Accounting for the Unaccounted Vulnerabilities Found in Endpoint ISP SOHO Router

This paper aims to explore and discuss the extent of configuration vulnerabilities found in the new generation of pre-configured SOHO routers provided by some of the top ISPs in the country, mainly India, and many in abroad as well. ISP-provided SOHO routers have become an integral part of our homes and offices today. With the previous generations of ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) routers having shared their own set of vulnerabilities in the early 2000s, the world has since moved onto ADSL-based FTTH (Fiber To The Home) ONT (Optical Network Terminal) routers, which have not improved much over time in terms of security either. The authors will go through the exploits of these vulnerabilities performed in a controlled lab environment by using various types of attack vectors, such as directory enumeration attacks and compromising EOL software versions, along with assessing at the size of the impact they can bring about when performed in real-life scenarios. Finally, this paper will discuss some stringent measures that ISPs can take to better implement their router security and harden their firmware to mitigate these attacks on their networks. This paper primarily focuses on the security measures that ISPs can implement to prevent attacks on their networks, and less on the measures that individual users of these ISP can take to protect their devices from getting compromised.