Wireless / RF (non-Wi-Fi radio)
Radio attack surface beyond Wi-Fi: Bluetooth (BLE + Classic), 802.15.4 mesh (Zigbee/Thread/Matter),
Z-Wave, and LPWAN/Sub-GHz (LoRaWAN, ISM rolling-code / OOK-ASK). For Wi-Fi, WPA2/WPA3, evil-twin and
802.1X, use network-attack (references/wireless-attacks.md, which also now carries KRACK/FragAttacks
and WPS). Adapted in part from Claude-Red (MIT, Kai Aizen/SnailSploit) — see THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.
When to Activate
- Auditing a BLE device (smart lock, wearable, medical, tracker): GATT enumeration, unauthenticated
characteristic R/W, pairing-mode identification, LTK recovery, sniffing, companion-app RE.
- Bluetooth Classic targets: encryption-key entropy downgrade (KNOB), impersonation (BIAS), BlueZ/stack
memory-corruption (BlueBorne / BleedingTooth).
- Zigbee / Thread / Matter / Z-Wave home/building automation: Touchlink commissioning abuse, key
transport in the clear, S0 key-exchange downgrade, replay/AiTM on mesh commands.
- LoRaWAN / Sub-GHz: join-accept / uplink replay, ABP counter & nonce reuse, and generic ISM
capture→replay / rolljam of OOK-ASK remotes (garage, gate, some auto keyfobs).
- You have (or can request) the right radio: a dual-mode BT adapter + BLE sniffer (Sniffle/Ubertooth),
a KillerBee-supported 802.15.4 stick, an RfCat dongle (CC1111), and/or an SDR (RTL-SDR, HackRF).
- STOP if the RF target or its band is out of scope. RF is trivially cross-boundary (you will hear
neighbours). Confirm
scope.json and the physical/RF authorization before transmitting. Jamming,
deauth-style disruption, and replay against safety/medical systems can be illegal and dangerous —
see OPSEC & Detection.
Technique Map
| Technique | ATT&CK | CWE | Reference | Script |
|---|
| BLE GATT enum + unauth characteristic R/W | T1040 / T1592 | CWE-306 | references/bluetooth.md | scripts/rf_recon.sh |
| BLE LE-Legacy Just-Works LTK recovery (crackle) | T1557 | CWE-322 | references/bluetooth.md | - |
| BLE sniffing / active MITM (Sniffle/btlejack) | T1040 / T1557 | CWE-319 | references/bluetooth.md | scripts/rf_recon.sh |
| BT Classic key-entropy downgrade (KNOB, CVE-2019-9506) | T1557 | CWE-326 | references/bluetooth.md | - |
| BT Classic impersonation (BIAS, CVE-2020-10135) | T1557 | CWE-287 | references/bluetooth.md | - |
| BlueZ/stack RCE (BleedingTooth CVE-2020-12351/12352) | T1200 | CWE-787 | references/bluetooth.md | - |
| Bluetooth data exfiltration | T1011.001 | CWE-319 | references/bluetooth.md | - |
| Zigbee Touchlink commissioning abuse / reset | T1557 | CWE-284 | references/mesh-iot-radio.md | scripts/rf_recon.sh |
| Zigbee/ZLL key transport in clear + replay | T1040 / T1557 | CWE-319 | references/mesh-iot-radio.md | scripts/rf_recon.sh |
| Z-Wave S0 key-exchange downgrade ("Z-Shave") | T1557 | CWE-757 | references/mesh-iot-radio.md | - |
| LoRaWAN join-accept / uplink replay | T1602 | CWE-294 | references/lpwan-subghz.md | - |
| LoRaWAN ABP counter / nonce reuse | T1040 | CWE-323 | references/lpwan-subghz.md | - |
| Sub-GHz OOK-ASK capture→replay / rolljam | T1557 | CWE-294 | references/lpwan-subghz.md | scripts/rf_recon.sh |
Quick Start
# 0. AUTHORIZATION FIRST — confirm the RF target/band is in scope (RF crosses walls).
python3 ../coding-mastery/scripts/_lib/scope_guard.py --target "<device-id-or-mac>" || exit 3
# 1. BLE recon: discover, enumerate GATT, flag unauthenticated writable characteristics
sudo bash scripts/rf_recon.sh ble-scan
sudo bash scripts/rf_recon.sh ble-enum <BD_ADDR> # services/characteristics + R/W perms
# 2. BLE pairing/crypto: identify pairing method; LE-Legacy Just Works -> crackle recovers LTK
# (capture pairing with Sniffle/Ubertooth to a pcap, then:)
crackle -i pairing.pcap # LTK/STK if LE Legacy
# 3. 802.15.4 mesh recon (KillerBee): find Zigbee networks + channel
sudo bash scripts/rf_recon.sh zb-scan # zbstumbler across channels 11-26
# 4. Sub-GHz capture -> analyze -> replay (RfCat / SDR). rtl_433 first to fingerprint.
sudo bash scripts/rf_recon.sh subghz-id # rtl_433 protocol/mod fingerprint
# then capture+replay in Universal Radio Hacker (URH), watching for rolling codes.
OPSEC & Detection (summary)
| Technique | Telemetry / IOC | Detection | OPSEC / legal note |
|---|
| BLE scan/enum | connectable advertising probes; repeated GATT connects | BLE WIDS (rare); app-side connection anomaly | passive hcitool lescan/Sniffle is quiet; enumeration is a normal client action |
| BLE MITM / LTK recovery | cloned advertiser; a 2nd device holding the connection | duplicate BD_ADDR; RSSI/2-radio anomaly | LE Legacy Just Works is the weak path; LE Secure Connections (ECDH) defeats crackle |
| KNOB / BIAS (Classic) | renegotiated low-entropy key; unexpected re-pair | patched stacks reject 1-byte entropy / require MITM-protection | needs proximity + a window; patched hosts (post-2019/2020) mitigate |
| BleedingTooth / BlueBorne | target BlueZ/stack crash or reboot | crash telemetry; kernel/stack patch level | memory-corruption = crash/DoS risk; lab-validate, get written sign-off |
| Zigbee Touchlink / key-in-clear | Touchlink scan/identify; devices leaving/rejoining | 802.15.4 IDS (rare); coordinator join logs | Touchlink range abuse can factory-reset lights building-wide — scope tight |
| Z-Wave S0 downgrade | S0 key-exchange when S2 expected | controller S2 bootstrap logs | needs presence during (re)pairing; S2 defeats it |
| LoRaWAN replay | duplicate frame counters at the NS; join floods | NS frame-counter monitoring; join-nonce checks | 1.0.x is weaker than 1.1; downlink replay can toggle actuators |
| Sub-GHz replay / rolljam | jamming energy in-band + delayed replay | RF spectrum monitoring (rare on ISM) | jamming is illegal in most jurisdictions; rolljam defeats rolling codes but needs jam+capture — explicit authorization only |
Deep Dives
- references/bluetooth.md — BLE (GATT enumeration & unauth R/W, pairing-method identification, LE-Legacy
Just-Works LTK recovery with crackle, Sniffle/btlejack sniffing & active MITM, companion-app RE, device-class
playbooks for locks/medical/wearables) and Bluetooth Classic (KNOB CVE-2019-9506, BIAS CVE-2020-10135,
BlueBorne, BleedingTooth CVE-2020-12351/12352/24490, BLESA, SweynTooth). Detection + OPSEC per technique.
- references/mesh-iot-radio.md — 802.15.4 mesh: Zigbee (Touchlink/ZLL commissioning abuse & master-key
leak, key transport in the clear, NWK/APS replay, KillerBee/zbstumbler/zbdump), Thread/Matter (commissioning,
OpenThread lab), and Z-Wave (S0 key-exchange downgrade "Z-Shave", S2 bootstrap, Scapy-radio/EZ-Wave, RfCat).
- references/lpwan-subghz.md — LoRaWAN (1.0.x vs 1.1 root/session keys, join-accept & uplink replay, ABP
counter/nonce reuse, gr-lora/ChirpStack lab) and generic Sub-GHz/ISM (rtl_433 fingerprinting, RfCat CC1111,
HackRF + Universal Radio Hacker capture→replay, OOK-ASK rolling-code vs fixed-code, rolljam theory & legality).
Cross-references
- Wi-Fi / WPA2 / WPA3 / evil-twin / 802.1X / KRACK / WPS →
network-attack (references/wireless-attacks.md).
- Companion-app / firmware reversing →
reverse-engineering; mobile app pairing logic → mobile-pentest.
- REQUIRED:
scope-discipline before transmitting; finding-discipline before any [CONFIRMED]
(an advertised characteristic is not impact — you must read/write it or recover the key). Authorized only (TERMS.md).
