Vault 7: Projects

This publication series is about specific projects related to the Vault 7 main publication.
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11 Known issues and Limitations
11.1 Known Issues
Microphone Sharing
The current implant cannot share the microphone with other applications. Therefore if Voice Recognition
is turned on, or if an application such as Skype is started, our application will close its access to the
microphone. When the other application stops using the microphone again, EXTENDING will start
recording again. In future releases of the implant we will be able to record from the microphone
simultaneously with other applications.
Fake-off – TV Communications
When the TV is in Fake-off mode the processor functionality has not been limited. Practically, this means
that the TV will still flash the LEDs on USB drives when they are inserted and continue to send packets
on the network. Many Smart TVs do this as part of their functionality; however Samsung TVs do not
normally. As an improvement for the next release of the implant we hope to reduce the processor
functionality when the implant enters Fake-off mode. This will involve just recording from the TV, and only
connecting to the SSIDs set in the implant Settings file.
Fake-off – LED
When the TV is in Fake-off mode the “Samsung” LED at the front and centre of the TV remains on.
Wi-Fi Interference
The EXTENDING implant will interrupt a user’s use of the wireless card on the TV. If a target is
connected to their home wireless network, then EXTENDING will break this connection when it detects
the presence of the SSID it wishes to connect to.
audioRecordingMode=0
When operating in audioRecordingMode=0 (not recording any audio) the implant will stop running when
fake-off mode is entered. The source of this problem has been located and will be fixed in the next
release.
11.2 Limitations
Lag before application starts
The implant is started by the TV when the TV powers on. It can take up to 30 seconds from the user
turning the TV on for EXTENDING to start running. As the exploit relies on being started by the TV then
there is no way to avoid this.
A Side-effect of this is that if the user turns the TV on and then off quickly and before EXTENDING has
started up, then the TV does not enter Fake-off mode. The next time the TV is turned on, the implant will
still start as normal, however we will have missed a period of Fake-off recording.
Smart HUB setup
To install our application the Smart HUB needs to be setup and the license agreements accepted. It is
only possible to do this with an internet connection.
Smart HUB Storage Available
When on the Smart Hub “More Apps” page the available storage space is shown in the bottom right hand
corner. If the implant is configured to record audio to the “mtd_rwcommon” folder area, then this storage
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