This Beats Studio Buds flaw could have let hackers listen to your conversations

Most of us don’t think twice before popping in our earbuds and taking a call. Whether you’re discussing work, sharing personal details, or chatting with friends, you probably assume those conversations stay between you and the person on the other end. A recently patched Bluetooth vulnerability shows that assumption isn’t always guaranteed, as it could have allowed attackers nearby to secretly listen in through affected earbuds, including Apple’s Beats Studio Buds.

Rather than targeting smartphones directly, the vulnerability resided in the Bluetooth chips used in a range of wireless audio products. That’s significant because these chips aren’t just responsible for connecting your earbuds to a phone — they also control microphones, process audio, and manage the trusted relationship between your headset and other devices.

Security researchers Dennis Heinze and Frieder Steinmetz discovered that certain Airoha-made Bluetooth chips could be tricked into trusting an unauthorized device. That means an attacker within Bluetooth range could potentially impersonate a previously trusted device and gain access to functions that should have remained private.

That sounds alarming, and in the right circumstances, it could be. Researchers showed that the flaw could be abused to listen to audio captured by a connected device’s microphone. According to Apple, the attack could affect devices that are actively seeking a Bluetooth pairing connection, adding an important limitation to how the vulnerability can be exploited.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-20701 (via ArsTechnica), received a severity score of 8.8 out of 10. While Beats earbuds have received significant attention because of Apple’s recent firmware update, the underlying issue extends beyond a single brand.

This means multiple manufacturers using the same components were potentially affected. Airoha chips are found in audio products from several major manufacturers, including Sony, Bose, JBL, Marshall, and Jabra.

What’s particularly interesting is where the flaw exists. Most people think of headphones as simple accessories, but modern earbuds run their own firmware, process audio in real time, manage microphones, and maintain trusted connections with phones, tablets, and laptops. If that firmware contains a weakness, attackers may see the accessory as an easier target than the device it’s connected to.

Researchers also noted that the broader attack chain could potentially expose additional information beyond microphone access. Depending on the connected device and platform, attackers may have been able to access data such as call logs, contacts, or even trigger phone calls. That said, there is little evidence to suggest these attacks have been actively used against consumers in the real world, and manufacturers have already begun rolling out fixes.

Apple has already rolled out firmware updates for affected Beats devices, while other manufacturers have also begun releasing patches for impacted products. Jabra recently confirmed fixes, and, per Ecoustics, Bose and JBL have also pushed updates.

If you own a pair of Beats Studio Buds, it’s worth checking that your firmware is up to date. On an iPhone, you can do that by opening Settings, heading to Bluetooth, and tapping the information button next to your earbuds.

The risk to most users remains fairly low. Exploiting the vulnerability isn’t as simple as sending a malicious link or running a remote attack. An attacker would need to be physically close to the target and have the technical expertise required to pull it off.

Still, the incident serves as a useful reminder that even the gadgets we rarely think about from a security perspective can become attack surfaces. And as those devices get smarter, keeping their firmware up to date becomes just as important as installing the latest update on your smartphone.