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Bluetooth Core Specification 6.0: broadcast security in the Generic Access Profile and Low Energy Link Layer

From https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/bluetooth-sig-core60-broadcast-security/ · record checked 13 October 2026

  • Bluetooth SIG

Standards body (Bluetooth SIG, an industry association funded by its member companies, which owns the Auracast trademark)

Summary

Defines the three broadcast security levels, distinguishes authenticated delivery of a broadcast code, and specifies encrypted packet integrity checks and loss of synchronization after a failed check.

Key findings

  • Volume 3 Part C section 10.2.5 defines LE Security Mode 3 Level 1 as no authentication or encryption, Level 2 as use of an unauthenticated Broadcast_Code and Level 3 as use of an authenticated Broadcast_Code. Level 3 requires that the code be received using an authenticated method.
  • Volume 3 Part C sections 3.2.6 and 10.9 describe the Broadcast_Code as the information used to encrypt a broadcast group and decrypt its streams. Its user-interface representation is 4 to 16 UTF-8 octets, with 16 recommended for higher security.
  • Volume 6 Part E section 1 specifies AES-128 CCM encryption and authentication. With encryption enabled, non-empty data and isochronous payloads have a message integrity check and must be decrypted and authenticated before processing. Section 2 includes BIS data and BIG control packets.
  • Volume 6 Part E section 1 says a message integrity check failure in a broadcast isochronous packet causes loss of synchronization: the Link Layer stops receiving further packets on that BIS and notifies the Host. This rejection rule does not promise uninterrupted listening.

Limits

Read the public HTML for Volume 3 Part C, relevant sections of Volume 6 Part E and the version history. The companion Link Layer page is https://www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/Files/Specification/HTML/Core-60/out/en/low-energy-controller/low-energy-link-layer-security.html. This is the dated 6.0 edition, not a claim to cover all later revisions or actual products. The document specifies mechanisms, without venue attack tests or recovery-time measurements.

Read the original

www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/Files/Specification/HTML/Core-60/out/en/host/generic-access-profile.html

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Cited in

Cite this source

Bluetooth SIG. Bluetooth Core Specification 6.0: broadcast security in the Generic Access Profile and Low Energy Link Layer. 27 August 2024. https://www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/Files/Specification/HTML/Core-60/out/en/host/generic-access-profile.html (accessed 13 October 2026).

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