Format NFC Tag? - NFC Hacking

I have been seeing a lot about formatting the tags and I am curious as to why. Thanks!

ZeroManArmy said:
I have been seeing a lot about formatting the tags and I am curious as to why. Thanks!
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From what I understand some phones such as Windows 8 phones cannot read unformatted cards, and im not sure if they can format them.
A college got some Mifare 1k tags and it kept telling him there was an error, I formatted them with an S3 just put my contact on them and now he can write over them just fine with his W8Phone

ZeroManArmy said:
I have been seeing a lot about formatting the tags and I am curious as to why. Thanks!
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Click to collapse
Mobile phones generally use and expect Ndef. NFC tags don't ship formatted for Ndef messages. Android devices can format a blank tag to Ndef when writing an Ndef message. Other platforms may not be able to either format blank tags to Ndef or read tags that aren't formatted for Ndef depending on what's implemented in the NFC stack for that particular device.

Related

NFC TagWriter - Corrupting Google Places Stickers

Anyone with a Galaxy Nexus and TagWriter can run around nuking all the Google Places stickers on businesses. This seems like a huge security problem!
With the latest version of NXP's TagWriter app, I'm now able to write to the Mifare NFC stickers that I purchased. However I'm also able to write to the Google Places stickers that are stuck to the windows of restaurants and stores all over town. Well, the writes aren't entirely successful, but they do corrupt the existing data to the point they no longer work.
How is this possible? Is this a problem with the stickers themselves, Android, or TagWriter? Is Google aware of this?
Sarkoon said:
Anyone with a Galaxy Nexus and TagWriter can run around nuking all the Google Places stickers on businesses. This seems like a huge security problem!
With the latest version of NXP's TagWriter app, I'm now able to write to the Mifare NFC stickers that I purchased. However I'm also able to write to the Google Places stickers that are stuck to the windows of restaurants and stores all over town. Well, the writes aren't entirely successful, but they do corrupt the existing data to the point they no longer work.
How is this possible? Is this a problem with the stickers themselves, Android, or TagWriter? Is Google aware of this?
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Click to collapse
Their stupid fault for not setting the stickers to read-only.
Im going to start changing the tags to go to the URL bangbros.com
adrynalyne said:
Their stupid fault for not setting the stickers to read-only.
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So if they're not locked, why are the stickers ending up with strange corrupted URLs on them instead of what I attempted to write to them?
If you can even partially write, they were not set to read-only.
stevessvt said:
Im going to start changing the tags to go to the URL bangbros.com
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+1
That would be hilarious.
stevessvt said:
Im going to start changing the tags to go to the URL bangbros.com
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Click to collapse
Good luck. I've only been able to end up with corrupted URLs so far.

[Q] HTC One X NFC Reader/Writer

Hi XDA,
I'd like to confirm with you guys if you already tested HTC One X NFC to write on tags? Reading should not be an issue. What tag types can you recommend on writing using One X's NFC?
Thanks,
Skidz
I bought a starter pack of tags from rapidnfc which included a variety of different size sticker tags, a wrist band and a key chain fob.
I have written a few tags to test them out but only have 1 that I'm using in a real world situation (stuck to my laptop so I scan it turns my phone into a wifi hotspots which my laptop then connects to.
Sent from my ARHD powered HOX
I read and wrote some 1K and 4K cards and tags and also read an E-Passport (image, data...), no problems.
I also ordered a started pack from rapidnfc looking forwards to some stickers...
NFC Writing
tehdomil said:
I bought a starter pack of tags from rapidnfc which included a variety of different size sticker tags, a wrist band and a key chain fob.
I have written a few tags to test them out but only have 1 that I'm using in a real world situation (stuck to my laptop so I scan it turns my phone into a wifi hotspots which my laptop then connects to.
Sent from my ARHD powered HOX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. How's the writing time? and what app did you use for writing?
NFC Tag Writer
zvieratko said:
I read and wrote some 1K and 4K cards and tags and also read an E-Passport (image, data...), no problems.
I also ordered a started pack from rapidnfc looking forwards to some stickers...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Which e-passport are you referring? Are the cards and tags rewritable also?
Thanks
skidz13 said:
Hi,
Which e-passport are you referring? Are the cards and tags rewritable also?
Thanks
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Click to collapse
Czech passport with biometry - I think all new European passports (can) have RFID inside. All that was needed to read it was to provide passport number, date of birth and expiration date, and it decrypted the passport and displayed info (used NFC Taginfo app.)
Yes, when you buy blank cards they are rewritable, even some cards you get for access to buildings/garages, or loyalty cards are not locked and can be re-used (depends on how serious they were about security ).
anybody knows how the power usage is for NFC?
Is it a huge drain on the battery?
a friend of mine has some tags laying around and i'm picking them up next saturday.
Want to program a few tags for a couple of tasks
1) Disable BT and enable WiFi when i'm home
2) Disable WiFi and enable BT when i'm in the car
3) Start NAV when i dock my phone in my car mount
4) Disable WiFi and BT when i'm @ work
HOX NFC Topic
zvieratko said:
Czech passport with biometry - I think all new European passports (can) have RFID inside. All that was needed to read it was to provide passport number, date of birth and expiration date, and it decrypted the passport and displayed info (used NFC Taginfo app.)
Yes, when you buy blank cards they are rewritable, even some cards you get for access to buildings/garages, or loyalty cards are not locked and can be re-used (depends on how serious they were about security ).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should try on my passport also using NFC Taginfo. By the way, I'm using farebot to read my mrt card info, how can I use the info itself to be written on different card?
Thanks
NFC Power
tmaniac said:
anybody knows how the power usage is for NFC?
Is it a huge drain on the battery?
a friend of mine has some tags laying around and i'm picking them up next saturday.
Want to program a few tags for a couple of tasks
1) Disable BT and enable WiFi when i'm home
2) Disable WiFi and enable BT when i'm in the car
3) Start NAV when i dock my phone in my car mount
4) Disable WiFi and BT when i'm @ work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think, the power usage of NFC is not bad unlike GPS can drain faster. But if your really want to save battery, try to switch off 3G/Wifi/GPS, etc and decrease the brightness.
skidz13 said:
I should try on my passport also using NFC Taginfo. By the way, I'm using farebot to read my mrt card info, how can I use the info itself to be written on different card?
Thanks
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Click to collapse
You can't just clone a passport, not possible. It is like a smartcard - you ask it for data, provide some password, and it gives you the data. You don't just "read" it.
zvieratko said:
You can't just clone a passport, not possible. It is like a smartcard - you ask it for data, provide some password, and it gives you the data. You don't just "read" it.
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I'm not referring on my passport but the mrt card which is NFC-readable. Is that possible?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
skidz13 said:
I'm not referring on my passport but the mrt card which is NFC-readable. Is that possible?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
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Click to collapse
mrt? what is that?
But the probable answer is no - altough you can read and write almost anything, security is usually also tied to the UID of the card, and you can't (usually ;-))) change that. Also, more secure cards don't allow themselves to be read completely - you can just increment/decrement some counter or make them ID themselves.
zvieratko said:
mrt? what is that?
But the probable answer is no - altough you can read and write almost anything, security is usually also tied to the UID of the card, and you can't (usually ;-))) change that. Also, more secure cards don't allow themselves to be read completely - you can just increment/decrement some counter or make them ID themselves.
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Click to collapse
Actually, mrt is a train service in my country. Their card is NFC supported and I'm able to read its data. What I want is if I can add extra data to the card or copy its data to another mrt card. Is overwriting possible without losing its current data?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
lol you wanted to transfer the $ from 1 card to another?
hmm..~
HOX NFC
athenodorus said:
lol you wanted to transfer the $ from 1 card to another?
hmm..~
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Click to collapse
Not really, just want to try adding commands to my existing CEPAS card using NFC.
i have similar idea, so maybe will join this thread.
my thoughts are to clone travel card (to phone) and use phone instead of card (p.ex. to open gates in metro).
is it possible? i couldn't find any app on market
The problem with some actions like change wifi, etc, is the need to unlock the screen for all the actions.
I understand the security point of view, but if I need to unlock the screen, and touch it on a tag, is easier to click a shortcut on my home.
Does have any paramter, or rom that alows to use NFC without unlocking the screen ?
Farebot
skidz13 said:
I should try on my passport also using NFC Taginfo. By the way, I'm using farebot to read my mrt card info, how can I use the info itself to be written on different card?
Thanks
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Click to collapse
My farebot is not reading any details of my ezlink card from HTC One X.
Could you help me please
angusbrasil said:
The problem with some actions like change wifi, etc, is the need to unlock the screen for all the actions.
I understand the security point of view, but if I need to unlock the screen, and touch it on a tag, is easier to click a shortcut on my home.
Does have any paramter, or rom that alows to use NFC without unlocking the screen ?
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Click to collapse
[MOD] NFC on screenoff
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
tehdomil said:
I bought a starter pack of tags from rapidnfc which included a variety of different size sticker tags, a wrist band and a key chain fob.
I have written a few tags to test them out but only have 1 that I'm using in a real world situation (stuck to my laptop so I scan it turns my phone into a wifi hotspots which my laptop then connects to.
Sent from my ARHD powered HOX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry in advance for the potentially daft question. I would like to do similar to what others have posted, ie a tag in the car to turn on BT and turn off WiFi etc. Will order some tags but don't know how to write them. Can the One X write to the tags using NFC ReTag or similar? If not whats the procedure?
Thanks all

[Q] Copy NFC tag to another NFC tag

Hi everyone, this has probably been asked before but I didn't want to i guess bump a necro thread.
Basically I was wondering is it possible for me to copy an nfc tag to another nfc tag. From a post I saw here, it said it is possible as long as the tag isn't encrypted.
So basically what i was hoping to know is one how would be the best way I would know if its encrypted and two what would be the easiest way to do this.
If it helps my mindset is basically I want to copy the NFC tag from my bus card onto a wristband so that I don't need to use the card anymore. What I'm guessing is that everything is set electronically in terms of card cost and stuff like that as I read that I can recharge and view my balance online so I'm assuming the card just acts like a connecter to your specific account and doesn't actually contain any money information on it.
I tried an app to read from the card and it did show me what I think is numerous files, in which the one I saw said that I was allowed to read from the device but no write access which I'm guessing is fine since all I want to do is read and copy from that NFC tag and then write it to another one I can buy.
The other thing I could do is just cut up my bus card and get the nfc part and place it under a watch or something, the bus company said I can get a new card for free whenever I like if I lose my current one so that's another way but seems a bit crude to me.
eitherrideordie said:
Basically I was wondering is it possible for me to copy an nfc tag to another nfc tag. From a post I saw here, it said it is possible as long as the tag isn't encrypted.
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Click to collapse
You can copy any information you can actually read. BUT the following is not working:
If it helps my mindset is basically I want to copy the NFC tag from my bus card onto a wristband so that I don't need to use the card anymore. What I'm guessing is that everything is set electronically in terms of card cost and stuff like that as I read that I can recharge and view my balance online so I'm assuming the card just acts like a connecter to your specific account and doesn't actually contain any money information on it.
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Click to collapse
Wrong assumption. A card used for banking etc has a private key on it that the bank will use to authenticate you. In order to do this they let the card sign some data and verifies the signature. If everyone could read that key, that would be horrible unsafe. Everybody that would be able to read the key could sign the data on your behalf. That is why the key is on the card and never leaves it.
I tried an app to read from the card and it did show me what I think is numerous files, in which the one I saw said that I was allowed to read from the device but no write access which I'm guessing is fine since all I want to do is read and copy from that NFC tag and then write it to another one I can buy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said above, this works for cards that contain only data. You can copy any data that is readable, but cards that give you the functionality you want are not copyable via nfc.
The other thing I could do is just cut up my bus card and get the nfc part and place it under a watch or something, the bus company said I can get a new card for free whenever I like if I lose my current one so that's another way but seems a bit crude to me.
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Click to collapse
Same as above. Id guess your buscard is some sort of mifare card. You can only read/write those if you have the keys. And I don't think you will have them. Well it depends on the exact card but still.
Damastus said:
You can copy any information you can actually read. BUT the following is not working:
Wrong assumption. A card used for banking etc has a private key on it that the bank will use to authenticate you. In order to do this they let the card sign some data and verifies the signature. If everyone could read that key, that would be horrible unsafe. Everybody that would be able to read the key could sign the data on your behalf. That is why the key is on the card and never leaves it.
As I said above, this works for cards that contain only data. You can copy any data that is readable, but cards that give you the functionality you want are not copyable via nfc.
Same as above. Id guess your buscard is some sort of mifare card. You can only read/write those if you have the keys. And I don't think you will have them. Well it depends on the exact card but still.
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Click to collapse
I guess I had too much I was hoping would work, but from reading what you said it doesn't sound like it will . I do get that it has a private key, I was just kind of hoping that in this case it wouldn't since the card doesn't really seem like its worth much, such as compared to something like a visa card or something like that.
Each card has a unique number on them written on the back, so I guess I just kind of assumed each number was assigned for each account type thing and if you lost a card they would just change the account with another different number since you can own multiple bus cards, and that would be all I need, but it seems like you are most likely correct. Our buscard only came into affect about a month or two a go, but I'm assuming they probably paid a company of some sort to do it, and if thats the case they probably would have it encrypted either way
Is there still a way I could check? Just in case theres like some sort of miracle and it is only just a basic card type thing? Even though thats most likely wrong?
You can copy any data that is readable, but cards that give you the functionality you want are not copyable via nfc.
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Click to collapse
If this is the case though I guess its impossible
Cheers though
eitherrideordie said:
Is there still a way I could check? Just in case theres like some sort of miracle and it is only just a basic card type thing? Even though thats most likely wrong?
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Click to collapse
You could try to identify the card. Maybe use sth. like NFC TagInfo or ReTAG to see what type of card it is. These TagInfo will also show you whats in the card when its readable. But dont get your hopes too high.
Damastus said:
You could try to identify the card. Maybe use sth. like NFC TagInfo or ReTAG to see what type of card it is. These TagInfo will also show you whats in the card when its readable. But dont get your hopes too high.
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Click to collapse
Hi, thanks heaps, had a go at using NFC TagInfo and this is what I get
Tag information says the tag type is ISO/IEC 14443-4 smart card
mifare desfire evi(mf3ICD2I)
Under the ISO/IEC 14443-4 Smart card part
it talks about the mifare desfire
Within there it says
Key configuration changeable YES
Master Key required for application creation/deletion YES
Master Key required for application directory list NO
Master Key changeable YES
Available Keys KEY 0: Key version 1
Another key configuration says the exact same thing but also says
Key change permissions AUTHENTICATE WITH KEY 0 application master key
And there's a whole heap of files in there, most of which are readable but some say read fail.
From the sound of all this, its starting to not look that good , I'm assuming if there's keys and things that the only way would be to break them and I don't want to do anything against the rules to be honest .

Mifare Classic

I've had issues with all non-stock roms and NFC with my d855. Initially I though that NFC just wasn't working. Turns out that it's just no longer able to read Mifare Classic cards (which it can do with stock).
Any one have any ideas how easy this would be to solve? I'm not afraid of messing about in the kernel or adding additional drivers. Just been a while since I played around with the NFC subsystem
Mods: Not sure if this is the correct subforum for this. Feel free to move if needed
-EDIT
After a bit of playing around, it looks like NFC works fine for a 14443-4 card until I scan a mifare classic card. At this point all NFC stops working until the screen is switched off and back on again. This makes the Type A card start working again. Still no Mifare Classic tho.
Picking though some Logcat logs to see if I can figure anything out.
Exact same issue here with CM12 (Even just did a full install of the newest nightly, with same issue).
With the stock ROM, I could scan cards with the MIFARE Classic Tool no problem. Now, after I cycle the screen on/off, I can repeatably scan a DESFire card, no problem, and Mifare Classic Tool comes up saying so, but the second I try to scan a normal MIFARE Classic card, nothing happens and I can no longer scan the DESFire card anymore until I cycle the screen.
In the Logcat, I can see activity with the MIFARE Classic scan, just have no idea what I'm looking at or what the problem is.
Did you ever find a fix? Anything I can provide to help anyone fix the issue with CM12?

Written to mifare, is no longer working,

Wrote a simple text record to a mifare classic card, then to remove this I selected "erase tag" in nfc tools pro. The card no longer operates the door controls. Is there anyway I can rectify this? From my Android device.
If not I will go to IT in the morning and get them to sort it.
Would format memory rectify this?
Would 'format memory'
Same problem. Same action. Same software. But One of my 2 door controls is working. The other isnt. Trying to find out why.
Try formatting NDEF in an app such as StartNFCexpert (Android). Then dump the card info back onto it.
Please be aware that this WILL erase the memory on the card. The door access most likely depends on the serial number of the card.
(I am aware this is an old post, it seems to be a common problem so I thought I would contribute)

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