Flaw granted remote control of Google Glass

By Darren Pauli on Jul 18, 2013 3:21PM

Hole patched.

Attackers could have taken full remote control of Google Glass perhaps gaining a first person view of those wearing the glasses via a now patched vulnerability.

The attack would require a Glass user to scan a QR code that would force them onto a attacker-controlled wireless network.

Lookout Mobile researchers reported the flaw to Google on 15 May and was patched 4 June for the 10,000 users of Glass.

Google limited QR code execution to points where the user has solicited it, Lookout researcher Marc Rogers said.

The fast response from Google Rogers said set a "benchmark for how connected things should be secured going forward".

In Rogers' scenario demonstration video, a victim scanned a QR code at a bus stop and was pushed onto a network that was broadcast from an attacker's Wifi Pineapple.

The attacker was pushed to a custom page containing a known Android 4.0.4 web vulnerability to Glass allowing for remote control over the internet.

"When photographed by an unsuspecting Glass user, the code forced Glass to connect silently to a hostile wifi access point that we controlled. That access point in turn allowed us to spy on the connections Glass made, from web requests to images uploaded to the cloud," Marc Rogers said.

"Both the vulnerability and its method of delivery are unique to Glass as a consequence of it becoming a connected thing."