Critical vulnerabilities have been discovered by Thomas Kilbride (a security researcher from IOActive) in Segway miniPRO hoverboard that could be exploited by attackers to remotely gain “full control” over the hoverboard within range.
According to Thomas Kilbride:
“Since hoverboards were a popular item used for personal transportation, I acquired a Ninebot by Segway miniPRO hoverboard in September of 2016 for recreational use. The technology is amazing and a lot of fun, making it very easy to learn and become a relatively skilled rider.”
Segway Ninebot miniPRO is a high-end hoverboard with unusual features including a steering column and Bluetooth remote. It also comes with a smartphone app that enables riders to change light colours, change safety features, remotely movement and many other features.
“The hoverboard is also connected and comes with a rider application that enables the owner to do some cool things, such as change the light colors, remotely control the hoverboard, and see its battery life and remaining mileage. I was naturally a little intrigued and couldn’t help but start doing some tinkering to see how fragile the firmware was. In my past experience as a security consultant, previous well-chronicled issues brought to mind that if vulnerabilities do exist, they might be exploited by an attacker to cause some serious harm.”
The researcher said that an attacker could apply any arbitrary update to the hoverboard, which would enable him to bypass safety interlocks. The Hoverboard communicates over an unencrypted channel, enabling a remote attacker to execute man-in-the-middle attacks and inject malicious payloads.
“IOActive recommends that end users stay up-to-date with the latest versions of the app from Ninebot. We also recommend that consumers avoid hoverboard models with Bluetooth and wireless capabilities.”