CiferTech's nRFBOX Promises an All-in-One Handheld for Bluetooth, BLE, and Wi-Fi Experimentation

Pseudonymous maker "CiferTech" has turned an Espressif ESP32-WROOM-32 and a handful of Nordic Semiconductor nRF24 modules into a compact, handheld tool for security testing and experimentation over Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and Wi-Fi connections: the nRFBOX.

"The nRFBOX Project is an open-source initiative aimed at providing a comprehensive set of tools to explore the 2.4GHz spectrum, including Bluetooth and other wireless protocols," CiferTech explains. "Built around the powerful [Espressif] ESP32[-WROOM-32] microcontroller, the project incorporates multiple [Nordic] nRF24 modules, an OLED display, and several other components, enabling users to perform spectrum analysis, jamming, spoofing, and more."

The heart of the build is the Espressif ESP32-WROOM-32 module, with two Tensilica Xtensa LX6 cores running at up to 240MHz. In addition to running the user interface, the module provides native Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity — expanded by the use of up to three Nordic nRF24 modules. There's a 0.96" single-color OLED display, a five-way microswitch control pad for user input, and a WS2812 RGB LED for feedback — while an integrated TP4056 battery management chip handles a lithium-polymer (LiPo) battery for portable use.

The gadget's firmware boasts a wealth of features, starting with a 2.4GHz radio scanner and spectrum analyzer — continuously sweeping across the 2.4GHz band looking for active channels and devices, with detections routed to the analyzer for a look at signal strength, modulation type, and data rates. There are also jammer modes — though their use is likely to fall foul of the US Federal Communications Commission, unless you're experimenting in a Faraday cage.

Other features of the firmware available at the time of writing include a Bluetooth Low Energy spoofer, which allows the handheld to spoof a range of BLE device types, and "Sour Apple" — "a specialized protocol attack designed to test vulnerabilities in wireless network setups," CiferTech explains, "particularly targeting specific communication protocols."

The project is documented in full here on Hackster.io; hardware design files and firmware source code, both for the current nRFBOX v2 and an earlier incarnation, are available on GitHub under the MIT license.