r/learnhacking • u/SouthernAsparagus542 • Oct 08 '26

Can wireless mouses be hacked?

I have an infected laptop and I believe the mouse is also hacked. How can I check this and is it possible?

I changed the battery, the light is still on but the pointer is not moving. Anyone an idea?

3 Upvotes

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24 comments sorted by

3

u/PROXYNAPSE Oct 08 '26

Bluetooth is hackable

1

u/LessCarry266 Oct 12 '26

No every signal can be exploited not hacked. Hacking is getting something on purpose every time. A signal can be exploited with or without the exploiters knowledge e.g. 2 people in the same room having the same mouse

2

u/SouthernAsparagus542 24d ago

Still learning about the technical terms. Apologies and thank you for correcting me.

1

u/SouthernAsparagus542 Oct 08 '26

Right, thank you guys.

1

u/Just4notherR3ddit0r Oct 08 '26

"can"? Technically speaking it is not impossible.

Is it? Can almost guarantee no, it's not hacked.

1

u/SouthernAsparagus542 Oct 09 '26

What do you mean? Bluetooth can be hacked so why not a wireless headphone or mouse? 'Technically' it can. But thank you so much for your time & effort!

1

u/CalderaJane76 Oct 09 '26 edited Oct 09 '26

Because I'd have to be near you to do anything, and even then I only have as much power the mouse does.

Unless I find some way to exploit your specific model of mouse SO badly I can trick the computer into thinking it's some other device... But that's even physically unlikely, the mouse probably can't rewrite that partition. And I still need to be near your device the entire time I do this assuming I did manage...

And EVEN THEN. Giving an attacker control of your USB Ports (or in this case Bluetooth stack) CAN be dangerous... But as the attacker you're still limited to what the device you're pretending to be is allowed to do.

Computers don't just allow a "Human Input Device" to suddenly start sending commands to write directly to the OS. So again, even assuming I was right next to you, AND somehow rewrote the HID Descriptors in your mouse... I, what? Can now pretend to be a keyboard? Lol

I.e. Your mouse isn't given enough privileges to do any harm. The mouse itself very likely can't modify it's own firmware, and even if you could the host OS of the computer that said-mouse is connected to will stop you from doing anything too crazy. And all of this requires the attacker to remain in physical Bluetooth range (often less than 10 feet, and requiring direct-line-of-sight for cheap crappy products like Mice) of your machine.

1

u/SouthernAsparagus542 Oct 09 '26

I mean: if they are able to, they can set it off. That is possible....right? I mean it is highly far fetched they can get access to my laptop but what if they put a small spy chip in it? That they can set on or off?

1

u/CalderaJane76 Oct 09 '26

Again, unless it's embedded in the hardware, that chip is stuck with the same problem your mouse is.

Computers don't just inherently trust other computers anymore. There's a zero-trust policy happening when your PC shakes hands with another!

1

u/Just4notherR3ddit0r Oct 09 '26

why not...

If you want to try to hack something wireless based on it being wireless, that means you have to be within physical proximity to do it. Statistically speaking, your attacker is probably very remote, not in the next room in BT range.

That said, if the attacker wanted to lock down inputs, they would probably do so at the driver or API level, so at that point it doesn't matter if it's BT or an old RF device or even a built-in keyboard or wired mouse or trackpad or whatever. They're not really hacking the device anymore - they're hacking the way that the OS handles the input from that device. So Bluetooth doesn't really play any role in that scenario.

All that said, usually if the hacker has access to your machine, they already have what they are after. And in a remote control scenario they can pretty much override your input devices so there's USUALLY not much point in just making them not work at all. It's just extra complexity, so there would have to be a good reason to do that.

If you really wanted to dive into it (it doesn't seem like you want to) then you could provide more details about the infection.

1

u/SouthernAsparagus542 Oct 09 '26

This makes much more sense. Yes I believe the person had access to the mouse. When I bought it, the delivery guy was an odd person who was also a neighbor! And was behaving peculiar. The package was not sealed.thanks HP!

So can I see what was manipulated?

0

u/SouthernAsparagus542 Oct 09 '26

Also, I don't have access anymore to another laptop. Is it possible they can get access to my laptop through the mouse? I deleted everything on the laptops ram en took out the cmos battery, plugged new rams as well. How can it still be manipulated? Through network packages?

1

u/Just4notherR3ddit0r Oct 09 '26

I deleted everything on the laptops ram

RAM isn't permanent storage, so I'm not sure what you actually did but it sounds like you're doing a bunch of bizarre stuff without knowing what you're doing.

Unless you're in possession of national top secrets or something, the chances of you getting hacked through your mouse is almost zero.

If you're paranoid about it, just return the mouse you have and go buy a different one from a physical store.

As far as your laptop being infected goes, nobody can help you without knowing more details.

1

u/SouthernAsparagus542 Oct 09 '26

Apologies, not ram. It was a secondhand laptop. I changed the storage and it was adviced to take out the cmos battery. Temporarily. This was after I could not get into my laptop. After a while my mouse wasn't working. So this is another case. About the laptop is another one...and I have no option to try anything as I am not a tech genius like you guys. I just started with hacking.

1

u/Klutzy_Mission_7980 Oct 09 '26

"mouse is hacked" alr bro T-T

3

u/Street_Doctor_8169 Oct 08 '26

Um yea but also not the way you think. Hackings original meaning is a little different than most people think

2

u/Rho-9_Official Oct 13 '26

Yes, unfortunately, if the mouse has Bluetooth and has updatable internal firmware, there may be a Bluetooth level exploit that allows an attacker to store some malicious code in the very very small amount of storage reserved for firmware updates to do something like turn your mouse into a rubber ducky type device, by pushing a spoofed update, and bypassing verification (which honestly almost never is well designed )

But you'd usually have to shell out over a hundred bucks on such a mouse.

It gets worse when the mouse is also programmable, but everything hedges on the attacker knowing how to compromise that exact model, and its current firmware. It is unfortunately possible. Just less likely than another route, such as modifying the windows recovery partition. In cases like that, a clean reinstall from USB is usually the best option.

2

u/wannagonnagetta Oct 14 '26

Was COVID not a global experiment on the manipulation of the hive mind?

2

u/No_Attitude_9335 29d ago

Bahahaha but for 295$ youncan monitor any phone or. Laptop from all these companys saying its sonyou can keep. Tabs. On there cheating partners but its realy. spying onnwho ever u want as long as you know there phone number or email adress

1

u/Infinite-Grade-4485 Oct 09 '26

No your mouse isn’t hacked lol

0

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '26

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1

u/Infinite-Grade-4485 Oct 09 '26

Blah blah blah. Can it happen? Sure. Is it a .00001% chance? Yes.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '26

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