4 ms·

"Mijangos told me that he'd figured out how to turn off a camera's LED, cloaking himself completely." Anyone know if this is actually possible? I don't know a

by defen 15y ago

"Mijangos told me that he'd figured out how to turn off a camera's LED, cloaking himself completely." Anyone know if this is actually possible? I don't know anything about laptop cameras, but it seems like you wouldn't want the LED to even be under software/firmware control - just put it in series with the camera circuit. An LED has to have a significantly lower failure rate than a camera, right?

huntero 15y ago
I can't find where I read this, but I believe the reset line of the camera module is typically tied to the LED, so it can't be in a powered-on state without the LED being active.
- w1ntermute 15y ago
  "typically"? Perhaps there are a significant number of models for which this isn't the case.
raesene2 15y ago
There's some interesting answers to this question on security.stackexchange http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/6758/can-webcams-be-turned-on-without-the-indicator-light http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/6758/can-webcams... . Short answer is that it looks to be possible with some webcams but not others, depending on the design.
archivator 15y ago
I believe some Thinkpads' drivers expose a /sys interface to disable/blink that light.
artursapek 15y ago
That was interesting. I also have a hard time believing his claim about infecting a phone with a text.
- breckinloggins 15y ago
  There would have to be a buffer overrun in the text message handling code plus a way to exploit it in 160 characters. That sounds difficult, unless I'm wrong about the fact that the carrier enforces the limit. I could maybe see doing it with MMS or iMessage. The more I think about it, the more interesting this question is... Has anyone heard of any exploitable flaws in a phone's SMS software?
  - artursapek 15y ago
    From what I have seen longer messages get sent as multiple segmented texts.
  - zandor 15y ago
    This might be of interest: Fuzzing the Phone in your Phone [26C3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBWc67iy4zI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBWc67iy4zI
  - tryke 15y ago
    CVE-2009-2204 was a vulnerability in iOS' SMS handling (versions < 3.0.1). http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-2204 http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-2204
  - nitrogen 15y ago
    It's not just buffer overruns that can cause issues. You can crash the font display system by sending characters that aren't handled properly. You may also be able to direct the phone to download a hacked firmware update via SMS (AIUI carriers sometimes use specially-coded SMS messages to tell phones to update their software, PRL, etc.).
  - nookiemonster 15y ago
    On windows mobile 6.0, you could send wap pushes that linked to signed apps which would auto-execute/install. right now, there aren't any vulns which are similar in danger that I am aware of. SMS isn't a super friendly medium for stack manipulation, and most modern mobile OS'es implement ASLR. The browser is the more likely vector today.
six881 15y ago
See my comment.
lancefisher 15y ago
I know that with my Logitech Pro 9000, the Logitech software that comes with it gives you the ability to turn off the LED. Their software also has remote viewing built in. I'm sure designs vary, but it is at least possible with this camera.

by defen 15y ago

huntero 15y ago

I can't find where I read this, but I believe the reset line of the camera module is typically tied to the LED, so it can't be in a powered-on state without the LED being active.

w1ntermute 15y ago
"typically"? Perhaps there are a significant number of models for which this isn't the case.

raesene2 15y ago

There's some interesting answers to this question on security.stackexchange http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/6758/can-webcams-be-turned-on-without-the-indicator-light http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/6758/can-webcams... . Short answer is that it looks to be possible with some webcams but not others, depending on the design.

archivator 15y ago

I believe some Thinkpads' drivers expose a /sys interface to disable/blink that light.

artursapek 15y ago

That was interesting. I also have a hard time believing his claim about infecting a phone with a text.

breckinloggins 15y ago
There would have to be a buffer overrun in the text message handling code plus a way to exploit it in 160 characters. That sounds difficult, unless I'm wrong about the fact that the carrier enforces the limit. I could maybe see doing it with MMS or iMessage. The more I think about it, the more interesting this question is... Has anyone heard of any exploitable flaws in a phone's SMS software?
- artursapek 15y ago
  From what I have seen longer messages get sent as multiple segmented texts.
- zandor 15y ago
  This might be of interest: Fuzzing the Phone in your Phone [26C3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBWc67iy4zI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBWc67iy4zI
- tryke 15y ago
  CVE-2009-2204 was a vulnerability in iOS' SMS handling (versions < 3.0.1). http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-2204 http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-2204
- nitrogen 15y ago
  It's not just buffer overruns that can cause issues. You can crash the font display system by sending characters that aren't handled properly. You may also be able to direct the phone to download a hacked firmware update via SMS (AIUI carriers sometimes use specially-coded SMS messages to tell phones to update their software, PRL, etc.).
- nookiemonster 15y ago
  On windows mobile 6.0, you could send wap pushes that linked to signed apps which would auto-execute/install. right now, there aren't any vulns which are similar in danger that I am aware of. SMS isn't a super friendly medium for stack manipulation, and most modern mobile OS'es implement ASLR. The browser is the more likely vector today.

six881 15y ago

See my comment.

lancefisher 15y ago

I know that with my Logitech Pro 9000, the Logitech software that comes with it gives you the ability to turn off the LED. Their software also has remote viewing built in. I'm sure designs vary, but it is at least possible with this camera.