Tagged: GSM

Using an RTL-SDR as a Simple IMSI Catcher

Over on YouTube user Keld Norman has uploaded a video showing how he uses an RTL-SDR with gr-gsm and a Python script to create a simple IMSI catcher. IMSI stands for International mobile subscriber identity and is a unique number that identifies a cell phone SIM card in GSM (2G) mobile phone systems. For security IMSI numbers are usually only transmitted when a connection to a new cell tower is made. More advanced IMSI-catchers used by governmental agencies use a fake cell tower signal to force the IMSI to always be revealed. This way they can track the location of mobile phones as well as other data like who or when you are calling.

In the video Keld uses a Python script called IMSI-Catcher. This script displays the detected IMSI numbers, country, and mobile carrier on a text display. The video description shows how to install GR-GSM and the IMSI-Catcher script on Ubuntu.

IMSI-Catcher Python Script
IMSI-Catcher Python Script
How to make a simple $7 IMSI Catcher

Camp++ YouTube Talk: GSM Signal Sniffing for Everyone with GR-GSM and Multi-RTL

Over on YouTube the channel Budapest Hackerspace has recently uploaded a talk by Piotr Krysik which was given during the August 2016 Camp++ 0x7e0 information security conference. The talk is titled: “GSM signal sniffing for everyone with gr-gsm and Multi-RTL by Piotr Krysik” and talks about using the gr-gsm software and RTL-SDR dongles to sniff the GSM mobile phone network. Also, a tool developed by Piotr called multi-rtl which allows the proper synchronization of multiple RTL-SDR dongles in order to cover the large gap between the GSM uplink and downlink frequencies is discussed.

The talk explains a bit about how GSM works, and then goes on to talk about the gr-gsm and multi-rtl software. The talk blurb reads:

Gr-gsm is a set of tools for receiving GSM transmissions, which works with any software radio hardware capable of receiving GSM signal. Together with widely available RTL2832 based TV dongles, that are popularly used as low cost software radio receivers (known as RTL-SDR), it enables everyone to receive and study protocols used in GSM’s mobile radio interface.

Ability to receive signals spread over wide frequency range exceeding single RTL-SDR receiver’s bandwidth (~2.4MHz) was available exclusively for the owners of more capable and more expensive SDR devices. With introduction of Multi-RTL project by the author of the talk, this limit was overcome through synchronization of multiple RTL-SDR receivers in time domain, that doesn’t require complicated hardware modifications. With Muli-RTL it is possible to receive for example uplink and downlink of GSM900 transmissions, that are separated by 45MHz.

Speaker will present origins of both of the projects, together with description of their inner workings, examples of applications and plans for the future.

The talk slides can be downloaded here.

Camp++ 0x7e0 // GSM signal sniffing for everyone with gr-gsm and Multi-RTL by Piotr Krysik

CNxROOT Two Posts: How to Build an RTL-SDR Server with OpenWRT, Creating a GSM BaseStation with OpenBTS and a USRP

Recently security researcher cnxroot wrote in to let us know about two of his posts that may be of interest to readers. The posts are written in Chinese, so please use Google Translate to read them in English – it translates okay to some extent.

The first post shows us how to run the RTL-SDR on an OpenWRT capable router server. OpenWRT is a Linux firmware/OS that can be installed on several compatible router devices which extends the usefulness and features of the router. Since it is running Linux the RTL-SDR drivers can be installed onto it, and then rtl_tcp can be run, providing a remote RTL-SDR.

The second post is a bit more advanced. It is about creating a pseudo GSM base station with a USRP SDR and intercepting IoT devices which connect over GSM/GPRS. The post shows how to set up OpenBTS which can be used to create a base station.

RTL-SDR running on an internet router with OpenWRT.
RTL-SDR running on an internet router with OpenWRT.

Building your own Rogue GSM Basestation with a BladeRF

Over on his blog author Simone Margaritelli has added a tutorial that shows how to set up a bladeRF to act as a GSM basestation (cell tower). Having your own GSM basestation allows you to create your own private and free GSM network, or for more malicious illegal users it can allow you to create a system for intercepting peoples calls and data. Simone stresses that it is well known that GSM security is broken (and is probably broken by design), and now it is about time that these flaws were fixed.

In his tutorial he uses a single bladeRF x40 and a Raspberry Pi 3 as the processing hardware. The bladeRF is a $420 transmit and receive capable software defined radio with a tuning range of 300 MHz – 3.8 GHz and 12-bit ADC. He also uses a battery pack which makes the whole thing portable. The software used is Yate and YateBTS which is open source GSM basestation software. Installation as shown in the tutorial is as simple as doing a git clone, running a few compilation lines and doing some simple text configuration. Once set up mobile phones will automatically connect to the basestation due to the design of GSM.

Once setup you can go further and create your own private GSM network, or make the whole thing act as a “man-in-the-middle” proxy to a legitimate GSM USB dongle, which would allow you to sniff the traffic on anyone who unknowingly connects to your basestation. This is similar to how a “Stingray” operates, which is a IMSI-catcher device used by law enforcement to intercept and track GSM communications. More information on using the bladeRF as an IMSI catcher with YateBTS can be found in this white paper.

bladeRF x40, Raspberry Pi 3 and a battery pack. Running a GSM basestation.
bladeRF x40, Raspberry Pi 3 and a battery pack. Running a GSM basestation.

Hacking GSM Signals with an RTL-SDR and Topguw

The ability to hack some GSM signals has been around for some time now, but the steps to reproduce the hack have been long and difficult to set up. Recently RTL-SDR.com reader Bastien wrote into us to let us know about his recently released project called Topguw. Bastien's Topguw is a Linux based program that helps piece together all the steps required in the GSM hacking process. Although the steps are simplified, you will still need some knowledge of how GSM works, have installed Airprobe and Kraken, and you'll also need a 2TB rainbow table which keeps the barrier to this hack still quite high. Bastien writes about his software:

So like I said my software can "crack" SMS and call over GSM network.

How ?

I put quotation marks in crack because my software is not enough to deciphered GSM itself. My software can make some steps of the known-plaintext attack, introduce by Karsten Nohl, and by the way, increase the time to decipher an SMS or call. I'll not explain here all the steps because they are long and tedious, but there is a lot of work done behind the Gui.

Actually my software can extract Keystream (or try to find some of them) from a capture file of GSM, or by sniffing GSM with a rtl-sdr device. Then you just have to use Kraken to crack the key and you're able to decipher sms or call.

Why ?

This hack is very interesting! With only a little receiver (rtl-sdr) and some hard-disk capacity (2Tb), everyone can try to hack the GSM. It's very low cost compare to other hack vector. Moreover the success rate is really great if you guess the Keystream correctly. So when I started to done this with my hands I though -> why don't try to make something to do this automatically.
This is how Topguw was born.

Topguw, I hope, will sensitize people about risk they take by calling or sending sms with GSM.

My software is currently in beta version but I did run several time and I got good results. Maybe better than something done by hand. But Topguw is made to help people who want to learn the hack. This is why several files are made to help GSM reverse-engineering.

Topguw can be downloaded from GitHub at https://github.com/bastienjalbert/topguw. Bastien has also uploaded a video showing his software in action. If you're interested in Bastiens YouTube channel as he plans to upload another video soon where he shows himself hacking his own GSM sms/call signals.

Topguw Proof of concept - GSM Hacking educational purpose

Of course remember that hacking into GSM signals is very illegal and if you do this then you must check the legality of doing so in your country and only receive your own messages or messages that are intended for you.

Update 27 Feb 2023: Note that this content is constantly being censored by video upload sites. If the above video is down, Bastien has uploaded links to alternative video upload sites on pastebin.

Video showing SMS Texts and Voice Calls being sniffed with an RTL-SDR

Over on YouTube user Osama SH has uploaded a video briefly showing the steps needed to use an RTL-SDR dongle to sniff some SMS text messages and voice calls made from his own phone. This can be done if some encryption data is known about the phone sending the messages, so it cannot be used to listen in on any phone – just ones you have access to. In the video he uses Airprobe and Wireshark to initially sniff the data, and find the information needed to decode the text message. Once through the process he is able to recover the SMS message and some voice audio files.

Sniffing and Analyzing GSM Signals with GR-GSM

Over a year ago we wrote a tutorial on how to analyze GSM cellular phone signals using a RTL-SDR, a Linux computer with GNU Radio, Wireshark and a GSM decoder called Airprobe. With this combination it is possible to easily decode GSM system messages. Setting up Airprobe is can be difficult as it is unmaintained and incompatible with the new version of GNU Radio without patches.

Now a new software package called gr-gsm has been released on GitHub which seems to be a newer and improved version of Airprobe. The gr-gsm software is also much easier to install, uses the newer GNU Radio 3.7 and seems to decode the system data with much less trouble than Airprobe did. We will soon update our tutorial to use gr-gsm, but the instructions on the GitHub are already quite good. The author of gr-gsm also appears to be actively adding new features to the software as well. The video below shows gr-gsm in action.

Sniffing GSM data with gr-gsm and cheap RTL-SDR receivers

Hak5: Using A RTL-SDR To Learn About The GSM Network Around You

The popular YouTube electronics channel Hak5 has uploaded a video showing how they analyzed GSM signals using an RTL-SDR, Wireshark and Airprobe. In their video they use parts of our analyzing GSM tutorial and explain and show visually how to set up all the software.

Using these methods they were able to receive GSM data from a base tower and see various system information.

Using A RTL-SDR To Learn About The GSM Network Around You, Hak5 1621