Do You Have This Smart Garage Door Opener? Disconnect It Now
If you own a smart garage door controller from Nexx, consider pulling the plug. It has a major security hole that makes it relatively easy for a hacker to remotely open connected doors.
“Anyone can open garage doors belonging to others from anywhere in the world,” says security researcher Sam Sabetan about the threat, which Motherboard first reported(Opens in a new window).
Sabetan discovered the vulnerability in the mobile app for the garage door controller, Nexx Home. The app will exchange a password with Nexx’s cloud services while establishing a connection to the garage door controller.
Ideally, a unique password would be generated for each garage door controller, but Sabetan says Nexx’s system relies on a “universal password” that applies across all devices.
The other problem is that the shared universal password will leak via Nexx’s API and in the firmware shipped with the devices. Sabetan was able to use the password to access the Nexx “MQTT” server that manages remote connections to the garage door controllers.
“Upon gaining access, I discovered that all MQTT messages were being broadcasted universally, including those intended for other customers and devices,” he wrote in a report(Opens in a new window).
Sabetan published a video(Opens in a new window) demonstrating the threat. It shows him first logging into Nexx’s smart home app and using it to open a garage door controller normally. During this process, Sabetan uses a tool to capture over 500 messages sent over Nexx’s MQTT server, including details about garage controllers belonging to other customers.
“User emails, device IDs, and first names with last initials are being broadcasted in the ‘garageDoorOpener’ message,” he added. “This meant that it was
Read more on pcmag.com
