Exploiting zero days in abandoned hardware

[carlospolop]

🤖 Automated Content Update

This PR was automatically generated by the HackTricks News Bot based on a technical blog post.

📝 Source Information

• Blog URL: https://blog.trailofbits.com/2025/07/25/exploiting-zero-days-in-abandoned-hardware/
• Blog Title: Exploiting zero days in abandoned hardware
• Suggested Section: generic-methodologies-and-resources/hardware-firmware-exploitation (or a new “IoT Hardware Exploitation” subsection)

🎯 Content Summary

Technical Summary of DistrictCon Junkyard 2025 Exploits

Overview

At DistrictCon’s Junkyard competition, researchers targeted two end-of-life IoT devices—the Netgear WGR614v9 router and the Bitdefender Box v1—to achieve remote root via LAN-side exploits.

Device Analysis and Firmware Extraction

Netgear WGR614v9

• Accessed UART on JP1 to capture boot logs and running proce...

  🔧 Technical Details

  An authentication bypass in the UPnP SOAP handler allows an attacker to send crafted XML commands to reset the administrator password, then trigger buffer overflows in both BSS and stack memory regions by supplying oversized XML fields, enabling memory corruption and control of execution flow.

  The bashsledding technique abuses memory-mapped NVRAM and the router’s domain-blocking feature to spray a shell command payload. By prepending spaces as shell NOPs and leveraging ROP gadgets that ...

  🤖 Agent Actions

  Added key IoT-exploitation techniques from the Trail of Bits “Exploiting zero days in abandoned hardware” blog post to HackTricks.

  1. src/hardware-physical-access/firmware-analysis/README.md
     • New section “Firmware Downgrade Attacks & Insecure Update Mechanisms” (obtaining old signed images, extracting firmware from APKs, exploiting unauthenticated update endpoints, checklist).
     • Added blog URL to References.

  2. src/linux-hardening/bypass-bash-restrictions/README.md
     • Added “Space-Based Bash NOP Sled (Bashsledding)” subsection describing the space-prefix sled trick for reliable system() RCE on embedded routers.
     • Added blog URL to References.

  These updates integrate the novel downgrade-attack methodology and the bashsledding exploitation trick showcased in the blog...

  ✅ Review Checklist

  • Content is technically accurate
  • Formatting follows HackTricks style guidelines
  • Links and references are working
  • Content adds educational value
  • No sensitive information is exposed

  ---

  This PR was automatically created by the HackTricks Feed Bot. Please review the changes carefully before merging.

[carlospolop]

🔗 Additional Context

Original Blog Post: https://blog.trailofbits.com/2025/07/25/exploiting-zero-days-in-abandoned-hardware/

Content Categories: Based on the analysis, this content was categorized under "generic-methodologies-and-resources/hardware-firmware-exploitation (or a new “IoT Hardware Exploitation” subsection)".

Repository Maintenance:

• MD Files Formatting: 860 files processed

Review Notes:

• This content was automatically processed and may require human review for accuracy
• Check that the placement within the repository structure is appropriate
• Verify that all technical details are correct and up-to-date
• All .md files have been checked for proper formatting (headers, includes, etc.)

Bot Version: HackTricks News Bot v1.0

[carlospolop]

merge