Tagged: ethernet

Snooping Network Traffic from LAN Cables with an RTL-SDR or HackRF

Mordechai Guri is a cyber-security security researcher at Israel's Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Recently Guri has described a method for sniffing network data from LAN Ethernet cables over an air gap through the use of RTL-SDR or HackRF software defined radios. Guri's paper is available directly here.

The idea behind the attack is that ethernet cables can act as an antenna, leaking signals at frequencies which can easily be sniffed by a SDR. The specific technique in the paper does not decode normal network traffic, instead it requires that malicious code which modulates a custom signal over the ethernet cable be installed on the PC first. The technique used appears to be similar to what the Etherify software by SQ5BPF uses, which modulates data in morse code by turning the network card on and off.

Receiving a signal modulated by the LanTenna malware

Etherify Talk from The rC3 Online Conference

The "Chaos Computer Club (CCC)" have recently been uploading videos to YouTube from their "Remote Chaos Experience rC3" online conference. One talk is by Jacek Lipkowski (SQ5BPF) who presents his Etherify project which we have posted about a few times on this blog already. Etherify is a program that allows users to exploit unintentional RF leakage from Ethernet hardware in order to transmit data over the air, essentially creating a primitive software defined radio. In particular the Raspberry Pi 4 was found to have extreme unintentional leakage, with the signal being receivable from over 50m away.

Primitive soft tempest demos: exfiltrating data via leakage from ethernet and more :)

In this talk i will describe shortly the concept of soft tempest, and show a demo of etherify and sonify. Etherify uses radio frequency leakage from ethernet to exfiltrate data. Sonify uses ultrasound.
Both demos by design use very primitive tools and hardware, and are easy to replicate.

#rC3 Etherify - bringing the ether back to ethernet

Etherify 4: Using PC Ethernet RF Leakage to Transmit QRSS CW

Recently we've posted about Etherify a few times, mostly about how the unintentional RF leakage from the Raspberry Pi 4 Ethernet hardware is really strong and can be modulated to transmit data. In one of his latest posts Jacek Lipkowski (SQ5BPF) explores if Ethernet ports on PC's exhibit any sort of RF leakage too, and if it can be modulated into a data signal.

The answer is yes, there is some RF leakage, however unlike the Pi 4 the speed at which the leakage can be modulated is much slower, and also the signal strength is much lower. Despite the slow modulation speed, Jacek was still able to transmit data by using QRSS CW, which is essentially just very slow morse code. Using this idea he was able to transmit, and receive the CW signal with an RTL-SDR over a distance of 3 meters at 375 MHz, 625 MHz and 250 MHz. The signal strength is nothing like the Pi 4's Ethernet RF leakage which can be received strongly from over 50 meters away however.

Etherify: Transmitting QRSS CW via Ethernet RF leakage from PC to PC

Etherify: Pi 4 Exhibits Very Strong Ethernet RF Leakage

Not too long ago we posted about Jacek Lipkowski (SQ5BPF)'s project called "Etherify" which seeks to use unintentional RF radiation from Ethernet hardware/cables to transmit arbitrary signals such as morse code and FSK. During his earlier experiments he noted how he felt that the Raspberry Pi 4 had an unusually strong radiated Ethernet signal. In his recent post Jacek investigates this further.

Indeed his new tests seem to confirm that the Pi 4 has excessive RF leakage from the Ethernet hardware. His latest results have shown that he was able to receive the Ethernet leakage strongly from 50 meters away without any cable connected to the Ethernet port to act as a radiator. Jacek's post contains a number of demonstration videos such as the one below.

He admits that his particular Pi 4 unit might be unique in this regard. If anyone else tests this and can confirm excessive leakage, please let us know in the comments.

Ethernet RF leakage received strongly from 50m away without any antenna on the Pi 4

Etherify: Transmitting Morse Code via Raspberry Pi Ethernet RF Leakage

Over on his blog SQ5BPF has been documenting a TEMPEST experiment where he's been able to transmit data via RF being leaked from a Raspberry Pi's Ethernet connection. The idea was born when he found that his Raspberry Pi 4 was leaking a strong RF signal at 125 MHz from the Ethernet cable. He went on to find that it was easy to turn a tone on and off simply changing the Ethernet link speed with the "ethtool" command line tool. Once this was known it is a simple matter of creating a bash script to generate some morse code.

Quite amazingly the Ethernet RF leakage is very strong. With the Raspberry Pi 10 meters away, and a steel reinforced concrete wall in between, SQ5BPF was able to receive the generated morse code via an RTL-SDR connected to a PC. Further experiments show that with a Yagi antenna he was able to receive the signal from 100 meters away.

His post explains some further experiments with data bursting, and provides links to the scripts he created, so you can try this at home.

Update - SQ5BPF also notes the following:

The leakage differs a lot with the hardware used. The Raspberry Pi 4 is exceptional and also allows to switch the link speed quickly, so was a nice candidate for a demo, but other hardware works as well.

The first tests were done on some old laptops I had laying around, and they leak as well. Maybe someday I will publish this, but everyone of them behaves differently.

Etherify 1 demo receiving via SDR and decoding via fldigi

Identifying Noise Sources in the Shack using an SDR and an Active Receive Loop

Over on YouTube user SignalSearch has uploaded a video showing how he uses an active magnetic loop antenna indoors to identify local noise sources. Magnetic loop antennas are directional, meaning that they receive best when pointing towards a signal. This means that they also receive noise better when pointed at a noise source.  In the video SignalSearch uses a W6LVP receive loop antenna and demonstrates noise being emitted from his lightbulb, and from a plug in Ethernet over powerline adapter, which are known to be huge sources of HF noise.

If you are interested in the noise produced by these Ethernet over powerline adapters then we did a previous post on this problem over here.

Showing the HF Interference Problem from Ethernet over Powerline Devices

Over on our YouTube channel we’ve uploaded a new video that shows how bad the interference from Ethernet over Power devices can be. Ethernet over Power, Powerline Networking, Powerline Communications or ‘HomePlug’ is a technology that allows you to use any of your household power outlets as an internet Ethernet port, completely eliminating the need for runs of Ethernet cabling. They are capable of high speeds and can be used anywhere in the house assuming the two plugs are on the same power circuit.

Unfortunately these devices tend to wipe out almost the entire HF spectrum for anyone listening nearby. As household powerline cables are not shielded for RF emissions they radiate in the HF spectrum quite heavily. In the video we demonstrate what the HF spectrum looks like with one of these devices used in the house. The particular device used was a TP-Link brand adapter, and a WellBrook Magnetic Loop antenna was used outdoors, with the null facing the house. An Airspy R2 with SpyVerter was used to view the spectrum.

The video shows that even when the network is idling there are several brief bursts of noise all over the spectrum. Then when a file is downloaded almost the entire spectrum is completely wiped out.

Interestingly from the video it appears that the amateur radio frequencies are actually carefully notched out and those frequencies remain relatively clean. Most manufacturers of these devices appear to have worked with the ARRL to please ham radio enthusiasts, but SWLers will likely be in trouble if any of these devices are used in your house or neighbors house.

How Ethernet/Internet over Powerline Can Wipe out the HF Band