Sneaking RFID

1
Sneaking RFID

• Anuradha Jambunathan 276786
• Computer Security Seminar
• BIT WS 06/07

2
Agenda

• What is RFID?
• RFID vs Barcode
• RFID System Architecture
• Uses of RFID Systems
• RFID Threats Attacks
• Protection Against Attacks
• Conclusion

3
What is RFID ?

• Acronym for Radio Frequency Identification.
• Automatic Identification Procedure
• RFID uses radio waves to automatically identify
  people or other objects.
• Useful for tracking the associated object.

4
RFID Vs BARCODE

• Technology Used
• RFID - Radio Technology
• BARCODE - Optical Technology
• Line of Sight Reading
• RFID - Doesnt Require Line of Sight Pass
  through Barriers
• BARCODE Requires Line of Sight reading
• Efficiency
• RFID - Multiple tags read simultaneously
• BARCODE - One at a Time

5
RFID Vs BARCODE

• Storage
• RFID
• Large amount of Storage
• Ability to Read and Write
• BARCODE
• Only be Read
• Cost
• RFID is expensive compared to BARCODE

6
RFID System Architecture
7
RFID Components

• RFID Tag or Transponder
• Actual data carrying device of an RFID system.
• Combination of Transmitter and Responder
• Types of RFID Tags
• Passive Tag
• Active Tag

8
RFID Components

• Passive RFID Tag
• Do not have Internal Battery Power
• Short Range Communications
• Read Only Tags
• Active RFID Tag
• Have Own Internal Battery
• Long Range Communications
• Read/Write Tags

9
RFID Components

• RFID Reader
• Antenna, Transceiver and Decoder
• Sends Signals to Query Tag data
• Read or Read/Write the tags
• RFID Middleware
• Data processing
• Connects to Backend Database

10
Common Uses of RFID Systems

• Hospitals
• Track Patient Location
• Track Expensive Critical equipments
• Pet identification
• Animal Identification Purpose
• Control Rabies Portugal Gov
• Retail stores
• Monitor Control Inventory
• Supply Chain Management

11
Common Uses of RFID Systems

• Traffic Monitoring
• Roadside RFID readers to collect signals
• Passports
• The first RFID passports were issued by
  Malaysia in 1998
• Records the travel history of entries and
  exists
• Human implants

12
RFID Threats

• Sniffing
• -- Skimming of digital passports
• Spoofing
• -- SQL injection, Buffer Overflow attacks
• Denial of Service
• -- e.g.. Hospital applications

13
RFID Threats

• Replay Attacks
• -- Man in the Middle Attack
• -- e.g. Passport Readers
• Unwanted Tracking
• -- Tracking without the Knowledge

14
Real World Scenarios

• In Retail Stores
• Attacker purchase product that has RFID tag
  attached
• Writes a virus in Blank RFID Tag
• Attaches the Virus Tag to the product
• Whole Product database system is infected

15
Real World Scenarios

• In Pet
• Pet with RFID Tag attached
• Writes a virus in Pet RFID Tag
• Asks for Pet Scan
• Database system is infected
• Newly-tagged animals also infected

16
Real World Scenarios

• In Airport Baggage system
• Baggage handling Systems with RFID tags
• Easier to read at greater distances
• Virus Tag attached to baggage
• Whole Database system is infected
• E.g. Smugglers or terrorists to hide their
  baggage

17
RFID Passports

• Advantages
• Avoid human errors by immigration officials
• Efficiency of processing passenger data
• Safeguard against counterfeit passports
• Problems
• Skimming
• Eavesdropping

18
Problems with RFID Systems

• Lots of Source Code
• RFID tags Power constraint
• RFID middleware Millions of Code
• Software Bugs
• Generic Protocols and Facilities
• RFID middleware on existing internet architecture
• Internet attacks

19
Problems with RFID Systems

• Back-End Databases
• Data Collection Centre Core Part
• Critical part of the RFID system
• Databases have their own unique attacks
• High-Value Data
• Extremely confidential Data
• Eg. Data on e-passports
• Harms tagged real-world objects
• False Sense of Security

20
RFID-Based Exploits

• RFID tags directly exploits back-end RFID
  Middleware
• Manipulation of less than 1K bits of on-tag RFID
  data can exploit security holes in RFID
  middleware
• RFID Middleware attacks requires more cleverness
  than resources ?

21
RFID Attacks

• The Main types of RFID Exploits
• SQL Injection Attack
• Buffer Overflow Attack
• Code Insertion Attack

22
SQL Injection Attack

• A SQL Injection attack is a form of attack
  that comes from user input that has not been
  checked to see that it is valid. The objective is
  to fool the database system into running
  malicious code that will reveal sensitive
  information
• RFID tag written with a virus, can attack the
  backend database used by the RFID middleware
• It may be possible to trigger the database into
  executing SQL code that is stored on the tag.
  This process is referred to as SQL injection

23
SQL Injection Attack

• Once a virus, worm, or other malware has entered
  the database, subsequent tags written from the
  database may be infected and the problem may
  spread.
• Example Airport Baggage System Attack
• Which uses the RFID tag attached to the baggage

24
SQL Injection Attack

• Suppose the airport middleware has a template for
  queries
• "Look up the next flight to ltxgt"
• where ltxgt is the airport code written on the tag
  when the bag was checked in.
• The middleware then builds a query from the
  fetched data.
• Suppose the bag has a bogus tag with data
• "LHR shutdown

25
SQL Injection Attack

• Incorrectly filtered escape characters
• This form of SQL injection attack takes place
  when the user input data is not properly filtered
  for escape characters and is directly passed on
  into the SQL query
• Example
• Stmt SELECT FROM users WHERE name
  username
• The Above SQL Stmt can cause problems in
  Authentication systems

26
Buffer Overflow Attack

• A buffer overflow is an anomalous condition
  where a process attempts to store data beyond the
  boundaries of a fixed length buffer.
• Results Writing extra information or executable
  code on adjacent memory locations.
• The overwritten data may include other buffers,
  variables and program flow data.

27
Buffer Overflow - Causes

• Improper use of languages such as C or C that
  are considered to be non memory-safe.
• Functions without bounds checking like strcpy,
  strlen, gets etc
• Functions with null termination problems like
  strncpy, strncat etc
• User- created functions with pointer bugs

28
Buffer Overflow Attack - Example

• Attacker entering intentionally longer data than
  actually allocated in the Buffer
• Example in RFID system
• Suppose an application uses 128-byte tags
• Attacker tries to use a 512-byte fake tag or an
  even larger one ? Buffer Overflow Attack

29
Exploitations of Buffer Overflow

• Classified as
• Stack - Based exploitation
• Heap - Based exploitation

30
Exploitations of Buffer Overflow

• Stack - Based exploitation
• Manipulate the program by overwriting a local
  variable or Return address on the stack
• Heap - Based exploitation
• Generally do not contain return addresses such as
  the stack
• Overwrite internal structures such as linked list
  and pointers

31
Code Insertion Attack

• Malicious code injected into an application by an
  attacker, using any of scripting languages like
  VBScript, JavaScript, Perl etc
• Special Characters in Input data like
• lt gt . ' ) ( -
• Inserting malicious URLs

32
Protect against RFID Attacks

• Code review
• Rigorous Code Review of Middleware Code
• Bounds checking
• Proper bounds checking either by programmer or
  compiler
• Right choice of programming language
• This Prevents against buffer Overflow attacks

33
Protect against RFID Attacks

• Parameter binding
• Use Stored procedures
• Bound parameters using the PREPARE statement are
  not treated as a value
• Prevents against SQL Injection Attack
• Sanitize the input
• Use built-in data sanitizing available functions
• Limit Database Permissions
• Offer limited rights
• Tables should be made read-only or inaccessible
• The execution of multiple SQL statements in a
  single query.

34
Conclusion

• We have Discussed
• RFID in General
• RFID Attacks
• Prevention solutions
• Talking barcodes that change our lives
• BBC NEWS

35
Danke Schön