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Explore critical security vulnerabilities in popular Bluetooth headphones and earbuds through this 59-minute conference talk from 39C3. Discover three newly identified CVEs (CVE-2025-20700, CVE-2025-20701, CVE-2025-20702) affecting Airoha Bluetooth audio chips used by major manufacturers including Sony, Marshall, Beyerdynamic, and Jabra in devices like the WH1000-XM5, WH1000-XM6, WF-1000XM5, Major V, Minor IV, AMIRON 300, and Elite 8 Active. Learn how these vulnerabilities enable complete device compromise and understand the broader security implications when compromised Bluetooth peripherals can attack paired smartphones through established trust relationships. Examine the powerful custom RACE protocol that provides full control over headphones, allowing attackers to read and write firmware, flash memory, and RAM. Gain insights into the challenges of vulnerability disclosure and patching processes in the Bluetooth audio industry, while understanding how the security focus may shift from increasingly secure smartphones to vulnerable peripheral devices in their ecosystem. Access technical details, demonstrations of attack scenarios, and tooling for checking device vulnerability status as researchers Dennis Heinze and Frieder Steinmetz present their findings from Bluetooth Auracast research that uncovered these critical security flaws.
