Hunt.io researchers analyzed two open directories recovered through Attack Capture system and reconstructed the tooling one operator used to find, exploit, and view internet-exposed cameras in Ukraine.
Technical highlights:
A custom FastAPI/Docker project the operator named camview, which wraps the open-source Ingram scanner, brute-forces camera credentials over HTTP and RTSP (3,811 pair dictionary), and transcodes RTSP to MJPEG for browser viewing Ingram targets known camera CVEs: CVE-2017-7921 and CVE-2021-36260 (Hikvision), CVE-2021-33044/33045 (Dahua), CVE-2020-25078 (D-Link), CVE-2020-25169 (Reolink) The operator's logs recorded live viewing sessions from 58 Ukrainian cameras, with session lengths, frame counts, and frame rates A proxy script authenticated to a compromised OpenCart admin panel and relayed the operator's traffic through the victim network A second, separately operated directory was linked only by the same Ingram scanner. It chained TP-Link Archer CVEs (CVE-2024-53375, CVE-2024-57049) and MikroTik API brute-forcing to turn edge devices into SOCKS5 proxies reporting to a chisel listener on port 4444
No state attribution. Full analysis, IOCs, and ATT&CK mapping in the writeup
A new global IoT botnet campaign dubbed “Ballista” targets TP-Link Archer routers via a known remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability.
The botnet is actively targeting thousands of devices worldwide, spreading automatically and evolving its tactics to evade detection.
Cato Networks researchers identified the Ballista botnet on January 10, 2025, during an ongoing analysis of IoT device exploitation attempts. Over the following weeks, multiple initial access attempts were observed, with the latest attack recorded on February 17. The botnet leverages CVE-2023-1389, a vulnerability in the web management interface of TP-Link Archer routers, allowing unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges.
https://cyberinsider.com/tp-link-archer-routers-under-attack-by-new-iot-botnet-ballista/
The TP-Link Archer A20 v3 router is vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting (XSS) due to improper handling of directory listing paths in the web interface. When a specially crafted URL is visited, the router's web page renders the directory listing and executes arbitrary JavaScript embedded in the URL. This allows the attacker to inject malicious code into the page, executing JavaScript on the victim's browser, which could then be used for further malicious actions. The vulnerability was identified in the 1.0.6 Build 20231011 rel.85717(5553) version.
This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of TP-Link Archer C90 1.0.6 Build 20200114 rel.73164(5553) routers. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the handling of DNS responses. A crafted DNS message can trigger an overflow of a fixed-length, stack-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of root. Was ZDI-CAN-14655.
TP-Link Archer A54 Archer A54(US)V1210111 routers were discovered to contain a stack overflow in the function DM Fillobjbystr(). This vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code.
This vulnerability allows network-adjacent attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of TP-Link Archer A54 routers. Authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the file libcmm.so. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a fixed-length stack-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of root.
This vulnerability allows network-adjacent attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of TP-Link Archer A54 routers. Authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the file libcmm.so. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a fixed-length stack-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of root.
This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of TP-Link Archer C90 routers. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the handling of DNS responses. A crafted DNS message can trigger an overflow of a fixed-length, stack-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of root.
This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of TP-Link Archer C90 routers. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the handling of DNS responses. A crafted DNS message can trigger an overflow of a fixed-length, stack-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of root.