Quite strange that only Bruce Schneier has picked up on this so far but researches have developed a proof of concept of how to exploit HID (Human Interface Device) USB dongles for wireless mice and keyboards to accept keystrokes from rouge third party transmitters.
The Background
A couple of years ago I discontinued the use of wireless keyboard because I was afraid that something like this could happen. Now it unexpectedly caught up with me once again as the USB receivers I use with my Logitech mice can also receive keyboard commands. In his post, Bruce explains the proof of concept, available on Github, exploits the fact that while keyboard commands are authenticated and encrypted, data packets coming from the mouse are not. The USB dongle software doesn’t seem to make a difference between the two and allows non-encrypted and non-authenticated keyboard commands as well.
Logitech Patches
The good news is that for the Logitech USB receivers I use, a software patch is available. The updater only runs on Mac and Windows machines which was a bit of a pain for me but I eventually managed to upgrade. It would be nice to know how this has been fixed in detail but since the software is closed source I wouldn’t count on it. Too bad, that doesn’t instill a lot of trust in me that things are really fixed for good.