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I think it's more about getting root than adding a route. I assume the author is aware that he can purchase a separate router. DOCSIS hacking is highly frowned

I think it's more about getting root than adding a route. I assume the author is aware that he can purchase a separate router. DOCSIS hacking is highly frowned upon by cable companies, and the FBI. It's probably better to have a practical reason to do it, instead of "I wanted to see if I could."

el_benhameen 5y ago
I’m really curious about the fbi bit. Do you have any further reading?
- xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
  I don't know about the FBI specifically but telecom equipment is regulated and in most places it's not legal to roll your own interface to the infrastructure. Even if you bring your own modem these days, it becomes administered remotely by your ISP. Similar to phreaking being a crime. Even if you have an agreement with your ISP, I'd expect you'd be breaking it and crossing into fraud or toll fraud at the least.
  - netr0ute 5y ago
    > telecom equipment is regulated This is tricky, because "telecom" only has POTS and cable TV within its scope. "Internet" service that just uses ethernet technologies are their own separate thing, and why "Ma Bell" megacorps can get away with their junk Internet service because it's regulated differently than POTS.
  - mschuster91 5y ago
    > I don't know about the FBI specifically but telecom equipment is regulated and in most places it's not legal to roll your own interface to the infrastructure. In the EU, the Directive 2015/2120 [1] enforces the ability of customers to bring their own modems, no matter if you are running fiber, xDSL or DOCSIS. [1]: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32015R2120 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=celex%3A...
    - emteycz 5y ago
      Nice, but it's not possible to not pay cable modem rent and/or connect a different modem in practice... (Vodafone CZ)
      - mschuster91 5y ago
        Vodafone has gotten under fire here in Germany for the same shady practice too [1]. They are seriously one of the worst providers out there... but they must allow you to connect your own modem. Get a lawyer or go to your equivalent of a consumer protection agency. [1]: https://www.teltarif.de/zwang-zum-router-trotz-routerfreiheit/news/67749.html?page=all https://www.teltarif.de/zwang-zum-router-trotz-routerfreihei...
      - omnimus 5y ago
        UPC got slapped for this before it was sold to Vodafone. So for a time one could buy the modem - its pretty nasty because the rent price is exactly calculated from 2 years the company has warranty from the hw distributor. So basically if you use it for more than 2 years you are paying for payed off hardware for nothing. And of course those devices and users last far more than 2 years (more like 5-10) this is just money printing. But other coment is right. They have to allow you use your device.
- dec0dedab0de 5y ago
  When I said that I was thinking of a story from 10 or 20 years ago where a bunch of people were increasing their bandwidth by hacking their cablemodems, and they all got raided. I can't seem to find the exact story right now, but Google returns a few similar stories.
  - LinuxBender 5y ago
    I vaguely remember this. IIRC the people raided were those hacking into the CMTS to uncap their modems and their friends modems and I want to say that at least one of them was selling services to uncap modems. Perhaps the notion of hacking was just modding the cable modem to ignore limits being given by the CMTS but either way I believe someone was selling access to this which got the attention of the feds.
    - Nextgrid 5y ago
      That seems like an awfully terrible design if the user-controlled equipment is responsible for rate-limiting instead of the CMTS itself.
      - LinuxBender 5y ago
        I agree. No idea if that is still possible these days. Perhaps someone here is involved in the DOCSIS standards or is a cable modem hacker and could offer some insight as to how things may have evolved.
ck2 5y ago
If I remember correctly, an ISP can push a new firmware to a Docsis3 modem at any time too and force reboot it. Bothers me none of my modems have ever had the option to turn off WAN-side flashing, never know who is going to figure out how to take advantage of that.
- aspenmayer 5y ago
  Have a SPI flasher permanently connected, and a device on the LAN connected to that flasher, and to the LAN in order to automatically detect firmware version changes. When one is detected, dump the firmware update, and reflash your preferred version, and have it match the reported version of the new update. If you have a router in front of your modem, you could even make a killswitch that blocks WAN until the reflash is complete.
  - pnutjam 5y ago
    Is that Pi based? I see some projects to turn a Pi into an SPI reader.
    - aspenmayer 5y ago
      I was just theorycrafting. I’m sure it’s possible with off the shelf equipment. A rPi would be a decent choice for this.
Fnoord 5y ago
Given the author posted it on danman.eu I would assume EU law applies. Not sure in which scenario FBI would get involved. Cause this is legal to do in EU.
tinus_hn 5y ago
On the other hand, the EU has laws that actually guarantee users the right to use their own hardware if they want. The providers have to provide any required documentation and if the system requires devices to be registered, the providers are obliged to register user devices.

el_benhameen 5y ago

I’m really curious about the fbi bit. Do you have any further reading?

xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
I don't know about the FBI specifically but telecom equipment is regulated and in most places it's not legal to roll your own interface to the infrastructure. Even if you bring your own modem these days, it becomes administered remotely by your ISP. Similar to phreaking being a crime. Even if you have an agreement with your ISP, I'd expect you'd be breaking it and crossing into fraud or toll fraud at the least.
- netr0ute 5y ago
  > telecom equipment is regulated This is tricky, because "telecom" only has POTS and cable TV within its scope. "Internet" service that just uses ethernet technologies are their own separate thing, and why "Ma Bell" megacorps can get away with their junk Internet service because it's regulated differently than POTS.
- mschuster91 5y ago
  > I don't know about the FBI specifically but telecom equipment is regulated and in most places it's not legal to roll your own interface to the infrastructure. In the EU, the Directive 2015/2120 [1] enforces the ability of customers to bring their own modems, no matter if you are running fiber, xDSL or DOCSIS. [1]: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32015R2120 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=celex%3A...
  - emteycz 5y ago
    Nice, but it's not possible to not pay cable modem rent and/or connect a different modem in practice... (Vodafone CZ)
    - mschuster91 5y ago
      Vodafone has gotten under fire here in Germany for the same shady practice too [1]. They are seriously one of the worst providers out there... but they must allow you to connect your own modem. Get a lawyer or go to your equivalent of a consumer protection agency. [1]: https://www.teltarif.de/zwang-zum-router-trotz-routerfreiheit/news/67749.html?page=all https://www.teltarif.de/zwang-zum-router-trotz-routerfreihei...
    - omnimus 5y ago
      UPC got slapped for this before it was sold to Vodafone. So for a time one could buy the modem - its pretty nasty because the rent price is exactly calculated from 2 years the company has warranty from the hw distributor. So basically if you use it for more than 2 years you are paying for payed off hardware for nothing. And of course those devices and users last far more than 2 years (more like 5-10) this is just money printing. But other coment is right. They have to allow you use your device.
dec0dedab0de 5y ago
When I said that I was thinking of a story from 10 or 20 years ago where a bunch of people were increasing their bandwidth by hacking their cablemodems, and they all got raided. I can't seem to find the exact story right now, but Google returns a few similar stories.
- LinuxBender 5y ago
  I vaguely remember this. IIRC the people raided were those hacking into the CMTS to uncap their modems and their friends modems and I want to say that at least one of them was selling services to uncap modems. Perhaps the notion of hacking was just modding the cable modem to ignore limits being given by the CMTS but either way I believe someone was selling access to this which got the attention of the feds.
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    That seems like an awfully terrible design if the user-controlled equipment is responsible for rate-limiting instead of the CMTS itself.
    - LinuxBender 5y ago
      I agree. No idea if that is still possible these days. Perhaps someone here is involved in the DOCSIS standards or is a cable modem hacker and could offer some insight as to how things may have evolved.

ck2 5y ago

If I remember correctly, an ISP can push a new firmware to a Docsis3 modem at any time too and force reboot it. Bothers me none of my modems have ever had the option to turn off WAN-side flashing, never know who is going to figure out how to take advantage of that.

aspenmayer 5y ago
Have a SPI flasher permanently connected, and a device on the LAN connected to that flasher, and to the LAN in order to automatically detect firmware version changes. When one is detected, dump the firmware update, and reflash your preferred version, and have it match the reported version of the new update. If you have a router in front of your modem, you could even make a killswitch that blocks WAN until the reflash is complete.
- pnutjam 5y ago
  Is that Pi based? I see some projects to turn a Pi into an SPI reader.
  - aspenmayer 5y ago
    I was just theorycrafting. I’m sure it’s possible with off the shelf equipment. A rPi would be a decent choice for this.

Fnoord 5y ago

Given the author posted it on danman.eu I would assume EU law applies. Not sure in which scenario FBI would get involved. Cause this is legal to do in EU.

tinus_hn 5y ago

On the other hand, the EU has laws that actually guarantee users the right to use their own hardware if they want. The providers have to provide any required documentation and if the system requires devices to be registered, the providers are obliged to register user devices.