Belkin’s Wemo Mini Smart Plug V2 has been found to have a buffer overflow vulnerability that allows remote command injection, according to Israeli IoT security company Sternum.
Furthermore, the flaw, identified as CVE-2023-27217, was reported to Belkin in January 2023 after Sternum reverse-engineered the device and gained access to its firmware. By circumventing the character limit of the smart plug’s renaming feature, attackers can trigger a buffer overflow condition and potentially crash the device or execute malicious commands.
Belkin has decided not to address the vulnerability due to the device reaching end-of-life and being replaced by newer models.
The Wemo Mini Smart Plug V2 enables users to remotely control electronic devices using a companion app on smartphones or tablets. The vulnerability stems from the fact that the validation enforcing the 30-character limit on the smart plug’s name is only applied by the app and not by the firmware code.
Additionally, this allows attackers to exploit the buffer overflow by using a Python module called pyWeMo, which can crash the device or gain control by executing arbitrary commands.
Belkin’s decision not to address the flaw highlights the potential risks associated with relying solely on security patches, particularly for devices without on-device protection.
Users of Wemo Mini Smart Plug V2 are advised to avoid exposing the devices directly to the internet and implement network segmentation measures in sensitive networks.
The vulnerability could be triggered via the Cloud interface, indicating that a direct connection to the device is not necessary for exploitation.
