Doc spelling and punctuation corrections:

- standardize on American English spellings (behavior, analyze)
- consistent bullet line end punctuation.
- wifi -> WiFi, usb -> USB where needed.
- some comma and article edits.
This commit is contained in:
Hal Mueller
2025-10-26 15:27:27 -07:00
committed by Markus Unterwaditzer
parent 0eebe890c1
commit e416d6e311
8 changed files with 24 additions and 24 deletions

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@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ Rayhunter includes several analyzers to detect potential IMSI catcher activity.
### IMSI Requested (v3)
This analyser tests whether the eNodeB sends an IMSI or IMEI Identity Request NAS message under suspicious .
This analyzer tests whether the eNodeB sends an IMSI or IMEI Identity Request NAS message under suspicious .
Mobile networks primarily request IMSI or IMEI from a mobile device during initial network attachment or when the network cannot identify the mobile device by its temporary identification (TMSI - *Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity* or GUTI - *Globally Unique Temporary Identifier* in 4G/5G terminology).
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ What we consider suspicious is the following chain of events:
* Authentication does *NOT* happen.
* Tower requests phone to disconnect.
Looking for this chain of events is much less prone to false positives than naively looking for any time the IMSI/IMEI is sent. We do still sometimes get false positives when users are in an airplane that is coming in for a landing however. This is likely do to having been disconnected for a while and then being over towers that are not able to route to your home network, but we are still researching.
Looking for this chain of events is much less prone to false positives than naively looking for any time the IMSI/IMEI is sent. We do still sometimes get false positives when users are in an airplane that is coming in for a landing however. This is likely due to having been disconnected for a while and then being over towers that are not able to route to your home network, but we are still researching.
This is the attack used by commercial IMSI catchers used by law enforcement.
@@ -36,40 +36,40 @@ This heuristic will also issue a notification every time your identity is sent t
### Connection Release/Redirected Carrier 2G Downgrade
This analyser tests if a base station releases your device's connection and redirects your device to a 2G base station. This heuristic is useful, because some IMSI catchers may operate in a such way that they downgrade connection to 2G where they can intercept the communication (by performing man-in-the-middle attack).
This analyzer tests if a base station releases your device's connection and redirects your device to a 2G base station. This heuristic is useful, because some IMSI catchers may operate in a such way that they downgrade connection to 2G where they can intercept the communication (by performing man-in-the-middle attack).
### LTE SIB6/7 Downgrade
This analyser tests if LTE base station is broadcasting a SIB type 6 and 7 messages which include 2G/3G frequencies with higher priorities.
This analyzer tests if LTE base station is broadcasting a SIB type 6 and 7 messages which include 2G/3G frequencies with higher priorities.
SIB (*System Information Block*) Type 6 and 7 are specific types of broadcast messages sent by the base station (eNodeB in 4G networks) to mobile devices. They contain essential radio-related configuration parameters to help mobile device perform cell reselection.
This attack exploits the fact that SIB broadcast messages are not encrypted or authenticated. This allows them to pretend to be a legitimate cell by broadcasting fake system information in order to force mobile devices to downgrade from more secure 4G (LTE) to less secure 2G (GSM) network and then steal IMSI and/or perform man-in-the-middle attack. That is why this is also called a downgrade attack.
SIB6 is used for cell reselecion to CDMA2000 systems which are not supported by many modern mobile phones, and SIB7 Provides the mobile device with information to perform cell reselection to GSM/EDGE networks. Therefore SIB6 messages are quite rare, while malformed SIB7 messages are much more frequent in practice.
SIB6 is used for cell reselection to CDMA2000 systems which are not supported by many modern mobile phones, and SIB7 Provides the mobile device with information to perform cell reselection to GSM/EDGE networks. Therefore SIB6 messages are quite rare, while malformed SIB7 messages are much more frequent in practice.
This heuristic is the most useful in the United States or other countries where there are no more operating 2G base stations. See [Wikipedia page on past 2G networks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G#Past_2G_networks) for information about your country. In countries where 2G is still in service (such as most of EU), this heuristics may trigger false positives. In that case you should consider disabling it. However this heuristics has been vastly improved to reduce false positive warnings and new tests in European networks show that false positives are vastly reduced.
This heuristic is the most useful in the United States or other countries where there are no more operating 2G base stations. See [Wikipedia page on past 2G networks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G#Past_2G_networks) for information about your country. In countries where 2G is still in service (such as most of EU), this heuristic may trigger false positives. In that case you should consider disabling it. However this heuristic has been vastly improved to reduce false positive warnings and new tests in European networks show that false positives are vastly reduced.
### Null Cipher
This analyser tests whether the cell suggests using a null cipher (EEA0) in the RRC layer. That means that encryption between your mobile device and base station is turned off.
This analyzer tests whether the cell suggests using a null cipher (EEA0) in the RRC layer. That means that encryption between your mobile device and base station is turned off.
Normally this should never happen, because null cipher is used almost exclusively for testing and debugging in labs or in controlled environments. Sometimes null cipher is used if encryption negotiation fails or isnt supported (however in most networks this should not be the case). Also, some regulations allow unencrypted communications in **specific** emergency cases.
The general rule is, that null cipher should never be used in commercial deployments, except in very controlled conditions (e.g., test labs) or in a very specific regulatory-approved use cases.
The general rule is that null cipher should never be used in commercial deployments, except in very controlled conditions (e.g., test labs) or in a very specific regulatory-approved use cases.
On the other hand, IMSI catchers often use null cipher to avoid setting up secure contexts (because they lack valid keys) and/or to trick mobile device into using unencrypted links (which makes eavesdropping easier).
### NAS Null Cipher
This analyser tests whether the security mode command at the NAS layer suggests using a null cipher (EEA0). This would usually only happen after a mobile device has successfully authenticated with the MME (*Mobility Management Entity* - core network component that handles signaling and control) but still it shouldn't happen at all. This could be indicative of an attack though using SS7 (*Signaling System 7* - a set of telecommunication protocols used to set up and manage calls and other services) to get key material from the HLR (*Home Location Register* - a database in mobile telecommunications networks that stores subscriber information) of the mobile phone for a successful authentication.
This analyzer tests whether the security mode command at the NAS layer suggests using a null cipher (EEA0). This would usually only happen after a mobile device has successfully authenticated with the MME (*Mobility Management Entity* - core network component that handles signaling and control) but still it shouldn't happen at all. This could be indicative of an attack though using SS7 (*Signaling System 7* - a set of telecommunication protocols used to set up and manage calls and other services) to get key material from the HLR (*Home Location Register* - a database in mobile telecommunications networks that stores subscriber information) of the mobile phone for a successful authentication.
It could also indicate an IMSI catcher which is connected to the mobile network MME and HLR through cooperation between government and telecom provider. Or it could be a false positive if the telecom provider is intending to use null ciphers (if encryption is illegal in some country, or they have some misconfiguration of the network), however this should be very rare case.
### Incomplete SIB
This analyser tests whether the SIB1 message contains a complete SIB chain (SIB3, SIB5, etc.). A legitimate SIB1 message should contain timing information for at least 2 additional SIBs (SIB3, 4, and 5 being the most common) but a fake base station will often not bother to send additional SIBs beyond 1 and 2 (i. e. some IMSI catchers send just SIB1 and *one additional* SIB).
This analyzer tests whether the SIB1 message contains a complete SIB chain (SIB3, SIB5, etc.). A legitimate SIB1 message should contain timing information for at least 2 additional SIBs (SIB3, 4, and 5 being the most common) but a fake base station will often not bother to send additional SIBs beyond 1 and 2 (i. e. some IMSI catchers send just SIB1 and *one additional* SIB).
On its own this might just be a misconfigured base station (though we have only seen it in the wild under suspicious circumstances) but combined with other heuristics such as **IMSI Requested** detection it should be considered as a strong indicator of malicious activity.