In this article, we list the eleven most important security issues faced by IoT devices. We will review them from the most severe though to the least. It is worth noting that the six most severe issues were used in an actual attack, or to demonstrate proof-of-concept of a vulnerability.

The security of IoT devices has been a cause for concern for some time and has had the inevitable consequence of allowing both small- and large-scale attacks. Most of these attacks originate from simple security problems, for example, the retention of default passwords on a telnet service. The Dutch Radiocommunications Agency wants to impose security requirements on IoT devices and their manufacturers, and asked Qbit for advice.

This article was published in September 2020 on the site of my employer at the time, Qbit. Since that site no longer exists, I published it again here in 2024.

1. Incorrect access control

Services offered by an IoT device should only be accessible by the owner and the people in their immediate environment whom they trust. However, this is often insufficiently enforced by the security system of a device.

IoT devices may trust the local network to such level that no further authentication or authorisation is required. Any other device that is connected to the same network is also trusted. This is especially a problem when the device is connected to the Internet: everyone in the world can now potentially access the functionality offered by the device.

A common problem is that all devices of the same model are delivered with the same default password (e.g. “admin” or “password123”). The firmware and default settings are usually identical for all devices of the same model. Because the credentials for the device – assuming that, as is often the case, they are not changed by the user - are public knowledge, they can be used to gain access to all devices in that series.

IoT devices often have a single account or privilege level, both exposed to the user and internally. This means that when this privilege is obtained, there is no further access control. This single level of protection fails to protect against several vulnerabilities.

2. Overly large attack surface

Each connection that can be made to a system provides a new set of opportunities for an attacker to discover and exploit vulnerabilities. The more services a device offers over the Internet, the more services can be attacked. This is known as the attack surface. Reducing the attack surface is one of the first steps in the process of securing a system.

A device may have open ports with services running that are not strictly required for operation. An attack against such an unnecessary service could easily be prevented by not exposing the service. Services such as Telnet, SSH or a debug interface may play an important role during development but are rarely necessary in production.

3. Outdated software

As vulnerabilities in software are discovered and resolved, it is important to distribute the updated version to protect against the vulnerability. This means that IoT devices must ship with up-to-date software without any known vulnerabilities, and that they must have update functionality to patch any vulnerabilities that become known after the deployment of the device.

For example, the malware Linux.Darlloz was first discovered late 2013, and worked by exploiting a bug reported and fixed more than a year earlier.

4. Lack of encryption

When a device communicates in plain text, all information being exchanged with a client device or backend service can be obtained by a ‘Man-in-the-Middle’ (MitM). Anyone who is capable of obtaining a position on the network path between a device and its endpoint can inspect the network traffic and potentially obtain sensitive data such as login credentials. A typical problem in this category is using a plain-text version of a protocol (e.g. HTTP) where an encrypted version is available (HTTPS). A Man-in-the-Middle attack where the attacker secretly accesses, and then relays communications, possibly altering this communication, without either parties being aware.

Even when data is encrypted, weaknesses may be present if the encryption is not complete or configured incorrectly. For example, a device may fail to verify the authenticity of the other party. Even though the connection is encrypted, it can be intercepted by a Man-in-the-Middle attacker.

Sensitive data that is stored on a device (at rest) should also be protected by encryption. Typical weaknesses are lack of encryption by storing API tokens or credentials in plain text on a device. Other problems are the usage of weak cryptographic algorithms or using cryptographic algorithms in unintended ways.

5. Application vulnerabilities

Acknowledging that software contains vulnerabilities in the first place is an important step in securing IoT devices. Software bugs may make it possible to trigger functionality in the device that was not intended by the developers. In some cases, this can result in the attacker running their own code on the device, making it possible to extract sensitive information or attack other parties.

Like all software bugs, security vulnerabilities are impossible to avoid completely when developing software. However, there are methods to avoid well-known vulnerabilities or reduce the possibility of vulnerabilities. This includes best practices to avoid application vulnerabilities, such as consistently performing input validation.

6. Lack of Trusted Execution Environment

Most IoT devices are effectively general-purpose computers that can run specific software. This makes it possible for attackers to install their own software that has functionality that is not part of the normal functioning of the device. For example, an attacker may install software that performs a DDoS attack. By limiting the functionality of the device and the software it can run, the possibilities to abuse the device are limited. For example, the device can be restricted to connect only to the vendor’s cloud service. This restriction would make it ineffective in a DDoS attack since it can no longer connect to arbitrary target hosts.

To limit the software a device can run, code is typically signed with a cryptographic hash. Since only the vendor has the key to sign the software, the device will only run software distributed by the vendor. This way, an attacker can no longer run arbitrary code on a device.

To totally restrict the code run on the device, code signing must also be implemented in the boot process, with the help of hardware. This can be difficult to implement correctly. So called ‘jailbreaks’ in devices such as the Apple iPhone, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Switch are the result of errors in the implementation of trusted execution environments.

7. Vendor security posture

When security vulnerabilities are found, the reaction of the vendor greatly determines the impact. The vendor has a role to receive input on potential vulnerabilities, develop a mitigation, and update devices in the field. The vendor security posture is often determined by whether the vendor has a process in place to adequately handle security issues.

The consumer mainly perceives the vendor security posture as improved communication with the vendor in relation to security. When a vendor does not provide contact information or instructions how to take action in case of reporting a security issue, it will likely not help to mitigate the issue.

Without knowledge of limitations, end users will continue to use the device in the method intended. This may result in a less secure environment. Vendors could make things easier for customers by advising of the frequency of device security updates, and how to securely dispose or resell the device so that sensitive data is not passed on.

8. Insufficient privacy protection

Consumer devices typically store sensitive information. Devices that are deployed on a wireless network store the password of that network. Cameras can provide a video and audio recording of the home in which they are deployed. If this information were accessed by attackers, it would amount to a severe privacy violation.

IoT devices and related services should handle sensitive information correctly, securely, and only after consent of the end-user of the device. This applies to both storage and distribution of sensitive information.

In case of privacy protection, the vendor plays an important role. Other than an external attacker, the vendor or an affiliated party may be responsible for a privacy breach. The vendor or service provider of an IoT device could, without explicit consent, gather information on consumer behaviour for purposes like market research. Several cases are known where IoT devices, for instance smart televisions, may be listening in on conversations within a household.

9. Intrusion ignorance

When a device is compromised, it often keeps functioning normally from the viewpoint of the user. Any additional bandwidth or power usage is usually not detected. Most devices do not have logging or alerting functionality to notify the user of any security problems. If they have, these can be overwritten or disabled when the device is hacked. The result is that users rarely discover that their device is under attack or has been compromised, preventing them from taking mitigating measures.

10. Insufficient physical security

If attackers have physical access to a device, they can open the device and attack the hardware. For example, by reading the contents of the memory components directly, any protecting software can be bypassed. Furthermore, the device may have debugging contacts, accessible after opening up the device, that provide an attacker with additional possibilities.

Physical attacks have an impact on a single device and require physical interaction. Since it not possible to perform these attacks en-masse from the Internet, we do not recognize this as one of the biggest security problems, but it is nevertheless included.

A physical attack can be impactful if it uncovers a device key that is shared amongst all devices of the same model, and thus compromises a wide range of devices. However, in that case we consider sharing the key amongst all devices to be the more important problem, not physical security.

11. User interaction

Vendors can encourage secure deployment of their devices by making it easy to configure them securely. By giving proper attention to usability, design, and documentation, users can be nudged into configuring secure settings.

There is partial overlap between this category and other categories listed above. For example, the problem of incorrect access control mentioned above includes using unsafe or default passwords. One way to solve this is to make the user interaction with the device such that it is very easy or even mandatory to configure a secure password.

For most of the above security categories, it is difficult for a non-technical user to evaluate whether a device meets the requirement. However, user interaction can, by definition, be perceived by the end-user, and so the consumer can evaluate how well a device performs on user interaction.

User interaction is an important category to make sure implemented security measures are activated and correctly used. If it is possible to change the default password, but the user does not know or cannot discover the functionality, it is useless.

Conclusion

The top security problems are without a doubt related to access control and exposed services. Furthermore, IoT devices should implement best-practice security measures such as encryption. Vendors can facilitate secure use of their products by providing documentation and interacting with users and security professionals. To make it harder for attackers, devices should be physically secured. Finally, if a device is compromised it should reject programs supplied by the attacker, and notify its user that something is wrong.

Focussing on these problems can certainly improve the state of security of IoT devices. To solve these problems, Qbit recommends vendors to follow a security framework, or at least implement the eight proposed essential requirements for securing consumer IoT devices. We will examine security frameworks in part 3 of this blog.