewall or replace the device with one from a more reputable vendor.
Read the full article here
Michael Horowitz has added an explanation on routersecurity.org
It appears that little, if any, work has been done by either researchers or TP-LInk into whether other devices are affected by these bugs. TP-Link was told of all this but there are, as of now, no patches.
