Cable Haunt is the code name assigned to represent two separate

vulnerabilities Vulnerability refers to "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally." A window of vulnerability (WOV) is a time frame within which defensive measures are diminished, com ...

that affect many of the

cable modems A cable modem is a type of network bridge that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), radio frequency over glass (RFoG) and coaxial cable infrastructure. Cable modems are primari ...

in use around the world in 2020. These vulnerabilities allow an attacker to obtain external access to a cable modem and perform any number of activities intended to modify the operation of, or monitor the data passing through a cable modem. The problem lies with the Broadcom system-on-a-chip, which is used in many cable modems, specifically with the software running the spectrum analyzer, which protects against any power surges in the cable signal. It exposes an unsecured

WebSockets WebSocket is a computer communications protocol, providing full-duplex communication channels over a single TCP connection. The WebSocket protocol was standardized by the IETF as in 2011. The current API specification allowing web applications ...

interface that Cable Haunt can reach using

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...

run in a victim's browser. Modems impacted by Cable Haunt give remote attackers full (kernel level) control over the cable modem, allowing them to potentially: * Modify or install new firmware on the modem * Change the modem's

DNS The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned to ...

server to redirect outbound traffic * Enlist the modem in a

Distributed Denial of Service In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host conne ...

attack (DDoS) * Modify the modem

MAC address A media access control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (NIC) for use as a network address in communications within a network segment. This use is common in most IEEE 802 networking tec ...

or serial number * Disable patching and updating functions * Use a

man-in-the-middle attack In cryptography and computer security, a man-in-the-middle, monster-in-the-middle, machine-in-the-middle, monkey-in-the-middle, meddler-in-the-middle, manipulator-in-the-middle (MITM), person-in-the-middle (PITM) or adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) ...

to skim data Most home and small businesses obtain their cable modems directly from their

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...

s (ISPs). In situations where ISPs control the patching and firmware updating processes, subscribers must wait for cable providers to receive updated firmware from manufacturers and push it down to each individual modem. Cable companies were initially slow to respond to this threat, but now are actively working to get updates for customers. On January 19, 2020 Schrock Innovations, a computer repair company based in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

, released executable programs for x64

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

systems and OS X systems based on Lyrebirds' original JavaScript. These programs allowed less technically advanced users the ability to test their own connections. Users of the programs were instructed to contact their ISP if their modem was vulnerable in order to increase public pressure for patches to be created in order to address the vulnerability.

References

Further reading