Setting Up Ubertooth on macOS for Bluetooth Hacking
Summary
This is a step-by-step guide on how to sniff Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) packets between a Polar Vantage Smartwatch and a phone using the Ubertooth One. It will go into detail on the setup on a MacBook Air with MacOS using a python environment for the libraries that are used for the setup. Additionally every step of the actual sniff will be outlined. This guide is based on the seminar paper "Smartwatch Hacking Attack" that was written within the FH-course "Selected IT-Security Chapters".
Requirements
- Hardware tools: Ubertooth One: Firmware version: 2020-12-R1 (API:1.07)
- Smartwatch: Polar Vantage M
- Phone: Samsung Galaxy J3
- Unix-based Operating System: macOS (macOS Sequoia 15.1.1), on a MacBook Air with an Apple M1 chip.
- Virtual Environment: Python Environment: Python 3.12
- Packages: libusb, wget, cmake, pkg-config, setuptools, pyqt5, numpy
- Libraries: libbtbb, bleak
- Software Tools: Crackle
These setup steps for the Ubertooth tool are also summarized here Ubertooth - Build Guide - https://ubertooth.readthedocs.io/en/latest/build_guide.html.
Description
Step 1 - Install homebrew
Enter these commands in the shell
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)" eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
Step 2 - Install Python Environment
Enter these commands in the shell
python3.12 -m venv myenv source myenv/bin/activate
Step 3 - Install libusb, wget, cmake, pkg-config
Enter these commands in the shell
brew install libusb wget cmake pkg-config
Step 4 - Install the Bluetooth baseband library
Enter these commands in the shell
wget https://github.com/greatscottgadgets/libbtbb/archive/2020-12-R1.tar.gz -O libbtbb-2020-12-R1.tar.gz tar -xf libbtbb-2020-12-R1.tar.gz cd libbtbb-2020-12-R1 mkdir build cd build cmake .. make
If errors occur with installing distutils switch to setuptools instead.
pip install setuptools
After installing the setuptools also change the "from distutils import setup" line in the the libbtbb-2020-12-R1/build/python/pcaptools/setup.py file to this:
from setuptools import setup
Also update the version in that same file to this:
version = '2020.12.R1'
If necessary set the pythonpath in case you have different python versions:
export PYTHONPATH=/Users/<username>/myenv/lib/python3.12/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH
In libbtbb-2020-12-R1/cmake/set_release.cmake file change the version:
set(LATEST_RELEASE "2020-12-R1")
Then retry:
make
sudo make install
Step 5 - Install the Ubertooth repository
Enter these commands in the shell
wget https://github.com/greatscottgadgets/ubertooth/releases/download/2020-12-R1/ubertooth-2020-12-R1.tar.xz tar -xf ubertooth-2020-12-R1.tar.xz cd ubertooth-2020-12-R1/host mkdir build cd build cmake .. make
If errors occur go to ubertooth-2020-12-R1/host/CMakeLists.txt an change:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
include_directories(/opt/homebrew/include) link_directories(/opt/homebrew/lib)
if(POLICY CMP0042)
cmake_policy(SET CMP0042 NEW)
endif()
set(MAJOR_VERSION "1" CACHE INT "libUbertooth major version number") set(MINOR_VERSION "1" CACHE INT "libUbertooth minor version number")
if(NOT APPLE)
find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
pkg_check_modules(LIBBLUETOOTH REQUIRED bluez)
endif()
Additionally again change the "from distutils import setup" line in the the ubertooth-2020-12-R1/host/build/python/specan_ui/setup.py file to this:
from setuptools import setup
Also update the version in that same file to this:
version = '2020.12.R1'
Then retry:
make
sudo make install
If you get errors regarding the environment variables showing that your library wasnt found you need to set the library path via the MacOs's dynamic linker.
(export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH)??
export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/local/lib:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH" '''''''' new
or make it persistent in shell configurations:
~/.zshrc
Afterwards confirm the ubertooth library is working correctly:
ubertooth-util
Step 6 - Test Ubertooth One commands
Enter these commands in the shell
ubertooth-util -H ubertooth-util -v ubertooth-util -p ubertooth-util -s
Update Ubertooth firmware in ubertooth-2020-12-R1/ubertooth-one-firmware-bin:
sudo ubertooth-dfu -d bluetooth_rxtx.dfu -r
In ubertooth-2020-12-R1/host the following command leads to getting a list of sniffed Bluetooth packets with their Lower Address Parts (LAP):
ubertooth-rx
For collecting Upper Address Parts (UAP) from the captured packets add -z:
ubertooth-rx -z
Let it run for a while and look at the output. It will be summarized as Survey Results at the end of the output. There you can see the significant part of Bluetooth addresses of devices that were scanned.
Step 7 - Use BTLE to follow the connection of the Bluetooth device you found. (Replace with device Bluetooth Address)
ubertooth-btle -f 78:A5:04:62:71:3D -r test.pcap
Or create a pipe for viewing the captures directly in Wireshark:
mkfifo /tmp/pipe ubertooth-btle -f 78:A5:04:62:71:3D -c /tmp/pipe
systime=1728247529 freq=2402 addr=8e89bed6 delta_t=34.320 ms rssi=-60
20 1b c9 28 84 1a 9e a0 02 01 06 03 02 ee fe 0d ff 6b 00 72 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 47 e9 1f
Advertising / AA 8e89bed6 (valid)/ 27 bytes
Channel Index: 37
Type: ADV_IND
AdvA: a0:9e:1a:84:28:c9 (public)
AdvData: 02 01 06 03 02 ee fe 0d ff 6b 00 72 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Type 01 (Flags)
00000110
LE General Discoverable Mode
BR/EDR Not Supported
Type 02 (16-bit Service UUIDs, more available)
feee
Type ff (Manufacturer Specific Data)
Company: Polar Electro OY
Data: 72 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Data: c9 28 84 1a 9e a0 02 01 06 03 02 ee fe 0d ff 6b 00 72 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
CRC: 47 e9 1f
Step 8 - Install Crackle
Enter these commands in the shell
git clone https://github.com/mikeryan/crackle.git cd crackle make
Try cracking your pcap.file
./crackle -i <your_file.pcap>
Step 9 - Install bleak library
Enter these commands in the shell
python3.12 -m venv myenv source myenv/bin/activate
Step 10 - Read characteristics
Enter these commands in the shell
python3.12 -m venv myenv source myenv/bin/activate
Step 11 - Subscribe to characteristics
Enter these commands in the shell
python3.12 -m venv myenv source myenv/bin/activate
Step 12 - Manipulate characteristics
Enter these commands in the shell
python3.12 -m venv myenv source myenv/bin/activate
Used Hardware
Device to be used with this documentation Maybe another device to be used with this documentation
Courses
- A course where this documentation was used (2017, 2018)
- Another one (2018)