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Exploit allows for takeover of fleets of Unitree robots
- esafak 1y agoGenuinely scary.
- jMyles 1y agoThe article doesn't directly talk about robot-to-human violence, but presumably if root access at the software layer allows absolutely any command, it is possible to cause the described botnet to physically attack humans. I realize that Azimov's three rules are subject to enormous ethical quandaries and rethinkings (and that this is after all the point of them in the first place), but is there some disadvantage to having a hardwired command, at the core of the command hierarchy, that forces robots to relent if a human says "stop, you're hurting me" in any language? Presumably police, gangs, cartels and militaries who have robot fantasies won't like this, but on medium to long time scales we need to prevent them from using robots anyway (and eventually dismantle them entirely).
- yourpaltod 1y ago> The article doesn't directly talk about robot-to-human violence, This one does: https://takeonme.org/gcves/GCVE-1337-2025-00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001011011111110011111111110000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000010 https://takeonme.org/gcves/GCVE-1337-2025-000000000000000000... > Imagine a scenario where one robot is placed in range of a sufficiently motivated attacker, such as a hostage situation or a bomb defusing (both being reported uses of Unitree robots). The attacker could take complete control of the robot, then walk the robot toward other similarly vulnerable robots, and automatically place those robots under the attacker’s control as soon as they’re in range of the Patient Zero robot. > Robots compromised in this way can endanger the lives, health, and property of their authorized operators and bystanders, as well as serve as traditional bastion hosts for more subtle surveillance or further pure-cyber attacks, for less violently-minded attackers.
- bonoboTP 1y agoImagine a ransomware that makes your household robot put you in a chokehold physically until you pay.
- SamaraMichi 1y agoThe Three laws of Robotics seem to be a good idea though in reality, as Asimov portrayed in his works, are nothing more than fallible plot device. The nuance a humanoid machine intelligence needs is way above what the current state of the art is capable of. Ultimately, we need each autonomous robot's action to fall back to a real human for accountability purposes, just as heavy machine operators today. 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
- bobdaicon979 1y ago[dead]
- doesnt_know 1y agoGiven the security and privacy history of smart devices, you’d have to be a complete moron to let a human sized robot into your home.
- vasco 1y agoHow much of a moron do you have to be to buy direct-to-bezos listening devices that are always on and submit your conversations to the cloud? Only because you don't want to print a recipe? There's a lot of morons.
- moooo99 1y agoI mean, at least the direct to bezos bugs were damn cheap for what they were (smart devices) and in absolute numbers (I remember them literally being gifted to you when ordering specific stuff or signing up for prime for the first time). These humanoid robots are cheap for what they are (admittedly very capable and high end robots), but their absolute pricetag remains far from being cheap.
- gessha 1y agoWait until the moment (far future) when they are mandatory for insurance reasons. (Plot point to the Murderbot series by Martha Wells)
- troupo 1y agoJust like with IoT, the S and P in "robot" stand for security and privacy
- jesterson 1y agoPeople listen to chatgpt "advices" for their lives. Lets not talk about morons, clearly yours (or mine to that matter) estimation is way off real numbers.
- Gravityloss 1y agoYeah and people (and bystanders) have experienced some terrible outcomes already from diving deep with AI therapists. It's going to be the wild west for a while now with AI and robotics before laws catch up. Maybe there'll soon be a market for pocket EMP devices out there...
- Liwink 1y agoI cannot image what if Tesla has a similar vulnerability issue, and someone took over all of its vehicles.. Or maybe someone is already able to do that, and just waiting.
- hagbard_c 1y agoWhy only mention Tesla when the market for EVs is getting quite broad? How about Hyundai, VW, one of the many Stellantis brands, Lynk, BYD, XPeng, Xiaomi or any of the others?
- hvb2 1y agoOwning a Tesla myself, I think the mention is valid since it's the only brand I know of with a decent share of people regularly letting the car drive itself. I am not aware of any other brand being in that same situation
- voidUpdate 1y agoWaymo :P
- hvb2 1y agoJust look at total number of Tesla's on the road and you have your answer as to why that would be a lot less bad
- voidUpdate 1y agosure, but its another brand where people regularly let the cars drive themself
- moooo99 1y agoI think Tesla would still be a different beast given how much 1) they are constantly touted for having the best software on the market and 2) being frequently promoted as being „basically ready for self driving, its just a regulatory issue“. Companies like VW have had their somewhat embarassing issues in the not so distant past, but nobody I know likes (or valuates their stocks) based on their software capabilities
- aetherspawn 1y agoUmm, robots need to be certified and regulated to hard coded robotic laws or something. Before criminals give them guns, or strap explosives to them, or remote takeover and untracibly murder people in their homes then burn the house down.
- squigz 1y agoHaven't you ever seen I, Robot? That won't work! We're doomed!
- aetherspawn 1y agoI, Robot is exactly why I’m concerned, but in this case it’s not a sentient AI gone rogue but any random script kiddie who can get on your wifi and send your robot commands. Or your neighbours robot. Or their own robot. We thought this might happen with DJI drones, but let’s be honest it’s way easier to do real damage with a humanoid robot that has a kitchen knife taped to its arms (especially to a sleeping victim) than it is to source explosives for a DJI drone.
- squigz 1y agoWhy not tie the kitchen knife to the drone?
- aetherspawn 1y ago(I’m an engineer, but making assumptions) I think physics kind of blocks that from working, a DJI drone doesn’t have the weight and inertia to do serious damage, and they are hella noisy. Can’t open doors. Don’t have servos to do a proper swing or stab. Maybe theoretically possible… but I’m more scared of robots personally. By the same logic, autonomous cars are an even better murder weapon than robots because they are very heavy and can drive through walls. Mow down tens or hundreds of people at once.
- squigz 1y ago
- pengaru 1y agoIt's only a matter of time before a similar hack hits waymo and/or tesla...
- anigbrowl 1y agoI love* that this comes out around the same time that engineers are making fun videos of themselves beating up robots half their size and literally training the robots to develop the same sort of fight-or-flight instincts that were forcibly instilled into the engineers * I do not in fact love it
- cedarseagull 1y agoWhy are all the videos of the robots doing combat stuff? I don't need combat stuff. All I need the robot to do is fold the laundry and mop every now and then. Less combat, please!
- bonoboTP 1y agoKungfu demos are easier than fine hand eye coordination and manipulation of nonrigid objects. There is progress on folding too, but it's harder and impresses normal people less even if it's technically harder.
- dyauspitr 1y agoWith all the stuff I’ve already seen these robots do we can’t be more than a decade away from house chore robots.
- xarope 1y agoyes, laundry, folding and ironing clothes, taking out the garbage, so that us humans can then have more free time to contemplate the mysteries of the universe/work harder. not - take our jobs so we have to keep "reskilling" every 10 years... oh wait, according to accenture, we'd be un-reskillable after 10 years, so never mind.
- TeMPOraL 1y agoThe irony is that, at this point, the machines are getting better than us at "contemplating the mysteries of the universe", while manual labor remains our distinct competitive advantage over them. I.e. literally the opposite of what we wanted to happen.
- moktonar 1y agoWhen “botnet” starts to get a whole new meaning. Seriously tho, botnets of connected robots will be dangerous with respect to inert computers, this is something that will have to be addressed
- Animats 1y agoThis is going to be a big problem. Mobile robots need an independent emergency stop safety system that cannot be updated or bypassed remotely.
- gessha 1y agoSoon we will have to carry an EMP everywhere.
- Animats 1y agoWon't work. EMP-proofing is now standard for drones from both sides in the Russia-Ukraine war. As is operating while jammed.
- LtdJorge 1y agoHow do they EMP proof, shielding the cables? Would something like that work when not touching ground? I’m asking seriously, I don’t know enough physics
- est 1y ago> We published the cryptographic keys in July Everyone should take a look at the SERP screenshot https://x.com/d0tslash/status/1969412224763498769 https://x.com/d0tslash/status/1969412224763498769 > The vulnerability combines multiple security issues: hardcoded cryptographic keys, trivial authentication bypass, and unsanitized command injection. What makes this particularly concerning is that it's completely wormable - infected robots can automatically compromise other robots in BLE range. This vulnerability allows the attacker to completely takeover the device. damn!
- baybal2 1y ago[dead]
- thrdbndndn 1y agoWhat does the screenshot mean, though? From what I can tell (I speak Chinese), it's just an IV used in some AES implementation tutorials. Using a hardcoded key/IV is obviously bad, but I don’t see what this screenshot shows beyond that.
- cyp0633 1y agoSomeone just copy-pasted an implementation from a random Chinese blog, completely unaware of what the key means.
- b00ty4breakfast 1y ago
- rangestransform 1y agoI remember reading something that Unitree locks end users out of direct joint-level control. Will this exploit allow users access to that?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]