Building Trust: Security Analysis in IoT Pairing Stages

With the popularity of smart homes, the security issues of IoT devices have garnered significant attention, particularly the device pairing process, which is crucial for secure access and authorized use. However, current research on the communication security during this process remains insufficient. This paper aims to thoroughly analyze the security of the IoT device pairing process. The pairing process is first described using a state transfer model and divided into four phases: device discovery, device networking, remote authentication and remote binding. Subsequently, the different implementations adopted by different vendors in each specific phase are analyzed for the security vulnerabilities they may cause. These vulnerabilities are verified through experimental tests, involving the observation of multiple real devices, monitoring of traffic data, and application of attack methods, revealing existing vulnerabilities and deficiencies in some devices. Finally, based on the experimental results, targeted security improvement recommendations are proposed to enhance the overall security of the devices.