4 ms·

How does this work? Are those TV boxes not running behind routers with firewalls?

• usrusr 2y ago
  What makes you assume the vector is an incoming connection? Routers and firewalls won't protect a device from a user lured into installing malware with promises of "free Netflix, completely legal" running off some pirate mirror, or simply wrapping stolen credentials (note how people trying to break into your computers can not always be trusted with legal advice). And neither from simply luring them onto some malicious website (or just getting them to see a malicious ad) in case there's the juicy combination of a media decoder vulnerability with some privilege escalation that can be reached from the decoder.
  • _ink_ 2y ago
    The sheer number of compromised devices does. Sure you can trap users with malicious streams and malicious apps. But I find it surprising, that those actions alone can catch so many boxes.
• 1oooqooq 2y ago
  Firewall? No. Everyone just trust nat. And You'd be surprised how trivial it is to bypass modem nat and reach inside.
  • xnyan 2y ago
    I'm not aware of even a single consumer-marketed router that ships without a firewall (often ip/nftables) configured to drop all unsolicited incoming packets by default. If an attacker can create outbound connections from inside the network then they can get around this of course, but you have to already be inside.
• xbmcuser 2y ago
  A lot of these boxes probably are iptv/piracy streamers and I would not be shocked if it's one those apps backdooring these devices