Millions of devices affected by UPnP vulnerability

Posted on Friday, June 12 2020 @ 8:42 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
ARS Technica reports about CallStranger, a new vulnerability that affects billions of router, printers, and other devices that use the the Universal Plug and Play network protocol (UPnP). However, exploitation is only possible if UPnP is exposed to the Internet, which is usually not the case.
CallStranger, as the exploit has been named, is most useful for forcing large numbers of devices to participate in distributed denial of service—or DDoS—attacks that overwhelm third-party targets with junk traffic. CallStranger can also be used to exfiltrate data inside networks even when they’re protected by data loss prevention tools that are designed to prevent such attacks. The exploit also allows attackers to scan internal ports which would otherwise be invisible because they’re not exposed to the Internet.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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