Verbatim Store 'n' Go Secure Portable SSD Behavior Violation

Advisory ID: SYSS-2022-046
Product: Store ‘n’ Go Secure Portable SSD
Manufacturer: Verbatim
Affected Version(s): #53402 (GDMSLK02 C-INIC3637-V1.1)
Tested Version(s): #53402 (GDMSLK02 C-INIC3637-V1.1)
Vulnerability Type: Expected Behavior Violation (CWE-440)
Risk Level: Low
Solution Status: Open
Manufacturer Notification: 2022-06-29
Solution Date: -
Public Disclosure: 2022-10-07
CVE Reference: CVE-2022-28386
Author of Advisory: Matthias Deeg (SySS GmbH)

Overview:

The Verbatim Store 'n' Go Secure Portable SSD 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 hard  
drive 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 hard drive 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.

Vulnerability Details:

When analyzing the external data storage Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go Secure
Portable SSD, 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.

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 it via the provided keypad is rather
insufficient compared to an equally possible offline brute-force attack,
as described in SySS security advisory SYSS-2022-043[2].

Proof of Concept (PoC):

SySS tried to unlock the Verbatim Store 'n' Go Secure Portable SSD 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.

Solution:

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

Disclosure Timeline:

2022-06-29: Vulnerability reported to manufacturer  
2022-10-07: Public release of security advisory

References:

[1] Product website for Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go Secure Portable SSD

https://www.verbatim.com.au/products/store-n-go-portable-ssd-with-keypad-access/
[2] SySS Security Advisory SYSS-2022-043

https://www.syss.de/fileadmin/dokumente/Publikationen/Advisories/SYSS-2022-043.txt
[3] SySS Security Advisory SYSS-2022-046

https://www.syss.de/fileadmin/dokumente/Publikationen/Advisories/SYSS-2022-046.txt
[4] SySS GmbH, SySS Responsible Disclosure Policy
https://www.syss.de/en/responsible-disclosure-policy

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

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.

Copyright:

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