this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2025
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[–] Dekkia@this.doesnotcut.it 61 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Someone correct me if i'm wrong, but it looks like it's not the big deal the original blog post makes it out to be.

To issue those undocumented HCI commands one either needs to hijack a computer/soc/mcu that is connected to an esp32 with HCI UART transport enabled or put malicious software on the esp itself.

The mac spoofing might be interesting for people building hacking tools, however.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 36 points 2 days ago

Yeah, this is hyped for clicks. This requires the target device to already be paired and requires privileged access on the local system to install the custom driver. NVD rates the exploitability of CVE-2025-27840 as 0.3 out of 10.

[–] randompasta@lemmy.today 33 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The ESP32 chip is used in tons of devices. The scope of this is really broad.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 27 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Armed with this new tool, which enables raw access to Bluetooth traffic, Targolic discovered hidden vendor-specific commands (Opcode 0x3F) in the ESP32 Bluetooth firmware that allow low-level control over Bluetooth functions.

In total, they found 29 undocumented commands, collectively characterized as a "backdoor," that could be used for memory manipulation (read/write RAM and Flash), MAC address spoofing (device impersonation), and LMP/LLCP packet injection.

Espressif has not publicly documented these commands, so either they weren't meant to be accessible, or they were left in by mistake.

I'd kind of like to know whether these can be used against an unpaired device or not. That'd seem to have a pretty dramatic impact on the scope of the vulnerability.

[–] CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

From the article ...

The ubiquitous ESP32 microchip made by Chinese manufacturer Espressif and used by over 1 billion units as of 2023

From the person I'm replying to ...

I’d kind of like to know whether these can be used against an unpaired device or not. That’d seem to have a pretty dramatic impact on the scope of the vulnerability.

Don't see how that would matter much. The "scope of the vulnerability" is sufficiently large enough that it should not be partially or otherwise discredited as a risk.

If someone owns a Bluetooth device, then its fair to think that at some point they'd actually use it, being vulnerable to the backdoor access. That's billions of uses right there, on a regular basis.

From the article ...

The researchers warned that ESP32 is one of the world's most widely used chips for Wi-Fi + Bluetooth connectivity in IoT (Internet of Things) devices, so the risk of any backdoor in them is significant.

~This~ ~comment~ ~is~ ~licensed~ ~under~ ~CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0~

[–] rezifon@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

It’s a reasonable question. There are countless devices using esp32 chips which do not use the Bluetooth parts of the chip at all.

[–] Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com 16 points 2 days ago

At rough count I have 16 of those buggers. Appliances, switches, load meters, lights, etc. If I look harder, I'd probably find more. Yikes!

[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 days ago

Gotta blame China to get upvoted on Lemmy.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

While I have a few ESP32 in my collection, I am now happy that I chose a different platform for my project.

I wonder what people will say in Nürnberg next week at Embedded World.

Computers are what we'd get if Epimetheus stole something from the gods for us instead