German security researcher Stack Smashing said he could “break into the AirTag’s microcontroller” and modified elements of the item tracker software.
Apple AirTag is a small iPhone accessory that allows you to track and find the most important items using Apple’s Find My app.
Apple is known for offering high levels of security to its products, which has led to the new AirTags becoming a target for security researchers, AppleInsider reported.
After a few hours and the destruction of several tags in the process, the security researcher created firmware dumps and finally found that the microcontroller could be restarted, the report said.
In short, the researcher has proven that it is possible to change the programming of the microcontroller and change the way it works.
A first demonstration showed an AirTag with a modified NFC URL that, when scanned with an iPhone, displays a custom URL instead of the usual link “found.apple.com”.
Still at an early stage, research shows that hacking AirTag in the first place takes a lot of know-how and effort.
During a demonstration video, the modified AirTag is shown attached to cables that are claimed to only provide power to the device.
Given that AirTag relies on the secure Find My network for Lost Mode to work, it is likely that Apple will introduce some form of server-side defense against maliciously modified versions, the report said.
Since launch, a hidden debug mode has been found in AirTag that provides developers with significantly more information than users would normally need about the device’s hardware.
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