Source Link Privacy.
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.
welp, TL;DR from comments says its fear mongering at best, physical access required right?
Code execution required lmao
Please update the title of this post to mention the update
How so?
Idk maybe specify that it was determined to not be a backdoor. Right now it reads as anti-china fear mongering.
Thank you, I keep getting down voted because I said the same, but obviously other get it. Appreciate you and the sanity check!
Could be propaganda as well - why not scare the monkeys with the bad Chinese? Without ESPs the market is so much easier to control.
Note:I use both the ES8266ex and different ESP32s in my projects.
This isn’t a backdoor. Just a company trying to make a name for themselves by sensationalizing a much smaller discovery.
Seriously this. Every single IC which has digital logic contains some number of undocumented test commands used to ensure it meets all the required specifications during production. They’re not intended to be used for normal operation and almost never included in datasheets.
If anyone’s ever followed console emulator development, they know those undocumented commands are everywhere. There’s still people finding new ones for the N64 hardware
Edit: I should say undocumented behavior, not necessarily new commands
This sounds like there are some undocumented opcodes on the HCI side – the Host Computer Interface – not the wireless side. By itself, it’s not that big a deal. If someone can prove that there’s some sort of custom BLE packet that gives access to those HCI opcodes wirelessly, I’d be REALLY concerned.
But if it’s just on the host side, you can only get to it if you’ve cracked the box and have access to the wiring. If someone has that kind of access, they’re likely to be able to flash their own firmware and take over the whole device anyway.
Not sure this disclosure increases the risk any. I wouldn’t start panicking.
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.
