Tracking You from a Thousand Miles Away! Turning a Bluetooth Device into an Apple AirTag Without Root Privileges

Abstract
Apple’s Find My network, leveraging over a billion active Apple devices, is the world’s largest device-locating network. We investigate the potential misuse of this network to maliciously track Bluetooth devices. We present nRootTag, a novel attack method that transforms computers into trackable “AirTags” without requiring root privileges. The attack achieves a success rate of over 90% within minutes at a cost of only a few US dollars. Or, a rainbow table can be built to search keys instantly. Subsequently, it can locate a computer in minutes, posing a substantial risk to user privacy and safety. The attack is effective on Linux, Windows, and Android systems, and can be employed to track desktops, laptops, smartphones, and IoT devices. Our comprehensive evaluation demonstrates nRootTag’s effectiveness and efficiency across various scenarios.

[BibTex]

@inproceedings{chen2025track,
title={Tracking You from a Thousand Miles Away! Turning a Bluetooth Device into an Apple AirTag Without Root Privileges},
author={Chen, Junming and Ma, Xiaoyue and Luo, Lannan and Zeng, Qiang},
booktitle={USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security)},
year={2025}
}