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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]

#191

Post by pavel_lishin »

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…

> part of me has always known that bluetooth is just hacks on hacks… I allowed myself to be persuaded due to popularity. Scary.

Is it scary? Bluetooth is wildly convenient, and mostly works most of the time. There are definite software issues, and there are security issues, but for most of us, we're not going to run into them that often. (Well, ok - maybe not for most of the people on this site.)

I'm going to continue using my bluetooth headphones, because the odds of a nefarious hacker with a linux laptop attacking me directly are wildly low. In terms of security, my time & money would be better spent buying a steering0-wheel-lock-bar for my car, or a mechanical timer that will turn the lights on & off in my house randomly at night.

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

#192

Post by pavel_lishin »

raverbashing wrote: post #9
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…

Sometimes plugging a cord is a minor inconvenience. But sometimes it's a large inconvenience Example: if I'm using my laptop for work but at a slightly longer distance (think, using external monitor/keyboard) then it gets annoying (cord has to hang from the connection, or it gets between you and the keyboard, etc)

I listen to podcasts while doing chores. When I used to use wired earbuds, they would regularly take a bath in the sink water as I moved around.

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

#193

Post by fny »

CGMthrowaway wrote: post #144
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…

Kamala Harris, citing seemingly classified intelligence, famously raised the alarm on Bluetooth earphones to Stephen Colbert: “I know I've been teased about this, but I like these kinds of earpods that have the thing [pointing to the wire] because I served on the Senate Intelligence Committee. I have been in classified briefings, and I'm telling you, don't be on the train using your earpods thinking somebody can't li…

I doubt this was ever classified information. It's written all over DoD and NSA requirements and best practices for staff and diplomats.

She was probably briefed repeatedly about this as a member of that committee.

Here's one example:

> Headphones are wired headphones (i.e. not wireless) which can be plugged into a computing device to listen to audio media (e.g. music, Defense Collaboration Services, etc.).[0]

[0]: https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/pdf/2016-0...

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

#194

Post by pwagland »

Is there a fuller list of headsets that are affected being maintained anywhere? I could not find it. Since most manufacturers tend to reuse components, we can expect that more Sony stuff is affected, and probably more JBL/Jabra/Bose/Marshall that they didn't have access to.

Based on their timeline, full credit to Beyerdynamic!

Partial credit to Airoha, they took a long time to initiate the communications, but once they did, they seemed to take it seriously.

No credit to Sony and Marshall, as they either didn't, or effectively didn't, respond.

Unknown credit to Bose, JBL, Jabril, EarisMax, MoerLabs, and Teufel, as they don't appear in the timeline.

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

#195

Post by dweekly »

amarshall wrote: post #91
dweekly wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On slimness: wouldn't an alternative implementation be to "do the Magic Mouse" and put the USB C port on the back of the phone instead of the edge? Alternatively I could imagine MagSafe alignment / charging magnets plus an NFC like inductive communication (or contact pads) to allow for a range of "snap on" peripherals for phone backs that could be implemented on devices thinner than a USB C port.

No, the connector is longer than it is tall.

A solid refutation to the first point but not the second suggestion.

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

#196

Post by bethekidyouwant »

jogu wrote: post #188
bethekidyouwant wrote: post #54

This is just a chip with debug mode left on and does not allow anyone to hijack audio stream or anything interesting. (Just in case anyone’s checking the comments because they don’t want to watch a long ass video and they notice all the comments are essentially off topic)

Sounds like you should have actually watched the “long ass video”. It allows the pairing key to be exfiltrated from the compromised device and an external, attacker controlled device to perform any function the original device could. This includes retrieving the paired devices phone number, answering phone calls, and receiving the audio. They live demo hijacking a whatsapp account using this.

Neat. It appears my headphones have to be in pairing mode. Which is a very short window, at which point the attacker can impersonate your device. this allows him to answer phone calls for you or make phone calls, but you would notice right away. It’s not like cloning the audio and eves dropping. so yeah it’s a nothing burger.

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

#197

Post by nancyminusone »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #191
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…

> part of me has always known that bluetooth is just hacks on hacks… I allowed myself to be persuaded due to popularity. Scary. Is it scary? Bluetooth is wildly convenient, and mostly works most of the time. There are definite software issues, and there are security issues, but for most of us, we're not going to run into them that often. (Well, ok - maybe not for most of the people on this site.) I'm going to continu…

I don't know, it seems a little telling that you need this much technology just to beat a wire.

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

#198

Post by wat10000 »

makeitdouble wrote: post #176
wat10000 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a competitive market. If removable batteries mattered to a lot of people, some company would take advantage of that to make a lot of money. Feature combinations aren’t immutable facts of nature. Manufacturers make a conscious choice about what to include. If a good camera and international NFC combined with a headphone jack would attract a lot of buyers, don’t you think Samsung or Google would make a phone like…

> It's a competitive market. Is it ? We have a paper trail of lawsuits telling another story.

Do we?

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

#199

Post by wat10000 »

immibis wrote: post #182
wat10000 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn’t some keyboard manufacturer realize that a lot of people actually do need all of the letters, sell a keyboard with all of them, and make bank? This theory that people want headphone jacks and phone makers won’t provide them makes no sense. It requires phone makers to be so cost conscious that they’ll remove a desirable feature to save a few cents, yet simultaneously so clueless that they won’t take advant…

Why would you make a keyboard with one more letter when everyone is buying ones without? Would you buy a keyboard with a ™ key? If not, why not?

Because a large number of “everyone” is buying keyboards from your competitors. If you make a keyboard with all the letters, you’ll get more of those sales.

No, I wouldn’t but a keyboard with a tm key because I don’t care about having such a key. Pretty much nobody would. That’s why such keyboards aren’t made. You’re making my argument for me here.

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

#200

Post by a96 »

girvo wrote: post #181
amelius wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That exists, using proprietary 2.4ghz dongles usually, but they’re much higher power draw.

And roughly zero security.
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