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INTERNET PROTOCOL version 6 (IPv6) is placing many systems at risk of attack because networking software has IPv6 enabled but users don't know it, warns a security researcher.

Organisations and individuals which aren't yet aware that their networks and computers have IPv6 traffic already enabled won't have configured network protection systems to monitor it, explained Joe Klein of IPv6 integration consultancy Command Information.

"Essentially, we have systems that are wide open to a network," said Klein last Friday evening at the Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference held in New York City. "It's like having wireless on your network without knowing it."
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Networking hardware and software vendors have been preparing their products for the transition to IPv6 for years, and many systems are already shipped with IPv6 enabled by default, even though it's not being widely used yet. Therefore, many systems have IPv6 traffic enabled without network administrators and individual users being aware of that. Most network safeguards like firewalls and intrusion detection systems are not properly set up yet to handle IPv6 traffic.

For networks and systems where this is the case, it can present potential vulnerabilities to malicious Internet traffic that uses IPv6 instead of IPv4. Not only might a remote attacker punch inbound IPv6 packets through IPv4 firewalls and past intrusion detection systems undetected, but an attacker who manages to defeat IPv4 security measures, or an internal user already inside a protected network, might transmit outbound data through firewalls and monitoring systems undetected using IPv6.
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Some mobile phones that have Internet access capabilities have also been discovered to be potentially vulnerable, said Klein. He mentioned that Windows Mobile 5 and 6 users might be especially vulnerable because the software doesn't include a firewall, but he declined to name others until they could be contacted. Klein did say that Blackberries and Iphones are not vulnerable. A Microsoft spokesvole claimed that its Windows Mobile phones are safe.

Command Information provides a list of operating systems and products that it has found to have IPv6 traffic enabled by default:

Apple Airport Extreme
Apple MacIntosh OSX
BSD -- OpenBSD / NetBSD / FreeBSD
HP-UX 11v2
IBM AIX 6
IBM AS/400
IBM z/OS
Juniper 5.1
Linux 2.6 Kernel
Microsoft Vista
Microsoft Windows Mobile 5, 6
Open VMS
Various Cell Phones
Sun Solaris 2.8, 2.10
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There's also a web page where users can test their systems to see whether IPv6 traffic is enabled.

Klein said that users should check with their firewall software vendors to find out whether they're protected from network attacks that employ IPv6. µ

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ … ar-present