When connecting to the Solax Cloud MQTT server the username is the registration number, which is the 10 character string printed on the SolaX Power Pocket device / the QR code on the device. The password is derived from the registration number using a proprietary XOR/transposition algorithm. Attackers with the knowledge of the registration numbers can connect to the MQTT server and impersonate the dongle / inverters.
Weakness
The product uses insufficiently random numbers or values in a security context that depends on unpredictable numbers.
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