Advisory ID:               SYSS-2022-008
Product:                   Store 'n' Go Secure Portable HDD
Manufacturer:              Verbatim
Affected Version(s):       GD25LK01-3637-C VER4.0
Tested Version(s):         GD25LK01-3637-C VER4.0
Vulnerability Type:        Expected Behavior Violation (CWE-440)
Risk Level:                Low
Solution Status:           Open
Manufacturer Notification: 2022-01-31
Solution Date:             -
Public Disclosure:         2022-06-08
CVE Reference:             CVE-2022-28386
Author of Advisory:        Matthias Deeg (SySS GmbH)

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Overview:

The Verbatim Store 'n' Go Secure Portable HDD is a portable USB drive
with AES 256-bit hardware encryption and a built-in keypad for passcode
entry.

The manufacturer describes the product as follows:

"The AES 256-bit Hardware Encryption seamlessly encrypts all data on the
drive in real-time with a built-in keypad for password input. The SSD
does not store passwords in the computer or system's volatile memory
making it far more secure than software encryption. Also, if it falls
into the wrong hands, the SSD will lock and require re-formatting after
20 failed password attempts."[1]

The security feature for locking and requiring to reformat the SSD after
20 failed unlock attempts does not work as specified.

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Vulnerability Details:

When analyzing the external SSD Verbatim Store 'n' Go Secure Portable
HDD, Matthias Deeg found out that the device will not lock and require
reformatting after 20 failed passcode attempts, as described in the
product description[1] and the corresponding user manual[2].

Thus, an attacker with physical access to such an external SSD can try
more passcodes in order to unlock the device.

During the security analysis, SySS could not find out how many failed
passcode attempts would actually lock the device and require
reformatting it, as this device state was never reached.

Additionally, trying to find out the correct passcode by either manually
or automatically entering them via the provided keypad is rather
insufficient compared to an equally possible offline brute-force attack
described in SySS security advisory SYSS-2022-005[3].

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Proof of Concept (PoC):

SySS tried to unlock the Verbatim Store 'n' Go Secure Portable HDD with
more than 20 consecutively entered wrong passcodes.

Afterwards, contrary to the product description, the external SSD could
still be successfully unlocked with the correct passcode, and access to
the previously stored data was possible without any issues.

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Solution:

SySS GmbH is not aware of a solution for the described security issue.

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Disclosure Timeline:

2022-01-31: Vulnerability reported to manufacturer
2022-02-11: Vulnerability reported to manufacturer again
2022-03-07: Vulnerability reported to manufacturer again
2022-06-08: Public release of security advisory

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References:

[1] Product website for Verbatim Store 'n' Go Secure Portable HDD
 
https://www.verbatim-europe.co.uk/en/prod/store-n-go-portable-ssd-with-keypad-access-256gb-53402/
[2] Verbatim Keypad Secure User Manual
 
https://www.verbatim-marcom.com/image_Verbatim-53402_Verbatim-Keypad-Secure-User-Manual-English_422400.pdf
[3] SySS Security Advisory SYSS-2022-005
 
https://www.syss.de/fileadmin/dokumente/Publikationen/Advisories/SYSS-2022-005.txt
[4] SySS Security Advisory SYSS-2022-008
 
https://www.syss.de/fileadmin/dokumente/Publikationen/Advisories/SYSS-2022-008.txt
[5] SySS GmbH, SySS Responsible Disclosure Policy
     https://www.syss.de/en/responsible-disclosure-policy

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Credits:

This security vulnerability was found by Matthias Deeg of SySS GmbH.

E-Mail: matthias.deeg (at) syss.de
Public Key: 
https://www.syss.de/fileadmin/dokumente/Materialien/PGPKeys/Matthias_Deeg.asc
Key fingerprint = D1F0 A035 F06C E675 CDB9 0514 D9A4 BF6A 34AD 4DAB

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Disclaimer:

The information provided in this security advisory is provided "as is"
and without warranty of any kind. Details of this security advisory may
be updated in order to provide as accurate information as possible. The
latest version of this security advisory is available on the SySS website.

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Copyright:

Creative Commons - Attribution (by) - Version 3.0
URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en