Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Do I publish code that affects millions of wireless security cameras?

news.ycombinator.com

91–100 of 109 posts

Re: Ask HN: Do I publish code that affects millions of wireless security cameras?

#91

> given an IP of the camera So this is an internal tool, not something you can gain access to remote cameras behind NAT firewalls? I think a lot of people are assuming this is a WAN attack. Sounds genuinely useful, especially if it can be worked into PVR software to integrate with more hardware.

OP didn’t specify if it worked on IPv6. There each device is theoretically reachable from the www.

IoT camera that can do IPv6 is much rarer than IoT camera with security issue.

Re: Ask HN: Do I publish code that affects millions of wireless security cameras?

#92
post #11

Google "ethical disclosure." The standard in the security research community is you inform the manufacturer and give them an opportunity to patch the flaw. Then you wait some number of days (some people say 30, other say "depends on the details of the vulnerability"). Then you publish the code along with enough text to explain the vulnerability to a reasonably technical audience.

But it sounds like OP wants the flaw. If the company fixes it then OP will no longer have "full local access to [their] wireless security cameras without the cloud", so disclosing is directly against OP's interests. In that case it's probably best to just keep the flaw private to yourself.

yes, OP might want the "flaw" however it still could be discovered by somebody else and eventually patched, next week, next month, ect... just because you use bug now does not mean it won't be "fixed" (or broken worse) in the future.

personally if i were in OP's shoes: i'd hope that said company has a bug-bounty program and use that for a little side cash and a "look what i found" - along with denying auto-updates to my own devices to keep utilizing said functionality (ive always been a fan of choice vs enforcement of arbitrary updates).

Re: Ask HN: Do I publish code that affects millions of wireless security cameras?

#93
Why wouldn't you tell the manufacturer so that they can fix it? What you're proposing is kind of immoral and irresponsible as a member of society. Whatever you do, do not reveal your identity to the manufacturer, some are likely to sue you for disclosing such a vulnerability. Better to release it on the dark web forums that -all- security pros check out than on github where you are easily tracked and outted. Remember that corporations are amoral entities meant for only 1 real purpose, to make their owners money.

Re: Ask HN: Do I publish code that affects millions of wireless security cameras?

#94
post #84
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Morality is either objective or completely arbitrary" is a false dichotomy. Obviously ethics isn't objective (I mean what would that even mean, absent some deity?), but with some reasonable foundational beliefs such as "I generally want people to have it good and not suffer", you're already pretty constrained and guided in your reasoning. But the belief that it's generally good when people don't suffer is obviously…

> "Morality is either objective or completely arbitrary" is a false dichotomy > some reasonable foundational beliefs such as "I generally want people to have it good and not suffer" > But the belief that it's generally good when people don't suffer is obviously subjective, even if widespread. Why is generally not wanting to hurt people a "reasonable foundational belief?" It's definitely not universal in humanity righ…

>> look at the celebrations of war crimes in Russia

Unfortunately this point doesn't prove/refute any point about morality.

Because most of the russians pro-war idiots (including most propaganda producers) sincerely believe propaganda and from their moral perspective they really are doing good by fighting Ukranian war criminals.

Re: Ask HN: Do I publish code that affects millions of wireless security cameras?

#96
post #84
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Morality is either objective or completely arbitrary" is a false dichotomy. Obviously ethics isn't objective (I mean what would that even mean, absent some deity?), but with some reasonable foundational beliefs such as "I generally want people to have it good and not suffer", you're already pretty constrained and guided in your reasoning. But the belief that it's generally good when people don't suffer is obviously…

> "Morality is either objective or completely arbitrary" is a false dichotomy > some reasonable foundational beliefs such as "I generally want people to have it good and not suffer" > But the belief that it's generally good when people don't suffer is obviously subjective, even if widespread. Why is generally not wanting to hurt people a "reasonable foundational belief?" It's definitely not universal in humanity righ…

This is a discussion that started with notifying people of a possible webcam bug and ended with Russian war crimes. I think we can declare the thread spent.

Re: Ask HN: Do I publish code that affects millions of wireless security cameras?

#97
post #84
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Morality is either objective or completely arbitrary" is a false dichotomy. Obviously ethics isn't objective (I mean what would that even mean, absent some deity?), but with some reasonable foundational beliefs such as "I generally want people to have it good and not suffer", you're already pretty constrained and guided in your reasoning. But the belief that it's generally good when people don't suffer is obviously…

> "Morality is either objective or completely arbitrary" is a false dichotomy > some reasonable foundational beliefs such as "I generally want people to have it good and not suffer" > But the belief that it's generally good when people don't suffer is obviously subjective, even if widespread. Why is generally not wanting to hurt people a "reasonable foundational belief?" It's definitely not universal in humanity righ…

I'm not sure what your point is. I think a good amount of people at least like to think they value the absence of suffering, which makes that a useful shared idea which ethical discussions can be had on top of, but my whole point is that it's not universal or objective.

Re: Ask HN: Do I publish code that affects millions of wireless security cameras?

#98

> given an IP of the camera So this is an internal tool, not something you can gain access to remote cameras behind NAT firewalls? I think a lot of people are assuming this is a WAN attack. Sounds genuinely useful, especially if it can be worked into PVR software to integrate with more hardware.

OP didn’t specify if it worked on IPv6. There each device is theoretically reachable from the www.

Do domestic IPv6 networks typically expose things by default?

I can just about get on board with using legal addressing for internal nodes, but I wouldn't dream of exposing everything just because the addressing scheme allowed it.

This is a genuine question. IPv6 is yet to reach me at home.

Re: Ask HN: Do I publish code that affects millions of wireless security cameras?

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP didn’t specify if it worked on IPv6. There each device is theoretically reachable from the www.

Do domestic IPv6 networks typically expose things by default? I can just about get on board with using legal addressing for internal nodes, but I wouldn't dream of exposing everything just because the addressing scheme allowed it. This is a genuine question. IPv6 is yet to reach me at home.

Instead of configuring NAT (usually referred to as "port forwarding"), with IPv6 you only need to worry about configuring your firewall to allow certain connections and block everything else.

At the end of the day you have a router that acts as a firewall. Whether the devices are globally routable/reachable (IPv6) or not (IPv4) shouldn't make a difference.

IPv6 hasn't reached me either, but I would expect a sane default configuration in consumer-grade routers to block external connections by default.

Post reply on HN