CVE-2018-10910 in BlueZ
Summary
by MITRE
A bug in Bluez may allow for the Bluetooth Discoverable state being set to on when no Bluetooth agent is registered with the system. This situation could lead to the unauthorized pairing of certain Bluetooth devices without any form of authentication. Versions before bluez 5.51 are vulnerable.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/03/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-10910 resides within the Bluez Bluetooth protocol stack implementation, specifically affecting versions prior to 5.51. This flaw represents a critical security oversight in the Bluetooth device discovery and pairing mechanism that fundamentally undermines the authentication requirements necessary for secure device connections. The issue manifests when the Bluetooth discoverable state can be inadvertently enabled without an active Bluetooth agent being registered with the system, creating a dangerous scenario where unauthorized devices can establish connections without proper verification processes.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate state management within the Bluez framework where the system fails to properly validate whether an authentication agent is present before allowing the Bluetooth discoverable mode to be activated. This misconfiguration allows malicious actors to exploit the gap in the authentication flow, enabling unauthorized pairing operations that should require user consent or authentication credentials. The flaw operates at the core of the Bluetooth service management layer, specifically impacting how the system handles the registration and verification of Bluetooth agents responsible for managing pairing operations and authentication processes.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates significant security implications for any system running vulnerable versions of Bluez, particularly affecting devices such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, and IoT devices that rely on Bluetooth connectivity. An attacker exploiting this vulnerability could potentially pair unauthorized Bluetooth devices without user intervention, leading to various malicious activities including data exfiltration, device control, or establishing persistent access points within network environments. The impact extends beyond individual device compromise to potentially enable broader network infiltration when Bluetooth-enabled devices are connected to corporate or sensitive networks.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-310, which addresses cryptographic weaknesses and authentication failures, specifically manifesting as a failure in authentication mechanisms within the Bluetooth protocol stack. From an attack framework perspective, this issue maps to ATT&CK technique T1041, which involves data compression and encoding to avoid detection, as attackers could leverage the unauthorized pairing to establish covert communication channels. Additionally, the flaw contributes to broader ATT&CK tactics including privilege escalation and lateral movement when compromised Bluetooth devices are used to access network resources or communicate with other vulnerable systems.
Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of all systems running Bluez versions prior to 5.51 to address this vulnerability effectively. The mitigation strategy should include comprehensive inventory management to identify all affected devices, implementation of network monitoring to detect unauthorized Bluetooth pairing attempts, and establishment of secure Bluetooth configuration policies that disable discoverable modes when not actively required. System administrators should also consider implementing network segmentation controls to limit Bluetooth communication between devices and critical network resources, while maintaining regular security assessments to identify potential exploitation attempts targeting this and similar vulnerabilities in wireless communication protocols.