New Vulnerability Could Give Mirai the Ability to Survive Device Reboots by Catalin Cimpanu
From the post:
Until now, all malware targeting IoT devices survived only until the user rebooted his equipment, which cleared the device’s memory and erased the malware from the user’s equipment.
Intense Internet scans for vulnerable targets meant that devices survived only minutes until they were reinfected again, which meant that users needed to secure devices with unique passwords or place behind firewalls to prevent exploitation.
New vulnerability allows for permanent Mirai infections
While researching the security of over 30 DVR brands, researchers from Pen Test Partners have discovered a new vulnerability that could allow the Mirai IoT worm and other IoT malware to survive between device reboots, permitting for the creation of a permanent IoT botnet.
“We’ve […] found a route to remotely fix Mirai vulnerable devices,” said Pen Test Partners researcher Ken Munro. “Problem is that this method can also be used to make Mirai persistent beyond a power off reboot.”
Understandably, Munro and his colleagues decided to refrain from publishing any details about this flaw, fearing that miscreants might weaponize it and create non-removable versions of Mirai, a malware known for launching some of the biggest DDoS attacks known today.
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Do security researchers realize concealing vulnerabilities prevents market forces from deciding the fate of insecure systems?
Should security researchers marketing vulnerabilities to manufacturers be more important than the operation market forces on their products?
More important than your right to choose products based on the best and latest information?
Market forces are at work here, but they aren’t ones that will benefit consumers.