Creating a Smart Home Router Security

Goals

Identify and assess potential security vulnerabilities in a TP-Link router. Analyze the extracted firmware to understand the inner workings of the device and identify potential weaknesses. Leverage CVE databases to discover known vulnerabilities associated with the specific TP-Link router model.

The project will investigate a TP-Link router and focus on the following identified CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures):

  • CVE-2018-6692
  • CVE-2018-6832
  • CVE-2017-14491
  • CVE-2019-9483
  • CVE-2018-20100

It’s important to note that without further details about the specific TP-Link router model, it is difficult to determine the exact impact of these CVEs. However, these identified CVEs can serve as a starting point for the security analysis.

Phased Approach

Phase 1: Network Security
  • The firmware we installed on the router uses the “iptables” Linux firewall.
  • Configure iptables for traffic filtering and forwarding traffic to the relevant destinations.
Phase 2: Web Security Security
  • Second most prevalent in OWASP Top 10.
  • Inserted vulnerable code for the WebUI on the router.
  • Teaching hands-on exploitation and mitigation techniques.
Phase 3: Firmware Security
  • Exploiting “dnsmasq 2.70” which is vulnerable to Buffer (Heap) overflow.
  • Get root access and complete control over the device.