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posted by Fnord666 on Monday December 11 2017, @08:44AM   Printer-friendly
from the unsafe-handgun-safe dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

One of Amazon's top-selling electronic gun safes contains a critical vulnerability that allows it to be opened by virtually anyone, even when they don't know the password.

The Vaultek VT20i handgun safe, ranked fourth in Amazon's gun safes and cabinets category, allows owners to electronically open the door using a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone app. The remote unlock feature is supposed to work only when someone knows the four- to eight-digit personal identification number used to lock the device. But it turns out that this PIN safeguard can be bypassed using a standard computer and a small amount of programming know-how.

As the video demonstration below shows, researchers with security firm Two Six Labs were able to open a VT20i safe in a matter of seconds by using their MacBook Pro to send specially designed Bluetooth data while it was in range. The feat required no knowledge of the unlock PIN or any advanced scanning of the vulnerable safe. The hack works reliably even when the PIN is changed. All that's required to make it work is that the safe have Bluetooth connectivity turned on.

[...] The vulnerability means that anyone who relies on a VT20i safe to secure valuables should immediately turn off Bluetooth connectivity and leave it off indefinitely. Safes can still be locked and unlocked using a traditional physical key, as well as by owners' fingerprints. Some Amazon customers, however, have complained the fingerprint feature is flawed as well.

[It's not clear from the story if the issue can be patched. - Ed]

Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/12/top-selling-handgun-safe-can-be-remotely-opened-in-seconds-no-pin-needed/


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  • (Score: 2) by chromas on Monday December 11 2017, @09:37PM (3 children)

    by chromas (34) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 11 2017, @09:37PM (#608452) Journal

    FaceBook(TM) connected gun safe

    Then when you post something Offensive™ then your account gets Zucced and you're locked out of the safe for 15 days. Can't trust the 'analog hole' so there's no mechanical backup.
     
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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Monday December 11 2017, @10:50PM (2 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 11 2017, @10:50PM (#608510)

    Weirdly enough this whole idea got started at a former employer where I/we began with the idea of a social media connected fridge lock for weight loss where you need permission to open the fridge from your FB friends. Which led to a discussion of liking Trump memes will cause family starvation if the holier than thou cat ladies find out. So I proposed, well, what would cat ladies hate more than Trump supporters and their families being able to eat, well, obviously, a facebook(tm) connected "gun safe".

    Then the discussion (at least at work) ran off the rails with the proposal that you permit negated friends, so if you have a crazy friend, the nut needs to click "no" to let you open your fridge or gun safe, so you're gonna have weird standoffs where the gun confiscation nut has to think over if he's tagged as normal or inverted permissions, etc. The coworkers also helpfully suggested this technology is also applicable to liquor cabinets and condom dispensers.

    • (Score: 2) by chromas on Monday December 11 2017, @11:12PM (1 child)

      by chromas (34) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 11 2017, @11:12PM (#608522) Journal

      social media connected fridge lock for weight loss

      OMG! This is fat shaming! This is Not Okay™. #HealthAtEveryTon

      liking Trump memes

      Literally Nazis!

      this technology is also applicable to liquor cabinets and condom dispensers

      Sad reacts only.

      These are the details left out of A Brave New World—If you're not social enough, people won't just shun you; they'll shame you, lock you out of your booze and try to get you fired.

      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Monday December 11 2017, @11:59PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 11 2017, @11:59PM (#608544)

        The brain trust at work eventually decided the remotely locked condom dispenser was the most social idea because a "like" could be interpreted in so many socially interesting ways. Or a lack or "like". Many topics in a binary yes/no answer, is it a social decision on the basis of slut shaming, disease, pregnancy, jealousy...

        If you're not social enough, people won't just shun you; they'll shame you, lock you out of your booze and try to get you fired.

        I'll see your "Brave New World", which is admittedly a good bid, and raise you "The Scarlet Letter". Now you have to squint and read it kinda sideways and upside down, but you can kinda see both Scarlet Letter and Brave New World as both being Puritan holier than thou pricks screwing everything up the path to hell being paved with good intentions by Puritan assholes anyway. This would make a hell of a school essay. I almost never drink and I had a big glass of hard cider so I will see how this reads when I sober up tomorrow. I think this is brilliant analogy, but it could be mere alcohol vapor. BNW and Scarlet Letter are basically the same setting, hmm...