Bluetooth Low Energy denial of service attacks

Set of denial-of-service attacks

The Bluetooth Low Energy denial of service attacks are a series of denial-of-service attacks against mobile phones and iPads via Bluetooth Low Energy that can make it difficult to use them.[1]

## iPhone and iPad attacks

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### DEFCON proof of concept attack

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At DEF CON 31 in 2023, a demonstration was given using equipment made with a Raspberry Pi, a Bluetooth adapter and a couple of antennas.[1] This attack used Bluetooth advertising packets, hence did not require pairing.[1] The demonstration version claimed to be an Apple TV and affected iOS 16.[1]

### Flipper Zero attack

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This attack also uses Bluetooth advertising packets to repeatedly send notification signals to iPhones and iPads running iOS 17. It uses a Flipper Zero running third-party Xtreme firmware. It functions even when the device is in airplane mode, and can only be avoided by disabling Bluetooth from the device's Settings app.[1][2][3]

The attack can cause the device to crash.[2] It also affects iOS 17.1.[4]

The release of iOS 17.2 made devices more resistant to the attack, reducing the flood of popup messages.[5]

An app to perform these attacks was written for Android.[6]

## Interference with a medical device

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An attendee of Midwest FurFest 2023 tweeted that the Android device they used to control their insulin pump had been crashed by a BLE attack and that if they hadn't been able to fix it they would have had to go to a hospital.[6]

## Wall of Flippers

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The Wall of Flippers project has written a Python script that can scan for BTLE attacks.[6] It can run on Linux or Microsoft Windows.[6]

## Android attack

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The Flipper Zero version of the attack has been adapted to attack Android and Microsoft Windows systems.[7][3]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e Winder, Davey (2023-09-06). "New iPhone iOS 16 Bluetooth Hack Attack—How To Stop It". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
2. ^ a b Kingsley-Hughes, Adrian (2023-10-16). "Flipper Zero can be used to crash iPhones running iOS 17, but there's a way to foil the attack". ZDNET.
3. ^ a b Goodin, Dan (2023-11-02). "This tiny device is sending updated iPhones into a never-ending DoS loop". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
4. ^ Kingsley-Hughes, Adrian (2023-10-30). "iOS 17.1 update still no defense against Flipper Zero iPhone crashes". ZDNET.
5. ^ Kingsley-Hughes, Adrian (2023-12-15). "iOS 17.2 update puts an end to Flipper Zero's iPhone shenanigans". ZDnet. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
6. ^ a b c d Toulas, Bill (2023-12-23). "'Wall of Flippers' detects Flipper Zero Bluetooth spam attacks". Bleeping Computer. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
7. ^ Kingsley-Williams, Adrian (2023-10-24). "Now Android and Windows devices aren't safe from Flipper Zero either". ZDNET.

* v
* t
* e

Hacking in the 2020s

| <- 2010s | Timeline | 2030s ->

|
|

Major incidents|

| 2020|

* BlueLeaks
* Twitter account hijacking
* European Medicines Agency data breach
* Nintendo data leak
* United States federal government data breach
* EasyJet data breach
* Vastaamo data breach

|

2021|

* Microsoft Exchange Server breach
* Ivanti Pulse Connect Secure data breach
* Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack
* Health Service Executive ransomware attack
* Waikato District Health Board ransomware attack
* JBS S.A. ransomware attack
* Kaseya VSA ransomware attack
* Transnet ransomware attack
* Epik data breach
* FBI email hack
* National Rifle Association ransomware attack
* Banco de Oro hack

2022|

* Ukraine cyberattacks
* Red Cross data breach
* Anonymous and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Viasat hack
* DDoS attacks on Romania
* Costa Rican ransomware attack
* LastPass vault theft
* Shanghai police database leak
* Grand Theft Auto VI content leak

2023|

* Munster Technological University ransomware attack
* Evide data breach
* MOVEit data breach
* Insomniac Games data breach
* Polish railway cyberattack
* British Library cyberattack

2024|

* XZ Utils backdoor
* Kadokawa and Niconico
* Change Healthcare ransomware attack
* Ukrainian cyberattacks against Russia
* 2024 WazirX hack
* Trump campaign hack
* Fur Affinity domain hijacking
* IRLeaks attack on Iranian banks
* Internet Archive data breach

Groups|

* Anonymous
* associated events
* Anonymous Sudan
* Berserk Bear
* BlackCat
* Clop
* Cozy Bear
* DarkMatter
* DarkSide
* Dark Storm Team
* Dridex
* Ghostwriter
* GnosticPlayers
* Guacamaya
* Hafnium
* IT Army of Ukraine
* Killnet
* Lapsus$
* LightBasin
* LockBit
* OceanLotus
* REvil
* Sandworm
* Sakura Samurai
* ShinyHunters
* SiegedSec
* Wizard Spider

Individuals|

* Graham Ivan Clark
* maia arson crimew
* IntelBroker
* Kirtaner

Major vulnerabilities
publicly disclosed|

* SMBGhost (2020)
* Thunderspy (2020)
* PrintNightmare (2021)
* FORCEDENTRY (2021)
* Log4Shell (2021)
* Account pre-hijacking (2022)
* Retbleed (2022)
* Downfall (2023)
* LogoFAIL (2023)
* Reptar (2023)
* Terrapin (2023)
* GoFetch (2024)
* Sinkclose (2024)

Malware|

| 2020|

* Adrozek
* Drovorub

|

2021|

* Predator

2022|

* Cyclops Blink
* Pipedream

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