Airport charging stations potentially carry risks due to juicing jacking, encouraging caution when charging your phone at airports.
New Threat: ChoiceJacking Attacks Compromise Mobile Devices via Public Charging Stations
A new type of attack, known as ChoiceJacking, has been unveiled, targeting mobile devices through public charging stations. This attack, presented at the 2025 USENIX Security Symposium, exploits public charging stations to gain unauthorised data access by simulating user input, bypassing security prompts designed to prevent data transfer without explicit user consent.
How ChoiceJacking Works
Attackers set up malicious public charging stations that act as input devices. These stations simulate user actions (e.g., taps or keyboard commands) to navigate security prompts, enabling data transfer mode or debugging mode.
On Android devices, attackers exploit permissions for peripherals via the Open Accessory Protocol and Android Debug Bridge (ADB), hijacking system input to gain full device control. On iOS, the attack can simulate trusted Bluetooth audio devices to sneak data access, but with more limited system reach than on Android.
Protecting Your Mobile Device
To safeguard your mobile device, consider the following measures:
- Avoid public USB charging ports and public charging stations whenever possible, especially unfamiliar or suspicious ones.
- Use your own charger and a wall electrical outlet if charging away from home—this reduces the risk of connecting to malicious hardware.
- Carry a portable power bank to stay charged independently.
- Keep your phone’s software updated, as manufacturers continually patch vulnerabilities exploited by such attacks.
- On devices that support it, enable “charge only” mode to block data transfer while charging.
- Always keep your device locked when not in use to prevent unauthorized access; many attacks require an unlocked phone.
- Be cautious about granting permissions to peripherals or responding to unexpected prompts when connecting your device to unfamiliar hardware.
Additional Protections
Mobile phone vendors have introduced solutions to block data requests from the other end of the USB cable until the device is unlocked and access is granted. Apple's Lockdown Mode provides full USB protection, but it suppresses all USB connectivity, which might be more lockdown than needed or wanted.
Choosing the longest, most complex lock code can provide extra protection against ChoiceJacking. Additionally, the researchers found that both iPhone and Android devices appeared to be invulnerable to this attack in their own experiments.
Juicejacking, a potential security risk of plugging a mobile device into a public charging socket, was generally regarded as well-contained by the mid-2010s. However, ChoiceJacking represents a dangerous evolution of classic juice jacking by leveraging input spoofing rather than malware injection.
[1] The paper on ChoiceJacking will be presented at the 2025 USENIX Security Symposium and introduces additional functionality and different sorts of treachery compared to the original juicejacking concept.
[2] Brian Krebs introduced the term "juicejacking" at the 2011 Black Hat conference.
[3] There are three different sorts of attacks possible with Choicejacking: exploiting a bug to inject keypresses, flooding the input buffer with a carefully-chosen sequence of inputs, and starting a fake Bluetooth keyboard that advertises its availability.
[4] The last item, starting a fake Bluetooth keyboard, is the most general-purpose attack and doesn't rely on any bugs or performance problems in Android's keystroke handling protocols.
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