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Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

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Re: Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

#101

Post by upofadown »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #8

Haven't watched the video yet, but I think this capability was leaked by VP Kamala Harris during her recent interview with the Late Night Show [0]. She stated she doesn't use wireless headphones because she's been in security meetings and knows they're not safe. [0] https://youtu.be/BD8Nf09z_38 (Timestamp 18:40)

Regular Bluetooth security is not that great. A lot of it is poor usability where the user can't easily know that they don't have a secure connection. Setting up a secure connection might involve entering a PIN on each end of the connection which might be challenging for something like a pair of earbuds. This contains a nice discussion of the issues and talks about active attacks:

* https://arxiv.org/pdf/2108.07190

Re: Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

#102

Post by mschuster91 »

makeitdouble wrote: post #35
p0w3n3d wrote: post #4

Meanwhile all the phones dropping jack because Apple started it. Official reason is to "waterproof phones"

The most frustrating part is when Apple dropped the jack we laughed at the "courage" bit, Apple's given reasons where already seen as bullshit, Samsung had their finger pointing moment. And it just went on, Apple weathered the critics, the other makers also dropped it, and at some point there was just nowhere to go for anyone still wanted a 3.5 jack with a decent phone.

Most ADCs in consumer products were crap anyway (with the exception of Apple, who for a long time used the widely beloved Wolfson DACs).

If you want actual quality... be ready to shell out a bit of money [1].

[1] https://www.amazon.de/Qudelix-Bluetooth-Adaptive-unsymmetris...

Re: Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

#103

Post by wolvoleo »

miduil wrote: post #13

Glad this submission is finally receiving upvotes. This was just shown at the 39C3 in Hamburg, few days back. Common (unpached) Bluetooth headsets using Airoha's SoCs can be completely taken over by any unauthenticated bystander with a Linux laptop. (CVE-2025-20700, CVE-2025-20701, CVE-2025-20702) This includes firmware dumps, user preferences, Bluetooth Classic session keys, current playing track, ... > Examples of…

Cool! Can you play audio to them too? That would be a practical joker's dream lol.

I'm not surprised Jabra acted quickly. They mainly sell too enterprise which generally care very much about security. Sony is more a consumer mfg now.

Re: Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

#104

Post by astura »

quesera wrote: post #40
denysvitali wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: This comment is not intended to be political - I don't care about the specific party she's part of. Out of all the people I would trust on the matter, Kamala Harris doesn't certainly end up at the top of my list, for reasons such as this one: https://youtu.be/O2SLyBL2kdM?si=Zq-EN8zxj4Y_UCwI You also don't need to be in classified meetings to understand that Bluetooth/ BLE (and specifically the way most ve…

> doesn't certainly end up at the top of my list There hasn't been a POTUS or VPOTUS with a technical background in the last 45 years (Jimmy Carter was a nuclear engineer). So obviously none of them would be authoritative on such topics. However the individual in question is not delusional or conspiratorial, and we know for sure that they are receiving advice or restrictions from extremely well-informed sources, so t…

>There hasn't been a POTUS or VPOTUS with a technical background in the last 45 years (Jimmy Carter was a nuclear engineer). So obviously none of them would be authoritative on such topics.

Jimmy Carter was a very smart guy, but he was not a nuclear engineer.

https://atomicinsights.com/jimmy-carter-never-served-nuclear...

Re: Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

#105

Post by normie3000 »

crazygringo wrote: post #97
Rygian wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source that supports your claim, that the market asked for 3.5 mm jacks to go away?

That's not what the parent commenter said. They said consumers don't care , not that they asked for the jacks to go away . You're misrepresenting. But in terms of consumers not caring, yes: https://www.androidauthority.com/ting-headphone-jack-survey-... It's objectively not a popular feature or something the vast majority of consumers are looking for. Most people prefer Bluetooth because you don't need to deal with a…

> Most people prefer Bluetooth because you don't need to deal with annoying wires getting tangled, ripping your earbuds out, etc.

Thanks for this summary. I feel sad to be in a minority who prefer wired headphones. For me it's because all their failures you listed are issues I can understand and mitigate. But when bluetooth goes wrong, what do I do? Usually:

1. turn off both devices and then turn them back on again 2. try to reconnect 3. if step 2 failed, give up and try again another day

I don't learn anything. I feel infantilised and helpless.

Re: Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

#106

Post by quesera »

astura wrote: post #104
quesera wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> doesn't certainly end up at the top of my list There hasn't been a POTUS or VPOTUS with a technical background in the last 45 years (Jimmy Carter was a nuclear engineer). So obviously none of them would be authoritative on such topics. However the individual in question is not delusional or conspiratorial, and we know for sure that they are receiving advice or restrictions from extremely well-informed sources, so t…

>There hasn't been a POTUS or VPOTUS with a technical background in the last 45 years (Jimmy Carter was a nuclear engineer). So obviously none of them would be authoritative on such topics. Jimmy Carter was a very smart guy, but he was not a nuclear engineer. https://atomicinsights.com/jimmy-carter-never-served-nuclear...

Interesting, it looks more complicated than I realized. "Nuclear engineer" might be too colloqualized, a la "software engineer". (perish the thought!)

But he was an engineer who was trained to operate nuclear facilities on subs. With a few more months of service he would have qualified for the label "nuclear engineer" without any asterisks.

And what even was a "nuclear engineer" in the early 1950s? The field was new enough that the titles were probably not well settled.

Tha National Academy of Engineering says:

> A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a trained nuclear engineer

https://www.nae.edu/19579/31222/20054/327746/331204/Jimmy-Ca...

US Navy history says:

> He served as executive officer, engineering officer, and electronics repair officer on the submarine SSK-1. When Admiral Hyman G. Rickover (then a captain) started his program to create nuclear-powered submarines, Carter wanted to join the program and was interviewed and selected by Rickover. Carter was promoted to lieutenant and from 3 November 1952 to 1 March 1953, he served on temporary duty with the Naval Reactors Branch, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D.C., to assist "in the design and development of nuclear propulsion plants for naval vessels."

> From 1 March to 8 October 1953, Carter was preparing to become the engineering officer for USS Seawolf (SSN-575), one of the first submarines to operate on atomic power. However, when his father died in July 1953, Carter resigned from the Navy and returned to Georgia to manage his family interests.

https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/people/presiden...

Re: Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

#107

Post by KellyCriterion »

macintux wrote: post #18
miduil wrote: post #13

Glad this submission is finally receiving upvotes. This was just shown at the 39C3 in Hamburg, few days back. Common (unpached) Bluetooth headsets using Airoha's SoCs can be completely taken over by any unauthenticated bystander with a Linux laptop. (CVE-2025-20700, CVE-2025-20701, CVE-2025-20702) This includes firmware dumps, user preferences, Bluetooth Classic session keys, current playing track, ... > Examples of…

> Glad this submission is finally receiving upvotes. Speaking for myself, I have very little patience for technical videos, so I don't believe I've ever upvoted a YouTube submission.

Just throw the link into Gemini and ask for a brief summary :-))

Re: Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

#108

Post by wolvoleo »

amelius wrote: post #73
dijit wrote: post #3

And everyone got mad at OpenBSD for refusing to develop bluetooth. It’s a messy standard and we shouldn’t be surprised that the race to the bottom has left some major gaps.. though Sony WH1000’s are premium tier hardware and they have no real excuses.. I always wondered how people could justify the growth of the bluetooth headphone market in such a way.. Everyone seems to use bluetooth headphones exclusively (in Swed…

Honestly, can't we just ditch BT and send audio over WiFi? One thing less to worry about.

WiFi is nowhere near as low energy as Bluetooth is.

Re: Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

#109

Post by crazygringo »

normie3000 wrote: post #105
crazygringo wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what the parent commenter said. They said consumers don't care , not that they asked for the jacks to go away . You're misrepresenting. But in terms of consumers not caring, yes: https://www.androidauthority.com/ting-headphone-jack-survey-... It's objectively not a popular feature or something the vast majority of consumers are looking for. Most people prefer Bluetooth because you don't need to deal with a…

> Most people prefer Bluetooth because you don't need to deal with annoying wires getting tangled, ripping your earbuds out, etc. Thanks for this summary. I feel sad to be in a minority who prefer wired headphones. For me it's because all their failures you listed are issues I can understand and mitigate. But when bluetooth goes wrong, what do I do? Usually: 1. turn off both devices and then turn them back on again 2…

Yeah, I think that's why a lot of people stick to same-brand or trusted brands -- AirPods "just work" with iPhones, in ways that other Bluetooth earbuds don't always.

Re: Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]

#110

Post by willnix »

miduil wrote: post #13

Glad this submission is finally receiving upvotes. This was just shown at the 39C3 in Hamburg, few days back. Common (unpached) Bluetooth headsets using Airoha's SoCs can be completely taken over by any unauthenticated bystander with a Linux laptop. (CVE-2025-20700, CVE-2025-20701, CVE-2025-20702) This includes firmware dumps, user preferences, Bluetooth Classic session keys, current playing track, ... > Examples of…

One of the researchers here. Many people seem to prefer text to videos, which I sympathize with. So please excuse me hijacking the top comment with links to our blog post and white paper:

Blog: https://insinuator.net/2025/12/bluetooth-headphone-jacking-f...

Paper: https://ernw.de/en/publications.html

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