Ben
9th June 2005, 03:18 AM
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/08/bluetooth_mobo_attack/
Cryptographers have discovered a security flaw in implementations of Bluetooth which allows hackers to pair their devices with prospective victims. The approach creates a means for hackers to hijack Bluetooth-enabled devices. It's not all just theory either, unlike most cryptographic attacks.
The researchers - Yaniv Shaked and Avishai Wool of Tel Aviv University in Israel - have come up with an exploit which allows hackers to pair with devices without alerting their owner. The approach gets around limitations of a security attack first described by Ollie Whitehouse of security firm @Stake last year. This earlier method meant an attacker needed to eavesdrop the initial connection process (pairing) between two Bluetooth devices, which only occurs infrequently.
Shaked and Wool have worked out a way to force this pairing process by masquerading as a device, already paired with a target, that has supposedly forgotten a link key used to secure communications. This initiates a fresh pairing session which a hacker can exploit to snaffle the link key and thereby establish a pairing without needed to know PIN details. Once a connection is set up, an attacker could make eavesdrop on data transmitted between a target devices and a PC or (at least potentially) take control of someone's Bluetooth device. "Once an attacker has forced two devices to pair, they can work out the link key in just 0.06 seconds on a Pentium IV-enabled computer," New Scientist reports.
Shaked and Wool are scheduled to outline their research at the MobiSys conference in Seattle this week.
So, it looks bad. If devices that can exploit this approach make it into the public domain then the potential for abuse is catastrophic. It's a real shame that a wireless technology as 'simple' and widespread as Bluetooth can have such a fundamental flaw - who knows, this could even be the beginning of the end for the already aging technology.
I hate having to switch bluetooth on and off! Grr!
Cryptographers have discovered a security flaw in implementations of Bluetooth which allows hackers to pair their devices with prospective victims. The approach creates a means for hackers to hijack Bluetooth-enabled devices. It's not all just theory either, unlike most cryptographic attacks.
The researchers - Yaniv Shaked and Avishai Wool of Tel Aviv University in Israel - have come up with an exploit which allows hackers to pair with devices without alerting their owner. The approach gets around limitations of a security attack first described by Ollie Whitehouse of security firm @Stake last year. This earlier method meant an attacker needed to eavesdrop the initial connection process (pairing) between two Bluetooth devices, which only occurs infrequently.
Shaked and Wool have worked out a way to force this pairing process by masquerading as a device, already paired with a target, that has supposedly forgotten a link key used to secure communications. This initiates a fresh pairing session which a hacker can exploit to snaffle the link key and thereby establish a pairing without needed to know PIN details. Once a connection is set up, an attacker could make eavesdrop on data transmitted between a target devices and a PC or (at least potentially) take control of someone's Bluetooth device. "Once an attacker has forced two devices to pair, they can work out the link key in just 0.06 seconds on a Pentium IV-enabled computer," New Scientist reports.
Shaked and Wool are scheduled to outline their research at the MobiSys conference in Seattle this week.
So, it looks bad. If devices that can exploit this approach make it into the public domain then the potential for abuse is catastrophic. It's a real shame that a wireless technology as 'simple' and widespread as Bluetooth can have such a fundamental flaw - who knows, this could even be the beginning of the end for the already aging technology.
I hate having to switch bluetooth on and off! Grr!