Highway traffic monitoring system has exploitable electronic flaw, says CERT

Systems that can track automotive traffic on roadways, providing speed and highway traffic behavior patterns, have a flaw that could allow a skilled hacker to break in, according to the U.S. Industrial Control System Computer Emergency Readiness Team. (ICS-CERT)

A Nov. 30 advisory issued by CERT said a specific system used by some municipal governments around the country has an authentication vulnerability that could allow unauthorized access. The advisory said Post Oak Bluetooth traffic systems that use Anonymous Wireless Address Matching (AWAM) were affected.

AWAM systems detect vehicles that have Bluetooth-enabled networking devices aboard, including cellular phones, mobile GPS systems, telephone headsets, and in-vehicle navigation and hands-free systems. Each of those devices contains a unique electronic address that the AWAM system’s sensors can read as the device travels by on a roadway. The addresses aren’t tied to the users, so the tracking information can be used to track people, however.  

The AWAM systems are used as an alternative by some municipal governments and transportation departments to EZ-Pass RFID tags to watch for traffic jams and other traffic disruptions by measuring highway speeds and travel times.

An independent research group, said CERT on Nov. 30, identified an insufficient entropy vulnerability in authentication key generation in Post Oak’s AWAM Bluetooth Reader Traffic System. By impersonating the device, said CERT, an attacker could obtain the credentials of the systems administrative users and potentially perform a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack, intercepting communications within the organization.

CERT said Post Oak has validated the vulnerability and produced an updated firmware version that mitigates the potential opening. CERT said Post Oak told it its products are deployed in the transportation sector, mainly in the U.S.