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Evaluating the cost of a DDoS attack

A Wi-Fi security flaw leaves Virgin Media subscribers' wireless connections vulnerable to takeover by hackers.

The vulnerability, identified by IT consultant Paul Moore, means Virgin Media Superhub router/modem combo devices leak users' passwords every time they reboot. The issue arises because the Netgear-manufactured device initially brings up the wireless network without any form of encryption, allowing it to accidentally leak its Wi-Fi password in the clear to anyone nearby.

"After the seven-second window, the router takes the Wi-Fi card offline, enables encryption and brings the card back up," Moore explains. "Thatd be great, if we hadnt already broadcast the encryption key to everyone nearby.

Moore added:

Moore warns that hackers can take advantage of the vulnerability by forcing a device within range to reboot before snaffling the password. He wrote a proof-of-concept script that could automate this task while acting as a worm going from one router to another.

Successful exploitation of the trick, which is far from reliable, would allow miscreants to get up to all sorts of mischief, such as redirecting surfers from genuine websites to fraudulent versions in order to browse the hard drives of victims on the compromised networks. Hackers could even use a compromised connection to access illegal material in someone else's name.

The vulnerability is limited to the Netgear VMDG485 hub, supplied to Virgin Media customers as SuperHub2. The flaw means that, during the short time the device is booting up, it might be possible for someone physically nearby to gain access to its administrative settings web page and Wi-Fi passphrase, which is sent in the clear during the unencrypted window.

Fortunately the attack would be difficult to pull off in practice - and is easily prevented by changing the default password, which Virgin encourages all its customers to do when they are first installed. Virgin is working with Netgear to develop and test a software update to automate the process of making the changes.

It's unclear even approximately when a firmware update is likely to become available. Netgear has yet to respond to El Reg's query on this point.

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