Flying Sausage Rescues Pooch, Drone Pilots Save The Day

January 21, 2022 by Jenny List 8 Comments

When we write about drone stories from the United Kingdom, they often have a slightly depressing air to them as we relate tales of unverified air proximity reports closing airports or bungled official investigations that would make the Keystone Kops look like competent professionals.

But here’s a drone story from this rainswept isle sure to put a smile on the face of multirotor enthusiasts worldwide, as Denmead Drone Search And Rescue, an organisation who locate missing pets using drones, enticed lost dog Millie from a soon-to-be-engulfed tidal mudflat by the simple expedient of dangling a sausage from a drone for the mutt to follow (Facebook).

Lest you believe that Hackaday have lost their marbles and this isn’t worthy of our normal high standards, let us remind you that this is not our first flying sausage story. Behind the cute-puppy and flying meat product jokes though, there’s a serious side. Drones have received such a bad press over recent years that a good news story concerning them is rare indeed, and this one has garnered significant coverage in the general media. Maybe it’s too late to reverse some of the reputational damage from the Gatwick fiasco, but at this point any such coverage is good news.

For anyone wondering what lies behind this, let us take you back to Christmas 2018.

This Week In Security: NetUSB, HTTP.sys, And 2013’s CVE Is Back

January 21, 2022 by Jonathan Bennett 2 Comments

Let’s imagine a worst case situation for home routers. It would have to start with a port unintentionally opened to the internet, ideally in a popular brand, like Netgear. For fun, let’s say it’s actually a third-party kernel module, that is in multiple router brands. This module would then need a trivial vulnerability, say an integer overflow on the buffer size for incoming packets. This flaw would mean that the incoming data would write past the end of the buffer, overwriting whatever kernel data is there. So far, this exactly describes the NetUSB flaw, CVE-2021-45608.

Because red teams don’t get their every wish, there is a catch. While the overflow is exceptionally easy to pull off, there isn’t much wiggle room on where the data gets written. There’s no remote code execution Proof of Concept (PoC) yet, and [Max Van Amerongen], who discovered the flaw, says it would be difficult but probably not impossible to pull off. All of this said, it’s a good idea to check your router for open ports, particularly non-standard port numbers. If you have a USB port on your router, check for updates.

Windows HTTP.sys Problem

A serious problem has been announced in Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10, with some versions vulnerable in their default configurations. The problem is in how Windows handles HTTP Trailer packets, which contain extra information at the end of normal HTTP transfers. There is a PoC available that demonstrates a crash. It appears that an additional information leak vulnerability would have to be combined with this one to produce a true exploit. This seems to be a different take on CVE-2021-31166, essentially exploiting the same weakness, and working around the incomplete fix. This issue was fixed in the January patch set for Windows, so make sure you’re covered. Continue reading “This Week In Security: NetUSB, HTTP.sys, And 2013’s CVE Is Back” →

This End Times Cyberdeck Is Apocalypse-Ready

January 21, 2022 by Dan Maloney 29 Comments

In the cyberdeck world, some designs are meant to evoke a cyberpunk vibe, an aesthetic that’s more lighthearted than serious. Some cyberdecks, though, are a little more serious about hardening their designs against adverse conditions. That’s where something like the ARK-io SurvivalDeck comes into play.

Granted, there does seem to be at least a little lightheartedness at play with the aptly named [techno-recluse]’s design. It’s intended to be an “Apocalypse Repository of Knowledge”, which may be stretching the point a bit. But it does contain an impressive amount of tech — wide-band software defined radio (SDR) covering HF to UHF, GPS module, a sensor for air pressure, temperature, and humidity, and a Raspberry Pi 3B running Kali Linux. Everything is housed in a waterproof ammo can; a 3D printed bezel holds an LCD touchscreen and a satisfying array of controls, displays and ports. The lid of the ammo can holds a keyboard, which was either custom-made to precisely fit the lid or was an incredibly lucky find.

There’s a lot to like about this build, but our favorite part is the external dipole for receiving NOAA weather satellite imagery. The ability to monitor everything from the ham bands to local public service channels is a nice touch too. And we have no complaints about the aesthetics or build quality either. This reminds us of an earlier cyberdeck with a similar vibe, but with a more civilian flavor.

Thanks to [Kate] for the tip.

[via Tom’s Hardware]

Affordable HF Loop Antenna Reviewed

January 21, 2022 by Al Williams 10 Comments

Modern ham radio operators often face restrictions on antennas. This has made small antennas more popular, despite some limitations. [Tech Minds] reviews the GA-450 indoor active HF loop antenna and finds it better than expected. You can see the video review below.

You can’t expect a little antenna to perform as well as giant skyhook. However, for such a small loop covering 3 to 30 MHz, the antenna seems to perform very well. We like that the active part of it has a rechargeable battery. Obviously, you will only want to use this antenna for receiving, but it would be a great pairing for an HF-capable software defined radio (SDR). Even just in the window sill with half gain, it was able to pick up quite a bit of signal on the 40 meter and 20 meter ham bands. According to the video, performance below 7 MHz was lackluster, but it worked nicely at higher frequencies.

The loop is directional and you can rotate the loop on the base to zero in on a particular signal. Of course, if the antenna were up in the air, it might be harder to rotate unless you work out something with a motor. If all you want to do is receive and you have a budget of under $100, this looks like it would be a nice portable option.

You can build your own loop and loop-like antennas, of course. Some of them can be quite portable.

Continue reading “Affordable HF Loop Antenna Reviewed” →