QNAP NAS vulnerabilities not patched after almost a year
F-Secure reports that three vulnerabilities QNAP NAS systems have not been patched almost a year after they were reported. These vulnerabilities can provide an attacker full control over the device and this way steal data and passwords.
F-Secure found the vulnerabilities on the QNAP TVs-663 but also other devices of the manufacturer could very well be vulnerable reports myce:
An attacker is able to obtain admin privileges if the 3 vulnerabilities are exploited. With these privileges attackers can install malware, send spam or steal data and passwords.
The culprit is the automatic firmware update feature of the NAS. If an attacker sends a malicious update to the device, there is no check whether the firmware is really from QNAP. This allows an attacker to perform a man-in-the-middle attack and send a malcious firmware to the device to take control over it.
F-Secure reported the vulnerabilities in February last year to QNAP but the company still hasn’t patched them. So far only the TVS-663 is known to be affected, but because QNAP uses the same firmware on multiple models it’s very likely also other QNAP NAS devices are vulnerable.
At least 1.4 million TVS-663 devices are running the firmware, but possibly millions of other QNAP devices are just as vulnerable. QNAP is the 2nd largest NAS supplier of the world. F-Secure recommends QNAP owners running TQS firmware 4.2 (or later) to disable automatic updates and manually check for updates until the issue is fixed.
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Senior Member
Posts: 2983
Joined: 2004-12-17
While unRAID is not a commercial off the shelf NAS, it is still very much "consumer" grade. It is simply put, just another Linux based OS, like QNAP QTS, Synology DSM, and the various WD/Seagate/Netgear/Asustor/etc. variants.
While there are BSD (like FreeNAS) and Windows based NAS distributions/off the shelf units, each has vulnerabilities. You always have to stay up to date, and preferably with a vendor that is focused on security as simply updating wouldn't have helped QNAP users against the MITM attack here.
Senior Member
Posts: 2979
Joined: 2013-03-10
Maybe if the attacker could make the device explode like Note 7, the company would do something about it.
Senior Member
Posts: 2990
Joined: 2005-09-27
this happened because QNAP doesnt properly encrypt firmware update traffic. the simple fact that such absurd oversights occur to this day doesnt surprise me anymore; wat im shocked by is that the company was notified a year ago & has not updated the vulnerable protocol in any way.
this kind of sloppy crap also highlights exactly why automatic updates are cancer. if you want a secure system, dont trust others to do your work for you.
Senior Member
Posts: 2979
Joined: 2013-03-10
No, not really. The biggest weakness is always the human users. Botnets thrive because people don't manually update software and firmware, not even the 1234 factory default passwords. Out of laziness, ignorance, or not enough workforce in business (that is, supposedly saving money). Remove automatic updates and the already nasty situation will first explode, then implode.
Senior Member
Posts: 2037
Joined: 2006-12-12
This is why i use unRAID and not a "consumer" NAS