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Introduction:
It’s 2025, yet the cybersecurity landscape remains haunted by vulnerabilities and weak credentials dating back more than a decade. Despite the growing complexity of IoT networks and widespread awareness campaigns, many companies continue to overlook basic security hygiene. This negligence opens doors for threat actors to exploit outdated vulnerabilities with minimal effort. A recent case involves Unipi Technologies, where default credentials are still in play, and attackers are scanning for a known Netgear router flaw from 2013 that was only assigned a CVE in 2024. The following breakdown highlights how attackers are capitalizing on these weaknesses to spread malware like Mirai and Gafgyt, and what this means for the cybersecurity industry.
Ongoing Security Oversights: A 30-Line Digest
Unipi Technologies, a developer of programmable logic controllers for home and industrial automation, is the latest target of cyber scans.
The company’s devices, built on a custom Linux platform called Marvis, are popular among professional users.
Security researchers detected active scans in honeypot logs targeting the Unipi default credentials: username “unipi” and password “unipi.technology.”
These scans originated from the IP address 176.65.148.10, known for malicious behavior in security databases.
Besides targeting Unipi’s SSH access, the IP address is also probing systems for a Netgear vulnerability from 2013.
The vulnerability in question—only recently assigned CVE-2024-12847—is still widely unpatched.
Attackers use the same command string for both exploits, revealing a shared intent to deploy Mirai or Gafgyt malware variants.
The attack chain begins with cleaning up temporary files, downloading a malicious shell script, changing its permissions, and executing it.
These actions are consistent with known botnet infection procedures, aiming to compromise IoT devices and integrate them into a larger malicious network.
Mirai and Gafgyt are among the most widely distributed botnets, often used for launching DDoS attacks.
The presence of default credentials on Unipi devices shows a continued failure to follow secure configuration practices.
Hardcoded or unchanged passwords are among the easiest vulnerabilities for attackers to exploit.
Despite years of industry warnings, many manufacturers still ship devices with insecure defaults.
The scanning activity illustrates how attackers cast wide nets, hunting for vulnerable devices across the internet.
Unsecured IoT devices provide an easy entry point for attackers to escalate privileges or use devices as launchpads for further attacks.
The outdated Netgear vulnerability exploited here emphasizes the longevity of known CVEs in the wild.
Even vulnerabilities from 2013 remain effective because of user and vendor negligence in patching systems.
The fact that this vulnerability only received a CVE number in 2024 is a red flag about the lag in vulnerability documentation.
Attackers rely on publicly available tools and shared scripts, making the barrier to entry extremely low.
The reused command patterns demonstrate how little effort it takes to initiate a successful compromise.
While larger companies may have more robust defenses, smaller or less regulated organizations using Unipi devices are particularly at risk.
Many users remain unaware that their devices are part of botnets until ISPs or authorities notify them.
These infected devices may appear to function normally while participating in large-scale cyberattacks in the background.
Security through obscurity is no longer an option—these scanning bots leave no stone unturned.
Neglecting to change a default password or patch a router can have global repercussions.
Organizations and individuals alike must take ownership of IoT device security as the attack surface continues to expand.
What’s even more alarming is that the industry’s slow reaction to these threats enables threat actors to evolve faster than defenses.
Without a cultural shift toward proactive security, even more sophisticated attacks may emerge from these seemingly minor oversights.
What Undercode Say:
This case reflects a deeper malaise in the cybersecurity ecosystem—an enduring reliance on outdated technology and practices that leave critical infrastructure exposed. The fact that we’re still talking about hardcoded default passwords and 2013 router vulnerabilities in 2025 is not just embarrassing, it’s dangerous.
Default credentials like “unipi” and “unipi.technology” are a known Achilles’ heel in IoT devices. Manufacturers continue to prioritize ease of use over basic security, a decision that significantly widens the attack surface. By failing to force password changes on first boot or implement authentication hardening, these companies are actively facilitating botnet growth.
The exploitation of a Netgear flaw from 2013—only catalogued in CVE records in 2024—highlights another painful reality: threat intelligence and vulnerability tracking often lag behind active exploitation. This delay gives attackers ample time to abuse these weaknesses, often before the public is even aware of them.
Moreover, this attack uses a textbook Mirai/Gafgyt infection script, which proves that cybercriminals are capitalizing on existing, well-documented malware tools rather than creating new ones. They don’t need to innovate when their targets haven’t evolved either.
This lack of progression on the defender side emboldens attackers. Every reused script, every reused IP, every overlooked firmware update is a signal to bad actors that there’s still low-hanging fruit ripe for picking.
What’s even more infuriating is that these infections
Vendors like Unipi have a responsibility—not just a suggestion—to provide secure default configurations and ensure their users are educated on maintaining them. Security should be part of the product lifecycle, not an afterthought.
Also concerning is the reliance on IP-based reputation systems that are easy for attackers to evade through proxies, VPNs, and fast-flux techniques. Detection must evolve to behavioral models and endpoint anomaly detection to be truly effective.
Cybersecurity professionals need to push for enforcement of security baselines across all IoT device certifications
References:
Reported By: isc.sans.edu
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