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tranv94 | 9 years ago

Maybe I'm living in the past and haven't been informed, but is Bluetooth still unsecure?

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programmarchy|9 years ago

Bluetooth 4.0 and 4.1 had a broken key exchange that was vulnerable to both passive and active attacks [1]. This could be remedied by a custom in-band or out-of-band key exchange, but I think it was rare for device manufacturers to go to those lengths.

The key exchange vulnerability was addressed in Bluetooth 4.2, which implements ECDH and is at least theoretically secure. [2]

[1] https://www.usenix.org/conference/woot13/workshop-program/pr...

[2] http://blog.bluetooth.com/everything-you-always-wanted-to-kn...

IshKebab|9 years ago

Except... that pairing in Bluetooth 4.2 is still broken. And they apparently even used an algorithm from Bluetooth 2 that was known to be broken.

https://pomcor.com/2015/06/03/has-bluetooth-become-secure/

Basically Passkey Entry is broken so eavesdroppers can trivially learn the PIN. You must use a dynamic PIN (not always possible).

Oh and if you're thinking you can implement your own pairing method that is actually secure, via the Out-of-Band method, think again! Neither Android nor iOS support it.

digi_owl|9 years ago

If the attacker has a ubertooth, and is present when the key exchange happens.

MohammadLee|9 years ago

Yes, it still is especially since 4.0, and this new update does not seem to do anything to improve it. BT sux.

drewbug|9 years ago

Care to elaborate?