[HN Gopher] Abusing container mount points on MikroTik's RouterO...
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       Abusing container mount points on MikroTik's RouterOS to gain code
       execution
        
       Author : xx_ns
       Score  : 49 points
       Date   : 2022-08-05 08:50 UTC (14 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (nns.ee)
 (TXT) w3m dump (nns.ee)
        
       | tmikaeld wrote:
       | This is seriously the last straw for me, I'll be switching away
       | from Mikrotik to OpenWRT devices, a router should stay a router,
       | not run containers!
       | 
       | The attack area on a router should shrink, not grow!
        
         | kirenida wrote:
         | I installed OpenWrt on my mikrotik hap ac2 because I had
         | problems streaming audio over wireless from my laptop to my
         | raspberry.
         | 
         | I posted on mikrotik forums, even contacted support, all to no
         | avail. Not what I expected from mikrotik and a device marketed
         | as a "home router".
         | 
         | After installing openwrt, everything just worked as expected.
        
           | oakwhiz wrote:
           | Support, as well as detailed, rigorous documentation in a
           | technical writing style, are definitely lacking with Mikrotik
           | products. There is a lot of assumed knowledge in the process
           | of specifying and then purchasing from them. However the
           | price, support and feature set are not too bad if you're able
           | to determine ahead of time that it would all be suitable for
           | your environment.
        
         | mcspiff wrote:
         | Might want to stay away from the Turris routers, while openwrt
         | based they also support running containers ;-)
        
         | justsomehnguy wrote:
         | Oh boy, what you wanna do when you learn what there are
         | switches there what have a complete PC in them, running Debian?
         | 
         | Eg: https://www.servethehome.com/dell-s5232f-on-hands-on-a-
         | vastl...
        
         | detaro wrote:
         | ... OpenWRT also can run containers.
        
         | necheffa wrote:
         | So...disable the container feature?
         | 
         | Do you just not review the configuration of your networking
         | equipment?
         | 
         | It is a convenient way to maximize hardware in SOHO
         | deployments.
        
           | oherrala wrote:
           | RouterOS by default doesn't have container support. It's a
           | separate package which has to be installed on the system. And
           | it is still in testing / beta phase.
        
           | gunapologist99 wrote:
           | Edge equipment should not be multi-purpose, "maximizing
           | hardware" or not.
           | 
           | This pursuit of saving money has given us weak boundaries
           | that are relatively easy to cross, which will ultimately cost
           | substantially more given any successful attack. The risk of
           | an attack is an existential threat to the business itself. Do
           | you really want to risk your entire business because you are
           | trying to save a few hundred for a separate device?
           | 
           | There are places to try to save money and consolidate
           | workloads, but edge routers are not it.
        
           | yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
           | I was initially inclined to agree, especially since openwrt
           | can run docker too, but I think it's fair to question both
           | defaults and supported modes of operation, and how much work
           | it is to go from the default to the desired target state. If
           | out of the box openwrt has less attack surface and you have
           | to go out of your way to add those features, that's probably
           | better than a jack-of-all-trades that comes out of the box
           | with loads of attack surface that you have to pare down and
           | hope that removing the features you don't want is
           | possible/supported.
        
         | oakwhiz wrote:
         | Containers are an optional add-on package that is only present
         | in the unstable release channel
        
       | adamcharnock wrote:
       | I'm seeing a few unhappy comments about this, so I'll just point
       | out a couple of things:
       | 
       | 1. This was introduced in a beta. It was then removed from
       | subsequent betas until a fix could be found.
       | 
       | 2. Running docker on a router could be really helpful in some
       | cases, especially for small ISPs such as mine. For example: being
       | able to run a recursive DNS resolver at the broadcast tower (ie
       | nearer the customer) without having to run an entire server would
       | be great. Or running a Prometheus exporter on the router for
       | metric collection. Or for local processing/archiving of netflow
       | data.
       | 
       | There are some really helpful use cases for this, but they are
       | not the normal devops reasons for using docker.
        
         | justsomehnguy wrote:
         | It is even more amusing what this would be used by most for
         | running something like piHole.
        
       | bravetraveler wrote:
       | Oh boy, glad I moved mine to SwitchOS I guess. This being a beta
       | means I would've ended up with this eventually, and Docker is
       | just not something I want on a network device
       | 
       | Seriously considering replacing this with Mikrotik showing up so
       | often
       | 
       | Edit: Any recommendations for 10GbE switches with ~8 ports would
       | be appreciated, likely encouraging me to follow through
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-05 23:02 UTC)