BlueBorne - Critical Wormable Bluetooth Attack
BlueBorne is an attack vector can leverage Bluetooth connections to penetrate and take complete control over targeted devices. BlueBorne affects ordinary computers, mobile phones, and the expanding realm of IoT devices. The attack does not require the targeted device to be paired to the attacker’s device, or even to be set on discoverable mode.
The BlueBorne attack vector requires no user interaction, is compatible to all software versions, and does not require any preconditions or configurations aside of the Bluetooth being active. Unlike the common misconception, Bluetooth enabled devices are constantly searching for incoming connections from any devices, and not only those they have been paired with. This means a Bluetooth connection can be established without pairing the devices at all. This makes BlueBorne one of the most broad potential attacks found in recent years, and allows an attacker to strike completely undetected.
Devices Affected
- All Android phones, tablets, and wearables (except those using only Bluetooth Low Energy)
- All Windows computers since Windows Vista
- All Linux devices running BlueZ are affected by the information leak vulnerability (CVE-2017-1000250)
- All Linux devices from version 3.3-rc1 (released in October 2011) are affected by the remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2017-1000251)
- All iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices with iOS 9.3.5 and lower, and AppleTV devices with version 7.2.2 and lower
Securing against BlueBorne
- Best defence is Turn off Bluetooth if you do not use it.
- Google and Microsoft have already made security patches available to their customers, while Apple iOS devices running the most recent version of its mobile operating system and patches (that is 10.x) are safe.
- Android users need to wait for security patches for their devices, as it depends on device manufacturers.
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