Software Engineering Institute

The DBPOWER U8181A WIFI quadcopter drone is designed to record images and video from the air. The drone provides an undocumented FTP server, accessible on the local network via its local access point.

CWE-276: Incorrect Default Permissions - CVE-2017-3209

According to the reporter, the DBPower U818A WIFI quadcopter drone runs an FTP server that by default allows anonymous access without a password, and provides full filesystem read/write permissions to the anonymous user. A remote user within range of the open access point on the drone may utilize the anonymous user of the FTP server to read arbitrary files, such as images and video recorded by the device, or to replace system files such as /etc/shadow to gain further access to the device.

Furthermore, the DBPOWER U818A WIFI quadcopter drone uses BusyBox 1.20.2, which was released in 2012, and may be vulnerable to other known BusyBox vulnerabilities.

It was later reported that similar models from other suppliers appear to be vulnerable to the same vulnerability. The reporter claims that the Udirc and Forcel U818A models may be related and in fact from the same manufacturer, but the CERT/CC has not currently verified this information.

A remote user within range of the open access point on the drone may utilize the anonymous user of the FTP server to read arbitrary files, such as images and video recorded by the device, or to replace system files and gain further access to the device.

The CERT/CC is currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem.