Glowworm Attack: Recovering Speech Signals from Sony SRS-XB33 and SRS-XB43 Devices

CVE-2021-38544 · MEDIUM Severity

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Sony SRS-XB33 and SRS-XB43 devices through 2021-08-09 allow remote attackers to recover speech signals from an LED on the device, via a telescope and an electro-optical sensor, aka a "Glowworm" attack. The power indicator LED of the speakers is connected directly to the power line, as a result, the intensity of a device's power indicator LED is correlative to the power consumption. The sound played by the speakers affects their power consumption and as a result is also correlative to the light intensity of the LEDs. By analyzing measurements obtained from an electro-optical sensor directed at the power indicator LEDs of the speakers, we can recover the sound played by them.

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