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