Researcher uses Claude Opus 5 to reverse-engineer everyday peripherals, exposing shells, stealth webcam recording, and WiFi memory-write flaws

A researcher describes using agent-driven reverse engineering to analyze nearby computer peripherals, including a microphone, webcam, and key light. The work uncovered serious issues: a plaintext command shell in the microphone, a webcam LED that can be disabled during recording, and a key light accepting memory writes from anyone on the WiFi.

The article highlights how AI-assisted reverse engineering can dramatically lower the effort required to audit firmware and device protocols. It also reinforces a broader security concern: many peripherals are effectively networked or USB-attached computers with weak update, debugging, and access-control protections.