the Wi-Fi hacking light bulb ( More models coming soon )
The Hacker night light project is meant to show the attack possibilities and vulnerabilities with smart light bulbs.
WiFi-connected smart lights are modern lighting solutions that you can control with your phone or voice commands. They work by connecting to your home WiFi network, allowing you to adjust them remotely. You can change the brightness, color, and even set schedules for when they turn on or off. They're easy to install and can be used in various forms like bulbs or light strips. Plus, they help save energy and add convenience to your home by letting you customize your lighting preferences easily.
lights often use simple WiFi-enabled microcontrollers to manage connections and control the LED arrays. These microcontrollers are like tiny computers embedded within the smart light system. They handle tasks such as connecting to your home WiFi network, communicating with your smartphone or other devices, and controlling the LEDs
(Govee B60081C3)
Different models of lights will use different microcontrollers for these operations. Certain microcontrollers possess the capability to perform WiFi network penetration or exploitation. One model is the ESP32-C3. Capability of doing such this such as
- PMKID capture
- Deauthentication attacks using various methods
- WPA/WPA2 handshake capture and parsing
- Passive handshake sniffing
- Packet sniffing
With many open source firmwares public on github such as https://github.com/risinek/esp32-wifi-penetration-tool
Searching Amazon endless for models using ESP32 chips within their hardware I stumbled upon Vonts Smart Light Pro.
the 3 models vulnerable to this are Vont Color Pro SLB04, Vont Color SLB02 and Vont Color SLB01 (More to come)
This model of smart light specifically uses a ESP32-C3 with 4 MB of flash.
(C3 on light connected to UART)
Using these GPIO pins for light control:
- GPIO03 PWM_i 5 Warm White
- GPIO04 PWM 4 Cool White
- GPIO05 PWM 3 Blue
- GPIO06 PWM 1 Red
- GPIO07 PWM 2 Green
Tearing into the light bulb reveals UART copper pads allowing someone to easily soder and access the ESP32-C3 via UART on the PCB
By leveraging the appropriate firmware, an attacker can readily implant a backdoor using the ESP32-C3 chip, enabling remote connectivity to the PCB for executing attacks or packet sniffing, all while maintaining the appearance and functionality of a typical Smart Light bulb.
(Vont has went out of business and no longer sells smart home application or this model of lightbulb)
(Old Amazon Link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09K38ZXYG)
Using a $7 USB to TTL on amazon we can connect the TX to RX together on the TTL USB while also grounding IO9 on the light bulb PCB, setting the ESP32-C3 into boot loader mode from there we can flash our new firmware. Once the chip is flashed, unground IO9 and power cycle and the ESP will reboot into the newly flashed firmware
Once connected we are able to read and write to the flash
(USB to TTL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LODGRV8)
Donwload the Flashtool from https://www.espressif.com/en/support/download/other-tools
DO NOT FLASH WHILE OR PLUG IN USB ADAPTER WHILE LIGHTBULB IS ON 120V or 240V POWER SOURCE!!!
when opening the flashtool, you will want to set Chiptype to ESP32-C3 and make sure WorkMode is on Develop and LoadMode is on UART
Once loaded, set the values as follows
- bootloader.bin @ 0x0
- partitions.bin @ 0x8000
- firmware.bin @ 0x10000
Ensure your SPI mode is set to QIO and baud rate is at 115200
once you flash the ESP32-C3 you will want to remove you will want to unpower the device and remove it from bootloader, once you have done that you can either
- plug in the USB to UART (LED array will not be on)
- remove UART cables from USB and plug light into E26 socket (lamp or light socket)
DEFAULT SSID: Nightlight
DEFAULT Password: Nightlight12345
from there you will want to connect to the Nightlight AP using the Password "Nightlight12345" then navigate to the web page hosted on 192.168.4.1
to change light colors scroll down to the light control page
Click the box, this is give you a color picker to select a RGB code for the light
YOU CANNOT HAVE RBG AND WARM/COLD LIGHTS ON AT THE SAME TIME, if you move the warm/cold slider it will turn on the warm/cold lights, to turn RBG back on slide it back and the RBG will turn back on
Tiktok Demo: https://www.tiktok.com/@o.mg_peaks/video/7360587336507280683
The Wyze bulb colors use the exact same MCU as the vont color lights. ESP32-C3, however have a diffrent flashing process.
rather then grounding a single GPIO pin to set the chip into boot loader, these bulbs require that GPIO8 needs to be set to high (jump to 3.3v) and GPIO9 needs to be grounded
GPIO8 -> HIGH
GPIO9 -> LOW
Flash process remains the same.