this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2025

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Undocumented Commands Found In Bluetooth Chip Manufactured in China Used By a Billion Devices. (www.tarlogic.com)

submitted 23 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) by Tea@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world

163 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Source Link Privacy.

https://themarkup.org/blacklight?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tarlogic.com%2Fnews%2Fbackdoor-esp32-chip-infect-ot-devices%2F&device=mobile&location=us-ca&force=false

Tarlogic Security has detected a backdoor in the ESP32, a microcontroller that enables WiFi and Bluetooth connection and is present in millions of mass-market IoT devices. Exploitation of this backdoor would allow hostile actors to conduct impersonation attacks and permanently infect sensitive devices such as mobile phones, computers, smart locks or medical equipment by bypassing code audit controls.

Update: The ESP32 "backdoor" that wasn't.

(page 2) 50 comments

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[–] notanapple@lemm.ee 136 points 19 hours ago (6 children)

We really should be pushing for fully open source stack (firmware, os) in all iot devices. They are not very complicated so this should be entirely possible. Probably will need a EU law though.

[–] secret300@lemmy.sdf.org 22 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I 100% believe firmware should be open source no question about it. There's so many devices out there especially phones and iot devices that just become e-waste because you can't do anything with it once it's not supported if it was open source and documented in some way then it could be used. I have like five cheap phones that I got because they were so cheap but once they lost support they've become completely useless even though they still work.

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 2 points 7 hours ago

This is about silicon. Undocumented instructions have just been found in it but they are not executable unless the ESP32's firmware uses them. Firmware cannot be edited to use them unless you have an existing vulnerability such as physical access or insecure OTA in existing firmware (as far as researchers know).

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[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago

Backdoored devices are useful for people who can impede that.

And the way EU is approaching privacy, surveillance and all such, - oh-hoh-ho, I don't think there will be a EU law.

[–] unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz 11 points 18 hours ago

Yeah tons of weird little private softwares never get updates, but they aren't making anyone money either

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[–] Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com 191 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Well... Shit.

There are so, so, so, many ESP32's in not just my house, but practically everyone I know.

There outta be fines for this BS.

[–] cogman@lemmy.world 151 points 22 hours ago (18 children)

You're fine. This isn't something that can be exploited over wifi. You literally need physical access to the device to exploit it as it's commands over USB that allow flashing the chip.

This is a security firm making everything sound scary because they want you to buy their testing device.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 67 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

You literally need physical access to the device to exploit it

You don't need physical access. Read the article. The researcher used physical USB to discover that the Bluetooth firmware has backdoors. It doesn't require physical access to exploit.

It's Bluetooth that's vulnerable.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/undocumented-backdoor-found-in-bluetooth-chip-used-by-a-billion-devices/

[–] cogman@lemmy.world 68 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I just re-read the article and yes, you still need physical access.

The exploit is one that bypasses OS protections to writing to the firmware. In otherwords, you need to get the device to run a malicious piece of code or exploit a vulnerability in already running code that also interacts with the bluetooth stack.

The exploit, explicitly, is not one that can be carried out with a drive-by Bluetooth connection. You also need faulty software running on the device.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 18 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

"Depending on how Bluetooth stacks handle HCI commands on the device, remote exploitation of the backdoor might be possible via malicious firmware or rogue Bluetooth connections."

I of course don't know details but I'm basing my post on that sentence. "Backdoor may be possible via ... rogue Bluetooth connections."

[–] haleywm@startrek.website 71 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Looking at the article, the exploit requires you to be able to send arbitrary data to the Bluetooth device over a physical connection. This means that a properly secure application will be protected from drive by connections, but if the application has an exploit that either lets an attacker write arbitrary values to the Bluetooth controller, or more likely contains a general arbitrary code execution exploit, then you could use this to rewrite values to the chip that would let you "persist" certain changes to the Bluetooth chip that would be difficult to notice.

I would consider this a moderate concern, as this will definitely increase your options if you're looking to be able to make an attack that targets a specific device and this gives you a few additional persistence options, but any attack would have to be designed for a particular program running connected to a Bluetooth chip.

A more likely concern in my opinion would be the possibility of a supply chain attack, where someone compromises a Bluetooth chip that they know will be used to construct a particular part.

I don't think that it's super likely that either of these will affect the average person, only corporations and governments where espionage is an actual threat, as if you can find a Bluetooth IOT device that you want to mess with, like a Bluetooth enabled door lock, then you're more likely to be able to find an arbitrary code execution attack which causes it to unlock immediately. Being able to spoof a different Bluetooth device isn't likely to give you that big of an advantage when you're working with a device that was already vulnerable for a different reason.

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Thank you for the analysis, very insightful!

Do you reckon this is more of an oversight or bug in the BT stack, or a deliberately places backdoor as the title seems to suggest?

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[–] IllNess@infosec.pub 30 points 21 hours ago

Depending on how Bluetooth stacks handle HCI commands on the device, remote exploitation of the backdoor might be possible via malicious firmware or rogue Bluetooth connections.

I really wish these articles just tell us what these scenarios are. I understand companies need publicity or need to sell software but if it isn't replicatable and the article says "might be possible" it kind of sounds like a secuity sales pitch.

This is especially the case if an attacker already has root access, planted malware, or pushed a malicious update on the device that opens up low-level access.

This part basically sounds more like a software issue where the attacker has a way in already. The system is already vulernable at this point before using the exploit found.

I don't think there's enough information out yet.

It is very interesting though.

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[–] NightCrawlerProMax@lemmy.world 44 points 19 hours ago (13 children)

The other day someone posted in Canada community that Canada should stop using Tesla cars and import Chinese cars. I replied saying, “That’s like replacing one evil with another.” I was downvoted by a lot of people. I should’ve expected it cuz a lot of people have short term memory.

[–] matlag@sh.itjust.works 27 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Because that's not about privacy, that's about the trade war. Retaliatory tariffs on US cars increase cost of cars for Canadians, as there are almost no car assembled in Canada. Reducing or eliminating tariffs on cars from China would lower cost of new cars for Canadians while keeping the tariffs up.

For privacy and security, not a single new car on the market is decent right now. That should be regulated, but that's no concern for any politician at the moment.

[–] themurphy@lemmy.ml 12 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Europe and its 50 car makers could also be considered instead of China..

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[–] NightCrawlerProMax@lemmy.world 7 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

CCP has backdoor into every tech that comes out of China. It’s not about just privacy. They control democracies based on shaping narratives. They’ll utilize everything that democracy offers and use it against countries. They don’t have freedom of speech or press so they themselves are not victims of it. EVs are really just computers on the road. Flooding the market with Chinese EVs would just mean creating a massive free network on a foreign soil for them.

[–] freely1333@reddthat.com 1 points 10 hours ago

As opposed to the teslas with the back doors for the us government… but will be moot when Canada is part of the states anyway

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[–] Montreal_Metro@lemmy.ca 9 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (2 children)

A lot of people are dumb. Or maybe because they feel offended because they are Chinese, but the reality is that every Chinese company is ultimately controlled by the CCP. If I was fighting a cold war, I would do the same. Sell compromised devices to my trade partners (AKA enemies) so I have leverage when I need it.

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[–] Legume5534@lemm.ee 12 points 19 hours ago

There's been a lot of that lately. Same here in New Zealand.

You dipshits, they're both the bad guys now.

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[–] Oisteink@feddit.nl 81 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Too much fanfare and too little real info shared to be of any value. Sounds more like an ad than infosec

[–] qqq@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago

Seriously wtf did I just try to read? It sounded like AI slop.

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[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 24 points 20 hours ago (11 children)

The Chinese adding back doors into their software/hardware.

Say it ain't so!

[–] Dekkia@this.doesnotcut.it 8 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

It ain't so.

To use the "backdoor" an attacker needs to have full access to the esp32 powered device already.

It's like claiming that being able to leave your desk without locking your PC is a backdoor in your OS.

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 1 points 7 hours ago

Yes, this is about undocumented instructions found in the silicon but they are not executable unless the ESP32's firmware uses them. Firmware cannot be edited to use them unless you have an existing vulnerability such as physical access or insecure OTA in existing firmware (as far as researchers know).

It is good to question the "backdoor" allegations - maybe the instructions' microcode was buggy and they didn't want to release it.

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 22 points 20 hours ago

Say it ain't so
Your bug is a heartbleeder
Say it ain't so
My NIC is a bytetaker

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[–] RmDebArc_5@sh.itjust.works 43 points 23 hours ago (7 children)

I’d like to know if this is just a firmware update or unfixable, but sadly this seems just an ad rather than news

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 12 points 18 hours ago (6 children)

I couldn’t find a list of devices. Anyone else find one?

[–] embed_me@programming.dev 16 points 18 hours ago (8 children)

The article is talking about the Espressif ESP32 micro controller (has Wi-Fi/Classic Bluetooth/BLE).

I don't know if the variants of this chip also have the same vulnerability (my guess is yes). As someone who works on this chip, I'm interested in more discourse on this matter.

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