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I hacked my washing machine

nexy.blog

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Re: I hacked my washing machine

#101

Post by beeforpork »

Hmm, I don't see any encryption. In the first screenshot 'cyberchef.avif' in the 'input window, the data is just unencrypted hex ASCII. I can fairly easily read the hex: even judging only from the first byte 7D, it is most probably JSON:

    7D   = { 
    0D0A = CRLF
    09   = TAB
    22   = "
    73   = s
    74   = t
    61   = a
    74   = t
    75   = u
    73   = s
    4C   = L
    74   = a
    ....
So that is just the 'decoded' text. Where's the mentioned XOR encryption?

Also, the 'key' in the second screen shot is a nibble (=one hex character) out of alignment of the listed bytes. It also is not cut from the gap that is in the input text now, as suggested by the visual presentation: the 'key' is 'D0A097D0D0A7D' which is 13 hex digits, and again, a nibble out of byte alignment. It looks like a 0 must have preceeded to make it '0D0A09...' = CRLF TAB, and it total that's 'CRLF TAB { CRLF {'. But the gap was originally '24F70...', which, aligned to bytes, was '224F70...' = '"Op...'

So, the screen shots appear to be bogus or fake or edited.

Why? What's going on here?

Re: I hacked my washing machine

#102

Post by mjg59 »

First up: this isn't criticism of the original post in the slightest, it's a wonderful journey through figuring out how a weird device that wants to be on your wifi works.

If you have a device that speaks to an Android app, you want https://github.com/niklashigi/apk-mitm - it'll strip pretty much every known certificate pinning implementation from an apk, and it'll also rewrite the manifest so it'll trust the user-installed certs without having to root your device to modify the system store. Uninstall the original app, sideload the output of apk-mitm, and then you can use mitmproxy on a stock device.

The other thing is that if a device is providing encrypted data to an app, and the app is displaying the decrypted data, then the app inherently either contains the decryption key somewhere or downloads it from somewhere. https://github.com/skylot/jadx will turn an apk into something that approximates Java, and digging through that will often let you figure out what the key is. But some vendors will decide that the appropriate way to handle this is to kick the cryptography out to native code, at which point you're into having to RE something in Ghidra. Depending on your mindset this is either incredibly tedious or incredibly fun, but it's generally possible.

The author was able to build on top of work that had been done by others, but if you're ever faced with a situation where nobody else has done that work, don't just give up. It's worth spending time trying to figure out how code running on a device you own works, and even if you don't succeed in the end you're probably going to learn a lot in the process.

Re: I hacked my washing machine

#103

Post by systemtest »

laurencei wrote: post #29

I did something with my Bosch washing machine (not like the OP). My washing machine is at the other end of the house from my home office. Sometimes I would put a load of washing on, and despite setting an alarm, might forget (perhaps I am in an important meeting etc). So I decided to solve it. Using the Bosch API - I can tell both when a cycle is complete, and if the door is open. Currently I use their default versio…

I have a G-Shock 5600 watch that can alert me when my washing machine is finished. At the start of the cycle I take note of the total time it takes, I set that time on the timer of the watch and hit start. It will beep once the washing machine is finished. Been doing that for about 15 years now.

It works with all brands regardless of API.

Re: I hacked my washing machine

#104

Post by matthewmacleod »

systemtest wrote: post #103
laurencei wrote: post #29

I did something with my Bosch washing machine (not like the OP). My washing machine is at the other end of the house from my home office. Sometimes I would put a load of washing on, and despite setting an alarm, might forget (perhaps I am in an important meeting etc). So I decided to solve it. Using the Bosch API - I can tell both when a cycle is complete, and if the door is open. Currently I use their default versio…

I have a G-Shock 5600 watch that can alert me when my washing machine is finished. At the start of the cycle I take note of the total time it takes, I set that time on the timer of the watch and hit start. It will beep once the washing machine is finished. Been doing that for about 15 years now. It works with all brands regardless of API.

Of course this doesn’t work with variable cycle times.

Re: I hacked my washing machine

#105

Post by 1a527dd5 »

Image link after "For now, I plugged this key into CyberChef, and was able to decrypt the data." is broken.

Specifically this element:

https://nexy.blog/2025/07/27/how-i-hacked-my-washing-machine..." class="hoverZoomLink">" rel="nofollow">https://nexy.blog/0006-How-I-hacked-my-washing-machine/cyber...

Re: I hacked my washing machine

#106

Post by waffleiron »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #104
systemtest wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a G-Shock 5600 watch that can alert me when my washing machine is finished. At the start of the cycle I take note of the total time it takes, I set that time on the timer of the watch and hit start. It will beep once the washing machine is finished. Been doing that for about 15 years now. It works with all brands regardless of API.

Of course this doesn’t work with variable cycle times.

Then you'll just add 15-30 minutes, and it will still work ;)

Re: I hacked my washing machine

#107

Post by cdr »

MarioMan wrote: post #64
laurencei wrote: post #29

I did something with my Bosch washing machine (not like the OP). My washing machine is at the other end of the house from my home office. Sometimes I would put a load of washing on, and despite setting an alarm, might forget (perhaps I am in an important meeting etc). So I decided to solve it. Using the Bosch API - I can tell both when a cycle is complete, and if the door is open. Currently I use their default versio…

My washing machine is a "dumb" machine from the '90s. The wash cycles run based on the position of a glorified timer knob: it doesn't have a computer or sensors to detect if it needs extra time aside from the water fill stages. Thanks to this consistency, I just set a 40 minute timer on my phone, and it's always done by then. Can't get much simpler than that. If I need reminders, there's always the alarm snooze funct…

It's actually really, really easy to get the state of a "dumb" washing machine (or any other electric machine) into Home Assistant using a smart plug. You can use something really basic like "power draw for > n seconds followed by no power for > m seconds" to detect when a cycle is finished. You can get way fancier and look at power draw curves to determine what part of a cycle it's in, or which cycle, if you really want to. You can add a door sensor (recommend Samsung) if you want to know if the door's been opened.

Unfortunately it's much harder to do the same for an electric dryer, since there's no inexpensive or good smart plugs for 240V last I checked.

Re: I hacked my washing machine

#108

Post by janfoeh »

cdr wrote: post #107
MarioMan wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My washing machine is a "dumb" machine from the '90s. The wash cycles run based on the position of a glorified timer knob: it doesn't have a computer or sensors to detect if it needs extra time aside from the water fill stages. Thanks to this consistency, I just set a 40 minute timer on my phone, and it's always done by then. Can't get much simpler than that. If I need reminders, there's always the alarm snooze funct…

It's actually really, really easy to get the state of a "dumb" washing machine (or any other electric machine) into Home Assistant using a smart plug. You can use something really basic like "power draw for > n seconds followed by no power for > m seconds" to detect when a cycle is finished. You can get way fancier and look at power draw curves to determine what part of a cycle it's in, or which cycle, if you really…

I know nothing about US 240V power circuits — what plugs do you use, could you get by with a Euro system?

I use Eve Energy smart plugs, which seems to be supported in Home Assistant through the matter integration. Local first, no bullshit remote account requirements, good quality, around 40€ / USD 45.

https://www.evehome.com/en/eve-energy

Re: I hacked my washing machine

#110

Post by elygre »

sgt wrote: post #70
MarioMan wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My washing machine is a "dumb" machine from the '90s. The wash cycles run based on the position of a glorified timer knob: it doesn't have a computer or sensors to detect if it needs extra time aside from the water fill stages. Thanks to this consistency, I just set a 40 minute timer on my phone, and it's always done by then. Can't get much simpler than that. If I need reminders, there's always the alarm snooze funct…

Keep that dumb washing machine from the 90s, I can almost guarantee you that a new washing machine is not meant to last as long. Maybe 6-7 years if you are lucky.

So, maybe. And also maybe not.

https://www.forskning.no/forbruk-ntnu-partner/er-vaskemaskin... (in Norwegian) quotes research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The article says that a washing machine used to last 20 years, and now only lasts 10 years. However, it also says that machine usage has doubled, from four to eight times a week. So, the new machine lasts the same number of cycles, but the number of cycles is reached much faster.

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