CVE-2018-19441

An issue was discovered in Neato Botvac Connected 2.2.0. The GenerateRobotPassword function of the NeatoCrypto library generates insufficiently random numbers for robot secret_key values used for local and cloud authentication/authorization. If an attacker knows the serial number and is able to estimate the time of first provisioning of a robot, he is able to brute force the generated secret_key of the robot. This is because the entropy of the secret_key exclusively relies on these two values, due to not seeding the random generator and using several constant inputs for secret_key computation. Serial numbers are printed on the packaging and equal the MAC address of the robot.

Weakness

The product uses insufficiently random numbers or values in a security context that depends on unpredictable numbers.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Use a well-vetted algorithm that is currently considered to be strong by experts in the field, and select well-tested implementations with adequate length seeds.
• In general, if a pseudo-random number generator is not advertised as being cryptographically secure, then it is probably a statistical PRNG and should not be used in security-sensitive contexts.
• Pseudo-random number generators can produce predictable numbers if the generator is known and the seed can be guessed. A 256-bit seed is a good starting point for producing a “random enough” number.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/112.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/485.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/59.html

References

• https://www.usenix.org/system/files/woot19-paper_ullrich.pdf
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5nj7Jhwn9c