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SmartTV, dumb vuln: Philips hard-codes Miracast passwords

Best not browse smut on this TV

Video Demonstrating once again that consumer electronics companies don't understand security, ReVuln has turned up a hard-coded password in Philips “smart” televisions.

Shown off in the video below, the vulnerability is simplicity itself: the WiFi Miracast feature is switched on by default, has a fixed password (“Miracast”, for heaven's sake), no PIN, and doesn't request permission for new WiFi connections.

As ReVuln puts it, “anyone in the range of the TV WiFi adapter can easily connect to it and abuse of all the nice features offered by these SmartTV models”.

Their list of accessible features includes: “accessing the system and configuration files located on the TV; accessing the files located on the attached USB devices; transmitting video, audio and images to the TV; controlling the TV; and stealing the browser's cookies for accessing the websites used by the user” (this last one only applies to cookies of sites browsed using the TV).

The weak defaults, ReVuln's video demonstrates, exist in the most recent version of the Philips SmartTV firmware, QF2EU-0.173.46.0, installed on all 2013 models.

Last year, Samsung and LG were criticised for poor Internet-connected TV security. Internet of Things insecurities have also hit home automation systems and refrigerators. ®

Video by ReVuln

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