New to CAPEC? Start Here
Home > CAPEC List > CAPEC-666: BlueSmacking (Version 3.9)  

CAPEC-666: BlueSmacking

Attack Pattern ID: 666
Abstraction: Standard
View customized information:
+ Description
An adversary uses Bluetooth flooding to transfer large packets to Bluetooth enabled devices over the L2CAP protocol with the goal of creating a DoS. This attack must be carried out within close proximity to a Bluetooth enabled device.
+ Likelihood Of Attack

Medium

+ Typical Severity

Medium

+ Relationships
Section HelpThis table shows the other attack patterns and high level categories that are related to this attack pattern. These relationships are defined as ChildOf and ParentOf, and give insight to similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition, relationships such as CanFollow, PeerOf, and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar attack patterns that the user may want to explore.
NatureTypeIDName
ChildOfMeta Attack PatternMeta Attack Pattern - A meta level attack pattern in CAPEC is a decidedly abstract characterization of a specific methodology or technique used in an attack. A meta attack pattern is often void of a specific technology or implementation and is meant to provide an understanding of a high level approach. A meta level attack pattern is a generalization of related group of standard level attack patterns. Meta level attack patterns are particularly useful for architecture and design level threat modeling exercises.125Flooding
Section HelpThis table shows the views that this attack pattern belongs to and top level categories within that view.
+ Execution Flow
Explore
  1. Scan for Bluetooth Enabled Devices: Using BlueZ along with an antenna, an adversary searches for devices with Bluetooth on.

    Techniques
    Note the MAC address of the device you want to attack.
Experiment
  1. Change L2CAP Packet Length: The adversary must change the L2CAP packet length to create packets that will overwhelm a Bluetooth enabled device.

    Techniques
    An adversary downloads and installs BlueZ, the standard Bluetooth utility package for Linux.
Exploit
  1. Flood: An adversary sends the packets to the target device, and floods it until performance is degraded.

+ Prerequisites
The system/application has Bluetooth enabled.
+ Skills Required
[Level: Low]
An adversary only needs a Linux machine along with a Bluetooth adapter, which is extremely common.
+ Indicators
Performance is degraded or halted by incoming L2CAP packets.
+ Consequences
Section HelpThis table specifies different individual consequences associated with the attack pattern. The Scope identifies the security property that is violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an adversary succeeds in their attack. The Likelihood provides information about how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a pattern will be used to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to achieve a different impact.
ScopeImpactLikelihood
Availability
Unreliable Execution
Resource Consumption
+ Mitigations
Disable Bluetooth when not being used.
When using Bluetooth, set it to hidden or non-discoverable mode.
+ Taxonomy Mappings
Section HelpCAPEC mappings to ATT&CK techniques leverage an inheritance model to streamline and minimize direct CAPEC/ATT&CK mappings. Inheritance of a mapping is indicated by text stating that the parent CAPEC has relevant ATT&CK mappings. Note that the ATT&CK Enterprise Framework does not use an inheritance model as part of the mapping to CAPEC.
Relevant to the ATT&CK taxonomy mapping (also see parent)
Entry IDEntry Name
1498.001Network Denial of Service: Direct Network Flood
1499.001Endpoint Denial of Service: OS Exhaustion Flood
+ References
[REF-655] Amrita Mitra. "What is BlueSmack Attack?". The Security Buddy. 2017-03-08. <https://www.thesecuritybuddy.com/bluetooth-security/what-is-bluesmack-attack/>. URL validated: 2021-06-11.
+ Content History
Submissions
Submission DateSubmitterOrganization
2021-06-24
(Version 3.5)
CAPEC Content TeamThe MITRE Corporation
Modifications
Modification DateModifierOrganization
2022-09-29
(Version 3.8)
CAPEC Content TeamThe MITRE Corporation
Updated Taxonomy_Mappings
More information is available — Please select a different filter.
Page Last Updated or Reviewed: June 24, 2021