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Billions of Devices Susceptible to Bluetooth Attack

September 13, 2017

According to a report by Threat Post, Security researchers at IoT security firm Armis have discovered several bugs that allow hackers to access your device because Bluetooth is on. Armis is calling the collection of eight zero-day vulnerabilities BlueBorne. "If exploited, the vulnerabilities could enable an attacker to take over devices, spread malware, or establish a 'man-in-the-middle' to gain access to critical data and networks without user interaction," according to the company. "The attack does not require the targeted device to be paired to the attacker's device, or even to be set on discoverable mode… since the Bluetooth process has high privileges on all operating systems, exploiting it provides virtually full control over the device." The BlueBorne vulnerabilities include:

• Linux kernel RCE vulnerability – CVE-2017-1000251
• Linux Bluetooth stack (BlueZ) information leak vulnerability – CVE-2017-1000250
• Android information leak vulnerability – CVE-2017-0785
• Android RCE vulnerabilities CVE-2017-0781 & CVE-2017-0782
• The Bluetooth Pineapple in Android – Logical Flaw CVE-2017-0783
• The Bluetooth Pineapple in Windows – Logical Flaw CVE-2017-8628
• Apple Low Energy Audio Protocol RCE vulnerability – CVE Pending

Apple devices running iOS 10 are safe from BlueBorne, but older versions are vulnerable. Microsoft deployed a patch in July to deal with BlueBorne. Google has provided a patch for Android, but it is up to the carriers to distribute the update. If you are using an Android device that can't run Marshmallow, Nougat or Oreo; or an Apple device that can't run iOS 10; you will never see a patch. Now would be a good time to upgrade your hardware.

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