Seeing inside USB Yokes

Unknown Soldier

Hello,

Not sure if the right forum(A lot of sub-cats under C&T!) but I was wondering...

Is there some software or device/connector/something that lets you see inside USB things attached to you PC? Like a USB bike light that is recharging or some smart device, like an Ear bud ear phone. Does that make sense?

I currently have an E-cig and Ear Bud attached, charging, and I thought it would be cool to go all Matrix on them to see "inside" and see their programs or whatever. There must be someway of seeing their software/firmware etc?

Thanks in advance for any help!

David

Capt'n Midnight

To ID the devices on linux you can use lsusb or on windows usbview. Or lookup the Hardware ID in device manger to get 8 digit code. xxxx:yyyy , xxxx is the company name and yyyy is the model. For a lot of devices you are trying to find out what it really is as everyone rebadges.

After that google for hacks , teardowns , jtag etc.

Some linux drivers give more info than windows and visa versa YMMV

Dumb devices that use 5.0V to charge probably only have battery charging chip.

ozmo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058232750/seeing-inside-usb-yokes

They are usually very easy to open physically - but you wont see much of interest electrically - a CPU microcontroller usually and one or more supporting chips.

The code would be compiled and is not usually readable from the PC, and even if you could get the code out of the main CPU it would normally be compiled to assembly and wouldn't be easily readable.

There are 4 wires on a standard USB plug - Two for power and two for data - As reply above says - the bike light is just using the 2 power wires and there is no data (newer USB standards have more wires)

You can use a cheap device to monitor power usage is about all you can do:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Innovateking-EU-Voltmeter-Multimeter-Multi-function-Capacity/dp/B07Q292MMK

Smart devices communicate with the PC by sending packets of information - you can intercept this information using a USB protocol analyser. Something like this - but there are lots out there to try.

https://www.usblyzer.com/ (has free trial - but paid software)

http://vusb-analyzer.sourceforge.net/ free - more limited but free

You can make your own USB device using an Arduino Nano - there are good tutorials out there for making it emulate a keyboard or mouse.

You are right to be curious what that random ECig charger could be doing - check out Rubber Ducky if you want to see how mischievous you can get by making your own USB devices.

https://medium.com/techloop/usb-rubber-duckies-with-arduino-c9f08d88ef6d

Explosive_Cornflake

Most of those devices will only have G and 5V connected, with, potentially a resistor over D- and D+.

The data pins won't be connected to anything, so there is nothing to "see" from the USB side.

ozmo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118725174#Comment_118725174

You would think.... :)

Apple added the "Do you trust this host device" to IPhones fairly late in the game to counteract some devices pretending to be chargers but were actually sucking all the data from the phone.

see my comment above about Rubber Ducky for a DIY client device.

But yeah extremely unlikely you will find any dodgy off the shelf product.

(but saying that I did receive a virus's preloaded on an official free Avatar Movie Promo USB stick years back..

It is possible to modify the firmware on a standard USB memory stick to do unusual stuff...see link below)

- so its technically possible.... and anyway, ops question is still fun for the curious to see what a USB device is actually doing :)

links:

Very simple dodgy files on a street find USB stick(easy to prevent): https://orangecyberdefense.com/be/blog/cybersecurity/hacking-via-usb-keys-risks-and-protection/

Actually modifying a USB microcode (undetectable?): https://null-byte.wonderhowto.com/how-to/make-your-own-bad-usb-0165419/