Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Embedded "Security" with IPMI and UPnP

First, let me say that I've been outspoken about UPnP on gateway devices since UPnP was first released - it is simply a Bad IdeaTM.

Recently released information on an IPMI vulnerability involving UPnP on server motherboards has been published by Cari.net here.  Basically, it details how the BMC authentication details of almost 32,000 servers are available online, easily, in plain text - from the servers themselves.  Add to this the older Linux kernel versions some BMCs were running (any old version of any operating system will contain unpatched vulnerabilities that can be exploited for nefarious purposes) and you have a great recipe for easy and effective hacking of servers.

Not good.  Not good at all.

So, again, can I ask that people administering systems actually do their jobs properly and keep up to date with patches and updates and - particularly - disable vulnerable services from gateway devices and implement decent firewall rules to limit access to systems that are supposed to be protected behind these firewalls.


Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

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