UPD EE UK Deploy Partial Fix for BrightBox Broadband Router Security Woes

The fixed line broadband ISP division of mobile giant EE has begun to deploy a crucial firmware update to plug the many holes in its older BrightBox 1 routers. Unfortunately some of the vulnerabilities have yet to be fixed.

Security specialist Scott Helme, after losing faith in EE’s ability to resolve the problems in a timely manner, went public with the flaws last month (here).

The good news is that EE last week began deploying a new firmware update to tackle the problems, but the bad news is that it won’t fix everything.

Scott Helme said (The Register):

“It seems that the update is a two out of three. They fixed the exposure of passwords/usernames/etc and the remote management exploit, but haven’t fixed the CSRF exploit. This means I can still do things like change your router’s DNS servers and then intercept every packet of data that goes through it, factory reset your device, enable Wi-Fi networks etc.

There are also several other less serious security issues that they haven’t addressed that I raised with them including session fixation attacks and session hijacking attacks.”

The provider currently uses a variety of different routers to supply its 700k+ strong fixed line broadband customer base, although so far the primary focus has only been on their BrightBox 1 kit and EE are now shipping BrightBox 2 routers for all of their NEW Fibre customers.

UPDATE 7:17pm

The official line from EE is..

An EE Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:

“We started rolling out a firmware update to our customers last month, following the identification of security issues affecting the software platform that the BrightBox product is built on. This is a phased, remote roll out. All new BrightBox 1 routers shipped now include the new firmware.”

The provider claims that its new firmware was developed and tested as quickly as possible to ensure there was no impact on internet performance for their customers. A second firmware update is already being prepared to plug the CSRF vulnerability.