CAPEC-606

Detailed Abstraction Level
Meta — Very abstract, high-level category
Standard — Specific enough to understand
Detailed — Tied to specific technique Draft MITRE CAPEC Status
Stable — Fully reviewed and complete
Draft — Under development
Incomplete — Partially defined
Deprecated — No longer recommended
Obsolete — Replaced by another CAPEC Severity: High
Weakening of Cellular Encryption

Description

An attacker, with control of a Cellular Rogue Base Station or through cooperation with a Malicious Mobile Network Operator can force the mobile device (e.g., the retransmission device) to use no encryption (A5/0 mode) or to use easily breakable encryption (A5/1 or A5/2 mode).

Prerequisites

Cellular devices that allow negotiating security modes to facilitate backwards compatibility and roaming on legacy networks.

Mitigations

Use of hardened baseband firmware on retransmission device to detect and prevent the use of weak cellular encryption.

Monitor cellular RF interface to detect the usage of weaker-than-expected cellular encryption.

Skills Required

[Medium] Adversaries can purchase and implement rogue BTS stations at a cost effective rate, and can push a mobile device to downgrade to a non-secure cellular protocol like 2G over GSM or CDMA.