What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2021-38544

• Severity: medium (CVSS 5.9 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 1.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: yes
• Published: 2021-08-11 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

Sony SRS-XB33 and SRS-XB43 devices through 2021-08-09 allow remote attackers to recover speech signals from an LED on the device, via a telescope and an electro-optical sensor, aka a "Glowworm" attack. The power indicator LED of the speakers is connected directly to the power line, as a result, the intensity of a device's power indicator LED is correlative to the power consumption. The sound played by the speakers affects their power consumption and as a result is also correlative to the light intensity of the LEDs. By analyzing measurements obtained from an electro-optical sensor directed at the power indicator LEDs of the speakers, we can recover the sound played by them.

Affected products

• Sony Srs-Xb33 Firmware: through 2021-08-09
• Sony Srs-Xb43 Firmware: through 2021-08-09

References

• https://www.nassiben.com/glowworm-attack
• https://www.nassiben.com/glowworm-attack

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