UPDATE: Xiaomi has sent out an official statement regarding this bug. The company says this incident happened because of a bug in a new feature it was testing on December 26. It suspended the feature on January 2 and is currently working with Google to perfect it. Full statement (including translation) has been added at the end of this article.
Smart home security cameras are getting popular given the ease-of-access they offer at an affordable price point. Accessing the feed is now also quite easy as the user just need to perform a voice command to see the security camera feed.
However, a Reddit user has come across a security bug related to the smart home security camera. He owns Google Nest Hub and some Xiaomi Mijia security cams but when he performed a voice command for the feed, he came across an unexpected result.
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Instead of seeing the camera feed they expected, they saw feeds from other people’s homes. Some of the feeds even had people in them, including a sleeping man and an infant. The unexpected feeds all appear in black and white with bizarre scan lines and other distortions. You can check out the sample footage through the source link.
However, it has not been independently verified that this is true or not. AndroidAuthority got in touch with Xiaomi and Google for the same. While Xiaomi hasn’t responded to their request yet, Google spokesperson said: “We’re aware of the issue and are in contact with Xiaomi to work on a fix. In the meantime, we’re disabling Xiaomi integrations on our devices.”
It is not yet clear who is at fault here — Xiaomi or Google. But given that Google has disabled support for Xiaomi, it implies that the Chinese company is at fault otherwise Google wouldn’t have disabled support if it didn’t have some sort of evidence.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM XIAOMI (Translation below)
Regarding Mi Home Security Camera Basic 1080p (Mi Home smart Camera overseas edition) temporarily offline connection to the Google Home Hub.
1. On January 2, 2020, Beijing time, we learned that Mi Home Security Camera Basic 1080p, which was sold overseas, was connected to the Google screen speaker through Google Home Hub, and there was a small probability that it would receive streaming images from the Camera under other Google user accounts. The relevant service was launched on December 26, 2019 as a test of a new function, and we have communicated with the relevant platform to suspend the service at 17:00 on January 2, 2020 and fix the relevant Bug.
2. Mi Home Security Camera Basic 1080p’s connection to Google Home Hub is one of the features developed by Xiaomi for Google smart Home system. The aforementioned Bug occurred when Mi Home Security Camera Basic 1080p sold overseas was connected to Google’s products with screen speakers via the Google Home Hub platform, only with minimal probability in the case of weak network. The total number of users found to have relevant usage scenarios is 1044, of which only a few are likely to be affected.
3. Domestic users and all users (including Chinese and overseas users) who use mijia APP platform and mi mijia related cameras are not affected.
Currently, the security team of Xiaomi has communicated with Google and fixed relevant bugs. We will re-launch this function in due time after both parties have jointly tested and perfected it. Xiaomi always attaches great importance to users’ security and privacy, and will continue to do its best to protect users’ rights and interests.
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(Source)
