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In a Bluetooth Impersonation Attack (or BIAS), hackers can exploit weaknesses in the Bluetooth protocol to impersonate a trusted device. “BOSE QC Headphones” in the Bluetooth menu could be a low-orbiting ion canon waiting for an end-user to connect to it before unleashing all sorts of damage.
In this week’s Security Bite, I will show you how hackers can use Flipper Zero to send sneaky keystrokes to a Mac by connecting it to a fake Bluetooth device. This isn’t going to be a complete tutorial since there are tons of guides out there already. Instead, I want to point out how easy it is to pull this off and maybe make you a bit more paranoid.
Out of the box, Flipper Zero is a pretty harmless pen-testing tool. However, since the device is open source, it can be modified with third-party firmware (in this case, Xtreme) that provides an array of applications that take advantage of the device’s feature-rich hardware, which is the same Xtreme that was used in 2023 to crash iPhones with fake BLE pairing sequences.
One of these apps is a wireless rubber ducky keyboard called “Bad USB” that also works off BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). It’s primarily used for automating tasks or testing device security by simulating a keyboard, entering keystrokes much faster than a human can, and executing scripts with ease. This, in combination with BLE’s 100-meter range, also makes it an attractive tool for hackers.
It took me just four steps and 20 minutes to execute a script to rickroll my MacBook Air.
- Open the Bad USB module on Flipper Zero with Xtreme firmware installed.
- Upload your payload of choice to the Flipper. I created my own .txt script to open YouTube.
- Pick a clever Bluetooth device name and connect to it. I live in a dense area of the city, so I kept mine the default (BadUSB At1l1)
- Once shown as paired, I executed the payload.
It’s not just Macs. This attack can also be carried out on iPhone, iPad, and Windows devices. Of course, attackers would inflict much worse than a Rick Astley song.
Victim’s POV
Mitigation
The good news? This only works when a device is unlocked. The bad news? Most people don’t exercise caution when connecting to Bluetooth devices. It’s essential to verify you’re connecting to your intended device (thank god for AirPods’ H2 chip), as malicious actors can deploy multiple devices using names that closely mimic legitimate ones. It’s also possible to do this with spoofed MAC addresses, making it even harder to discern.
Turning off Bluetooth when it’s not being used, removing unknown devices from your Bluetooth settings list, and using six-digit pairing codes can prevent falling victim here.
Although these attacks are rare, it doesn’t mean they never occur. I would argue that they happen frequently enough to warrant some concern, though many victims remain unaware because these attacks often operate covertly in the background. Hackers love persistence. Why would they brick a Mac on one hack when they can keep returning for more?
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