highGC-2026-0011

Predictable BLE session keys in Marisol smart deadbolts

BoltLink Pro deadbolts derive their per-session BLE encryption key from a 16-bit pairing nonce seeded by the device uptime counter, collapsing the effective keyspace and enabling a proximity replay attack.

Vendor
Marisol Access
Product
BoltLink Pro (2024–2025 hardware rev C)
Severity
High · CVSS 8.1
Target
Consumer IoT
Disclosed
Status
Mitigation available — rev D hardware unaffected
  • Bluetooth LE
  • Cryptography
  • Key management

Overview

BoltLink Pro pairs with a companion phone app over Bluetooth Low Energy. Each session negotiates an AES-128 key, which on paper is sound.

In practice the nonce that seeds key derivation is drawn from a free-running uptime timer sampled at pairing. Because the lock reboots predictably and the timer is only 16 bits wide, the realized keyspace is far smaller than the cipher implies.

Attack

An attacker within BLE range records a single unlock exchange, then walks the constrained nonce space offline. On rev C hardware we recovered the session key in under four minutes on a laptop, allowing a clean replay.

Remediation

Rev D hardware sources the nonce from the on-die TRNG and is unaffected. For rev C, Marisol issued a firmware update that mixes accelerometer entropy into derivation; owners should also disable auto-unlock-on-approach.

Disclosure timeline

  1. Initial report to Marisol security
  2. Triaged, rev C confirmed affected
  3. Firmware mitigation released
  4. Public advisory