In 2019, a security researcher approached Logitech regarding three potential vulnerabilities related to Logitech’s Unifying Receiver. We have been in communication with him since to assess his allegations and address them as necessary.

We’d like to first reassure you that this research was conducted in a controlled environment. The vulnerabilities would require special equipment and skills, as well as proximity to — or even physical access to — the target’s computer or device.

People who are concerned about their privacy should take note of and apply the computing security measures described in the Q&A below.

One of the vulnerabilities has been addressed with firmware updates, and you can download the latest version here.

We take our customers’ privacy very seriously, and these findings help us to continually improve our products.

Q: What are the vulnerabilities reported by the security researcher?
A: Three potential vulnerabilities were reported. Two of them relate to extracting the encryption key that secures the communication between the Logitech device and the Logitech Unifying USB receiver. The third one relates to overcoming the barriers to keystroke injection between the device and the USB receiver.

A person trying to replicate these would need expertise and special equipment and to be within a 10m range. They would need to act during the few seconds when someone is re-pairing a device to the Unifying receiver or would need physical access to the target’s device or computer.

Q: How should I protect my privacy when using my Logitech products?
A: You can protect your privacy by applying some basic principles as you use your computer and your Logitech products.

First and foremost, follow the common-sense security measures that are found in a typical office or home, and don’t ever let strangers physically access or tamper with your computer or input devices.

Secondly, all our Unifying devices are securely paired to a wireless receiver when they are produced and pairing is not required thereafter. However, the ability to pair a second, third or fourth device to a single USB receiver is one of the advantages of our Unifying wireless technology so we enable it through a simple piece of software. If you have to pair a device to a Unifying receiver, this procedure could allow a hacker - with the right equipment and skills, and physically close to your computer - to “sniff” the encryption key. So this brief procedure should only be done when absolutely certain that there is no suspicious activity within 10m/30ft.

Note: if your device stops working, this is never because of a loss of pairing to the USB receiver so re-pairing is not required to troubleshoot.

Q: Which Logitech products are concerned by these reports?
A: Mice and keyboards using Logitech’s Unifying wireless protocol. You can identify Unifying products by a small orange logo on the wireless USB receiver, featuring a shape with six points. The Spotlight presentation remote and R500 presenter are also impacted.

In addition, Logitech’s Lightspeed gaming products are concerned by the encryption key extraction vulnerabilities.

Q: Can I install a firmware upgrade to protect me against this? How?
A: Two of the vulnerabilities (known as CVE-2019-13053 and CVE-2019-13052) would be difficult for an attacker to exploit and can be effectively protected against by applying the computing privacy guidelines above. We won’t address these with a firmware update as this would negatively impact interoperability with other Unifying devices.

However, we take security very seriously and we recommend our customers update their wireless Unifying USB receivers to the latest firmware. The firmware updates released since August 2019 address the third vulnerability (known as CVE-2019-13054/55) and the latest firmware version can be downloaded here.

For PC & Mac users: You can download a simple updating tool here

For Linux users: We will distribute the updated firmware via the Linux Vendor Firmware Service at https://fwupd.org/

Our enterprise customers can download a centrally deployable tool for PC here:
Download Script DFU Tool