BMW and cybersecurity

Not a month passes without seeing some major car manufacturer that has cybersecurity issues.

This month we have seen made public a report from February 2016 related to BMW.

The short story

 

The BMW ConnectedDrive Web portal was found to contain a vulnerability that could result in a compromise of registered or valid vehicle identification numbers, Vulnerability Lab warns.

The security bug, affecting the BMW ConnectedDrive online service web-application, is a VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) session vulnerability, security researcher Benjamin Kunz Mejri reveals. VIN, also known as chassis number, is a unique code used in the automotive industry to identify individual vehicles.

The security flaw was discovered in February this year, when the researcher also found a client-side cross site scripting vulnerability in the official BMW online service web-application. By exploiting this issue, an attacker could inject malicious script codes to the client-side of the affected module context, the researcher says.

The longer story

In February 2016, when the ADAC’s security researchers were able to simulate the existence of a fake phone network, which BMW cars attempted to access, allowing hackers to manipulate functions activated by a SIM card.

BMW said it had taken steps to eliminate possible breaches by encrypting the communications inside the car using the same HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) standard used in Web browsers for secure transactions such as ecommerce or banking.

Apparently, this is all what they did…

Because 5 month later, we see this zero day exploit  which can be discovered if you do a pentest on the application.

“The vulnerability is located on the client-side of the affected BMW web-service. The attacker injects the payload after the secure token to execute the context in the passwordResetOk.html file. The vulnerability is a classic client-side cross site scripting web vulnerability,” the researcher also says.

Dear Automotive producers, please have a look here: Five Star Automotive Cyber Safety Program

If you don’t know where to start, we can help you!

 

Note

If you want to use the Connected Drive features you need to pay a one-time fee of 350€.

After that, you can book additional services:

  • ConnectedDrive services : one time 50€
  • RTTI: 10€/month, 70€/year
  • Concierge Service: 15€/month, 100€/year

 

Sources and credit:

July, 2016:

  • http://www.securityweek.com/zero-day-flaw-affects-bmws-connecteddrive-web-portal

February, 2016:

  • http://www.securityweek.com/bmw-patches-security-flaw-let-hackers-open-doors
  • http://www.vulnerability-lab.com/get_content.php?id=1737
  • http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/30/bmw-cybersecurity-idUSL6N0V92VD20150130
  • http://grahamcluley.com/2015/02/bmw-security-patch/

 


© Copyright 2016 Sorin Mustaca, All rights Reserved. Written For: Sorin Mustaca on Cybersecurity


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