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Apple AirPlay Private Key Exposed

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-see-what-you-did-there dept.

An anonymous reader writes "James Laird has reverse engineered the Airport Express private key and published an open source AirPort Express emulator. 'My girlfriend moved house, and her Airport Express no longer made it with her wireless access point. I figured it'd be easy to find an ApEx emulator — there are several open source apps out there to play to them. However, I was disappointed to find that Apple used a public-key crypto scheme, and there's a private key hiding inside the ApEx. So I took it apart (I still have scars from opening the glued case!), dumped the ROM, and reverse engineered the keys out of it.'"

16 of 306 comments (clear)

  1. Please tell me by MarkRose · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you extract the ROM out of an Apple device, is that a core dump?

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  2. real easy innit by amn108 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I like how easy he makes it sound :-)

    Things you need to hack the Airport Express:

    1. Girlfriend
    2. A pinch of dissappointment
    3. Wilingness to break open glued Apple casing

    1. Re:real easy innit by BigDish · · Score: 4, Funny

      Have you ever tried to open one of the glued-together cases? That's by far more difficult than getting a girlfriend

    2. Re:real easy innit by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Funny

      1. Girlfriend
      2. A pinch of dissappointment

      Don't know about you, but I've found that #1 can lead to #2 -- and has on several occasions.

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    3. Re:real easy innit by clickclickdrone · · Score: 5, Funny

      >2. A pinch of dissappointment
      The considerably less lethal version of Spock's death grip.

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      I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
    4. Re:real easy innit by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not if you freeze them with dry ice and hit them with a hammer...

      Yes it works with glued together cases as well.

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      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    5. Re:real easy innit by StikyPad · · Score: 3, Funny

      Marriage: It's a lot of work, but in the long run, eventually one of you dies.

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      https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
  3. Re:Editor ? by Majik+Sheff · · Score: 4, Funny

    Two things that appear to be true about the author of the article and not about you:

    1. The author's first language was not English
    2. The author has a girlfriend.

    Between English tenses and a hot European chick, I know which one I'd prefer to be conjugating.

    --
    Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
  4. Re:Apple-time by Mia'cova · · Score: 5, Funny

    Let's see someone add airplay support to the ps3. See how many companies can get pissed off at once. If you play it right, they could be goaded into fighting each other. Fingers crossed! Maybe these companies will finally deliver something entertaining to watch :)

  5. Re:Slashdotter already by Fex303 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage!

  6. Re:Slashdotter already by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Funny

    No one time pad. Less space than a TrueCrypt container. Lame.

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    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  7. Re:and how many people use Airport? by snowraver1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I replaced my wife with a laptop too! The sex has never been better!

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  8. Re:and how many people use Airport? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Because the audio jack fits just right?

  9. Re:Slashdotter already by hey! · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks for that. One thing about getting older is that your memory doesn't dish up all the bits you need on time. So you end up having conversations like this:

    Me: Hahaha!
    Wife: What's so funny?
    Me: Look what this guy wrote: 'That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage!' Haha!
    Wife: Why is that funny?
    Me [frowning]: I don't know.

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  10. Re:Slashdotter already by capmilk · · Score: 4, Funny

    What the hell do you have in your luggage that needs THAT?!?

    An Airport Express Station.

  11. Re:Slashdotter already by dgatwood · · Score: 3, Funny

    What is there to understand?

    His girlfriend was the director of programming for Fox and changed the time slot for House. This made her Airport Express mad at her, so it is withholding sex with her other wireless access point as punishment.

    I mean, jeez. How hard can it be to understand? Seems pretty straightforward to me.

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