Bitdefender and Checkmarx have each published reports describing remotely exploitable vulnerabilities found by their researchers in popular VStarcam, Loftek and Neo IP cameras.
As part of its research into IoT security, Bitdefender discovered several buffer overflow vulnerabilities affecting the web server service and the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) server of iDoorbell and Neo Coolcam NIP-22 cameras made by China-based Shenzhen Neo Electronics.
A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit the flaws to execute arbitrary code and take control of the vulnerable devices. While they focused on the iDoorbell and Neo Coolcam NIP-22 devices, researchers believe other products sold by the Chinese company are also likely affected.
Based on Shodan scans, Bitdefender believes there are roughly 175,000 unique devices that may be vulnerable to attacks directly from the Internet due to their use of UPnP to open ports.
Checkmarx researchers have analyzed a couple of IP cameras from Loftek and VStarcam and discovered several new vulnerabilities and variations of previously found flaws.
In Loftek’s CXS 2200 camera, experts discovered cross-site request forgery (CSRF) flaws that can be exploited to add new admin users, server-side request forgery (SSRF) flaws that can be used for denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and to find other devices on the local network or the Internet, stored cross-site scripting (XSS) bugs that can be used to execute arbitrary code, and file disclosure vulnerabilities.
In the VStarcam C7837WIP camera, researchers found stored XSS, open redirect, and forced factory reset weaknesses. Both cameras allow attackers to manipulate HTTP responses, which can be useful for conducting XSS, cross-user defacement, cache poisoning and page hijacking attacks.
Checkmarx pointed out that cameras from several manufacturers use very similar hardware and software. An Internet scan conducted using the Shodan search engine revealed more than 1.2 million devices that experts believe are likely vulnerable.
“As our initial scans came to an end, we reached the conclusion that if your camera is connected – you’re definitely at risk,” Checkmarx said in its report. “It’s as simple as that. A malicious user can exploit your device to track your day-to-day, know when you’re home or out, steal your email information, steal your wireless connection, gain control of other connected devices, use your camera as a bot, listen in to your conversations, record video, and more.”
Both Bitdefender and Checkmarx warned that the devices affected by these vulnerabilities can be hijacked and enrolled into a massive botnet such as Mirai. Updates that patch the flaws are not available for most of the vulnerable devices.
Related: Multiple Vulnerabilities Found in Popular IP Cameras
Related: Thousands of IP Cameras Hijacked by Persirai, Other IoT Botnets
Related: Hundreds of Thousands of IP Cameras Exposed to IoT Botnets
Related: Backdoor Found in Many Sony Security Cameras
Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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