CVE-2018-20051 in JA-Q1H Wi-Fi Camera
Summary
by MITRE
Mishandling of '>' on the Jooan JA-Q1H Wi-Fi camera with firmware 21.0.0.91 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash and reboot) via certain ONVIF methods such as CreateUsers, SetImagingSettings, GetStreamUri, and so on.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/19/2020
The CVE-2018-20051 vulnerability affects the Jooan JA-Q1H Wi-Fi camera running firmware version 21.0.0.91, representing a critical flaw in the device's handling of specific characters within ONVIF protocol communications. This vulnerability falls under the category of improper input validation and can be classified as CWE-20, which deals with improper input validation. The issue manifests when the camera receives specially crafted ONVIF requests containing the greater than character '>' in various method parameters, leading to unexpected behavior and system instability.
The technical flaw occurs within the camera's ONVIF implementation where the device fails to properly sanitize or validate input parameters before processing them. When attackers send crafted ONVIF requests such as CreateUsers, SetImagingSettings, or GetStreamUri methods with malformed input containing the '>' character, the camera's processing logic becomes vulnerable to buffer overflows or memory corruption issues. This improper handling results in the device crashing and subsequently rebooting, effectively causing a denial of service condition that disrupts legitimate user access to the camera's functionality.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant security implications for users who rely on the Jooan JA-Q1H camera for surveillance purposes. The remote exploitation capability means that attackers can trigger service disruption without requiring physical access to the device or knowledge of network credentials. The impact extends beyond simple availability issues as the repeated triggering of this vulnerability could lead to persistent service disruption, potentially allowing attackers to maintain control over the device's operational state. This type of vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which involves network denial of service attacks, and represents a classic example of how improper input validation can lead to system instability.
The vulnerability exploitation process typically involves sending crafted ONVIF requests through standard network protocols to the camera's web service interface. Attackers can leverage this flaw to repeatedly crash the device, potentially causing extended downtime that impacts security monitoring operations. The lack of authentication requirements for the vulnerable ONVIF methods makes this attack vector particularly dangerous as it requires minimal privileges to execute. Organizations using this camera should consider implementing network segmentation and monitoring to detect unusual ONVIF traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of firmware updates and proper input validation in embedded security systems, as outlined in industry best practices for IoT device security and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.