FLIR Responds to Dahua Backdoor

By John Honovich, Published Mar 10, 2017, 07:38am EST

FLIR is the first Dahua OEM partner to issue a statement following Dahua's backdoor disclosure:

Certain FLIR and Lorex branded products that are produced by Dahua may be affected by this vulnerability.

To reduce concern / problems, they highlighted many product lines that are not from Dahua:

Please note that the following product lines are NOT affected by this vulnerability:

FC-Series ID, FC-Series S, FC-Series R
PT-Series, F-Series, D-Series
Ariel, Quasar
Meridian, Horizon, Latitude Series
TRK, IoI
FLIR FX, FLIR Secure HD

However, that still leaves a lot of Lorex products and lower end FLIR branded devices that are Dahua OEMs.

Unlike Dahua, FLIR emphasized the benefit of their existing cloud management feature on a number of their Dahua OEMed devices:

Many of these products are already protected from this vulnerability due to the external connection being managed by FLIR’s Cloud connection service. With the device connected to the internet via the FLIR Cloud service, we have confirmed that these devices are no longer vulnerable to this issue.

Also, FLIR went further than Dahua, advising strong action for those not using their cloud service with Dahua OEMed products:

Until this issue is resolved, our recommendation is to immediately disable DDNS, disable all port forwarding and, if available, turn off UPnP.

However, FLIR acknowledges that Dahua still has not provided clarity and a solution to the vulnerable devices:

We are continuing to work with Dahua to discover exactly which products are affected, and when patches will be available.

Why Dahua?

One obvious question that comes to mind is why would FLIR, Honeywell, Tyco, etc. choose Dahua?

****** *** ** *** major *** ***** **** Dahua **** ****** ***** ago **** ***** *** virtually ******* ** *** West *** ***** *** not ******** ******* ************* sales.

***, ** ******, **** before *** ********, *********'* **** **********,******** **** *****, ********* *********** **** ***** partners, ***** ** * baffling ******.

*** **** **** ** Dahua, **** ***** *** when **** ***** *****, was **** ***** *** one ** *** ****** factories *** ********* **** to **** *** ****** / ******** ******* ******* of ***** ****** ******* companies. *** ***** ******** emerged **** ****.

Hit *** ****

**** ** ******* * negative *** ****, **** simply ******** ************* *** Dahua ************ ** ***********. Worse, ** * ******* government ********** (**** ** these ******** ***** ***** products **** ********* **** to ********* *** ****), the ******* **** **** has *** ******** ****** its ******** *** ***** security **** ********** ******* some ****** ******. ********, while ***** * ******* based ******* **** ******* US ******** *** ** an ************ ***********, ******** US ***** **** *** be **** ********.

Dahua ****** **** ****?

**** *****, ***** **** Dahua's ********** ********* *********** with ****, **** ****** put ******* ** ******** the ************ **** *****. On *** ***** ****, switching **** ** *** easy ** ** *******, given *** ********* ******** of ******* ** **** cameras. *** ********* **** may **** ******'* **** *********** ** ISD, * **** ** which **** *** ***** was ** ******** ***** internal ** ****** ***********.

Credit *** **********

**** ********* ******** ****** for ********** ******* *** informing ***** *********, ********** given **** *** **** are ***** ******* ** the **** ***** **** and **** ***** **** actually ** ** ***** this.

***** ** ******** ************ with ********* *** ****, we *** ********* **** they **** ** *******, though ** ********* **** publicize **** ** **** do ***.

Comments (6)

Chris Lanier

03/10/17 04:27pm

Thanks IPVM for including this important topic in your blog series. Industry awareness had definitely increased and clearer information is appreciated. OEM partnerships cut both ways- On one side, a trusted brand can get products to market quickly. On the other hand, it is evident a couple of high profile OEMs have emboldened themselves to poach their own customers.

To FLIR's customer care credit, they have included a hotline number and email enrollment for those needing immediate help or want to be first in the development loop: 877-757-6981 and www.flir.com/securityinfo

Undisclosed Distributor #2

03/13/17 06:58pm

I want to know what the customer response is... When we first released a statement last time Dahua was involved in a hack and a major world-record-breaking DDOS attack NO ONE CARED.

Do we really think anyone will care now? I talked to some people who run businesses in our city's chamber of commerce meeting and no one cares about it. If they can see video on their phone they're pleased...

Until someone gets properly sued and there's a precedent for responsibility... no one will care.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Distributor #2 | 03/13/17 07:08pm

I talked to some people who run businesses in our city's chamber of commerce meeting and no one cares about it.

I believe that and have seen similar. However, the larger the end user gets, the more likely they are to consider poor security vulnerabilities / recent backdoors to be a disqualification / deal breaker.

Brian Karas

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Distributor #2 | 03/13/17 07:36pm

I talked to some people who run businesses in our city's chamber of commerce meeting and no one cares about it. If they can see video on their phone they're pleased.

That does not surprise me. My personal feeling is that in many cases there is still a mentality of "well, *my* system is so small/inconsequential/boring that I won't be a target". Or similarly "what are the odds that *I* get attacked?".

I do not know the exact number, but I believe it will take 10 or 20 (or more) widespread cases like this before people realize that ALL unprotected internet-connected devices are at risk. The hackers don't care if your system is big or small, boring or exciting, they just know you as an IP address, found by scanning endless across all possibilities.

This is probably not the straw that will break the camel's back, but it is still a straw.

Undisclosed #1

In reply to Brian Karas | 03/13/17 08:07pm

Greg Cortina

10/04/17 04:53am

Our page has been updated.

http://www.flir.com/securityinfo/

FLIR has been pushing updates to Cloud Connected models and users or dealers can accept these updates locally at the machine or through the CMS software and App.

Please read the instructions carefully.

Read this IPVM report for free.

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