Counter rollback via interrupted RFID writes
Published Jun 6, 2021 · Updated Aug 4, 2024
Improper counter protection in NXP MIFARE Ultralight and NTAG cards allows physically proximate attackers to reset monotonic counters over RFID. The anti-tearing logic stores a counter in two EEPROM slots and trusts a valid flag while returning the higher slot, allowing timed interrupted increments to create weak bits and force a rollback. The attacker must repeatedly control the reader field and card distance; success can restore a spent ticket or bypass another application control that relies on the counter.
Summary
What happened
Improper counter protection in NXP MIFARE Ultralight and NTAG cards allows physically proximate attackers to reset monotonic counters over RFID. The anti-tearing logic stores a counter in two EEPROM slots and trusts a valid flag while returning the higher slot, allowing timed interrupted increments to create weak bits and force a rollback. The attacker must repeatedly control the reader field and card distance; success can restore a spent ticket or bypass another application control that relies on the counter.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-33881
- Published
- Jun 6, 2021
- Updated
- Aug 4, 2024
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- physical
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 6, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
No sourced classifications are available.
Public exploit references
- Proxmark3 RFID tear-off toolingfunctional · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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